Viper felt a stirring below the belt. Shit, he was just as vile as the fucker who’d purchased her.
“Hmm,” Fox hummed, the sly grin he was named for curling his mouth. “Not bad, Wayne. Pretty much exactly what I asked for.” He reached out and grabbed one of the woman’s breasts. She jerked back but had nowhere to go. Fox followed her movement, keeping his hands on her. Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she trembled, but held her head high and toughed it out.
She was strong.
Viper growled; he couldn’t help it. Watching his father paw the unwilling woman was making him rabid.
Sarge’s elbow connected with his gut.
Fuck, he’d been too loud.
Fox shot him a look then laughed. “See something you want, Viper, my boy? Sorry, this one’s not for the taking. At least not by you.” He stepped back and stared at her. “She is your type, though, ain’t she? Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll find you one just like her for the night.”
Viper grunted in response. He didn’t trust himself to speak. Not without calling his father out on being a rapist piece of shit.
“Excellent find, as usual, Wayne,” Fox said as he handed the slimy bastard a thick envelope. “There’s a little something extra in there for you. I know this one was hard to find.”
Wayne’s smirk was more snake-like than Viper’s name. “Always good doing business with the Tribe,” he said as he palmed the envelope. As though this routine was rote, which it appeared to be, Wayne gave Fox a two-finger salute, slammed the back door of the van, then climbed in the driver’s seat. Without another word, he was off, leaving the victimized woman alone with five bikers.
Fox rubbed his palms together, then blew into his cupped hands. “Fuck, it’s cold.” He chuckled. “You’d know, wouldn’t you, girly? Legs,” he said to the club’s enforcer, a muscle head with quads the size of tree trunks. “Take her in, chain her to the bed. Her buyer is flying in on Tuesday to pick her up, so she’ll be our guest until then. And keep it in your fucking pants. He’s particular and specific in his demands. Rich, twenty-one, virgin, green eyes, red hair. Ain’t risking the two hundred grand pay off ’cuz your dick’s hungry. Get me?”
Two hundred thousand dollars? Beside him, Sarge whistled.
“Got it, boss.” Legs bent down and picked up the lead Wayne had dropped. “Let’s go, bitch.” He yanked the rope, jerking her forward and chuckling at her yelp of pain.
Viper growled again. This time Fox missed it, but the girl didn’t. For just a second before they’d dragged her toward the shack, her gaze collided with his.
It was like a punch to the gut and a stroke to the dick all at the same time.
Terrified, but stunning green eyes stared into his as though pleading for mercy. He clenched his teeth so hard his jaw screamed for relief. Steeling his expression, Viper returned her gaze with a hardened, impassive one.
The tiny flare of hope his growl must have sparked died, and her shoulders slumped in defeat. Another tug on the rope had her jerking and following Legs into the dilapidated house.
Viper wanted nothing more than to rush forward, grab the girl, and toss her on the back of his bike. But they wouldn’t make it two miles before Fox had the whole club hunting their asses.
He settled for trying to send her a telepathic message
Hang tight, baby. Viper’s coming for you.
CHAPTER TWO
PRESENT DAY - TENNESSEE
Cassie gathered the soft T-shirt against her nose and shut her eyes as she inhaled the scent more familiar than her own. Didn’t matter how many times she’d laundered the worn fabric over the years—it’d been hundreds, maybe thousands of washes—her husband’s vital essence remained in every fiber of the shirt.
Now, more than ever, she needed the comfort of his fragrance. She ached to the very core of her being, missing his arms around her. His gravelly voice whispering in her ear while the beard she’d grown to love tickled the sensitive skin. She even grieved the loss of the deafening rumble of his motorcycle as he rolled down the street toward the house they’d shared for more than thirty years.
With a brick where her heart once lived, she breathed Viper’s scent one final time before carefully folding the shirt and setting it in her top dresser drawer.
God, had it really been ten days since Viper had been taken from her? Ten days since he’d done exactly what she’d have predicted he’d do in a crisis and thrown himself over a woman they both loved as a surrogate daughter. Jazmine survived a brutal attack on her place of business with nothing more than a few bumps and bruises for one reason and one reason only.
Viper sacrificed his own life for hers.