by Ryan Michele
“Come to my house now.” The phone disconnects.
Without thinking, all thoughts of Cooper and phone calls gone, I race. Yes, I drive like it’s a race to my friend. Confusion fills me. Leah needs me, and that trumps everything.
Swinging the door open at Leah’s parents’ house, I barge in, searching for her. It’s not like her to call me like that and then not answer her phone right away. We’ve been friends for way too long to keep one another on edge like this. We talked on the phone just yesterday about me coming here to see my dad, and everything seemed fine.
“Leah!” I call her name, just as I hear a scream come from far away. It’s Leah’s scream.
Where the hell are her parents?
Following the voice, I run full-throttle down the hallway, and that is my first mistake. My father and brothers taught me to always watch my surroundings. Be aware of the people and things around you at all times. Unfortunately, when Leah screams and now cries, all reason leaves me.
Reaching her bedroom door, the air and blood leave my body as shock takes over. Leah is lying on her bed, hands tied to the headboard, feet tied to the footboard, spread wide. She’s not naked, but that’s the only good thing, because she’s black and blue on just about every part of her body and cuts line her beautiful face as the blood mixes with her tears.
It’s the man in the room, though, the one with the filet knives and bloodied knuckles, who gets my full attention. Len, the quieter one from the rally, has the scariest look on his face. It’s blank, void, cold.
“About fuckin’ time you got here.” He slices Leah’s arm, and she screams.
“Stop! What are you doing?”
“Want her to die?”
Shaking my head, I answer quickly, “No!”
“Then you come with me. And bitch, you fight me, I’ll gut you. Then I’ll come back and gut your friend. I may have to fuck her, too. All this shit is gettin’ me hard.” He grabs himself with the knife so close I wish he would nick his dick as Leah’s blood wipes off on his jeans.
“Where?”
He points the knife directly at me, Leah’s blood dripping off the tip. “No fuckin’ questions. You make a fuckin’ sound, I’ll slit your throat, and I don’t give a fuck who sees me. Got nothin’ to lose.” His words register, but they don’t compute fully.
Len doesn’t wait for me to answer, he gouges the knife into Leah’s side, blood streaming out as she cries and screams.
“Get away from him, Bristyl!” she screams as he picks up the blade and punctures her again.
“Shut the fuck up, bitch!”
“Okay! Okay! Stop!” I yell, trying to get Len’s attention on me and not my bleeding friend. If I can get him out of the house and away from Leah, her parents should be home at some point to get her help. At least, I can make sure she’s safe. Fuck!
“I’ll go. Come on. Right now.”
“Don’t!” Leah screams.
Len lifts his fist and punches Leah in the temple so hard her eyes close. She makes a strange gurgling sound, and my fear for my friend heightens.
“No!” I make a move to go to her, but Len grabs me around the arm hard.
He pulls a syringe out of his pocket, and I fight, kicking, hitting, but nothing fazes him. He’s ice cold as he slips the needle into my arm.
“What did you give me?”
He doesn’t answer as my body begins to feel like it’s sagging. The room becomes clouded, and I feel dizzy. My limbs are heavier than normal, and it hurts to hold them up. Resting them on the ground would be a better option. My head goes foggy, and I fight to stay awake, but within moments, it’s black.
“Bristyl!” My name being screamed comes through the haze. It feels like I’m drowning, and every once in a while, I can come up for air, yet the pull overtakes me.
25
Bristyl
I can’t keep track of the time. My head goes in and out, but the sound of my name, said in that voice—Cooper’s voice—pulls me up, and I slowly blink.
It was a mistake to open them. The vision before me is right out of a horror movie, and I’m not one hundred percent sure whether this is a nightmare or reality.
Cooper is in front of me, his hands tied above his head on a hook. They are so tightly strained that every muscle in his upper body is strung out. It looks like each tendon could snap. His feet are barely touching the floor, and a slight sheen of sweat covers his entire body. His shirt is torn and bruises line his abdomen.
How the hell did he get here?
“Bristyl? Are you alright?” Cooper asks.
I sit up, realizing I’m on a dirt floor.
Cooper gives a grunt as something hits him from the back hard, like a crack of a whip. Instantly, I rise, wobbling along the way, but halt when Nick steps out of the shadows, holding a long, leather bound whip that has several long strands on the end each with something sharp. Cooper’s blood is dripping from it.
“What’s going on?” I manage to get out. My arms are gripped and pulled behind my back as Len stands there, still no expression. The fight in me isn’t strong, but I try with no success.
“Little Bristyl,” Nick says way too calmly for the situation. He holds his tool like a prized possession, skating his hands up and down the leather rhythmically. “About time you got here. You missed the fun. Here, let me show you.” Nick turns and slices the whip through the air, hitting Cooper all over the front of his body, spilling blood.
“No!” I scream and try to fight again. “Stop it!”
“Oh, you want me to stop, huh? Alright, then let’s go over here.” Nick walks casually to the other side of the room where it’s dark. A sconce comes on, and my knees give out. When they do, Len doesn’t move his arms and the pain from the angle shoots through me. I stand instantly, trying to relieve it. All Len does is chuckle.
My focus isn’t on my pain, though. No, it’s on my father. My father who looks almost like Leah did, except he’s not strapped to a bed. No, he’s bound to a chair, hands behind his back, and feet tied with rope. His head hangs awkwardly, making my heart pump even faster. Poe stands behind him, a baseball bat in his hand.
“Dad!” I scream, fighting my restraints.
His head comes up, his eyes directly on me. “Bristyl?” His voice has a bit of slur. I don’t know if they drugged him, like they did me, or if it’s from the injuries.
“I’m fine. Are you okay?”
Len takes the opportunity to yank my arms hard, and I cry out.
“Motherfucker, you just wait,” Cooper growls.
My father’s focus moves to him. “Cooper? What’s goin’ on?”
Nick walks up to my father and punches him square in the jaw. My dad’s head jerks to the side, but he comes back, his focus coming a little bit clearer. His silver mustache is a rust color from his blood.
“Shut the fuck up,” Nick spits. “You had to go and fuck up the plan!” he screams, his cool demeanor taking a hike. “This is all your fault!” He points his finger at my father who now has blood running down his face from his head. “You stupid motherfucker had to go and kill Wolf.” He shakes his head. “You ruined everything!”
Nick grabs the bat from Poe. He raises it and slams down hard on my father’s kneecaps, the echo of crushing bone reverberating through the room.
Tears stream down my face. Screaming doesn’t help. Fighting doesn’t help. Len just holds me tighter as I watch the bat come down on my father’s other kneecap.
He cries out in pain, something I have never heard my dad do in all his years.
This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening!
“Please, I’m begging you stop!”
“Oh, you want me to stop? Alright. Then I’ll just take this over to your boyfriend.” Nick walks over to Cooper as I scream at him.
The swing is massive, hitting Cooper in the gut. Pain etches all over Cooper’s face, but only a deep grunt comes from his lips.
“This what you want? Want me to beat on your boyfr
iend or your dad? Hmm … Here’s a better question for you: which one do you want to live? Because one of them is dying today,” Nick asks, and my stomach twists as emotions flood me.
Nick heads over to my father again, and I scream, “No!”
Then he walks over to Cooper, and the same thing happens, over and over. Every so often, Nick will take a swing at one of them while I scream.
I yell. I wail until my throat burns and I taste the metallic of my blood before I swallow it down. The longer I scream, the less I can be heard as my vocal cords strain from the stress.
“Put her in the fuckin’ chair, then go deal with that bitch you left,” Nick orders Len.
“You said you wouldn’t!” My words are frantic.
“I lied.” He smiles as he pulls me to a chair. It has metal lock cuffs on the arms that he easily gets my wrists in.
Fighting isn’t working.
I kick and hit him square in the chin. He jerks, latches both of my feet, then moves over to Cooper. Silver gleams in his hand.
“Don’t!”
Just then, Len sticks the knife in Cooper’s leg, turns, and walks out of the room.
“What do you want?” I scream at Nick. “What did we ever do?”
He steps up closer to me. I try to move my arms, but it’s no use. They are stuck. Tears stream down my face as the anger begins to bubble in my veins. It’s like a switch inside of me that has never been tested before. Even with tears coating my cheeks that have now stopped, I stare at the man.
“Your father killed Wolf. Wolf was going to take over the Red Devils, and we were going to take over Sinister Sons. Your father is supposed to be six feet under, not Wolf!”
It makes sense, but why are Cooper and I here?
“You were our prize. The three of us, not just Poe, we were supposed to have you, and now we will.” He leans over and his lips cover mine.
I yank my head back after biting his lip. He pulls back and slaps me across the face. My head whips around until I feel my neck twist. Heat then pain expands like a spider web through my face, but I turn back toward Nick.
“So, who’s it going to be? Your daddy dearest, or your boyfriend?”
“You want me to pick who lives?”
“The choice is yours. One of these motherfuckers walks out of here. The other, we bury.”
This is fucked up on so many levels.
I look to my left and see Cooper hanging there, his eyes directly on me, fire burning in them. Then I turn to look at my father. His head is to the side and eyes are closed. Please tell me he isn’t dead.
“Now!” Nick screams.
“Boss,” Poe calls. “Len has himself a mess with the bitch. He needs backup.”
Nick looks at all of us. “Fine. Hurry the fuck up and get back here.”
It’s then I realize something. Nick has no intention of killing one of the men I love—yes, love. No, he’s going to kill them both, right in front of me so I’ll fall in line with whatever his stupid brain has in store. He’s fucking with my head about who to choose.
My heart breaks and shatters at the mere thought of losing the two most important men in my life. Memories of my father, the loving, caring man he was when my mother was alive. How he would make sure my shoes were tied before I got on my bike and fixed the scrapes on my hand when I fell.
Cooper. We have just begun, and there’s so much more for us. My feelings for him run so deeply it’s to my soul. I love him and need him more than my next breath.
“You stupid bitch, answer me!” The blow hits me in the eye, creating an explosion of colors behind my now closed lids.
I scream.
“You motherfucker! You’re a fuckin’ pussy, hittin’ a woman,” Cooper taunts.
I want to scream, “Shut up. He’ll come for you, and I need to figure out a way out of this!” but the pain in my face is too much at the moment.
Instead, I mutter, “You, Nick. I choose you to die today.”
The backhand comes down before I can brace myself, and everything goes dark.
26
Cooper
That fuckin’ piece of shit. He will die, and it will be by my hands. I don’t know how the fuck they got me here. One minute, I was sleeping at the hotel. The next, I’m being hoisted into the air. Hell, my body feels like it’s been beat to hell and back, but my memories of it don’t come.
These fucking assholes are going to pay. Every damn one of them.
Bristyl doesn’t know it, but she’s been our saving grace. When Len left, it heightened our probabilities of getting out of here alive. My plan was to lure Nick over here, snap his neck, then rush Poe. Since Poe decided to make an exit, that means I only have one fucker to go, and he’s a damn moron.
My muscles strain. Not from taking all my weight, but from me holding on and trying not to move. Whoever tied me did a very basic square knot, which is a huge mistake. It took me a bit, and the fucker hit Bristyl twice because of it. Still, she’s our saving grace. While she kept his attention, I was able to loosen the ropes.
The burn in my shoulders drives me. The fire in my leg from the stab keeps me aware. When you can’t feel pain is when you’re fucked. I feel it all, and I feel the rage that comes with these fuckers touching what’s mine. They are only fueling the fire.
I’m counting on the adrenaline pumping through my veins to get us out of this fucking mess. I’m not sure how my legs will react once I put weight on them. I’ve been hanging here for a while, and the numbness has set in.
Nothing is going to stop me, though. Bristyl will walk out of here alive and well.
As Nick walks toward me, my arms give a shake and I will them to stop. Nick can’t see the trembling. I need him close to incapacitate him. I’d love to beat the fuck out of him, but we need out of here now.
“You stupid fucker. Had to get involved with somethin’ that didn’t involve you!” Nick screams, his face turning a shade of red.
His muscles pull tight as he charges toward me, fist ready. Just when he’s about to swing, I twist my body and swing myself slightly to the left, letting go of the rope as I do and landing on my jellied feet. Thank God for the fire breathing inside of me.
Nick’s eyes look horrified as he begins to reach behind him, where I know he has a gun. I clocked it as soon as he came into the room.
Without a blink of hesitation, I rush him, going directly for his neck and twisting with every muscle in my body.
Bristyl screams as bones pop and break, and I land hard on my side, Nick’s head still in my hands. He doesn’t move, but I give another yank just to make sure. When I do, his head comes with me, still attached by skin, but not by bone. He deserved so much more.
“Are you okay?” I ask Bristyl.
“Yeah. My dad.” Her voice is stronger than before. There was a point during this when I could see a change happen in her eyes. A reserve. A knowing.
Getting up from the floor, my side aches like a mother bitch. I search Nick’s pockets and find a set of keys and a cell phone. I unlatch Bristyl, noting the red burns mixed in with blood. Motherfucker. Yeah, he deserved so much more.
Bristyl stands and rushes over to her father while I grab the gun out of Nick’s back holster and the phone.
Watching Bristyl untie her father, I make the call.
“Coop?”
“How far out?” I ask my father.
“Only fifteen minutes. Regg called, said there was something suspicious going on with Red Devils. Your tracker was showin’ an unknown place. Called you; didn’t answer, so we left. Where are you?” He must be in his truck since he answered.
“Somewhere underground. Not far, because I hear cars. I’m finding a way out. Just get here.”
“Searchin’,” he says. Then I click the phone off.
“Your brother’s number?” I ask her as I help untie her father. She tells me as Regg starts to blink, and I start to dial.
“What the fuck?” he asks, looking confused as hell.
�
��Yeah?” a guy answers on the other end. I really don’t give a fuck which one, but I need to know it’s a brother.
“This is Cooper. Who’s this?”
“Stone. What’s wrong?”
“Poe and Len are going to Leah’s house right now. Need you there. Take them out—I don’t give a fuck—but get Leah away from them.”
“What’s goin’ on?” Stone asks again. I can hear him moving and yelling to his brothers to move it.
“We were taken. I’ll explain later. But they’re going to kill Leah. Get to her.” I disconnect the phone and shove it in my pocket.
“Daddy?”
“My fuckin’ legs hurt,” he says, looking down at his knees. “Fuckin’ hell.”
“Don’t got a lot of time.” I look at Bristyl. “Can you walk?”
“Yeah.”
“Good, ’cause I’m gonna need to carry his ass out of here. The calvary’ll be here in fifteen.”
Regg is a big man, and it fucking kills my ribs to carry him. Not to mention, my leg. Regardless, I pick his ass up, putting him over my shoulder in a fireman’s hold.
“How do they know where we are?”
“Tracking devices. All Ravage wear them.” I move us toward the door that Poe went out of earlier, then pull the gun from my jeans, handing it to Bristyl. “If it’s not Ravage or Sinister, you fuckin’ shoot.”
She takes it and nods.
I open the door and look around. Nothing. We move down a long hallway. The ground is dirt, walls are concrete. There are so many twists and damn turns in this place.
I shift Regg on my arm.
“Sonofabitch,” he growls. “Don’t like this shit.”
“Get used to it,” I groan, every step agonizing.
We reach a door.
“Bristyl, open it carefully.”
She steps in front of me and does so as light shines in. Fucking hell, a set of stairs. Thank God. Step by step, we make our way up. Each one is more painful than the last. I feel my vision waver as the pain tries to beat my will. I’m motherfuckin’ Ravage; I have a will of steel. We are getting out of this. My resolve pushes me on.
