My breath whooshed out of me with a grunt.
“You should have come back.”
I knew that voice. I craned my head up to look at Puck. “You fuckingasshole.”
Another biker wrenched my arms behind me and his buddy helped him drag me to my feet. Three-on-one. Puck had come prepared for a fight. A dirty one, but that was his favorite kind.
“Hit him, Puck,” the guy holding me ordered. “Make him regret his fucking choices.”
I struggled to get loose, kicking out behind me and twisting. I almost got free, the guy on my left staggering, but a hard blow to my gut dropped me to my knees with a wheeze.
That was the asshole who’d tackled me. He was a big fucker. He grabbed my hair, yanking my head back.
“Go on, Puck. Send the message.”
I spit blood. “Yeah,Puck. You fucking coward. Give me your fucking message so I can track you down and ki?—”
He kicked me in the face. I went down hard, and then all of them were kicking me. I raised my arms to protect my head and raised my knees to cover my organs. They weren’t going to stop until they were satisfied I’d received the message.
I knew how this shit worked.
“Hey! Stop!”
Flynn had come outside. I recognized his voice. Shit. I really didn’t want him involved in this.
Puck crouched down next to me. “This is just a taste, Knight. You’ve got to come back.”
“No.” I would have liked to say more, but I didn’t have the energy for it. My whole body throbbed with bruises. Every inhale hurt like a bitch.
“We should fucking kill him right now, the traitor!” one of the others said.
There was more shouting and the sound of running feet. Flynn was barreling toward us.
“No,” I half-breathed, wanting to tell him to stay away. Stay far from my mess. Flynn hated violence. He wouldn’t defend himself properly.
Puck thought I was speaking to him.
“This isn’t over,” Puck said. “Be smart, or we’ll be back to finish it.”
Flynn arrived on the scene, big and furious. One of the guys turned toward him, intending to fight.
“No, Jelly!” Puck shouted. “Let’s roll.”
Jelly roll?I laughed weakly, wondering if I had a concussion.
Puck and the other two bikers split. Flynn dropped to his knees beside me. “Shit, Knight. Are you okay?”
I grunted what I hoped was an affirmative.
Flynn’s face twisted with anger. “I should go after them.”
Motorcycles revved up. It was too late for that. They were leaving.
“Damn it,” he swore. “They’re getting away. I should have gotten their plates at least.”
“S’okay. I know who they are.”
I pushed up from the ground with a pained groan, and Flynn got his shoulder under my arm to lever me up. I winced as my ribs screamed, but I was good at taking a beating. I’d suffered all this and worse in one of my fights back in the day.
