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Chapter Twenty-Nine

CUT

M ara opened her eyes. She was on a couch. In front of a large stone fireplace. The smell that hung in the air was awful. It smelled stale, rotten. Mold. Death. Her chin started to quiver and her mouth felt so dry. Her forehead throbbed with a dull ache. She managed to let out a groan.

“Are you awake now?”

The voice made Mara shake.

Fitz.

“I bet you’re thirsty,” Fitz said. “We had quite the adventure. I did not want to hurt you, Mara. But, damn, woman, you like to fight. You never acted this way with me. I should have tossed you around a whole lot more than I did, huh?”

Fitz laughed. Not a normal laugh either.

Mara wasn’t able to move. Her legs tied. Arms tied. She was tired and weak. Her head really hurt too. She vaguely remember Fitz attacking her. Her eyes filled with tears. She thought about the baby.

If something happens…

Fitz walked into the living room with a glass of water.

“I’m going to untie you, Mara,” Fitz said. “Please don’t be stupid. Want to know a secret?”

Mara shook her head.

“Ah, come on, that wasn’t the answer I wanted,” Fitz said. “I’m going to tell you anyway.” He started with the rope around Mara’s legs. Tied super tight that when the rope was loosened her legs instantly began to get that pins and needles feeling. He then untied her arms.

“Come on, sit all the way up for me,” Fitz said.

Mara got very dizzy as she sat up. Looking at Fitz didn’t help. He was for sure out of his mind right now. Either drugs, fear or both. Or maybe he had some kind of insane plan in place.

“My fucking wife,” Fitz said with a laugh. He touched Mara’s face. “You fucking whore. You went right to the club. I can smell all the biker cum on you and inside you. I bet they placed you on the table and went one at a time, right? Taking their turns. Ripping your cunt apart.”

Mara didn’t speak a word. She reached for the water and started to drink. It didn’t taste very good or very clean, but her body begged for some kind of hydration.

“I owe you a story,” Fitz said. “I killed someone in here.”

Mara coughed on her water.

“Oh, don’t worry, it wasn’t anyone you know,” Fitz said. “It was a detective. This is his place. A little risky coming here, but it’s the only place I know right now. Everything else is too damn hot. Weird how things just fall apart…”

“Where did you kill someone?” Mara asked.

“Right over there,” Fitz said. He pointed. “That’s why it smells weird in here. I’m not sure who moved his body though. Maybe other detectives? Maybe a bear broke in and ate him.”

Mara covered her mouth. She felt sick.

“What? It’s not that bad. I’m just letting you know the mood I’m in. I’m not afraid to kill. In fact, I’m far from done killing.” Fitz touched Mara’s face. “Did you miss me at all? Be honest.”

“Honestly?” Mara asked. “I fucking hate your guts. I always hated your guts. I should have never let you ink me.”

“Speaking of that,” Fitz said.

He moved fast, grabbing Mara by the hair. He slammed her face down into the couch cushion. She screamed a muffled scream and could not breathe. She felt Fitz’s left hand curl around the back of her pants and pull them down. Kicking and thrashing but Fitz was just too damn strong. He held her down and pulled her pants down, exposing her ass.

“Oh, this is fucking great,” Fitz said.

He instantly let Mara go and stood up. She popped up and screamed for a breath of air.

“You blacked out my ink. No, better yet, you had someone else black out my ink. You fucking whore. I can’t believe Cyrus went along with that.”

Mara watched Fitz pace. He rubbed his face and then turned.

“Why did he allow it?” Fitz asked. “And… Darrow… of course. That fucking piece of shit. He would always eye fuck you. I saw you looking at him too. All the time. You two back and forth. You know I thought about bringing him in. As a gift to you. I was going to let you suck his cock while I fucked you from behind. You would have loved that, right?”

“No,” Mara said.

“No? You lying whore. Now tell me why Cyrus let this happen. Now!”

“Because of what you did to Priest,” Mara said.

“Yeah, right. What does Priest have to do with this? I can’t believe that big prick is still alive. I should have made sure he was dead. You do know if that stupid fuck wakes up he’s not going to be the same person, right? But that doesn’t matter, does it, Mara? I’m getting the feeling that my wife has fucking cheated on me. You cheating whore! Tell me right now!”

When Mara saw Fitz pull out a gun, she screamed and covered her stomach. That motion made Fitz stop.

“No,” Fitz said.

Mara swallowed hard.

“No fucking way. You’re… pregnant…” Fitz laughed. “So that’s what did it. You’re pregnant and Cyrus took a vote or just allowed it to happen. Always a soft spot for babies and continuing the outlaw bloodline. Holy fuck. Darrow got you pregnant? How long were you two fucking then?”

Fitz’s face dropped. He looked at the floor.

“Please don’t shoot me,” Mara said. “Fitz, you fucked up with the club. You should just go. Run. Take off. I’ll lie to them for you. Just one time though.”

“No, you won’t. It’s too deep. Especially after what happened with Macy.” Fitz looked at Mara again and he smiled. “She was a fun one. Damn. You should have seen her squirming and screaming. I needed that so badly. You can’t imagine the nasty drug sluts I’ve been letting suck my cock lately just to get by.”

“You’re fucking scum,” Mara said. “What you did to her. What you did to your club. You’re going to die a death worse than… death…”

“Yeah, okay,” Fitz said, waving a hand. “But, seriously, you’re pregnant. You forgot to have Darrow wrap his cock up, huh? That’s hilarious. But it also pisses me off. Oh, Mara, plans are changing. Sometimes you have to be fluid.”

Fitz put his gun away. Mara sighed slowly, feeling a small sense of relief. Fitz reached down and pulled up the right leg of his jeans. When he stood up, he had a large knife in his hand. That sense of relief for Mara was gone.

“Time to make a statement that will live on forever, Mara,” Fitz said.

“Fitz… please…”

“Beg all you want,” Fitz said. “Hell, scream all you want too. It won’t matter.”

Fitz took a step closer toward the couch. Mara made her move, jumped up and tried to jump over the couch. Fitz grabbed her hair and pulled her right back to him. He put his right hand around her throat and squeezed.

“Fight me all you want, you whore… I’m cutting that baby out of you…”

Slade felt he had no choice but to run Darrow off the side of the road. They needed to talk about a plan. Something. Slade cut to his right and Darrow screamed at him.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Darrow bellowed, his voice louder than the two roaring motorcycle engines.

Ignoring Darrow, Slade got closer and closer. He ended up so close to Darrow, he kicked his right foot at him. Darrow cut to the right and for a second he thought he was going to lose his balance and eat the side of the road. Slade’s plan worked. Darrow moved to the side of the road. He then killed the engine on his ride, then jumped off and went after Slade.

Ah, fuck, Slade thought to himself as Darrow took a swing. Slade inched back, Darrow’s middle knuckled clipping Slade’s bottom lip. Slade tasted blood. That was okay. When Darrow tried to swing again, Slade grabbed him by his leather cut and stepped him back.

“We need to talk about where we’re going,” Slade growled in Darrow’s face. “You’re walking from one trap to another, brother. You’re going to end up dead.”

“She could be dead right now,” Darrow spit at Slade. “And my baby…”

“I get it, brother. I get it. But we need to know—”

“She wasn’t pregnant at first,” Darrow blurted out. “It was a lie. We lied to the club. She didn’t want to be killed and I refused to let anything bad happen to her.”

“What the fuck did you just say?” Slade asked.

He stepped away from Darrow.

“I have to get it off my chest,” Darrow said. “I’ve loved her for years, Slade. I swear to you, brother, the second she found out Fitz was the rat, she came to me for protection. Then we went to the clubhouse to talk about what was going on. She panicked and blurted out about being pregnant.”

“Darrow…”

“She got a positive test from someone she knew. I hacked into some medical records and changed the name and that shit. Just to keep things calm. Then she got pregnant for real.”

“Is the baby yours?” Slade asked.

“Yes. One hundred percent. Fitz is shooting blanks. That’s how Mara ended up pregnant. She’s not on birth control. And I wasn’t wearing a condom. And we were…”

“Okay, I get the picture,” Slade said. “And you’re fucking telling me this now? Jesus Christ, Darrow. You fucking lied to the club. We can take a vote…”

“I need something good here,” Darrow said. “I love her. I love our baby. She’s good for this club. She knows this life. And I can fucking protect her. Fitz only used her. Abused her. Hurt her. He did nothing—”

“That’s not how it works and you know it. She wore his ink.”

“He’s a fucking rat! I never touched her before this happened. She came to me for protection. She ran from her rat of a husband. She did the right thing. And the way this fucking club is right now…”

“Darrow, we all have our skeletons,” Slade said. “All of us. She got her ink blacked out. She’s wearing your name now. And she’s carrying your baby.”

“Ride with me or go back to the clubhouse,” Darrow said.

“You know where she is? You’re sure about this?”

“I know where to look,” Darrow said. “Where to start. And I’m sure.”

“We can’t kill Fitz. We have to bring him in. He has to be alive for the Dr. Smile vote.”

“I don’t give a fuck about Dr. Smile ,” Darrow said. “I’m saving my woman and saving my baby. If you try and stop me again, Slade, you better fucking shoot me.”

Darrow was back on his ride and kicked up dust in seconds as he got back onto the road and took off with fury. And love. That was the scariest part. Outlaws did crazy shit just because they were outlaws. But an outlaw in love…? Slade shook his head.

This… was going to be bad…