Devil May Care: Boxed Set (16 page)

This time, though, there were several other men here. It was one thing when her husband had sex with her whenever he wanted, but it would be much worse if all the others did, too. And Sam might like that. Might like to watch her suffering and hurting like that. Would probably get a kick out of it.

Where was Jasper? She felt the tears running down her face. Why wasn’t he here?

Sam stuck his fingers in her hair and forced her to kiss him again. His slimy tongue found its way into her mouth. She wanted to bite it. She wanted to throw up. He made her feel so wretched. He disgusted her beyond disgust. He nearly choked her shoving his tongue in her mouth so far. She tried to back away, but he held her tight. She hoped Sophia wasn’t watching. Hoped she was covering her eyes or clinging to Cuddles and not seeing what her daddy was doing to her mommy.

Finally, he dropped his arms and released his hold on her.

“You hear that?” He smiled menacingly.

She listened and at first, heard nothing. Then. Then, there was a faint sound in the distance, growing louder. A motorcycle engine. No. Not one. Many. They grew louder quickly, then stopped abruptly.

“I think it’s show time,” he said. “That must be your little boy toy and his MC.” He rubbed his hands together and licked his lips. “Time for action.”

He grabbed her one more time and kissed her, slapped her again across the opposite cheek, then let her go. She fell to the ground and scooped Sophia back up.

Sam turned and grabbed his crotch. “Soon, Fifi. Soon.”

She closed her eyes to listen better. He was here. Finally. Jasper had come to rescue her. Everything would be fine soon.

From where they stood outside the farmhouse, Jasper heard shouting inside. Men calling out instructions to each other. They knew the Hawks were here. They were getting ready. Well, his guys were ready, too.

“Okay, let’s move. Weapons ready,” Jasper said.

His guys took out knives and guns. He heard the sound of several slides being pulled back, loading bullets. They walked to the house, ears and eyes open.

“Alex and Aaron, circle around first.” Jasper pointed to the side of the house. “Make sure no one is coming up behind us. We’ll keep lookout here while you sweep.”

Aaron and Alex inched to the side of the house, peeked around the corner, then walked out of sight. Jasper kept his eyes peeled, watching the house for any movement, and listened carefully for his guys. They’d call out if something went wrong. Minutes later, Aaron and Alex appeared around the other side of the house.

“All clear,” Aaron said.

They approached the porch with Jasper and Aaron at the front, the rest of the guys right behind him. Jasper lifted his leg and kicked the door, hard. It might not be locked, but busting the lock would make sure it didn’t get in their way later. The door crashed open to the sound of splintering wood.

Two of the Rose Blades ran at them, their guns pointing back at the Hawks’ guns. They stopped when they were feet apart and glared at each other.

“Where’s Leo?” Jasper demanded.

“With your girl, having a good time,” one of the men sneered at him.

Jasper clenched his teeth and tried to ignore the comment. He was likely just trying to get him mad anyway. Giving in to that would only make things harder and get him tripped up. This was not the time to get tangled in too much emotion and let it cloud his thinking. He had two jobs to do. Save Fiona and Sophia. Kill Leo and his guys. Didn’t matter much what order they happened in, as long as they both happened.

Jasper assessed the situation. Two of the Blades, five of the Hawks. Obviously they outnumbered them right now, but there were several more men in this house somewhere. He didn’t need them sneaking up behind them and catching them off guard. How many more could there be?

They stood in some sort of entryway. From this angle he could see a staircase and two adjoining rooms. Another room, the kitchen probably, was visible far down the hallway in front of them. The stairs leading upstairs looked unused. Thick layers of dust and many boards broken or splintered. No one would be upstairs. Were all the other men with Fiona and Sophia, or were they spread out?

The two adjoining rooms were empty. No people, not even any furniture besides an old dusty chair in the room to the right. There was likely a basement to the house, but if those steps were in as rough of a shape as the ones leading upstairs, then likely no one was in the basement either. So, that probably meant everyone was on the first floor. He listened again, but nothing gave away the location of anyone else in the house. Not that he wanted her to be upset, but he wished he could hear Sophia or Fiona crying or something. Anything to tell him where they were.

He and his guys needed to go through the house to search, but first, they’d have to deal with these two guys. Five on two wouldn’t be too hard, though who knew how long it would be before the rest jumped in to help. If they rushed them, they could take them down easily.

Jasper took a small step to the right. He glanced over at his guys, lifted both eyebrows, which was the signal, and rushed forward.

Gun shots rang in the room, but the Hawks moved at them too fast to be hit. Jasper dove at the man closest to him. The man landed on his side, Jasper straddling his waist. He put his gun to his temple, then hesitated. He didn’t kill people often and hated to do it now. But there was no way around this. He reminded himself that they’d taken Fiona and Sophia, they’d held a gun to her head, and they’d tried to kill him. They’d burned down his house and the MC headquarters, they may have killed Daniel. The Blades wanted him dead and if he didn’t kill them first, they’d be coming after him soon. Kill or be killed. It was that simple.

The man was struggling to get free, reaching for his gun that had fallen just out of reach when he landed on the floor. He gave up and tried to reach his foot, where Jasper guessed he had a knife. Jasper took in a short breath, blew it out in a huff, and pulled the trigger. With a loud bang, the man went still and a puddle of blood formed under his head.

Jasper stood up and looked around. The other Rose Blade member lay on the ground, dead. Jasper wasn’t sure who had taken him down, but his guys were on their feet, ready. Two more men rushed into the room.

Jasper nudged Aaron’s shoulder and they snuck around the corner while his guys and the new guys were occupied. They were now in the room to the right. It was empty except for the chair. There was no place for anyone to hide and no one had come into the room since he’d first checked it.

A lot of shouting came from the entryway they’d just left. Jasper didn’t want to leave his guys hanging, so he peeked around the corner to get a view of the entryway. One of the Blades held Alex at gun point. He couldn’t see the other Blade or his other guys.

But, from where he stood, he had a perfect shot. And no one realized he was there. He aimed and shot the Blade in the shoulder. Trying for his head would have put his aim too close to Alex. Better not to take chances. The shoulder would do enough damage and give his guys time to finish him off. The man dropped his hold on Alex, who immediately kicked him and kneed him in the gut, dropping him to the ground. Then he shot him in the chest. Alex nodded at Jasper in thanks.

Jasper turned back to Aaron, who motioned that they should go to the doorway that led to the next room.

They inched closer, stopping to listen and peer around the corner. The next room was a dining room, also empty. But through the dining room, he thought he saw someone in the kitchen. He wanted to barge through the room, but he knew better.

He stepped into the room. There was so much commotion in the front rooms that it made it hard to hear anything else. A gun shot rang out now and then, echoing off the walls, making his ears ring. He edged to the wall where the doorway leading into the kitchen was.

Not much of the room could be seen without him giving away his position, but what he did see stopped him cold. Three legs. Two were on the floor—a child’s purple leggings and foot in a bright pink sneaker, and an adult leg in black pants beside it wearing flats. And a man’s jeans and boot standing across from them. The woman and child were sitting on the floor together. It had to be Fiona and Sophia, but who was in the room with them? Leo most likely, since he hadn’t made an appearance yet.

Jasper turned to Aaron and nodded toward the kitchen. “They’re in there,” he whispered.

But then something happened that he didn’t expect. Smoke curled in the air. Someone had started a fire. He’d mentioned burning the place down when he talked with his guys outside, but they wouldn’t start one now. Not without his command, and not before everyone got out. Had Leo’s guys set this place on fire, too? Man, they were just a bunch of pyromaniacs, weren’t they?

He didn’t see any flames, however, and it was more the smell of smoke and something burning than the smoke itself in the room, so it couldn’t be too close to them or too bad yet.

Jasper held his gun up, ready. He looked at Aaron, who nodded.

“Let me go in first,” Jasper whispered. “I might need you to take him out if it’s a standoff.”

Aaron nodded again and watched as Jasper took a step forward. Jasper stood in the doorway, gun pointed at the man in the room. It was Leo after all.

Sophia cried out, “Mommy!” and pointed at him.

Jasper allowed himself one instant to look at them. Fiona had Sophia sitting between her legs, holding her tight, rocking her back and forth. Her eyes were red and raw, her cheek bruised. Someone would pay for that. Her hair was a mess and her makeup was smeared, but she looked otherwise okay. They hadn’t hurt her much. But that bruise on her cheek. He had to swallow his anger. Fiona met his eyes and her gaze said she was both afraid and glad to see him.

Sophia looked surprised and hopeful. Her bunny sat on her lap, much dirtier than the last time he’d seen it. She looked overall dirty, too, like she’d been playing in the dust that was so thick through the house. Or maybe they’d just had her sitting here in the grime. Her little eyes were bright red, too, and swollen. Tear trails lined her cheeks and from her nose, a thin line of clear mucus ran to her mouth.

Leo leaned casually against the counter, eying him up. “About time you showed up.” His gun was in his hand, hanging at his side.

Jasper had his gun trained on Leo’s head.

Then Leo raised his gun and pointed it at Fiona. “I wonder who can shoot faster.” Leo grinned at Jasper. “Wanna find out?”

Jasper glared at him. “Drop it.”

Leo laughed. “Drop yours.”

They glared at each other, neither moving. But Leo didn’t know Jasper had backup. All he had to do was wait a minute. He saw Leo move before he heard the gunshot. Leo fell to the ground, blood pouring from his arm. Aaron had missed, but it was enough.

Jasper kicked the gun from Leo’s hand and turned to Fiona. “Run!”

She shook her head. He couldn’t understand what was going on. Why wouldn’t she get up and leave immediately the instant she could?

Smoke was coming into the room now and he coughed. Not more of this shit. He’d been coughing for days it felt like. His lungs needed more than a few hours to heal. The air felt like fire when he breathed in. He covered his mouth, but he was already bent over, coughing hard.

He was dizzy and tried to shake it off. Aaron put a hand on his back and shouted something but the fight was too loud in the next room, and the fire was getting louder, and now the ringing in his ears was too loud. He fell to his knees, coughing.

Fiona looked at him, wild with fear. Why didn’t she get up and run? What was the problem?

“Run!” he croaked.

She held up Sophia’s hand. There was a silver handcuff around it. How had he not seen that before? What an idiot he was not to notice. Of course she wasn’t going to leave without her daughter and he’d still need to get Sophia out anyway.

Jasper crawled over to them and inspected the handcuff. He saw the pipe Sophia was chained to. Couldn’t be too strong of a structure if the rest of the house was falling apart like it appeared to be. He scooted around Fiona and slid under the sink. The pipe she was cuffed to was the pipe that ran from the wall to the underside of the sink. He put a foot against the wall on either side of the pipe and yanked.

The pipe broke free from the wall with some effort. It’d taken several tries, but eventually the plaster gave way and the pipe was corroded enough to snap apart. He broke out into another coughing fit, but Fiona was able to slid the handcuff over the pipe to get Sophia free. They’d need some bolt cutters later or to pick the lock, but for now, they could run, and since the handcuff was only on one hand, it shouldn’t get too much in her way.

Jasper turned to face Fiona, put his hand at the back of her neck, and brought her mouth to his. He stopped coughing long enough to kiss her hard. The world melted for just a second, and it was enough to flood him with emotion. The adrenaline made his mind spin. His body grew warm with desire and he wanted nothing more than to rip her clothes off right there and take her. Kissing her was the best feeling in the world. He never wanted it to end. He would make her his when this was all over. He’d do whatever it took and would stop at nothing to win her heart and keep it forever.

She kissed him back just as hard. She pulled herself to him, dug her fingers into his hair. She’d forgiven him, it seemed, at least for now, for being who he was. Maybe she’d see how his dangerous lifestyle could lead to him getting her out of anything. Maybe him saving her was just enough to make everything else okay.

He pulled back from the kiss to cough, and she whispered his name. Just once. “Jasper.” But there was so much longing in it that he kissed her again, quickly this time. He got to his feet, and pulled her up.