Page 80 of Filthy Devil

I almost laugh because I can’t even tell him. A deal isn’t going to fucking happen. I don’t care what that suited motherfucker is trying to pull.

“Don’t know, but he said that James was going to be in danger even if we eradicated them.”

My son growls. “It’s not even the fact that she’s on their list. It’s the blatant fucking threats. I am sick of their shit.”

“Agreed,” I state.

I want to tell him so badly that I’m going nomad after the clubhouse here is up and running, but I don’t want anyone to know yet. Right now, it’s just me and James who know, and I want to keep it that way. Not that I think Elvis would say anything, but it’s better to keep it close to the vest anyway, for now.

“How hard have you been hitting them?” I ask.

There is a moment of silence before he speaks. “Hard. So hard that if there are any left, it’s not many.”

“So this is a way to get that to stop and to get something else out of it, but I’m all out of fucks to give.”

Elvis snorts. “No fucking shit.”

I’m not sure what to say at this point. Having a bounty on my woman’s head is not something I can just ignore. Going into hiding isn’t something we can do either. James deserves to be able to live her fucking life the way she wants.

“Meet with him,” Elvis says. “Meet with him, but there’s no deal.”

“I don’t think that’s going to work for them,” I say with a chuckle.

He snorts. “Yeah, but that’s the way it fucking goes. Because we are not going to give in to any of their demands. Atomic tried that shit, and all it did was fuck us over because they can’t be trusted.”

He’s right. They absolutely cannot, and I’m not fucking with them at all whatsoever. They have a goddamn price on my woman’s head, and they have to go. Every single one of them. She is not for sale. She is not for kidnap. She is not for anyone but me because she is mine.

“What are you going to do?” he asks.

“I have no fucking clue.”

And I don’t.

Not a single one.

“When will they be done?” I ask.

He doesn’t answer immediately. There is a moment of silence. Then he clears his throat. “I don’t know,” he confesses. “There is a group underground.”

“How many?” I ask. “How many groups, how many men?”

My words come out as a demand, and I want to fucking know. Because that determines what is going to happen with this meeting tomorrow. Elvis doesn’t say anything right away, but I hear him let out a heavy exhale.

“Just come home, Dad. Bring James, buy a place here, and enjoy your fucking life with your grandkids and whatever kids you have with her.”

He doesn’t sound pissed or concerned by the fact that James and I might have kids together anymore, whatever the fuck he was before he left here. I’m not sure how I would have felt if my dad was my age and got a new young woman to have a whole family with.

“Us coming there doesn’t fix any of this shit, Elvis.”

“It doesn’t, but it protects you both and keeps you safe.”

He’s right. It could do that. But I’m not a pussy who hides underground because some fuck decides he’s going to do fucked-up shit.

“I’m going to fight, Elvis. Not for any other reason than it’s who I am.”

Elvis chuckles. “I know you are, Dad. Because it’s who I am, too, and that’s who you raised me to be. But I want you to be safe. I can’t lose you.”

Pressing my lips together, I think about his words. I don’t want to be lost to him, my grandkids, or James. I have to think about them all. I have to be here for them all for a long fucking time.

---