Hostage (Predators MC 3)

“I don’t think that’s why she doesn’t like you—” Rave started to speak up then hastily snapped her mouth closed at Jackal’s glare.

“It doesn’t matter.” Jackal slammed his fist down on the counter of the bar. “Fuck her. It’s not like I was in love with the girl.”

Max pounded his hand on his back.” Fuck her,” he agreed, showing his support then grimacing as he wiped his damp hand off on the sleeve of Ice’s T-shirt. “The bitches all look good in the dark. No need to put up with the shit Penni’s dishing out.”

“You’re right! She’s not the hottest tail in Queen City.”

“There you go!” Max’s encouragement had Jackal’s sore pride finally kicking in.

“Thanks, brother!” Jackal missed the appalled look behind his back as Max tried to avoid coming into contact with Jackal’s soggy clothes.

Ice leaned against the bar, watching as Max and the men snickered as Jackal cockily headed toward his bedroom. “Since when do you give a flying fuck who Jackal does?”

“Can you seriously imagine Penni as Jackal’s old lady?”

Ice frowned at the brothers’ expectant faces. Obviously, all of them believed he would agree with them.

“You don’t think Jackal could handle Penni?”

“Brother, I think she’d shoot off his dick.”

2

Penni stepped out of her car. She had barely managed to pull into the parking lot before her car had died. It wasn’t the only thing not working.

Penni gave a frustrated sigh when she tried to call Grace back. Blanking, she glared at the cell screen, hoping the bars would mysteriously reappear.

“What the hell?” She had just had phone service when she’d talked to Grace. Penni had decided to call Grace back to have her help find a road service.

A car was parked beside the dark bar, the dark windows showing no welcoming gleam from inside. The only thing that resembled a saloon was the crooked sign and the music she could hear escaping from inside.

Penni snagged her purse from inside the car, sliding the strap firmly over her shoulder. The assortment of self-defense weapons she had inside gave her flagging confidence a boost as she walked toward the front door. With her other hand, she kept trying to call Grace back.

Her fingers trembled as she opened the door. Penni’s instincts screamed, telling her to run, and Shade had always warned her to follow her instincts. However, before she could take her brother’s advice, she felt the door jerked from her grasp.

Panni gasped as a man barreled into her. Horror had her gasp becoming a scream when she realized the man’s chest was covered in blood. The lethal weapon poking out of his back seemed incongruous. Her first instinct was to try removing the weapon, but her survival instincts kicked in when she realized there were two occupants involved in the deadly duel.

Unable to stop herself, Penni reached forward to aid the man who seemed to need the most help with the vicious weapon sticking out from his back.

His brown face was filled with agony. He appeared to be Shade’s age, in his thirties. While Shade was lean and athletic though, this man had a slim frame, which wasn’t a match against the muscular guy intent on finishing the fight that had started before she had come in the door.

The two men directly in front of her were silent, temporarily stunned by her appearance, but the scream that filled the dingy saloon had each scrambling to find an advantage to break away from the deadly struggle.

The poor man with the knife sticking out of his back stared at her as if she could somehow help him.

Penni dropped her phone to the floor as she reached out to catch him. The one standing behind him didn’t give her the opportunity, though, pulling the knife out with a sickly squish, only to thrust downward again into his helpless victim.

Penni scrambled back a step, holding the man as he slumped into her.

The other man stood as if frozen to stone. He appeared to have just come out of the bathroom. He was young than the other men, his actions showing he didn’t know how to react to the life and death struggle. Penni didn’t think he was friends with the other guys; his clean clothes might have come off the rack, but they had high price labels. Penni had the feeling he had been as shocked by the stabbing as she was. He must have come out of the bathroom as she had entered the front, both of them getting a shock they didn’t know how to respond to.

Penni didn’t have much time to react before she felt the victim grasping her harder. The man’s weight buckled his thin frame as she frantically tried to catch him. She was sickened by the fear she saw staring back at her.

“Help us,” Penni appealed to the man across the room who was coming out of the bathroom.