Page 4 of Shadow Touched

Brim didn’t know whether to believe her ornot, hesitant to say there were things in the world that remainedunexplained. Did he trust that she was some sort of fortune teller?The jury was still out on that one. He never feared his own death.You couldn’t be president of a motorcycle club without knowingsomeone might be gunning for the job. But there was something aboutwhat she said, and how she looked, that sent a shiver over hisskin. He reached up to touch her face and it must have shocked herbecause she jerked her hand away. Biting her lip, she huggedherself and turned away.

“You fucking with me?”

Leia shook her head. “No. Why would I dothat?”

“Because you want something from me.”

“I don’t want anything from you.” She took adeep breath and turned back to him. “I… I just want you to be safe.So, please, don’t go out there.”

Brim hesitated, not sure what tobelieve.

“We’re closing up!” Clint called out,interrupting him.

“Is there a back door?” Brim asked Leia.Best to be cautious, he surmised.

“Um, yeah. By the bathrooms. There’s a sidedoor. Be careful.”

Brim flashed her a lopsided smile. “Don’tworry about me. I have no intention of dying tonight.”

He left her, heading to the backdoor shementioned. Before it closed, he placed a stick between the door andjam, so he’d be able to slip back inside the building. He circledaround, staying quiet as he sought out the danger Leia hadmentioned. Sure enough, he saw the man crouched behind the tree shedescribed. Still not sure if she told the truth, he slipped out thegarrote he always carried and crept silently behind the assassin.With a lightning quick movement, he slipped the wire around theman’s throat and pulled.

Strangling someone took strength anddetermination because the victim always fought back. It wasn’t likethe movies where the person died in a few seconds. It took severallong minutes. Brim maintained his grip on the cord, pulling tighterand tighter. The would-be shooter floundered, trying to beat hisarms or to kick him. He twisted around in an effort to escape, butBrim was relentless. Little by little, the man’s strength waved. Hebegan to wilt, until he finally gave up and slumped over. Brimwaited a moment more, and then eased up. Breathing heavy, he placedtwo fingers on the man’s throat, looking for a pulse, but it wasn’tthere.

Brim took a deep gulp of air and wiped awaythe sweat that had broken out on his forehead. When he’d recovered,he reached to pull the hoodie back on the assassin. He expected tosee the drunk, but it wasn’t him. Instead, Brim stared down into aface he recognized. One of his own fucking men, the enforcer of hisclub, Knuckles.

Memories came rushing back, of the fightthey’d had. A huge fucking argument and an embarrassing beat-down.Knuckles had slinked away with his tail between his legs and hatredin his eyes. Brim had thought the matter over and done, butapparently it wasn’t.

Anger rose up, blanketing all otheremotions. Betrayal was a bitter pill to swallow, that one of hisown men wanted to eliminate him. He wanted to beat the fucker todeath, but the garrote had already taken care of the problem.Pulling out his knife, he sliced the leather cut off the dead body,wanting to make sure the club patch returned to him. Then he tookthe wallet and searched the pockets for anything else that couldidentify the corpse.

Next, he picked up the body lumberjack styleand began to walk through the woods. He needed to find someplace tohide Knuckles so he wouldn’t be found. Let the fucking assassindecompose without a name. If someone ever found the bones, he’d bejust another John Doe. Brim didn’t know how long he walked. Feltlike hours, but finally, he came across a deep ravine that seemedbottomless and figured it was a good enough place. Even though hismuscles were screaming at him, Brim managed to heave the body farenough so it fell into the dark abyss.

Only then did he start walking back to thebar. He didn’t know how Leia knew about the assassin attempt, buthe didn’t believe she happened to see his death. She had to bemessing with him. He wanted answers and she was the only one thatcould give them.

Looked like he was heading back to his clubto find and kill the son-of-a-bitch who had tried to kill him.

Chapter Two

Leia thought that was the end of the mannamed Brimstone. She hoped she had saved him, like he had saved herfrom the clutches of the drunk. Death always followed, but perhapsshe had given him one more night. She had done a good deed andhadn’t suffered any consequences, so all’s well that ended well. Orsomething like that. Clint and the other staff wished her goodnight and left her to clean the bar. Alone. Just like shepreferred.

As she mindlessly wiped off tables, her minddrifted once more toward the biker. She knew what he was by thepatches on his leather vest. She’d watched plenty of cop shows toknow they were bad news. Still, he had been a handsome son of agun. Big. Muscular. Silver threaded through dirty blond hair.Piercing blue eyes. A scruff beard covering his strong jaw. Ifshe’d been a normal woman, and he’d been a normal man, he would bethe type of man she would’ve found attractive. Too bad she’d neverbe able to have a normal relationship.

She worked her way from the back of the bartoward the kitchen. The work was a bit monotonous, but she liked itthat way. No other people around to figure out how weird she was.Once upon a time she had tried being an ordinary person, working anordinary job. But her curse had reared its ugly head and caused herworld to come crumbling down. That was when she gave everything up.Moved far away. Decided working alone cleaning a bar was preferableto living with people. Having to serve customers had pushed heranxiety to the limit.

Once the bar area had been mopped and wipeddown, she put her cart away to tackle the kitchen. The bathroomswould be the last thing she cleaned before leaving for the night.The dirty dishes had been left behind, so she rinsed everything offbefore loading them into the large commercial washer.

Her night almost over, Leia made her waytoward the bathrooms, when suddenly the side door opened. Brimstrode forcefully inside, directly up to her, and she quicklybacked up to escape. He grabbed her arm, halting her retreat, andgave her a shake.

“Did you set that up?” he demanded. Fireburned in his gaze, and he scared the hell out of her. “Are youworking with the club? Well? Are you?”

“Let me go!” she cried.

“I’m not letting you go until you tell mewho paid you to assassinate me.”

She frantically clawed at his hand, tryingto free herself. The big, unforgiving biker took hold of her otherhand and marched her until her back hit a wall. She stared up athim, fear slicing through her, until she noticed the shadow ofdeath was gone. Leia stilled. She never had seen one completelydisappear before.

“It’s gone,” she whispered.

Brim narrowed his eyes. “What’s gone?”

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