Snake
No Prisoners MC #5
By Lilly Atlas
Genre: MC
Romance
Grimm Brothers
MC president, Snake, battled his way to his position by any and all means
necessary. He was powerful, respected, commanding; but most importantly, he was
feared. Then, at the height of power, one ruthless misstep crumbled his kingdom
in an instant. Beaten within inches of his life by a member of a rival MC,
betrayed and left for dead by his own club, Snake has only two things left to
focus on: healing and revenge.
As a physical
therapist working in the trauma unit, Amanda thought she had seen it all. That
is until she met a patient known to her as Nick, a broken man who had sustained
the most severe beating she’d ever encountered. Surly, brooding, and angry, he
should be a nightmare patient. But under the rough exterior, Amanda couldn’t help
but be drawn to his determination to heal. Not to mention he was ridiculously
attractive, to the point that she found herself giving him some extra
attention.
Women like
Amanda—kind, sweet, intelligent, independent, respectable—don’t exist in
Snake’s world. When she offers him a place to live after his hospital stay, he
can’t figure her out. The more time they spend together, the more torn he
becomes between two realities: a gruesome MC world full of lies, betrayal, and
hatred, or a life with Amanda that promises healing and peace.
As Snake helps
Amanda through some troubling times, passion flares. For the first time in his
life, he actually cares about a woman. It’s enough to make him question
everything. But after leading a life as a dedicated outlaw, is it too late to
turn around? And if not, is he willing to leave his vendetta behind?
Chapter
One
“He still
alive?” The pissed-off voice cut through Snake’s hazy confusion.
“Think so. The
bastard makes a wheezy, gurgling noise every so often. I’m surprised he lasted
the whole trip. That big man worked him over good. His face is unrecognizable,”
a second voice, as well-known as the first, yet not identifiable, said.
“That was
Jester,” the first man said. The high pitch, almost whiny quality of his voice
so familiar, but just on the edges of recognition. In fact, both voices seemed
to hover on the outskirts of Snake’s reality. Like they were coming from a
television. Present, but not real.
Pain, however,
was there in real time. That was for damn sure. But even the hurt was difficult
to place. It seemed to come from every pore in his body. But that wasn’t
possible, was it?
“What’s the plan
here, Casper?” A third man, also a familiar voice, spoke up.
How did he know
these men? Maybe he should say something. Ask for help. With the level of pain,
he was experiencing, something was obviously wrong. Snake moved his mouth to
speak, but the only noise that came out was a garbled mess of unintelligible
sounds.
And then the
pain localized.
Holy shit, his
face throbbed like it had been pounded repeatedly with a sledgehammer. Inside
his mouth, his tongue occupied the entire cavity like an air-filled balloon,
making speaking near impossible. He dragged in a breath, but the air met
resistance before it ever reached his lungs, blocked by a throat that felt
swollen shut. Choking coughs racked him, jacking the pain to an almost
unbearable level.
Snake’s brain
registered the things happening with his body like a laundry list of items, and
it recognized that he should probably be in panic mode, but that was as far as
it went. Everything else was fuzzy and he couldn’t get himself together enough
to make sense of his reality or actually care about the seriousness of the
situation.
“Toss him down
the ravine. I’ll fire a couple slugs in him. See how overgrown it is down
there? He’ll rot out here long before anyone ever finds the body.”
It was the
higher pitched voice that spoke. Casper, another had called him. God, that
name…it was dancing on the edges of Snake’s diminishing consciousness. So
memorable… Was he a family member?
“You got it,
boss.”
Rough hands
grabbed under his shoulders, jerking him forward and then he was airborne. The
weightless flight couldn’t have lasted more than five seconds, before a
crushing jolt and the insane sensation of the world spinning out of control
ensued.
Laughter rang
out from a distance. “Shit, brother. Look at him roll down that ditch like a
fuckin’ sack of potatoes. You probably don’t need to waste any bullets, Casper.
No way he survived that trip. It’s what? Thirty feet. And with all those rocks
and branches. Something musta smashed in his fuckin’ skull.”
“Yeah, well,
Snake’s a slimy bastard. I want to be one hundred percent sure. Can’t have him
slithering back into our lives six months down the road,” Casper replied.
After what
seemed like an excruciating eternity, Snake’s broken body slammed against something
hard and the tumbling stopped. His head was still spinning out of control, but
at least the physical movement stopped.
He tried to
move, tried to lift a limb and open his eyes, but there was a disconnect
between his body and his brain. None of his muscles obeyed commands and all he
could do was lie there, a giant, vulnerable target.
A pinpointed,
hot, burning pain bloomed in his thigh, followed by another in his shoulder.
Bullets. Hadn’t they said they planned to shoot him?
Odd.
He’d been shot
before and it had hurt like a sonofabitch; a lot more than it did now. His
brain must be pretty fucked up not to be registering the pain of two bullets.
Of course, the rest of his body was one giant ball of agony. Maybe there was a
limit to how much pain the flesh could experience. Maybe after the body hit the
pain ceiling, it no longer registered something new.
Snake thought
he’d known pain before, but it was nothing compared to this full body
tormenting sensation. He’d taken bullets, survived knife wound or two, and
experienced betrayal. A man didn’t live his kind of life without pain.
His kind of
life…
Casper.
Recollection was
right there. If he could just reach out and grab the fuzzy memories.
“Nice fucking
knowing you, Pres.”
The words were
called out about three seconds before a final hot flash of pain entered his
side. Gut shot. The fatal blow.
Pres…
Casper…
As the darkness
behind his closed eyes grew even blacker, realization dawned.
President.
Grimm Brothers
Motorcycle Club. Sandy Springs, Arizona.
Casper. His long
time right-hand man. Close and trusted friend. Brother.
Reality faded
into the distance, taking some of the pain with it. Would there be peace in
death? Not for him. Not going out this way. There were men who had to pay
whether now or in the afterlife.
Men like Casper.
His loyal vice
president.
A murderous
traitor.
Lilly Atlas is a
contemporary romance author, proud Navy wife, and mother of two spunky girls.
By day she works as a physical therapist for a hospital in Virginia. Lilly is
an avid romance reader, and expects her Kindle to beg for mercy every time she
downloads a new eBook. Thankfully, it hasn’t happened yet, and she can often be
found absorbed in a good book.
No comments:
Post a Comment