Page 43 of Slayin Villain (Royal Bastards MC: Nashville, TN #11)

Rachel

Royal Road had no business feeling like a goddamn purgatory.

I sat there with a paper cup of stale coffee, chewing the inside of my cheek and wondering if pacing would make it better or worse. Kingpin’s office door stayed shut, and nobody had come out to update me. Not Riff. Not Irish. Not even Eve, who’d promised she’d keep me looped in.

I checked my phone for the twelfth time in as many minutes.

Still nothing from Villain.

No missed calls. No texts.

He was supposed to be back by now.

Something in my gut twisted, hard.

I looked over at Thorn, who stood near the front window, one hand on the blinds, the other on the butt of a pistol holstered at his side. He was tense. More than usual.

I asked. “What’s going on?”

He didn’t look at me. Just muttered, “Shouldn’t be askin’ me that, darlin’. If I knew, I’d be talkin’.”

It was the darlin’ that gave him away. Thorn didn’t use sweet talk unless he was nervous or someone was about to bleed out.

That’s when Eve stormed in through the side door.

Her heels clicked too fast. Her face was flushed. Her ponytail, usually slick and neat, looked like she’d run through a tornado.

“Where the hell have you been?” I asked, already pushing to my feet.

Eve threw her hands up. “Get your shoes, girl. We gotta go.”

I had on my shoes. That was just Eve’s sayings.

I froze. “Go where?”

She paused just long enough to meet my eyes. “Sassy’s Slop House.”

The bottom dropped out of my stomach. “He went to meet Ember there.”

“I know.”

My voice dropped. “Did Ember show?”

“No,” she said slowly, grimly. “Rome did.”

The car ride was hell.

Eve drove like a woman on a mission, country music low on the radio, her lips tight, knuckles white on the steering wheel. We were flanked by motorcycles as the men rode alongside.

“Why the hell would Rome try to hurt him?” I asked, trying not to scream.

“I didn’t think Rome would be dumb enough to try something.”

“But y’all were dumb enough to send Villain there.”

Eve didn't answer. Just took the next curve harder than necessary.

I bit down the urge to cry.

The flashing lights of a squad car lit up the back alley behind the bar. Someone had already called it in.

Villain was on a stretcher.

Blood matted his hair, crusted along his jaw. There was a rip in his shirt that looked too damn close to a stab wound.

I ran to him.

“Hey!” I shouted. “Hey! That’s my man!”

A paramedic blocked me at first, but Eve stepped in, flashing whatever charm or chaos her Ol’ Lady status gave her.

They let me walk beside the gurney.

Villain groaned, head lolled toward me.

“Red…” he slurred. “You came.”

Tears spilled before I could stop them. “Of course I came, you dumb bastard.”

“I didn’t know it was a setup,” he rasped.

“I know. Shh. Don’t talk.”

But he kept going, eyes glassy and barely open. “Rome… he jumped me. Ember never came.”

I gripped his hand tight. “Save it. We’re gonna get you to the hospital.”

“She doesn’t want him anymore,” he muttered. “She told me… she picked him, but now he’s showing his teeth.”

“What?”

“Ember… said it’s mine. Then said it wasn’t. Then said… she might not keep it.”

His voice cracked, and my chest did too.

I didn’t know whether to be relieved, furious, or sad. So I settled on holding his hand and crying in silence.

Villain was under. Concussion. Internal bleeding. Nothing fatal, thank God, but he’d need to stay a couple nights.

Eve sat beside me, flipping through her phone like she wasn’t watching me fall apart.

Eventually, I gave up pretending I was okay.

“I can’t do this, Eve.”

She didn’t look up. “You’re already doing it, honey.”

“I thought she was gone,” I whispered. “I thought it was just me and him.”

“She was gone. And she stayed gone until Rome got stupid.”

I looked down at my belly. “How long before he goes stupid too?”

Eve looked up, suddenly sharp. “You think Villain’s anything like Rome?”

“I don’t know anymore.”

“Well, you better figure it out fast,” she said. “Because that man just took a beating that could’ve killed him, and the first word outta his mouth was your name.”

I blinked back tears. “He didn’t pick me though. Not before.”

“No. But maybe now he finally knows what he wants.”

Just then, my phone buzzed.

It was a message from Sweet Tea.

S. Tea: Ember’s at Cece’s. Pagan saved her. Rome had her tied up in a van.

My stomach twisted.

I showed Eve.

“Well,” she said, shocked.