Tongue (Ruthless Kings MC #8) - K.L. Savage Page 0,83
around the house. “Damn it; I’m so tired. Too much has been going on. The corn maze is still up for fuck’s sake. Skirt still doesn’t have a home. Tongue killed ten cops.”
“Nine,” Skirt mumbles. “I killed one.”
“Don’t argue semantics with me. I’m really not in the mood,” Reaper warns and Skirt nods, swallowing nervously. “Tongue, first thing is first, I need every detail about Daphne. Do you know anyone that would have taken her?”
“The same asshole that buried me alive,” I say off into the distance, staring at the playroom door behind Skirt’s shoulder. “He’s been leaving her notes. You know because you thought it was me. He is coming after me, Reaper. The Groundskeeper is still here in Vegas, and I think he has set his sights on me. He knows what I do to people. He left another note after that, sent her roses. I…followed her to her Aunt’s house. I just wanted…I wanted to see her one last time before I left.”
“Left? You were going to leave?” Sarah asks me.
“I was going to go to NOLA until I was invited back. I was going to get away, see the swamp kitties, try to forget about Daphne, and figure out if Vegas was really right for me.”
Sarah inhales and catches herself on a sob. “You’d leave?”
“Obviously not. I didn’t say goodbye to Daphne. I watched her for a little bit. She woke up. We fucked. I knew I couldn’t leave. She had flowers there from him. He left a note. He’s left her three fucking notes to stay away from me. She should have stayed away from me,” I whisper, staring up at the ceiling as I plop my head on the pillow. “Then Seer called—”
“We know. Seer called me too. Poor guy can’t get away from us. Why didn’t you say anything about the notes? We could have protected Daphne.”
“You didn’t even believe Daphne and I were together. You thought I was killing people, taunting her. You didn’t trust me; why the hell would I trust you?” The anger can’t be hidden because I’ve pushed it down for so long. “I thought I was on my own. I had Daphne. She was all I needed. I went to Maximo and asked if we could get married there, he had a condition. That I fight to kill and bring him in money, and I could have whatever I wanted. I wanted that for Daphne, so I didn’t have a problem with it. Until Skirt showed up.”
“I was there to make money too, Tongue,” Skirt combs his fingers through his long red beard.
“You aren’t ever alone, Tongue. You’re our family. No matter how fucking mad I am or disappointed or want to fucking kill you for hurting Sarah, I know it was unintentional, you aren’t alone. This is what we are here for. You’ve been worrying us, then the journals… We thought you were only obsessed with her, we didn’t know—”
I hold up my hand and silence him. “I am obsessed with her. I stalked her. Don’t think for one minute that my love for her isn’t unhealthy and dangerous because it is. I will kill everyone who gets in the way, including my own family.” I let the threat hang in the air, staring at all of them, daring them to stop me from finding her and bringing her into my arms once more. “He has her. What if she is buried? What if she can’t breathe like I couldn’t breathe? What if she’s banging against the wood, calling out for me, and I can’t hear her?” I twist my hands together, feeling useless. I’m a horrible protector. A few seconds of the lights going out and her fingers…they were wrapped around mine. They were right there and then they weren’t.
Then she was gone.
“I doubt it,” Badge says, pushing his foot off the wall. “He seems to care, leaving her flowers, warning her about you, doing his best to protect her. I think she’s fine. Well, as fine as she can be in the hands of a maniac.” He purses his lips, “No offense, Tongue. I mean, a more obviously unstable maniac.”
“No offense taken.” I’m actually a little annoyed she’s in the hands of another monster. I trust myself with her, she trusts me. There are a hundred different shades of crazy and the only one I know she has faith in, is mine.
Badge’s phone beeps, and he pulls it out of his cut pocket and grimaces.