Ride or Die (Rejects Paradise 4)

Only when I can physically no longer keep going do I finally pull away, looking down at the beaten and bloodied man lying helplessly on my factory floor. “You stick to your word,” I tell him, “And I’ll stick to mine. Do it quickly, and I won’t do anything to your ‘company’ in the meantime … take your time, and you never know what might happen.”

Leaving my threat dangling in the air, I walk across the factory until I'm standing in front of an old sink. I turn on the tap and listen to the squeal of the rusted metal pipes as they turn on for the first time in years. The water spits out a dark shade of brown and, after running for a minute, finally runs clear.

I wash the blood off my hands and clean off my brass knuckles before slipping them back into my pocket. I dry my hands on my pants, and without looking back, I scoop up my suit jacket and head for the door, pulling out Russo’s phone that I took last night.

I scan through his contacts until I find the one person who I know will come and take his boss off my hands. It rings three times before Snake’s voice tears through the line. “We’re ready to go boss. We’re on our way,” he says, his voice full of pride and excitement. “Those fucking Widows won’t live to see morning.”

I stop in my tracks, looking back at Russo as horror begins to fill me. Ocean had told me the Wolves plan, and as much as I hate Nic, I can’t stand back and watch as Ocean’s brothers are slaughtered. She’ll never be able to move on from that, never forgive herself.

I drop the phone and fucking run.Chapter 21ColtonI slam Russo’s limp body into the passenger seat of my Veneno, cringing with the way his blood drips over my expensive leather seats. He grunts and groans with every little movement, but if he can survive my beating, he can fucking survive a short car ride.

The passenger door hardly closes by the time my ass is hitting my seat. The engine kicks over, and I race through the fucking streets, pushing my Veneno as fast as it can go. I’ve never been to the Widows clubhouse before, but it’s not hard to figure out where it is. It's the street that nobody goes down, the one people are terrified of, the one that comes with a promise of death.

I grab my phone and find Nic’s number, calling it over and over again, desperate to get through to him but with every call comes no answer, which in hindsight is fucking smart of him. I’m Ocean’s boyfriend, and she’s a Wolf. In any other situation, talking to me could be considered risky business, but right fucking now, it just makes him a bigger moron than I already know him to be.

It’s a fucking godsend that I decided to deal with my business in Breakers Flats. I’m only around the corner, but who knows how long the Wolves have been driving for. They could beat me there, or I might just make it in time to save their dumbasses. I lost precious seconds going back for Russo, but he might just be what we need to give ourselves a few extra minutes.

The call rings out for the fourth time, and I clench my hand around the phone, my anger rising higher than I ever knew it could go. I look back down at it, needing to get the message through to someone when I scroll past Kairo’s name. I hit call and glance up, just in time to catch myself from running off the fucking road.

I swerve back into position, and within seconds, Kairo’s sharp tone is cutting through my Bluetooth speakers. “What the fuck do you want? Is Ocean okay?”

“The Wolves are on their fucking way,” I shout through the car, “And your goddamn boss ain’t answering his fucking phone.”

“FUCK. NIC, THEY’RE COMING. IT’S FUCKING GO TIME,” Kairo hollers before coming back to me. “How do you know?”

“Because I just got done beating the living shit out of Russo for touching Ocean.” I speed down their street and spot their stupid warehouse from a fucking mile away, but what I can also see, there are no Wolves here. I glance in my rearview mirror, thankful we still have time. “Open the fucking roller door. I'm coming in.”

The call goes dead, and two seconds later, the door begins slowly rolling up. Inch by inch, it sets my fucking nerves on edge. Maybe Ocean is right about having a gate that will open and close quickly. Right now, it’s the difference between life and death, and I damn sure don't want to give my fucking life for this bullshit.