“What are those?” I ask, not bothering to argue. He’s apparently planning on letting me live and that’s good enough for now.
“First rule,” he says and I wait. “You protect Kayden with that sorry life of yours. Her wellbeing comes first in every fucking thought you have. You slack on that, and there won’t be any more second chances. I’ll gut you and I’ll enjoy gutting you.”
I nod, not saying anything, because he’s completely right and I will do that, thought I had been doing that, but definitely will pay more attention to the details from here on out.
“Second rule, I made a vow to my woman that I would make sure that I made her nothing but happy for the rest of her life. That’s a vow that I’m going to keep and any man that threatens that will die.”
“Uh… Okay,” I mutter, never having met his wife, I’m not sure what I have to do with this rule, but Dragon clears that up next.
“And finally, my woman loves her daughter. Anyone that takes Kayden away and makes it so she doesn’t get to see her often, would make her very unhappy. Are you getting a picture here?”
“Yeah man, I got it.”
“You need to take it in, Nomad, because if you don’t…”
“I got it. I swear,” I growl, I’m feeling like a fucking idiot. I don’t need his shit piling it on.
“Good enough, but I’ll be watching you.”
“Are we done here?”
“Are you going to follow the rules?”
“If I stay in the area, I may need to have ties with a local club. Giving up my lifestyle was already a given, that life’s not made for Kayden.” I mutter.
Dragon watches me closely, but he doesn’t respond either way. I don’t say anything else. I figure I don’t need to.
“Are we done here?” I finally ask, after neither of us make a move to speak.
“With your first lesson, yeah. Now, you get your second lesson,” he says, standing up, taking off my chains, and then, looks at his other men.
I might have been an idiot that could have gotten Kayden killed, but I’m clearly seeing what my next lesson is going to be. I force my weak legs to stand. I refuse to remain on the ground while four men beat the fuck out of me. I turn to look at Kayden’s brothers, well two men and two boys. They might be her brothers, but I thought they were fucking my woman before I knew that tidbit, so I don’t especially like them right now. I’ll enjoy getting my licks in on them. I’m hoping I can get a few in on Dragon before I go down.
“Look at that, you know what’s coming. You are getting smarter, Nomad.”
“Thanks,” I mumble, positioning myself so I have all of them in my eyesight.
“Don’t look so worried. You just have to take on me and the boys. Dancer is just here to keep time.”
“Time?” I ask.
“Yeah, cause the three of us are going to fuck you up for seven minutes and forty-nine and a half seconds,” he grins, and the grin is full-on evil.
“You’re a twisted, motherfucker,” I growl.
“Not the first time that I’ve heard that, but I figure you need to know just how long that time can be. Don’t worry, I’ll take it easy on you for the first couple of minutes.”
“Just let me have it old man, I can handle you,” I snarl, knowing I’m going to get my ass kicked. Dragon may have years on me, but I’ve felt his hits. He’s got fucking power in those arms of his.
“Oh I’m going to enjoy this,” he laughs and as he delivers his first hit, I manage to hit back. He connects with my stomach, on a blow that’s so damn hard it threatens to buckle my knees. I uppercut him with a growl, thankful that they seem intent on doing this one man at a time instead of all three of them getting me at once.
“So am I,” I yell as slam my fist into his jaw. Dragon spits blood at me, giving an unholy grin and then he hits me so hard I think I fucking see stars.
It’s then that I decide I must truly love Kayden, there’s no other reason I’d be willing to go through this shit….41Kayden“I want my man back and if you don’t let him go, I’m prepared to do what I have to do to make it happen.”
I sound firm. I sound resolute and I sound pissed as hell—all of which I am. Dad’s had Chains hidden from me for like two weeks. If Uncle Dancer hadn’t been coming by to tell me that Chains was okay, I’d have been going insane. He asked me to be patient. He told me that Dad was slowly coming to terms and warming up to Chains. I don’t know what in the hell that even means, but I’m done waiting.