When he guards, p.16
When He Guards, page 16
“Oh, change that. Five. Six,” Javion corrected. “Six to one. Looks like those are the final odds.”
Six men faced off against Cass. They were ditching their helmets. They were putting down…uh, knives. Guns.
Okay, so at least they weren’t using weapons.
“Hand to hand,” Javion shouted. “Those are the rules. If you’re fighting to take down the leader, you have to do it with your bare hands.”
That was something at least. “So they’ll come at him, one at a time?” Cass could probably handle that. He’d get tired, but he had told her that he’d been fighting since he was a teen. That had to mean he knew how to take care of himself.
Javion laughed. In her face. “Fuck, no. They’ll come at him all at once—”
They jumped Cass. Slammed into him all at once as the others cheered. First thing in the freaking morning, in the middle of nowhere, Texas, they attacked Cass, and she screamed.
Chapter Fifteen
She screamed.
Cass made the mistake of looking back at Agnes when her scream cut through the air, so Axel got in a solid punch to his jaw. Lucky bastard. Cass grunted at the impact, and then he launched his own attack. He managed to give an upper cut to Axel’s glass jaw—I know every one of their weaknesses—just as Ronnie came at him with a bellowing roar.
Cass kicked hard for the SOB’s weak left knee. A hit that turned Ronnie’s bellow into a howl as the man collapsed on the ground, holding his knee.
Then Cass was grabbed from behind. No, not grabbed. Hit. It felt like a sledgehammer pounded right onto his spine. Ah. Has to be Bear. The biggest guy in the MC. When Bear hit you, you knew it. And Cass almost hit the ground after that punch. He staggered, he stumbled, and Agnes screamed again.
“Stay up!” Agnes blasted.
Well, what in the hell did she think he was trying to do? Kiss the dirt? He dipped, weaved, and then came around on a quick spin. Bear had his hands raised—his fingers locked together in a hammer fist strike—and Cass just drove his clenched fists toward the guy’s gut and ribs. Rapid-fire hits that made Bear stumble back. A swipe of Cass’s leg had Bear tripping and slamming down onto the ground.
“Cass! Three more!” Agnes yelled.
Uh, yes, he was aware. “Thanks for the tip.”
The three other men attacked him all at once. They jumped on him, kicking and punching. One hit connected right under Cass’s left eye. Another slammed into his right side, down low, almost a kidney punch. A boot collided with his shin. Fists were flying, and they were working hard to take his ass down to the ground.
Fuck. I’m losing my footing.
He punched the dick of the guy closest to him, and Hugo bellowed out a curse even as he curled over.
“Knife!” Agnes’s shout. “That bastard has a knife. I thought there were no weapons! He’s breaking the rules, the sonofabitch!”
He had a flash of her red hair. Javion should have been holding her back, but, suddenly, Agnes was there. She jumped on Levi’s back. Levi—big, blond, far stronger than her, the Texas cowboy who’d proven he never fought fair time and time again. The prick who did have a knife because the blade glinted beneath the sun.
And he…
Levi sliced that knife back toward Agnes as he tried to shake her off him. “Bitch!”
Oh, the fuck, no.
Bodies slammed into Cass again. Men he’d taken down who had gotten back up to come at him again. They rushed in, thinking he was going to lose the battle.
An inhuman roar poured from him. Because he’d seen that knife going toward Agnes.
And Agnes…
Red hair hit the ground. He saw her on the ground.
A killing fury consumed him. Everything around him turned red as a haze of fury utterly devoured Cass. He stopped holding back. Because, yeah, he fucking had been. These were his men, after all. His MC. Not like he’d wanted to kill them.
Until he’d seen the knife go toward Agnes.
And he began to destroy. His hands moved in rapid-fire attacks. He used his full strength. The attacks were constant. Brutal. Bone jarring.
Bone breaking.
He was hit, too, but the blows just fired him up all the more. The men fell around him. Axel. Ronnie. Bear went down with a bellow and a crash hard enough to shake the earth. Then it was Hugo. Hugo actually held his hands up and backed away. Light glinted off the chains around his neck.
“Done!” Hugo shouted. Blood dripped from his nose and lips. “Done!”
Mathus swung with his left hand—he was a southpaw with a powerful fist—but Cass caught that fist, and then he slammed his head right into Mathus’s.
“Aw, fuck,” Mathus breathed. “Enough…Done.” His face twisted in pain, making the scar on his face heave and coil.
Cass let the bastard fall. Breath heaving, hands fisted, he whirled for Agnes.
She was still on the ground. But…no, she was on top of Levi. Levi was on the ground. Agnes straddled him. Her knees pushed into the dirt on either side of Levi’s body, and she had a knife pressed to his throat.
“Pretty sure no knives were supposed to be involved,” she snapped. “You must have heard Javion. I heard him.”
Was that a bruise on her cheek? It sure as fuck looks like a mark. Still red…as if someone had hit her, and the mark would soon become a bruise.
A growl broke from Cass.
She did not glance his way. Instead, her fierce focus remained on Levi and on the blade that she had against his jugular. “I distinctly remember Javion saying this was supposed to be a hand-to-hand affair. Hand-to-hand, not knife-to-hand because that’s not fair. But you tried to break the rules. Granted, I am new to the lifestyle here, but that sort of thing seems wrong—”
An inhuman cry broke from Levi as he grabbed her hips. He surged upward, ignoring the knife that she held against his throat. The bastard probably thought that Agnes would not actually use it on him.
But she did.
Blood flowed over his neck. And even as Levi grabbed her by the hips, Agnes was sending her left elbow careening into his nose.
Crunch.
Bones had to break. A distinct sound.
But Levi didn’t stop. Fury twisted his features even as blood seeped down his neck and—
“Let her go or die right here.” Lethal. Low. A grim promise from Cass.
The words, though soft, caught everyone’s attention. Agnes and Levi both whipped their heads toward him. Levi’s eyes widened, and fear flashed on his face. Yes, he needed to be afraid.
As for Agnes, a wide smile curved her lips. “You won!” She bobbed her head toward him. “Not that I doubted you. Not for a second. Well, maybe, for one brief, flashing second when I saw this jerk trying to sneak up with his blade. And you know how I don’t like knives and bastards who sneak up behind you with them, so I had to intervene.”
She didn’t like knives, but she’d just cut Levi’s throat with one. A cut that wasn’t too deep, not yet.
“I didn’t have a beer bottle to throw this time,” she continued in what sure as shit sounded like a sunny tone. “So I had to throw my whole body at him.”
“She’s bloodthirsty.” Javion ambled to Cass’s side. “I like that about her.” Javion had not participated in the challenge. Mostly because, on more than one occasion, he’d let Cass know that running the MC was not in the future for him. Javion craved freedom, not the constraints of having the MC’s full responsibility planted on him. Too bad, because he was the one Cass thought would be the best leader of the crew.
Levi’s hands had torn away from Agnes’s hips. His fingers slammed into the ground.
Agnes continued to straddle him.
A pose that Cass did not like. I don’t want her anywhere near the prick. “Agnes, up. Now.”
She blinked. “Well, someone is bossy. You win one fight against six guys and then you get all—”
“Agnes.”
Her mouth hung open for an instant. Whatever she saw on his face had her nodding briskly. She rose to her feet. Bit her lower lip as she darted a glance down at Levi. “I think we’re going to be enemies now, aren’t we? Unfortunate, but I had to protect Cass. He’ll always come first for me.”
And she will come first for me.
Wait, hold the hell up. No, no, she would not. This was a ruse. A lie. A trick. A…
She still gripped the knife as she walked toward Cass. Agnes stopped right in front of him. She tipped her head back as she stared at him.
Yes, that is a fucking bruise forming on her cheek. Rage nearly swallowed him whole in that instant. His hand rose, and his fingers brushed lightly over her cheek. “Levi hit you.”
“Uh…” She wet her lips. “If I say yes, will you go off the edge and do something terrible?”
Oh, she was fun. His hand slid over a bit so that his fingers sank into the thickness of her hair. “Agnes…” His head lowered toward her. Adrenaline and fury fired his blood. His lips pressed to hers. His tongue dipped inside her mouth to steal her sweetness. “I’m going to do something terrible no matter what you say.” A whisper against her mouth. Because Levi had attacked her. Because he’d tried to sneak up with a knife and kill Cass. What is up with sonsofbitches coming at my back?
Cass’s low words made Agnes stumble away. One step in retreat. Her eyes were wide as she shook her head. “No, don’t—”
Oh, he definitely would. He took the knife from her fingers. “Go inside. I’m the leader of the Strikers. I’m staying the leader.”
There were grunts. Mutters of affirmation from the men around him. Men who’d just had their asses kicked. Men who’d watched the others get their asses kicked. But it wasn’t like these were the only members of the Night Strikers MC. These were just the ones in the top-tier positions. The ones who had earned the right to challenge him.
They’d challenged him. They’d failed. Now they would fall back in line…
Most of them.
One would not be falling back in line because he’d just proven what a traitor he really was. Something Cass had suspected about the prick for a while now…
“Don’t kill him.” She inched closer to Cass once more. “Do not.”
The sexy Fed was giving him orders? So cute. So clueless. “You think he wouldn’t have killed me?” Behind her, he saw Levi rush to his feet. Only the guy didn’t get far when he tried to run.
Hugo and Bear closed in lightning-fast, even with their injuries. They both slapped their hands on Levi, one on each shoulder.
Levi’s neck continued to bleed.
She looked back at Levi. “I don’t think I cut you too deeply.”
Cass would correct that situation. He would cut the other man very, very deeply. So deep that—
“You should still go to a hospital, though,” Agnes added. “Maybe get a stitch or two.”
Ronnie burst out laughing.
She frowned at him. “Stitches are not funny.”
“You suck up the pain,” Javion explained. He’d been watching the scene with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. “You let it make you stronger.”
“Uh…” She shifted a bit, moving more to Cass’s side instead of standing in front of him. “You get wounds cleaned and stitched up so you don’t get infections and die.”
More laughter—this time from Ronnie and Bear.
“What’s the point?” Hugo wanted to know as he rolled back his shoulders. “This bastard is dead already.”
There were nods from the others.
Agnes’s hand flew up to press against Cass’s stomach. He almost hissed out a breath because that was a spot where he’d taken a vicious punch. From Hugo. “Don’t kill him,” Agnes pleaded with Cass, her voice barely above a breath. “Don’t do that. He, uh, Levi isn’t armed now.” Her hushed words were just for him. “Don’t do something you can’t take back.”
She was trying to be an FBI agent. Getting him to follow the law. Like he didn’t know that killing a man in cold blood was wrong. But…
Attacking Agnes? Trying to hurt her?
That was fucking wrong. The worst sin that Levi could have committed. “I told you to go inside, Agnes. Either go on your own, or Javion will carry you in.”
Her hand pressed a bit harder against him. “You’re being the villain.” Again, just for him. So low he barely heard her. “Be the hero.”
Screw that. Voice deliberately loud, he ordered, “Take your sweet ass inside. I’m dealing with Levi.” Each word was guttural. “Then I’m fucking you.”
She didn’t get that they weren’t in her safe world any longer. Yes, in her black-and-white world with FBI agents and cops, you didn’t kill a man in cold blood.
They were in Cass’s world. Not hers. And in his world, you didn’t let some sonofabitch try to knife you in the back. And you damn well didn’t let him hurt your lady. Cass had a rep to protect. But this went so beyond his rep. This was about Agnes. About no one hurting her. Not ever. A message had to be sent.
He’d send it. In blood. Levi’s blood.
He’d—
Agnes yanked him toward her. Cass’s head went down just because he was ready to take that hot mouth of hers again. She met him with open lips, with her tongue stroking his, with need and desire, and lust burning right back at him. She kissed him frantically, deeply. She didn’t act afraid. Not turned off by the violence or terrified of what he might do. No, she acted like—
Her mouth tore from his. “I’m fucking you.” Her breath heaved. Agnes raised her voice as she promised, “And I’m gonna fuck you even harder if you don’t kill him. Get your pound of flesh. Get your MC justice, but it’s better for him to live with the humiliation of knowing that little old me…” She glanced over her shoulder. Glared at Levi. “That I was the one who took him down. Bet it will be helluva hard to let the world know that a woman half your size had you on the ground in two seconds flat.”
Then she whipped her head around. Kissed Cass once more. And she was off…striding back toward the house as she tossed a wave at Javion. “I don’t need you to carry me! But you might need to haul Levi the hell out of here. Oh, but we should keep his motorcycle, don’t you think? Because I could totally use one.”
Then she was back in the house. The door slammed behind her.
Silence.
And…
“Can I get one of those? Like, does she have a sister or something? A scary best friend?” Bear rumbled. “I’d like one…similar to her. Similar but bigger. And, damn but yours is really, really good with a knife.”
Cass had been staring at the house’s closed door. Now, though, he turned to face the current threat.
Levi, you dumb bastard.
Silence.
Everyone seemed to tense as they waited for Cass to act.
He was still holding the knife, a knife wet with Levi’s blood. Taking his time, Cass closed in on his prey.
“She…” Levi swallowed. His Adam’s apple bobbed. “She said not to kill me. I heard her!”
Cass smiled at him. And he brought up the knife. He let the tip of the blade press into Levi’s right side. “Do you think…” The blade pressed hard, cutting past the fabric of Levi’s shirt, cutting past skin, and sinking into muscle. He sliced across with the blade. “Do you think I give a flying fuck what she said?” Jaw locked, rage fueling him, Cass yanked the blade down in another slice.
Levi began to whimper.
Agnes had scars on her stomach. Her abdomen. One is nearly in the exact same spot where I just slid this blade. Cass’s gaze darted over his prey. Blood poured from the wound he’d just given Levi.
“I’m sorry!” Levi cried out. “S-sorry! She wasn’t my target—I fucking swear!”
Cass pulled the blade out. He watched as the blood drip-drip-dripped onto the ground.
Agnes was stabbed. Seven times. Left for dead.
His head lifted. The better for him to stare his prey straight in the eyes. “Do you want to die?” Cass asked Levi softly.
“Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. No! Please, please, look, I just—it was the heat of the moment. I was…I wasn’t thinking straight! I just went in for the attack. You were fighting Hugo and Bear, and I just—” A heaving breath. “I will do anything you want! Don’t kill me! Don’t!”
“You were thinking straight.” He kept staring at Levi. Seeing the fear and desperation twist the other man’s face. “You thought you’d be leader. You thought you’d take away everything I had.”
“I’ll disappear!” Levi promised, frantic. “You won’t ever see me again!”
Cass shook his head. “That’s not how it works. You don’t just walk away from the MC.”
The others remained dead silent.
“I don’t see any reason to let you live,” Cass told Levi. “I only see about a million reasons to let you die.”
“No!” A high-pitched, whining cry. And then—then Levi surged forward, somehow breaking free of both men who had been securing him. He lunged, not at Cass, but around him, trying to just run the hell away.
As if that would happen.
But Levi was hauling ass toward the big field near the ranch house. A sprawling field that had a twisted patch of woods to the far right. The bastard thought he was getting to those woods. He was wrong. Cass tackled the jerk and took him to the ground. Cass flipped him over as Levi begged and pleaded, and Cass brought that knife up, even though holding it made his gut twist.
Someone drove a knife into Agnes seven times. And he was holding a blade. And he was a monster, too. And he shouldn’t ever touch her but all he wanted was her—
“He’s not dead, man!” A rough whisper from Levi. “He told me to get in the gang, told me to get close to you, to watch you, but he’s not dead!”
The frantic words had Cass pausing. “Who the hell…” Dark. Hard. Grating. “Are you talking about?”
“He wanted me to take you out! It was all him!”
So now you’re saying you didn’t come at me in the freaking heat of the moment? You were following orders? There sure seemed to be a lot of people trying to kill him lately. “Give me a name.”
