Page 72 of Deranged (American Street Kings 3)

I roughed my hand through my hair, trying to swallow this heaviness lodged in my throat.

“I can’t believe she’s his sister.”

I bit the inside of my mouth, thinking of the blood that coursed through her veins being the same as that of my enemy.

“Crazy shit,” Manic muttered, and I lost it.

Slamming my first against the steering wheel, I cursed as the rage poisoned me. All this time, I was sure I had no more space left in me to be consumed by hate. But I was wrong. Apparently, there seemed to have been another little empty corner in my soul which was now occupied with something worse than hate, or fury.

Heartache.

Manic finally shut up, not daring to say another word as I kicked at the motherfucking dash. “Jesus fucking Christ!” I screamed, my heart pounding against my ribs like a sledgehammer, cracking bone.

Harley engines roared, coming from a distance.

“Granite and Dutch.” Manic stated the obvious.

I got out of the van and lit a cigarette, pacing across the asphalt as they parked their hogs on the side of the road.

“What happened?” Granite walked right up to me, probably sensing that things were all fucked up inside my head.

“Wraith.” I couldn’t even say her name without wanting to break something.

“What about her?” Granite looked from me to Manic, but Manic knew better than to speak for me.

I took a long drag from my cigarette before facing him. “She’s his sister.”

“Whose sister?”

Another drag. “Slither.” I breathed his name out with a cloud of smoke. “She’s Slither’s sister.”

“What?” Granite’s eyebrows curved with confusion. “He has a sister?”

“Yup.”

“Hold up,” Dutch joined in. “Wraith is Slither’s sister? How, when, and what the fuck?”

I flicked the cigarette on the side of the road. “She was a rat.”

“Jesus,” Granite breathed, pulling his hand through his hair, staring down at the ground. “What happened here?”

I hunched down, clenching my fists. “She came with Slither tonight, meeting the Sixes.”

“Why?”

I glanced up at him. “She’s the Pythons’ clubwhore. Well, sorta.”

“What are you talking about?”

I swallowed, the words too sharp to utter, afraid it would slice my insides into pieces. I indicated toward Manic, urging him to tell the story further.

He cleared his throat. “Slither brought her here tonight as part of the distraction.”

I cursed a string of f-bombs, the thought of another man touching her tearing me the fuck apart.

Unable to contain the rage, I jumped up and slammed my fist into the panel of the van, causing a huge dent…almost like the hole in my chest.

“Onyx.” I turned when I heard Crow’s voice. “I have to give it to you. Some stunt you pulled, finding a way out of the deal with Slither.” He looked at Granite. “You have my respect, man, putting your club’s needs before your own.”

---