Page 138 of American Hellhound
“Bought him. And Kris, too, since you can’t take one without the other. He said he didn’t want, and I quote, ‘Another goddamn slut running around,’ but you can’t control Reese without his sister. Badger chained her up and…” Roman took a deep, unsteady breath, hands curling into fists in his lap. His energy faded, his gaze drawing inward. “He showed her to me, after they voted me in as a prospect. Sometimes he brought her out into the clubhouse, on his arm, you know? But he took me back to…to where he kept her. Bars on the windows. Chains.” He circled his own wrist with his hand, miming shackles. “That was a mistake.”
“You wanted to save the girl,” Ghost said. “And so you had to take the brother.”
“She wouldn’t leave without him. She knew they’d break him or kill him if they didn’t have her anymore. And he was already broken.”
Ghost sighed and rubbed both hands down his face. “Some of my guys have been through some rough shit. And I meanrough.” He thought of Tango: eyeliner, track marks, white porcelain bathtub full of blood. “But this is…a whole new level of fucked up. This kid needs to be in some kind of facility, or something.”
“Yeah, he does. Know any facilities that can handle highly-trained, antisocial killing machines?”
“Does he listen to you?”
“Not well. That’s why he killed the dog. That’s why he went overboard with Maggie’s office.” He winced. “Sorry about that. Again.”
“Fuck you,” Ghost said evenly. “He seems to like Mercy.”
“Well yeah, he’s huge. He’s like, the physical embodiment of authority. Reese is all about having a, like, I dunno. A master.” He made a face. “Ugh. Not in a sex way.”
“No, I didn’t figure,” Ghost said with a snort. “Seriously. What am I supposed to do with him?”
Roman shrugged. “Patch him in? He doesn’t know how to sit at a table and eat like a regular person, but he’s trained in hand-to-hand combat, weapons, does all that crazy parkour shit or whatever it’s called. Half-ninja, half-Navy SEAL, no personality.”
Ghost folded his hands over his stomach and eased his chair side-to-side. “Guess that means you’ll have to stay close for a while, then. Or at least the sister will.”
Roman’s eyes flashed. “I’m not dumping her anywhere.”
“Hmm. Funny how you’ve set yourself up to stay, isn’t it?”
He didn’t answer, examining his dirty fingernails.
“I feel like you’re expecting a lot of my generosity.”
“Backing out?” Roman’s gaze lifted to meet his, hard to read, but hinting at just a little hope.
“Not with the Saints. Those assholes have got to go. But.” He tilted his head toward the door. “I didn’t sign on for the Wonder Twins.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“After we deal with Badger, I’ll reevaluate.”
Roman studied him a moment. “You look good back there. Behind his desk.”
Ghost smoothed a hand across the weathered wood. “It’s not his desk anymore. He never deserved it in the first place.”
“No.” Roman’s smile was small and sad. “He didn’t.”
~*~
When Mercy called and said he couldn’t come home tonight, Ava started to worry. A nagging voice in the back of her head that grew louder and louder as the afternoon wore on, the storm giving way to a slow, steady rain, the kind of weather that made her want to curl up in bed next to Mercy’s steady warmth and let the day’s tension bleed slowly from her limbs.
Whitney stopped by after five with a painting – Ava had commissioned her to paint the kids – and immediately offered to babysit for a few hours. “Go, it’s fine.”
Ava picked up Chinese takeout and headed for Dartmoor…
Where she found the gates shut, two hangarounds posted on either side of them.
Frowning, heart rate kicking up a notch, she rolled down her window. “Everything alright?”
The one nearest her snapped to attention immediately, walking up to her window. The other went to open the gate. She didn’t recognize them – she felt a little bad for that, actually – but they clearly knew who she was.
