Pinned Down: A Triple Threat Sports Romance (41 page)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Grayson

We stopped at four rest stops along the way south, asking questions at each one. We were getting nowhere.

“Damn it!” I wanted to hurt somebody out of sheer frustration and growing panic. “We’re not making any progress here, guys. If anybody has an idea, I’m happy to hear it.”

“Let’s just keep going. We’ve gotta find them sometime. They had to stop, right?” Ralph looked around, looking for agreement. He didn’t get very much. We were all losing hope.

“No, you’re right. Come on. The next stop is twenty miles down the road. We can be there in fifteen minutes if we haul ass.” I didn’t care about getting stopped anymore. I had to find her. I would lead the fucking police to her if I had to, if that was what it took. Anything to get her back, to get Nikolai out of the picture. I would even do that if it meant making sure she was safe.

As I rode, I thought about the day we met. Our first kiss. Our first time. Our wedding. What it was like being married. God, had we ever been that young? We were kids, but we thought we were so grown-up. We loved each other and were serious about making our marriage work, but in the end, we were practically babies. We had no idea what it meant to be married, to commit to each other through everything. We would have learned over time if we’d had the chance.

Nikolai had taken that away, the son of a bitch. I would take his fucking life away if I had to. I wanted to. I almost hoped he would push me to that point. All I needed was an excuse to end his miserable existence.

It didn’t take long to get to the next stop, even though it felt like forever. The entire horrible process felt like forever. We took the exit, riding in pairs, and made the slow ride to the short brick building that served as a rest stop. It was worth a try, anyway.

An old man came out of the building, heading straight for me. The second old man of the day, I thought, wondering if this one would have good news for me like the last one had.

He did. “Are you looking for a girl? Are you the Vipers?”

“Yes!” We all waited to hear what he had to say.

“They were here, maybe thirty minutes ago. A girl, and a tall man with his hand on her arm. I remembered thinking before she said anything that it seemed strange. She was too pretty a girl to be with him, and she seemed scared.”

“Did she say anything? Did he?” I didn’t know who the tall man was, since Nikolai wasn’t tall. One of the guys who hurt Tony, I guessed.

“She kept talking about going to Barnegat. Here, I wrote it down in case I forgot.” He handed me a scrap of paper he’d written on.

“A boat in Barnegat? That’s what she said?”

“Yeah, she kept talking about getting seasick, and she kept looking at me. See, she mentioned the club, too.” I looked down. Sure enough, the words “Viper” and “Gray son” were scrawled on the paper. I shook the man’s hand.

“Thank you so much,” I said. “You might have just saved her life.”

“Hurry!” The man pointed down the road. “Barnegat’s not far from here!” He had a point—they might have made it there already, or they would soon. It was time to ride, and ride hard.

We pulled out of the rest stop, and for the second time, I felt a surge of hope. We might have a chance. If we got there in time, we might have a chance. I hoped Nikolai had followed the speed limit—if I could push it fast enough, I might be able to catch up to him at whatever harbor or marina he’d gone to.

But which one? I thought about it along the way. I could ask, I guess. Maybe Nikolai had a boat in his name at one of them. It was a chance. Besides, how many of them would be open at that time of year? It would have been more difficult during the summer, with tourists everywhere.

I knew the rest of the club felt the way I did, and we pushed the limits of our bikes the entire way into town. The ride only took us twenty minutes or so—I hoped that would be enough to find Jess before Nikolai sailed off with her. I couldn’t help but think of the scene in
The Sopranos
, when Big Pussy met his maker. They pushed him off the back of the boat. I imagined Jess in that situation. It was the kind of sick thing Nikolai would do. He was never exactly the sweetest when it came to the way he treated his women.

We took the exit to Barnegat, then rode for the coast. It wasn’t far, only a few more minutes. The first marina we reached was empty—not a boat in sight. The second was the same, closed for the season. I found an old woman outside the main office and pulled into talk with her. She looked scared and ready to run inside, but I held up my hands to show her I didn’t mean any harm.

“I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m looking for somebody who’s in danger. My wife.” I stuttered a little on the word, but I knew it was the only way to get the old woman’s attention. When a woman was involved, people tended to pay closer attention.

“What’s the matter with her?” The woman adjusted her glasses, peering at me. She looked to be somewhere between sixty and death.

“Somebody took her, and I think they’re gonna put her on their boat. Do you know the different marinas in the area? I see this one and the one down the road are closed.”

“There’s one about a mile or two away that’s still open. Only a couple boats there at this time of year, though. Real boating enthusiasts, you know?” I thanked her and pulled away. I didn’t have time to talk about why people had their boats on the water in the middle of winter. I had to get to Jess.

It was a chance, but it was the only chance we had. It was getting dark outside, too, which would make it harder to see what was going on in the boat—if she was even in there. What if he had gotten rid of her already somehow and was only screwing with me? What if I was the one he wanted to lure onto the boat? I didn’t care about that. As long as he told me what he did with her, before I blew his fucking brains out.

“There,” I yelled out to Marco, riding beside me. I pointed to the marina, which did have a handful of boats floating at the docks. I didn’t see anybody near any of them, though.

“Look!” Marco pointed to the car and two motorcycles parked in the lot. We pulled in, cutting our engines and looking around.

“They gotta be here, then.” My heart pounded almost painfully, knowing everything relied on this. I didn’t see any boats sailing away in either direction, and there was clear visibility both ways. The water was still.

“Where are they, damn it?” I looked at the names on the boats, but that didn’t help.

Then, I heard a scream. It didn’t sound like a scream of fear—more like anger. As I watched, a woman ran onto the deck of a boat a half-dozen slips down and tried to jump off, onto the dock. Two men grabbed her, pulling her back onto the deck.

“Jess,” I breathed. She was alive. I pulled out my gun, aiming for the man who didn’t have his hands on her. He was my clear shot.

I pulled the trigger, and he crumpled to the deck. Jess screamed in panic that time, while the other man looked around, trying to figure out where the shot came from. She elbowed him, breaking free and shoving him away from her. Smart girl. I took the shot as soon as he was clear of her, hitting him in the stomach. He fell, too. I didn’t know if I killed him, but it was enough to get her out of his clutches.

“Jess! Run!” She froze for a second, looking around, probably wondering where I was. She couldn’t see me in the dark, but I could see her in the light coming up from below deck. She started to turn, to run for the back of the boat again, but she stumbled and fell like something grabbed her ankle. I saw a moment later than something had. Nikolai.

He pulled her to her feet, putting a gun to her head. “I know you’re out there, Grayson. You got here right on time. I didn’t want to start the party without you.” His voice. It made my skin crawl.

“Take the fucker out,” Marco hissed. I couldn’t risk hitting Jess, or missing him and having him fire in retaliation. Not when the muzzle of his gun touched her head.

“What are you gonna do?” Marco hissed. “You can’t let him shoot her!”

“He’s not gonna shoot her,” I whispered. “He wants me. I have to go to him.”

“No!” But it was too late. I was already walking toward the boat, my hands at my side where he could see them. I still held my gun.

“Drop your weapon!” he called. “Don’t take another step with that pistol in your hand unless you intend to watch me blow her brains out.”

“No, Grayson! Don’t, please. Don’t do this!” I couldn’t listen to her, couldn’t let myself hear the panic in her voice. I bent, placing the pistol on the dock.

“I just want her, that’s all. You can take me if you want to, but let her go. That’s all you’ve gotta do.”

“Don’t tell me what I’ve gotta do, Grayson. Come aboard. I want to have a little chat with you, and then the fun will really start.” I had no choice, as much as I didn’t want to spend a minute talking with him. I heard Marco whispering furiously to the other guys behind me, but I couldn’t pay attention to him, either. I could only focus on Nikolai, and Jess, and that gun. I couldn’t take any chances.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Grayson

I stepped on board the boat, ignoring the bodies around me. His men died right in front of him, and he didn’t care. I didn’t know why this surprised me. I knew the sort of man Nikolai was. He didn’t care about anyone around him. Just himself. As long as he got his way, people were expendable.

“Come down here with us. I’ve waited years to have this little chat.” Nikolai pushed Jess down the stairs to the living area below deck, and I followed. Immediately my eyes swept the room for some sort of weapon I could use. It was a simple set-up, just a seating area with a table, a kitchen, a bedroom beyond that. There was a chance of a weapon stashed somewhere in the kitchen, but I didn’t have the time to go through things. I couldn’t search the drawers while he had a gun trained on Jess. I could only stand there and wait while he sat her down. The gun never pointed away from her at any moment. I thought he really might kill her. He would do it just to get back at me for whatever he thought I did to him.

“Now that we’re all here, let me ask you a question that’s plagued me for a long time. Why didn’t you kill me when you had the chance?”

I couldn’t answer in any quick, biting statement. “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t want your blood on my conscience. You weren’t worth it.”

“Like you have a conscience,” he sneered.

“You would know all about that, wouldn’t you?” I asked. “A man like you, who kills for sport. Who let your men die up there without doing anything to help them?”

“They were dead men, it was obvious. You’re a good shot. Besides, I think your ex-wife can tell you from her short acquaintance with them that they weren’t exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer.” His words made me wonder. Were there knives in the drawer? I glanced at Jess, and she nodded just slightly enough to tell me she’d picked up on it, too. I wondered if I could distract him somehow while she went for a knife. I kept the idea in the back of my head while I stalled for time.

“I don’t think anybody who does business with you is the smartest person, Nikolai. Why do you think Axel made it a point to try to wipe you out all those years ago?”

“Don’t say that name to me,” he hissed. His voice had changed. He sounded crazy. Jess shook her head, telling me to stop. What was it he had with Axel?

I needed to know. If Axel was the reason we were there, I deserved to know. “What is it with Axel? What’s your beef with him? I didn’t know you even knew him.”

“I didn’t,” Nikolai said. His bald head gleamed in the overhead light, almost making it look like a spotlight shone down on him. I saw beads of sweat rolling over his skin.

“So what’s the problem?”

“He was an evil man. He ruined many lives, including mine. My wife’s. My daughter’s. Did you know my daughter? Nina?”

I thought back. Nina. There were so many girls in and out of the clubhouse, I couldn’t remember all of them. I shrugged.

“Of course, you wouldn’t remember her. Your Axel ruined her life and made her kill herself. I killed him. He deserved it.”

“You killed Axel?” I didn’t remember it that way at all. I didn’t know Nikolai had been there.

“Oh, yes. I was backing the Wolves at that time, and they were the ones who lured your men into a trap. I paid for their guns, even, and the warehouse the shoot-out took place in. It was a bloody night. A lot of men died. I knew you would take care of the Wolves—they never stood a chance. I didn’t care. As long as I got my chance to kill that bastard. He was already shot in the leg, but he would have lived. He pulled himself behind a stack of crates and thought he would be safe. But I was watching. I went to him, and I was the one who shot him through the chest. I wanted him to look me in the eye as he died. And he did. It was the greatest moment of my life.”

None of it made sense, but it didn’t matter then. “So you killed him. Congratulations. Why wasn’t that enough for you? Why do you have to make us suffer now? I was willing to let it go. I let you live. Why wasn’t that enough, even? When will you stop?”

“When your entire fucking club is nothing but dust and a vague memory.” He snarled the words, and I knew how deeply he meant them. His hatred of the club went beyond our taking his business. I finally understood him a little better.

“Really, I should thank you, since you’re the one who made me go underground and change my business. Loan sharking has been more lucrative than anything else I’ve ever done, and that’s saying something. You should thank me, too. Without me, you wouldn’t be president of your bullshit club. I got him out of the way for you, and you stepped up. Power is good, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” I said. I held my hands at my sides, clenched into fists. I was tired of hearing his crazy thoughts. He was sweating like a pig, and his hand started to tremble. I watched the gun twitch. I didn’t love what that meant for Jess. He was getting more and more unstable. It had to end, and fast.

“You’ll see how it feels to watch someone you love die. I wanted to leave her in the water for you to find her there, just like I found my daughter in the water after Axel made her kill herself.” My eyes widened. What had Axel done to his daughter? Nina, was it? I tried again to remember her. Was there a girl named Nina? Axel had so many women, and it was so long ago. I never kept track of them.

“Only you got here before I could take care of her. But that’s all right. You can watch. It’s the next best thing. I get to watch you when I kill her. I get to see your face. And then I’ll see your face when I kill you. And I will finally have justice for my daughter when your club knows you’re gone. There’s nobody else to take your place, is there? Nobody who can stand up and take over. I’ve already funded the other clubs around town. They have the money and the muscle to take you over in a heartbeat. I can’t wait to watch it.”

“You’ll never get the chance,” I murmured, moving a single step closer to him.

“I would keep my distance if I were you,” he said.

“And I would watch where I was pointing that gun if I were you,” I said. I took another step. “All I have to do is get my men on board this boat, and they would make the rest of your life very short, but pretty painful. They’ll take care of you. One word from me, and they’ll be onboard. So watch yourself.”

“Words, words,” he said. “If you wanted to take me, if you were man enough, you would have done it years ago. The chance was there, and you pussed out. Just like the other fake heroes in your club.”

“I won’t make that mistake again.” I lunged for him, pushing Jess down with one arm while driving my fist into his face. He grunted and fell against the wall. From the corner of my eye, I saw Jess scramble from her seat to the kitchen area.

I struggled with Nikolai. He was stronger than I would have expected from a man of his age, but insanity could do that to a person. And he was insane. He’d plotted this out for so long, and his obsession had driven him over the edge. He used all of his strength to push me away, but he wasn’t successful enough.

We fought for the gun, with him trying his best to press it against my chest, then my stomach. I held his hand in both of mine while he repeatedly punched me anywhere he could reach. His punches meant nothing to me. All I cared about was getting the gun away from him and ending his miserable life.

I broke his grip, and he dropped the gun. We grappled using just our hands, and I head-butted him. He slumped against the wall like he saw stars.

“Grayson!” Jess used the opportunity to get my attention and slide a butcher knife across the counter. I knew it would come back to me at some point that my woman handed me a weapon to kill another person, but at the moment all it meant was I could kill him and come out alive.

He lunged for me, and I sank the knife deep in his gut. It only took a second, less than that. He froze, clutching me, gurgling. His eyes were open wide, like he couldn’t believe I had bested him. I stared into his eyes—hadn’t he talked about wanting to watch me die? Then I looked away. I wasn’t sick like him. I wasn’t that twisted.

It was over.