Page 89 of Outlaw

Luther filled my glass back up, and I watched him, not having realized I’d drunk all of it.

“I have a raspberry cheesecake in the fridge,” Jayda said, walking over to get it out.

“Grab another bottle,” Luther told her and held up the one he had. “This one is almost gone.”

I should probably go to bed. Picking up my wine, I decided against it. Why start doing the smart thing when I was so good at doing the stupid one?

Forty

Linc

My veins burned, as if they were pumping violence instead of blood throughout my body. Stalking from the plane that had taken me from Georgia to Nashville toward the black Escalade that waited for me, I felt like I was going to snap at any second, leaving a path of destruction in my wake.

I hadn’t been completely sane since Locke had called me.

I’d been in the underground my grandfather had built that sat on the back side of my brother’s land for over five hours when I finally stepped out of it to check with Locke on how the day had gone with the girls. Once I was aboveground, seeing five missed calls and ten text messages hit my phone made my blood run cold. I’d never been gripped by terror like I had in that moment. If he was calling, something was wrong. I didn’t take the time to read the texts. I called him and started for the closest vehicle. I hadn’t told my brother or the other men with him that I wasleaving. I’d just left.

Hale, Ransom, Than, Locke, and Bane were all inside the vehicle when I climbed inside the passenger seat.

“Where the fuck is Luther?” I demanded, looking at Bane, who was in the driver’s seat.

“He’s been drinking. Apparently with Jayda and, uh, Branwen. I mean, it’s just wine, but he’s tipsy,” Bane replied. “I thought Hale would be a better choice. He’s not drunk.”

Narrowing my eyes, I listened to him. “Why the fuck is Branwen drinking?” I seethed.

“Probably because she’s traumatized,” Locke said. “The dude was yelling shit at her, and Stevie was sobbing and clinging to her mom. When I left them at your house, Branwen was barely holding herself together.”

I was shaking. Every muscle in my body was clenched so tight that I started vibrating with rage.

Bane hadn’t started driving yet, and I was seconds away from slamming my hands down on the dashboard and roaring at him to fucking move.

“I know you’re the one who makes the call. But this time, it’s personal, and I know from experience that when it is personal, we don’t think clearly. We act and get sloppy. Take a breath. They are both safe. Locke put a gun in the bastard’s mouth, and when he took it out, he used the butt of it to knock him out cold before dragging him over behind the bushes and leaving him. He never got close enough to touch either of them,” Bane said.

I already knew all this. He needed to drive.

“What call do you think you’re gonna be making, Bane?” I challenged.

He didn’t lead the branch yet. I did. And if he thought he was going to step in before it was time, he was gonna find out how wrong he was.

“Linc, listen,” he said. “We are going in and making sure henever comes near her again. Break his nose, beat the shit out of him, but don’t kill him. That’s a bigger mess to clean up. If he’d have touched her, then yeah. But do you want to explain to Blaise why we slaughtered a man in his house who hadn’t taken, hurt, or even touched something of ours?”

“If he had, he would already be dead,” Locke said matter-of-factly.

Bane nodded. “Right. But he didn’t. This is a revenge visit. One that will keep him in line, quiet, and far away from Branwen and Stevie.”

She could have married that bastard. She and Stevie would have been in his house. For the first time in my life, I didn’t give a fuck what the boss told me to do or would want me to do. The compulsion to beat the dentist until he was unrecognizable, then cut his dick off and shove it up his ass was dominating all other thoughts.

“Just drive,” I demanded, pulling my gun from its holster to make sure it was fully loaded.

“He’s right, Linc,” Hale said from the seat behind me. “You know he is. I understand he attempted to get near your girls, but he didn’t. Because you had protection on them. You kept them safe. All that is needed is to make sure he never tries it again.”

My girls. He’d called them my girls. I glared out the window as my chest rose and fell. Those words hammering in my head. Stevie was my daughter. But Branwen…she was…she was mine. I wasn’t letting anyone else touch her and live. I wasn’t even sure Luther would be safe from me when I got back.

“He lives in a suburban neighborhood,” Bane said. “I went online and pulled up a video from the real estate company that had sold the house to him. I have the layout. We know the points of easiest entry.”

I unclenched my hands and laid them flat on the tops of my thighs. I had to restrain the savage fury that felt like clawssinking into my back, wanting to consume me.

They were okay. He hadn’t gotten close enough to touch them. I kept repeating that over and over in my head while we drove out of the city lights and onto the dark streets, lit only with streetlamps.

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