Page 31 of The Highwaymen

Romeo just chuckled, dragging the flat of the blade down Jamie's heaving chest. “Your property? I don't think so, old man. See, everything in this junkyard belongs to me now. Including your sweet piece of ass here.”

He grabbed a fistful of Jamie's hair and wrenched his head back, exposing the long column of his throat. “Maybe I'll let my boys break him in first while youwatch. How's that sound?” Romeo said. “I bet this bitch would look real pretty choking on cock.”

White hot rage surged through my veins. “I'll fucking kill you!” I roared, thrashing against my captors. “You're dead, you hear me? Fucking dead!”

But Romeo just laughed, pressing the knife harder against Jamie's quivering skin. A bead of crimson welled up, stark against his pale skin.

“Stu, Stu, Stu,” he tisked. “You still don't get it, do you? You ain't in charge here no more.”

He jerked his head at his men. “Get him on his knees. I want him to watch every second of this.”

Rough hands seized my shoulders, forcing me to kneel in the dirt. One of the goons fisted his hand in my hair, wrenching my head up.

“Keep your fucking eyes open, old man, or I’ll cut off your fucking eyelids.” Romeo waved the knife at me.

Jamie's eyes met mine, wide with fear but also blazing with a desperate, manic light. Despite the knife at his throat, his full lips curved into the ghost of a smirk. He knew something Romeo and his goons didn't. Jamie was a fucking psychopath, even crazier than me. Romeo didn’t know it yet, but he’d fucked with the wrong people.

“Oh, you wanna watch?” Jamie purred, his voice dropping into that seductive lilt that never failed to make my cock throb. He licked his lips, slow and obscene. “I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you? To see me on my knees, gagging on cock? You sick fuck.”

Romeo blinked, thrown off balance by Jamie's sudden shift in demeanor. His grip on Jamie's hair loosened just a fraction.

Jamie's eyes flicked to mine for just a split second. A message passed between us, as clear as if he'd shouted it.Get ready.

In a blur of motion, Jamie wrenched free of Romeo's grasp. He ducked low and drove his head into the gangster's crotch with a sickening crunch.Romeo howled, doubling over. The knife clattered to the ground.

All hell broke loose.

I surged to my feet, slamming my head back into the nose of the goon holding me. Bone crunched, and he staggered back with a scream, blood gushing down his face. I followed it up with a vicious elbow to the gut that had him crumpling to the ground like a sack of bricks.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jamie sink his teeth into the inner thigh of one of Romeo's men, right through his jeans. The man shrieked, flailing at Jamie's head.

Jamie held on like a rabid dog, teeth locked into the man's femoral artery. Blood spurted as he savagely ripped his head back, taking a chunk of flesh with him. The goon collapsed, clutching at his gushing wound and howling.

I didn't have time to admire my boy's handiwork. Two more men lunged at me from either side. I snatched up a tire iron from a nearby pile of junk and swung it in a vicious arc. It connected with the side of the first one's head with a meaty thunk. He dropped like a stone.

The second managed to get his arms around me from behind, grappling for the tire iron. I threw my head back, smashing into his face. His nose crunched, and he loosened his grip with a pained grunt. I twisted free, whirling to face him.

“You fucked with the wrong truck driver, pendejo,” I snarled before caving in his skull with the tire iron. Gore splattered my face, hot and sticky.

A gunshot split the air. My blood ran cold. I spun around to see Romeo standing over Jamie, a pistol aimed at his head. Jamie glared up at him defiantly, blood dripping from his chin.

“Enough!” Romeo roared, his chest heaving. “Drop the tire iron, Stu, or I paint the ground with your bitch's brains.”

I froze, my knuckles white on the tire iron. Jamie's eyes blazed with a manic light, like he'd welcome Romeo pulling the trigger. But I couldn't watch my boy's brains get splattered across the junkyard.

Slowly, I lowered the tire iron to the ground, my jaw clenched so hard my teeth ached.

Romeo's lips curled into a cruel sneer. “Aw, ain't that sweet. The old man's willing to do anything for his little whore.”

He grabbed a fistful of Jamie's hair, hauling him to his feet and pressing the muzzle of the gun harder against his temple. Jamie hissed in pain but kept his eyes locked on mine, defiant to the end.

“On your knees, Stu,” Romeo ordered. “Hands behind your head.”

I had no choice but to obey. The gravel bit into my bare knees as I sank down, lacing my fingers behind my skull. Every muscle in my body coiled tight, ready to spring into action at the slightest opening. But with that gun to Jamie's head, I was paralyzed.

“You two really are a pair, ain't ya?” Romeo said, eyeing the carnage around us. “Couple of crazy fuckers. You know, I almost felt bad about this until you fucking tried to eat my guys. Now, I’m gonna enjoy selling you to the Jaliscos.”

My blood ran cold as the full weight of Romeo's words sank in. The Jalisco cartel. Those sick fucks made Romeo look like a choirboy in comparison. They were notorious for their brutality, for the creative ways they tortured and dismembered their enemies. Even other cartels feared them.

---