Prez opened it quickly and reached inside. “I’m going to fuckin’ kill–”

He stopped abruptly, wondering why the fuck he was grabbing at thin air. He looked around the interior of the car, as if the fucker could be hiding from him.

But there was no one.

Confusion and anger filled Prez to the brim as he moved away from the car and turned to–

SMACK!

Remy’s fist cracked into the side of his face. The giant man took a lazy step back, his mouth already dribbling out blood. Another thunderous punch to the head and Prez fell all the way back, hitting the ground beneath him so hard Remy could hear him wheezing from the force.

His boot slammed into the hand that held the knife, knocking it loose from his grasp. Remy bent down and picked it up, staring only momentarily at the dazzled man on the ground before turning to the men behind him. He tilted his head in Prez’s direction and the men made their way to him.

Remy watched with pursed lips and a look of vast loathing as Logan and Fritz dragged the disoriented man off the road and in the direction of the forest. Remy followed behind, listening to the delirious rants bellowing from Prez’s strong vocal cords. He might have to sever that fucking box if it meant not listening to that annoyingly deceiving voice.

“What the fuck do you think you’re fucking doing?!” Prez flailed wildly and nearly knocked Fritz’s grip of him loose from one side. “Get your fucking hands off! You fuckin… Fuck… Fucking –FUCK!”

They stopped when they reached far enough inside the forest to conceal them from the road. Logan and Fritz threw Prez down, but before Prez could amble up again, a boot slammed into his face. Remy pressed his boot hard into the man’s face until Prez was gasping for air. He looked down at him and twisted his boot as if he were putting out a cigarette.

Then he stepped off of him and eyed the man with a look so devoid of emotion, it was disturbing.

Prez knew he was staring up at the Reaper and, for the first time since he could remember, he felt his pulse jump-start …and not out of pleasure.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he painfully grunted out, spitting out blood and a tooth or two.

“I don’t like liars,” Remy casually stated, staring at the knife’s edge as it gleamed forebodingly under the sunlight streaming through the trees. “I especially don’t take kindly to snitches, thieves, murderers and… worst of all, betrayers.”

He walked around him, still watching the knife in his hand as he continued. “See, with snitches you get a sense of understandin’ – they’re doing it to gain something for themselves. Thieves take and it isn’t personal. Murderers either enjoy their kill or simply do it to follow orders. But betrayal… That’s done when you falsely lead a man to believe he can trust you, so blindly that he’d put his life down for you. To do that to a Jackal on top of it all… Now there’s a crime that’s irreversible and unforgiving.”

Prez’s eyes dimmed. Understanding dawned on him as he tentatively watched Remy’s movements.

“Why do you gotta make a problem out of pussy?” he spat angrily. “She wasn’t worth it! Look what she did–”

“This was before what she did. You sent a cold-blooded killer to murder what I already told you was my woman!” Remy’s face went bright red, the angry cords pressed out of his neck as he shouted at him. “I had to kill a man–”

“I didn’t think you’d be there!” Prez interrupted, his voice edging hysteria. “I thought you were on a job! I’d never have put a brother in the ground!”

“She was my old lady!”

“She wasn’t your old lady! Look at what you did! You stole her from another man. You obsessed about her while she orchestrated to leave you! I wanted her dead because pussy ain’t worth a fucking war against the Scorpions!”

Anger flowed out of Remy’s eyes. “You betrayed me. You betrayed all of us. To boot, you did it with fucking Finley. Didn’t think we caught on about that extra money in your pocket, you fucking snake? Did you team up with him to kill her too?”

Prez panted heavily. “He wanted her dead more than me! You have no idea what you’re doing. We wanted to eliminate the fuckin’ problem because of the threat of what it might mean between both clubs. You and Jaxon were at each other’s throats, and it wasn’t doing anyone any good! You’re reacting out of anger from what that bitch did to you! How can you not see–” The knife shot out to Prez’s neck.

“You don’t fuckin’ call her that,” Remy gritted his teeth, grazing the surface of Prez’s skin. Blood flowed out of him and trailed down to his collarbone.

Prez snarled at Remy. “You kill me and you’re fucked. The men would never–”

“The men know what you did,” Remy interrupted sharply. “They know their Prez is a snake of a man who’s capable of killin’ people out of his own interest. He might not do harm to his brothers, but he’s more than willin’ to do harm to their women and that, my President, is unforgivable.”

“She’s a woman!” Prez barked out in frustration.

Remy dug the knife deeper against his neck, shaking with unrestrained anger as he shouted, “And women are fuckin’ sacred, you piece of shit. Being a Jackal means protecting everybody you love – especially your woman.”

“So that’s it then?” Prez’s nose flared as he angrily glared at Remy. “You’re going to kill me just like that? Over a woman?”

Remy stood up and, with a cool nod, said, “Yeah, Manny. I’m going to kill you. Not just for the woman, but for the fuckin’ money you were handlin’ under the table that should have been the club’s decision to make. Not yours. Besides, Frank’s worked hard diggin’ out your fucking grave. Would be a shame not to use it.”

He gestured behind him. Logan and Fritz hurriedly grabbed Prez. While Logan wrestled him still, Fritz cuffed his wrists together. They then dragged him further into the bush where his freshly dug grave awaited him.

*****

Two hours later and Remy was walking back to his bike. He stopped in the middle of the road and stared down at his bloody hands. He waited for it. He waited and waited…

It didn’t come. The revulsion was not there. He… He didn’t feel anything.