Page 72 of Never Wed an Outlaw

“Shit, look at this, just got a text on my phone.” Firefly stepped in front of me, holding out a message from Cora on his screen, asking if he'd made it to Texas okay.

I cocked my head. What the fuck was he up to?

“This ain't even the right hospital, brother!” he said, grinning like a fool, before he turned to the receptionist. “We're real sorry for the trouble. We got mixed up. My sister's about to have a baby, and we thought it was here. Just heard she's a little ways upstate – siblings and all.” He shook his head convincingly.

Very slowly, I stared at the receptionist and nodded, playing along. Thank fuck somebody was still using their brain. We didn't need more problems right now.

We had to get out of here, had to hit the road, and stay ahead of the swarming law before they caught up to the Sicilians before we did. The law wasn't cut out for a rescueop like this. If they found the bastards first, I might never see my wife and kid again.

“Well, if there's anything else I can do for you boys, just say the word.” She went back to her screen, oblivious while we walked out.

One quick conversation with the brothers outside later, and we were back on our bikes, heading into a wintery rain on the highway. Cold ass sleet swept down my back, rolled down my leather in rivulets, bounced in front of me like God's wrath before it melted on the interstate.

I could've cursed nature, fate, the universe, everything keeping us from tearing down this road to bring my girl home faster. Instead, an eerie calm filtered through my blood, pulling the hot red sheet of rage off my eyes.

If I couldn't control what the fuck happened next, then I'd at least own the present.

Swore we'd see each other again. I'd taste Hannah's lips, push my fingers through her hair, hold her tighter than my own soul, tell her how fuckin' much I loved her.

I'd say it again. I'd say it a thousand times, pour it on again and again and again, 'til she was sick of hearing it.

These obstacles aimed to make it even sweeter when I got her back.

It was so close now. One big, beautiful, happy family. All the things I never knew I wanted before her. Everything I swore I'd have, or else die trying to claim.

We rode on twelve more miles before seeing that shitty hotel with the suspicious vans out front. I smiled like a maniac into the rain and the wind, grinned 'til Early's ghoststaring back at me looked spooked as fuck.

What're you laughing at, boy?I heard him say, a quiver in his throat I'd never heard before.Don't you know it's about to go to shit? Reaper's gonna take her, right under your fuckin' nose.

“Yeah, old man, it's gonna be fuckin' awful for them,” I whispered. “Haven't been so ready for a kill in my life. Hope you've got room on the other side for these motherfuckers.”

Motherfuckers? Is that what you're calling your wife, your kid, the brothers you're about to get blasted in a shoot out over jack shit? You've already lost, Danny. Let them go.

“They ain't going anywhere but home. You know damned well who I'm talking about. Save a seat for Dom next to Satan after I rip his fuckin' throat out.”

I've got one for you, Danny boy.

You're a bad seed. Only ones who deserve to be reunited down here are you and me. Not that poor woman you've kicked halfway to hell, and another bastard kid who's gotta carry our tainted blood.

Rain dripped down my face. I'd lost my mind about an hour ago, but talking to this sick motherfucker gave me something to do, besides riffling through the hundred ways I'd personally murder Dominick Barone.

“I'll be there, telling you to shut the fuck up for the next trillion years if it gives my wife and kid a chance. Hell, we'll hang out all fuckin' day while the devil spit roasts us, and I'll remind you what a worthless, cheating, boozing piece of shit you were to Ma, and how you ran this club into theground. We can both look up at everybody still breathin', wearing our patch proud, families growing like grapes on a vine with the richest soil anybody ever seen. You can watch me smiling while I'm tortured, old man, because I know I've done well. And I'm gonna bring her home before I die. Long before I ever listen to another word of your miserable, sadistic, cowardly fuckin' shit.”

I expected more hell shattering my head. Something about Hannah being dead, a ghostly scream so vicious it'd cause me to wreck, or maybe just his evil laugh, drifting through the sleet.

But it was quiet, lonely, magnificently desolate in this freezing rain, going down the final stretch.

For the first time in my life, behind the icy patter and the steady roar of engines, I heard a silence, dense as the thick sheet of grey clouds hanging over us. It was up to me to fill that void, wash it clean with blood, before I took everything I ever wanted, and never let go.

13

Scattered (Hannah)

Iwoke up in a sweat and smelled...pomegranate.

Jerking up, my stomach heaved. Just when it didn't seem possible, my body learned to hate the scent of that sickening fucking fruit more than ever.

“Hold her the fuck down. She moves too much. Bound to do some real damage if we let her kick and scream.” Dom smiled, sitting in a chair next to me, switchblade in his hand.

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