Page 71 of Rogue

“All right, I told them where they could find her… at the old quarry… and we’ll all be waiting,” Teller says and both he and his man laugh.

“The Devils are gonna know it’s a trap,” I slur because it’s hard to talk with the way my face is throbbing and my head pounding. “They’re not as dumb as you pieces of shit.”

My eye feels like it just exploded as I get backhanded hard for my trouble. But it was worth it just to see the stupid, childish flash of anger on Teller’s face.

“What now?” Tito asks. “We go to this quarry place?”

Teller and his guy exchange a pointed, meaningful sort of glance. The other guy nods and Teller yells, “Now.”

Shots ring out outside at the exact same time as Teller and his guy lunge at Tito and his brother.

The brother squeaks as his throat gets pierced by Teller’s knife, severing his vocal cords and making blood gush out in an arc like a terrible fountain.

“No!” Tito screams, and manages to get a shot off, but then he’s slammed into the kitchen counter, the gun flying from his hand, a knife sticking out the side of his stomach.

“We had a deal,” he pants as he slides down to the floor, his legs seemingly not supporting him anymore. The knife probably damaged his spinal cord. It was long enough.

“We had a deal with Unholy,” Teller says. “Him I could trust… sort of… but you… a minute ago you belonged to an MC allied with the Devils. So you see how I can’t trust you.”

The sheer enjoyment in his voice as he tells him all that makes me sick to my stomach.

“I’m not with Rogue anymore,” Tito says in a pleading voice. “I’m not… honest… you can trust me…”

“Finish him off,” Teller says in a disgusted-sounding voice and his guy shoots Tito twice in the chest, the sound and the cold-blooded act making me shudder.

Then they turn to me.

“You better kill me too, because I’m not going anywhere with you,” I say.

It’s pointless to argue with them, just as it’s pointless for me to grab hold of the armrest in an effort to prevent Teller from picking me up, but I do that anyway.

Teller drags me out of the trailer, the cooler air outside making the cuts on my face sting. The rest of Teller’s guys are standing right outside the trailer. The guys who helped abduct me are not. They’re lying on the ground, bleeding into the dirt.

“It’s all set up?” one of the guys asks.

Teller laughs. “Yeah, it is. This time tomorrow, the Devils will be in mourning.”

A couple of high-pitched sounds zoom through the air, and two of Tellers men fall. Another zooming sound takes out a third.

Teller looks at his fallen men, so confused and taken aback by what happened that he loosens his grip on me. I don’t think, justrip my arm out of his grasp and run down the stairs towards the darkness beyond the van’s headlights.

And run smack into one of the men coming out of that darkness. His arms are gentle as he wraps them around me. And his beautiful eyes, so peaceful yet so full of fire glow like green flames.

“I knew you’d come save me,” I whisper as the sound of gunfire erupts behind us.

“Always,” Rogue says and holds me tighter. “Are you hurt?”

“Not too bad,” I say as I lean against his chest. “But please take me home.”

I’m shaking again. Not out of fear, but from relief that it’s all over. He’s not too steady either as he kisses the top of my head, then takes off his jacket and wraps it around me.

By the trailer all the men who tried to harm me are now down and Unholy is limping towards us.

“They’re all down,” he informs Rogue as he locks eyes on mine. “Are you all right?”

I nod. “Are you?”

“Been better, but I’ll live,” he says.

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