THE OUTLAW’S BRIDE

by April Lust

  He pulled away.

  “What…?” Fiona said with a confused smile. “Ace, it’s okay if we mess around a little; I promise nothing bad will happen if you ‘shift your focus’ for an hour,” she teased, thinking he was worried about Alexei’s next move.

  “It’s not that,” Ace said, his voice suddenly cold.

  “Well, then what is it? Are you too drunk?”

  “No, I’m just not interested.”

  Fiona felt like a cement fist had just punched a hole in her stomach.

  “I mean, don’t get me wrong, back at the hotel was great, but…Fiona, come on. Did you really think I would want to hit it twice? I’ve moved on.”

  The fist uncurled and a thick concrete rope spread from each finger to every limb, filling it with a numbing sensation.

  “But…at the hotel, it seemed like…” she feebly protested as she lost the feeling in her lips.

  “Yeah, well, a lot can happen in a day,” Ace said shortly, hating himself more and more with every word, weakly holding onto the knowledge that this was what was best for Fiona. “I’ve moved on; you should. too.”

  Ace stood up and headed to the door.

  “Wait!” Fiona cried, tears beginning to swim in her eyes. He stopped and looked back at her. “I love you,” she admitted, the tears now freely slipping down her cheek.

  Ace swallowed hard, trying to keep himself in check. “You don’t love me,” he said without a hint of emotion. “You just confused good sex for love. Now, Riley is going to keep an eye on you, since you can’t seem stay put like I told you. Alexei will know I’m not bringing you back to him by now, and he’ll be out looking for you. If you need me, I’ll be downstairs.”

  “I don’t know why you’re lying to yourself,” Ace heard Fiona say from behind him. He paused and turned back to her. “You felt something at the hotel, and if you don’t want to admit that, then you’re a weak man, Ace, and you can go to hell,” she said.

  Chapter 10

  Alexei paced furiously back and forth. He picked up a very large, very expensive-looking vase and heaved it over his head, smashing it against the far wall.

  “Blyad'!” he cursed, his heavy voice echoing against the far metal walls.

  Paul winced as a ceramic shard whizzed by his scalp.

  “You’re surprised?” Vlad drawled. “This is what happens when you give people options. They think they can do whatever they want.”

  “Might I remind you that you are the one who suggested I give him this option?” Alexei pointed out tersely.

  “True,” Vlad admitted. “But I didn’t tell you to give him the extra time with the girl. You should have taken her immediately.”

  “You speak up now; where were you yesterday with your wisdom?” Alexei asked.

  Vlad shrugged, sensing now was a good time to be quiet.

  “What about you?” Alexei suddenly asked Paul. “Any smart ideas?”

  Paul wasn’t sure how to answer that, so he took Vlad’s lead and said nothing.

  “Come on,” Alexei said, waving his hand. “Speak up!”

  “Uh, are you sure he wasn’t at the bar when it blew up? Maybe he got hurt or something,” Paul suggested lamely.

  Alexei let out an ugly laugh. “That would be funny. He is preparing to go to war with us, and he dies in the first battle.”

  Paul laughed with him, secretly praying Ace was alive and was still going to go through with their plan.

  “Where is William?” Alexei asked, suddenly turning to Paul. “He’s late.”

  Paul stood up straight. “He should be here any minute.”

  As though on cue, the side door boomed open, slamming against the metal wall. William strolled through looking like the cat that had eaten the canary.

  “Why do you look so happy?” Alexei asked suspiciously.

  “Because I found Niko,” he said with a nasty grin. “We finally got a bead on him somewhere in Massachusetts; he’s staying with an uncle on his mother’s side.”

  Alexei finally began to smile. So what if he didn’t have the whore, Fiona, today? He would have her soon enough, and he had the image of Ace Connor’s mangled, crispy corpse to keep him happy.

  “We need to grab him,” he ordered William. “We will use him to draw the girl out. If Ace is alive, he will follow her to us.”

  “What if it doesn’t work?” Paul blurted out. “How will you lure him here, then?”

  “Why wouldn’t it work?” Alexei asked, his brow furrowing. “Do you know something?”

  Paul bit his lip, shaking his head. “No, of course not. I’m just…trying to be thorough. Sorry if I seem nervous,” he said.

  Alexei stared at him suspiciously for a long moment, then broke into a grin. “Do not be nervous!” he said, throwing a friendly arm around Paul’s shoulders. “It’s very simple, trust me.” Releasing Paul, Alexei began to bark orders at the people standing around him. “William, contact our people in Boston and have them sit on the boy until we get there. Paul, I want you to look into our situation with Ace. Vlad,” reaching into his pocket, Alexei pulled out his wallet and threw it to his second-in-command, “I want two first-class tickets leaving for Boston tonight, one way, and we’ll need a car to drive back in once we have picked up Niko.”

  Vlad lazily snatched the wallet out of the air. “You got it, boss.”

  Six hours later they were touching down in Boston and picking up their rental car—something with a nice, large trunk for the way home. Using William’s connections, it hadn’t been difficult to find Uncle Leon. Apparently the man worked for a big time law firm.

  Alexei wondered how someone so prestigious could be connected to someone like Niko, but he supposed that was the weakness of family. At the very least they could rob the man once they had collected Niko.

  “We’re here,” Vlad said, pulling up alongside a three-story brownstone that was partially obscured by clinging ivy.

  Several lights, at least one on every floor, were on in the house, causing Alexei to worry that, perhaps, others lived with Leon Carver. He had not come prepared to execute an entire family, neither mentally nor materially. That kind of work required a serious cleanup crew, which he simply did not have.

  Movement caught his eye—it was Niko! He was standing in the middle of the kitchen wearing only his boxers. Alexei glanced at his diamond encrusted watch. It was almost midnight. Why do they have so many lights on at this hour? And if everyone is awake, why is Niko the only one who is up?

  Watching Niko open the refrigerator and take a pull straight from the milk carton, Alexei realized that what he was looking at was the careless lifestyle of an adolescent man who had been left in an extravagant home with no supervision.

  He nudged Vlad. “He’s alone. Let’s go.”

  They quietly stepped out of the car, carefully shutting the doors behind them. The last thing they wanted was to give him a head’s up. As they crept around to the back of the house, both Alexei and Vlad darkly recalled the violent resourcefulness of the elder Brown, thinking they didn’t want to find out if it ran in the family.

  It had been easy enough for Alexei to pick the lock of the back door. The hinges squeaked gently as the two men snuck inside, but muted footsteps from above told Alexei that Niko was upstairs now, too far away to hear such a small noise.

  Alexei pulled his gun from the back of his waistband, silently motioning for Vlad to do the same. They circled around to the floating staircase, tiptoeing up the steps to maintain the surprise advantage. The top of Niko’s head came into view, and Alexei quickly ducked back down to avoid being seen.

  He looked at Vlad, who gave a nasty grin in reply. Alexei smiled, too. Niko had evaded him for far too long, and now he was going to learn what it meant to pay your dues.

  ***

  Riley was standing guard as Ace had ordered, making sure Fiona didn’t randomly decide to take off, when Lucky approached and asked to go in.

  “I don’t think Ace would like that,” he said, dubi
ously shaking his head.

  “Oh, come on,” she pleaded, prettily batting her eyelashes. “Ace only said Fiona couldn’t come out. He never said no one could go in.”

  Riley glanced down at her, raising his eyebrow. “I’m not going to make my judgment based on a technicality, Lucky. The answer is no.”

  “Yeah, but, the whole point is to keep her here, right? Is she more likely to stay put if she has someone to talk to, or if she’s bored off her ass?” Lucky pointed out. “Besides,” she continued quietly, “she’s obviously hurting, Riley. She needs a friend.”

  Riley’s shoulders drooped as he gazed into his lover’s eyes. “You have a good heart,” he murmured, quickly glancing around before dipping his head to press his lips to hers.

  Lucky wrapped her arms tightly around him, her fingers digging into his back. Riley pulled away suddenly and she let out a small gasp of surprise. He smiled at her response, then nodded towards the door behind him, stepping to the side so she could knock.

  How dare he? Fiona fumed, throwing herself on the bed. He can open up to me about how he feels responsible for what happened, but apparently he needs to ‘move on.’

  Of course he wants to move on, the self-doubting side of her started in, He’s probably bored of you. He’s been with scores of women, had sex hundreds of times. Why would he ever want a repeat of what he’s already had?

  Fiona had called Ace weak for not admitting his feelings for her, but what if he wasn’t weak and she was just some crazy, ranting girl who couldn’t see that she’d been dumped? What if she was imagining what she had felt between them at the hotel?

  A soft knock interrupted Fiona’s self-deprecating tirade. “What do you want?” Fiona called irritably.

  “Fiona?” she heard Lucky’s muted voice on the other side of the door. “Can I come in?” the younger girl asked.

  Frankly, Fiona wasn’t sure. Part of her wanted someone to vent to, the other wanted to shut everyone out.

  “Fiona?” Lucky repeated. “We don’t have to talk. I just thought you might need a friend.” Not hearing a response, Lucky reluctantly stepped back. “Okay, I’ll just go, then…” She gave Riley a miserable look.

  “No. You can come in,” she said, opening the door a moment later.

  Fiona stepped back to let Lucky enter, and the two women sat on the bed together. No one said anything for a long time.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Lucky finally asked. “I mean, you don’t have to, I’m just asking.” She didn’t know the right thing to say.

  Fiona didn’t reply.

  “We could talk about something else, then,” Lucky tried again, still getting nothing in return. “Oh!” she said suddenly, her eyes wide. “I got it. Wanna hear about the time Ace literally broke his ass in front of everyone outside of The Crabtree?” Lucky giggled, motioning for Fiona to lean in close. “He had to wear a cast that looked like a pair of shorts for two months.”

  The image came to Fiona’s mind vividly, and she snorted loudly despite herself. “That sounds exactly like something I would want to hear right now,” she said. “Go on, what happened?”

  “Well, we were all pretty drunk,” Lucky said with the tone that this should be considered the precursor to all of her stories. “This was back when there were a lot of gangs, and The Crabtree was sort of considered our Switzerland, or whatever.” Lucky waved a dismissive hand. “It was a place where the rivalry between us was friendly. So, we’re wasted, and someone suggests we do Biker Olympics. There were a bunch of categories: beer chug, best tits, you get the point. Well, we nominated Ace for the wheelie race, and—”

  Fiona’s phone, the burner cell she had picked up at Niko’s suggestion, began to ring, cutting Lucky off mid-sentence. She seized it and her heart froze—she and Niko had spoken almost every day to check in with each other, but each time that phone rang, Fiona was terrified it was going to be Alexei, or a police officer telling her they’d found Niko’s body washed up on a river bed somewhere.

  You’re being ridiculous, Fiona, she told herself. Niko is fine. Answer the phone and see for yourself.

  “Sorry,” she said, looking at Lucky. “It’s my brother, and if I don’t answer he’ll—”

  Lucky held up her hands. “Say no more.” She stood up from the bed. “I’ll give you guys some privacy.” Walking out of the room, the purple ends of Lucky’s platinum blonde hair bounced merrily from the bottoms of her pigtails, and Fiona smiled, wishing she felt as free.

  Shaking her head, Fiona pressed the answer button. “Hey, Niko,” she said warmly. “How’s it going?”

  “Fiona!” Niko cried in a strangled whisper. He was panting heavily. “Fiona, they found me!”

  Everything Fiona had feared, everything she had tried to push away, was now happening. “What do you mean?” she blurted out. “How are you calling me? Where are you? Can you get out?” She had a million questions.

  “I’m at Uncle Leon’s,” Niko hurriedly explained. “He wasn’t home, so I was checking out the house, when I saw Alexei and Vlad creeping up the stairs in the mirror behind me. They didn’t think I saw them, so I kept pretending I didn’t see them until I thought I could make a run for it, but they cut me off. I managed to make it to the garage and now I’m hiding in the trunk of Uncle Leon’s car. Fiona, they’re going to find me! I just know it! I know—”

  “Niko!” Fiona said firmly. “Stop! Take a deep breath before you pass out.” Niko had been ranting at top speed. “Now, I’m going to tell you what to do, okay? I’m going to get you out of this,” Fiona promised, deep down knowing how utterly powerless she truly was. “What I need you to do is—” she began.

  “Fiona!” Niko whispered. “They’re coming…”

  In the background, Fiona heard a large boom, like someone had just knocked in a door, or, perhaps, somehow dented an expensive car.

  “What do I do?” Niko breathed.

  Footsteps echoed, sounding closer and closer, but Fiona had no idea what to tell her brother. She was terrified it would be the wrong thing.

  “Just stay quiet, and maybe they’ll—” Fiona heard the loud pop of two gunshots and the screech of metal on metal, then clear, raucous laughter.

  “Fiona!” Niko screamed, his voice piercingly high. “Fiona! They got me! Fi! Fi!”

  Fiona nearly began screaming herself, but she didn’t want Niko to think anything had happened to her. “Niko, I’m coming, okay? Okay?” she cried into the phone.

  Her brother’s screams faded into the distance and she knew someone was dragging him away. There was a rustling sound from the phone. Someone had picked it up—she could hear them breathing.

  “I’m looking forward to seeing you, Fiona,” Vlad said.

  She shivered, the oil in his voice sliding down her skin. Fiona shut the phone. She wanted nothing more than to throw it across the room, but it was her only tie to Niko. Fiona fell to her knees. Laying her head on the bed, she began to sob.

  What am I going to do now? Even if Ace wasn’t the biggest asshole on the planet, he still wouldn’t be able to convince The Hell Brothers to abandon whatever plan they have just because Niko is in danger!

  Fiona raised her head, roughly wiping away her tears with the palm of her hand. Think, Fiona! Think! This is no time to get weepy and fall apart. She already knew and had accepted that she was going to have to save her brother herself; debating whether Ace wouldn’t or couldn’t help her was beyond the point. Her current problem was how to get away from Ace without him noticing.

  If he knows I’ve gone after Niko, he’ll just come get me and bring me back. He doesn’t understand. He as much told me that if Niko were his brother, he would have let him go a long time ago. My best option is to go before Ace gets back, while Riley is still the one on guard.

  Fiona got up and examined all of the windows. There were only two, one of which was painted shut. She stuck her head out of the other one. It was a twenty-foot drop straight to the ground—not a tree limb to climb out on or
a gutter to drop from.

  She pulled her head back inside and sat on the bed with a sigh. There wasn’t a sheet so she couldn’t even try to make a rope. Ace’s negligent lifestyle had provided him with the perfect jail cell.

  But what about the jailer? Fiona thought, a smile spreading across her face.

  Fiona opened the door to see Lucky and Riley in the middle of what appeared to be an intense discussion.

  They immediately stopped talking and both turned to face her.

  “Did you need something?” Lucky asked.

  Fiona glanced at Riley, who calmly returned her look. “I finished talking to my brother, and I could use some company,” she said, looking back at Lucky.