Addicted to Love (Bayou Devils MC Book 2)

by A. M. Myers

  She stumbles again, halfway down the walk, and I jerk into action, running to her and wrapping my arms around her body just as she collapses. A whimper slips out of her and she clutches her arms around her body as she trembles.

  “I can’t believe you’re here,” she whispers, reaching up to touch me with a shaky hand and I grab it, pressing it against my cheek because I need this as much as she does. Pulling her closer, I bury my nose in her hair and take a breath, relief coursing through my body so fiercely it would probably knock me over if I wasn’t already sitting in the grass. I shift and she lets out another whimper.

  “Princess,” I whisper, pain unlike anything I’ve ever known throbbing through my body as I pull away and run my hands over her skin gently, checking for any more injuries. “Where are you hurt?”

  “Everywhere.”

  Darkness clouds the corners of my vision as I square my shoulders and look up at the house, one thing on my mind. Julian Henshaw is going to fucking pay for laying his hands on her and I’m going to enjoy every moment of it. As gently as possible, I move her off my lap and push up off the ground, my fists clenching as I imagine tearing him limb from limb.

  “Baby,” she whispers, and in an instant, she has my full attention again. “Please don’t leave me.”

  The whispered plea breaks through the fog of rage for a moment and I stare up at the house before dropping back down next to her, my brow furrowing as I meet her eyes.

  “I’m not going anywhere, Princess.”

  She smiles, leaning against me as she closes her eyes. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too, Baby. I’m so fucking sorry I let this happen. You have no idea how much I hate myself right now for not protecting you.”

  She shakes her head. “Not your fault.”

  “Listen, there’s something I have to tell you…” I pause and before I can say anything else, she jerks back, wincing in pain as she meets my eyes. She grabs my arm, his eyes wide and full of fear again.

  “Ivy. She’s still in there.”

  I glance up at the house. “You saw her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you know where she is?”

  “No. Julian took her away and she was unconscious…”

  “It’ll be okay,” I assure her even though I’m not convinced. I’m sure they will find her but her condition when they do is a whole other story.

  Rodriguez and his team advance up the front walk with precision, guns drawn, and decked out in black tactical gear but stop when they reach us. “How many are inside?”

  Carly shakes her head. “I’m not sure. At least four but I don’t know about staff. Ivy was hurt and Julian took her somewhere.”

  Rodriguez nods and motions for his men to move forward as Blaze and the guys gather around us.

  “What happened with Ivy?” Carly whispers, her expression haunted. “Why is she here?”

  I suck in a breath. “Julian taped a note to the clubhouse door saying he had you and he wouldn’t release you until he got Ivy back. We were up all night planning and at some point, she snuck out. I’m not sure when it happened but by the time we realized, she was long gone.”

  “They were never going to let me go,” she whispers as Rodriguez kicks the front door open and his team storms inside. Someone screams and Rosie runs out of the house with her hands in the air. She glances over at us before Rodriguez marches out, gun down at his side.

  “Where is Julian Henshaw?” he yells and she points to the house.

  “Last I saw them, they were headed to the basement.”

  Them?

  Who the fuck else is in that house?

  Carly pales on the ground next to me, her body shaking and Rosie glances in our direction, something passing between them.

  “Did you find her?” Carly asks.

  Rosie shakes her head. “I’m so sorry.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Carly

  Carly,

  I know you’re mad, but I hope you understand why I had to do this. It was my mess and you’ve been taken because of it. If I had known it would turn out this way, I never would have come to you for help in the first place. You’ll never know how sorry I am. Once I show up, Julian will let you go and if I never see you again, I want you to know how much I love you. You’ve been my best friend since the moment I was born and I never thought I’d be without you. I’m just happy that I got to see you fall in love before I left. Chance is an amazing guy. He actually kind of reminds me of Dad and I know the two of you are going to have an amazing life together. No one deserves it more than you, big sister, and I’m so happy that you were finally able to let go of your past and find the happiness you’ve always wanted.

  I love you.

  Always.

  Vi.

  Sucking in a stuttered breath and wiping away tears, I fold the note back up and reach out with my good arm, grabbing Ivy’s hand, as she lies motionless in the bed. The monitors next to the bed continue their steady beeping and the ventilator whooshes as it helps her breathe. Her face and neck are covered in bruises and the doctors keep talking about damage to her brain but as I close my eyes, I will her to wake up. When we arrived at the hospital two days ago, they rushed Ivy away and took me to have a MRI, which confirmed I had a torn rotator cuff in my left shoulder and a broken rib. They operated on me later that day and this is the first time I’ve been allowed out of bed to see my baby sister.

  “What were you thinking, Vi?” I whisper, tears threatening to fall again as I squeeze her hand. She knew the hell she was walking into and after everything I did to free her, why would she go back? Chance’s hand presses into my uninjured shoulder and I let out a breath as I sink back into his touch.

  “She was thinking the same thing you did when you found out she was in trouble,” he whispers, his voice tortured and my heart aches. “I’m sorry for not taking better care of her.”

  I shake my head. “Please stop blaming yourself, Chance. There are only three people to blame for all of this and you are not one of them.”

  “Carly,” he whispers, his voice desperate and I know he wants to know what happened, but I haven’t been strong enough to talk about it yet.

  A knock at the door interrupts us and we both look up as Detective Rodriguez walks in, offering us a warm smile. “Hey, guys. I need to get a statement from Carly.”

  I nod. “Have a seat.”

  He grabs Chance’s vacated chair and pulls it over to me before sitting down and pulling out a notepad.

  “I know this is probably going to be hard, but can you just tell me what happened?”

  Sucking in a breath, I nod again and start from the beginning, telling him about running to the gas station to get junk food and feeling the pain in my neck. I go over coming to tied up in the basement and the more I explain, the tenser Chance grows behind me.

  “How was his mental state?” Rodriguez asks and my eyes widen.

  “You mean was he competent?” I ask and he nods. “Yes, he was fully aware of what he was doing and enjoying every minute of it.”

  He scribbles something down in his notebook. “How do you mean?”

  “My legs were tied to the chair and the rope restraining my hands was thrown over a pipe or something and tied to a hook on the wall. He cut my legs free and pulled on the rope to make me stand. It was excruciating and when I screamed, he enjoyed it.”

  Chance lets out a low growl behind me and I reach up, holding my hand out for him to grab and he takes it, kissing the side of my head.

  “I’m sorry, Carly, but just to clarify, you’re saying he got off on hurting you?”

  I nod. “Yes.”

  Rodriguez scribbles down something else, his face unreadable but his knuckles are white.

  “And what happened next?”

  Squeezing Chance’s hand, I suck in a breath. “Julian told me that if Ivy didn’t come back, it would cost me my life. I told him to go ahead and kill me and he laughed, saying that they weren’t going t
o kill me.”

  He glances down at his notes, nodding. “And by they, he meant himself and Damian Griggs?”

  “Yes.”

  He jots down another note before meeting my eyes again. “Go on.”

  I do as instructed, telling him how Julian cut my chest before leaving and when the door opened again, Damian was there.

  “Had you met Damian before a couple days ago?”

  “Yeah, she runs into him all the time but now I’d say it was intentional,” Chance snaps, releasing my hand and turning away from me.

  “Chance,” I whisper, my heart aching. All he’s done since I was rescued is blame himself for not paying attention to the obvious signs and no amount of consoling from me will ease his guilt. Especially not with me covered in bandages and in this sling.

  “Don’t, Princess. Just finish your story,” he whispers, leaning his shoulder against the far wall as he crosses his arms over his chest.

  “What happened next, Carly?” Rodriguez asks softly and I turn away from Chance with a sigh before explaining how Julian and Damian met and what they wanted to do to us.

  “He said they had purchased us,” I whisper.

  “What the fuck?” Chance roars, pushing off the wall and crouching down next to me. “What do you mean they bought you?”

  I glance over at him and suck in a breath as tears pool in my eyes. “According to Damian, my mother is running low on money and she sold Ivy and I to them.”

  “What?” Chance hisses, horror twisting his features as he stands up and paces back and forth across the room. Rodriguez scribbles furiously in his notepad before glancing up at me and nodding.

  “After that, Julian came in with Ivy and started hitting her. Damian said she had to be punished for leaving and when Julian took her away, she was unconscious.”

  Rodriguez nods. “And Mr. Griggs was still in the room with you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did anything else happen?” he asks and as soon as the words are out of his mouth, I can feel Chance vibrating with anger even with the wheelchair separating us.

  “He was going to rape me, but Julian called him upstairs and that’s when Rosie snuck downstairs and helped me leave.”

  Rodriguez sighs and slaps the notepad closed, rubbing a hand over his face. “All right. I think I’ve got all I need for now, but I’ll give you a call if anything else comes up. Mr. Griggs and Mr. Henshaw are still in custody and I will be dispatching someone to go pick up your mother.”

  I nod. “Thank you.”

  He nods, shaking my hand as he pushes the chair back against the wall and walks out. Sighing, I drop my head back and count to ten.

  “You okay, Princess?” Chance asks and I nod.

  “Yes. I know I should probably be falling apart but I’m just so fucking angry and I want justice.”

  He nods, turning the wheelchair so I’m facing him. “No one is telling you how to feel and I’m pretty fucking angry myself. I can’t apologize to you enough.”

  “Chance,” I whisper, cupping his cheek with my hand. “This was so much bigger than any of us realized. They planned this for months and you are the very last person in the world I would blame, except for maybe Ivy.”

  “It’s my goddamn job to protect you,” he says, his eyes shimmering with moisture and I lean forward, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

  “You can’t protect me from everything, but you did save me. If it weren’t for you and the club, I would still be in that basement. My mother sold me off like property and it would have taken a lot longer for Aunt Dottie to realize something was wrong.”

  He shakes his head, his hands slipping up my thighs. “I can’t believe your own mother…”

  “You know,” I start when he trails off. “I’m not surprised. It burns like a bitch, but I’m not surprised anymore. This is who she always has been.”

  He stands up, leaning over me as he gives me another soft kiss. I know he’s worried about hurting my shoulder, but he could kiss me a little more than this. “I love you, Car. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”

  There is another knock at the door and we pull away enough to glance at it.

  “Yeah?” Chance calls and it opens, revealing the doctor… and my mother. Rage I was barely keeping below the surface boils over as she strides into the room like she has every right to be here. Chance’s face flushes and his jaw ticks as he levels a glare at her, his fingers twitching. If he wasn’t such a good guy, I have no doubt he’d hurt her.

  “Dr. Price, thank you for giving my daughter such excellent care,” Mother says, glancing down at Ivy like she actually gives a damn and my jaw drops. Pushing on the arm of the wheelchair, I shakily stand and take a step toward her. Chance is at my side in an instant, helping me stay upright.

  “You have no right to be here.”

  Mother scoffs. “She’s my daughter.”

  “And you sold her off like livestock,” I say through gritted teeth as I take a step toward her and she backs up. “You are nothing more than a vile, pathetic cunt and if I were you, I would take what little money you got for your own blood and run far, far away before the police show up at your door. But I would hurry because I just gave my statement to the detective a few minutes ago.”

  All the color drains from her face and her back hits the wall. “Carly, dear, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Really? So, Damian Griggs and Julian Henshaw didn’t pay you five hundred thousand dollars each for your daughters? And then those same men didn’t kidnap and beat said daughters, making you an accessary on top of a human trafficker?”

  “I…I didn’t know,” she whispers. “I thought they were good men.”

  I shake my head. “No, you didn’t. You just cared more about maintaining your lifestyle than you did about your children.”

  “Carly,” she starts but I shake my head, pointing to Ivy in the bed.

  “Look at her!” I scream, tears falling from my eyes again. “Look at what you did to your daughter, your flesh and blood. Is the money really that important to you?”

  “Carly,” she starts and I shake my head.

  “Fucking look at her!” I wail. Chance presses a hand to the small of my back. She still refuses to look at Ivy and my body shakes as I close my eyes and suck in a breath.

  “I’m done with this conversation. If I ever see you again, I’ll punch you in the face and I don’t give a damn if you’re my mother.”

  “I’m calling security,” the doctor says, his gaze bouncing between the three of us and I roll my eyes.

  Great timing, asshole.

  “No. I’m leaving,” she whispers. A second later, the door closes and I sag against Chance, letting out a breath. Damn, I’m exhausted. Chance leads me back to my wheelchair and helps me sit down.

  “I’m sorry to have to do this now given all you’ve been through, but we need to talk about your sister’s care,” Dr. Price says and I nod, rolling closer and taking her hand. He looks down at her chart and sighs. “There’s no easy way to say this so I’ll just come right out and say it. We’ve run every test we can on Ivy, some of them twice, and we can’t detect any brain activity.”

  I gasp, all the air rushing out of my body as I stare at him, my mind freezing. “What? What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying your sister is brain dead. I’m so sorry.”

  “No,” I say, a sob rising up in my throat.

  “There’s more.”

  I meet his gaze and he fiddles with the corner of her chart. “Your sister had a will and in it, she named you her proxy so the decision on what to do next is yours.”

  “Are you telling me I have to decide whether to unplug my baby sister or not?” I ask, tears spilling down my cheeks and he nods, hanging his head. I turn back to Ivy and cover my mouth with my hand as I struggle to breathe.

  No.

  I can’t do this.

  * * * *

  “Are you ready?” Dr. Price asks, his compassionat
e gaze flicking around the room to all the people lined up along the back wall before focusing back on me. I grab Ivy’s hand and struggle to breathe as I peek over my shoulder. Chance places a hand on the small of my back and presses a kiss to my head.

  “I’ve got you, Princess,” he whispers and pain ripples through my chest as I close my eyes. I don’t know if I can do this. The past two days have been a whole new kind of hell on Aunt Dottie and me. We’ve had endless meetings with doctors and run all kinds of tests on Ivy, only to learn what we already know. There is no brain activity. It doesn’t make any sense to me. She’s here. I can reach out and touch her, feel the warmth of her skin, but in any way that really counts, she’s gone. I’ll never see that silly grin of hers or give her a hard time about showing up late again. She’s just... gone, ripped away from us way too soon.

  How will we ever fill this hole?

  Glancing up at Dr. Price, I shake my head. “I don’t think I can do this.”

  He nods, taking a step back from the bed. “Take all the time you need. It’s okay.”

  On the other side of the bed, Dottie sniffles and meets my eyes. “It’s time, Honey. She wouldn’t want us to keep her like this.”

  “There’s supposed to be so much more. She’s supposed to fall in love, get married, and have babies. We’re supposed to spend Christmases and birthdays together. She’s supposed to be here with me for so much longer. How am I supposed to do this?” I cry. Chance kneels in front of me and meets my gaze, moisture pooling in his eyes.

  “I know, baby,” he whispers, cupping my cheek. “But you know Ivy better than anyone else in this world. What would she want?”

  A sob rips out of my throat and I look over his head to my baby sister, lying in the bed. I know he’s right, but can I force the words out of my mouth? How can I give the instructions that will kill Vi?