Give Me War - Kate McCarthy Page 0,19
he does, apparently hellbent on getting shit off his chest. “I always thought love was supposed to be something beautiful, but I turned it into something ugly and destructive. And the truth is, even though Coby told me to go, I was going anyway. I know it hurt you.” He rubs a fist against his chest. “But it hurt me too.”
I want to sink to my knees and weep for the past. I barely gasp out the words. “You have no right to hurt.”
But deep down I know he does. I had Coby and Henry to force me back on the right path. Renny had no one. He was dumped as a kid. Left by the outside bin of a local burger joint like he was part of the trash he stood beside. Just a boy, his body likely skinny with hunger, eyes dark and scared, and too large for his face. Even now, the thought almost breaks me.
“Maybe I don’t have that right, but it hurt anyway.”
I shake my head, looking at the man he is now. Darker. Harder. The tattoo of a viper twisting down his arm. “You can be sorry all you like, Renny Rossi, but you’re a Viper now, and you just kidnapped me and delivered me to the evil lair of your brethren. Maybe leaving that hospital without a backwards glance was the best thing you ever did in your whole entire life, but this,” I jerk the gun, my fingers tightening on the weapon in my hand and my voice rising, “is not doing right be me. This is … this is …” I shake my head, huffing. “This is insanity!”
He takes another step toward me, getting a little too close. “You have no idea what’s going on here. I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“This is you keeping me safe?” I snort. “Dude, have you lost your mind?” I shake off the incredulity and gain some semblance of control. “Renny, you’re a Viper,” I enunciate.
He tips his chin but doesn’t answer me.
“I’m in a house of Vipers,” I elaborate, as if that’s enough for him to understand that I am not safe.
“It’s a safe house,” he tells me.
My brows fly up. “A safe house?”
His chin tips again.
“Who does this safe house belong to?”
“The Vipers.”
“So let me get this straight. You’re keeping me safe, inside a safe house, that belongs to the Vipers?”
His eyes narrow on mine.
“Right.” I nod. “Sounds great. I feel perfectly safe. Now excuse me while I get the fuck out of here!”
His gaze cuts to the door and he mutters a low curse.
My eyes follow his and I curse too.
“You ain’t goin’ anywhere, little Valentine bitch.”
Kermit is blocking the exit, and therein lies my first mistake. Jared will be pissed at me for not restraining the biker, but this shit is not my life. I deal in rock ‘n’ roll with a side of mischief and mayhem, not vigilante justice with a side of badass violence. That’s my husband’s department.
“She’s still got a gun,” Renny barks to the big man.
I swing it in Kermit’s direction, showing him proof. I even tilt my head and squint, giving him a steely look that would make Clint Eastwood proud.
“How have you not takin’ that thing off her yet?” Kermit puts his arms up. “Put that fuckin’ thing down, you crazy ass bitch!”
My brows rise mockingly. “How about no?”
With my right side now wide open, I’m expecting Renny to come at me. I have no plan for that. I’m just a girl, standing in front of two big-ass bikers who kidnapped me, asking for a miracle.
Except he doesn’t come at me. He seems to hesitate.
“Move!” I bark at Kermit, jerking my head in Renny’s direction. “Stand over there and keep your hands where I can see them.”
“How about no?” he taunts in return, his hands still up.
I lower my aim a fraction and fire off a shot. The outer side of his right thigh explodes. Blood and flesh spray outward as a shout of agony bursts from his mouth. The injured leg crumples beneath him and he stumbles back a step before going down.
“Evie, what the fuck!” Renny comes at me now. “Give me the gun.”
I swing it back toward him. His arms shoot up in a placating gesture while Kermit writhes on the floor, spit coming out of his mouth. “Give you the gun? So you can shoot me? Not on your life.”
“I’m not going to shoot you,” he growls.
“Give me the gun. I’ll