Page 65 of Biker's Enemy

“Or gambling debts,” Owen says suspiciously before leaning against the couch back and finishing off his beer.

“Right…”

Ryder shares my eagerness to get to business. He sits at the basement bar on a metal stool, leaning back in the same position as his brother, who takes the stool next to him.

“Good news and bad news. Ruger has Darlene safely out of the way at Oske’s trailer out on the rez. No way a bunch of Nazis ride onto the rez without anyone noticing,” Ryder announces to the club, getting started on our business to avoid any discussion of anyone’s gambling.

Hearing Oske’s name immediately raises my concerns over the bad news. Ryder glances at Owen to fill me in, which only makes me more nervous. My brother looks up at me like he’s trying to calm a raging beast. What the fuck are they keeping from me?

“I thought we should wait and let her think this through but… she’s insistent.”

“On what…”

My teeth grind together automatically. Despite my continuous support, Oske remains a pain in my fucking ass. While occasionally useful, I find myself wanting to lock her in a damn cage when she isn’t doing exactly what she’s told.

“Oske wants $1,400 for emotional damages and freedom from her alleged captivity.”

“Is that a goddamn joke?”

“I told you we should have just paid her,” Ethan grumbles.

“With what goddamn money?” Owen snaps. “Do you have $1,400 in cash lying around because the last time I checked, I’m completely fucked.”

“Quiet,” I growl.

“If you stopped losing then you’d have the money,” Ethan says.

“I said quiet.”

Hunter and Ryder exchange glances. I ignore whatever twin-speak they have going on and focus on my idiot brothers.

“Oske can’t have $1,400.”

“That’s what I said,” Owen replies smugly, casting a disapproving glance in Ethan’s direction. Ethan continues gazing at his phone – a fact beginning to get on my damn nerves – and doesn’t notice Owen’s smug look.

“She’s a crazy bitch,” Ethan says. “Small price to pay to get her off our backs.”

“Can we focus?” Ryder interrupts, taking the burden of getting my brothers in line away from me for once. If Hunter weren’t busy being such a sour puss over the smell of liquor everywhere, he would have been the one to step in. “That isn’t even the bad news.”

Hunter puts his hand on his brother’s shoulder and takes the lead. “Ruger wants to kill Darlene.”

“He can’t. Not until we get information from her.”

“It gets worse,” Owen says. “She’s pregnant. So he wants to keep her in the trailer until she has the kid, then kill her.”

“I don’t have time for this,” I grumble…

“He doesn’t believe in abortion,” Ethan says. “Killing babies and shit. It’s fucked up.”

“Tell Ruger he doesn’t have permission to execute his wife. Not until after we have what we need. She’s pregnant. She’s vulnerable. Instead of torturing her, he should be promising her the world.”

“It’s Ruger,” Owen says. “He’s not logical. He nearly killed her on the spot.”

“It’s a matter of time before he does it,” Hunter says. “The Blackwoods are irrational and fucked in the head. We turn our backs too long, that bitch is dead.”

Keeping Ruger under control is a full time fucking job. When Doc was alive, he took on the massive project, but Gideon doesn’t give a fuck and with the twins gone, Ruger is off his fucking rocker. Some rednecks are built crazier than others. I would think twice before naming my son after a gun. That asshole is just as volatile as a weapon.

“Maybe he won’t kill her if she’s pregnant,” I grumble, barely hopeful that Ruger can manage that much moral fiber. “If he’s keeping her alive because of that, remind him of his Christian morals or whatever the fuck he has going on in his dimwitted redneck brain.”

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