Page 17 of Devil to Pay: Cutter

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CUTTER

This bitch is a trip. We finished off our meal. She’s led an interesting life, spending time all over the south without really settling down anywhere. It doesn’t sound like she has any family she’s close to. I know how that works. I had shit until I found my Horde brothers.

Everything is great until we step inside the Walmart. She shoots me this look like she’s about to unleash evil onto the world, then at the first person we come across, the greeter, Aja puts on a scared face and tells the woman, “I need help. He’s keeping me prisoner.”

But to her dismay, the greeter—her name is Beatrice—she knows me. “Cutter?” she asks. “I highly doubt that. He and his club are good boys now.”

Good boys? That makes me laugh. We’re far from good. We’re just not bad—or not totally bad.

Aja scowls at me and Beatrice and that face just has me laughing harder as I steer her over to the women’s section for toiletries, other shit like that she needs. I bend in to whisper in her ear, “You need to knock that shit off.”

She lifts her chin to give me those wide, imploring eyes like a damn baby kitten. I don’t buy it. She knows exactly what I’m talking about.

“Gonna get me in some trouble you say that shit to the wrong person.” I don’t reprimand her out of fear. There are very few people in the world who scare me and they’re all my brothers. They don’t scare me because they scare me, but rather sometimes I get scared I’m not going to be able to stop them from killing a motherfucker and all the mess that’ll entail.

No, it’s just that I’ve done time and don’t relish ending up in the joint again for beating the shit out of someone. Food sucks. No privacy unless you end up in solitary, which comes with its own set of problems.

“You mean like him?” She points to this giant Appalachian Mountain man who looks like his mom and pops might also be his uncle and aunt. Long, greasy, shaggy hair. Longer, shaggier beard. Crazy eyes. Fuck, he’s got some crazy in those eyes.

When I make the mistake of nodding, those kitten eyes narrow at me while the corner of her mouth tips up and she runs up to him. “Please help. He’s keeping me hostage for sex.”

The guy’s crazy eyes grow huge and even crazier, which I wouldn’t have thought possible until seeing them.

Damn woman. I knew she was about to pull something, but shit. I didn’t expect that. Got to give her points for creativity. He lands a punch on me, it’s going to hurt and that’s a fact.

“He forces me to wax—” She points to her pussy. “Down there. It’s humiliating.”

Aja, Aja, Aja…I sigh then brace.

She picked well. It seems Crazy Eyes has a sense of right and wrong. I know this watching him ball his fists as he steps toward me.

Right. Time to shut this shit down. Rather than get into an ugly fight with the motherfucker, I laugh the whole thing off, sauntering past the megalith man to drop my arm around her shoulders.

“She caught me talking to some bitch, so now I’m in the doghouse because she thinks I was fucking around. This is her way of getting me back.”

“Fuck,” the Mountain says before looking at Aja who has her narrowed eyes trained on me like she’s formulating a new, even better plan. “Shouldn’t do that. I coulda really hurt him.”

Got to say, I like how she keeps me on my toes. Smart and feisty as well as beautiful. That’s a kick ass combination in a woman. But now it’s time to get back into character. “You wonder why I talk to other women,” I say.

“Maybe find one less crazy,” he answers as he turns away.

I dip my face in close to hers to make it look like I’m going in for a kiss. “Try that shit again, I’ll be spanking that ass before I’m pounding in it, and you’ll be feeling everything.”

Swear to God her eyes heat. Does she want that? “It’s just a bit of fun. You want to spank my ass, baby? Spank away. I won’t stop you.”

Yet another thing that makes her different from other women. Even the ones who hang around the club. Aja tells it straight. She wants something, she doesn’t shy away or talk around the subject.

I smile, pressing that kiss to her temple. “Woman. We need to finish this shopping excursion.” Hearing her call mebabydoes something to me. Why? Why does it sound so good coming from her? Other women have used that endearment before. But with Aja, hearing it is like a slow caress of her lips against mine. It’s the softest touch skimming my skin.Damn.I run my hand over my face. It’s just a word. It’s just a damn word.

Once we’re finished picking out all the shit women need—and it’s a ton; I never realized the amount of crap a woman needs just to get through the day—we haul it back up to the clubhouse.

“Drop your shit in my room until I talk with Vlad about getting you one of your own,” I tell her.

She smiles and this feels far too much like something else, so I slap her ass to get her moving. Aja scowls at me, but she can’t hold it, returning my smile with a wide grin of her own.

“You’re lucky I like you,” she says. “I’d hate to have to kill you. Magic dicks like yours don’t come along every day.”

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