Page 94 of Enforcing the Rules

Baja pulled out, and we drove to the clubhouse.

I grinned in Ray’s face. “Who’d you think bailed you out, you fucking asshole? Well, guess what? Now you’re ours, motherfucker. And it’s gonna be worth every dollar of that bail to hear you scream.”

His eyes got big as his fate sunk in.

When we arrived, the entire club was waiting outside. Memphis and I carried Ray into the building and took him to a room in the back where we cuffed him to a chain in the ceiling.

Rock approached and stared in his face. “You’re gonna learn what happens when someone steals from the Royal Bastards, motherfucker. And I’m gonna make sure your suffering lasts a long fucking time.”

“Can I have a word with him, Prez?” I asked.

Rock glanced at me, knowing what I needed. He nodded and stepped back.

I ripped the tape off his mouth. “I’m gonna make you an offer, because I want to know just what you’d do to get yourself out of this and save your own miserable hide.”

“What’s the deal? I’ll do anything.”

“We took all your money. But maybe you’ve got something else to trade, like a pretty daughter.” I led him down the path I knew would destroy him.

“Kate or Chloe? I’ve got two daughters. Both are pretty. Real pretty.”

“You want to trade them for your life?”

He nodded. “I can call them right now. They’ll come. I swear it.”

“You know what trading your daughters means for them? Means we’ll pass them around among us. Every brother in this room will fuck them six-ways-to-Sunday. Means we’ll do some dirty, nasty shit to them. And when they’re used up, we’ll sell them to a whorehouse across the border. The Escareno Cartel is always looking for pretty white women.”

“Fine. Fine. Do whatever you want with them.”

I punched him in the jaw, my face twisting into a vicious snarl. “I knew what kind of man you were, but hearing it come out of your mouth makes me want to peel the skin off your miserable hide. What kind of father doesn’t give a damn about his own daughters?”

Rock stood with his arms folded, waiting.

I looked back at him. “I got what I wanted.”

Darko passed Rock a baseball bat, and he, in turn, held it out to me. “Here, Utah. You take the first swing.”

I took it from him, clenching my hands around the smooth wood.

“No. No, please,” Ray begged.

“Wonder which one’s gonna hold out longer, the bat or Ray.” I smiled at Rock, but it didn’t reach my eyes. Then I reared back and slammed the bat into his ribs.

The crack of several of them carried through the room.

Ray howled in pain, but I had no sympathy to give.

I wanted to beat the fuck out of him. I wanted to break every bone in his miserable body, if not for what he stole from the club and almost killing Night Train and his dog, then for how he treated Kate her entire life. My hands flexed and my jaw clenched, itching to take another swing, but I knew everyman in the club was waiting for their own turn at this asshole.

It was almost 3 am when we buried Ray in a place so remote he’d never be found. He’d lasted much longer than any of us expected. I was tired, and I needed a shower and to crawl into bed with Kate. I needed to wrap my arms around her, breathe in her scent, and let all this roll off me. I needed peace. That’s what she brought to me.

Baja dragged some brush over and covered the tilled dirt, then tossed some rocks on top to make sure no critters would dig him up.

I leaned on the shovel. “Let’s go. I’m beat.”

Memphis squatted down and tossed some more large stones, then straightened and brushed his hands off.

The three of us were the only ones on this errand. We put the shovels over our shoulders and hiked the ten minutes out of the woods and to the truck we’d left parked on the side of the deserted road.

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