“All in agreement?” Wily sounded off, always remembering to keep things official.
“Aye,” we all yelled in unison.
17
Crow
Everything had gone smoothly so far, and the minutes ticked by agonizingly slow. I couldn’t wait to get to Ray, but as soon as she was safe, I was making The Dogs pay. Even if it wouldn’t have been my fault that Ray was in the middle of our MC war, I would still get revenge. The pressing fact was that it was my fault, and I cared about her, so it was personal. I usually tried not to involve my feelings when it came to club shit, it made you a liability. A person’s head didn’t think clearly when emotions were thick and fogged their judgment. I tried to remind myself of all these things as Ghoul, Wily, and I sat quietly, not so patiently waiting for The Dogs to take us back to Ray.
“C’mon, fleabags. Take the money and get us back to the nurse,” Ghoul mumbled in a hushed tone, his impatience spreading as thin as mine. “That’s it,” he coaxed them as a couple of them climbed in the Corvette, no doubt to count the money.
A guy flashed a light to the driver in the unmarked van, and the side door slid open. There she was. We were too far away to make out how much they made her suffer because of us. A guy shoved the barrel of a rifle in the middle of her back and forced her out of the van, urging her to her knees.
A deep, primal growl ripped out of my mouth, and Ghoul’s arm fingertips dug into my upper arm while he held me in place. “Just a few more minutes, brother. Wait for it.”
As soon as the gun was off Ray, Diablo was the first to move, creating a distraction so we could move in for the kill. Diablo raised his gun, and one of his slugs landed in the man’s body who had the rifle. We were quick on our feet and came into the clearing before anyone else could fire another round. I wanted to grab Ray and never let her go, but now more than ever, my brothers needed me.
I ran to her side. “I have you, Ray. It’s all going to be okay,” I assured her, clutching her to my chest and drew my judge, aiming toward the driver and squeezing the trigger. Momentarily, my ears rang from the loudness of the shot, and I could feel Ray’s mouth moving against my body, but had no clue what she was trying to tell me. She lifted on her feet high enough to push her body into mine, and she went limp.
“Fuck,” I screamed, rolling over and hot tears burned my eyes. “Why did you do that you stupid girl? Ray!” I yelled, and my throat instantly suffered from the force. Bullets were zooming and blood was flying all around us, but I couldn’t move.
“Because,” her eyes finally moved, and her chest rose, “Someone has to save your ass.” A corner of her mouth pulled into a half-smirk, and I gathered her hands, pushing them against her stomach where the blood was coming from.
“I fucking love you, Ray. Always have,” I quickly declared, not certain I’d ever get another chance. I lifted her from the ground and laid her in the back of the van. It wasn’t an ideal place, but she should be safe in there.
“I know you do.” She weakly laughed, and her eyes widened in fear as she sucked in a frightened breath. “Crow. Ghoul,” was all she managed to say, but it was all I needed. I turned on my feet as fast as lighting, running, and swiftly grabbed the judge off the ground, pointing it as soon as it was in my clutches. It took a second to find Ghoul, his temple was at the end of a barrel, and I didn’t hesitate. Applying pressure with my index finger, another bullet soared through the air, and the guy’s lifeless body dropped to the ground.
The remaining two cowards took off in the Corvette, but it didn’t matter, Flash would take care of them. It was just a matter of time. He let them get a good hundred feet down the clearing and then fire lifted the car off the ground before it plummeted back down to the earth and continued to burn.
“Damn. He wasn’t kidding.” I whistled and accessed the situation. All my brothers were accounted for, which meant getting Ray to the hospital was the priority right now.
18
Ray
“Going to a party isn’t taking it easy, Ray,” Logan said gritting his teeth and running his hand through his hair, trying to remain calm, but clearly not doing a very good job. “Really, we can skip this one. Ghoul will understand.”
“Maybe, but we really need to be around other people before we kill each other.” I smiled, knowing it wasn’t him I was worried about. He was smothering me, watching my every movement, but he meant well. I couldn’t hate him for caring too much, however, it was foreign to me to have someone else care for me. Yet, it seemed the moment I arrived in Ohio, it was what everyone else was doing. Thinking back, even Dad was doing that as he laid in the hospital bed and helped me dream up my future. It didn’t matter how strong a person believed they are, they all needed help from someone else. Even when they were too stubborn to recognize it.
Epilogue
Crow
Heavy and the guys stuck around until Ray was in the clear and then planned a shindig. I helped Ray, and just like the first time she came through the doors of the clubhouse, Ghoul immediately untangled himself from Red to talk to us.
“Nurse, you’re looking good. Let me introduce you to some brothers from our other chapters.” My eyes narrowed in his direction, but we all knew Ray had not only saved my life, but she also saved Ghoul’s, too. We both had her to thank for us being alive.
“Heavy, this is...wait, what are you all talking about?” Ghoul stopped with the introductions, and we all listened to them.
“Sledge, heard you got your name from that thrill hammer between your legs. Ya know, we’re always looking for new stars in the biz, right? Drop that beaut out and let’s measure them side by side,” Heavy said before tipping the shot back and clapping Sledge on the back.
The fucker was really gonna do it. Sledge pinched his zipper and made it halfway down before Ghoul spoke up, shaking his head, “I’ve fucking seen it all. You two really are going to have a dick measuring contest. Shit.” He rubbed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “How about we bust out some liquor instead and drink in honor of my nurse. She saved not only this stubborn fucker’s life,” his left hand landed in the middle of my chest, “But my ass, too.”
Ray’s cheeks blushed, and she cleared her throat. “Ghoul, I didn’t save your ass, Crow did.”
“I might have been the one to fire the shot, but had you not told me…” My words stopped as quickly as they began, the whole subject was hard for me to talk about.
“Aye. Let’s not talk about depressing shit, this is a celebration, bitches.” Sac elbowed his way to the bar, and all of our heads turned to him.
“Fuck. Somebody take him outside and blaze one. None of us are prepared to see Sac without any weed in his system,” I warned, picking up on his unbridled hyperness.
“Not until we do a shot, then I’ll get him higher than Lady Liberty herself,” Diablo piped up, “If that’s okay with you, boss?”
“Fine by me. Fine by me,” he repeated, lifting his shot glass into the air. “To my little sister and nurse, Ray. This one is just for us.” He slid a shot to her and smiled. “The doctor is still seeing patients, thanks to you.” They flipped back the whiskey, and Ghoul pushed their glasses across the bar to Diablo for a refill. “This one is for my brothers.”
We all pushed our way through to grab our shot, knowing what was coming. “Forever Bastard, Bastard Forever,” we all proudly chanted. Some of the brothers showed their appreciation by shaking her hand while others gave her a nod of approval, but all of them made it a point to do something as they passed us. A large number of them clapped me on the back after hearing I was the one who took out the coward holding Ghoul at gunpoint, and I politely thanked them. However, if it hadn’t been for Ray, neither of us would have made it to see the next day.
I never guessed when she walked into my life this is where we would end up, especially given the tragic beginning. All stories had to start somewhere I guessed, but when you were a Bastard like me, one couldn’t predict how it would end. Hell, I st
ill didn’t know, but we were taking life one day at a time.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to everyone who has made this publication possible.
To the readers, bloggers, fellow authors, and everyone in the book community: Thank you for letting us be a part of our ever-changing world. It’s hard to accept this is our life. They never thought they would essentially be coworkers; afraid the world may implode if it happened. Thankfully, the only things being destroyed are on the pages of a book.
Harmony: Thank you so much for just being you. You may be small, but the amount of love your capable of giving us is boundless. You will eventually outgrow our arms, but never our hearts. We love you, Tinkerbell!
Eli Abbott: I’m adding this while you’re asleep, because you can’t change it if you know it’s here…until it’s too late that is. We’ve been through more than I care to think about over the past couple of months. Most of which were uncontrollable. I love you husband and literally couldn’t do any of this without you. Thank you for being a friend when I need it and the love of my life. I love you, husband.
Maria Vickers: Thank you for busting your ass to get this finished. You are so freaking amazing and we’re so thankful for you!
To my street team, Crazed Lunatics: Thank you for every share, like, word of encouragement, and for just being you. Y’all are my people and my tribe. #AreYouALunatic #CrazyAsChelle #AcaciaMalone #Eli Abbott
Letha Gene: We love you! Thank you for letting the tiny tornado stay a few nights with you all. Keep writing and fighting each day to overcome anything the world throws your way. You’re strong willed and that determination can take you just about anywhere you want it to.
Becky Hensley: Thank you so much for reading this and just plain being you. Happy late birthday, again.
3: I don’t even know where to begin or to end. I love you and someday all the promised tackle hugs between us will happen. I feel sorry for the people standing by to witness it, though. -snort laugh Imagine the shock of two grown women knocking each other down with a hug.
Sean Moriarty & Izzy Sweet: We’re so lucky to call you all family. We’re always here for you all, just call us…or drive here. Doesn’t matter to us. Love you, guys.
To the participating authors of The Royal Bastards MC: Thank you for welcoming us into the family and being there when we needed someone. You all are phenomenal writers and we’re going to rock this!
About the Author
Thank you for reading! Chelle and Eli is a dynamic husband and wife duo native to West Virginia. Their biggest inspiration and blessing will always be their daughter.
More books by Chelle C. Craze & Eli Abbott are coming soon. Don’t worry!
Chelle also writes paranormal under her pen name Acacia Malone.
Visit her website, www.ChelleCCraze.com, or find them on social media.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorChelleCCraze
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorEliAbbott
Facebook for Paranormal and Paranormal Romance:
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAcaciaMalone
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7111512.Chelle_C_Craze
Wattpad:
https://www.wattpad.com/user/CrazyAsChelle
Other Books by Chelle C. Craze:
Just Breathe Book One of The Blue Series
Waiting to Breathe Book Two of The Blue Series
Chaos Book One of The Blackwell Bayou Series
Proof Book Two of The Blackwell Bayou Series
Kamikaze Heart Book One of Cupid’s Aim & Book 2.5 of The Blackwell Bayou Series
Dahlia Book Five of The ScentSations Empire
Plush Book One of the Life and Death Saga by Acacia Malone
Scars of My Brother CRMC Boon One by Chelle C. Craze & Eli Abbott
Hard Rime A Forever Safe Christmas Book 3 & Dogs of Chaos MC Book One
Bad Like Me: Royal Bastards MC Ohio Chapter Page 9
