by Jessica Ames
“Ty…”
I’m not ready for more yet, but I will be, in time.
He leans forward and pulls me to him, then he kisses my forehead.
“We’ve got forever, sweetheart.”
And this is why I love this man, because he gets it. He gets me, and you can’t buy that kind of understanding. Tyler says I’m his, but that works both ways. He’s mine and I’m not letting go of him either.
25
Ravage
“I should get in the shower. I don’t want to leave Lily-May too long.”
Sasha’s warm breath tickles my chest, making my muscles quiver. I don’t want to move yet. My mind is still blown from the feel of her lips around my cock, but I understand her worry about leaving our daughter alone. I don’t like the thought either, especially with Sin still out there.
I brush the hair from her face, the soft strands trailing through my fingers, as my gaze roams over her features. How did I last three years without her? She’s beautiful and she’s mine. I should never have forgotten that. I want to kick my own arse, drag her father back from the grave to hand me the punishment I deserve for turning my back on his daughter. After she left, I should have looked for her. I should never have given her up so easily.
Darkness claws at my heart when I realise what my pride nearly cost me. I have a daughter. I may never have found out if she wasn’t sick and that thought tears at my heart. It also pisses me off. I may never have found out who and what my brother really is either. The dagger he has lodged in my back has been twisted deeper over the years. How many other women has he gone too far with? Is Sasha his only victim? Are there others he’s abused? The thought makes bile rise in my throat. We aren’t good men. The darkness claimed us a long time ago, but it’s a rule cast in iron that we don’t hurt women.
My thoughts scatter as Sasha dips her head and takes my mouth. It’s a soft, wet kiss that has my dick twitching. Then again, everything about this woman makes me hard. The urge to claim her fully is a battle, but I can’t. Not yet. She’s not ready, but she will be soon.
I hope eventually my touches will erase his, that I’ll consume her until she can only see me. I hope that she’ll know she belongs to me and only me.
The rapping of knuckles on the door has both our heads twisting towards it.
“Go and shower, sweetheart.”
Sasha leans in to kiss me once more before she pushes up off the bed, her eyes straying towards the door. I watch her long legs as she walks into the bathroom, waiting until I hear the door snick shut before I make my body start to move. Snagging my boxers off the floor, I pull them on quickly over my semi hard-on, before stepping into my jeans, buttoning them as I walk to the door.
When I pull it open, I’m greeted by Nox leaning both forearms against the top of the door frame.
He eyes me, his gaze taking in my rumpled hair, my bare chest and then going beyond me to the bed.
He brings his attention back to me and I don’t miss the slight curl of his lip. “Don’t fucking hurt her.”
His tone grates on my nerves. What the fuck does it have to do with him what me and Sasha do?
“Ain’t your business, Nox.” My voice is pitched low, caution crackling through the words.
He doesn’t take the warning.
“Sash is one of us. That makes it my business.”
I narrow my gaze at him, my mouth pulling into a tight line as my nostrils flare.
“Don’t ever fucking question me.”
We both stare at each other. After a few moments, Nox nods tersely before he scrubs a hand over his jaw. I see the tension radiating in every line of his body. “We’ve got a lead on Sin.”
My stomach lurches and icy talons dig into my heart at his words.
“You didn’t think to fucking start with that?”
I quickly move back into the room and snag a clean tee from the dresser. It goes over my head before I grab my kutte from where I dropped it earlier. I shrug into it. The old leather, soft from years of wear, fits my body like a glove. The smell of cigarettes, marijuana and stale beer clings to the material. It’s a reassuring smell that reminds me of who I am. Of what I am.
I drag open the top drawer of my dresser and grab my knife. Bending at the waist, I slide the sheath into my boot, pulling the leg of my jeans over the top of it.
When I straighten, I push past Nox. “Let’s fucking go.”
I know he’s behind me as I walk out of the clubhouse, my mind on what I’m going to have to do. Killing my brother has to happen. I’ve never given a single thought for any life I’ve taken, but I know this one will add to the demons that plague me. I raised that boy like he was my own, so taking his life isn’t something I do lightly, but he signed his own death when he raped Sasha and took her from me, from her family, from her life. He destroyed everything about her with that one act and now I will destroy him. I’ll end his life as payment and not just for Sasha, but for her father too. If Priest was still around, he would have hung Sin up and gutted him, made him pay for days.
As we approach our bikes, I see my other brothers are mounted and ready to ride. Daimon gives me a look as I climb on my Harley, no doubt wondering how level I am. Titch, Levi and Whizz are pulling their helmets on while Fury sits astride his bike, ready, waiting. My sergeant-at-arms won’t have to get his hands dirty today. No, Sin is all mine.
I look at each of their faces. This is what it’s all about—having brothers at my back. This right here is what makes us the club we are, what makes us the Untamed Sons.
I tie my skull bandanna around my neck and tug it up over my face. Swinging my leg over the bike, I sit gripping the handles until my knuckles turn white as I wait for Nox to get seated on his. As we start up our engines, the roar of Harley pipes is loud, the smell of the engine oil heavy in the air. It drowns out everything else, clearing my head, helping me to focus on the task ahead.
Nox rolls out of the compound first, followed by me then Fury and Daimon. Titch, Whizz and Levi take the rear, watching our arses.
London is busy, cars and buses choking the roads. The smog lingers in the air, and would catch the back of my throat if it wasn’t for the material covering my face.
We weave through the vehicles as exhausts splutter fumes into the air. I don’t like lane splitting when we’re riding as a group, but I want to get to my brother fast, which means I don’t want to be sitting in gridlock.
I follow Nox closely, in sync with his movements as he navigates through the line of vehicles. I can hear the bikes behind me, a reassuring presence at my back as Nox leads us. It feels strange to ride behind him. My place is usually up front, leading, but I don’t know where the fuck we’re going.
My thoughts should be racing, but I feel oddly calm as we head towards the place where my brother was last seen. I have no idea how things will go down, but what I do know is I can taste vengeance on my tongue. It burns like hot ash.
I’m coming for you, brother.
Eventually, Nox pulls the bike into the parking area of an abandoned warehouse and rolls to a stop. I move in next to him and tug the bandanna down as I peer up at the crumbling brickwork and smashed windowpanes. It doesn’t look like anyone has been using the place for a while. The weeds are thick on the ground and graffiti is spray-painted on the exterior wall. There’s a heavy-set door on the front that looks secure, but from here I can see it’s been unscrewed from the hinges and is leaning against the frame. In this life, I learnt a long time ago not to underestimate anything. It might look safe, abandoned, but that doesn’t mean shit.
I kick down the stand and cut my engine, the others doing the same. My eyes lock on the building and my lip curls into a snarl. Before Sasha came back, the thought of my brother being holed up somewhere like this would have made my blood boil. I did everything for us never to return to a place like this. Now, I can’t help thinking this shithole is too good for him.
Tugging my helmet off, I climb off the bike and pull my knife fro
m my boot.
“You know I’ve got your back, Prez, but if I’m taking another brother’s life, pulling his kutte off his back and taking everything that makes him blood to us then I’ve got to know what I’m doing it for.”
I glance at my brothers, seeing the same resolute expressions staring back at me. They’re not my brothers by blood, but by a bond that runs deeper—loyalty. Which is why Titch’s question doesn’t surprise me.
I shift my gaze towards Nox who lifts his shoulders slightly. Bylaws say a brother can’t harm another brother. I should have told them when I first found out, but I didn’t want Sasha’s life out there for gossip.
It’s Nox who speaks, saving me from having to say the words I can’t say, saving me from breaking her confidence. His arms fold over his chest, his mouth turning down at the corners, as if he’s tasting something rotten. “He raped Sasha.”
The finality of how he says it makes my body jolt. I’ll never get used to hearing those words, I’ll never get used to knowing what he did to her, knowing he took her against her will. Icy claws dig into my heart and tear it apart. It’s going to haunt me for the rest of my days, as much as I tell Sasha it won’t. I can never forgive or forget what was done to her.
“The fuck?” Titch’s voice raises an octave, his expression twisting in disgust. “When?”
Nox lets out a heavy breath and I can see how difficult he’s finding this. I don’t blame him. My words are stuck in my throat, refusing to come out. “Right before she took off. She didn’t betray us or Prez. Sin fucking made her feel like we weren’t behind her, that we wouldn’t believe her.”
“That’s why you kicked the shit out of him?” Whizz asks me, his tone sombre.
“I kicked the shit out of him because he fucking lied and told me she came on to him. She was my old lady.”
I don’t need to say anything else. Everyone brought into this world knows you don’t touch a brother’s old lady—even if they are fucking begging for it.
“Fuck.”
“You don’t tell anyone this happened,” I growl out, pointing my finger around the brothers. “You don’t tell her that you know either.”
I don’t want this shit staining her further. I don’t want them looking at her with pity or remorse, seeing only what my pig brother did and not her. It’s what Sasha is most afraid of—being seen as a victim.
Fury’s hands are fisted at his side and I can see they’re starting to shake.
I brace, in case he decides to explode.
“He raped her?” He breathes out the words on a deadly growl that has my spine snapping straight, my attention ready. Fury’s been known to flip his shit without warning before, so I’m prepared in case he does. I wouldn’t blame him if he did. That same rage he’s feeling right now still burns through my veins.
“Yeah,” I confirm.
His mouth twists into an ugly grimace as he asks, “He hurt her?”
“Yeah,” I repeat.
He lets out a growl before he draws his arm back and stabs his knife into the door with so much force it quivers when he lets go of the handle.
“Sin has to die,” he hisses out, getting in my face. It’s rare to see Fury anything but controlled, even his rage is usually controlled, but he always did have a soft spot for my woman. All the guys do. Sash grew up a club brat, always hanging around the clubhouse when she was a kid, trying to get Priest’s attention. As Sash got older, she was there with me, trying to get mine. Some of the guys have known her since she was a kid with pigtails in her hair. Others she’s known since they took the prospect kutte. Sasha was a huge part of our world… until she wasn’t. Her leaving left a hole for us all.
I don’t like being crowded, so I push Fury back out of my space and he goes back on a foot, his eyes still blazing fire.
“He has to die,” Daimon agrees, his mouth pulled down into a dark grimace. He rakes his fingers through his hair before he taps his fingers against the thigh of his jeans, a clear sign he wants a smoke.
“He’s going to,” I assure them all. Sin will die, because there’s no other option.
I step towards the door and tug Fury’s blade free of the wood, handing it back to him, then I take a deep breath and pull it aside.
As soon as I step into the darkened space, I can smell the scent of stagnant water and something murky, like the place has been empty for a while. I let my eyes adjust to the change in lighting for a moment, then allow my gaze to roam around the empty space. The floor is littered with bits of junk and there’s a few pieces of old machinery in one corner that look rusted and have been tagged with spray paint.
I don’t bother with stealth. Our bikes are not quiet, so if Sin is here, he will have heard us riding in. I hope he’s trembling in fear, just like he must have made Sasha when he held her down.
We move as a unit, watching each other’s backs as we go, but there’s nothing and no one here. I’m giving up hope until we step into a small office room off the main floor. Instantly, I’m hit with a smell that clogs my throat, an acrid stench that makes my stomach revolt. I recognise it immediately.
Something is dead.
There’s a dirty mattress on the floor that is stained with a dark brown patch. Blood. On the floor are discarded medicine packages and what looks like bloodied bandages. I kick over a food tray from a pre-packaged meal and glance at the finished bottles of water. He’s been here, licking his wounds.
I follow a trail of old blood drops behind a wall and find the half-decomposed body slumped against the plaster. The smell nearly knocks me off my feet.
The back of my hand covers my mouth and nose, trying to protect my senses from the stench as I stare at the body. It’s not Sin. Even through the decay I can tell that. There’s no ink on what’s left of his skin and the clothes are all wrong. Who it is, I don’t know? His dirty clothes are stained with dried dark brown blood and other bodily fluids.
Likely this poor bastard was living here before Sin decided to take up residence. Just another innocent life he’s destroyed.
I kick the body, letting my frustration out. It sags to one side, more fluids flowing.
“It ain’t him,” Daimon says as he steps back from the mess, his nose wrinkling.
“If Sin was here,” Levi peers around the space, “he’s gone now.”
I feel my rage starting to build. “Why the fuck are we always days behind this cunt?”
“He’s got to have help.” Daimon glances at me. “He can’t be ahead of us without someone feeding him information.”
“Maybe one of the prospects,” Titch says. “Those fuckers would do whatever a patched brother asked.”
I shake my head. “I told everyone Sin was not to be helped. If someone is helping him, they’re dead.”
I walk back into the other part of the room and look for clues, anything that might indicate Sin was here. Something catches my eye. I move over to the edge of the dirty mattress and crouch down. I pull it out and turn it over. It’s a couple of rumpled photographs. The first one is at a club cook out, one of many we’ve had over the years. I remember the photograph being taken, even though it was years ago because it was just after I gave her my property patch.
My face has been scratched out.
There’s another photograph of me and Sasha in the common room, although I don’t remember this one being taken. My face is again scratched out.
Anger rolls through me like a tidal wave.
How long has this fucker been obsessed with my girl?
If he left these behind, I’m guessing it’s because he was in a hurry. Did we only just miss him?
Nox takes the photographs off me and my hands go to the back of my head.
“Fuck!” The word echoes around the empty space, reverberating through the crumbling brickwork. Frustration burns through me as I try to control my pounding heart.
“Rav, this is bad,” Nox mutters as he turns the images over in his hands.
“You think I don’t know that?”
Whizz peers over Nox’s shoulders. “This is some crazy level of obsession, Prez. Sin ain’t right in the head.”
“Who’s with Sasha now?” Titch asks.
“Zack.”
“Where the hell did that intel come from saying he was here?” Daimon rakes his fingers through his hair, then taps his fingers on his thighs.
“It was a contact of Zack’s…” Nox’s mouth pulls into a grimace as panic starts to claw up my throat.
Did we walk right into his trap? Was luring us here just a ploy to get us out of the way, giving him a straight run at Sasha?
“That fucking cunt got us out of the clubhouse,” Daimon snarls.
“Where Sasha is alone. Fuck! We need to get back, now,” I growl at my brothers and then storm out of the room, bellowing my rage.
26
Sasha
I come out of the shower and find Tyler gone. His jeans and kutte are both missing from where they were left on the floor, and his phone is no longer on the bedside table.
I grit my teeth. This is the life I remember. Being left behind without a word, never explaining his actions. “Club business”. This is what I signed up for, but it still grates a little. Would it have killed him to say goodbye?
Moving over to his dresser, I pull the top drawer open and find a clean tee and some joggers. I don’t miss the assortment of knives in the bottom, but I ignore them. I’m well aware Tyler isn’t exactly a Boy Scout.
I pull the joggers on, settling the waistband on my hips, liking the way his clothes feel on me and hoping he won’t be pissed I went rummaging through his stuff. They’re a little big on me. I have to tie the drawstring to keep them up and the tee hangs off me, but they’re fresh. I don’t even want to think about how they get laundered. I don’t think Ty knows how a washing machine works.
Dressed, I pull my wet hair into a sloppy topknot and head out of the room.
The clubhouse is quiet and I find myself in the common room alone. There’s not a single brother in sight.
