Inflamed: A Shadow Riders MC (37 page)

River turned his eyes straight ahead and wrapped his hands even tighter around the wheel. "No he won't," he said. "I'm gonna make sure of that shit."

"How?"

River looked over at his best friend and glared. "Just you worry about what the fuck we're gonna do with this asshole's body once we get back to the city."

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The rank smells of blood, death and fear hit River's nose the minute he stepped inside his house and closed the door. "Jesus."

As Blue moved in behind and then past him to check around the living room and the kitchen to make sure no one else had randomly shown up and outside of Mia's vision, River headed straight off down the hall, only stopping just before he reached his bedroom. He swallowed hard and locked his jaw tight, preparing himself for what he knew he was bound to find on the other side, then slowly pushed the door back and saw Mia still sitting on the bed with her hand wrapped tightly around the gun, her finger slid directly over the trigger and her eyes focused directly on Eightball's lifeless body on the other side of the bed.

"Mother of God," Blue muttered, sharp words that forced Mia to turn to the both of them as they stood staring at her in the doorway.

Her mouth dropped open as River stepped further inside the room, and though she had the urge to get up and wrap her arms around him while also telling him how scared the fuck out of her mind she was in not only killing a man but actually being forced to sit alone inside a room and with his dead body, it was as if her entire body had been filled with lead or concrete. She couldn't seem to move despite wanting to and he couldn't bring himself to force her out of place.

River moved closer to her and turned his eyes down toward the gun, while Blue shuffled over across the room and stared down at Eightball.

He twisted his head left to right, then bent down to check his pulse both in his neck and his wrist. "This motherfucker's dead as a goddamn doornail," he said.

River kept his eyes on Mia and bent forward to gently remove the gun from inside her hand. After flipping on the safety and sliding it between his back and the rim of his pants, he moved directly in front of her and lowered his head. "Doll." Her eyes shifted over to him and she gulped.

"I didn't..." Turning her eyes back to Eightball, she shook her head and sniffed to hold back her tears. "I didn't mean for it to happen like this," she said. "I just wanted to scare him when he came at me, but--"

"This shit ain't your fault," said River. "Not a goddamn thing that happened here tonight is your fault, babe, alright? This sick fucker was bound to be put down like a goddamn dog at some point. You doin' it just...." He shrugged, unsure of what the hell else to say to her.

Blue nodded at him. "What the fuck are we gonna do with this asshole?"

He rattled his head. "We've got no goddamn choice but to call up that motherfucker Tank at the crematory. Tell him we've got some trash that needs to be burned before the goddamn night is over."

Blue knit his brows. "You sure about this shit, VP?"

River glanced over at him and muttered. "I'm sure I want this motherfucker outta my goddamn house tonight. I'm sure of that shit, motherfucker."

Blue took a step back and didn't say another word; he knew from the hard look in River's eye and the even harder tone in his voice that questioning him about this shit wasn't the smartest goddamn thing in the world to do. While he reached for his phone and dialed up Tank as asked, River reached out for Mia and helped to lift her from the bed. He brushed the hair back from her face and got a good look into her eyes as she stared up at him. Motherfucker saw the pain and terror and every single bit of her goddamn fear, and all he wanted was to strip that shit from her and make her feel safe again.

"Come on." He quietly dragged her from the bedroom the minute Blue began talking to Tank and walked her into the kitchen. "You're gonna need some shit to help get you through the goddamn night after what the fuck just took place back there." He went over to one cabinet for a glass, then pulled a bottle of cognac from another and began to pour. After handing her the glass, she hesitantly reached for it and took a seat at the table. River turned and crossed his arms as he leaned back against the counter. His eyes fell to the floor the second she took her first sip, and he glowered. "I'm sorry this shit happened, to you tonight, doll. Sorry it had to fuckin' happen at all--"

"It's not your fault," she blurted. "You couldn't control the kind of weathering storm he had brewing up inside of him."

"Yeah, but I shoulda fuckin' known that shit," he told her. "Shoulda fuckin' seen it comin' knowin' what the fuck he's always been like, what the fuck he tried doin' to you right inside my own goddamn kitchen that day. I knew then he shoulda been out and I shoulda been the one to take care of that shit." He grinded his teeth and sharply exhaled. "Asshole motherfucker was one of Tiny's goddamn recruits from a few months back, and it was clear as a goddamn bell to me and every motherfucker in the club from the moment he showed up that he wasn't a good goddamn fit for the Shadow Riders. But that son of a bitch's friendship with Wolf always seems to override any goddamn thing that has ever bad for us." He swiped his hand back and forth across his mouth and stood up straight. "If I'm bein' fuckin' honest, Wolf ain't the only reason shit's been tumblin' for as fuckin' long as it has now."

Mia took another sip of her cognac and sat back in her chair as it burned sliding down the back of her throat. "Did you find out anything about Ricky while you were in Tampa?" she asked him.

"Nobody was willin' to talk even as we damn near shot 'em up with bullets with every gun we brought. Motherfucker's got that entire goddamn city runnin' scared as shit. Your parent's are good though," he replied. "We checked on my boys' who're still watchin' out for 'em before we headed back out to the prison."

"Did they see you?"

"Fuck no, doll. I ain't never been good in dealin' with nobody's parents, not even my fuckin' own."

She chuckled. "Thanks," she muttered. She circled her finger around the rim of the mug and stared up at him. "I saw Ricky's face when Eightball came at me the way that he did; same gestures, same eyes, same reactions. It reminded me so much of that night he dumped me outside of your club. Just the look of pure evil, almost as if he was soaked in it. When it came to son of a bitch, after I learned all about who he was and everything he was ever capable of, it was like I had been staring into the face of the devil himself the entire damn time. Eightball was almost like a descendant of that evil."

"You ain't gotta worry about him anymore, doll."

"I know," she told him. "But... but, you do."

River dropped his arms to his sides and moved closer to her, but stopped when Blue peeked his head around the corner. "Tank said if we get this motherfucker out there before midnight," he told him, "he'll take care of it tonight, no questions asked."

"Alright." He stared down at Mia, who couldn't seem to take her eyes off of any part of him. "You good?" he asked her.

She shook her head and tried to smile. "No. But a few more glasses of this and I just might be, soon enough."

He placed the bottle in front of her on the table, then followed Blue back into the bedroom and closed the door.

Blue stomped back over to Eightball and nudged his foot into the side of his head. More blood oozed out onto the carpet. "This shit's gonna be a bitch to get outta your goddamn rug, VP."

"I'd rather have this motherfucker's blood stainin' it than Mia's."

Blue nodded. "So how the fuck do we get this asshole outta here?"

"Wrap him up in some tarp I've got down in the basement and toss him in the back of my truck. I'll call up Snake or Shiver and see if they can hightail it the fuck over here before the night's over and look after Mia."

"Yeah, Riv..." He dropped his hands around his waist and shook his head. "Yeah, I don't think that's such a good idea to call those assholes up and over here."

"I'm sure as fuck not callin' up another one of those goddamn, inept prospects."

"No, I mean..." He sighed. "Your bitch is fuckin' traumatized and the last goddamn thing she is gonna need or want is somebody other than you holdin' onto her goddamn hand,
or any other fuckin' part of her
, and tellin' her that shit's gonna be fine when we all fuckin' know that it won't. And you just said on the way back here that you didn't want anybody else knowin' about this shit and what happened here tonight, and you were right. I'm includin' the other brothers in this. The less people who know this asshole's been capped, and by
who
, the fuckin' better. Look, after we get him wrapped up,
I'll
take him out to Tank's place and watch him burn. Shit might even get my cock hard, which'll be good if I can ever get around to lettin' that bitch around the corner wrap her lips around it. I'll call and let you know what the fuck's up after it's done, alright?"

River took a deep breath in and let it out as slowly as he could. He knew that he needed to be with Mia; hell, the motherfucker didn't want to be anyplace else.

"Alright," he said, refusing to put up a fight of any kind. "Let's just get this motherfucker wrapped the fuck up and outta here ASAfuckin'P."

Chapter Twenty-Nine

After helping Blue stuff Eightball's wrapped body into the bed of the truck and waving him off, River headed back inside the house and found that Mia had moved from the kitchen to the couch. She had pulled her feet up on the leather and was staring off into the distance with the glass of cognac in her hand, never realizing he was even back inside the house until he closed the door.

She turned to look up at him and attempted a smile.

He pointed. "That shit helpin' any?"

She shrugged. "Not as much as a lobotomy might."

River snickered while moving around to the other side of the couch, and dropped down. He lay his head back against it, closed his eyes and massaged his temples with the tips of her fingers. The night was starting to wear on him in a way that it hadn't since he first joined the club.

Mia sat up and bent forward. "You actually look like you could use some of this just as much as me. Maybe even a little bit more?" She lifted her glass and outstretched her arm.

River stared down at her hand, then back up into her eyes and lifted his brows in question. "What the fuck number are you on now, doll?"

"Three." She rolled her eyes up and leaned her head. "Maybe four...
and a half
. Here," she said. "No matter how many of these I've had tonight, it's still no fun drinking alone. Especially after..." She stopped and swallowed hard. "Dealing with something like that."

"
Yeah
." Hesitantly, he took the glass from her and took a long, slow sip. He fell back against the couch again and swallowed, keeping his eyes straight ahead as Mia combed her fingers through her hair and kept her eyes directly on him.

"This may or may not actually come as some kind of shock to you," she said, "but I've never killed anybody before. I've never even held an actual gun in my hand until tonight."

"Most people haven't, babe, and they never will." He took another sip of the cognac before handing it back over to her. "Closest some folks'll ever come to dealin' with the shit we had here tonight is on T.V."

"If only that were true," she muttered. She wrapped her fingers around the glass and sat back. Then she took another sip and pulled back to exhale. "Have you ever killed anyone before, River?" she asked. His eyes went wide for a split second as what she said soaked into his brain. She took note of his expression and shook her head. "Sorry, that was probably a stupid question."

"What's that shit people say about there bein' no stupid questions but only dumbass answers or some shit like that?"

She laughed. "I don't think that's how the saying goes." He grinned and bobbed his head. Silence floated between them until she started up again. "So, have you?"

He looked over at her again and glowered. "Yeah... yeah, I've killed motherfuckers before, babe."

"How many?"

"None I'm willin' to sit here and count for you tonight, or any other goddamn night from here on out for that matter," he told her. "Just know that some of 'em, I wasn't too proud of havin' to get rid of. But others... Shit, others I'd be one lyin', full of shit motherfucker if I said I was even sorry for permanently pluggin' 'em up."

"Would Eightball be in the 'not so sorry' category had you gotten to him before me?"

"Like I told you before, I wanted that motherfucker gone from the minute he walked in wearin' a goddamn cut with 'Prospect' sewn above that right pocket. Didn't matter to me how he went out or who took him there, 'cause the crazy fuck never deserved to be here in the first goddamn place, let alone get patched in."

"What are you going to tell Tiny and the others about what happened to him?"

"Don't fuckin' know yet. Whatever the fuck I say, they're not gonna like. It's been hard as hell tryin' to get any willin' prospects to stick around longer than a few fuckin' months at a time over the last few years as it is; even shit fuckers like him."