“Son of a bitch, you killed him.” Phoenix sounded dazed. “He’s dead.”
Corkscrewing the heart seemed to have that effect, Kenni thought, pushing herself into a sitting position as she searched desperately for a weapon.
A cry dragged from her when hard hands latched in her hair, dragging her to her feet as her stomach lurched sickeningly from the agony.
Oh God, she was going to vomit!
“You fucking whore,” Phoenix hissed in her face. “I’ll kill you now.” The barrel of the gun went to her temple. “You killed Colby.”
“You’re next,” she promised, feral rage ripping through her. “Jazz won’t let you live after this. And if he does, Cord sure as hell won’t. Did you think I wouldn’t tell them who I was after you killed Gunny? That I was in danger?”
“You’re lying. Cord would have told me. We’re best friends. He would have let me know if your bitch ass was alive,” he snarled.
Kenni smiled back at him with icy disdain. “Are you sure about that, Phoenix? Or do you just want to be sure of it?”
If he didn’t shoot her she would damned sure carry a bruise from the barrel digging into her head.
“You’re dead.”
“You don’t have the fucking ball…”
“Kenni, those biscuits done?” Jazz called out from somewhere between the hall and his bedroom. “I’m a hungry man.”
He was furious; Kenni could hear it in his voice. He’d really be mad once he saw how Colby was staining his nice tile floor.
She was whirled around, the gun barrel digging into her head as Phoenix gripped the hair at the other side to hold her in place.
“I want that card,” he snarled at her ear. “Or you can watch Jazz Lancing bleed, too.”
Something exploded in her senses then. See Jazz die? No. She couldn’t. She’d seen her momma die; she’d had to walk away from Gunny’s lifeless body. She couldn’t see Jazz taken from her. She couldn’t bear it.
“Hey, Kenni, did you lock the dogs out again?” Jazz called out as he stepped into the television room.
The puppies were howling at the door. Marcus was watching Essie as she jumped, only to miss her mark.
“Kenni?” he called out again, the weight of the Glock at his back tempting him to pull the weapon.
Kenni wasn’t answering but he could hear the scuffle in the kitchen and terror lanced his soul.
Moving to the kitchen he stepped inside before coming to a hard stop and feigning surprise at the sight that met his eyes.
He took one look at Kenni’s face before directing Phoenix Weston a hard look. The bruise already marring her creamy flesh was a killing offense. Phoenix Weston was a dead man.
“You know, I’m getting really tired of men thinking they can abuse my woman,” he told Phoenix softly.
Kenni’s lip was bleeding, her eye swelling. And she was favoring her right ankle. But she was alive.
“Fuck you, Lancing. She killed Colby. We weren’t going to kill the bitch. But she’ll die now.” There was no small amount of panic in Phoenix’s voice.
That panic wasn’t a good thing.
“Who killed Colby?” He just wanted confirmation, but the bloodthirsty look in Kenni’s eyes assured him he didn’t need it.
“This fucking bitch.” He jerked Kenni’s head back by her hair as she struggled against him. “Stay still, you fucking cunt.”
Jazz winced at the insult and the fury flickering in Kenni’s gaze.
Jazz tsked softly. “Colby’s staining my floor, Kenni. Blood is damned hard to scrub out of stone.”
“It will give it character,” she snarled. “The bastard kicked Squirrel. He deserved it.” Then her eyes narrowed. “What took you so fucking long anyway?”
“I had to get dressed,” he murmured, meeting her eyes and hoping she saw the warning in his.
“Primp,” she snapped.
“Both of you shut the fuck up,” Phoenix cried out. Damn, pressure really brought the bitch out in the other man.
“What do you want, Phoenix?” Jazz didn’t waste any more time. Phoenix was becoming unpredictable.
Phoenix snarled back at him, his hand tightening in Kenni’s hair.
“We were going to be nice and just collect the information her mother gave her,” he spat out. “But she had to go and kill Colby.”
“I don’t have it.” She followed the grating denial by swiftly striking an elbow into Phoenix’s kidney, just as Jazz heard Marcus and Essie bounding behind him.
Jazz stepped aside, lifted his brows, and watched Essie take a leap for the kitchen table and throw herself at Kenni. Marcus was right on her heels, his object the gun in Phoenix’s hand.
Powerful jaws locked on tender flesh as Kenni’s assailant screamed out his horror, but Essie had grabbed a mouthful of Kenni’s shirt and pulled her from his hold with enough strength that Kenni went to the floor.
“Hold!” Jazz ordered before the male could take Phoenix’s throat out.
Marcus turned a growl on Jazz at the order, his teeth poised at a horrified Phoenix’s throat as saliva dripped from razor sharp-teeth. Marcus was prone to show Jazz his displeasure with his teeth.
“Do it and your ass goes to the barn,” Jazz growled right back at him.
Marcus let his teeth graze tender flesh over a throbbing vein as the scent of human urine brought a grimace to Jazz’s lips. Dammit, the kitchen tile was going to be impossible to clean.
Marcus was satisfied, though. He moved back, only to jump for Jazz when the kitchen door slammed inward and Slade then Zack rolled into the room. Jazz only shook his head, pushing Marcus aside and moving quickly for Kenni as she grabbed Phoenix’s gun and came to her feet with a graceful, well-trained twist of her body.
“Kenni.” He moved between her and Phoenix.”We need someone to question,” he reminded her as he read the bloodthirsty anger in her eyes.
“He kicked Squirrel.” There was no fear, no hesitancy in her. “Colby said they killed Gunny. They don’t deserve to live.”
“If that’s true, then he’ll die by my hand. I was the one who trusted him.” Cord Maddox stood at the back door, flanked by his second-in-command, Banyon Maddox, and three Kin lieutenants.
Kenni stared at him icily. “See why I didn’t want to tell you a damned thing,” she charged as she threw her hand out to indicate Banyon and the three men Cord had served with in the military. “You can’t keep your damned mouth shut.” Jazz turned to Cord slowly, furiously.
Before he could speak Cord shot Kenni a dark frown. “Men die when they fight alone, squirt, Gunny should have taught you that. So do women.” Then he turned to Jazz, his gaze narrowing. “Why doesn’t it surprise me that once again you didn’t even bruise your knuckles?”
Cord might have been giving the appearance of a man who didn’t give a damn, but the raging pain and fury building in his eyes told another story. Still, it was no excuse, and Jazz wouldn’t let it go. Cord should have never betrayed her then dared to walk into her home and say something so ignorant to her.
“The day isn’t over yet, Cord,” Jazz promised him as Kenni’s expression paled and pain darkened her green eyes. “Not by a long shot.”
CHAPTER 18
Getting Kenni to sit down and actually sit still long enough to check the swelling in her face wasn’t easy. For some reason she felt the need to pace. As she’d done so, she’d glared at her brother and cousin, as well as the two men Cord had brought into the Kin from the team he’d fought with in the military.
John T and Axe, and that was all most people knew them by. Reserved, loners for the most part, but pure hell in a fight and they watched Cord’s back whenever needed. Jazz knew he should have expected Cord to bring them in. That was a serious oversight on his part.
“You okay?” Jazz touched the bruise rapidly darkening and swelling further on the side of Kenni’s face.