“I’m going to give you more of a chance than I had.” Still holding Butcher with what was left of his hair, Reaper turned him until he was facing away from him, pointing him toward Silas’s house. “I’m going to be fair. The Last Riders get to take turns killing you if you go in that direction.” Reaper pointed him to the left. “You go in that direction, the Porters can have you. You have better odds going that way, but you have to get past Greer. Good luck with that.” He tore out piece of scalp when he pointed him to the right. “You go in that direction, Moses and his dogs can have you. Those are your worst odds; I don’t see you outrunning one dog much less eight.” Using the back of his shirt, he pointed him straight. “This direction, you have your best odds. Through those trees are two rises, and it has a back-access road to the one you came in on. If you’re really lucky, you’ll even be able to get to your car and drive away before you’re caught.”
“Who gets me if I go in that direction?”
“Me,” Reaper answered, releasing him. “Choose.”
Butcher looked back at The Last Riders, then toward the Porters’ property, then at the dogs. Lastly, he braved a glance at him. “I’ll go in that direction.” Butcher looked at Slate as if wanting confirmation that he made the right choice. Slate was too occupied nursing the bump on his head that Greer gave him.
“I’m going to be generous and give you a three-minute head start.” Reaper turned his head toward Butcher. “Run.”
* * *
Thirty minutes later, Reaper walked out of the copse of trees, returning to where The Last Riders and Moses were waiting—thriving on the high he felt when Butcher’s life left his body when he’d wrapped his hands around his throat.
Getting to Slate, he reached down to jerk him to his feet and he started walking them toward the driveway.
“Where are you going?”
Reaper kept his determined gaze forward as Viper and the other men rushed to keep up along with his angry stride.
“Slate and I are going to finish this together, aren’t we?”
Jerking Slate forward despite his attempts to pull away, Reaper stalked them down the driveway to car that they had planned to use in Ginny’s kidnapping attempt. Seeing the trunk open again infuriated Reaper.
“I’m going with you,” Viper demanded.
Reaper looked in the window of the car to make sure they had left the keys in the ignition. Stupid fuckers.
With a satisfied glee, his emotions switched from fury to a joyous euphoria. All the planning he had suffered in the search for Slate, Butcher, Vamp, and The Count was coming to fruition. All the pain and mental torment he had suffered through was almost over.
“No. I’m doing this alone.”
Tossing Slate into the truck, he slammed it shut.
“If you don’t want me going, take any of us. I don’t care who,” Viper pleaded, trying to block him from getting the driver’s door open.
“Move, Viper!” he snarled. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will. You’re going to need all of them to get rid of Butcher. Find a pig farmer and feed them what’s left. I made it easier for you.” Using his shoulder, he shoved Viper out of the way enough to slide inside, but before he could close the door Viper attempted to stop him again. The movement unintentionally blocked Shade and Razer from helping him.
Using his left foot, Reaper kicked Viper away enough to shut the door, simultaneously locking it as Knox and Moses jerked on the handles to open the other doors.
Locked inside, he started the car.
The Last Riders ran around the back of the car.
Fuckers know I’m not going to run them down.
His joyous euphoria vanished when he saw Ginny slam the door open to Silas’s house. Then all her brothers piled out behind her.
Focused on getting away, Reaper didn’t flinch at the sound of Shade and Rider using rocks to break out the windows behind him.
Instead of going in reverse, Reaper drove forward over the grass, heading toward the outbuilding. Gunning the motor when he sped past Matthew and Isaac’s workshop with everyone running after him, he angled the car between two trees. Hearing the metal crunch as the trees scraped the sides of the car had the euphoria coming back. He made it through.
Expertly guiding the car through the trees, he came out the other side, going too fast and nearly taking out the goat pen. Swerving, he barreled the car toward the access road that Silas used to unload groceries.
Gaining on the road, Reaper pressed his foot down on the gas pedal. Rolling down the window, he threw out his cell phone as he made it to the road.
Rubber burned when he turned toward West Virginia instead of toward the club and town.