by Bijou Hunter
“No one cares if we die.”
“We won’t die. This asshole will die.”
“Exactly,” I grumble, wishing he were already dead. “Have you killed a lot of people before?”
“A handful. You?”
I think about the two guys I’ve killed. Neither was anything more than names to me. Cell told me to kill the first one and Oz the second one. I shot them both in the head, killed them quickly and cleanly and felt nearly nothing about it afterward. With Cell, I did wonder about the guy because my old president was known for putting hits on people for petty reasons.
“Janx will make three.”
Clove straddles my lap. “Are we doing this?”
“I guess we are.”
“Without arguing for a few hours first?”
“This guy needs to die, and I worry if we wait that he’ll hit us first.”
“Times are tricky for Oz. He got married to a ballbuster, made a deal with a sneaky bastard like Joker, has two members he can’t trust, another guy who might burn down the clubhouse, and now this asshole Janx. If he flinches, the entire club is in danger. If he goes overboard, everyone will assume Ginger is pulling the strings since her M.O. is overboard.”
“I can’t fix all this shit for him, but I’ll deal with Janx.”
“With my help, right?”
“Of course.”
“I don’t want you sneaking off to do it alone and thinking you’re protecting me.”
“I would never consider such a thing.”
“You better not.”
“I know you’d follow me, and that’d put us both in danger.”
“Yes, I would and, yes, it would.”
“I’m not dumb. I know leaving you behind would be risky.”
Sighing dramatically, Clove flops next to me on the couch. “Let’s have Pepper give us a plan. She does well in these situations. I’m more of a ‘walk into a room and shoot a person’ kind of planner.”
I take her small hand in my large one. She’s so delicate, and I’ve just agreed to put her in the path of an asshole with a death wish. My heart hurts at the thought of her anywhere near Janx, but I see no other way to keep her safe.
➸ Clove ☆
Anxiety makes me horny apparently. As soon as Glitch and I calmly decide to kill Janx together, I am on his hot body like a sex addict. We fuck downstairs and then upstairs. Then we come back downstairs to eat but are interrupted by our need to fuck on the kitchen table. Moving to the couch, we eat a few bites, and then I get an unbearable need to suck Glitch’s cock. He has the same urge to devour my pussy when we walk up the stairs. I stand there, trying to keep my legs steady while he makes me come so hard I see stars.
This behavior continues until Pepper texts me to come to her place to put together a plan. Glitch and I get dressed and pretend we haven’t spent twenty-four hours fucking ourselves silly.
“I think I screwed up by injuring my pussy before we walk a few miles in the snow.”
“I feel your pain,” Glitch says, limping dramatically next to me on the way to Pepper’s.
Laughing, I’m not nervous about killing a man. The late winter cold is an entirely different beast I don’t want to face.
Inside Pepper’s townhome, we find Ginger and Oz in the kitchen while Bay lounges in the living room. She smiles at me when I make a beeline to her chair where she sits with her feet up.
“How are you feeling?” I ask and place my hand on her stomach. “Can I rub you?”
“I feel fine and rub away.”
“How is little Froggy?”
“The ultrasound technician said it was probably a girl.”
“So no Froggy?”
“No, we’re thinking about Zadie if it’s a girl.”
“But still Froggy for a boy, right?” I tease while caressing her sizable bump.
“Pepper likes the name Fartley.”
“Farley!” Pepper yells from the kitchen. “There’s no ‘t.’”
Oz laughs. “Fart.”
“Grow up,” Pepper grumbles.
“I did. That’s why my kids aren’t named Fartley.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
Ginger gets between a pissed Pepper and a laughing Oz. Rolling my eyes, I remain next to Bay’s chair.
“You’re going hunting, I hear,” she says.
“Someone has to do it now that your woman is whipped.”
“It’s true that I keep her on a short leash.”
Winking, I whisper, “Well done. You need to give me lessons.”
I hear Pepper call me to the kitchen, so I stand to kiss Bay’s freckled forehead. “You can teach me when I get back from this job.”
Bay nods, but I sense she hates feeling useless when the team gears up this way. Leaving her to watch TV, I join Glitch and the others in the kitchen.
“Here’s the deal,” Ginger says, straightening out an Arkansas map, “Janx is holed up nearly six miles off the main road. There’s a half-decent path up to the cabin, but clearly, you don’t want to come at him directly. Coming from the south makes more sense.”
Oz taps the map. “You’ll take a snowmobile from the road for a few miles and then walk the rest of the way. He’ll be able to hear the engine if you get any closer.”
“I suggest you try to hit him at night,” Pepper says. “That way, you can get close enough to take your time with the shot.”
“How do we get him outside?” I ask.
“You can flush him out by Glitch starting a fire at the back of the cabin. When Janx exits the front door, you can take your shot. If you time it right, he won’t be the wiser. Once he’s dead, you burn the place down.”
“And then what?” I ask, imagining the freezing cold weather we’ll be trapped in. “It’ll be nighttime. Do you expect us to walk back in the dark?”
Oz answers for Pepper. “You’ll take a small tent and sleeping bags. You hunker down for the night and return once the sun’s up. When you’re close to the road, call us to pick you up.”
“Why can’t we hunker down in his cabin rather than sleep in a tent?” Glitch asks, and I nearly yell out, “Yeah!”
“Janx is paranoid,” Oz says, “so we can’t be sure what he’s got set up. There might be booby traps. I don’t know if it’s safe to enter at all.”
“How soon can we go?”
Ginger pulls out her phone and checks the weather. “The snow should let up for a few days, but you’ll need to go tomorrow or wait until at least next week.”
“Waiting isn’t an option,” Glitch says and gives me a regretful smile. “If the weather is clear enough for us to get to him, it’ll be clear enough for him to leave. The longer we wait, the more likely he is to hit us first.”
“I told him I’d get him money, but a woman wasn’t on the table,” Oz says. “Janx just laughed and hung up. I have no idea what he’s planning.”
“Then we go tomorrow,” I announce, knowing I can stew with worry for a week or more. “Do we have everything we need?”
“I have the sleeping bags and tent,” Oz says.
Pepper nudges me. “I’ll get you set up with weapons.”
Following her upstairs to her hidden supply room where I try different rifles to find one I’m comfortable with. Glitch watches us and eventually tests a few too. He might be wondering why I’m the one taking the shot and not him. If he questions the plan, he says nothing. Not while we’re at Pepper and Bay’s or later when we’re alone.
For the first time in days, we don’t fuck. Instead, we cuddle on the couch with Gizmo and pretend we’re a normal couple enjoying a normal evening. His arms around me erase my fears, and I catch myself grinning at him. Glitch notices too and kisses me each time.
Tomorrow, we face freezing weather, a long trek, and murder. Tonight, we really are normal people in love.
Chapter Ten
Spanish Variation of Louis: Luiz
➸ Glitch ★
Clove wraps my hair into a ponytail and shoves a
winter Russian aviator over my head. She smiles at the sight of me before laughing. I don’t mind her giggles since she looks fucking adorable wearing a pink version of my hat.
Her smiles are gone once we drive out to the road in one of the crew’s SUVs, pulling a trailer with the snowmobiles. She taps her foot to the song Oz plays on the radio. I sit next to her, overheated in my hat and jacket.
“You both have sat phones,” Ginger says, turning around in her seat. “Call if you have any problems.”
“And you’ll what?” Clove asks. “The reason we’re going is that no one else can.”
“Not that we can’t,” Ginger says. “If you need us, we’ll come in with the cavalry.”
“Understood,” I mumble, unwilling to discuss worst-case scenarios. “We’re good to go.”
Clove pats my hand. “I want to try that Thai place when we get back to town. I hear their flavors run from mild to spicy.”
“Did you just call me mild?”
“And myself spicy,” Clove says, winking.
Grinning, she lifts her lips to mine. My tongue tastes her deeper than appropriate. Soon, the cold won’t allow us to kiss without worrying about getting stuck together. Might as well savor her delicious flavor while I have the chance.
“We are here,” Oz says ten minutes later when Clove and I are still locked together.
Ginger helps Oz remove the snowmobiles from the trailer. I offer to give them a hand, but he’s worried I’ll pull a muscle or injure myself in some way.
“Why chance it?” he says when I offer again.
Clove and I stand by the side of the road and look up at the snow-covered woods. With the barren trees, the area doesn’t seem too difficult to maneuver, but I know the brush farther up will be thicker, and we’ll eventually walk through the foot-high snow.
“Don’t waste time covering your tracks,” Oz tells me again. “Snow’s coming in a day or two. Wind’s blowing a lot too. Won’t be worth your effort to hide something that no one will find or even look for.”
Nodding, I notice the women preparing to say goodbye.
“Keep it short,” Clove tells Ginger before her leader can give a heartfelt speech.
“Don’t fuck up,” Ginger says and hugs her friend. “See you tomorrow.”
Oz keeps his goodbye even simpler by smacking my back and giving a head nod. Despite his attempt, I still feel like he gushes too much.
They help us get our packs on. Mine includes a small tent. We both carry rifles while handguns are shoved into the packs and our pockets.
I climb on the snowmobile and start the engine. Clove settles onto the second one. We nod at each other, unable to hear over the motors and the strong winds. I don’t look back at Oz and Ginger before heading up the embankment.
I find a steady speed, slowing only when reaching fallen trees or large rocks. Behind me, Clove keeps pace but holds back enough to avoid running into me if I stop suddenly.
The first part of the trip to Janx’s cabin goes smoothly and takes barely a half hour. The next will likely prove tougher, but I’m focused on the end of our mission. Ideally, killing Janx will be easy since he doesn’t expect us. Easy or not, I won’t relax until the man is dead and we’re on our way back down this hill.
➸ Clove ☆
Growing up in Arkansas, I’ve dealt with cold winters all my life. If preferences are based on genetics, my taste for warm weather comes from my parents who grew up in hotter climates.
Leaving behind the snowmobiles, we start our three-mile trek toward Janx’s cabin. Not even twenty minutes later, my feet are frozen, even though the rest of my body remains relatively warm. Glitch suggests I walk behind him so his body will act as a barrier for the harsh winds.
I’d rather be in the lead. If this Janx asshole opens fire on us, Glitch will take the bullets, and I refuse to have him die in this backwater shithole. Unfortunately, the winter winds keep knocking me over, forcing me to walk behind Glitch.
I’m soon hypnotized by the crunches our footsteps make in the snow. In my head, the sounds create a song in the same way Glitch does when tapping his fork against a glass whenever we’re awkward at dinner. He usually claims he’s playing a song by the Stones, but I swear it sounds like “Macarena.”
I smile behind my balaclava mask while imagining him dancing in his tiny house to the song. I even hear the lyrics, having endured Sage’s love affair with the song years ago.
“It’s addictive,” she explained back then, and I suspect Glitch agrees.
I don’t know how long I’m in my head before Glitch pauses and I nearly run into the back of him. Patting his shoulder, I reach for my gun with my other hand.
“Let’s stop for a second,” he says to me after the wind dies down enough for him to be heard.
We huddle next to a large, bare tree while he checks our current location on the GPS. I drink water from my backpack and then offer him some. He enjoys a few gulps before showing me on the phone how we’re still an hour out.
“Why are we taking so long?”
“The wind isn’t helping, and the snow nearly reaches your damn knees. We might not have thought this plan out enough.”
Closing my eyes, I wish we’d left earlier, but the wind chill lingered below zero until midday.
“We should have waited,” I mumble with my cheek against his arm. “At least, until the weather was better, but we got spooked about this fucker showing up and killing someone. I couldn’t have that on my conscience. Man, I wish I was more heartless.”
“I blame you too, Clove,” he says, and I hear him laughing behind his mask.
Smiling, I nuzzle closer to his body. My eyes remain closed for a few minutes and imagine us back at my place. The heat roaring so hot I can walk around naked. Gizmo chasing one of those cat balls with the bell inside. Glitch and me eating dinner in the living room while watching a cheesy action flick with D-list actors.
We recently learned we share a love for bad movies with over-the-top action scenes. Restless to return to our lives, I can’t wait to learn more about this amazing man.
“Are you ready?” Glitch asks, using the tree to push himself up.
Despite shaking my head, I force myself to stand and follow him. We make steady work of the walk until reaching dense trees. Rather than chance getting stuck in them—or injured by an unseen threat—we go around and add another half hour to our trek.
I start to think we’ll never arrive when Glitch stops again to check his GPS. “Let’s settle in until the sun starts to go down.”
“Are we that close?”
“Close enough that we should whisper.”
Nodding, I smile behind my mask. Walking has sucked the energy right out of me, but I feel it returning now that we’re nearly at our target.
Huddling between two trees, Glitch and I enjoy a dinner of beef jerky and trail mix. More than once, I hear noises, but he reassures me it’s only squirrels or raccoon. Janx wouldn’t wander the woods in this weather.
“No sane person would,” I whisper, and he laughs. “Should we set up camp here?”
“What if we can’t find our way back here after killing Janx? Might be better to bring our supplies with us, just in case.”
“Are you nervous?”
“Of course. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Neither do I.”
Glitch chuckles again. “I love you, Clove.”
“I love you too, Glitch. I’m glad we’re killing this guy together.”
Taking my hand, he nods. “Me too.”
“It’ll be a great story to tell our kids.”
“I prefer the one about the first time we fucked.”
“You will not tell them about that,” I mutter, horrified at my kids knowing what a horny bitch I can be. Glitch laughs at my tone, and I nuzzle closer. “I’m afraid I’ll miss my shot.”
“If you do, take another. It’ll be fine.”
His confidence in my ability to handle the situation makes me lo
ve him even more. How did I ever think this man was no more than a pretty boy sex toy? Clearly, my stubborn head was shoved up my luscious ass. Now that it’s removed, I see him for the incredible catch he is, and I can’t wait to get started on our life together.
First, though, we need to kill this asshole.
➸ Glitch ★
Waiting for the sun to go down might be the most difficult part of this entire day. The cabin is just past a tree line. I nearly stumble upon it when I look for a place to piss. Knowing we’re so close to Janx puts me on edge. My brain taunts me with the idea of the asshole taking an evening stroll and finding us huddled against a tree.
“What was your childhood like?” Clove whispers with her teeth chattering. “Were your parents good to you?”
“We were a normal family. Nothing amazing but I wasn’t abused or neglected.”
“What was your mom like?”
My memories of my mother are devoid of emotion. Long ago, I adjusted to her death and let go of the pain. I didn’t hate or miss her any longer. After so much time, she almost feels like a dream rather than a real person.
“She always overcooked food,” I say and try to wrap a shaking Clove tighter against me. “And she was fucking obnoxious about how to do the dishes. I swear she never thought I did them right. We had a damn dishwasher, so how complicated could putting dishes in it be? Still, she always complained.”
I hear dry leaves crunch and pause to scan our surroundings. A flash of fur runs past us. The squirrel is no bigger than Gizmo. For a second, I wonder what will happen to our cat if Clove and I don’t make it back. No doubt Yarrow will adopt him. According to Blackjack, his woman wants all the cats in the complex.
“My mom was a terrible singer,” I whisper after the squirrel disappears from sight. “When I’d get ear infections, she’d rub my head and sing to me. She never knew the words and her voice was awful, but I always felt better when she babied me like that.”
Clove squeezes my hand. “She sounds gentle. Naggy but sweet.”
“She was.”