Digger
The fucker hadn’t even bothered with pretending while driving by the gas station, and the look in his eyes was something I’d seen a thousand times. Violence. A hellbent yearning to lay something out.
Jonny had given me the okay, so I was going to let the blond fucker give it a shot.
A secluded, back-woods dirt road and small parking area off the beaten path offered exactly what I wanted, what we needed to finish whatever the fuck needed to go down.
I cut the engine, and the sedan rolled to a stop at the parking lot’s entrance, cutting off any escape route. Climbing off my bike, I kept myself between Maci and the car, my hand itching for the gun I’d tucked at my back.
Their engine quieted, and silence fell. A warm breeze rustled through the leafless trees, and a lone bird chirped. My shoulders tensed as a rush I usually enjoyed, one I lived for, infused my blood with the need for action as Maci stood behind me.
Both the driver and passenger doors opened at the same time. The redhead I’d seen through Jonny’s binoculars joined the blond, and they took a few steps toward us before stopping.
I slowed my breathing. Forced my mind to quiet. Kept my eyes glued to the two men, waiting…
“Raymond Hearst?” the blond said.
“Who’s asking?”
Maci touched the back of my left arm, but I remained focused.
“Someone who’s been looking for you for a long, fucking time,” the blond replied, not taking his hateful stare from my face.
I merely raised an eyebrow in question.
“Who gave you that scar?” he asked rather than answer me.
“The bastard who raped my mother, knocked her up, and left her for dead.”
“That bastard was my father.”
My ears rang as my breath left in a rush. Unease rippled down my spine as Rucker’s voice about my having a brother whispered through my head. “The fuck?”
“Took a lot of digging, a lot of payoffs, but I finally found you, didn’t I?” the blond asked, but nothing about his low, threatening voice indicated our meeting would end well. He hadn’t come looking for a long-lost brother. He’d come after the man who’d killed his father.
“Guess you did,” I said, with the same intent in my own voice. Suddenly, I wished I’d fought Maci, made her stay back at the little store. Safe. Away from the fucker who wanted to watch me bleed out. She shuffled a step and grabbed my left hand, and for a split second—one fucking breath—I became distracted.
The redheaded fucker drew his gun like Billy the Kid before I could pull mine from my back with my right hand.
Fuck… The only thought I had as pain ripped through my side, spinning me sideways.
Maci shrieked, and I hit the ground, losing my breath. My sight. Blackness swept over me, and I thought sure as shit I was about to see the bastard who’d sired me again. Another shriek kept me grounded, and I fought off the darkness at the edge of my mind.
“You took him,” a voice sounded on the edge of my conscious, “so I’m going to take her.”
“Digger!” Maci screamed again, and I groaned, trying to roll over. Move. Breathe.
“Motherfucker,” a voice overhead growled. A blow landed in my kidney, pulling a grunt from my chest, but also bringing clarity back with a motherfucking force enough to match a freight train. Pain in my right side. Pain in my left from the boot of the redhead looming over me.
“Digger!” Maci sobbed.
“Bitch!” The blond hollered. “I’ll put a fucking bullet through your fucking brain!”
My body wanted to curl into a fetal position, but the screams from a few feet away, drew me up onto all fours.
Another kick laid me flat on my stomach, and I blinked the parking lot into focus.
Fucking hell. Maci… The blond, my fucking brother, held her down on the rocky ground. She fought like a feral cat, scratching and screaming. I struggled to find my voice, remind her of the knife in her boot…
Red-headed fucker kicked me again.
The blond held Maci’s arms overhead in one of his meaty palms, his other hand ripping at her jeans. “Don’t kill him!” he hollered at his friend as my attacker landed another kick, pulling a grunt from my lungs. “He’s all mine—after I finish with his bitch.”
“No! D-don’t!” Maci writhed beneath him, bucking and biting.
I pushed up onto my elbows, shaking and weak.
“Motherfucking whore!” he hollered as she sank her teeth into his forearm. He clobbered her across the face.
Maci stilled beneath him, and he released his hold on her wrists to rip the crotch of her jeans.
I’d lost my last fight—gaining a scar for life—and I wasn’t about to fuck up again. I growled, red hazing my vision, giving me strength when I wanted to roll over and die. I pushed onto all fours again as Maci’s head lolled to the side, her eyes blinking, gaze meeting mine.
Knife, I screamed in my head, tapping my boot with a finger, praying like fuck her caretaker nature could be overridden. Knife!
She blinked as the fucker kicked me again. Teeth gritted against the pain, I started crawling toward them. The blond sat back to yank his dick from his leathers, filling me with the need to bash in faces. Knife the shit out of both of the fuckers.
“I’m going to fuck you so damn hard, you’ll forget all about that piece of shit,” the blond said with a sneer while palming himself.
Gaze on me, Maci lifted her legs as if to wrap her legs around the would-be-rapist’s hips. He lined his dick up, and my sweet, little witch pulled her knife.
“Motherfuck—” The blond’s voice cut off as I lunged at the redhead’s legs, tackling him to the ground. Rage overcame me, took my humanity on vacation, and I smashed my fist into his face. He went limp from one fucking hit, the pansy ass, but I didn’t waste another thought on him.
Pulling my gun, I scrambled in the dirt toward the blond grappling with Maci for her knife. Blood poured from his side as he gripped her wrist, the blade clutched in her fingers dripping red.
He’d thought to put his cock in my woman… A bullet wouldn’t give me the satisfaction I needed.
His head whipped toward me, and he tried to scramble away. Maci locked her legs around his hips, keeping him from the gun he’d put on the ground beyond the struggling pair.
Rising onto my knees, I pulled back my arm and smashed the fucker in the temple with my gun stock. He collapsed onto Maci.
Rage buzzed in my ears. Sent tremors through my muscles. I fisted the fucker’s t-shirt and yanked him off my woman, tossing him to the ground like a ragdoll. Growling like a feral animal, I climbed atop him, landing the butt of my gun against his face again and again. Curses spewed from my lips as I rearranged his fucking face, sending splatters of blood over my torso.
“Digger!” Maci’s yelp whipped my head around. Breathing heavily, I blinked, trying like hell to focus past the rage clouding my vision.
“Back the fuck off.” Red-headed fucker had Maci pulled up against his chest. Gun to her temple.
Every muscle in my body trembled. Yearned to kill. I tightened my grip on my gun while glancing at Maci’s hand. No knife.
She whimpered, and I pushed off the limp blond, settling back onto my haunches.
He glanced at his friend, his eyes wild. “Drop the gun, or I swear to fucking God—”
Maci bashed her head against his nose.
I whipped my gun up, and she leaned forward as her attacker hollered and loosed his hold on her.
My gun barked in my hand, and a spray of gore shot out the back of his head. His body slumped to the ground, and Maci scrambled to my side, whining keens pouring from her lips.
She clasped her hands to my side. “Oh, fuck! Fuck… Goddamnit!”
“I’m okay,” I pulled her against me with one arm, my gun still in hand. Adrenaline crashed through my system, keeping me alert.
Maci trembled against me, and with a grimace, I made myself stand, pulling her up into my arms. “We have to move, Maci.” A quick glance at both men assured me neither would ever twitch another muscle voluntarily. I tucked my gun back in my waistband and pulled my cell from my back pocket.
Praying like fuck he would answer, I dialed Nicky.