Chapter Four
CUTTER
The piece of shit looked like a bloody pretzel, twisted into a knot in the middle of the sidewalk. He was dead, dead as a fucking doornail. I couldn’t believe I’d even considered letting him walk out of there in the first place. I had wanted to spare a bloody encounter in front of the girl, which made no sense at all.
I didn’t even know her.
I swung around and glanced back toward the bar. She stood in the doorway, a horrified look on her face. Great, I hope I wouldn’t have to worry about her opening her damn mouth to the cops. This shouldn’t be so shocking to her, she chose to hang around with us. What the hell kind of shit did she think we were into?
I shook my head. I should have stopped that whole arrangement a long time ago. The only reason I hadn’t was because most of the time it worked in our favor.
But I knew having a girl involved with any of the brothers as more than just a fuck buddy would blow up in my face eventually. And eventually had come early.
If they were going to pay her they might as well get sex from her like the rest of the whore's they brought around.
Hell, for all I knew Grace was fucking them.
Wouldn't be the first time a whore was shared among the brothers.
What was the point?
That was why I never planned on settling down.
I sure as hell didn’t plan on paying for no pussy, either.
I never got why the brothers paid for what they could get free.
Blaze walked with me back toward the bar his father owned. “You alright, man?” He patted me on the shoulder. “Just breathe, man, you’re so worked up you’re shaking.”
I’d known Blaze since we were kids. He could be just as heartless as me but he had a soft spot with me that he had with no one else. I think because he considered me blood even before the Red Sin.
I could hear the brother’s behind me, singing our anthem while they carried Fire’s body over their heads and back toward the bar. They wanted to have a roast in my honor.
“I’m good,” I told him, brushing it off.
“What the hell happened?”
I shrugged. “I came downstairs and they were raping some girl in the middle of our bar.” I looked toward the door again but Grace was gone. “It was that girl some of the lower members always hang around with.”
Blaze looked confused. “You killed him over some girl?”
“No,” I snapped. “I killed him because he was disrespecting me and our entire brotherhood. They aren’t going to come into your father’s bar and rape one of our girls and get away with it.”
Blaze held his hands up. “Whoa, I’m not giving you a hard time.”
A pack of our brothers flew by us and into the bar, the body held high over their heads. A few of them patted me on the shoulder as they passed, congratulating me. Normally I would have been right there with them but my mind was still on the girl. “I hope she’s still not in there.”
“You just left her?” Blaze sounded surprised.
“He was running away, I couldn’t exactly stop to walk her the fuck home, now could I?” Blaze swung the door open and I followed him inside, my eyes looking for her right away.
“There,” Blaze said and I followed his gaze to the other side of the room.
“Shit.” Grace sat there; looking stunned and scared out of her mind. She looked over at me like she was mentally aware of my presence. I looked away. I really wasn’t in the mood to babysit the girl I had just saved. She hadn’t even seemed thankful. What the hell was that about?
“You gonna talk to her?”
I looked at my brothers. They had thrown the body in the middle of the bar and were cheering and laughing as they smashed beer bottles on it and drenched it with spit and urine.
Grace looked on in horror.
Shouldn’t she be leaving soon?
“Nope.” I threw my hand over his shoulder. “I’m going to enjoy my brothers.”
Blaze grinned then paused. “You think she’ll call the cops?”
I shook my head. “No way, she’s too scared.”
Blaze pulled me closer to the bar. “CUTTER TORE THIS MISFIT THE FUCK UP!”
Cheers erupted and everyone started chanting my name.
I laughed, downing the drinks that were shoved in my hands and enjoying the praise I was getting for putting one of our enemies in the ground. I’m not sure how much time passed before I looked up again and realized that she was still there.
Could have been ten minutes or forty but either way when I did I felt furious. She wasn’t alone. Ace Mitchell was leaning down next to her, his hands on her shoulder while they talked in low voices.
What the fuck was this?
I had been the one who busted in and saved her. I had been the one who took on three heavily armed men all by myself so they wouldn’t tear her body to shreds and how did she repay me? By flirting with Ace in front of my entire crew?
What the fuck did she think she was going to do? Go and suck his dick now? Was that it? It was all business as usual to her? I shoved the bar stool next to me out of the way and pushed a few of the probation guys out of my way.
I grabbed Ace by the back of the shirt and hurled him upright. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Ace turned around to face me, a startled expression on his face.
“I’m talking to Grace,” Ace said slowly.
“She doesn’t want to talk to you anymore, get lost,” I growled.
Ace looked from Grace to me, not sure what the heck was happening but he had only been an official member for a few years and he knew better than to question me so he turned around and shuffled off.
“Are you trying to disrespect me?” I demanded.
Grace shook her head. “What? No… I… we were just talking.”
I took a sip out of my beer and shrugged. “Didn’t look like just talking to me. Not that I care, but this is a celebration, and you guys sitting over her all sad and mopey kind of kills the vibe for me, you know?”
She stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh, well, I’m so sorry that I’m interrupting your celebration. I wouldn’t want to get in the way of how happy you are about just killing a man.”
“I don’t accept your apology at all.” I threw the empty beer bottle on the floor and it smashed into a bunch of pieces. “And may I remind you, that man was beating the shit out of you moments before and trying to fuck you on the back of our bar… or have you already forgotten?”
“Of course, I haven’t forgotten!”
“Well, then a thank you would be polite.”
She looked at me like I was nuts. “You didn’t even come to check on me when you got back here, Ace was the only one who even acted like I existed!” She moved her hands and I forced my eyes to not drift down to her heavy boobs.
“Why should I come and check on you? I don’t even know you. You aren’t my girl,” I told her, pointing out the obvious. “I don’t owe you shit, it’s enough that I saved your damn life. I could have just kept walking, minded my own business.”
“Then why should I owe you a thank you?”
“Because it’s polite.”
“It’s polite to check on someone who was just smacked around, too.” She shook her head. “If you were a gentleman at all you would have, like the way Ace did. And he didn’t even witness it.”
“Jesus, will you shut the fuck up about Ace? Why don’t you go suck his damn dick if you’re so obsessed with him? He’s not married, he’s fair game, I’m sure you two would be very happy together.”
“That’s not what I meant,” she whispered.
I’m not sure why the thought of her and Ace suddenly pissed me off so much but it did. If she should be desperate to go home with anyone tonight, it should be me. I was the one who had killed a man over her.
Clearly that meant nothing to her.
“I think it is what you meant.”
“Well, it’s not,” she snapped.
I was getting a little sick of her tone. I motioned toward the other side of the room, calling a few senior members to my aid. Grace rolled her eyes, not taking me seriously.
“Take her upstairs.”
Her dark eyes grew wide. “What? No, I…”
My brothers grabbed her, knowing better than to question what I wanted with her. She twisted in their grip, cursing me up and down with anger as they carried her away and toward the stairs.
“Don’t curse, it’s not ladylike,” I called out.
She flipped me off and shook her fist in the air.
I laughed loudly.
God, she was infuriating.