Page 69 of Ruthless

I stuffed the towels into my saddlebag and then brought my leg over the seat. I was about to start my bike when a familiar rumble drew my attention. I recognized Ace, one of the Sentinels, turning in my direction. I knew all the members in the club, but Ace least of all. He wasn't the friendliest. He didn't speak much, and he tended to keep to himself. What little I did know about him I'd heard from Tanner and some of the others before I'd left Daytona, back when we'd hung out on Main Street or at Tanner's bar.

At forty-something he was the oldest of the Sentinels, built like a professional wrestler, and strong as an ox. Half of his face and body were scarred from a helicopter crash that he’d survived when he’d been deployed, which contributed to his dark, unapproachable looks. He frightened little kids, and the women feared him but still flocked to him because he was a biker. They didn't care about his scars, or that he'd returned home a hero. As far as they knew, he'd received them from doing some dangerous, bad ass biker shit.

He pulled to a stop beside me but didn't shut down his bike. We exchanged chin lifts. "Glad I saw you," was the first thing out of his mouth. "Found out where Jack lives."

It didn't surprise me that the Sentinels had been the first ones to get a solid lead. They ran the streets at night, and they knew their town. He didn't have to say any more. I started my bike and followed him to a rundown apartment complex in a seedier part of town that resembled an old hotel. As we drove through the lot I spotted a black Camaro that stuck out amongst the older vehicles parked around it. We pulled up next to it and dismounted.

Ace said nothing as we walked toward Jack's apartment. He took the stairs two at a time to the second floor. He didn't acknowledge me until we came to a stop outside of a door with the paint peeling off of it. He paused and directed a hard, uncompromising look on me.

"You kill anyone, make it clean."

I gave him a sharp nod, and then watched as he stepped back and raised his leg to kick the door in. We stepped inside and closed and locked the door behind us. Several things registered at once. The room was empty but the TV was on, and the place reeked of weed and cigarettes. Ace and I exchanged a look, and as we both moved to search the apartment, the sound of a door opening stopped us. The noise of the TV had probably blocked the noise of Ace kicking in the door, because the man walking into the room was buck naked and running a towel over his wet head.

When he glanced up and saw two, big, leather-clad bikers standing in his living room, he panicked and turned around and ran. I caught up with him, wrapping my hands around his throat and throwing him against the nearest wall. "What are you running for?" I gritted into his face. "Are you the fuck who took my woman?"

His eyes nearly bugged out of his face, proving his guilt. "What? No! It?It was Daryl!" It hadn't taken much persuasion for him to throw his friend under the bus.

This was going to be easy. "So you weren't there?" I grated, applying pressure. He remained quiet. Losing patience, I punched him in the gut and returned my hand to his throat. "Answer me, you asshole! I recognize your black Camaro." I banged his head back against the wall, not caring if I cracked his skull. The wall cracked instead.

"I?was there!" he admitted reluctantly."But I didn't touch her! I swear! I just provided the transportation."

He was downplaying his role, but I didn't give a fuck. His face was turning red. Instead of loosening my hold I tightened it, resisting the urge to strangle the life out of him. The thought of how terrified Ginger must have been when they’d taken her registered in my mind. "That's not what she said," I lied between my teeth, looking closely for his reaction. I could hear Ace moving around in the apartment, and I knew that he was searching the place. When Jack began to sputter and lose consciousness, I loosened my hold and slammed him a couple more times against the wall to wake him up.

"I j-just held h-her!" he admitted with a pitiful cry.

"That means you put your hands on my woman, asshole. You touched what belongs to me. What do you think I do to fuckers who touch what's mine?" I could feel him shaking violently.

"I-I-I do-don't k-k-know! I-I did-n't huuurt her!"

I shook him, gritting into his face. "Doesn't matter." I wondered how long it would take before he started begging me not to hurt him.

The fact that he'd put his hands on Ginger had me seeing red. I reached down to my boot and removed the knife that I kept tucked inside. I put the tip of the blade against his belly and dug the tip in just until it drew blood. He scrunched up his face and whimpered like a baby. Even now he was too much of a cowered to fight back. He was the kind who didn't initiate shit, he followed whoever he was with, attaching himself like a leech to someone else who had more guts. I fucking hated weaklings, even if it was going to make my job easier. "Tell me where Daryl is, or I'll fucking gut you now." I dug the blade in to remind him that it was there.

"Step back, brother!"

Ace's sharp, unexpected bark made me follow his command without question. I glanced down, seeing that Jack was pissing himself, the spray hitting the dull, linoleum floor and splashing onto my boots. I got up in his face. "I've had piss on my boots before," I snarled. "Unless you tell me what I want to know, your blood and guts will be on them next."

He swallowed. "He's n-n-not he-here, I sw-swear!"

"Already know that, asshole," Ace said from somewhere close by.

"That’s not what I asked you." I dug the knife in a little deeper. He cried out. "You tell me where he is, and maybe you get to live." I might let him live another day, but I would be back for him.

"I-I think he-he's working!" he whimpered.

"Wrong answer, fucker!" I dug in deeper. "I already know he lost his job." I leaned in close, using my weight to crush him against the wall.

His eyes grew big as fucking light bulbs. "I-I think he-he got a new one! At a-a tire sh-shop." I didn't believe it, considering that Daryl was probably hiding-out after all the shit he'd done. He wouldn't be working out in the open right now.

"You expect me to believe that?" I snarled, applying more pressure. "He’s a snake hiding from people he owes money to, and he has to know that there are people looking for him for what he did to Della. So try again." I reminded him of the knife in my hand. "Last chance."

He shot off the name of a shop that I was unfamiliar with off of A1A. "It's his uncle's shop!" This meant that he was hiding out there more than he was working. I made eye contact with Ace, who'd been standing by silently. His nod confirmed that he knew where it was.

I pinned my gaze back on Jack. He looked like a sniveling, crying, red-faced looser. No balls. Killing him wouldn't even be satisfying, but he'd been involved with Ginger's abduction, and I couldn't let that slide. I'd made up my mind to leave him alive until Daryl was out of the way, but now I was having second thoughts about it. My gut warned me that as soon as we left he'd be on the run, but the fact remained that we still might need him.

"You better not warn him or his uncle that we're coming. Don't call anyone. Daryl shows up here before we find him, you get in touch with Vinny at Pirate's Cove. You got that?" He agreed with a nod. "Don't run. If you make me hunt you down I'll cut your dick off and stuff it down your throat." The whole time he was nodding, the relief evident on his traitorous face. "Don't make me regret leaving you alive."

He slipped down the wall onto the floor when I finally released him and stepped away. I slipped my knife back into my boot, turning toward Ace. "You coming with me?"

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