Page 61 of Queen of Blades

Immediately her guts bubbled, and she tried to swallow the saliva pooling in her mouth. “It’d be in your best interest to put me down,” she tried to warn him.

He chuckled as he sauntered away from the car. “Why would I do that?”

It started with a dry heave. Her stomach lurched, and before she knew it, her breakfast erupted from her stomach, exploded past her lips, and covered Henley’s back.

“Motherfucker,” he hissed and threw her down onto the ground.

With her hands and feet bound, Harper had no way of protecting herself from the fall. Another burst of pain throttled through her hip and shoulder. Landing with a heavy thud, she coughed through more vomit projecting from her.

“What the hell is wrong with her?” Baldy asked as he approached.

“I don’t fucking know,” Henley snapped, then tugged his shirt over his head. “Get inside. You need to see Doc before you bleed the fuck out. You’re pale as shit. Send a prospect out to deal with this bullshit.”

Without a word, Baldy turned and hobbled away.

Grumbling to himself, Henley dragged his jeans down his body before stepping out of them. Standing in his boxers, he glared down at Harper just as her stomach stopped rolling. He crouched down and cocked his head to the side as he brushed some of her hair out of her face.

“I don’t know what the big deal is. If it were up to me, I would’ve shot you by now and put you out of your misery.”

Narrowing her eyes, she wasted no time and spat in his face. “Fuck you.”

“Goddammit!” He jumped back and covered his face. “Bitch.”

When his steel-toed boot found her gut, her eyes bulged, the air left her lungs again, and she sputtered fresh vomit. Agony. She was in the most excruciating pain she had ever felt in her life, but she wasn’t about to go down easily for anyone.

Huffing and puffing, doing her best to breathe through her suffering, Harper rolled to her back and pulled her knees up. From the corner of her eye, she noticed two lanky-looking assholes wearing stiff, impossibly clean black leather cuts.

The prospects.

“What the hell?” one of them said as he stopped and took in the scene before. “Why are you practically naked?”

“She puked all over me,” Henley snarled as he gestured toward her.

The two potential bikers glanced in her direction. One of them gagged as though the scent of her stomach contents just hit him.

“Oh, suck it up.” Henley rolled his eyes. “Bring her inside. Diesel is waiting.”

Diesel?Alarm bells went off in her head as one of them slid his hands under her armpits and the other grabbed her ankles.What the fuck? Dwight is behind this?

No. He couldn’t be. He was a raging asshole, but he wasn’t this big of a dickhead.

Groaning as a fresh wave of torment rolled through her body, she gritted her teeth as the men lifted her. Why would Dwight do this? Was this his misguided attempt to protect her from the bounty on her head?

Never one to shy away from a little violence from time to time to get what he wanted, it was completely feasible for him to rough her up along the way. Hell, he’d done it himself back in the day, so it wasn’t a deal-breaker for him. Especially when he thought he was doing the right thing. Well,rightwas the wrong word. When it came to Dwight, he was relentless when he wanted something. He didn’t care who got hurt in the process.

Little did her longtime ex know, he’d probably just thrust her further into danger by taking her away from the only person who would sacrifice himself for her. No matter Dwight’s intention, he just signed his death warrant, and honestly, she couldn’t have cared less about it. She only hoped it wouldn’t mean her demise as well.

34

Paul

Paulwasn’tsurehowhe’d done it, but somehow, he hadn’t gotten pulled over by the cops despite testing the limits of his car’s speed and agility. He darted in and out of traffic as he raced back to the safe—or not-so-safe—house.

His efforts paid off. The drive should’ve taken a little over two hours, but he made it in an hour and a half. Throwing the car into Park seconds after pulling beside Sam’s SUV, Paul jumped out. He didn’t even close the door before he sprinted around and practically leaped up the stairs.

Shattered glass crunched under his shoes as he stormed inside. “What the fuck happened?” he snarled.

His cousin swiftly exited the security room with a frown. “You’re not going to like it.”

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