Page 49 of Bounty
“Effie!” Daria cried, rousing from her near stupor.
Cash barreled over with Daria and Ophelia hot on his heels. They crowded behind me before I could warn Daria away or tell Cash not to look.
“What have they done to her?” Daria cried.
Dutch slapped Effie and she reeled back. He grabbed a handful of hair and put a knife to her throat. “Talk.”
Tears brimmed in her eyes, but she glared at him. I felt sick to my fucking stomach. Any moment, I expected Dutch to slit her throat.
“Come on, baby,” I said, shocked at how my own voice trembled. “Don’t be stubborn, Effie.”
Dutch pressed the knife into her skin. Daria screamed and fainted, so I paused the video. Ophelia held her until Dolph stood and lifted her into his arms, carrying her away. He walked out of the clubhouse with her. I assumed to bring her around the corner to Prissy’s place.
I pressed play and resumed the video.
“One more fucking chance, you stubborn little cunt,” Dutch roared. “Speak or die.”
“Slice,” Effie said, and her little sob broke my fucking heart. “I will never regret our time together. I only wish we had longer and I’m so sorry I wasn’t willing to hear you out. I never believed in love. The only pure and genuine love I saw was between my parents, but I fell in love with you over the course of the last eighteen months during our conversations. I just didn’t realize it until we were in each other’s company. I love you. I know you don’t feel the same and that’s okay. Tell Mom I love her and I’m so sorry our last interaction ended the way it did. I love her so much. I love her, Dad, Heath, and Cassie.” She swiped at her tears. “I still think Chad’s a fucking asshole but tell her I wish her all the happiness in the world.”
She went silent.
“Say the rest, Effie,” Dutch ordered.
“Fuck you.”
“Hold my phone, Rusty.”
I knew Rusty. He had a bushy beard and an empty head. Effie crumpled at the blow to her midsection. Dutch yanked her to her feet and shoved her closer to the camera.
He wrapped an arm around her neck and began fondling her tit. “You want this bitch back alive,Pretty Boy? You have twenty-four hours to get to Jackson and turn yourself in. Otherwise, we’ll take her head in place of yours and consider the bounty paid.”
The call ended.
“Send me that clip,” Cash ordered.
I didn’t move. I continued staring at the phone and the thumbnail of the video where Effie professed her love and refused to tell me to exchange my life for hers.
Ophelia attempted to take my phone, but I tightened my hold.
“Fuck!” Cash yanked it away. “Fall apart when she’s back.” He pressed a few buttons, then threw my phone on the table. “We need all hands on deck.”
“So far, all you’ve done is issue orders,” I snapped, unhinging. I got to my feet and kicked my chair, wishing it was Dutch. “You have a lot of fucking nerve acting as if you know what I’m feeling. No one that you love has ever been in fucking danger.”
“Listen up, motherfucker—”
“I have a fucking name,” I sneered, debating on ignoring everyone’s orders and finding Effie. I was past the point of caring about orders and past the point of diplomacy with Cash. “And it isn’t motherfucker.”
“It could be motherfucking Bugs Bunny,” Cash barked, unfazed by my anger. He was tall and muscular, but I wasn’t a fucking runt. And, despite how well-preserved he was, he was older than me. One-on-one, I’d wipe the fucking floor with his ass. “I don’t want to be here any more than you fucking want me here, but Outlaw and Goose are acquaintances and I got marching orders to assess the situation and see what the fuck was needed toassistRed Rum. You motherfuckers don’t havethe technology. You don’t have space. You don’t have fire power, so shut the fuck up, sit the fuck down, and let me do my goddamn job so I can get back to Hortensia and see my fucking children.”
I couldn’t believe he’d procreated and populated the world with more little hims. Fucking asshole.
Cash stalked to the wall behind our table and hefted the duffle bag that had sat forgotten since it was delivered.
Glaring at me, he removed his guns at his sides, then the shoulder holster. He stripped down to his bulletproof vest and underwear, and replaced his jeans, white T-shirt, and cut with the name ‘Cash’ to an all-black outfit and a cut with ‘Ghost.’ He strapped up again and grabbed another handgun from the bag and two skinning knives.
Somehow, I didn’t allow my mouth to fall open. Yeah, we’d opened this can of worms when I was ordered to steal the drugs. And, yeah, that was a fucking capital offense tointerceptanother club’s merchandise. And, yeah, Cash was right—I almost strangled on that admission—about what we did and didn’t have.
But fuck me sideways, I’d never seen as much hardware.
