Saving Ayden

by Muriel Garcia

“I’m very much alive you motherfucker.” I grab him by the throat and punch his jaw hard. He spits out blood and tries to back away from me.

  “Fucking Angel! Fucking useless piece of shit.”

  “I see it runs in the family.” I kick him in the ribs with my foot, following with a couple of blows to the face, not giving him any time to catch a breath. “See you messed with the wrong person. You tried to take Ayden from me but it’s backfiring on you. You should have disappeared for good when you had the chance. You really had no clue who you were going up against when you took one of ours.” Another blow to the nose and I can feel the bone crack. He screams in agony. Good it’s still not enough pain for what he was about to do to Ayden.

  I take my gun from the back of my jeans and aim it at his head.

  “Ant! Stop!” Ayden yells coming into the room.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me Ayd. You don’t want me to kill this asshole?” I say through gritted teeth, trying to contain my anger.

  “Please.” She begs softly, pressing her to my side and lowering the arm holding the gun. “For me.” She whispers taking the gun from my hand.

  “That’s right! She knows who she belongs to!” Michael smirks.

  “Oh you shut up you sorry piece of shit. You’re a disgrace to any man out there. How can you even think I ever loved you or would ever defend you against anyone after all the fucked up shit you’ve put me through, huh?” She punches him in the nose, not as hard as me, but it still makes him cry out in pain. Aleck and Gabe grab him and handcuff him to a chair.

  I can’t believe she didn’t let me kill him and end this once and for all.

  He was about to rape her yet she’s saving his life. It’s taking a lot of willpower not to snap and just take back the gun and end this sorry piece of shit’s life.

  He doesn’t deserve to be alive after what he was about to do. I’m glad we got there in time before anything else happened, at least physically. I don’t know how she’s going to feel emotionally, that’s what I’m dreading the most.

  Chapter 29

  Ayden

  “Why are you doing this Ayden, don’t you remember how beautiful our first time was.” He says… lovingly?

  “You fucking raped me you sick bastard!” I yell at him.

  “Wait, he’s the guy who fucking took you six years ago?” Ant bellows behind me.

  “Yes. He’s the one who made me run away from all I had just because he’s fucked up in the head!” I say through clenched teeth.

  “But I loved you, I still love you. How can you not see how perfect we fit together, what we have is beautiful? That week we spent together was the best week I’ve ever had.”

  “You had me locked up in a room. I couldn’t get out of it and you blindfolded me so I couldn’t see you. You were touching me and abusing me every single day, more than once each day too. You took my innocence away. I couldn’t stand being with strangers or meeting new people. Hell, I was scared to be around my family and friends, all of that because of your fucked up threats. How in the hell do you want me to fucking feel the same way about you!” I’m screaming at him, tears streaming down my face.

  “I fell in love with you after our first time together. I needed to have you but I was willing to give you some time and to be patient with you—and I was. I didn’t make any contact with you until you started working at Copeland Inc. You can’t deny what we have wasn’t great when you started to work there. We were a perfect fit. I was just taking back what was mine. I did give you some time to realize it on your own how we were made for each other, but you needed a little push.” He’s starting to get agitated.

  “I’ve never been yours and I never will be!” I’m getting exasperated and seriously disturbed by how fucked up he is.

  “This is fucked up. Why would you do that to her? Why take her away again? You were about to fucking rape her again, you sick fuck!” Gabe growls.

  “I was going to make love to her not rape her, I’ve never raped her! I know she wanted it all those times before and she’s never moved on or been intimate with anyone else after me for a reason. She only wants me!” He shouts.

  “You think? You make me sick Michael. But you know what? There’s one thing that you got all wrong. I just couldn’t get with anyone because I was too scared I’d end up with another sick fuck like you. The thing is—it wasn’t because of you that I never moved on, it was because the only one I ever wanted to be with wasn’t around. That’s the reason why I came back here. I missed my family and friends but I missed the shit out of Ant. I always loved him and always will. Want to know something? Last night we made love and it was fucking beautiful—fireworks and all that jazz. I’ve never felt better or happier than when we were making love. Get that in you sick and twisted mind!” I finish breathless.

  I notice both Aleck and Gabe have their arms crossed and are trying not to smile and I hear Anthony clear his throat. I turn around and see him smirking at me, causing me to roll my eyes and mentally kick myself. “Always have and always will love me, huh?” He’s quite proud of himself and I just want to smack the smirk off of his beautiful face.

  “Oh fuck off, Ant!” I say shaking my head and turn back to Michael.

  “You deserved every single thing that happened to you, you fucking slut!” He growls, doing a complete three-sixty with his behavior.

  “Don’t you even-” Anthony started, but I quickly cut him off.

  “No, he won’t dare, because I’m going to do the talking. I need answers and you’re going to give them to me, like it or not.” I say pointing the gun at Michael.

  “Go on shoot me, you fucking slut!” He shouts.

  “Not yet, but it will happen don’t worry.” I smirk and step in front of Anthony—he’s boiling with rage.

  “You know what? I don’t care if I die today. I’ll die knowing I’ve broken you for good. That’s good enough for me.” He smirks and I go over to him and hit him on the side of his face with the gun.

  “You don’t fucking listen now do you? What did I just say? Ant and I making love last night, being happy, and all that? What I do want to know is why you would go and do such a vile thing? What did I ever do to you for you to hate me so much that you’ve had to do this to me? Why frame my dad and have him sent to prison?” I ask him trying to keep my composure and not give him the pleasure to see me crumble. He chuckles and shakes his head.

  “You really are clueless about everything, Princess. Let me clue you in on something. Your dad and your friends here? They are not good men. They are fucking filthy and murderers. I don't get how you can be around them knowing all the wrong they did!” He spits those words, hitting a nerve with them but I try not to let it show.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” I ask him totally confused.

  “They fucking killed my Dad!” He roars, pulling on the handcuffs. Everyone looks at him totally confused.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Anthony growls.

  “Twenty-five years ago, my Dad was killed by your stupid MC!” He spits out the last word.

  “And what the fuck does that have to do with me?” I look at him confused.

  “EVERYTHING!” He yells. “But since you’re too stupid to understand let me tell you what happened, Pretty Girl. Twenty-five years ago, your little friend’s MC ran my Dad off the road and then they finished him with their guns. I was left on my own, I wanted revenge on the MC and since you were always hanging out with them, it was good enough for me to take you away from them. I watched you for a while before taking you. You were so full of life and beautiful. You were perfect. Then you had to ruin everything and leave me on my fucking own again. You stupid bitch! But I kept an eye on you, for all those years you were in New York, I was either watching you or had someone in New York keeping an eye on you and sending me footage and pictures. It was quite nice to have all those videos of you showering and changing. I couldn’t touch you but seeing your soft, milky skin was pure heaven.” He sighs ha
ppily, lost in his thoughts. I think I’m going to be sick. The more I know the less I want to hear but he’s not done.

  “I thought framing your Dad and getting him locked up would be a good revenge on the club and also bring you home faster. It didn’t but in the end I got what I wanted. Your Dad was out of the picture, the club was crumbling down, and you were coming back so it was all positive for me.” He chuckles. “I did manage to get you to go out with me and date me for a couple of weeks and then this fucking asshole,” he glares at Ant, “had to ruin it all for us and stop what we had going on. What really ticked me off is the fact that you betrayed me and went behind my back. You went into my office and snooped around to get the fucking papers proving your Dad was innocent. Stupid move on your end Pretty Girl, see in what kind of mess you put yourself?” He shakes his head. “Oh and want to know about your other biker friend? The one who’s been babysitting you so much? He endured the same dark end as my Dad did, all thanks to me. You should have had the same end but looks like Angel chickened out, the fucking slut.” He glares at Ant.

  “What does Angel have to do with all of this?” Ant asks confused, he’s the only one who hasn’t seen her yet.

  “Aw you’re the only one not knowing but I’ll bring you up to speed. See when you ditched her at the restaurant when you kicked me to the curb in front of my woman, I took it upon myself to side with her. Clearly we wanted the same thing, to keep you two separated. We knew it would take some time but we would get there. See, when I escaped, I went to Angel. She and I had fucked a couple of times and I thought it would be a safe place to hide as no one knew I’d been around her and the cops wouldn’t think of going to check her place. Then she told me about that friend of her she has in the Bastards from Hell, lovely men really. They kept us informed on when you would be out of town and for long enough for us to move. And when we knew you would be away for the day and that it would take you a couple of hours to go back to her house, we figured it would be the perfect opportunity and voila. Unfortunately, looks like Angel wasn’t lucky and got shot by one of your two minions.” He shrugs, heartless.

  “You are one sick fuck you know that? But you and her both deserve what was coming your way.” Ant growls.

  “Whatever you say Ant.” He spits his name and then looks at me. “I do forgive you for going through my things in my office and trying to make me pay for your father’s stupidity. I get it—we do crazy things out of love.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I scoff. He’s unbelievable.

  “You will never be able to be happy again! The nightmares you have, they will haunt you forever and no matter what, it will never get better!” Michael screams.

  “I have no idea in what kind of world you live in Michael but I feel sorry for you. To go as low as kidnapping and raping a girl just because your Dad was probably involved in some kind of bad business with my Dad’s MC, you must really be messed up. It’s really, really sad.” I say.

  “You have no fucking clue of what you’re talking about!” He roars.

  At this point, I don’t give a fuck about what he says, I know what happened and why. I got the answers to the questions I had. “All I know Michael, is that what you wanted to have, the fantasy life you created for yourself is ending now. And mine? My happily ever after starts now.” I smirk and turn to Anthony, grab him by the collar and kiss him, softly for a couple of seconds, but then he takes over, and let me tell you—The man can kiss! In this fucked up moment with what could have happened, I’m forgetting all about the darkness and enjoying this kiss with the man I’ve always loved.

  He cups the back of my head gently, holding me in place, licking my lips. Instantly I open my mouth and let our tongues dance together. Enjoying the feeling of finally kissing him openly. He slowly caresses down my back and holds me to him, kissing me even more deeply, caressing each other’s tongue. We slowly stop the kiss, both staying with our lips together, enjoying this peaceful moment.

  “Don’t fucking touch her! SHE’S MINE!” We hear Michael yell behind us.

  I turn around and point the gun at Michael’s head. “See Michael, you’ve got it all wrong—I’m not yours, I never was yours, and I never would have been yours. You are and were nothing to me, ever. Goodbye Michael.” I empty the clip into him and keep pulling the trigger as tears roll down my cheeks watching him go limp in the chair. Anthony holds me as my legs give out and I fall to the ground.

  “Shh, it’s okay Sweet Cheeks. It’s over now.” Anthony says softly in my ear, kissing my head. “It’s all going to be okay now.” He keeps his hold on me and lifts me up in his arms as if I weighed nothing and carries me outside. He keeps holding me and stroking my back trying to sooth me. “Look at me Sweet Cheeks,” he says softly and I look up at him, “you’re going to be okay. It’s over now. I know it doesn’t erase what he did to you but you now know that he won’t ever be able to hurt you anymore.” He says softly stroking my cheek with his knuckles.

  “I’m damaged Ant. Even with him dead, it’ll always haunt me.” I say, looking into his eyes.

  “True, but it’s my job now to make sure you forget about it and live a happy life. You know—get married, have kids, maybe a dog or a cat whichever you prefer.” He starts seriously and ends with a smile on his face.

  “Smartass!” I punch him in the stomach gently and smile, but it fades quickly. “I killed a man.” I whisper looking at him distressed.

  “No, you killed a fucking asshole who robbed you from your happiness and the most precious thing you had. Do not ever feel guilty about what just happened. I’ll make sure to remind you daily if need be but trust me, I will never let you cry another tear because of that asshole;” He says squeezing the back of my neck gently and I just nod.

  Seriously what do you want me to say in this case? Anthony is not innocent, far from it—he’s done bad things. I don’t know if he ever had the choice to do them or if it was always his decision, but what I do know is that he would do anything he could to protect me and make sure I’m safe. And while it might be fucked up, I really, really like it. Knowing that no matter what, he’s always there for me is probably one of the best feelings ever.

  “Alright I’ll try not to cry anymore because of him. I don’t know if it will work but I know I have you to help me through everything.” I can’t help but hug him and wince as I put some pressure on my left leg.

  “Are you hurt?” He holds me at arm’s length and looks me up and down.

  “My left knee, Angel whacked my knee with something when she opened the trunk of his car when I tried to kick her.” I lean back on him for support.

  “That’s my girl.” He whispers in my hair. “Come on let’s get you to the hospital.” He helps me into Gabe’s truck.

  “Uh, what are we going to tell them? And what are we going to do about the bodies?” I nibble my lip worried of all the questions they might ask.

  “That you got into a fight, don’t worry about it Sweet Cheeks. The guys will take care of the bodies.” He kisses my head and gets in the driver’s seat. He was about to start the engine when I stop him.

  “I want to see them burry the bodies.” I say voice strong.

  “Sweet Cheeks, I’m not sure it’s a good idea.” He says softly.

  “It might not be a good idea but I need it. I need to put all of this behind me. They might be dead but seeing them get buried is the final piece I need to wrap up this fucked up chapter of my life.”

  “Alright.” He sighs, clearly not happy but as always wanting to give me what I need and what I’m asking for.

  He helps me out of the truck again and carries me to where they are in the woods.

  “I told her it was a bad idea but she needs to see them get buried.” Ant announces clearly not happy.

  “I agree with Ant, Little One. It’s not a good idea.” Gabe pipes in.

  “Yeah, I figured you might agree with him, as always.” I glare at him. “Look I need this to close this chapter of my life as I
just said to Ant and he forgot to mention it. It might haunt me for a while but I need this. Please.” I whisper.

  “Fuck Ayd.” Gabe sighs as frustrated as Ant. “You start to cry or are about to get sick I’m dragging you to the truck myself.” He glares at me and they start digging.

  Through the whole process, Ant holds me close to his body as I watch Angel and Michael’s lifeless bodies go into the ground. As horrible as it may sound, I feel nothing. Seeing them lying there dead, I don’t feel a thing. No remorse, no pain, no regrets, nothing… besides knowing that these two won’t be able to mess with mine and Ant and life anymore. Sure I will be haunted by what happened but it will get better, I know it.

  As I watch Aleck and Gabe put the bodies in the ground, I think back on all that happened in the past couple of weeks. Things went from steady and boring when I first moved back to completely fucked up and chaotic. Life isn’t always easy but you’ve got to make the best of what you’ve got. And what I’ve got is priceless. I have my family and extended family back together, my friends, my loved ones and most importantly, I have Anthony back in my life.

  I lace my fingers with Ant’s and squeeze his hand, my eyes fixed on Aleck and Gabe finishing their task of making sure you can’t see where the bodies are buried. Ant squeezes my hand back and takes me in his arms, carrying me back to the truck. We stay silent. It’s as hard for him as it is for me, but somehow, I feel at peace with this part of my life being over.

  Chapter 30

  Anthony

  The drive to the hospital is short and I don’t have time to think about what just happened. I need to keep my shit together in front of Ayden, but fuck that was a fucking circus back there. He is, well was, a fucking psycho. Stalking her all those years and taking her away, thinking he was in love with her was already fucked up, but knowing he was watching her when she was showering and what not is another kind of all wrong. And getting Angel involved? Fuck me, I did not expect that. What really threw me off was Ayden needing to see the guys bury the bodies. Not sure how she’s going to cope with that.