Page 103 of Deserter

Molly raised her shirt and I saw the slash across her upper abdomen. “I’m p-pregnant, Grey. He said—he said he didn’t want kids.”

I clenched my jaw and studied the wound again, wondering how in the hell I was going to tell her that she probably wasn’t anymore. “Carlos, he a gangbanger?”

Sweat beaded down her pale face and she nodded. “Los Dictadores. Do you know them?”

I was familiar with the fuckers. “Yeah. Let’s get you up off the floor.” Her eyes rolled back in her head as soon as I lifted her up. I laid her down gently before pressing the sheet against her stomach to stop the blood flow.

With my other hand, I grabbed the phone from its cradle, relieved to hear a dial tone. Carlos hadn’t thought of that. Wolverine answered on the second ring. “Hello?”

“Need you to come to Molly’s,” I said tersely, keeping pressure on the wound. “And bring Doc. Hell, bring everybody.”

“We ridin’ after?”

That was the thing about Wolverine. He’d been in this world long enough to know that I wasn’t calling him in the middle of the night to chat.

I knew what he was really asking—he wanted to know if we were going to be putting down the mother fuckers responsible.

“Absolutely, brother. Just get here.”

I hung up just as Molly came to, fighting against my hand. She must’ve remembered what happened because she suddenly stopped and began weeping again. “Grey, don’t let me die. Please don’t let me die.”

“Ain’t gonna let you die, doll. I got help coming. You just try to stay awake for me, yeah?”

She nodded with another hiccup. “I told Celia I’d found another you. I was so stupid… thinking that he was different.”

Another me?

Why the fuck would anyone want that?

“He know about me? Know what we are?” If he knew about the club then it was safe to assume his gangbanger buddies did too. I didn’t want to have to clean house tonight.

“No… I swear, I never said a word about you or the club. Lucy would’ve beaten my ass.” Her lips flattened into a straight line and she began shaking from shock.

“Just relax. You hear that? That’s your uncle’s bike. I’d recognize the sound anywhere. And Doc can’t be too far behind.”

I went to stand, and she grabbed my arm. “D-don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.”

Wolverine burst in and took my place. “Doc’s right behind me. Who did this to her?”

“Carlos,” I answered for her. “Los Dictadores. You heard of him? Know where he hangs out?”

“The Ranch,” Molly quietly responded. “Every Saturday.”

Why wouldn’t he be at a strip club every weekend?

It wasn’t like he had a girl waiting on him at home. And of course, it had to be a strip club owned by a former rival club.

Doc arrived and tasked us with getting the electricity back on so he could work. Wolverine stopped me as I headed out to the power box.

“Wait a minute. Look at this. Fucker didn’t cut the power; he smashed the goddamn lightbulbs.”

“She told him she was pregnant,” I said as we surveyed the cabinets, searching for spare bulbs.

“I knew. She was with Luce when she found out. Cocksucker don’t wanna be a daddy, we’ll help him out with that. He dies tonight.”

I agreed and we began replacing lightbulbs just as the others pulled up. Carlos would be begging for death by the time we were done with him.

I hadn’t killed in a long time.

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