by Ker Dukey
He yanks a cupboard open. The door comes away in his hand and he just chucks it across the room.
Slipping his hand into his pocket, he pulls out a pair of handcuffs.
What the hell?
Pulling me by the wrist, he slams one cuff over my arm and then attaches the other to a pipe that is coming into the house from what looks like outside.
A water pipe.
“Knock yourself out trying to get out of that.” He snarls at me, his lip curling into a sneer.
And then I’m left alone.
Every fiber of me instinctively tries to get free, but it’s all futile. I tire after scraping all the skin off my wrist, and tears build in my eyes.
The floor is filthy, and it’s cold and damp. I already feel ill before the damp has even crawled into my lungs.
I don’t want to die in a place like this.
I close my eyes and focus on the only thing I want.
Scorch.
3
Scorch
Blood flakes off as I tear the sheets from the bed. The mattress is fucked, and all I can think about is Rhiannon and if he’s making her bleed. I’m hopeless, and it’s infuriating. I never told her how I feel, I just acted like a prick, and now I may never get the chance.
Memories of her scent invade my senses, and I lose myself to thoughts of her, blurred memories of her lips, her taste, her body against mine.
“What are you doing?” Denise asks, her thick, fake eyelashes blinking. It looks like she’s killed a couple of spiders and glued them to her eyelids.
“I didn’t want Frost having to see this shit still like this.”
She takes the sheet from me and nudges me with her hip, it nearly knocks me over; the bitch has what my mother used to call birthing hips. “I’ll do this, go and wait for word,” she coos.
I don’t want to sit around waiting for fucking word. Doing nothing is like giving Buzz free time with our Princess, and God only knows what that sick prick can think up with a few free hours. They call him and his brother, ‘Brothers Grim’ for a reason.
I leave Denise to clean up the mess Brenner made of Frost’s room with the blood of his wife.
Avery is a fucking trooper, any other woman would have been in the wind by now. And it gives me hope that our Princess will be able to handle whatever Buzz dreams up for her.
I punch a hole in the wall, my knuckles smart. I want to keep going, knock this whole place down, panel by panel, brick by brick. Both Brenner and Buzz have tainted a place where we all once felt at home, secure and at ease. Their actions have brought a hellish aura into what was once a lively hub for all of us to come and feel part of something. Now it just feels like a tomb.
I wish when she called me yesterday I didn’t bring her back here. I wish I’d just kept driving, taken her away from this life and started a new one, just us.
Her smile when I pulled up to pick her up could have eclipsed the sun. She was nervous and blushed when she got in my truck. I moved a stray strand of her hair from her cheek. She grasped my hand and held it against her cheek for a few silent minutes. My heart was beating out of my fucking chest. Then she dropped my hand and turned to look out the window, asking me what I’d been up to like we were old friends catching up.
We’ve never just been friends. There’s always been this forbidden heat between us. Before she blossomed into a woman there was still this energy between us, like a pull, magnetic and unstoppable.
I have to get her back and then never let her go.
4
Avery
The touchable chaos at the club is merely superficial, the dried blood that coats the floor and the smell of death that smears the air around us doesn’t lay as heavy on my heart as it should. It is the turmoil you can’t physically touch that makes my breastbone crush my heart. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t care about the men who lost their lives yesterday, I do, so very much. But it’s the sense of dread in my husband’s eyes, the anguish that makes him gnaw on his lower lip, and the desolation in the way he keeps picking at his fingernails that makes me take his hand tenderly in mine.
“We’ll find her. I promise.”
He nods and smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.
Scorch is pacing up and down, frequently pouring a new shot of Patron into his glass whenever he passes the bottle that sits nearly empty on the bar. His mood is sour, and everyone is leaving him alone, wary of prodding the beast that resides inside him. It’s clear how he feels for Rhiannon, and I wonder if Slade is aware just how much his best friend adores his sister.
Slade has surprised me, he hasn’t touched a drop of alcohol. The comfort it usually brings him is now replaced by the support I can give him instead. He hasn’t stopped touching me and has refused to leave my side. I’m thankful that he takes whatever I can give him.
My neck stings and subconsciously I press my fingers to the bandage covering the wound.
“Do you need some painkillers?”
I blink up at Slade in confusion, then realizing what I was doing, I shake my head and smile softly. “No, thank you. It’s not too bad.”
“I can’t believe the bastard cut you. Hurt you. I’ll make him pay, Princess, I can promise you that.”
“Just concentrate on you for now. I’m fine. Apart from my neck, there’s no harm done to me. You need to focus on finding Rhiannon.”
More worry infiltrates his gaze with the mention of her name. I only wish there was something I could do. When the Cutters had taken her, I’d had more of a chance to bring her home, maybe appeal to a side of my father I wasn’t even sure was there. I was his daughter at the end of the day, and perhaps just once he would have done something for me. However, now she was in the hands of Buzz, a man I didn’t honestly know much about, I couldn’t see a way any of us could take control of the situation. I only had to hope he wouldn’t hurt her. But, was Buzz in the right state of mind? He’d lost his brother, and to him, retribution only came in the life of another.
And him and his brother had a nickname for a reason, they’d already played their sick games on Jenna.
Jenna.
I search the bar and focus on the now clean area where she bled out right in front of me. I failed her so badly; I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself.
My mind wanders to Dean. He is still alive. That brings a small smile, a touch of relief in all the misery.
God, how can I tell Jenna’s family about her death? Where did they put her body? Panic seizes my chest, and I place a hand there to rub away the ache. She doesn’t deserve to be dumped in the ground somewhere, in a cold unmarked grave. No. I can’t do that to her.
Slade is watching me with suspicion, and I gobble down my thoughts and focus on him once again. I will talk to Tank about this when we have Rhiannon home. And Brenner has paid for all his acts. Bastard, I hope I get to be there when he meets his maker.
“Is there anyone that Buzz might go to?” I ask.
“Not that I can think of. Tats was his only family. He used to be close to Bullseye, not any longer.”
“I’ll kill the cunt myself if he hurts her,” Tank growls, making me jump. I’d forgotten the Lilith’s Army president was even in the same room as us because he’d been so quiet, so lost in his mind as he conjured up different ways to bring his daughter home.
“But surely he wouldn’t hurt Rhiannon. She’s the club Princess, and I doubt, from what I’ve already gotten to know about her, that she’d ever harm anyone.”
“Her soul is gentle, but don’t be fooled by her innocent eyes, Princess. Beneath that quietness is a roaring strength,” Slade states.
I smile. She’d need to be strong. I knew exactly how terrifying it was to be taken, to be imprisoned by someone on the edge of their own sanity – Brenner was proof of that.
“The only comfort about all this is that I have to think she’s safer with Buzz than with the Cutters. They’d be out to hurt her as much as she could physically take.”
&nbs
p; Giving his hand a squeeze, I gulp down my nerves and voice what I had been considering since all this shit kicked off. “Slade.”
He turns to me, the crease on his brow indicating he knows what I’m about to say will be something he doesn’t want to hear.
“I think I should go back.”
Confusion narrows his eyes. “Back home?”
Swallowing, I brace myself. “Back to my father.”
For a moment a stunned expression covers his face, but the gulp of his throat alerts me to the fury he’s trying to hold back. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Hear me out…”
“Absolutely – fucking – not!”
“Slade…”
“No!”
Damn stubborn man. “It’s the only thing that will stop this war that you know is coming, Slade! My father won’t stop until he’s killed you all. Do you understand that? He’s not right in the head. He will say it was you that called the police to get Rhiannon out of their club. To him, you’ll be a snitch and would have humiliated him in front of his club. He won’t let that rest!”
Slade grips the tops of my arms so tightly that I wince, I know he doesn’t realize just how much he’s hurting me. “I don’t care! You belong to me, Avery. Not because you’re a freaking possession that I own, but because I love you. I fucking love you. No one will ever take you away from me. Ever. And any man wearing a cut, Lilith’s or Cutters know I’m not a fucking snitch.”
I wish I could explain just how evil my father is. But I know he couldn’t ever understand until he witnesses it. My father won’t stop until every single Lilith’s Army brother is wiped off the planet. Me included.
“It won’t be long before fucking Bullseye’s transgressions are leaked though, if they want to put blame somewhere he’s a good place to start. Whatever happens, it’s going to come to war.” Tank shakes his head, running his hand through his beard. He looks worn out, like he needs to sleep for a week.
“I have brothers coming in from other chapters. I want everyone out there looking for my little girl. Buzz is a clever little bastard and tracking him via GPS will be futile, but they gotta eat, gas up his truck,” Tank barks. He winces and looks down at his wound bleeding through his shirt.
“You’ve busted your stitches.” Slade groans.
“I want you to stay by your phone. If she is going to reach out to anyone it will be you,” Tank tells him.
Slade sighs in defeat. He feels like he’s failed at being her big brother. But we Princesses know the life we’re born into. Some things can’t be predicted.
* * *
Hissing at the sting when Slade gently wipes the swab over the lesion on my neck where my tattoo once sat proudly, he grimaces and apologizes for the hundredth time.
It was so good to be home. As much as I knew Slade needed to be at the club, he’d refused to leave me when I had said I was exhausted and needed to sleep. Although I’d argued with him, and told him I’d be alright home alone, he’d point blank refused. He was such an obstinate man, the compulsion in him to protect me endeared me to him more and more.
“I’m so sorry, Princess.” He agonizes and comes to crouch down in front of me.
“Stop freaking apologizing. It isn’t your fault, and I’m a chicken when it comes to pain.” I wink, and his smile brightens a little.
Lifting his hand, he gently places it on my cheek and tenderly strokes his thumb across my jaw. “How did a man so evil create something so utterly perfect, a woman so insanely clever and beautiful.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m clever,” I chuckle, “But I’ll take the beautiful.”
His laugh lightens my heart. I lean forward and place a soft kiss on his full lips. His large hand spans the back of my head, and he holds me in place so he can kiss me hard, his lips bruising mine. When he sinks his teeth into my bottom lip, I slide off the edge of the bed and settle over his lap.
His hardness presses against my already throbbing pussy and I moan into his mouth, matching the passion in his kiss with an intensity of my own. He’s the only man that will ever drive me this wild with desire, I know that in the very core of me. Every fiber of my body is alive with energy, every hair on my body alert to the current coursing through my veins.
“Avery,” he whispers into my mouth as his hand slides under the back of my tee and his fingers flick the hook of my bra.
My tits bounce free, and I press into him, eager for his touch on my hard nipples. He doesn’t make me wait. Slowly lifting my shirt over my head stretching the collar so not to hurt my wound, his mouth is on my breast before he’s even slung the material aside.
My head falls back as pleasure floods me and I grip the back of his head for support. His caress becomes firmer when I writhe on him, desperate for some relief, frantic for a small bit of respite to the heaviness in the pit of my belly.
Scrambling with the button and zip of my jeans, he tugs at the denim until he’s torn them from my legs and then works on his own freeing his swollen cock. He thrusts into me so far that I yelp at the intrusion. He’s so big that I swear he could tear me in two. We both groan at the exquisite gratification. The bliss that takes over the both of us makes Slade still inside me while we find our bearings again.
“You know I’ll never let you leave, don’t you?” he whispers as he peppers light kisses over the shell of my ear.
I nod. Once, a while ago, I’d have taken that statement as sinister, his vow haunting the deep dark depths of my mind. Yet, now, his promise excites me. I’m not sure if that tells me something about myself, or about Slade. Even so, I’m not willing to dissect my thoughts right now.
Moving slowly, I slide up the length of his rigid cock and unhurriedly sink back down. His face is tight, the pleasure making every muscle in his body tense.
We give ourselves over to the high, taking from and giving to each other what we need at this very moment. For Slade, I know that is to forget. To forget the brothers he has lost and to push aside the anxiety over his sister. Just for a little while.
I take his pain as my own. I carry the burden that lays heavy on his heart and I bury the fear that suffocates his soul in the abyss of my own. I give him love and rapture, and I give him myself. All of me. My heart and my soul, and my ultimate promise to love him forever.
My husband bestows the very same in return. With just the tenderness in his eyes and his touch, I know in my soul that he will love me forever. As long as we’re together, I will own his very soul. That is the ultimate gift, and it is all I’ll ever need. He will heal me and sooth over my sorrow, and I’ll do the same for him. All this chaos and death won’t touch us when we’re like this, when we’re together, when we’re home.
5
Rhiannon
Buzz has been gone for a long time again. I need to pee. The coldness that is penetrating through the thickness of my skin is making my bladder shiver, and I swear I’m going to soak the jeans he gave me to wear any minute now.
Although I know him, I’m not sure he’s entirely the Buzz I do know right now. He was so close to his brother; their bond was unbreakable. But Brenner has destroyed that bond. He has taken away the only person that shared Buzz’s blood, and I know he feels more alone than ever. Grief makes us all do stupid things, and I’m unsure how Buzz will handle the agony that will overtake his sanity.
The door finally opens, and Buzz looms in the doorway. He’s drunk and coked up, and the way his heavy eyelids slip down and veil the desolation in his eyes has my heart beating faster. The mix of dread and sorrow slithers into my belly, and I can’t help but feel afraid of him yet also sad for him.
I pray he’s lucid enough to know who I am, although I’m not sure that’s a good thing or not.
He leans down over me, and the stench of self-medicating with liquor seeps into my nostrils and stings the back of my throat. I’m so thirsty.
Uncuffing me, he doesn’t drop my hand and instead pulls me to my feet and drags me through to what was once the livin
g space.
He’s set up a computer with monitors and video feeds. I wonder how he has managed to switch on the electricity, then I notice and hear a small generator behind all the electrical equipment. Gesturing with a head nod to the little den he’s created, I sit down on the blanket he’s laid out.
“I feel like a part of me has been ripped out from under me,” he murmurs.
My mouth dries, and I swallow back the fear. “I understand that, Buzz. But would Tats want you to…”
Spit sprays my face when he launches himself at me, the tip of his nose pressing against mine with the sudden closeness. “Don’t you dare pretend you’d even know what my brother wants… Wanted. You barely noticed him, sticking that sneering nose of yours in the air every time you saw him. He doted on you, fucking doted on you, and you couldn’t even give him the time of day he deserved.”
“That’s not true!” I argue. And it wasn’t. I hardly ever saw them, I made a point of that. Brenner was so bossy and angry all the time that if one of the brothers even looked my direction, Brenner would lose his mind. It wasn’t worth the aggravation, I wasn’t rude or entitled. I don’t see myself as superior or better than anyone else, it just made life easier for them as well if I didn’t linger in conversation. They were always with Brenner, it was impossible to have more than a hello and goodbye, and even then my brother sneered and vibrated with the uncontrolled need to keep me away from them.
“I always spoke to him whenever I was in the club,” I defend. I made sure I spoke to all the brothers where possible. I wasn’t an ignorant bitch, far from it. All the brothers were my extended family. Fair enough I was closer to some than others, but I always made time for each one of them. I wasn’t blind to Tats’ fondness for me, it just scared me.
The overpowering smell of whiskey assaults my nostrils once more, and I rear back from it before he intoxicates me just from the heat of his breath.
