Outlaw Souls MC Box Set: Books 1-6

by Hope Stone

  Jeff gave me a smile that was so cold that I had to force myself not to flinch at the sight of it. “Do you remember when we got engaged?”

  He paused, apparently wanting an actual answer.

  “Yes,” I replied shortly.

  “And I told you that I had your rings designed just for you. You remember that?”

  “Yes.” What was he getting at here? Sure, he’d spent a fortune on those rings, but he should know by now that his money wasn’t enough to make me stick around.

  “That makes them easy to recognize and track,” he said, as if he were explaining something obvious. “When you pawned the rings, my PI found out. Then he found you.”

  I swallowed thickly. I’d screwed up.

  “You know, I always knew that you weren’t too bright,” Jeff continued, standing straight and coming toward me at a leisurely pace, as if he had no concerns in the world. I could only hope that his arrogance meant that he’d take longer to get violent, and maybe Trainer would come by in time to stop him. “But this shit you pulled, running away from me, hiding like this, was a whole new level of stupid.”

  I started to back away, so each forward step he took was mirrored by a backward step from me. I was desperate not to see the space between us disappear. We ended up in the dining room as I backed right out through the kitchen doorway.

  “I had to run,” I said, feeling the need to defend myself despite the knowledge that he’d never listen to reason. “I told you it was over so many times, and you wouldn’t listen.”

  “You don’t get to decide when it’s over,” he roared. His unsettling calm gave way to a rage that was scary but familiar.

  I planted my feet as my anger surged forth. I’d suppressed all my anger and hatred for this man for years, telling myself that it was better to take what he dished out because fighting back just made it worse. Now, I was a different person. I was a strong woman that had left an abusive man and started to build a new life for herself. I’d even found love with someone else.

  I couldn’t cower away from Jeff anymore. I wouldn’t.

  Planting my feet, I lifted my chin and tried to speak confidently. “I do get to decide what I want from my life, and this isn’t it. You’re not it.”

  “You bitch. I don’t know who you think you are, but I’ll remind you that you’re my wife. You belong to me.”

  “Despite what you think being married means, I’m not an object. I don’t belong to anyone.”

  “You sound like a whore.”

  “I’m calling the cops,” I said, reaching into my jeans to pull out my phone. I couldn’t believe that I didn’t do this immediately. I just got so caught up in the shock of seeing Jeff that I didn’t think.

  Jeff was enraged. Charging forward, he ripped the phone out of my hand and slammed it onto the ground. His heel ground it into the hardwood floor, and I bit back my despair. Without a way to communicate with the outside world, I was completely at his mercy.

  “That was a new phone,” I told him angrily, despite the pending danger he represented. I did back up several paces to create more distance, but I realized too late that there was a wall behind me. There was nowhere else to go.

  He chuckled humorlessly. “Who cares? When we’re home, I could buy you a thousand phones if I wanted.”

  “No, Jeff. I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  This was my line in the sand, and I wasn’t budging. There was no going back to the life we had before.

  “You never learn a lesson, do you?”

  He was faster than I remembered. One minute, Jeff was standing five feet away. Then I blinked, and he was in front of me. Grabbing my arms above the elbow in a bruising grip, he shoved me back into the wall, knocking the breath out of my lungs. Jeff pinned me in place with his hands flat on the wall at each side of me.

  “You can’t get away from me,” he snarled, his handsome features distorted into something hateful and ugly. “I’ll always find you and bring you back. You agreed to be together for the rest of our lives, and you don’t get to change your mind about that.”

  “Get away from me,” I said firmly while reaching out and pushing against his chest with all my strength. He was much stronger than I was, but the move must have taken him by surprise, because he stumbled back just enough to allow me to slip away from the wall.

  “Get out,” I demanded. “This is my home, and I don’t want you here.”

  “That’s enough,” he snapped. I could see that his temper was rising, but I couldn’t back down. “I’m getting Dominic, and we’re all leaving.”

  No way.

  I blocked his way back to the kitchen, folding my arms across my chest. Jeff smacked me across the face in one fluid movement, apparently abandoning his unspoken rule about leaving no marks that could be seen. My cheek stung at the contact, and he put enough force into it to knock me off-balance. I gasped, and my hand flew to my cheek, gingerly touching the sensitive skin there.

  “I told you, you never learn. But I’m going to teach you the hard way.”

  I tried to fight him off, in a way that I hadn’t for years, but it was no good. I found myself shoved and slapped as he unleashed his anger. He wrapped one of his hands around my throat and squeezed, cutting off my air until my vision started to darken, and I thought I might pass out. Desperately, I reached up and dragged my fingernails across his face, drawing blood and a curse from his lips as he let go. I staggered away from him into the living room, but I hadn’t gone more than a couple of steps when Jeff was on me again.

  Eventually, I ended up on the floor at his feet, and a swift kick to my ribs caused a sickening crunch, and a horrid pain bloomed. He’d definitely broken a couple of ribs with that move. I’d never experienced more than one of them fractured at a time. The resulting pain made me want to scream if only I could draw enough air into my lungs.

  “Mom?”

  Like a nightmare, I lifted my head and saw Dominic standing in the doorway, watching us with wide eyes. Shit.

  “Get your shit packed,” Jeff said in a tone that suggested there was no room for argument. “We’re going home.”

  Dominic’s dismayed expression turned to pure panic at those words.

  “No,” I croaked out. “Dominic, get out.”

  “Shut up,” Jeff growled, but I ignored it. I needed Dominic to get the hell out of here.

  “Run,” I told him, maintaining eye contact. “Leave the house right now. Don’t come back.”

  Dominic only hesitated for a second. Then he pivoted on his heel and raced back through the kitchen. I heard the back door slam into the wall as he ripped it open.

  He was gone.

  Thank God. I could endure whatever Jeff threw at me, but I didn’t want him setting his sights on my son. As I watched, he gritted his teeth and started to follow Dominic. I tried to get up and follow, but the screaming pain in my side made it impossible to move fast enough. I looked around wildly before spotting the baseball glove that Dominic had discarded on the floor after playing catch with Trainer yesterday. Grabbing it, I found the baseball inside.

  Generally, luck didn’t appear to be on my side today, but when I lobbed the baseball in Jeff’s direction, it sailed through the air and hit him right on the back of the head.

  “Son of a bitch!” he yelled, his hand going to his skull. I could see that it hadn’t even drawn blood, and was slightly disappointed, but at least I’d gotten his attention.

  “You must truly be crazy,” he said darkly as he advanced on me. I kicked out at him to keep him away, the movement causing more pain in my ribs. He caught my foot and twisted it with a sick grin. I let out a scream of agony. “But you wanted my attention, and now you’ve got it.”

  “I hate you,” I said, meaning it with every fiber of my being.

  “I don’t care. You’re mine.”

  How sick could he be?

  “I’m with someone else now.” I wasn’t sure why I was telling him that. “And he’ll make you pay for this.”
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  “We’ll see about that.”

  The next thing I knew, Jeff’s foot was coming toward my head. I flinched, but I wasn’t fast enough to stop him. The toe of his boot connected with my temple, and darkness swallowed me whole.

  Trainer

  “Are you going to place a bet?” Hawk asked, his notebook open in front of himself on the bar.

  I was at The Blue Dog with Hawk, Swole, and Yoda to watch the UFC fight on the big flat screen. The place was full of people tossing back shots and getting geared up for what promised to be one hell of a fight.

  “I’ll put fifty on Hook to win with a knockout,” I said, pulling out my wallet and tossing the bills onto the bar. Gabriel Hook was built like a tank and mean as hell. He was one of my favorite fighters.

  Swole scoffed. “Hook’s overconfident.”

  “For a reason,” I said, nodding to the TV screen, which happened to be showing a series of clips from fights Hook had won.

  “It’s a weakness. Me, I’ll always root for the underdog.” She slapped two hundred-dollar bills on the table. “Snyder to win in three rounds.”

  I rolled my eyes. Tammy got pissed when Swole placed big bets and lost, but I wasn’t going to say anything. It was her funeral.

  I finished off the beer I’d been nursing for the past hour. It was warm, making it taste like piss, but I was purposefully going low on my alcohol intake tonight. I would be leaving right after the fight to go see my girl, and I didn’t want to have to wait around to sober up enough to leave. I’d never get on my bike if I was too drunk to drive. I wasn’t that big of an asshole.

  The fight started, and everyone’s attention went to the TV. There were people crowded around the bar, cheering as Hook took a strong lead in the fight. Snyder was up against the side of the cage with seconds, trying to protect his abdomen and face.

  Suddenly, Swole straightened beside me, pulling her phone out of her pocket. I saw her frown before stepping away from the bar, going to the other side of the room and answering the phone with her finger in one ear.

  I went back to watching the fight, letting out a groan when Snyder brought a knee up to Hook’s side. That looked like it hurt. The opponents made their way back to the center of the ring, circling each other…

  “Come on,” Swole said as she returned to my side. “We’ve got to go.”

  “But… the fight-”

  “It’s Erica.”

  I was off my barstool in less than a second. I followed Swole across the room and out the door of the bar.

  “What about Erica?” I asked as we headed to our bikes. “What’s going on?”

  “That was Talia on the phone.”

  “Talia?”

  “Her neighbor.”

  “Is that Las Balas asshole back to cooking?”

  “No.” She stopped and turned to me as we reached our bikes, which happened to be parked side by side. “It sounds like Erica might be in real trouble. She said she heard yelling between Erica and a man, then her screaming.”

  Fuck.

  I hopped on my bike without another word. My tires squealed as I peeled out of the parking lot with Swole right behind me. It had to be her husband. That bastard had found her somehow, and I wasn’t there to protect her.

  I tried not to think about why she didn’t call me, but my mind couldn’t be controlled in a moment like this. Was she hurt too badly to use the phone? Worse than hurt?

  I couldn’t stomach the thought.

  When we reached Erica’s house, Talia was standing on her half of the porch, smoking a cigarette. I barely spared her a glance as I opened the front door of Erica’s home. It was unlocked.

  I didn’t have to look for her. She was lying on the living room floor less than ten feet in front of me.

  “Fuck.” I dropped to my knees beside her still body, eyes running over her. She was breathing, and I measured the steady up and down motion for a long moment. It made me feel marginally better, but the sight of swelling at her temple and a trail of dark red coming from her busted lip made my blood boil. “Baby, wake up.”

  I cupped her warm cheek, but there was no response. Looking up at Swole, I saw that she was on the phone. She gave Erica’s address before hanging up.

  “An ambulance will be here in five minutes.”

  “Good. Try to find Dominic.”

  Swole headed toward the stairs, but a voice spoke from the doorway.

  “He’s not here.”

  “How do you know that?” I asked Talia.

  “I saw him leave. He ran out the back door with that dog by his side, going out the back gate. It was right before I heard Erica scream.”

  She looked shaken, but not nearly as much as I was.

  “Listen, I had no idea what he was going to do to her. I would’ve called you guys before she got home if I’d known-”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Swole asked.

  “The guy, the one that did this. I saw him breaking in through the back door a couple hours ago.”

  “And you didn’t do anything?” I asked, enraged. She’d better not have been involved with this. I’d never hit a woman, but that didn’t mean Swole wouldn’t.

  “I was pissed, okay?” she said defensively, taking a long drag off her cigarette. “About you guys coming into my place and threatening me. So I figured some guy burgling Erica’s home was like karma or something.”

  A headache started to make my temples throb. I took hold of Erica’s hand, rubbing circles on the back with my thumb.

  “But then I heard fighting and saw the little boy running away like the damn devil was chasing him. So I called you.”

  “You’re a real hero,” I snarked.

  “Hey, fuck you. I’m just trying to do the right thing here.”

  The ambulance pulled up in front of the house with its lights and siren on. Talia disappeared back into her half of the duplex as the paramedics came. I stepped back and watched as they checked her heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure.

  The murmurings of the EMTs were barely audible over the sound of my heart beating in my ears. The sight of Erica’s motionless body made me feel like I couldn’t breathe. I noticed that her right foot was at an unnatural angle and stored that information away with everything else that had been done to her. Jeff would pay for it all. But first…

  “I need you to get everyone together,” I told Swole. She was technically above me in rank within Outlaw Souls, but this situation was personal, and it was only natural that I take the lead. “I want Dominic found.”

  “You going to the hospital?”

  “Yes.”

  I rode behind the ambulance on the way to the hospital. I would have much rather been in the ambulance with her, and I had no problem lying about being family to get in there, but I knew that I wasn’t likely to be at the hospital for long. I was going to join the search for Dominic as soon as I talked to the doctor.

  Erica was wheeled through a set of swinging double doors that I was explicitly told I could not enter. I wasn’t usually great at following orders, but the last thing I wanted was to get bounced by security. So I went straight to the waiting area, pacing the floor and trying not to glare at every nurse that looked my way. That would be misplaced anger.

  Time seemed to be moving at a snail’s pace as I waited to hear something about her condition. A cop showed up to take my statement, his beady eyes looking at me suspiciously as I told him that Erica was my girlfriend and I’d found her like that. I thought he might try to take me down to the station for further questioning, but instead, he told me not to leave town and that he’d be back later to get Erica’s statement when she was awake.

  “Mr. Lopez?” a doctor wearing deep blue scrubs asked as he approached me. I had told the nurses that I was Erica’s fiancé so that they’d give me updates about her condition.

  “Yes? How is she?”

  “She’ll be okay. Someone knocked her around pretty good, but there are few serious injuries. She has a coupl
e of broken ribs, a twisted ankle, and probably a concussion.”

  “Is she awake?”

  “Not yet. We’ve given her something for the pain and are waiting to see if she wakes up on her own.”

  “What if she doesn’t wake up on her own?”

  “We’ll cross that bridge if we get there.”

  I didn’t love the sound of that. “How long do you think she’ll be out?”

  “It is impossible to tell, but I’d say at least a couple hours.”

  Good. If possible, I wanted to find Dominic before then. I knew that she’d be worried sick about him if he wasn’t there when she woke up.

  “Can I see her?”

  “Sure.”

  He led me to her room. She was the only person in there, in the bed hooked up to monitors. Bruising was starting to form on her face, and the swelling at her temple looked worse. She was dressed in a hospital gown, and the lower half of her body was covered with blankets, but I didn’t need to see it to know where she’d been hurt.

  I expected her to look fragile like this, but she didn’t. Somehow, even in her unconscious state, I could see the fighter that I was crazy about. She was still so strong, and she’d get through this.

  And it would never happen again.

  There were two quick taps on the door before it was opened, and Tammy walked inside.

  “Oh my God.” Her hand went to her mouth, and she crept closer to the bed until she was sitting in the chair at Erica’s side. “Who did this?”

  “Her husband.”

  “Husband? She never…”

  “He’s an abusive piece of shit, and she was hiding from him.”

  “That bastard,” she sighed. “Swole sent me. Said you need to find Dominic? Is he okay?”

  “I hope so. Stay with her. I’ll be back as soon as possible. If she wakes up, call me.”

  “Got it. Swole said to meet her at the bar.”

  I felt like I was leaving behind a piece of my heart as I walked out of that hospital room, but Dominic had to be my priority. It wasn’t just for Erica. I was worried about him too.

  When I pulled into the parking lot of The Blue Dog, I was unexpectedly moved at the sight of my Outlaw Souls brothers and sisters already there, waiting to help me. I pulled up next to Ryder, who nodded in greeting. I got off my bike and spoke loudly to the assembled members.