Page 69 of German

Reaper grunted.“He’s not called Maze for nothing.The man’s brain and motivations are as twisted and confusing as his name suggests.”

“You can say that again,” Trainor agreed.

Pipe walked up to our group and jerked his head in the opposite direction for me to follow.Discreetly breaking away from the crowd, we moved into the shadows and he handed me his phone.“I got something you’re going to want to see.”

On the screen was a picture of two men I didn’t recognize.“Who are they?”I demanded, knowing this must be important or my Brother never would have brought it to my attention at a party.

“The assholes who attacked Maddy at the coffee shop.It was surprisingly hard to find who they were, as they didn’t have records.It turns out they both went to the same college as your girl, but dropped out when they became addicted to heroin and pissed away their athletic scholarships.”

Taking back the phone, he pulled up a separate document and handed it over once again.Scanning the info, I saw the boys were high school buddies who’d gotten into the heroin scene.Hard.They were in debt for thousands to their dealer.Their Russian dealer.Presumably the same one Mitchem had been connected to and who’d had the marker put out on Maddy.But if Mitchem was dead, why were they still coming after her?It just didn’t make any sense.

“You think the boys tried to kidnap Maddy as payment for the drugs they’d been fronted and couldn’t afford to pay back?”I speculated.I didn’t know where my Brother got his information.But it was always top-notch and impeccably accurate.

“I do.But I’m still trying to figure out why they care after they killed Mitchem.There’s something missing here.I just can’t see what it is.”

“Yeah.And I’m afraid what we can’t see is what’s going to bite us in the ass in the long run,” I divulged, stroking my beard as I thought the puzzle over.“Where are the boys now?”

Pipe smiled.“Safe and sound in their shitty apartment in Redding.”

Rage lit a fire in my eyes that only pain could extinguish.“That needs to change.”

“Just say the word.I’ve got some buddies in the area who love this kind of shit.They can have both snatched and bagged within the hour if you’d like.”

I smirked with relish.“Will your boys deliver?”

Pipe smirked right back.“For the right price, they’re more reliable than the US postal service.”

“See it done,” I told him.“As soon as they get into town, I’m going to pay those peckerwoods a little visit.Ask some important questions that need answering.”

Where Reaper was a sharpshooter in the Marines, my specialty had been in the field of interrogation.And the thought of getting those two douchebags in a locked room with no means of escape practically got my dick hard.Nobody hurt the people I loved and walked away unscathed.Nobody.

Pipe sighed and I asked, “I hope that sigh wasn’t telling me you think I should go easy on those two pieces of shit.”

Chuckling, Pipe took a sip of his beer.“Fuck no!I’m just trying to figure out what the hell I’m going to tell Framingham about his daughter.”

“What does that mean?”

Pipe gave me a knowing look.“I know you, German.Maybe not as well as Reaper, but close enough.You’re going to wife that girl.I can see it from a mile away.And I’m going to be the one who has to break it to her rich daddy that she’s screwing a biker.Friend or not, that conversation isn’t going to be an easy one to have.”

I wasn’t even going to deny it.Maddy was mine.I knew it from the moment we’d met.“Sucks to be you,” I teased with a grin.

“Is there anything else I should know?”Pipe asked then.

“About?”

“I don’t know, maybe something I can tell Framingham to ease his mind about his baby girl shacking up with the help?”

I thought it over.“Tell him it could be worse.She could be marrying one of those rich assholes who have zero respect for women and will toss her pretty ass aside the minute he turns forty and wants a younger model.”

Pipe’s brow rose.“I’m sensing there’s a story behind this statement.”

“Yeah.And it ends with me carving up the bastard with my knife in the woods after a near-sexual assault,” I said dramatically.

Pipe whistled.“Are you telling me you cut up one of Maddy’s rich boyfriends when he was stupid enough to try something fucked up when you were watching over her?”

I smiled.“Yup.Little fucker liked to parade around the gym with no shirt on.He won’t be able to do that anymore.I left him a little message to remind him not to mess with girls that don’t want to be messed with.”

Pipe’s beer bottle paused midway to his mouth.“What the fuck did you do to him?”

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