Page 174 of Deacon

Priest and I took the porch while Ink and Ghost spread toward the edges of the house with their guns up. Graves and Nomad were somewhere beyond my sightline. Castor would already be behind the place if he wasn’t inside the shadows yet. The porch boards creaked beneath our boots, and then a copper smell slipped through the crack around the door. Blood. Priest caught it too. His eyes changed before he eased the door open.

We entered with our guns raised. Mason Reid lay on his back in the living room, blood pooled beneath him and already going tacky at the edges. One arm was twisted wrong. His eyes stared at nothing. I had spent weeks wanting the man away from Lila, but dead on a hardwood floor was not a picture I had ever bothered imagining.

Priest’s gaze swept the room without settling on the body. “What the fuck happened here?”

A voice answered from deeper in the house. “Well.” The word floated out light, almost amused. Then Jude stepped from the kitchen. “Guess the neighborhood is going down the drain. Neighbors are going to start complaining about a noise problem.”

Lila was locked against his chest, and everything in me stopped. His arm crossed her chest, pinning her back against him. A gun pressed beneath her jaw. One wrist was cuffed, the chain dangling from Jude’s fist. Her lip was split. One side of her face had swollen, blood tracked down from her hairline, and her other arm hung in a way that made my stomach turn before I could name why.

Her eyes found mine. “Jackson.” My name came out of her like pain.

Jude smiled at whatever he saw happen to me. His own face was cut open above the brow, scratches carved down one cheek, but he looked pleased with himself. Wired. High on control he only had because he was hiding behind her.

“Easy now,” he said, tightening his hold when I shifted forward. “Would hate for this reunion to get cut short.”

The gun dug harder into Lila’s skin. Priest’s hand came across my chest, firm enough to stop momentum without turning it into a fight between us. “No shot,” he said quietly.

I knew. My body still wanted to move, every instinct screaming at me to get her out of his hands. “Let her go.”

Jude’s grin widened. “That’s adorable.”

Lila flinched against him, and my grip tightened around my gun until my fingers ached. I forced myself to loosen it before tension showed in the muzzle.

He looked from Priest back to me, enjoying the room far too much. “Your president and best buddy.” His eyes brightened when they landed on me. “And you, the long lost lover and proud father. Lila should feel honored, you came fast. That’s love, I guess.”

I kept my sightline steady on his face instead of the barrel under hers. “Only reason you’re still breathin’,” I said, “is because she’s in front of you.”

“Oh, I know.” He tipped his head against hers for half a second. Lila recoiled as far as his grip allowed. “That’s what makes this fun.”

Behind me, Ink and Ghost held the entrance. Graves and Nomad were somewhere outside, and Castor was a promise at Jude’s back. I couldn’t look for any of them. Couldn’t give Jude a reason to wonder what I was waiting for. I needed him talking, comfortable enough in his own cleverness to forget that five other men had come to this house with me.

Priest shifted half a step left, widening Jude’s field of attention. “You killed the doctor?”

Jude glanced down at Mason like the body bored him. “He got emotional.” A small, horrified sound slipped from Lila, and Jude’s smile sharpened. “See? That’s the problem with weak men. Too many feelings. Not enough follow-through.”

I kept my eyes on her. Her chest was rising. Falling. Too fast, but steady enough. Blood at her temple. Bruising on her face. Terror in her eyes she was fighting to hold together.

“I’m here, baby,” I said, keeping my voice low enough that it belonged only to her. Her mouth trembled, but she stayed with me.

Jude laughed softly. “God, that’s pathetic.”

I gave him nothing. “Look at me, Princess.” Lila did, and the room narrowed until there was only her face and the fact that she could still find me through everything he had done to her. “That’s it,” I said, keeping my voice low. “Just keep lookin’ at me.”

Jude tightened his arm until she winced. “You know what’s funny? She came all this way because she thought her little girl was in trouble.” His eyes stayed on me, hungry for the reaction. “Walked right into a trap for that brat.” His mouth twisted as he kept going. “Always hated the way she looked at me, like she saw right through me. Smart mouth. Sharp eyes. That constant little dismissal, like I was something stuck to her shoe.” A soft laugh crawled out of him. “And all because Lila went and had a kid with the wrong man when she was supposed to be mine all along. Guess that’s what Lila’s always done, though. Throw everything away for the wrong people.”

Lila jerked against him. “Where is Jade?”

“Not here,” Jude said easily. He watched the fear move across her face and fed it. “Maybe she’s scared, though. Maybe she’s cryin’ for her mama while her biker daddy tears up the wrong town.”

Her face went white. Jude noticed. Of course he did.

“Could be anything by now, right?” he went on. “Scared somewhere. Hurt maybe. Learning real fast nobody gets saved by men like you.”

The sound Lila made tore through me. I moved before thought caught up, and Priest’s fingers clamped around my arm. “Don’t.”

Jude smirked. “Touchy subject?”

I dragged in a breath through my nose and forced the rage back down where it belonged. Getting angry enough to make him nervous would get Lila hurt. Getting him angry enough to make a mistake might save her. “You talk a lot for a man who needs another body in front of his to feel big.” His eyes flashed exactly the way I wanted.