by Kay Maree
“She is the strongest woman that I had ever met, stronger than any of the others that he took. Anyway, on that final day, Pitt overheard dad saying that he was going to just rape her, get it out of the way, that he had wasted enough time on her. Pitt flew into a rage and broke down the door to the room. A fucking huge steel fucking door, and Pitt was so angry he literally knocked the fucking thing off the frame. Dad had just knocked Lyric out and was about to take her, when Pitt got into the room and stabbed him in the neck. Pitt picked Lyric up and brought her to me, she was unconscious. It was his idea to bring her here. I don’t even know how he knew about you guys, but he just kept telling me that we needed to bring her here, that you guys would protect her from dad. I don’t think he realized that he killed him at first. Not until later that night when we got back, and Ace beat us so badly.”
X sat with his mouth open and ran his hands up over his face. Fucking hell. What a fucking nightmare. But he couldn’t express how grateful he was for Pitt and Hawk, for protecting his girl.
“Has Ace taken over?” Gannon asked.
Hawk looked over at him and nodded his head before sighing, “he is worse than what dad ever was, he is eviler,” he said with a shake of his head.
“What did Lyric’s father have of Gable’s that caused him to take her in the first place?” X asked, drawing Hawk’s attention to him.
“Macca was married to my aunty. It was a secret, she ran away after she got pregnant with Clint, Lyric’s older brother. I heard my dad say once that my grandfather had beaten her badly when he found out she was pregnant and was demanding that she get rid of the baby, so she took off to live with Macca. Dad was the one that helped her to escape and he was the only one that knew where she was. He made sure that Macca never let her off the property, so that our grandfather didn’t see her. Dad and Macca had been childhood friends, they grew up together, so it was natural that Macca started working with dad when he took over the club,” Hawk explained.
“What kind of work were they doing?” Blaine asked.
“Mostly drugs, but when dad took over the club, he wanted to get into sex trafficking. He would take women, so that he could grow the club, but he would sell some of them, to other guys out of town,” Hawk answered.
X frowned and chewed on his lip, “so the stories about inbreeding? All of it wasn’t true?” he asked.
Hawk chuckled and shook his head, “no, that was a rumor that dad spread. He didn’t want the community looking too closely at us, so he figured if the town believed that all the babies that were being born, were conceived by incest then people would look the other way. It helped when Pitt was born with down syndrome, people saw him and just assumed it was true. Once the women raised the children and were no good to them anymore, dad would kill them and get new ones. Macca and his sons oversaw kidnapping the girls and bringing them back.”
“So, was it drugs or girls that Macca had that Gable was looking for?” Blaine asked.
“Girls, Brenton had been on a trip to pick up their latest load of girls, but when he got back Macca told dad that he wasn’t handing them over, that they had decided to keep them because Lyric wasn’t going to be any good to them,” Hawk answered.
“What does that mean?” Gannon asked.
“Lyric was stolen as a baby,” Hawk said looking at the shocked looks on all three men’s faces. “I didn’t know that either until after dad took her. I heard him telling Ace one night. Apparently, the plan had been that once Lyric was fifteen, Macca was supposed to give her to Clint to start breeding with, but when Lyric’s mum found out what was going to happen, she threatened to go to the police. When she made the threat, Macca lost his mind and killed her, beating her to death.”
X frowned, Lyric believed that her mum died of cancer, and yet the whole time her mum, who wasn’t even her biological mum, had been killed at the hands of the man that she believed to be her father.
“So why didn’t Clint fuck Lyric after her mum’s death?” Blaine asked.
Hawk winced at the crass term that Blaine used before he shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know, dad was under the impression that he had, but when she didn’t get pregnant, he assumed that she was broken.”
X shook his head, “she is still a virgin,” he stated.
Hawks eyes widened, “oh, wow,” he said.
“So, Lyric’s dad and brothers took these girls and weren’t going to hand them over to Gable?” Gannon asked, bringing them back on track.
Hawk sighed and nodded his head, “yeah, he wanted more girls to start producing children, for Ace and Axe. I didn’t want anything to do with it. I hated everything my father did. I hated my father. I’m glad the cunt is dead. Anyway, Macca refused to hand over the girls, or the money that he got for them, so dad went to get them back. When he saw Lyric, he decided at the last minute instead that he would take her, however, when Macca and the boys came in from work, dad said they didn’t give a shit that he had taken Lyric. Apparently, Macca just shrugged his shoulders and said easy come, easy go.”
“Fuck,” X spat, if that fucker wasn’t already dead, he would go there and kill him immediately, “where did Lyric come from?”
“I asked dad that, he said that Macca bought her off some junkies that he used to deal to,” he said with a humorless chuckle, “fucking sold their kid for a gram of fucking coke.”
“Well, what do you want to do now? I’m willing to have you and Pitt here with us and give you safety. You can defect from the Iron Horsemen and join here,” Blaine said.
“We aren’t members of the Iron Horsemen anyway, we were never allowed to join, because Pitt’s disabilities and because I’m defective, according to my father.”
X didn’t know what that meant, that he was defective and figured that was a question for another time.
“Do you want to stay here?” Blaine asked.
Hawk nodded his head, “we aren’t safe over there, the beatings are getting worse, life will only be worse under Ace. Pitt and I won’t live for long there. So, if you at the very least promise to keep Pitt safe then I am happy to stay here.”
“That’s easy. I can promise that. You nor Pitt will be beat living here. We are a family, not a fucking dictatorship, evil cult,” Blaine said.
Hawk nodded his head and tapped Pitt on the shoulder, when Pitt took his earphones out, he looked at Hawk with a huge smile on his face.
“Blaine, Gannon and X asked if we wanted to stay with them now, instead of with Ace. I said I wanted to stay; do you want to?” Hawk asked.
Pitt’s eyes widened and his face broke out in the most startling smile, that lit up his entire face, before nodding his head emphatically. He turned to look between Blaine, Gannon and X and smiled broadly.
“Yes, I want to stay here. Can Lyric stay here too?” he asked.
X chuckled, it seemed that his girl had that effect on everyone, “yeah Lyric is staying here too. Do you want to see her?”
Pitt’s eyes widened even more. X didn’t think the boy could smile anymore widely than he already was, but he proved him wrong. His head bobbed up and down excitedly. “Yes please. She’s my friend.”
“Well come on then, let me take you to where she is resting, and you can see her,” X said standing from his chair, and encouraging Pitt and Hawk to follow him.
Pitt followed without question, but Hawk was a little more dubious, obviously not trusting X completely. He understood Hawk’s fear. As they walked down the hallway towards the bedroom that Lyric was in, Pitt talked wildly about Lyric and how much he liked her and how they would play cards or that she would sing to him when he was sad. X reached out and knocked on the door to the bedroom and listened for Lyric to call out.
He opened the door and walked into the room, with Pitt and Hawk close on his heels, “hey sweetheart, I brought some friends of yours that wanted to see you,” he said with a chuckle.
“Lyric,” Pitt cried, before running past X and leaping onto the be
d beside her, gently pulling her into a hug and holding her tight.
X’s mind wanted to seize with jealousy, but he stamped it out quickly. Pitt was like an excited, oversized toddler. He had nothing to be jealous of. Lyric was still his girl. Lyric chuckled as she hugged Pitt close to her. Her eyes were filled with tears as she looked over his body, noticing all the bruises on his skin.
“Oh Pitt, what did they do to you?” she said sadly.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Lyric
What had they done to Pitt? He was covered in bruises and old wounds. That poor sweet boy, he didn’t have an evil bone in his body, and yet he had been so mistreated all his life. It made Lyric sick when she thought about what he had been through.
“I’m alright Lyric. Dad is dead now. And X, he said me, and Hawk can stay here with you,” Pitt said excitedly.
Lyric’s eyes widened and she looked up over Pitt’s shoulder to X, who confirmed what Pitt was saying with a nod of his head.
“That’s wonderful, I’m so glad that you are staying here, I’ve missed seeing your face,” she said, “thank you for saving me Pitt.”
She leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead. He smiled and puffed out his chest. He was proud and that’s exactly how she wanted him to feel. Lyric looked over at Hawk who was standing off towards the door looking uncomfortable.
“Hey Hawk,” she said with a warm smile.
“Hey Lyric, I’m glad that you are okay,” he said.
She giggled and nodded her head, “I’m okay, because of you and Pitt. Thank you.”
Hawk waved his hand, “you don’t have to thank us Lyric; we did what was right,” he said.
Lyric shook her head, “you did what was right, sure, but you went against your family to do it. That is a brave act, not something too many other people would do,” she replied.
Hawk gave her a smile, while Pitt continued to hold her close to his chest and stroke her hair, as if he was too afraid to let her go, in case she disappeared on him. She let out a big yawn that clicked her jaw and felt the exhaustion that seemed to be ever present lately start to take over. Hawk noticed how tired she was and tapped Pitt on the shoulder.
“Come on buddy, let’s go and let Lyric get some sleep, her body is still getting better, we can come see her when she wakes up later, alright?” Hawk said.
Pitt looked down at Lyric and back over at Hawk, “promise?” he asked.
“I promise,” Hawk said with a smile.
Pitt nodded and gave her a big wet kiss on the forehead before he stood up and followed Hawk out the door, letting it shut behind them. Lyric couldn’t wipe the smile off her face, to know that Blaine, Gannon and X said that they could stay there, that they would be away from their family’s rules, meant the world to her. They were safe now. And knowing that Gable was dead, made her feel weirdly satisfied, like she had already got revenge, without even realizing it.
X kicked his boots off and reached for his belt. Lyric’s eyes widened as she watched him undo the button of his jeans and shuck them off, so that he stood in just a t-shirt and boxers. He wordlessly slipped into the bed beside her and pulled her into his chest. Lyric reached up and ran her fingers up through his beard, feeling her eyes drift shut.
“Did you get the answers you were looking for?” she asked.
“Yes, baby, it’s not good,” he said.
Lyric nodded her head, “I didn’t think it would be,” she sighed, “but will you tell me?”
X looked down at her with a frown on his face before nodding and delving into everything that Hawk had told them. X hadn’t lied, it wasn’t good, it was horrible, and Lyric’s heart was breaking. Her mother had died at the hand of her father. And to make matters worse they weren’t even her biological parents. Instead her biological parents had sold her for drugs as a baby. She couldn’t believe the fucked-up world that she had unknowingly been born into and wondered what she had done to deserve such a life.
Lyric lay there silently running her fingers casually through X’s beard, as sleep took over her. It didn’t matter now where her life had been, or who she came from All that mattered now was where it was headed. Her life could only get better.
She didn’t know how long she had been asleep for, but when she flicked her eyes open, it was to see Pitt watching her, like he had when she was locked in the room with him. Hawk was sitting in the chair beside the bed, while Pitt sat on the floor watching her sleep. To some it might have creeped them out, and at first it had Lyric. But she soon took comfort in Pitt’s nuances. This wasn’t Pitt being creepy, this was Pitt protecting her, keeping her safe.
“Hey there,” she whispered.
“Good morning Lyric,” he said with a smile.
“It’s morning?” she asked.
Pitt beamed a grin at her and nodded his head, “you slept all day and night, you must have been super tired. Hawk said it was because your body is still getting better.”
“Yeah, it is, but soon I will be well again and then I can spend more time awake and we can watch some movies or something together and play cards,” she said with a smile.
Pitt bobbed his head with excitement causing her to giggle, she looked up at Hawk who was watching them fondly.
“What did you two get up to yesterday?” she asked.
“We helped Blaine, Gannon, X, Arsen and Hale take over the Iron Horsemen. And guess what? The police came, they arrested Ace and Axe and some of the others, and the girls that dad took they went back to their homes, we saved them Lyric,” Pitt said with a huge grin.
Lyric’s eyes widened. Did that mean that the Iron Horsemen were no longer in existence? She looked up at Hawk, and he nodded in confirmation.
“I would have liked to blow the entire building up, but it wasn’t fair to the kids or the women. But there have been police, not just local police either, combing all over the town and uncovering everything. X said they even arrested some of the cops who were on dad’s payroll,” Hawk told her with excitement in his voice.
This was the best news that she could ever hear. The door opened and X came in wearing a big smile, “hey baby, I take it Pitt and Hawk just told you the good news?” he said with a chuckle.
“Yeah, they did, that is fantastic news, I’m thrilled. What does it mean for all of us though?” she asked.
“Well Blaine, Gannon and I have been talking, and we all decided that if you want to stay here with us, we would love to have you here. There is a lawyer coming to see you in the next few days. Once the police have released the property from their investigation, it will be transferred to your name, to do whatever you want with it,” X said.
Lyric frowned, she didn’t want the property, “just pull the building down and build a park or something on it, sell it, hell I don’t care, I want nothing to do with it,” she said firmly.
X smiled and nodded, “I thought you might say something like that,” he chuckled, “so would you like to stay here with me, sweetheart?”
Lyric smiled, “yeah I would,” she said.
She wanted to explore what there was between her and X, she felt so safe with him and with Pitt and Hawk staying, she knew there was nowhere else she would be willing to be. Even if nothing came from her and X, she looked at Pitt and Hawk like they were brothers, they had been through so much together, which brought them intrinsically closer than just friends and there was nothing that would keep her from staying by their side.
X leaned over Pitt’s shoulder, pressing a kiss to her forehead, “I’m glad because I would have hated to have to beg,” he grinned.
Lyric laughed. It felt good, it felt freeing. Their life was on the precipice of change. It was a change for the better. She looked between the three guys in the room with her, they had been brought together by tragedy, but it was only going to be a blip in their life. Their future from here on out was all that mattered. And Lyric could feel it in her soul, their future owed them some good times.
X turned to Hawk with a small frown on his brow, “Hawk you said something yesterday, and I wanted to ask what you meant by it. You said that your dad thought you were defective? Why?” he asked.
Hawk chuckled and shook his head, “I’m transgendered,” he said. Both Lyric’s and X’s eyes widened as they watched Hawk laugh, “I’ve been on testosterone therapy for the past two years, since I turned eighteen, to transition from a female to a male,” he explained.
“Holy shit,” X said, his eyes still wide, “I would never have fucking guessed that, well shit man, there is nothing fucking defective about that. You are you, I don’t give a shit whether you have a cock and balls or a pussy, if you tell me you are a man, then that is what you are. Your genitalia aren’t my business,” he said.
Lyric was thrilled to see X be so accepting, she could only imagine how hard it was to transition as it was, but to do it under the rule of someone like Gable, it must have been hell.
“Thank you for telling us, not that you had to. But you are still as much my brother as Pitt is,” she said.
Tears welled in Hawk’s eyes and he nodded his thanks.
“You said that your dad wanted you to breed, I just assumed that you meant, that he was expecting you to breed with the women he stole, but that wasn’t the case was it?” X asked.
Hawk quickly looked between Lyric and X before shaking his head, “no, I was supposed to be sold to Lachie.”
“Fuck,” Lyric spat with a shake of her head, “I’m glad all those pieces of shit are dead.”
“Me too,” Hawk whispered.
“You are safe now,” X said giving Hawk’s shoulder a small squeeze, “you don’t have to tell a single soul as to what genitalia you were born with, you never have to speak about it again if you don’t want to. But I will have your back if you do choose to tell anyone. You are safe here now. No one can touch you, that you don’t give permission to.”
Hawk shook his head, “man you guys run this club fucking different to the Iron Horsemen,” he said with a bitter laugh.
