Desolation Road (Torpedo Ink 4)

“Your son, Robert, and his two friends did a lot of screaming, or at least they tried to. I taped their mouths closed and read books. I spent hours with Robert Jr. He had a lot to confess and seemed to want to talk, but in between his bouts with the clapper and his endless ‘daddy’ talks, I had time to study up on Arabic. It’s a fascinating language. I’m much better at reading it than speaking it, and Robert Jr. made so much noise I really had to tape his mouth for some time. It was annoying, Holden. Not only did you raise a rat bastard of a son, but he was a coward as well. It will be interesting to see what kind of man you are.”

“You want me to believe that you actually killed my son without the aid of your husband or these others?” Holden couldn’t keep the sneer out of his voice. “Whoring yourself out to a club so they do your dirty work for you doesn’t make you brave.”

Absinthe caught him by his hair and yanked his head back, slapping him hard enough that for a moment his ears rang. The slap was very casual, and Holden would have much preferred to have been punched. It felt as if the biker had disrespected him, and judging by the grins on the other men’s faces, he had. Scarlet blew her husband a kiss and smiled that same little half smile that was more of a smirk that he’d come to despise when she was in court. The one that told him she knew what was going on, but she didn’t care—that she was already planning to retaliate.

“I didn’t meet my husband until a year after I killed Robert Jr. We actually had to interrupt our honeymoon in order to take care of this little piece of business. I was going to let it go, but then you sent the other clubs after us and the Diamondbacks were pissed at you and so was Absinthe, and now I am all over again.”

She swung her gaze to Ice. “You’re recently married. Wouldn’t it upset you just a teeny tiny bit to have to interrupt your honeymoon because some sleazy-ass, hedonist, self-important, narcissistic, asshole stalker obsessed with you put out a contract on you? Wouldn’t that just make you a little upset?”

Ice snickered. Scarlet turned her attention back to Holden, her tone still mild. “As if any woman would want to do you, Bobby boy, when your dick is so small. No wonder you’re always paying for sex and your wife ran the moment she had a good excuse.”

“You fucking whore,” Holden burst out again. “I’m not obsessed with you. Not the way you make it sound.”

Before he got another word out, a small silver object hurtled across the room so fast it whistled, the only warning. At the same time, Absinthe’s fist settled in Robert’s scalp again, jerking his head back, nearly breaking his neck. The very small knife cut perfectly into Holden’s flaccid member, shaving skin off the left side. Blood poured out around the blade and ran down his leg onto the silk black-and-white damask cushion of the three-thousand-dollar custom-made chair. Robert screamed loudly.

Destroyer murmured something in Russian and Savage replied back immediately. Scarlet looked to Absinthe for an explanation.

“Destroyer isn’t happy with Savage that he deliberately missed.”

“I didn’t miss,” Savage denied, walking around the couch to retrieve the small throwing knife. “Hit exactly where I meant to hit. Shut the fuck up. You’re not that hurt. I could start slicing inches off. You talk to my sister like that again and I will.” He wiped the blood from the two-inch blade on the cushion of the chair and walked back to stand where he’d been, just in front of the shadows.

“I don’t understand why you didn’t just whack that teeny little dick off,” Destroyer said. “He shouldn’t talk to her like that. But you were very inventive on our last trip so I’m willing to learn.”

“Go ahead, moya literaturnaya ledi,” Absinthe encouraged. “Say your piece and then we’re going home. Savage and Destroyer can handle this one for us.”

Scarlet turned her head, her gaze meeting Savage’s. “You look good, Savage. Very relaxed. Both of you do. I don’t think it’s necessary to carry this one out. Holden isn’t worth it, not to me. He really is absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. I truly mean that. I won’t lose sleep over him. Or think about him ever again. I don’t want either of you to think about this night.”

Savage shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling easily. “Your call, honey. You know it won’t matter to me either way. I’ll do it for you.”

“I know you would and that’s the most amazing gift of all, that all of you would.” Scarlet turned her attention back to Robert Holden. “How sad for you, that you had everything, and you threw it all away.”