by Jessica Ames
“You’re not fit to wear that.”
He glances at me. “They’ll have to take my colours off my fucking dead body.”
I smile at the thought.
“That might happen sooner than you think.”
My attention goes back to the windscreen. I know with everything in my heart that even if my life ends at Sin’s hands, even if he rips the last breath from my body, Ty and his brothers will end Sin’s. They’ll make him beg for it. They’ll shed every piece of skin from his body, taking him to hell and bringing him back again.
He ignores my words and climbs out of the car, moving quickly around the front to come to the passenger door. When he opens it, my heart rate picks up speed. Grabbing my wrist, Sin drags me out of the car. I bang my knees against the dashboard trying to get free of the vehicle and cry out as he drops me to the ground, the concrete slamming into my shins.
“Get up,” he growls, snagging my arm and tugging me up.
My legs are wobbly beneath me, a mix of my head wound and my fear making them weak. I stumble, but he shoves the gun against my side and I try to keep traction.
Sin pulls the door, which is propped against the opening, aside and we step into the building.
It’s dark and it takes my eyes a moment to adjust to the change. When it does a chill races through me. It’s a large open space, with some rusted machinery in one corner and what looks like a few smaller rooms off the main space. The stench of something unpleasant tingles my nose, and I cover my face with the back of my hand as I’m shoved forward, stumbling over the debris littering the ground.
Sin leads us into a small room off the main floor and the smell is so intense now I gag.
“You puke, you’ll be licking it up.”
He shoves me forward and the stench hits the back of my throat, making me wretch again.
I freeze, my whole body beginning to shake as I take in the dirty mattress on the floor, a large brown patch on it. Blood. There are discarded medicine packages littering the floor at the far side of the mattress and old bloodied bandages. My gaze takes in the old food trays and used bottles of water and my stomach sinks.
Has he brought me to where he’s been holed up since he went missing? Will Tyler even know where I am? I knew they were looking for Sin and coming up empty. Ty never spoke the words, never told me his worries, but I could see it in the tension around his eyes, the way anger surrounded him after every call about his brother.
As Sin pushes me further into the room, I see what is causing the smell. It’s a half-decomposed body. It’s slumped over on its side, although from the staining on the wall, it looks as if it was previously sitting against it.
My stomach twists and my eyes flare. I can’t stop my feet from moving as bile crawls up my throat.
“Who’s that?”
“Someone who was in my fucking way.”
I step back right into the barrel of Sin’s gun.
“Get on the mattress,” he orders.
I shake my head. “I’m not getting on that.”
He slams the gun handle down again, this time catching my cheek. I feel the skin split like an overripe peach and the warm gush of blood.
Ty’s voice echoes in my head.
Play along until the men get to you…
I move to stand over the mattress, wrapping my arms around my waist.
“Lie down.”
“No.”
I can’t do it. Not again.
“Lie down, Sash.”
My face contorts into a mask of rage. “You’ll have to kill me before I let you touch me like that again.”
He reaches out and I flinch back, but he just tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. It’s a strangely intimate gesture that has my senses on full alert. What the hell is he doing?
A strange look flickers in his eyes, almost like regret as he takes in the marks he’s caused. His crazed eyes soften as his demons die down and he looks so much like the little boy he used to be.
“I always loved you,” he surprises the fuck out of me by saying.
The blood all over my face suggests otherwise, but for once I keep my mouth shut.
“Why did Tyler get to have everything? The president’s patch, the girl… What did I have?”
I narrow my eyes at him and pull away from his fingers.
“This is what this is all about? You’re fucking jealous of your brother? You raped me because you wanted what you couldn’t have? Like a fucking prize?”
His brows draw together. “You should have been mine. I saw you first.” He doesn’t deny what he did.
I get in his face, not caring about the gun pointing at me and hiss, “I was never yours. I love Tyler. I’ll always love him. You were my friend. That’s all.” My voice catches and I hate that it does.
I know I’m pushing him, but my anger is blowing. He destroyed my life because of some jealous notion he should have had what his brother had. He thinks because he saw me first that gave him some stupid claim to me? The thing is, Tyler would have given him anything in his power to give. He just couldn’t give him what Sin desired most—me. I belonged to Ty the moment I first laid eyes on him. Even if he didn’t want me, my heart would always have been his. I would always have been his.
Sin twitches, using the gun to scratch at his forehead as he closes his eyes. His motions are jerky and frantic. I can see he’s losing control.
“Don’t fucking say that, you bitch!”
His hand lashes out, catching my jaw. I stagger back, nearly losing my footing, but I manage to stay upright using the wall to steady myself.
“Why did you tell Rav we slept together? If you didn’t want me, why tell him our secret?”
That’s when reality hits me. He’s beyond help. He’s fucked up, his reality so messed up he doesn’t know the truth.
“I’ve lost everything! I’ll never be able to go home, I’m going to lose my kutte, probably my life.”
My face burns, the skin feeling hot and tight. I peer up at him and let my mouth pull into a snarl.
“You fucking raped me!”
His brows draw together and he laughs, a low guttural sound that has my stomach flipping.
“I never raped you, you crazy bitch. You enjoyed it. Don’t fucking lie and say you didn’t.”
Sickness crawls through me and my skin feels inked with dirt that no soap could ever remove.
“Enjoyed it? Was I enjoying it as I begged you to stop? As I screamed? As I pleaded with you not to fucking do it?” My chest heaves in harsh pants as I stare my demon, the monster of my nightmares, in the eyes. “You took what you wanted.” I roll to my toes and get in his face, snapping, “No matter what you do to me, I’ll never be yours. I’ll never let you take anything from me again, you sick, disgusting bastard.” I might not have a weapon, but I know the power of my words. “I will never, ever love you.” Each word is low and wrapped in disgust.
Rage clouds his expression and fear rolls through me as his eyes glaze over. I see the demons resurface. I yelp as he manhandles me down onto the mattress. Clawing at his face, kicking at him, hitting him in the chest as hard as I can, I try to get him off me.
That last one seems to hurt him, because he snarls, “You fucking bitch. I’ll make you mine,” at me before he slams his fist into my face.
Dazed, I try to fight him, but he’s stronger than I am, and I can do nothing as he gets me on my back.
The mattress springs stab into my spine as his weight comes down on top of me and my breath tears out of me in ragged pants.
“No!” I beat my hands against him as he tugs my borrowed joggers down past my knees. The oversized pants come down too easily, allowing him to spread my now bare legs with his knee between them. “Stop! Sin, stop!” I thrash, trying everything to stop from being sucked back into that place three years ago, but from the look in his eyes this just seems to excite him more. “James, please!” I sob out his real name, but it doesn’t penetrate through the darkness swirling around him.
He holds my wrists over my head in one hand while the other moves to my breast. I taste vomit in my mouth as he squeezes it.
I fight with everything I have, but he’s sitting on my hips, stopping me from moving.
Then I hear it. A sound that is like a fanfare of relief. The sound of pipes rumbling and the unmistakable roar of multiple Harley engines.
A single tear falls down my cheek as his name falls from my lips in a soft whisper. “Tyler.”
29
Ravage
I honestly thought he wouldn’t be here, that I’d be wrong. When I storm into the warehouse, my brothers at my back, the last thing I expect to see in that filthy blood-soaked room is my woman underneath my brother, a pair of my joggers around her ankles, a gun pressed to her temple, and her face covered in blood.
I can see the fear in her eyes as they dart back and forth, the tension in every line of her body.
My only thought is am I too late. Did he rape her again? I can’t see any sign of obvious trauma, apart from the mess of her face. I do notice her eyes are a little heavy, as if she’s struggling to keep focused, but there’s also relief in them and love. That cuts me open.
I’m aware of my brothers at my back, and hear their guns cocking as I step closer to Sin. Fire scorches a path through my gut. He has no right to touch her. He never did.
My gaze slides to Sin and I curl my mouth up into a snarl. I watch his eyes widen. He’s never had this look focused on him. It’s one I usually reserve for our enemies. He drags her up, pulling her in front of him like a shield and my heart goes wild.
“Take your fucking hands off her.”
Sin cocks his head at me. He doesn’t look great either. His face is a mass of darkly yellowing bruises. My heart starts to canter in my chest as I stare at my little brother, a man who is now threatening to take everything important from me. His time is up, but looking at him now, it’s hard not to see the little boy I protected from our mother, from Johns looking to climb into his bed. All I see now is blood, pain, betrayal and an enemy.
“I’m not fucking stupid. I let her go and you’ll kill me.” The high lilt of his voice scares me. “You let fucking snatch come between us,” he growls.
I tense. He’s unpredictable right now and that could get Sasha hurt, but my anger can’t be curtailed, so his words piss me off.
“She ain’t fucking snatch and you know it.”
I feel my brothers shifting behind me at my back and I meet Sasha’s eyes, trying to tell her without words that I’m going to fix this. I’m going to make it right.
I have no idea how, but I will.
“Let her go, Sin,” Nox says. “This is the end of the fucking road for you.”
“I know what the end of the road looks like when it comes to the Sons. I’ll take my chances.”
“You had every chance until you put your hands on my old lady, before you took something from her you had no right to take,” I hiss. “Die now, die later. Either way, you ain’t walking out of this fucking building alive.”
“You’d kill your own blood? You always saved me, Rav. Can you really kill me? Your little brother? It’s always been us against the fucking world.”
His words sink in, grabbing hold of me and messing with my head. The image of him young and scared flits behind my eyelids. Then the images turn to Sash and what he did to her, what he took. I shake my head. The brother I knew died a long time ago. Now, an evil piece of shit has taken his place.
“You raped her, you sick fuck. You think I can even bear to look at your fucking face knowing that?”
Sasha’s eyes move to Nox and she blinks a couple of times. She jabs her elbow back, catching Sin in the side. He doubles over as she flattens herself to the floor.
Two loud pops of gunfire fill the space, deafening me for a second. I move without thought, reaching out for Sash and dragging her across the floor towards me. I’m sure I scrape up her legs, but that’s the least of my concerns.
Is she shot? Did he shoot her? I don’t see blood apart from the shit coating her face.
Sin staggers back, clutching his shoulder. Red pours between his fingers as my brothers surround him. My real brothers. Sin might have been my brother by blood, but not where it matters.
I ignore my brother as the lads surround him, taking him down to his knees, and focus on Sasha. Certain she wasn’t caught in the crossfire, my hands cup her jaw, my heart racing as I try to touch her without hurting her.
“Baby, you’re safe now.”
She peers into my face, her eyes a little glassy and I see tears welling. I probably shouldn’t, but I can’t stop from pressing my mouth to her swollen, split lips. She doesn’t stop me, kissing me back as if her life depends on it.
“I knew you’d come,” she whispers when I pull back, our foreheads touching.
“Always.”
And I mean that. She’s mine and I’ll die to protect her.
“Can you stand?”
Sash nods and lets me help her to her feet. She fumbles to pull her joggers up and then she turns to Sin. I brace, not sure what she’s going to do. She pulls her foot back and kicks him between the legs so hard I wince. His pained groan echoes around the room.
“Rot in hell,” she growls at him.
Sin doubles over clutching his balls. “You bitch!” he screams, but is cut off by a fist to the gut from Fury.
I signal to the doc to follow me, and my arm wraps around Sasha’s shoulders as I lead her outside.
The fresh air hits me like an anvil to the face. I breathe it in, feeling relief pass through me as realisation dawns that my woman is okay.
Ignoring Whizz, I take Sasha’s head in my hands once more, knowing I’ve got to ask the question.
“Did he…?” I break off unable to bring myself to imagine that my brother raped my girl again.
Sasha shakes her head, her fingers sifting through my hair. “No. You got here before it happened.” She strokes my face.
I dip my head to hers, letting out a shuddering breath. “Thank fuck.”
I turn back, taking in the injuries to her face, cataloguing each one. Sin will pay for every hurt he put on her. For every mark she has, he’ll pay double.
My gaze slides over her shoulder to Whizz.
“Take Sasha back to the clubhouse.”
“You got it, Prez.”
I turn to Sash. “You can ride?”
“Come with me.” Her hands fist into my kutte, whitening around the leather. Sasha isn’t the type to ask for anything, so I grit my teeth, not in anger, but because I hate disappointing her. I’d give her the fucking moon if she asked, but not this. I can’t give her this.
“You know I can’t.”
She knows how the club works, what happens to men who cross us.
“Killing Sin won’t make any of this better.” I hear the plea in her voice, and as much as it kills me to ignore it, I do.
I kiss her. “Go with Whizz.”
“Tyler…”
“Go with Whizz,” I growl. “I’ll be back soon.”
She looks as though she’s going to argue with me again, but she nods and the heavy weight in my chest loosens slightly. I hand her my helmet and help her put it on. She winces as the side touches her face and my anger flares. I’m going to gut Sin for every mark he’s put on her skin.
Her eyes stay locked on mine as Whizz walks over to his bike and climbs on. Under normal circumstances, my woman on the back of anyone’s bike but mine would have me tearing up the city, but she needs to get back to the safety of the clubhouse fast, and I trust Whizz. Besides, she needs to be looked over by him to make sure she doesn’t have any serious injuries. Her face is covered in so much blood I can’t tell where her wounds start and end.
Sasha swallows hard as she glances at me, then climbs up behind Whizz, her hands going behind her back to hold the handrail. Whizz peers at me before starting up his engine, giving me a nod to tell me he has it covered. Then he peels out of there li
ke the devil is on his heels.
Nox walks out, his eyes as dangerous as mine as he watches the Harley take off.
“I spoke to Lucy. She’ll stay with Lily.”
I nod tersely. I don’t ask how he’s got her number or why. I don’t care.
I watch the horizon as Sasha and Whizz get further away before I move back into the building. The stone wrapped around my heart hardens as I stride back into the room and find my brother kneeling in the middle of the floor, his head bowed. His kutte is sitting on the floor next to him, leaving him in just his tee and jeans. He looks strange, naked.
With a calm I don’t feel, I bend down and pull my knife from my boot, slowly pulling it free of the sheath.
I stare at my brother’s bent head, my heart starting to race in my chest. This is it. This is the end of the line. I’ve killed many men, but never have any of those deaths bothered me. This one is going to cut me up to my last breath.
Sin peers up through his shaggy hair and I don’t see the man who raped my woman for a moment. I see the little boy I raised and kept safe, the kid who always looked to me for protection, the kid I loved.
Fuck. It’s like an axe to my heart. I can barely draw air as I shift the knife in my hand.
Then I remember Sasha’s joggers around her ankles, the blood on her face and my mouth pulls into a snarl.
“Time to pay for your sins.”
I stab the knife into his shoulder, ignoring his scream.
30
Sasha
The ride back to the clubhouse feels like it takes forever. As we ride, all I can think about is the look on Ty’s face. This is killing him.
By the time the building comes into sight, my face is on fire and my head is throbbing. I’m barely hanging on behind Whizz.
He stops right outside the back entrance, not bothering to pull into a space and cuts the engine. I climb off his Harley, my legs shaking beneath me, and I have to use the back of the bike to steady myself.
“You doing okay there?” Whizz asks, switching into doctor mode as he eyes me clinically.
