Ride or Die (Rejects Paradise 4)

I press a little harder and watch as the blade finally pierces his skin, sending a red trickle of blood smearing over my knife and dripping down the thick column of his neck. “That’s where you’re wrong,” I tell him. “They’ll have my back just as surely as I know they won’t have yours. Look around you, dickhead, how many of them are rushing in to save you from the crazy bitch? Not a goddamn one.”

The small ray of fear that shines through his eyes gets a little bigger, and I laugh as I push my limits a little harder. “What did you think you were going to achieve out of this? You’ve already beaten me senseless and watched me rise from the ashes. I’m a fucking phoenix. There’s not a damn thing you can do to me.”

As I continue pushing, Snake has no choice but to lower himself to his knees. “This isn’t over,” he warns me. “I’m not about to fold and let some bitch Widow lover stand where I’m supposed to stand and lead my men straight to their deaths.”

“I’m sorry, you must have me confused. Aren’t you the guy who literally just led these men into a war against the Widows that you weren’t prepared for and then lost four of your own? Hmm. Funny. All this time I’ve been saying to stop the war and get at Nic in a different way, but none of you fuckers wanted to listen to me. You’re all just so happy to walk straight to your deaths and condemn your brothers right along with you. Wow, what am I even doing here? You’re right, you’d make such a great leader.”

Snake gets right down to his knees and I watch as the Wolves surrounding us begin to straighten out, maybe even listening to what I have to say. Though, I‘m not stupid enough to think that they’re suddenly going to tolerate me after one stupid little sarcastic speech. Snake clenches his jaw as he gets right down to his knees, and only then do I feel Christian take a discreet step back, deciding that I finally can take care of this on my own.

“You’re done,” I tell Snake, bending to get right into his face as I watch him pathetically kneel before me. “You know why?” I taunt, lowering my voice to a whisper. “Because I’m your fucking leader now, and there’s not a goddamn thing you can do about it. You answer to me.”

“I’ll never answer to you.”

“Look at yourself,” I say, a massive grin spreading across my face. “You’re already worshipping me, kneeling at my feet.” With that, I pull back from the man on his knees and slam my foot heavily into his chest, sending him sprawling back over the dirty floor. The other Wolves have to step back to avoid being run into, but I don’t miss the impressed stares on their faces. They know that if I can get Snake on his knees and send his ass flying, that I can do much worse to them.

I stare down at Snake as he fumbles around on the sticky floor. I raise my chin. “You’re welcome to leave. Walk out the fucking door and watch how quickly the Widows claim you. You’ve got nothing without the Wolves at your back.”

“And you think you do?” he spits, rubbing a hand over his chest.

A wide smile stretches across my face, and I meet his eyes, letting him see just how wrong he is. “Maybe I’m a different breed,” I tell him. “Even without the fucking Wolves, I still have the whole damn world.”

As Snake tries to get back to his feet, I turn back to the bar and shove my foot right up onto the stool I’d only just been sitting on a moment before Snake decided to yank me off it. Only with my back turned, someone moves into my peripheral vision, and without warning, I reach over and grab the gun from the waistband of Christian’s jeans. I whip around and let three bullets fly before I even take a second to figure out who’s coming for me.

The bullets slam into the concrete floor at the man’s feet, and he brings himself to a blinding stop, sending the Den into complete and utter silence. I take the second I need to raise my eyes from the three small holes in the concrete and scan over my latest threat to find Leon, the fucker with the scar, the same dickhead who thought he could put his hands on me.

Maybe keeping these bastards in line is going to be a little more fun than I had anticipated.

Leon meets my eyes, and with a clenched jaw and hatred shining in his own, he takes a step back, slowly raising his hands in surrender. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” I say, deciding to keep Christian’s gun for a little while longer.