Ride With The Devil(25)

And she was winning.

If only so she could slap Jack’s face when she saw him again.





Chapter Thirty-Three





Jack





Jack stared into the terrified eyes of the woman at the front desk. She looked like an aging stripper. He didn't respond to her chirpy greeting and offer for him to peruse the menu of options.

He simply said one word.

“Red.”

The woman blanched and reached for a hidden button. Jack was on her in a second, lifting her in the air by her neck. He'd never hurt a woman, but right now he wanted to tear this bitch's head off.

His voice was low and vicious when he spoke.

"WHERE. IS. THE. REDHEAD."

The woman's eyes darted to the hallway behind him. He lowered her and released her throat just enough to allow her to gasp in some air.

"She's- in- the- back. Down the stairs and to the left."

He cursed. The basement. It sounded like a death trap. Once he got her, how the hell was he supposed to get her back out?

"What you need, bro’?”

He turned to see Dev and eight of the Spawn's behind him. He almost smiled at them, he was so Goddamned relieved to see them.

"They have Janet. She's in the basement. Make sure everyone stays quiet."

Dev nodded and gestured to Mike, the prospect. He stepped forward and started tying up the hostess. Jack sneered at her as he passed. What kind of woman did this to her own sex?

She was a fucking cannibal.

He stormed down the hallway, leaving it to Dev and the other Spawn's to watch his back. He didn't care one way or the other. He just had to find her.

He pushed open door after door until he came to the stairwell at the end of the hallway. He interrupted several paying clients getting their rocks off. He didn’t care. They should be fucking ashamed of taking advantage of these women.

Janet was one of them. They might have- used her like that.

He couldn't hold it back any longer. He screamed.

"JANET!!!"

Everybody stopped at the guttural bellow that emanated from his gut. For a long moment everything seemed to be frozen in time while they all waited expectantly to hear her reply. It was completely silent in the low lit hallway.

Until the world exploded.

Vipers seemed to be coming out of the walls. They had guns. They had knives. They had fists.

But they never got the chance to use them. Jack used his fists to fight his way through ten of them in seconds.

The Viking was in full effect.





Chapter Thirty-Four





Janet





Janet heard the commotion upstairs. She waited, forcing herself into a state of readiness. Or almost readiness.

However ready you could be when someone had slipped you a mickey.

She swayed on her haunches, clutching a shoe in each fist. She wasn't going down without a fight. Her eyes closed sleepily and she forced them open again.

Footsteps. Heavy, loud. Running down the stairs. Toward her.

She lifted her body, ready to spring.

The doorknob turned without opening. Someone cursed outside the door. Then it was quiet.

"Get back!"

Was someone telling her to get back? She frowned in confusion and then decided to move back anyway. That didn't make a lot of sense to her, but she did it anyway.

BAM

BAM

BAM

The door burst inward with tremendous force, shattering the lock. Splintered wood flew everywhere but Janet didn't notice. She only knew that they'd come for her. It was time to fight. She leapt onto the intruders back and started slamming her heel into his shoulders.

Except she couldn't seem to stab him with it. The heels kept sliding off the leather.

The leather jacket.

The motorcycle jacket.

"Jesus, woman!"

She slid off him onto rubbery legs. The world started spinning as he turned to look at her. His huge hands gripped her shoulders.

"Janet baby? Are you alright?"

It was Jack.

“You came for me.”

He nodded once, his hand sliding over her cheek.

“Yes baby. I came for you.”

She wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not but either way she was extremely glad to see him. She smiled at him wobbily as she slid to the floor.

"Hi Jack."

He cursed and lifted her up.

"Are you on something, Janet?”

"Oh yes. Lots of things. Water. They put something in the water”

She was babbling as he carried her out of the place. She saw familiar faces in the periphery. There were Spawns everywhere. Devlin was here. But none of her attackers.

She let her head fall back onto his shoulder.

"Did they hurt you?"

"No. But if they tried I was going to stab them with my shoe."

He glanced down at her, clearly remembering that she'd attacked with the same shoe.

"Yeah, I noticed that."

She giggled at the disgruntled expression on his face.

"I still want to stab them for making me wear this trashy lingerie."