Coop (Reckless Souls MC 1)

I roll my eyes but keep my back facing him because Hector is the only person in this room with any true power. I hope.

“Is that supposed to impress me?”

“I don’t know, does it?” I don’t wait for an answer. “Look, my point is that you haven’t thought this through. The Reckless Souls are never going to give you any piece of their business or their turf in exchange for my life. You know that. Please tell me you know that.”

He frowns. “Get to the fucking point!”

Ah, and there’s the explosive anger. Typical for narcissists like him. “You and your men will do unspeakable things to me and deliver my head to Coop, which will unleash holy hell upon every last one of you. Coop will hunt you down, each and every one of you, and he won’t stop until you’re all dead.”

“But he won’t save your life? Doesn’t sound like love to me, Kelsey.”

“Love has nothing to do with it. Even if he does love me—which I’m not even sure he does—he’s powerless unless the whole club agrees. Right?”

Hector nods. “And that fact will only fuel his rage, his need for revenge once I’m gone.”

His nostrils flare in anger, and I brace myself. “You stupid bitch. Think I’m gonna listen to some cunt who’s just trying to save her life?”

“Stupid whore,” Nogales adds with more vitriol than he had earlier.

“It feels like I’m dead either way, Mr. Santos. I’m just trying to help you think about this logically.”

I don’t want to die but with every moment without Coop or the police bursting in here, my hope fades a little bit more. So I keep babbling. “You’ll do what you want anyway but screwing me and then killing me will only get you the opposite of what you really want.”

“She’s trying to get in your head, Boss. Don’t listen to this bitch.” Nogales is getting upset, and that’s when I take my shot.

“You shouldn’t be listening to me,” I tell Hector. “At least one of these men should have already brought this up to you. I wonder why they haven’t.” I shrug. “Maybe they aren’t smart enough, in which case you won’t be able to effectively run everything that the Reckless Souls control. If they want to see you fail, well, that’s another issue altogether.”

“You fuckin’ bitch!” Nogales roars behind me, and a second later, I feel a heavy boot shove me forward. My face hits the concrete hard enough to pull a yelp of pain from me, but there’s no blood, so I keep my back to him. Ignore him completely.

“See? The truth hurts…because it’s true.”

“I’ll kill you right now,” Nogales roars again, but this time, Hector puts up a hand to stop whatever pain he was about to inflict.

“Billy, calm the fuck down.” Another flash of anger from Hector, a man not at all in control of his men or his world.

“Boss,” he insists but Hector shakes his head.

“Enough. Shut up so I can fucking think.” He pinches the bridge of his nose, blowing out a long gust of air as he stares up at the ceiling. “I just need one goddamn minute of silence.”

The sound of a phone ringing cuts through the tense silence, and Hector’s jaws clench in frustration. The ringing sounds again, and I realize it’s raindrops. Raindrops!

“That’s my phone!” I never keep it in my purse just in case someone steals it, which means one of Hector’s men has it.

“Get that fucking phone,” Hector yells at no one in particular.

One of the younger men rushes forward with my sparkly pink phone in his hand. “Here you go.”

Hector smiles as the phone rings again, and somehow, I know who’s calling me.

“Coop. My man. Good to hear from you,” Hector chuckles into the phone.

“Coop!” I cry out as loud as I can.

Hector makes a big show of tapping the end call button the screen with a triumphant smile. “String this bitch up before lover boy calls back.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Coop

“That rotten cock-sucking son of a bitch!”

Hector answers Kelsey’s phone, and I know now that all the fears plaguing me all day have come true.

“I will kill him, and I’ll do it slowly. Take my time and savor every cry of pain until he’s fucking dead.”

Ace and Shades both look up from the Panhead with concern in their eyes. “Something wrong, Coop?”

I nod absently and stare at the phone, trying to figure out if I really just heard Hector Santos answer Kelsey’s phone. For a flash of a moment, I wonder if I’m being played, but then I hear it again, that worried shout of relief when Kelsey calls out to me.

“Yeah. I just called Kelsey’s phone because she was supposed to meet me for lunch hours ago. Santos answered her phone.”

Shades is on his feet first. “What the fuck?”