Page 178 of Savage Brothers MC: Tennessee Chapter

In my peripheral vision, I can see four men coming toward us.

“Daddy,” Ryan cries, having already undone his belts.He collapses against me and I allow myself just a second to smell him, to commit his touch to memory.There’s no way I’m going to make it out of this.I know that.I’ll never be able to see Ryan grow up.I’ll never meet his first girlfriend, share his first beer with him, help him nurse his first heartache, buy his first bike, watch him put on a Savage cut… I’ll never be able to see him fall in love with a redhead with green eyes and a dusting of freckles across her face.I’ll never watch him have his own son….

All I can do is make sure Ryan gets away.Rory will protect him.She’ll help him.

“I’m going to give you cover, Ryan.You run.Go to Rory.Give her Uncle Crusher’s number.Do it,” I urge him.

“Okay…” he stops and takes a gulping breath as sobs come out with the words.“Okay, Daddy,” he says.

I open the door and the men are just a foot away.I level my gun and take aim, getting the first fucker between the eyes.I twist around Ryan’s body and drop to the paved shoulder outside, dragging my useless leg with me.I use my body as a shield for Ryan to get out.If I didn’t have a leg that made it impossible I’d run with him, shielding him.

That’s not an option.

“Now Ryan!”I urge my son.The minute I hit the ground, Ryan’s out from behind me and he takes off running.I start shooting again, trying to measure each shot, because I don’t have shit to reload with—that’s in the console.Even if I had the bullets in my hands, there’s no way I’d have time to load the chamber.The men dive for cover, as my son disappears around my truck.

“Get him, for fuck’s sake!”One of the men demands, and I know immediately he’s talking about my boy.I aim for that motherfucker, but just as I shoot, I feel a bullet tear into my shoulder and my shot goes wide.I shoot a couple of more times.I nail another asshole and he goes down—dead before he hits the ground.I feel a shot go into my gut and this one is bad.I know it, because I instantly feel blood pouring.I shoot until I’m out.Even then, I pull the trigger, but the only thing that happens is a dull clicking noise, telling me there’s no bullets left to shoot.I’ve sunk down on my ass, my vision blurry.Blood is pooling against my lap.

When I look up I see a man in a suit standing over me.It’s the same one who ordered one of the men to get Ryan.I start to speak, but I don’t get the chance before he levels a gun at me, aims at my head and smiles.

I turn to the side, to try and get one last glimpse of Ryan, needing to know he’s okay before I die.I don’t see him and I turn back around.My vision is blurry, this is the end.I know it.For a minute I think I see Rory standing with her hands behind her back watching me.It’s not real, there’s no way it could be but seeing her hurts because in that moment I understand that I loved her.I would have fought through all the bullshit and fixed what was between us… I would have…if only I would have had that chance…

There’s nothing I can do about it now.Nothing at all.It’s too late.All I can do is hope Ryan gets to her.

Before I can face my killer and spit on him and maybe tell him that I’ll see him in hell, a shot rings out and the world goes black.

Epilogue

Rory

My body jerksas my brother shoots Noah.I cry out, I kick backwards, I scream… I do everything I can to get away….I get nowhere.It’s no use, I’m not strong enough to fight against the hold Wolf has on me.I can’t get loose.Right now, if he wasn’t holding me, I’d fall to the ground.

My beautiful Noah.

Even with everything between us, even with all the pain… he is a part of me and right now it feels like I’m dying.I watch his head go down, his body lifeless.

“Call the cleaners,” King says and you don’t grow up in the family and not know what that means.

“No!You can’t leave him like this!You can’t!”I scream, although I know it’s useless, of course King can leave him… he just killed him.

I hear this low, sad, mournful sound that seems to echo in the air.It takes me a minute to realize the sound is coming from me.

“Why?Why are you doing this?”I whisper, my voice tortured.“Is it because I slept with him?”I ask, my voice coming out little more than a whimper.

Over the years, I’ve become King’s favorite pet.He loved finding new ways to torture me.We were once so close, but his time alone with my father twisted him somehow and the hate my father always had for me somehow bled into him.My beloved brother is gone and in his place is a monster.A monster who just killed the man I loved… the father of my child.

King walks over to me, his face tight.He’s not happy.In fact, he’s livid.I prepare, because I know when King is bad he lashes out.

I know that better than anyone.

He grabs me by the hair on my head, jerking hard and forcing my head back to look at him.

“I didn’t lead you here to spread your legs for him, Rory.That was never planned.I guess I forgot what a little whore Tony said you were,” he spews the words at me, but I don’t close my eyes—I don’t even blink.I take the words, because I know if I don’t he’ll hit me…or do worse.

“Then why?”

“So you could get close to my son,” he snarls.“You’re going to be the key to getting my child to obey me.”

Obey.Not warm up, not love, not anything fatherly at all… just obey.

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