Page 71 of No Mercy

“What the fuck do you want, Boomer?” Rock broke the silence. Everything about him was held tight this curled fists, his clenched jaw, the hate glittering in his dark eyes. “I thought we’d killed all the fucking Red Devils.”

A mocking laugh sounded next to me. “There were a handful of us who got lucky,” Boomer said. “Decided to put together a new MC, took things slow to build our number and get our name out there.”

Rock snorted. “Inept as the fucking Red Devils.”

Boomer laughed sarcastically. “Doesn’t look that way now, does it. I’m the one holding your woman, and when Stringer gets back I’ll have your kid.” He paused meaningfully.

“Over my dead body!” I hissed, yanking my arm in an effort to get free.

With a painful squeeze he jerked me up against his chest and warned, “That can be arranged, but you’re way too pretty to kill. I’d rather fuck you instead.” He turned back to Rock with a smirk. “I’ve got it all planned out and you get to watch.”

The low guttural sound erupting from Rock sent chills down my spine. “You won’t live long enough to touch her,” he growled.

Boomer laughed again, seemingly unaffected by Rock’s declaration. “Looks like I’m touching her now.” He kept me against him. “Tank!” he called over his shoulder. The door opened behind us and another biker stepped out.

“Yeah, boss?”

“Help Stringer find the kid, he’s in the woods somewhere.”

The huge biker moved around us and disappeared into the woods.

“Aren’t you gonna ask why I hate you so fucking much?” Boomer questioned Rock.

“I don’t give a fuck.”

“You will. Especially since this is all your fault. I could have been happy staying a nomad, until I ran into a couple of brothers who’d been at the massacre that day and they told me who killed my son.”

“I killed a lot of fuckers that day,” Rock said without feeling. “By the time we were done no one was left standing.”

“Not so. These brothers came up on the fight, took in the situation, and decided to stay hidden.”

“Cowards,” Rock grunted with a twist of contempt on his face.

Boomer shrugged. “They were on the losing side and decided to stay alive and fight another day. They watched Wildman go down.” His tone hardened. “Saw you standing over my son before you shot him through the head.”

“That’s how you kill a rabid dog.”

I gasped, my eyes widening at Rock’s remark. What was he doing, antagonizing this man? I stared at him, trying to read what he was thinking, but he didn’t give anything away. I couldn’t tell if Boomer’s words had affected him. Probably not. From what Boomer had described, the two clubs had been in a violent fight. I wasn’t naive. I knew some of what happened in MCs, and had seen and heard things when we’d been together years before. I didn’t like the idea of killing, but I knew it happened, and usually for a good reason.

I knew that MCs did a lot of good things, too.

The hand around my arm tightened, the only indication that Boomer hadn’t liked Rock’s cruel comment. In the next instant Stringer broke through the trees, a disgusted look on his sweaty face. I smiled when I saw that he didn’t have Sam with him.

“The little shit got away!” he rasped out of breath, stopping behind Rock.

“Tank’s looking for him, too. Get the fuck back out there and don’t come back without him.” Stringer turned around without question, but the downturn of his thick lips revealed he didn’t like it.

“You won’t find him,” I said with confidence. Sam was good at hiding. He was small and could tuck himself into tiny spaces. When we’d played hide-n-seek I had often had to call him to come out because I couldn’t find him.

Boomer stared down into my face, a slow smile crossing his features. “No reason to let this little upset get in the way of what I really want.”

Afraid of what his answer would be, I refused to ask him what that was.

Rock wasn’t afraid, though. “And what the fuck is that?” he snarled. “You want me, here I am.”

“Yeah.” Boomer laughed, but his tone was far from humorous. “You’re going to suffer for killing my son, in so many ways. By the time I’m done with you you’ll be begging for me to end you.”

He turned his attention back on me. I felt panic rising, my mind filled with all kinds of unpleasant things that he could do. I turned my head when he leaned in and put his nose against my neck.

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