“Good. Now we wait,” one of the other guys said from the group.
“I can’t believe you two idiots didn’t catch him after he laid down the bike,” another guy said with a disgusted shake of his head.
“That motherfucker is fast as fuck,” grumbled Scorpion-face.
“Well, he obviously didn’t get it from you, Gambler,” the burly guy said with a laugh.
“Fuck off,” muttered Gambler. My mind was reeling when what the guy said settled into my brain. Was the other guy implying that this was Ogun’s father? If I had to guess, he was easily in his sixties, but then again, he might’ve just had a hard life.
The resemblance was definitely there. The eyes mostly. Maybe the height. Ogun’s coloring had to have come from his mother’s side.
Scorpion-face had his cut on now, and it read “Skid.” It made me wonder if the asshole didn’t know how to wipe his ass. It almost made me laugh. And I still preferred Scorpion-face.
“They’re coming!” said a guy from over in the shadows of the lot.
A squeal of surprise escaped me when one of them grabbed the back of my hair and held it tight.
My heart soared and fell when Ogun came racing around the building. When he saw me, his face fell, and I swear I wanted to cry. It seemed like we simply couldn’t win.
Gambler pushed through the crowd to stand next to me.
“My son, you’re a hard one to track down,” Gambler said next to me as he played with a piece of my hair. “Over twenty-five years I’ve looked for you. Then again, for a few of those I was recuperating and rehabilitating from being tortured and beaten, then dumped in the fucking swamps. All thanks to your grandfather and those fucking Pussy Bastards.”
“Tie him up,” the one with the eye patch said to his flunkies. Panic bubbled up in me at what they might do to him when he couldn’t defend himself. Not that the odds were great even if he wasn’t restrained.
The rage flickered in his eyes like flames. The debris that littered the lot began to move as if a strong wind had picked up, but there was nothing. My hair was still except for the light breeze that had been there before.
Startled, the bad guys, as I decided to call them, began to look around nervously. When several of the old windows shattered and the glass impaled a couple of them, they really got nervous.
“What the fuck?” one of them shouted.
The only one who wasn’t panicking was the man I believed to be Ogun’s father. When I glanced his way, he was staring at Ogun with a narrowed gaze.
“It would seem you learned a few new tricks over the years,” murmured Gambler. “Either you stop, or I kill her. Because I really don’t need her. It’s you and those magic tricks of yours I’m after.”
The cold steel against my head made me freeze, barely breathing. All of the trash and debris dropped to the ground. There were murmurs of disbelief around me from the other club. Ogun stood there, chest heaving.
“If I go with you and don’t give you any trouble, you let her go,” he bargained.
“No!” I reflexively cried out. In my heart, I hoped Venom and the rest would get there soon. I could’ve sworn I’d heard bikes before.Where are they?
“Kira, please. I’ll be okay.”
“Yeah, Kira. He’ll be okay,” Gambler said in a sarcastic, condescending manner.
“Hurry up and get over here,” said the one with the eye patch whose cut said Mule. It was apparent that Ogun didn’t want to give in, but he was willing to sacrifice himself for me. I hated it.
“Let her go,” Ogun demanded when he was halfway to them.
“You think we’re stupid? Hell, no. Not until your ass is secured.” I think it was Scorpion-face that said that, but I couldn’t be sure.
His jaw clenched and his eyes flashed, but he continued forward. With each step, I bit my lip harder until I tasted the coppery tang of blood. Each breath was painful and each heartbeat agony, as I knew he was walking closer to our end.
Finally, he stood close enough I could smell a faint hint of his shower gel and the exhaust from the bike. More than anything, I wanted to reach out and touch him. Feel his arms wrapped around me. Hear him tell me he was going to get us out of this. Taste his lips on mine.
“Turn around,” Gambler ordered. Ogun’s nostrils flared, and I could hear his teeth grind in tightly leashed anger. Still, he did what he was told, and I flinched as I heard the cable ties tighten. The gun dropped from my head, and I breathed a partial sigh of relief.
As soon as they were tight, Ogun turned to face them. “Now let. Her. Go,” he said with bared teeth.