Romeo (Dark Knights MC/Blood Fury MC: Crossover)

Chapter 38

Chapter Thirty-Eight

A muffled sound, sounding way too fucking close, had his eyes flashing open.

What the fuck was that?

Roaches? A rat?

“Booger?”

The prospect didn’t have a key to his room, so it had to be fucking roaches. This motel grew them as big as fucking ponies.

Before he could turn on the bedside lamp to make those bastards scatter, he found himself pinned down to the bed.

“What the fuck?” he shouted.

Jesus Christ! Did La Cosa Nostra track him down up here in Parsington? Were they here to finish the job?

Where the fuck did he put his gun? Could he even shoot with his left hand since his right arm was fucked up?

Whatever he was going to do, he needed to do it now. He wouldn’t willingly go back into the hospital.

Or six feet underground .

It fucking sucked because, with broken ribs and without full use of one leg and arm, he was basically helpless. He couldn’t fight like he normally could and was at their fucking mercy.

From what he could tell in the dark and by the number of hands holding him down, it was only two men. Maybe Wick had shot and killed the third motherfucker who ambushed him. Assuming these were the same losers.

Neither intruder said a word, and both wore dark clothing along with hats pulled low. Unfortunately, the little he could see disappeared the second they yanked him up into seated position and tugged what felt like a pillowcase over his head.

Why the fuck weren’t they saying a goddamn thing?

This was not good. “Who the fuck are you? Did that asshole hire you?”

No surprise, he didn’t get a response. Instead, they yanked him off the bed and to his feet. Or, more like it, foot.

He saw stars when he bucked hard against them, trying to pull free. “Lemme fuckin’ go. You’re makin’ a fuckin’ mistake you don’t wanna make. Promise you that. You’re gonna be hunted down like fuckin’ rabid dogs.”

He couldn’t hide his grunts of pain as they wrapped a rope around his bare waist and manhandled him so they could bind his good arm to it. Clearly, they didn’t give a shit that he was already fucked up and, for the most part, unable to fight them off.

Jesus Christ. Was he going to die only wearing his skivvies? In a goddamn roach motel?

He released a searing curse when they tightened the rope even more, causing sharp pains to radiate from his broken ribs.

“Booger!” he shouted, hoping the prospect could hear him in the next room since the walls were thin. So thin that last night he could hear that stupid shit whacking off to porn. Not just once, but five fucking times. “Booger! Goddamn it!”

There was no way these assholes would let him keep shouting for help. But it was so damn whacked that they didn’t order him to shut up. So, until they stopped him, he would use his fucking voice since that was all he had.

“Booger! Wake the fuck?—”

Romeo groaned. His tongue was as dry as a goddamn desert from whatever was tied around his mouth, effectively gagging him. He couldn’t see shit since the pillowcase was still in place.

However, it was pretty damn clear he was no longer in place and unwillingly on the move.

No voices could be heard, only the sound of an engine and road noise. And, of course, his own pounding heartbeat.

His head throbbed at the point where they knocked him out to shut him up. His good leg was now bound to his casted one, trussing him up like a turkey ready for the oven on Thanksgiving Day.

He had no idea who kidnapped him.

He had no idea where he was headed.

He had no idea how to fucking save himself since he couldn’t rely on his goddamn prospect. Apparently jacking off five times in a row made you sleep like the dead.

If Romeo somehow survived this, he would make sure Booger never got his fucking colors. Not after this. And if he did die, then his MC would make sure Booger wouldn’t need colors where they sent him for failing to protect his prez.

A mortal sin for a prospect .

Romeo grunted when the van, or whatever he was in, stopped suddenly and he rolled forward.

For fuck’s sake , just the trip alone was torture due to the pain.

He listened carefully to keep track of what was happening so he would be prepared in the slim chance he had an opportunity to escape. He logged all the sounds in his throbbing noggin.

The silencing of the engine.

The opening and slamming shut of both the driver and passenger doors.

The slide of a side door, confirming he was right about being transported in a full-sized van.

Wheels rolling towards the van. Not another vehicle. Something smaller. A cart? A gurney?

Suddenly, hands were on him again, sliding him across the van floor, lifting him up and dropping him onto a flat surface. His plaster casts slamming into the thin metal echoed through the night.

He gritted his teeth to endure the bumpy ride over what could be pavement, then up some kind of ramp. They took him into the cool and quiet interior of a building. Only the wheels rolling along concrete could be detected.

Why would La Cosa Nostra take him to some building in Manning Grove? That didn’t make any damn sense.

Had he been passed out longer than he thought? Had he been taken to Pittsburgh instead?

When the cart came to an abrupt halt, he was surprised he didn’t shoot off the end to be rudely introduced to the floor.

Without warning, he was jerked off the cart and onto some other metal, flat object. But this surface wasn’t solid. It felt more like a grate with holes against the bare skin of his back and cast-free leg.

The possibility of escape was flushed down the fucking toilet the second they lashed his ass down to whatever the metal grate was.

A moment later he heard a loud whoosh. Something—he had no fucking idea what—had been fired up.

What the hell was going on?

Was this the end for him?

Unexpectedly, the pillowcase was yanked over his head and the gag sliced free of his mouth with a big-ass knife.

He blinked and checked out his surroundings as best as he could. What the fuck was this?

Wait…

He twisted his neck to see where the heat was coming from that was searing his skin.

Holy fuckin’ shit.

He didn’t think the situation could get any worse until he realized he was on some sort of rolling pan that slid into a large oven.

He was right. He was a Thanksgiving Day turkey about to be cooked.

Christ. He did not want to die by being incinerated.

When he recognized his two abductors, it hit him where he was.

It wasn’t La Cosa Nostra. He hadn’t even left Manning Grove.

He was at Tioga Pet Crematorium, a business owned by the Fury. They had bought it for a good reason. And what they were about to do to him was one of them.

Son of a fuckin’ bitch.

Did Maddie go running to her goddamn stepdaddy? Did Shade know Romeo fucked her? Or even worse, popped her fucking cherry all those years ago?

With his eyes wider and his asshole pinched tighter than he wanted to admit, he asked, “Tell me what the fuck I did to deserve the death penalty?”

“Your past actions prove you’re a dog,” Shade answered in his slightly slower pace. The Fury member spoke much better now than when Romeo first met him. It was more obvious years ago when he had to carefully choose his words. “Know how many dogs we’ve turned to ashes in this very oven?”

“What’s one more?” Easy wore a fucking grin that Romeo wished he could wipe off the other Fury member’s face.

Holy fuckin’ shit. “You’re gonna fuckin’ burn me to death?”

Both the heat and the thought of being turned into a pile of ash was causing him to sweat. If he had to die, this was not the way he wanted to go. Hell , they could incinerate him, flush his ashes down the toilet and his own club members would have no fucking idea what happened to him.

Here one day, flushed the next.

He threw out a hail Mary. “Don’t you think that’s gonna fuck up the alliance?”

“Who’s gonna know?” Easy asked. “You simply disappeared one day. Poof , you went up in fuckin’ smoke.”

“Ain’t gonna be nothin’ left of you. No fuckin’ proof what happened here tonight,” Shade added.

Romeo knew Shade was “off,” but to kill a president of an MC that was part of the Fury’s alliance? That was totally fucking whacked.

“Know your reputation, Romeo,” Shade growled. “Know you like to use women for your own pleasure, then kick them to the fuckin’ curb. Maddie ain’t a sweet butt. She ain’t for you to take advantage of. Hell, she ain’t for you. Period.”

“She tell you I took—” He slammed his mouth shut. He needed to carefully negotiate with them, not give them shit so they were tempted to say “fuck it” and push the rolling tray with his Black ass on it into those fucking flames.

He stifled his shudder at the prospect of burning to death. That had to be one of the worst fucking ways to die.

Stay calm. Keep your fuckin’ patience. Don’t let ‘em see you sweat.

Too late for the sweating part since beads were already covering his forehead and rolling down his temples just from the heat alone.

“Love my family. Will fuckin’ do anythin’ for ‘em. Last thing I want is for my girl to get burned by the likes of you. You got plenty of women to fuck with. Leave Maddie the fuck alone.”

That sounded like a warning for the future and not the threat of imminent death. Was this whole thing some sort of sick fake-out? He wouldn’t celebrate yet. “You had to go through this bullshit to tell me that?”

“Needed to make a statement. One you wouldn’t forget.”

Romeo could guarantee he’d never forget this shit. Not sure he’d ever forgive it, either.

“You fuckin’ tell her to leave me alone, too? Or do you just think it was one-sided?” he asked Shade.

“Don’t give a fuck if she wants to marry you and have your goddamn babies. Ain’t gonna happen. Find a reason to cut her loose.”

Didn’t he know that Maddie had already cut ties with him? “How’s she gonna like you interferin’ in her life?”

Shade didn’t answer, but Easy did. “Ain’t for her to know and you ain’t gonna tell her, either. ”

One side of Shade’s mouth pulled up and it wasn’t in a smile. For the first time in his fucking life, a sliver of fear slipped down Romeo’s spine.

He could hold his own if the threat came at him from the front. But it was well known among those in the alliance that Shade was quiet and deadly. Unlike Diesel. Unlike Judge. Unlike Magnum.

Shade was more dangerous than all of them. He was on the same ass-puckering level as Diesel’s Shadows.

You’d be dead before you know what hit you.

He needed to convince Shade to reconsider his plans. “She tell you about her dick boss? And why I stepped in?”

“She tell you not to get involved?”

Ah, fuck.

“But you did anyway, didn’t you?” Easy asked next.

The two Fury members were tag-teaming him.

Shade tipped his head at Easy. “Slide him in.”

“Wait!” Romeo shouted. “Does Maddie know you’re doin’ this?”

“Not up to her.”

“She might have a fuckin’ opinion.”

“Opinions are like assholes,” Easy said on a dry laugh, “everyone’s got one.”

Fuck Easy. Romeo needed to concentrate on Shade. Easy was just that psycho’s sidekick. “She didn’t wanna tell you about that dick she worked for. She was afraid somethin’ like this would happen to him if she did. So, I took care of it, instead.”

“By gettin’ her fired.”

How much did Maddie tell him?

“You should be fuckin’ thankin’ me for handlin’ that asshole. Only wanted to teach that fucker a lesson for abusin’ her. Was tryin’ to help her goddamn career not fuck it up. ”

“Well, you fucked it up,” Easy said. “All those goddamn years of college and now what? She’s back to livin’ at home and takin’ odd jobs. All ‘cause you couldn’t respect her decisions.”

“What the fuck this gotta do with you?” Romeo bit off.

“She’s family,” was Easy’s answer. “We’re all fuckin’ family.” He leaned closer. “You ain’t.”

“Shoulda came to me,” Shade said.

“About that dickhead? Just said?—”

“To ask permission,” Easy interrupted.

“To fuck up that motherfu?—”

“To fuck her.”

Son of a fuckin’ bitch. “This shit ain’t got nothin’ to do with you, Easy. Stay the fuck outta it.”

Easy smiled. “Those are some strong fuckin’ words for a broken man.”

“Untie me and we’ll see how fuckin’ broken I am.”

“Enough,” Shade quietly interjected.

Romeo pulled in a breath to cool off his temper. Easy was right. He was in no fucking condition to threaten anyone. Not only was he injured and wearing casts, but he was tied down.

He needed to keep his head.

“Need you to know you ain’t my choice for her,” Shade said next.

“Gettin’ that.”

What sucked was, Romeo still had no idea how much Shade knew. He didn’t want to dig because that could raise red flags. And his Black ass was still parked in front of a human-sized oven.

Now was not the best time to talk about Maddie’s sex life and how he was involved .

“Seems as if what I want for her is different than what she wants,” Shade continued.

Hold up. What the fuck did she want?

“But that don’t mean I can’t tell you what I want anyway…”

Oh fuck.

Romeo needed off this goddamn rollercoaster. They either needed to kill him or?—

“You to be true to Maddie. Meaning… No side pieces, no sweet butts, no nothin’. I hear you stepped out on her…”

“Ain’t gonna do that.”

“Havin’ a hard time believin’ that with your history.”

“She changed me.” Holy fuck. Was that true? “For the better,” he quickly added. “Want her to wear my cut.”

“She said,” came Easy’s unwelcomed response.

Christ , now he couldn’t back out. Was he going to be stuck with one woman for the rest of his fucking life?

And if he fucked up, he’d get incinerated?

That sounded worse than life in prison.

Was the sweat gathering on his forehead from him having a fucking panic attack because his life as he knew it would be over and not because of facing death?

If it was anyone other than Maddie…

He closed his eyes and tried to slow his racing heart.

But it was Maddie.

He wasn’t being forced into taking an ol’ lady.

He didn’t have to offer her his cut.

But he did. Before this threat.

Why?

Because his real panic began when he found her gone. After she moved back to Manning Grove.

He had been and still was afraid of losing her .

Christ. Who the fuck was he? How could a lone female make his life do a complete one-eighty?

“Now… My ol’ lady invited you to dinner.”

He opened his eyes. What the actual fuck?

One minute the man was threatening to reduce him to a pile of ashes, the next, inviting him to share a fucking meal?

This whole damn thing was messed up.