The Virgin Next Door (Stud Ranch)

“First, we get out of here,” Mack said, voice tight. “Call the police,” Mack said to the white-faced teenager. “Tell them Calla Carter’s been kidnapped by Daniel Jones in these EMT’s ambulance.”

Then he grabbed Liam’s upper arm and started dragging him toward the parking lot.

“Let me go.” Liam jerked his arm out of Mack’s grasp. “You don’t get to order me around. You’re the one who’s dragged Calla into whatever the fuck this is.”

Mack flinched at that. Not that it gave Liam much gratification. For once, he didn’t care about getting in hits with Mack. But he probably did need the big bastard’s help getting Calla back. It looked like he had the same thought as Liam as they both were jogging in the direction of the trucks they’d driven in.

“So tell me what I need to know about whoever took Calla,” Liam said as he reached his truck. They worked quickly to unhitch the trailer from the back. Then Liam went and yanked open the driver’s side door.

Mack tried to pull him out of the way. “I’m driving.”

“Fuck you are,” Liam said. “She’s me truck. And—” he shoved Mack back with a hand on his chest— “I drive because I know where the fuck she is.”

Mack blinked at that. “How—”

“You’re wasting me time,” Liam said. “Are you going to get in or we gonna waste more time in this pissing contest?”

“Fine,” Mack said. “But let me get something from my truck.” He backed up and ran toward the other truck.

Liam huffed out a frustrated breath and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Mack was back in a couple minutes, up in the cab and slamming the passenger door behind him.

Mack looked at him incredulously. “You really think it’s time to be checking your goddamned messages?”

Liam didn’t even bother with a comeback. “I’m tracking Calla. I got worried because she takes those trips up to Casper each week and is always driving home in the dark. So that necklace I gave her last night? It has a GPS tracker in it.”

Mack just stared at him for a second. “I could fucking kiss you right now.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Liam held out the phone so Mack could see. “Looks like they’re taking her on back roads. Avoiding the highway.”

Mack nodded, taking the phone. “You drive. I’ll tell you what we’re walking into.”

That was when Liam saw what Mack had in his other hand. A gun. A fucking gun.

36

MACK

Liam stared at the gun, then shook his head as he put the truck in gear. “Talk. Why the fuck did those two dead guys back there have D’s carved in their heads? And what the hell do they want with Calla?”

Liam peeled out of the parking lot as Mack gave Liam the abridged version of what had happened with Bone and Ben.

“It was personal between Bone and me, let’s just say that,” Mack said. A fucking understatement, but Liam didn’t need to know the gritty details.

Bone liked keeping his pets around until they broke. When Mack stopped fighting back, Bone thought he’d done just that. But he saw he’d made a mistake when Mack thrived after getting away from him. Mack stealing Ben away made it all the worse. It didn’t matter that Bone killed Ben. To Bone, they’d never be square. Sending Sammy to spy on Bone had just made everything worse. He was such a fucking idiot.

He gritted his teeth as he continued, “Things were okay between me and Pres when I got out. The Devil’s Spawn are mainly just a prison gang. There were members outside, but usually just to support the inside members and keep the supply chain strong. It didn’t operate like a normal MC.”

“So you don’t think this President sent his thugs after you?”

Mack shook his head, his jaw hardening. “No. Timing of it? No. This is Bone. Plain and simple.” Mack watched the GPS as Liam turned off onto a side road. Then he looked at the blinking dot on the map on Liam’s phone. Smart. Bone had taken the long way around but Liam was circumventing the route by taking a diagonal road that would put them right behind the ambulance.

“He knew where I was gonna be and then he was either watching and saw us all together last night or this morning. Or he saw that damn picture online.”

And Bone had always liked to hurt him by taking what he held dear.

What the fuck had he done to Calla’s horse? That seemed way too elaborate a plan just to snatch her. Didn’t seem like Bone’s style. He’d been more of a fist to the throat kind of a guy. Not too bright but brutal as all fuck. Maybe Bone hadn’t done anything and he’d just taken advantage of the circumstance. Bad luck for the fucking EMTs.