Page 5 of Devil's Vengeance

It was a little horrifying to think he was going easy on me. If I’d been an enemy, he would’ve made it so much worse. The man was a sadist.

The bathroom door flew open, and Viper sauntered around me, goingstraight for the toilet. I rolled my eyes. No fucking privacy. Yanking on my clothes, I ignored his relieved groan as he pissed. When I ducked out, Bear was awake and getting dressed, but Snake Eyes was still passed out, hugging his pillow like a teddy bear. I raised an eyebrow at Bear.

“Going somewhere?”

“Yeah. I’m shadowing you home. Don’t want that asshole coming at you when you’re alone.”

This was why I appreciated my crew. Bear didn’t need an explanation. He had my back. Even if it meant he’d lose out on some tail over the weekend. Rallies like this were usually crawling with sweetbutts looking for a good time. It didn't really affect me, I wasn’t interested in sweetbutts, but Bear was.

“You sure? You’ll miss out on the fun.”

He lifted a shoulder. “Plenty of fun waiting for us back at home. Jaz has been gussied up lately. Wouldn’t mind a good time with her.”

I grunted in acknowledgement. Jaz was hot as hell and always down for a good time. She was one of those sweetbutts you didn’t have to worry about pressing for a claim. She knew what showing up at the clubhouse meant. No one was going to claim a sweetbutt, and she was okay with that. Not all the sweetbutts were.

Tucking my piece away again, I threw on my cut and headed out, with Bear not far behind me. It was late enough that half the crew was already in the lobby, taking advantage of the continental breakfast. Including Croy and Riley. Croy didn’t even blink at my appearance, but Riley did a double take and her jaw hit the ground.

“What happened to you?”

“Tripped,” I answered blandly.

Clink, who’d turned around when he heard her exclamation, snorted and crossed his arms, looking me over. “That must’ve been a hell of a fall. Kinda looks more like you had a run in with the grim reaper.”

I shot him a dirty look, but didn’t take the bait. My run in with Reaper would be a source of gossip if Clink got in on it. I wasn’t going to make it more interesting for him by arguing.

Riley stepped closer and grasped my chin, studying me more clinically. She was a nurse and worked alongside Doc to keep us patched up. Shepressed her lips together and sighed. “Can I make it a rule that you guys don’t hit each other in the face anymore? You could’ve seriously damaged your eye and I can’t do shit to fix that. I’m not a surgeon.”

“I’ll pass the message along,” I answered dryly. I wasn’t actually pissed at her. Riley and I were friends. I was just fucking tired and not in the mood.

She smirked, like she could see right through me. “Ice and rest. And no fighting for at least a few days. Nurse’s orders.”

With a mock salute, I headed out. No point sticking around long enough for Reaper to join us. He might decide I wasn’t punished enough and finish the job.

CHAPTER 4

MARIAH

A few days was all I needed to fall back into my routine and stop jumping every time I walked to my car at the end of the day. I even went back to my weekend shifts, since Regina needed those off to take care of her sick husband. The weekends were busier, which meant more people, but it actually worked for me. I was too busy to stress over it, and Saturday came and went without issue. I expected the same for Sunday.

Since Sunday mornings were usually quiet, I left the desk to deal with the pile of returns we’d accumulated from the day before. I smiled when a few of my favorites popped up in the pile. You might not think a tiny town like ours would have much of a fan base for smutty dark romance, but you’d be surprised. There was even a book club I went to once a month to discuss new releases. I always went out of my way to order the new releases I knew the club would love so they could get it when it first released.

The romance section was close to the computers, so I could see someone new came inside. There were a couple of regulars each week, a teen whose mom monitored his home computer and liked his privacy, and an old man I had to walk through emailing his grandkids every weekend. I was expecting one of them. I wasn’t expecting who actually sat down behind one of the computers.

He looked exactly like I remembered him. Short dirty blonde hair, babyblue eyes. Without the leather vest, he’d look like any other guy. Not too tall, but not short either. Built like an athlete without being overly wide. He wasn’t terrifying, like some of the crew I’d seen when we were rescued. He had one of those boy next door kind of faces. There was a light amount of stubble on his jaw, which added just a hint of ruggedness, but no obvious tattoos or anything. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was just your average cute guy with an affinity for leather.

“Chase?”

His head snapped up and for a second, he looked fierce, like he was ready to start a fight. That’s when I noticed the bruising. It covered half his face, like he’d gotten into a fist fight and lost. I wasn’t stupid enough to ask about it. When his eyes landed on me, he frowned, looking around like he’d expected someone else. His posture stayed tense, even when he realized it was just me. There was nothing on his face that showed that he recognized me. Which was fair. He’d been shot and injured and fighting for his life and everyone else’s in that truck the last time we met. Didn’t mean it didn’t sting a little.

“Yeah?”

“I, uh…” I hesitated, glancing around, but it was just us. Oh good. I didn't need the entire world knowing what happened. It was hard enough explaining it to my family and friends. “My name is Mariah. I was in the group that was in the truck that was almost trafficked? You saved my life.”

His eyes narrowed for a second before he shook his head. “No, I didn’t. Lacey did all the work. If you want to thank someone, you should be thanking her.”

“I wanted to,” I admitted. “She was gone from the hospital before I got the chance and the only strip club in town got burnt down, so I wasn’t even sure where to look.” I pressed my lips together tightly and shrugged. “The only real information I knew was the connection to your club, and I didn’t think it was safe to knock on the front door. No offense.”

He didn’t respond beyond a nod, showing he understood my hesitation. His gaze flicked to the screen again and back to me. He obviously had his own stuff to do. I’d been trying to figure out how to thank him and the stripper, Lacey, properly for weeks, and now that I’d gotten the opportunity to talk to him, I wasn’t really doing it any justice. I forced a smile that feltmore like a grimace and gestured with a wave of my hand over my shoulder.

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