Give Me a Reason (Redemption Hills 1)

“You really think that Demon was responsible? Come now.” The prick laughed. Playing me. Winding me up.

“I…” Memories slammed me.

I’d been just a kid…a kid who’d been oblivious to the truth.

Oblivious to Cutter’s intentions all along.

A smug smile filled his face. “Have no idea how you never realized it…guess you were so blinded by your hate, thirsting for revenge over her death, that you missed the whole goddamn point. You and your brothers…you belonged to me. I didn’t mind ending anyone who threatened that.”

“You killed her.”

“Gladly.”

Bile raced my throat, and my hands kept curling into fists. Rage simmering to the surface.

But I had to keep it together.

Stay focused.

Stay quick.

Hope to fuck that Cutter made a misstep and I could take him out.

Needed to play the bastard the way he’d played me for years.

“What does it matter now, Cutter? Why kill Juna? Why all this bullshit? That fuckin’ pig? Those pricks at my bar? You didn’t have to be a coward…you could have just shown your face. You and me.”

But truthfully…why?

He’d already lost everything. His crew. His club. His freedom. Fucker had been hiding for the last six years.

Dread slipped beneath the surface of my skin when I thought back to the intel Jud had gotten through Ridge.

Fact that Demons and Petrus had started losing members.

Shit.

Cutter was making a play.

Reclaiming turf.

Had been rebuilding. Behind the scenes. Growing in strength. Growing in numbers.

No question, those bastards in my bar had been sent by him.

Scoping.

Planning.

Inciting.

Because that’s what Cutter had wanted.

My fear.

He gestured wildly at his face with the barrel of his gun, his smile manic. “You didn’t think I was just goin’ to let you get away with this? Let you live after what you did? Figured I could have a little fun with it in the process.”

My teeth grated. “You killed my brother.”

“Nah, Trent, that was always on you. Now it’s time you finally paid that debt. Think I still have time to get some use out of your brothers and that little shit that started this all in the first place. Your son has my blood flowing through him. Only makes sense. Owls are back, but sorry VP, you’ve been demoted.”

Rage.

It flooded.

The irresistible kind.

The kind that made my mouth thirst for the taste of blood.

It was what I’d done for so long. For so many years.

Ghost.

Kill after kill.

The numb violence that had spilled through my veins before I’d spill blood on the floor.

No chance would I let any of them get dragged back into that sordid world.

Not my brothers.

Not my son.

I choked over all of it.

That man. One who’d gladly kill at odds with the man I wanted to be.

But for Gage, for my brothers…

Mocking laughter rocked from Cutter. “Tell me you didn’t go soft on me? Here you were, my pride and joy. Just your name incited fear. Loyalty. But that’s what you always lacked, isn’t it? Loyalty. Now look at you, standing there shaking. The deliverer of death should always be ready to die.”

I blinked.

Tried to see.

To focus.

I had to stop this here because Jud and Logan wouldn’t go down without a fight, and I couldn’t allow them to be put in that position.

Then I froze.

Awareness slithered.

The breath ripped from my lungs.

Metal clattered off to the side just as I was struck with a bolt of that energy. With that overwhelming intensity that blistered and lashed.

Cutter whirled around to the side.

Eden appeared through the blaze of sunlight that burned through the garage door.

Oh god. Eden.

Sweet, fucking Eden.

Didn’t need to slow to feel the terror that radiated from her flesh. To sense the determination that had lined her bones.

This brave girl with the brightest belief.

So reckless as she came into the garage.

For me.

For my son.

I knew it.

I knew it.

“Eden.” Fuck. Eden. “Get out of here.”

She ignored it. Stepped deeper into the garage.

“Police are on their way,” she said with a jut of that fierce chin. She kept moving forward. “They’ll be here in a minute. I told them about your guys hiding out here in Redemption Hills. They know you and the three of them are responsible for killing my sister. You’re not getting away with this. Not any of it. This is over.”

“It’s over when I say it’s over, bitch.”

“Eden, get down.” I dove for Cutter in the same second he lifted his gun her direction, tackling him from behind as the deafening gunshot rang out.

An oomph jutted from his mouth as I toppled with him to the floor. His arms and legs flailed, and the bullet pinged against the wall.

We both scrambled onto our feet. A war for dominance. A fight for possession of that gun.

“Motherfucker, it’s time to die,” Cutter spat.

Whole time, I was shouting, “Eden, get down. Take cover. Please, go.”

Please, go.

Since the minute I’d met her, I’d refused to let her get in the middle of my mess.