Page 159 of Romeo

Unexpectedly, the pillowcase was yanked over his head and the gag sliced free of his mouth with a big-ass knife.

He blinked and checked out his surroundings as best as he could.What the fuck was this?

Wait…

He twisted his neck to see where the heat was coming from that was searing his skin.

Holy fuckin’ shit.

He didn’t think the situation could get any worse until he realized he was on some sort of rolling pan that slid into a large oven.

He was right. Hewasa Thanksgiving Day turkey about to be cooked.

Christ.He did not want to die by being incinerated.

When he recognized his two abductors, it hit him where he was.

It wasn’t La Cosa Nostra. He hadn’t even left Manning Grove.

He was at Tioga Pet Crematorium, a business owned by the Fury. They had bought it for a good reason. And what they were about to do to him was one of them.

Son of a fuckin’ bitch.

Did Maddie go running to her goddamn stepdaddy? DidShade know Romeo fucked her? Or even worse, popped her fucking cherry all those years ago?

With his eyes wider and his asshole pinched tighter than he wanted to admit, he asked, “Tell me what the fuck I did to deserve the death penalty?”

“Your past actions prove you’re a dog,” Shade answered in his slightly slower pace. The Fury member spoke much better now than when Romeo first met him. It was more obvious years ago when he had to carefully choose his words. “Know how many dogs we’ve turned to ashes in this very oven?”

“What’s one more?” Easy wore a fucking grin that Romeo wished he could wipe off the other Fury member’s face.

Holy fuckin’ shit.“You’re gonna fuckin’ burn me to death?”

Both the heat and the thought of being turned into a pile of ash was causing him to sweat. If he had to die, this was not the way he wanted to go.Hell, they could incinerate him, flush his ashes down the toilet and his own club members would have no fucking idea what happened to him.

Here one day, flushed the next.

He threw out a hail Mary. “Don’t you think that’s gonna fuck up the alliance?”

“Who’s gonna know?” Easy asked. “You simply disappeared one day.Poof, you went up in fuckin’ smoke.”

“Ain’t gonna be nothin’ left of you. No fuckin’ proof what happened here tonight,” Shade added.

Romeo knew Shade was “off,” but to kill a president of an MC that was part of the Fury’s alliance? That was totally fucking whacked.

“Know your reputation, Romeo,” Shade growled. “Know you like to use women for your own pleasure, then kick themto the fuckin’ curb. Maddie ain’t a sweet butt. She ain’t for you to take advantage of. Hell, she ain’t for you. Period.”

“She tell you I took—” He slammed his mouth shut. He needed to carefully negotiate with them, not give them shit so they were tempted to say “fuck it” and push the rolling tray with his Black ass on it into those fucking flames.

He stifled his shudder at the prospect of burning to death. That had to be one of the worst fucking ways to die.

Stay calm. Keep your fuckin’ patience. Don’t let ‘em see you sweat.

Too late for the sweating part since beads were already covering his forehead and rolling down his temples just from the heat alone.

“Love my family. Will fuckin’ do anythin’ for ‘em. Last thing I want is for my girl to get burned by the likes of you. You got plenty of women to fuck with. Leave Maddie the fuck alone.”

That sounded like a warning for the future and not the threat of imminent death. Was this whole thing some sort of sick fake-out? He wouldn’t celebrate yet. “You had to go through this bullshit to tell me that?”

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