Read Counter To My Intelligence (The Heroes of The Dixie Wardens MC Book 7) Online
Authors: Lani Lynn Vale
“Tell me,” I said, leaning into him slightly. “Tell me now, or so help me God, I will ruin everything you hold dear.”
He gasped as I put more pressure on his neck, then tears started to fill his eyes.
“I can’t. He threatened to kill them if I didn’t comply,” he choked. “You’re not the worst of the two evils.”
I laughed in his face. “You really think that?” I asked.
He nodded. “So you won’t tell me a word?”
He shook his head.
I got up until I was looming over him, then went to a picture that was on the mantle.
“So, this wife of yours…” I said, examining the picture. “You love her?”
“Yes,” he croaked.
I nodded. “And what will she do when she finds out that you had a hand in putting an innocent young girl in prison for a crime that she didn’t commit? Will she be upset with you?”
Escobar didn’t say a word.
I continued as if he’d confirmed my suspicions.
“Do you know what that poor girl went through?” I hissed at him through clenched teeth.
Remembering the dreams she’d had from last night, I wanted to shove my fist down the sorry fucker’s throat and twist it around until his jaw broke from the pressure.
She’d woken not once, not twice, but seven times.
She’d cried out so painstakingly, that I’d thought something had been really wrong.
But then she’d started to mutter in her sleep.
The first time had been apologies for hurting the four people she’d killed.
As had the fifth and seventh.
The second, third, fourth, and sixth had been her telling her imaginary attacker to ‘please don’t rape me. I promise I won’t complain again.’
That’d been when I realized she was talking about the guards from prison.
It had taken me a long time this morning, but I’d gotten the names from Lynn, along with the toxicology report from him about the accident.
And I was very appreciative of the information.
Because there was definitely some explaining that needed to happen.
“No,” Escobar squeaked.
So I enlightened him.
“She was nearly raped every night for eight years. How do you think your child or wife would feel if that happened?” I asked, finally giving him my eyes.
Escobar turned over on to his side suddenly and vomited up his lunch.
Disgusting.
“I’d never do a thing like that, of course. Hell, I don’t personally know a single man on this earth who would…or hadn’t until now,” I told him.
Then I looked up into the crying eyes of Escobar’s wife, who stood at the entrance, and smiled.
“Do you love the piece of shit you married? Are you proud of this man?” I asked.
Escobar’s wife sniffled, then turned devastated eyes to her husband. “I want you out of this house now. I want a divorce! Say goodbye to your children because I don’t want you anywhere near them after what you’ve done!” She screeched at him
“No,” Escobar said, making a grab for his wife.
His wife, having not been waiting for the grab like I was, fell when he grabbed her ankle to keep her from leaving.
She fell spectacularly, too.
Her hands went out to catch her fall, and I knew instantly that one of them was broken due to the harsh
snap
.
With nothing to support her weight, the rest of her body went crashing down, and her head met the edge of the coffee table.
The skin of her eyebrow instantly split open and blood started to pour from the wound.
And I knew I had him.
“Trance,” I called as I hauled Escobar away from his now crying wife.
Escobar screamed. “I didn’t mean to, Tawny. I swear!”
Tawny, however, was in too much pain to care.
“Get him out!” She screamed frantically.
Trance, doing the honors, took him out, cuffing his hands on the way.
Sebastian and I immediately dropped down to Tawny’s side.
I felt horrible.
That wasn’t how this was supposed to go down.
She was only supposed to make it look like she was assaulted, not actually
get
assaulted.
We had a fuckin’ plan, damn it!
“Don’t move, darlin.’ My boy’ll get you fixed right up,” I said to Tawny.
She nodded, sucking in breath after breath.
“It was worth it,” she breathed. “I can’t believe he let that happen. I’ve been living a lie for over eight years now. I just can’t believe it.”
I smiled at her, pressing the palm of my hand up against her face.
“Time heals all wounds, darlin’ girl. You’ll just have to give it some time,” I told her.
She smiled as tears started to flow down her cheeks. “Thank you.”
I moved away from her as the paramedics entered the room, surrounding her.
Dallas nodded at me as we passed, and I nodded back, thinking about the woman I was doing this all for.
My stomach still hurt.
Those nightmares of hers were no joke, and I was going to track down every single guard in that prison and give them nightmares of their own.
“You have the right to remain silent,” Trance drawled slowly, reciting Escobar his Miranda Rights.
“I want a lawyer,” Escobar yelled loudly.
“You’ll get one…as soon as we get you booked,” Trance said.
When Escobar went to move, Kosher growled menacingly at him, keeping the little shit seated when I could see that he wanted to bolt.
“If you ever want to deal with me and not the prison system, let me know,” I said as I headed to my bike.
I didn’t spare anyone else a second glance as my bike roared to life, and I put it into gear.
My mind on what was lying ahead.
And that, my friends, was vengeance.
The cold, hard,
tear the fucker’s heart out
, type of vengeance. It’s a beautiful thing.
A beard is like the magic key of the panty world. If a man has one, he can get into any woman’s panties that he wants to.
-Fact of life
Sawyer
I arrived home from work in a fog.
It was storming, and I was glad that I had a car now.
That ride would’ve been difficult on my bike.
It was bad enough in my little car.
I’d had to detour four different times due to high water on the road.
I’d tried to call my brother, but the one time he wasn’t up in my business, I couldn’t get a hold of him.
The rain was so bad that I could barely see through my windshield, despite my wipers being on full blast.
I pulled into Dallas’ driveway, annoyed to see the entire thing lined with cars.
I’d forgotten that he’d said that a few of the members of the fire department were coming over.
“Explains why he didn’t answer my call,” I muttered grumpily, as I pulled up to the only open spot on the curb, which happened to be two houses down from where I should be parking.
My phone rang when I was stuffing things into my bag to try to keep dry, but I left it there.
I’d check it when I got home…if it still worked.
It was a cheap one I’d gotten from Wal-Mart when I’d gotten my second paycheck from Dr. Zack.
Purse stuffed to the brim with my things, and two grocery bags in each hand, I bailed out of the car and slammed the door shut behind me, only realizing that I’d left the keys in the ignition.
Shit!
I spun around and yanked my door back open, pulling out the keys hastily.
This time, when I slammed the door shut, I locked it with the key and started to run to the house.
My tennis shoes were soaked through due to the ankle high water that was running down the street along the curb, but I kept going, in a full-out sprint.
I passed all the nice cars, as well as my brother’s house, detouring straight to the garage apartment entrance.
I fumbled with the keys once again at the door to the apartment, but the door swung open without me having to do a thing.
“Get in here,” Silas ordered through my surprise.
I went, dropping the grocery bags in the entranceway once I passed over the threshold.
“Shit, it’s pouring out there,” I gasped.
Silas snorted.
“Got here before the rain…guess it’s good we’re at your place so you’ll be able to change clothes…after,” Silas said.
I blinked, but not because of the water that was pouring from my hair into my eyes, but from surprise.
“What?” I asked.
He smiled, and I shivered.
“Cold?” He asked, taking a step forward and divesting me of the rest of my bags.
I nodded.
I
was
cold.
But it wasn’t the cold that made me shiver, it was the smooth sound of his luxuriously deep voice and the way it seemed to slither down my spine.
“What’d you get?” He asked, placing the bags on the counter and looking through them
“Beer and stuff for spaghetti,” I answered going to the bags and putting the meat away and handing him two bottles of beer.
Spaghetti was easy and filling, but also something I could have for the rest of the week for lunch.
Or would have been…had the power not went out twenty seconds later.
“At least the beer is cold,” Silas said.
I heard the distinct sound of the cap being pried off my non-twist-off capped beers and blinked into the darkness.
“What’d you just open that with?” I asked, stunned.
Suddenly I felt the cool, sweating bottle of beer pressed against my arm, and Silas’ deep, rumbly voice close to my ear saying “My hands.”
I swallowed, taking the beer from him that was still touching my arm.
“Thanks,” I said.
Then, as an afterthought, I said, “There’s a bottle opener hanging next to the sink.”
Silas laughed. “Got it.”
Then he took off the cap of the second beer.
“Let’s go take a shower,” he rumbled.
I jumped, turning to face where I’d heard his voice.
“You scared me,” I said. “And I can’t. You just opened my beer. If I get in the shower, it’ll get warm.”
“So bring it with you,” he said, taking a hold of my arm and pulling me in his wake.
“How do you know where to go?” I asked as I followed him. “And how are you missing all the things on my floor?”
He didn’t answer.
My hand felt dwarfed in his, convulsing slightly when he said, “Take your clothes off.”
I felt around for a flat surface, finding what I thought was the bathroom counter, but couldn’t tell, and set the beer down.
Then I took my clothes off, as demanded.
The shirt came off easily, followed shortly by my bra.
But when I went to hook my fingers into the waistband of my jeans to drag them off, I froze when I felt the warm, wet mouth close around my erect nipple.
I hissed in a breath when Silas’ beer bottle pressed against my back, making me push into him to escape the icy coldness of it.
He chuckled when I clutched at his head.
“Silas,” I moaned. “It’s cold!”
He left me then.
Pulling away from my breast with a soft ‘pop’, he turned the shower on.
I missed his presence immediately, audibly whimpering, causing him to chuckle darkly.
I started on my pants in the interim, pulling them with difficulty down my legs, and letting them pool at my feet.
I used my feet to step on the hem on either side, pulling my legs free of the restrictive, wet denim.
When I pushed my panties down, I felt Silas’ hands find a home on each of my hips, while his unclothed cock pressed up against the seam of my ass.
“Grab your beer,” he commanded.
I did.
The moment I had it solidly in my hands, I was lifted free of the floor and placed in the shower where the deliciously warm water started to seep over my chest and neck.
It flowed down my body in warm waves, and I held my beer up and away from the spray as, behind me, Silas’ hands started to run down my sides.
He was washing me as well as keeping his body against mine to keep me warm.
“How was your day?” I asked.
The question was immediately followed by a loud crack of thunder that startled me so badly, my legs nearly went out from under me.
Silas’ arm around my waist was the only thing that kept me from eating dirt…or shower tile, anyway.
The bar of soap in his hand didn’t fare the same treatment.
It fell in an echoing thud to the shower floor at my feet and came to a rest at the opposite part of the tub near the drain.
“Easy,” he said, bringing his lips to my neck.
I shivered once again as his beard ran along the cord of my neck, and his large palm, the one that wasn’t holding his beer, cupped my breast.
“That was a loud one,” I managed to squeak out.
“Mmm hmm,” he agreed, letting go of me to take a sip of his beer.
I followed suit and relished the bitter taste of the ale.
I hadn’t been a huge fan of beer until I’d discovered this particular brand.
“How do you like this beer?” I asked softly, leaning my head back against his chest.
Lightening flashed, followed only milliseconds later by another loud boom of thunder.
“It’s not bad. I’m more of a dark ale man myself,” he murmured, while placing his bottle on the ledge.
I bit my lip when his hand left my breast and started to trail down the flat plane of my belly.
“I love this one,” my breath hitched.
His hand finally found the curls between my legs, fingers sifting through the coarse hair.
“I like this,” he said, giving my curls a gentle tug.
I moaned involuntarily.
That little bite of pain made my heart stutter in my chest and start to beat harder, my breathing becoming faster.
His erect cock was bobbing on the inside of my thigh, bouncing up and down slightly in time with his movements, tapping gently against the lips of my sex with shift of his hips.
With the lights out, every one of my senses were heightened.
Every single touch and breath felt monumental.
I was so wet that if he’d tried to enter me right then with his massive cock, I would’ve accepted him with ease.
But that wasn’t what he was doing right then.
No. He was teasing me.
Petting me.
Letting his callused hands run all over my body, back and front. Caressing my breasts, my face. Gliding them up my arms, over my neck.