Page 79 of Never Wed an Outlaw

He looked white and clammy. He'd lost a lot of blood. His legs didn't seem to work quite right from the nerve damage my shot did.

“It's not too fucking late,” he said, speaking with a jagged rasp. “Don't be an idiot, Dust. We can forget all about the debt, the blood that's been shed, the stupid goddamned girl. I'll give you anything you want. There's almost eleven million in the bank and plenty more offshore. Easy to grab out of my Virgin Islands accounts. It's all yours, if you'll just let me go. Your club, your family...you could all be rich. Very, very comfortable.”

I looked at him for a long, hard second. Never seriously considered the offer before I stomped his hand, pressing down with my boot, splintering several fingers.

“How many times did Hannah beg?” I growled, increasing my weight while I crouched down on my knees,switchblade in hand. “You think money even fuckin' matters at this point?”

Behind me, the boys gently laid down the tools I needed to give this prick a one way ticket to the next world. Dom stared at me in the darkness, his eyes wide and watery.

No surprise. The biggest, most merciless bastards always became dickless cowards in the end.

“It's never too late to negotiate, Dust. Come on!” He blinked slowly, licking his cracked, dry lips. “We've both been in this world for a long time. I made you name your price when I had the edge. It's yours now. Please, just tell me, how much to make this right?”

I brought out my pipe, gave it a light, and pulled it to my lips. Pushed smoke into his evil face 'til he coughed, while I reached for the pliers tucked behind me.

“Let's get one thing straight, motherfucker,” I snarled, moving my foot on his hand 'til he groaned. “Soon as my bullet hit your back, you were done asking questions, or making demands. That's my job. I'm only gonna ask you about my girl begging one more time before I rip out your tongue –how many times?”

I needed to know how much he'd made her suffer. Had a damned good idea the answer was too much. And I'd make him pay for all of it, one meticulous, cruel inch of flesh at a time.

“Dozens, okay! Maybe hundreds. Honest. Now, can we make a fucking deal?”

I smiled grimly in the dark. This was gonna be good because he still had hope.

Half the demons we'd killed before went out defiant. They knew they were done, and they died like men. Went down snarling, fighting, spitting in our faces to the very end.

The rest whined like bitches, having their sick egos smashed before their bodies were bent and dead.

I thought about my son sleeping with my brothers, about a mile down the road. My woman, too, back at the hospital, slowly working herself up from hell with all the medicine they'd pumped in her system. They'd noticed the kid, the bruises all over her, the obvious signs that she'd just popped out a baby. We'd be paying plenty to shut the doctors up once we were done.

Primal anticipation churned in my blood, but it felt different than it always did before.

Sure, I wanted to kill this fuck. Make him suffer for everything he'd done, but I also wanted to wrap it up because it'd become a damned chore.

The last thing keeping me from my love, my family, was the pathetic, whimpering mess at my feet.

Fuck, this asshole would be crying for his mama before the night was through if I left his tongue intact, guaranteed.

I tilted the heavy pliers in my hand with a heavy sigh, turning my head behind me. “Give me some privacy, brothers. Start the bonfire for this asshole's bones where nobody going down the road can see.”

Smiling, Sixty and Crawl nodded, then slammed the door shut.

I held the freak down who'd nearly ripped it all awayfrom me, shoving the steel pliers past his filthy teeth, grabbing his tongue.

No sense in mentioning what came next. A southern man doesn't torture and tell, even when it involves the most deserving sonsofbitches in the entire universe.

Dom suffered mightily with just the pliers and my raw knuckles. By the time I brought out my switchblade, the battery with the wires, and the acid shit they poured down factory farm drains to dissolve animal fat, the asshole was crying, screaming, blubbering one thing he couldn't pronounce with his fucked up mouth.

Mama.

Hours later,after we burned Dom's body and scattered the ashes to the Arkansas winds, we were back at the hospital. I'd cleaned up at a quick pit stop on the way, and now I sat next to my woman, holding her hand, our son cradled in my other arm.

Outside, the first rays of dawn blinked through the cold, grey horizon. I was nodding off in the dead silence, next to Firefly, when her fingers stirred on mine.

“Dusty?”

“I'm here, darlin'. So's the kid.” I picked her hand up in mine, brought it to my lips, and savored her skin. She already felt cooler, healthier than she had a few hours ago.

“I'm sorry I took off. I never should've ran. I was scared, terrified of hurting anyone. You, Huck, the baby I found out was growing inside me. I –“

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