Priest’s eye scanned my face. “What do you need from me?” I felt his silent acceptance and reassurance in those simple words.
“Not much,” I replied with a bright smile. “Just a towel, pliers, and an electric razor.” Priest quirked an eyebrow in question and failed to keep his amusement from reaching his eyes. “I can make that happen for you, angel.”
Whistling my favorite Bon Jovi song once more, Priest followed me back down into the confessional. I waved at Malice where he was strapped to the chair, and the eye that wasn’t swollen closed tracked me across the space. Priest went over to his workbench and unrolled a set of pretty matte black knives. He got busy sharpening them while I spread the towel under the head of the deceased Iron Raider. I whistled while I worked, shaving the head of the dead man. I pursed my lips and tapped my chin with my finger while I deliberated before I decided to shave off his eyebrows and facial hair too.
“What are you doin’ to Joker?” Malice rasped in a broken voice.
“I’m shaving off his hair, obviously. For safety purposes.” I hummed in thought again before turning to Priest. “I don’t need to shaveallhis hair off, do I? Like…will body hair hurt their tummies?”
Priest kept sharpening his knives but screwed up his expression like he was deliberating. “Nah, I think it’s more about DNA evidence and less about their digestion, but who knows for sure. Long hair definitely has to go, though.”
“Those poor babies, getting the tummy troubles from icky bad biker hair.Not on my watch!” I started running the razor over Joker’s arms. His shirt and jeans had to be cut off so I could get his body hair, but I drew the line at his stained and dirty boxers. I wasn’t giving Joker a Brazilian, not even for the piggies.
“Wha-what are you talking about? Why are you doing that?” Malice asked, fear causing his scratchy voice to shake.
“We’re getting Joker here ready for feeding time. Don’t worry, though, you’ll get your turn next.”
I finished shaving Joker and set the razor aside, reaching for a pair of pliers. Now it was time to remove Joker’s teeth. While Priest had been beating information out of Malice earlier, I had taken a moment to research what pigs could and couldn’t eat. I didn’t want to be responsible for making Georgia’s piggies sick with non-kosher biker bits! Turns out, pigs could digest bones, but they couldn’t completely digest human hair or teeth. Hence Joker’s postmortem makeover. I had a hard time reaching a few of Joker’s molars and had to break his jaw to get his wisdom teeth out.
“Gotcha!” I exclaimed, holding a large wisdom tooth up to show Priest my prize.
“Well done, angel,” Priest praised.
I blushed a bit at the praise and waved him away. “Aw shucks, Priest. I’m just doing my part for the pigs. I can’t wait to meet them.” I stood and stretched before turning my sights on Malice. “Okay, Mal, you’re up.” I turned the electric razor on. “Time for your makeover.”
“Wait! Why are you doing this? Please! I told you everything,please stop!”
I sighed. “Look, I get it. I wouldn’t want my head shaved either. This dye job took forever, and it’d be a shame to see it cut off. But we can’t be cruel to animals. That’s not okay.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Malice looked from Priest to me, getting more hysterical by the second.
“The piggies, duh. They can’t eat your hair or your teeth because it’ll hurt their tummies. So it’s gotta go.”
“Pigs?” he almost screeched. “What fucking pigs?Jesus Christ,” he sobbed.
I patted his head soothingly as I shaved his eyebrows off. “I know, I didn’t know about the pigs before today, either. We both learned something! Fun, huh?” I whistled more “Livin’ On a Prayer” as I shaved Malice from the waist up until he looked like one of those naked cats. Priest had helpfully removed his shirt a while ago, so it didn’t take me as long to shave Mal as it had Joker because I didn’t have to cut any clothing off.
Setting the razor down, I grabbed the pliers and gripped Malice’s jaw, which he jerked away from me in a panic. I held my hands up. “Look, I didn’t have this on my bingo card today either, buddy. You’re the one who ruined our breakfast. I’ll tell you what, though. You tell me what you know, and I’ll wait until after you’re dead to rip your teeth out and feed you to the pigs.” Crazed eyes shot to Priest, like he could somehow save him. That got on my nerves because Priest had been the one to torture him all afternoon! I hadn’t hurt him at all,andhad even tried to liven up his torture through the magic of song. You shave a man’s nipples and tell him about man-eating pigs ONE TIME, and suddenly, you’re worse than theliteral torturer.
Typical.
I shook my head in exasperation and grabbed his face, smushing Malice’s lips together with my fingers. I held up the pliers in my other hand and tapped them to his lips. “You know more about what Riot has planned with the Callahans. Tell us and I’ll make sure you die quickly with all your teeth. Don’t, and Priest will pull each tooth out before we deliver you to the piggie palace…alive.We’ll serve the pigs your severed toes to whet their appetite before they get to the main course.The last thing you’ll ever see will be the hairs on their chinny chinchins.”
In the end, Priest didn’t even have to remove a single tooth before Malice told us everything we wanted to know and then some. Tank and Rook drew the short straws and had to get the bodies prepped for transport to Georgia’s farm after Priest snapped Malice’s neck. After all, a deal is a deal. Hopefully, the pigs wouldn’t mind less-than-fresh biker bites.
Chapter 20
Riordan
Negotiating a meeting between the bratva and Los Cuervos was fast-tracked after the most recent kidnapping attempt. My father and I, along with a contingent of our guards, entered Savage Delights to find the Crows waiting. The repurposed warehouse felt oddly hollow in the light of day, the animalistic energy of bloodsport and seething crowds having faded away under the harsh rays of the sun. Our scouts had eyes on the building within minutes of the warehouse being designated our meeting place, ensuring that the MC didn’t try anything underhanded. Not that I thought they would. I trusted them… up to a point. An alliance with our bratva would benefit them far more than it helped us. However, the attendance of thepakhanat this meeting ensured the strictest security measures were in place. My father was one of the most powerful men in the country, so he never went into a situation blind.
Three of our soldiers peeled off as we entered Savage Delights, keeping an eye on the building perimeter and the gravel lot. Ivan, who stayed behind at The Goldfinch, had a drone making passes over the area to keep an eye on any potential approaching threats, and had already verified the Crows numbers with thermal imaging. Nothing would be left to chance. Inside, the Crows were fanned out on the side of the raised amphitheater farthest from the doors. Duke and Priest were waiting on the ground floor, and my cousin was currently doing cartwheels in the fighting ring. When Indigo noticed we’d arrived, she lost her balance and flopped down onto the mat in a heap. She popped back up with an, “I’m okay!” and moved to sit in front of the ropes with her legs dangling off the ring.
Considering her most recent brush with death, she looked good. Happy. She’d gained some weight and muscle mass since the first time I’d seen her in Allure, and it was reassuring to know the Crows were taking care of her. My father acknowledged Indigo with a respectful nod before he greeted the bikers, a subtle reminder to Los Cuervos that she was his main priority in the room, and everything else an alliance with the MC entailed was gravy. If this offended the biker president, he didn’t show it. Indi waved at me with a grin, and I dipped my head slightly in response, working harder than I should have had to work to suppress an answering grin. Something in her called to the fun, troublemaking part of myself I thought I’d lost in childhood. I couldn’t help but think that if we’d been allowed to grow up together, we would have been a pair of hellions getting into all kinds of trouble. It was just another thing Roark Callahan robbed our family of.
My father stopped a few feet past Indigo’s seat, again subtly indicating that Indigo was considered one ofus.She was under the protection of thepakhan, and he valued her enough to put himself between her and the bikers. Sure, all our guards and I were also there to protect his six, but the gesture was not lost on Duke. Priest took the measure of my father as the two leaders greeted one another, his calculating gaze only flicking over to me momentarily before they lingered on my cousin for longer than I liked. Priest’s Care Bear stare was more heated than usual. Something seemed to have changed in thepast few weeks because the VP wasn’t even attempting to hide the glint of possession in his eyes whenever they were cast in Indigo’s direction.
If Indi wasn’t practically glowing from her perch on the ring, I’d be pissed at the way he looked at my little cousin, but any fool could see she was just as drawn to the Crow as he was to her. Duke stepped forward and offered my father his hand. “Welcome to Savage Delights,pakhan. We appreciate you takin’ the time to meet with us. Your son suggested that our two organizations might benefit from an alliance, and after the eventful few weeks we’ve all had and what we’ve learned, I gotta admit that he might be right.” My father eyed the bikers shrewdly, weighing the prez’s words before he spoke.
