Obsession (A Bad Boy's Secret Baby) (24 page)

I bounced up to my feet and grabbed the nearest weapon I could find.

The bone saw.

He brought his weapon around to shoot me, but I was just a second faster; I kicked it wide. Wrenching my shoulders, I brought the saw down on top of him. It wasn't plugged in, but it didn't need to be. The heavy base tapered off into a narrow shaft that held a circular blade. It was basically a hammer with a thick razor blade for a head.

I split his skull open, just above the forehead, like it was tissue paper.

Letting go of the makeshift weapon, I stood back up to process the full brutality of what had just happened. It was then that I heard the front door get kicked open. I had just enough time to pry the gun from the Serbian's hand when the biker on watch burst into the kitchen. He took in the grisly scene in one glance, wasting no time opening up on me.

I dove for the only cover in the room, the table we'd had breakfast on, dropping stomach first into the prone position. The bullets trailed me to the floor, easily punching through the flimsy metal that was the only thing between the shooter and myself. I wish I could've claimed otherwise, but it was pure luck that none of them hit me.

“Goran... Goran, are you... awe fuck!” he cried out, rounding the small table. I laid perfectly still as he darted past me, taking for granted that he'd put me down and that I was no longer a threat.

“Branch?” he asked nervously. “Jesus, what the fuck happened here?”

Branch, the second biker, emphatically tried to speak, but couldn't stop choking on his own teeth and blood to get out anything intelligible. He tried to hawk up shattered fragments of bone, but to no avail. Coughing up a small, trickling pool of red bile and saliva, he doubled over and fixed a hateful glare on me.

The latecomer finally followed Branch's eyeline to find me lying on my back, pointing the Serbian's gun directly at him. “Just relax,” I said. “Let's not do anything stup—”

Before I could finish, the final biker jerked his arm up and tried to shoot me. I flat-out had the advantage and put three rounds in his chest. His own twisting motion corkscrewed him, he hit the floor on his back. His white shirt pooled red, it looked like wet, mid spring roses were blooming across his chest.

“That is not how you relax, friend.” I sighed, sharply taking in air. “The opposite, in fact.” I let my head tap lightly against the floor for about a half a second before I remembered that Flora was still outside with Roach.

Scurrying up to my feet again, I bolted towards the back door, hoping I wasn't too late. My mind spun to dark places immediately. After all of that, finding Flora with her head blown off... What a fucking tragic event that would be.

A shuffling sound behind me stopped me cold. I turned, finding Branch, the one that was choking on his own teeth, struggling to get his gun out. He'd landed on top of it when he fell and was too disoriented to get a good grip.

I shot him in the heart without a second thought.

The morality of outright murder didn't so much as slow me down. Besides, I knew what they really came here for. They didn't deserve any better.

I ran for the door.

The wood nearly exploded from the impact of my charging shoulder, but my focus was so singularly narrowed that I barely even felt it. With my eyes locked dead ahead, I spotted them right away.

Roach had Flora kneeling down in front of him, probably because he'd seen too many mafia movies and thought that that was how an execution was done.

He spotted me, fear puckering his tight lips. “Ronin, wait!” The human reptile slunk around behind Flora, trying to use her as a shield. Being that I was the only one to walk out of that building after the gun shots, he'd pieced together what must have happened. “They forced me—”

I put a bullet through Roach's eyebrow.

I'd had to take the shot while I still had it. The more time that passed, the higher chance of Flora getting hurt. I didn't like to kill, but Roach crossed a line—several really—and nothing he could've said would have changed that outcome, so I skipped to the end.

Flora screamed once at the noise, then again when the body fell on top of her. I'd never broken the momentum from my initial run, I was next to her in seconds. Her whole body was shaking from shock and fright as I helped her out from under what was left of Roach.

I quickly looked her over to make sure she wasn't wounded. Aside from some bruising, which stood out on her moon-glow skin, and a few cuts and scrapes, she looked physically fine. It wasn't anything I couldn't patch up.

The inspection complete, Flora abruptly hugged me tighter than anyone ever had. We were both spattered in other people's blood, but it didn't matter.

In that moment, I had her...

And she was safe.

I wanted to console her, to tell her that it was all over now, that everything would be alright. But I didn't want to lie to her. The cold truth of it, was that everything would not be alright.

Under no circumstances would the Knights be willing to let either of us live after what went down today. I'd lost my leverage, and Flora had lost the path to her sister. Not to mention that we were still in hostile territory, and news about my club cutting me loose was just about to break.

Soon, every shit-heel and scumbag would know that I'd lost my protection. I was fair game.

So was anyone stupid enough to be caught with me.

I need to get the fuck out of Dodge, and Flora...

I rested my head on top of hers, breathed her in for what I was sure was the last time. She needed to get as far away from me as possible.

No, everything was most certainly not fine.

We were fucked.

Flora

––––––––

I
'd never seen a man die before.

Once, when I was about six years old, I'd attended a funeral for my grandmother. I hadn't known her well, she'd been bed ridden for my entire young life. The day we'd gone to pay our respects, I'd looked over her perfumed, chemical soaked body in wonder.

Her eyes were shut, lips painted in a dead smile. I'd known, small as I was, that she was gone forever. It had led to an understanding that someday I, too, would lie there in a coffin with a false smile and yellow skin.

Death hadn't been scary. Not then.

Now... now, I was terrified.

“Flora?”

A gritty voice spoke my name. He was insistent, arms crushing me in a hug that was meant to hold me together so I didn't crumble over into fragile insanity. My ears were whistling, skin numb as my brain tried to flee what had just happened.

I was almost murdered, just... erased. Right here, right under the sun.
The grass beneath my feet was rust colored. How could plants look so sinister? Realizing my cheeks were wet, I reached up in surprise. I didn't remember crying.

When my fingertips came back crimson, I knew I hadn't been.

“
Flora
.”

That time I looked up, staring into Ronin's searching eyes. There was an intensity deep in his face, shadows at the bottom of the Earth's darkest ravine. I knew what concern looked like, but to have it aimed at me... and from
him...
the disbelief ate away at my trauma.

Ronin took my hand, scrubbing it with a handkerchief he'd pulled from his back pocket. “Are you alright?” he asked, moving to clean my face. I flinched, but didn't pull away. Knowing that he was removing the gore on my skin—the remnants of Roach, the man who had sold me out—made me shiver.

It also made me remember.

“You really were trying to save me.” My words were a whisper, but he heard me. His body tensed, then he stepped backwards. “The Knights were going to kill me. Like I was nothing.” Hot rage boiled, pushing my voice to a fever pitch. “I wasn't going to fight them! I would have gone along, done whatever they wanted so I could get to my sister, but they didn't care. I was as good as trash to them, wasn't I?”

He flicked his eyes downwards. “No. You were just a loose end. The Knights know that loose ends get tied off, or else they get long enough to hang a man.”

Blunt reality slammed into me. Hugging myself, I saw the dots of blood on the front of my recently washed shirt. Maybe it was the shock, but I started to laugh; a grim, dusty hitch that quickly turned into hiccups.

Furrowing his brow, Ronin leaned my way... but he didn't touch me. “Are you okay?”

“No.” Shaking my head, I dug my nails into my upper arms. The burn of self-inflicted pain served to root me in the depressing moment. “I was going to say that I was sorry. You wasted your time with my laundry.”

His half-smile was too tight. I kept waiting for it to shatter. “Blood can be dealt with. Besides, Roach wasn't using it anymore.”

Together, we both looked back at the corpse.

Swallowing nervously, I said, “You called me a loose end. They were going to kill you too, though. Is it true, what he said?” I didn't dare peek at Roach again. “Were you really kicked out of your club?”

A barely visible tension crept across his jaw. Then it was gone, an easy smile hiding away whatever he'd let too close to the surface. “Yeah. Difference of opinions.”

Like bits of snow, my head packed with the cold memories of my first meeting with Ronin. The way he'd risked his life to pull me from the brothel, how he'd gone back and forth between telling me the Knights were dangerous and locking me in, then this morning, assuring me I could return to them if I wanted.

And then... and then, somehow, he'd known they'd planned to kill me.

Unless I was completely off base, I had a hunch. Limply, my arms dropped to my sides. “Was it because of me?”

His eyes darkened, blacker than onyx. “What?”

“You getting kicked out,” I said. “Did it have anything to do with me?”

For a moment he watched me, and I didn't know what he was thinking. He was too hard to read. Breathing in deeply, Ronin motioned around the side of the building. “Go through the front, you don't want to see the kitchen. Clean up and grab whatever you need. I don't recommend you stay here long.”

“I—what?”

“The Knights left bikes, but Roach has a car.” Kneeling, he dug through the dead man's pockets like he was picking fruit from a grocery bin. I heard the jingle of keys, then caught them as they flew my way.

Gripping the hard metal, I gaped at Ronin and didn't hide my confusion. “You want me to just leave?”

Glancing around, he spotted the outdoor hose spigot. Walking over, he rubbed his palms under the splattering stream of water. “What just happened is only a taste of what the Knights are prepared to do.” Shooting me a quick look, he dried his hands on his jeans. “Your luck has just about run dry. I'm sorry to say that you have to forget about your sister. You don't know where she is, and even if you did, do you really think you'd make it out alive a second time? It's incredible that you've survived this long.”

Bristling, I clung to my fresh anger. It was better—so much better—than the sickening horror I was surrounded by. “So you're abandoning me.”

“Abandoning?” Ronin chuckled, but he sounded so very tired. When he came my way, I stood my ground, trying to speak to him with just my furious glare. “To them, you're just another junkie whore. I bet they don't even know your name or where you came from. If you disappear, they won't be able to come after you. As long as you stay away from Fiddle, you'll be safe.” Hunching lower, he bent near enough that I smelled the musk and sweat on him. It reminded me, again, of what he'd done for me.

How he'd saved me a second time.

A sad smile crept across his face. He whispered, “Me on the other hand? I've fucked with damn near every notable MC scumbag there is. It was something of a hobby of mine. So barring a face transplant, when news drops that I've been cut loose, that I'm no longer protected... Hell, just being near me will get you torn to shreds.” Pointedly, he gestured at Roach. I didn't look; I couldn't. “I've got no illusions as to what comes next. It's only a matter of time now till I’m a second too slow. The only way that you get to walk away from all of this is if you put as much distance between us as possible.”

Licking my lips, I searched for something—anything—that I could use to convince him to help me. I
needed
him, wasn't that clear? Ronin might be out of his club, but he had connections. Roach, dead as he was, made that obvious.

Without Ronin, how could I possibly find my sister?

And if he was right—and how could he not be—I needed his skills. I needed backup.

How could I survive without him?

Glowering at him under my lashes, I chased every plea I had. The one word that came out surprised us both.

“Coward.”

With a blank expression, he stood straight, walking on those long legs around the side of the building. He didn't even have the decency to respond. He just... left me.

Surrounded by trees and my own thoughts, I jumped when a single bird crowed. I couldn't see it in the branches, but the thought of eyes watching me made me cringe. At the same time, I didn't know what to do. Where did I go from here?

Was it possible to walk away?
I can't go after Claudine, according to him.

But I also can't go home.

How could I return? Ronin was right, Fiddle was dangerous, and he could be in Lakeview still. He was likely to kill me if he saw my face again, thinking I'd turn him in to the cops. He was wrong, though.

If I saw him again... I would do much worse.

Squeezing my fists, the car keys chewed at me. I had transportation, that was something. Gazing over where Ronin had vanished, I frowned.
He's not wrong, being near him probably IS dangerous. But, even so...
It was hard to reconcile his bitter claims with my own experiences.

How could I associate this man with my own death, when he'd rescued me so many times?

Rescue.

Locking my jaw, I looked at the backdoor. What was I doing? How could I debate my next step? Even if I didn't have a clear method, I knew what I had to do. Nothing had changed. I'd known it last night when I'd plotted my escape; I'd been willing to go alone. If Ronin left me, my path remained the same.