Reign (Riders of Apollo #1)

Chapter 46: Roman Hayes

I drive up to the closest Target with a bouncing, excitable Peyton in my passenger seat and my heart literally hurts with how much love I have for her right now. I pull into a space close to the door and stretch out, watching as Peyton throws herself out and sprints towards the front doors, dancing and singing happily on the way.

I jog to catch up with her and stop a car before it hits her, laughing as she spins herself under my arm and yanks me into the store. 

"I fancy some ice cream and doughnuts, where are the Krispy Kremes in this joint?" Her eyes are light as she looks up at me and I can still feel her shaking from her overwhelming amount of caffeine. She is only little after all.

"Come on." I tug her over to the counter where she starts drooling over the different doughnuts, picking out a dozen random ones before handing the box to me to hold. I follow her to the ice cream section and watch as she basically folds herself over the side of the freezer to find the flavour she wants.

"I don't know which flavour!" She squeals, reaching for more and piling her arms so high that she drops half of them on the floor with a disgruntled growl. Her hair is an absolute mess and her face is clear of makeup, she's wearing her leather over a simple top and tight joggers and she looks fucking phenomenal.

"You're so indecisive sometimes." I tease, helping her pick up the cartons she dropped on the floor. She laughs loudly and I decide that I could listen to that sound for the rest of my life. 

At this point I know that I love her more than anyone else I have ever loved, she's my once in a lifetime. And yet all we were doing was looking at an excessive amount of ice cream at three in the morning in an aisle at Target.

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Soft kisses litter my chest and face as soft hands brush through my hair, I decide to pretend to be asleep because it feels nice. "I know you're awake." She whispers and I groan, flipping her under me and burying my face in her neck. "Come on, we gotta get to work." In response, I tighten my grip on her waist and try and fold her into me, I don't want to go anywhere.

I want to pretend that the outside world just isn't there, that there isn't people hell bent on killing my entire family, that we're safe and sound, happy even. 

"I know, I don't want to go either but the sooner this is over, the sooner we can leave this whole HR shit in the dust and never worry again."

"I think that might be wishful thinking, sweetheart." I mumble, still half asleep, weary with exhaustion. God, I can't wait to just be able to chill out for an entire day. 

Maybe eat all that ice cream we bought last night and just watch films and shit. I don't know. Something that's not as high paced as this.

I finally gain the strength to lift myself off of her and I can see the same tiredness reflected in her. Her eyes are drooping and her skin is dark around her eyes, her hair is still a mess but her body is almost falling in on itself. I help her out of the bed and watch as she sits down to put some makeup on, somehow making herself look awake and alive - this shit has gotta be magic.

I head to the bathroom and brush my teeth quickly before diving into the closet and grabbing a pair of jeans, a white tee and my cut. I throw it all on and lace up my boots, ready for the day to fucking start and hopefully end soon. Peyton puts on some jeans and a jumper that shows off her stomach before slipping on her jacket and some heeled boots after brushing her teeth and fixing her hair.

I toss her her weapons and she passes mine to me, both of us strapping them on silently. When we get back to the clubhouse, we're separated. Peyton heads to Romeo's office and I head to Bear's to get my next name. There are thirty of us taking three names each, either killing their asses or bringing them back here.

It's a smart plan because it limits the risks and allows for some wiggle room, it also means less people are gonna get the drop on one of us at any given time. Still, we operate in pairs. Our names are close together so we can come to each other's aid very quickly, safety in numbers and all that.

Detective Sorenson - kill.

I nod in acceptance. I pick up the file that Romeo and Peyton made last night and flick through, finding out all the important information like how much security they have, popularity, favourite places, any schedule details and all of their financial and medical records. This guy is a fuck up.

He got into HR because he bought his own sex slave off of them, not realising that it's a sort of initiation ritual. Choose your girl and get stuck in this life forever. He thrived however and is now quite close to Twitch, he's one of the most risky targets that's why he was given to me. As the Enforcer it is my job to take on the biggest problems and break them, I guess Peyton is like me as well now.

Though she goes about it in a more cunning and discreet way than I do.

I look through his file and find his home address, it's worth having a look. If he's not there then I can always steal his shit and try and find out what he's got going on behind the scenes. Maybe even free the sex slave he's got locked up in there with him. Sick fuck.

I put my comm in just so that if things go wrong on my side or any other I will know. I mount my bike and rev her, missing having her beneath me. Don't get me wrong, Peyton's car is nice but it's nothing compared to my Harley.

It takes about half an hour to get to his side of town and I pull up in a side street across from his house. His car is still here as is the SUV that houses three guards, two of which are asleep and the other seems to be watching Netflix on his phone. 

Brave, I'll give 'em that.

I pull out the bag that houses my long range rifle and sling it across my back. I climb the fire escape of the building I parked next to and lay down on my front, setting up my gun and pressing it to my shoulder.

I check through the sight and search through the windows for my target. Now, any smart person that is being hunted would keep their curtains shut and stay away from windows but this absolute dick is stood by the window - completely naked, might I add - drinking his coffee casually.

I'm able to catch a glimpse of his sex slave who, unfortunately, is on her hands and knees in front of him. Poor girl. I can't just leave her here, if I shoot him now she'll scream and alert the guards so I turn my gun on the guards first.

I twist the muffler on and take down the awake guard first. Weirdly, neither of his friends wake up and I praise God for my luck. The other two follow quickly, their blood ruining the cream leather that lines the car. 

Poor choice for a car, boys.

I turn my gun back onto the target and he still hasn't noticed that his guards are dead, suppose he's too busy having his dick sucked by an unwilling woman. I wish I had the time to make him regret his decision of purchasing a sex slave more extensively but a quick shot is going to have to do.

I breath deeply and on the exhale I fire the bullet. It slices through the glass and pierces right between his eyes. As expected, the girl screams so I pack up my gun as quickly as possible before climbing back down to the ground. I place a small bomb on the car and head into the house, the girl looks absolutely petrified at my presence but I explain why I'm there and she agrees to at least wait outside the house while I dig around before burning it down.

I find nothing of importance so I grab a few bottles of alcohol, lighter fluid and fuel and lather everything in it. Focusing on his body to try and get rid of as much evidence as possible while also sending a fucking message to the rest of the bastards.

The house goes up in flames so I pull the girl away before pressing the trigger for the bomb on the bottom of the car. Damn, Runner sure knows how to build a concentrated bomb. I can actually hear two more go off in the same vicinity and smile, the plan is coming together.

I'm able to coax the girl onto my bike so I can get her somewhere safe, she may be trusting me with that but she still hasn't uttered a word. Not even to tell me her name. It does make sense though, I don't have a clue what she went through but I can only assume that it was difficult and horrible.

I'm sure Lexie'll be able to look after her when we get back to the clubhouse, so I ride between Breaker and Rubble, who caused the other explosions, as we head back home.

One step closer to ending this shit.