Sniper (Devil's Shadow MC, Book 2) Read online

  "You can't do this." He can't. He can't take away my salvation...Not like this. I think even he knows.

  "Why not?" I expect him to be angry. But he is more than angry. He's just fucking my mind instead of fucking me. One hand slides under my shirt to rip it apart. A painful hiss leaves from his lips that I can't stop myself to arch my back.

  "Fuck! You'll be the death of me." How ironic. I want to laugh. But a moan leaves from my mouth when he strips me bare from all clothes and pulls me up only to drop me onto the untangled bed.

  "Seth. I need you, please!" I hear him groan in my ear. The warm feeling between my thighs makes it harder to keep my eyes open when my hands find him. Larger, thicker than ever. Even I want to leave, he owns me. Heart, body, and soul.

  "Yes! You need me, Kitty." His voice is harsh against my neck. I can almost hear me saying back yes! His hands slide between my legs and tease me with his thumb until he pushes two of his fingers inside me. My sight goes black when he goes back and forth, pushing me to give into him. His nails rake over my hips making me arch more. "You will only ever need me."

  He kisses me again. I feel him pulsing against my stomach. My hands sleek with his arousal. Suddenly my hands are pulled back and he rams into me. I scream, he groans. His mouth is on my heaving breast, sucking, biting, and leaping away. My head falls back gripping his hair tightly.

  "F-Fuck! Fuck, Seth!" My skin prickles with his heat. He pulls out only to slam back again. My legs shake to hold on and I scream when he hits me repeatedly in the right place. Slower, harder, faster. His eyes meet mine and I'm gasping to let go. "L-Love you."

  "Come, Kitty." He's like a drug I can't forsake. So I come. I come until tears are falling down my cheeks. Until he's groaning my name over and over. I can get off to that sound every time. I can get off to anything he does. He has fucked his way to my soul after all.

  "Was I too rough?" It's the first thing he asks but I'm not even bruised. I'm not sure what I'm feeling. He was right through. Cause he is the only thing on my skin.

  When he doesn't get a word from me, he sighs. "Are you still leaving?"

  "No." I can't. He ruined that path for me. "I can't."

  "Good." He rasps kissing my forehead. "Cause I'm teachin’ you how to kill as of tomorrow. You need to learn how to use guns for your own safety. I'm not riskin’ it anymore."

  The temptation to say no is screaming in my head. I can't go back on my promise. I want to be just Gwen. I don't want to be like Grace. I-I can't kill. I am a Knight. Knights don't give up on their dreams. They don't lie. They don't kill. But at the end of the day, being a Knight-

  It meant nothing.

  CHAPTER 28

  SNIPER

  "I want in."

  "Oh you do, do you?" Lethal's tone is mocking. Does he know already? He better not be fucking with me now. He can't know about what we discussed the night before.

  "Yes, Prez." I force myself to say instead. "I was the one who messed up. If not for me, Lorenzo wouldn't be in prison now and Ceaser wouldn't be pissed as hell. So yes Prez, I want to take full responsibility for that one mistake."

  "That wasn't your fault, Sniper. All of us ran when the cops caught the bastard." Foxy interjects. I clench my fingers to keep calm. This is not the time to be a saint. I want-no need Lethal to be angry at me. Enough to make me join the Devils when Ceaser comes out of his hiding place.

  "For once, I agree with Foxy. You're always on guard, Sniper." Reaper adds beneath his breath. “This doesn’t make sense.”

  Lethal furrows his brow. I don't know if he takes my bait or not, but there's a knowing look in his eyes. "I know you, Sniper. It's not like you to make mistakes."

  "Oh please, I'm a fuckin’ human. I can't be such a role model all the time." I say, forcing a grin. Fuck it! If Lethal ever suspected anything-

  "If you want me to believe that bullshit, then fine. I'll humor you." He shakes his head as if frustrated. Oh, brother, you have no idea. "But want to tell me what happened yesterday? Why was Gwen with you? I thought Vixen wanted nothin’ to do with club business when it comes to her sister."

  "She was with you?" Foxy suddenly yelps. "Vixen is goin’ to kill you. Mark my words."

  Damn it!

  "She was." I nod. Hell, even I know that Grace would have my head for teaching Kitty how to use guns. So it’s better that she doesn't know. "Gwen was the one who saw Desmond aimin’ a gun at my head. She warned me so I didn't think twice to leave her at the arena. It was dangerous for her to stay alone. I might be pissed at the asshole that time but not stupid."

  They all buy the lie just fine. Or maybe they are just humoring me again. But fuck if I care. All I want is Ceaser's blood on my hand.

  I find Lethal throwing a manila file on the desk. "Count yourself in then, Sniper. There's goin’ to be a masquerade ball in celebration of a new deal with the La Eme next week. Ceaser invited all of us. I'd say be on your best behavior if you want to fix things faster."

  "We will be ready. I'll call Tucker to ask for more security." Reaper remarks, before dozing off to whatever he was thinking before.

  "Good. The church is dismissed." One by one everyone leaves, until I'm the only one left. Lethal raises his eyebrows in a question. "Yes? Anything you'd like to discuss?"

  "Did we catch Desmond?" I ask anxiously. It's not good for any of us to find that bastard gone after I know what he did. The look on Lethal's face unnerves me more. Shit! This is definitely not good.

  "That fucker is gone. It's so strange for him to come here only to leave." He frowns and when Lethal frowns it's usually a dangerous prospect. "Do you want me to still find him or let things go?"

  "Like hell, I will." A snarl leaves my lips. "I will butcher his head off if I see him next. Gunshot couldn't kill him before, maybe this one will."

  "Fine. Still lookin’ for the fucker then. First Xavier, now Desmond. It's not like I'm not havin’ a fun ride, right?" He grunts throwing his fists on the desk. When I still don't leave, he chuckles. "Anythin’ else? Any other favor, I forgot to offer?" He isn't angry at me. Not a fucking bit. I know him and the length of his insanity. He's angry at the entire world. Fuckers like Desmond and Ceaser are just a top on the cherry.

  "Gwen wants to visit New York for dance class or some shit. She wants me to go with her. Can I have this week out of Southside?" The lie comes easily. And I definitely don't miss the clench of his jaw.

  "You said you wanted in and quite frankly it's totally opposite of what you want-"

  "I can work from there. Try to run some errands. You know, the usual." I cut him off with a grin.

  "Are you sure of what you are doing? I know something is fuckin’ wrong with you these few weeks. You can tell me if anythin’ happened, right?"

  Lethal means well. I know it, but for the love of God, I need some space to brew my own plans. That's why my tone takes a dangerous turn. I'm not playing around anymore.

  "I know what I'm doing, brother. All I want you to do is trust me, Ok?"

  He trusts me. Sometimes blindly even. Maybe that's why he gives me an honest smile in return. And when I return to her, she's the goddamn warrior I truly know her to be. Desmond or any other bastard can't take her freedom away. I will fucking make sure of it.

  Ceaser can go fuck himself for all I care.

  ***

  The moment we are out of the car, I find Carter waiting for us. There's no usual smug smile or that shit eating grin on his face. He's fucking serious for once and he doesn't forget to show it when he takes the bags from my hand.

  "Who is this little bird?" he asks over his shoulder. The house he has chosen isn't flashy by means but still over the top, even for him. I don't dare ask where the hell he found the money to keep this kind of safe house. Not like it would do me any good. Another lie, another practiced smile. Go figure.

  "It's Gwen. The woman I told you about." Beside me, she stills only for a moment, before walking side by side like before. He takes us to the upstairs and opens the door
to a room far bigger than we have in our clubhouse.

  "Nice to meet ya." He says with that charming smile when we finally stagger through the door. The bags are already dropped near the king sized bed and he's now waiting for us to talk.

  "Likewise." She whispers pacing around. I don't know if she thought that's where she was going to live for the next week or not but I don't find any trace of irritation or worry in her face. Guess she blindly trusts me to take her somewhere safe. Even if that was a cheap hotel room.

  "Not much of a talker are you?" He wonders, jerking his chin towards me with a smirk. The temptation to bush his skull is still running through my mind when she stops pacing around and simply stares at him.

  "You know. Don't you?" There's no pity. No annoyance, just cold hard truth. "Then you know why I am here. Are polite little talks really necessary?"

  Something tells me old Gwen would have never said that. She would never brush away people with a little flick of her fingers. But then again she isn't Gwen anymore. She's my Kitty. And she knows to play the role far better than she thinks.

  "Very well then. You teach the ropes to your woman, until I whip up something." Regardless of her blunt action of defiance, he pipes up. Thanks fuck he is even sober. "Chinese good with you?"

  She stiffens entirely, caught off guard. Killers like us don't offer food, we offer blood on a platter. She has learned that very well in the last few months. So for her sake, I nod. Only when he leaves with a sigh that I reach for her shoulder to make her look at me.

  "You doin’ ok?"

  "Hmm." She hums still looking around. "When are we starting?"

  "Eager to learn, are we?" I try to joke but it comes out hollow. She's giving me her soul, keeping her old self away to get revenge. The least I can do is give all of me to her.

  "I-I need to learn now, Seth. Before I lose my mind overthinking." The desperation seeps from her unlike before. Maybe that's why I let her follow me to the basement. She watches the weapons with new interest. I think some even make her curious to use.

  "Pick your poison, Kitty." She eyes me wearily but there's still no expression that screams that she wants to run further from here.

  "What about that one?" My gaze cuts through the weapon she has chosen. A Glock-17. Guess she sees the admiration in my eyes. As her pink lips stretched to make a smile as if she had already found her favorite candy.

  "This'll do. But first, you need to learn how to disassemble the gun. See this?" I pick the gun and unclench her fist. She fingers the gun with a gleam in her eyes. "Don't touch the trigger unless you want to shoot. No fuckin’ matter what. Loaded or unloaded."

  She nods backing away from the trigger. "Now take out this bar this way so that the barrel can be separated from the side. Yeah, just like that."

  Slowly she follows me until we have disassembled the gun. Her eyes narrow when we assemble the gun again. That's all we do the whole afternoon. Teaching her how to load and unload. How to aim the gun and shoot. Carter left the food long ago but she doesn't even look hungry. She's too eager to learn.

  Damn. I release a much-needed sigh. I think for my benefit she acts like she doesn't hear me. She concentrates on the sound that passes over her ears. Bang! An everyday sound that doesn't even matter anymore.

  "Your phone is ringing." Only when I hear the small voice that I look up. When I say nothing she gestures towards my pocket. "Your phone."

  Oh. My phone. Dammit! Without seeing who it is, I answer. "Yes?"

  "I have bad news." Lethal. I don't even have to check. I can fucking hear a bitter laugh tickling from him. "Let's just say you're not the only one who screwed up."

  "What happened?" Kitty watches me with questions in her eyes but she's quiet, the gun still in her hands.

  "I sent Xavier out Southside with one of our prospects. We just found the prospect unconscious in the dock. He said someone knocked him out and when he came to, Xavier was nowhere to be found. And guess whose face came up when Foxy ran the footage?"

  I don't even have to wonder. The name falls from my lips easily. "Desmond. That bastard."

  "I'm goin’ to find him myself, Sniper and he better have some good fuckin’ reason to tell me why he's not six feet under yet."

  The call ends with Lethal cursing some more but I can't ignore the facts running through my mind. If Desmond has taken Xavier then where has he taken him? It's not easy for him to work alone. What if he's still with the Sinaloa cartel?

  "Is everything ok?" she asks, touching my arm.

  Shadows flicker over my sight, my fist clenching so hard that I can almost hear them crack. And when I answer her, even she knows that it’s only the beginning. "Not even a fuckin’ bit."

  CHAPTER 29

  GWEN

  "Three, two, one...go!"

  Bang!

  The bullet doesn't miss but I know, I'm not a pro like him either. If the object moves, I will miss. Somehow, somewhere in my brain tells me, it's the last hold I have against my old self. I am perfect in dancing but not in shooting someone's brain off. And that's ok with me.

  A hand pulls me hard against a body. I find his breath hot on my ears. "You will miss, if your mind is somewhere else."

  "I know," I whisper back, flexing the gun down.

  Turning back, my breath catches in my throat. He watches me with those blue eyes, scrutinizing, trying to find if I'm hiding something from him. Can't say I haven't. I haven't had a good night’s sleep since that day. Those monsters haunted me all night, sometimes even letting me watch while they hurt him. I can see Desmond giving me that ugly smile of his. I can hear his words in my head.

  You thought you escaped?

  You thought this was going to be this easy?

  Haven't you learnt anything from Grace?

  "Look at me, Kitty." Seth grabs my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. "Something's botherin’ ya. What is it?"

  With a tired sigh, I can't help but push his hair from his forehead. It's almost hiding his eyes now. "Everything. Everything is bothering me. Ceaser. Desmond, Xavier...me."

  His eyes reveal nothing. He only murmurs for me to hear. "How can I help you? What will fix this...whatever you are feeling?"

  "I want them dead, Seth. I want them gone. With my own hand. Only then I can fix myself. Can you help me do that?" I don't even have to wait for a second. He's there with me, the gun in my hand again aiming at the cardboard.

  "It's goin’ to be hard for you. The first kill." I hear him swallow. The sound cutting through the room. "You wouldn't even feel a fuckin’ thing first, the adrenaline to take something...be it a life or power can be quite addicting. But then they're dead and you see the life leavin’ from their eyes...you will feel guilty. Doesn't matter if they deserved it or not. You're the one left with those hollow feelings. And that's how you know you're the only one alive."

  "Tell me?" I can barely recognize my own voice. It's too hollow. Just as he said. At least I'm alive then.

  "Tell you what?" He searches my eyes.

  "Your story." I clarify. "Your first kill."

  "A drunken bastard I think. There was a girl in two trailers down the road. She always wore makeup, but not for her age. Sometimes she used to hang out with us in the clubhouse. She only talked to Foxy, I don't think I've ever heard a word from her lips. But her eyes were what revealed more than she'd ever said. They were dead, with no hope, no desire to live." He breaks off. Maybe I exhale with him too. "Then I saw it. A drunken bastard was harassin’ her. You know the funny thing? I went there to help. I beat him with my fists until he wasn't breathing. But do you know what she said?"

  I shake my head frowning. He laughs unclenching his fists. "She said to let him go. She screamed with every fist I'd risen. But not in appreciation. She called me the monster. Not that asshole. And when he wasn't breathin’ anymore, she ran away in tears. I thought they were happy tears, but they only revealed the hate for me. I've never seen her again after that. But the guilt-"

  "That wasn't your faul
t." They say thousands of words I can't say. I'm sorry. You're not a monster. She was just lost. Life is just a bitter symphony. Where to stop?

  "Mad Dog heard about what happened." His jaw hardens. The devil of all hell. I want to laugh at him now. Even in death, he has left his tainted touch on everyone. "That bastard was impressed with my work. So he sent me to run his errands with other MC's. I didn't even have a fuckin’ choice. He just told me to kill and I did. I think I was always the weaker one." He laughs at his own words.

  "Why do you think that?" I wreck my head to find something that will match with his words. But I come up empty, dry, dead.

  "Lethal fought to the end. Even if he was beaten and starved, he refused to play Mad Dog's sick game, where I just did what he said. Sometimes it used to scare me that one day he will tell me to kill Lethal and I wouldn't be able to stop." He admits pain raking through his voice. He isn't ashamed to admit that, it's just one of his brutal truths he's carried for God knows how many years.

  Yet the wince comes involuntarily. My grip on his arm tightens and I'm already shaking my head. "You wouldn't. You can't-You can't do that. You're better than that."

  "Whatever." He dismisses my words with just a tired sigh. Or could he really? Before I can ask, Carter enters the room with a briefcase. Seth's back stiffens but he doesn't show any emotion regarding what he just told me.

  Another one of his masks...

  "I see you two have become too cozy in my weapons room," Carter says, his gaze flickering between us. A hiss leaves from Seth's lips. Intentionally or unintentionally, he has managed to make Carter back up with a shake of his head.

  "Just get to the fuckin’ point, Carter."

  Without another word, he sits down at the small coach and opens the briefcase. Picture after picture taunts me and I think even I know why he came here for this specific visit. He slams down a couple of cheap quality pictures over the table and nods towards me.