The second her hand was free, she didn’t fuckin’ hesitate. She dropped her weight to the left, lunging out of his grasp. She hit the pavement for a second when she lost her balance but pushed herself up and ran straight to me.
I took off running towards her with my gun in my hand. We were running towards each other and it felt like every rom-com I’d ever had the misfortune of seeing. For a few seconds it looked exactly like the ending it was supposed to be.
Then Viper lunged, took off running and caught her jacket at the shoulder and wrenched her backward and wrapped his arm around her throat and pressed his gun against the side of her head.
“Don’t come any closer. I swear you’ll regret it.” Most of his composure was gone. Naked fear was showing on his face. He’d fucked around way too much, and now it was find-out time. Of course he was scared shitless. “Take one more step and she dies,” he threatened. “Back the fuck up, all of you.”
“Give me a road,” he said again, his voice now sounding jumpy and desperate. “Just let us through.”
That’s when Winter took her life into her own hands for a second time. Without warning, she slammed her elbow into his ribs, turning her whole body into it.
The gun went off. Only he didn’t shoot Winter. He shot me. I felt the impact before I realized that he’d targeted me. It was a hard punch in the shoulder that spun my body, good job I was still wearing the body armor. I kept moving though. I had to get to her before he decided to shoot her too. So I got up and kept running.
I heard Winter scream my name and saw that he’d grabbed her and was trying to get her back in the human shield position. She was fighting him with everything she had.
I covered the distance between us. My right hand landed on his wrist, and I wrenched it back until I felt something give. The gun in his limp hand fell to the pavement. Viper scrambled after it with his good hand, but I positioned myself between him and the gun. When he tried to force his way past me, I gave him a mighty kick, causing him to fly back and land on his ass.
Then he pushed himself up onto one elbow and made another play for the gun. But he stopped when a long dark shadow fell over him. He looked up to find that in addition to me stooping to help Winter up, Storm was standing over him. Siege was two steps to the right. Jasper to the left. Behind them were the brothers from all three clubs crowding the highway.
“Play time’s over, junior,” Storm ground out roughly.
“You think this is the end?” he sneered.
I crouched down in front of him, my left shoulder burning like a motherfucker. Then I brought my fist up and punched him right in the face before telling him, “You should’ve left my old lady alone,” I stated flatly.
Storm reached down and picked up Viper’s gun without looking away from him. He turned it over once in his hand, glancing down at it. Then he casually tucked it into his waistband.
Viper sat up slowly and looked at the road around him. He was defeated and everyone knew it. He wiped the blood from his mouth and asked, “What’s next?”
Siege spoke quietly. “Don’t start playing dumb now. You’ve been in our world long enough to have founded your own club. You attacked the Dark Slayers’ clubhouse, and had your hands on an old lady. I’m pretty sure you know what comes next.”
Jasper appeared at the edge of the light with his hand around the back of Bran’s collar, perp walking him forward in front of everyone. Bran stumbled into the circle and Jasper shoved him to the ground beside Viper.
He started freaking out, blabbering, “I’m turning in my cut too. I was manipulated. You can’t single me out.”
Jasper shoved him back with his foot. “First you fess up and then we decide what to do with you.”
When he didn’t respond, Jasper growled, “Go ahead and tell the brothers what you’ve been up to.”
Bran began spilling the beans, hoping against hope that it would save his life. We all knew the story, but I was guessing that the members of the clubs Stolen Oath patched over had no idea they’d been played.
“The attacks on the back roads weren’t what you think,” he started explaining. “The Molten Horse riders. The Sons of Rage splinter story. The fuel depot.” He paused. “All of it was Stolen Oath. Most of the brothers didn’t know he was tricking them into agreeing to a patch over. Viper put the teams together, using the same trusted few. Then he sent his officers to the targeted clubs afterward with the protection offer.” He swallowed thickly. “The clubs that agreed to a patch over did it because they believed they were under attack from rivals. It was all just Viper manipulating everyone.”
Viper kicked Bran and spat in his direction, but no one paid much notice.
One of the Stolen Oath riders said quietly, “That’s not true. You’re making up lies.”
Bran looked at him for a long moment. “You were on the Molten Horse run,” he said. “October fourteenth. Back road off Route 22. You rode drag.” He paused. “You want me to name the others?”
Another club member said angrily, “Well fuck this shit.” He walked over to where Viper was sitting, took off his cut and threw it in the ditch. He wasn’t the only one feeling betrayed tonight.
Viper sat there and watched as his crew began pulling off their cuts and dropping them into the ditch near where Viper was sitting. They knew that what Viper had done was wrong. Their only choice was to burn their cuts or suffer the same fate. One by one, they dropped their cuts into the ditch. A couple even spat on Viper before walking away. Viper didn’t say a word to any of them.
Celt walked over, poured a bottle of vodka on the pile and set it on fire. We all stood around watching it burn for a bit. The firelight danced in the darkness.
I finally had Winter back where she belonged, which was in my arms. She wrapped her arms around my waist and was reluctant to let me go. I tucked her head under my chin and refused to let her go.
Storm looked down at Viper and imparted the kind of words of wisdom that come easily to him in situations like this. “You flew too close to the flame and now you’re gonna burn for it.”
