Ransom: Dead Ringers MC Book 2

by Deja Voss

  I go looking for Anita, but she’s nowhere to be found. I ask Gwen at the bar, but she just shrugs. “Haven’t seen her in a few hours. I’m sure this is pretty fucking overwhelming for her. Maybe she went to lay down somewhere?”

  I shrug it off, and notice Romeo is missing, too. Maybe they went to lay down somewhere together. The thought brings a smile to my face. The two of them spent their whole lives trying to make love where there wasn’t any, give love where it wasn’t going to be returned, and now maybe they can finally find it in each other. Annabella sure is turning me into a sappy motherfucker.

  I take one last look at Stoney’s urn before I walk out the door into the night, wishing she was here with me to enjoy the satisfaction of knowing this is all officially over. He’s a box of rocks. He’s never going to hurt anybody again. It’s time for us to become the things we only dreamt of in the past.

  40

  Annabella:

  Juniper and I haven’t moved from the bed since Ransom left. Part of me wishes I could’ve just gone with him to Stoney’s funeral, but I know there’s still some brothers who haven’t completely accepted our situation yet, and it felt really selfish of me to wedge myself into their day of grief. Ransom said it would be fine a million times over, but he loves me too much to know any better.

  He’s so incredible, albeit a little naive. I flip through the channels on the TV and sip my tea, trying to keep my mind off the fact that I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of drinking and club sluts at the memorial service. I know he’s not like that, and I know Anita and Pearl will be there to keep him on the straight and narrow, but I can’t control what these women do or say. Not bringing me with him is like having a neon arrow over his head saying “Open for Business.”

  I hear the rumble of a motorcycle in the driveway, and my ears perk up. I figured I had a solid hour or two before he returned, and I wanted to surprise him with a nice dinner, some sexy lingerie, and a back massage.

  I guess two out of three ain’t bad, I think to myself as I hop out of bed and go to the drawer, pulling out a black lace teddy and matching thong. I step out of my sweatpants and get dressed, pulling my hair down from the sloppy bun on top of my head. I grab my satin robe from the hook and slide it on, fluff the comforter over the bed, and turn off the TV. I sit at the edge of the bed, my legs crossed, my heart racing, ready to take whatever he needs to give me after a sad day like today.

  I hear the front door swing open, and the sound of heavy boots on the hardwood floor, but something doesn’t sound right. Juniper must feel the same because she jumps up from the bed, her fur standing on end, and begins growling and showing her teeth.

  I reach for the pistol in the nightstand and tiptoe to the bedroom door.

  Whoever is out there is smashing things up. I cringe as I hear the sound of breaking glass hitting the floor.

  Juniper goes to charge, but I grab her by the collar, pulling her in the room with me. Whoever is doing this knows Ransom isn’t home. I wonder if they know I’m here, though. There’s no reason why they would unless they were at the funeral. I pull the door shut as slowly as I possibly can, hoping the sound of breaking stuff drowns out the sound of it closing. I hit the lock and stand behind it with my ear pressed against it, my heart beating so hard the pounding is all I can hear.

  Juniper’s growls are almost inaudible but her teeth look like fangs and her eyes are screaming murder. I’ve never seen her this worked up before.

  I look over at the tiny windows in the bedroom, knowing there’s no way in hell I’m fitting through those holes and cursing Ransom under my breath for liking the room completely black when he sleeps. If I live through this, we’re investing in some new windows and some blackout curtains because this is seriously unsafe.

  “I know you’re in here you dumb bitch,” a man’s voice growls, “and it’s time for you to go back where you belong. Come out right now or you’re gonna regret it.”

  My blood runs cold. The voice is familiar but strange at the same time. If I didn’t know any better I would’ve thought it was Stoney himself back from the dead. His footsteps are heavy in the hallway and the sound of his fist echoing off the doors as he punches them only heightens my anxiety.

  “You have a gun. You have a dog. You have the upper hand,” I whisper to myself. “Oh mama, what the hell did I get myself into?”

  As he grows nearer I realize it could only be one person… Driller’s dad. Old Nasty. I really thought things had been smoothed over, at least, that’s what Driller and Pearl were letting on, but it would only make sense he knew what Stoney was up to. They were blood brothers, after all, and even though Nasty is a man of few words, I know in the limited amount of time I spent around him, he’s always watching, absorbing, observing everything going on around him.

  He knocks on the door almost politely, as if he realizes his screaming isn’t going to do anything to lure me out of hiding. “Quit playing games, Annabella. I know you’re in there,” he says, his voice almost soft and fatherly. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Why do I have the feeling you plan on doing more than talking?” I shout back. “I heard you out there smashing up the place. I’m not stupid.”

  There’s a loud bang and the door splinters instantly. The bullet whizzes past me so close, I’m surprised it didn’t shave an inch out of my thigh. I fall to the floor and scream.

  “Stupid enough to stand in front of the door,” he says with a maniacal laugh, only his eyeball visible through the hole he shot through the door. Juniper is going absolutely insane, the kind of growl coming from her throat more horrifying than this mad man laughing as he punches through the splintered wood and reaches inside to unlock the door.

  I grab my pistol and point it directly at his head as soon as he sets foot inside.

  “We don’t have to do this, Nasty,” I say in the calmest voice I can fathom. Juniper stands in front of me, ready to attack as I stroke my fingers through her fur with my spare hand. “I don’t want anybody else to die. I just want peace. It’s all I wanted this whole time.”

  “I’m not gonna kill you, Annabella. You’re worth much more alive. Stoney and I have been trying to get back in with the Diamonds for years now. Your crazy ass is our golden ticket.”

  He takes a step closer and Juniper snarls and bites him in the shin. He kicks her across the room and it takes everything in me not to just end his ass right here. I’ve already taken Pearl’s father from her, Kid’s father from him, I don’t want to have to kill Driller’s dad, too. I don’t want to be a murderer anymore.

  “Annabella!” a man’s voice shouts from the living room. “Where you at, girlie? You alright?”

  Before I can even move, before I can even pull the trigger, before I can even think, Old Nasty turns away from me and the sound of gunfire fills the air as he starts shooting down the hallway.

  “Romeo!” I shout. “Don’t come back here! It’s alright! We’re alright!”

  Old Nasty’s body falls backwards, and when he lands directly on top of me, the barrel of his gun jams straight into my skull.

  Everything goes black.

  41

  Annabella:

  I try to blink my eyes open, but the lights are so bright, it feels like they’re burning through my skull. Is this it? I’m I finally going home to be with my mother forever?

  I peel my lips open and my mouth feels so dry, like it’s full of sand.

  “Hurts,” I grumble, the only word I can actually figure out how to say. “Hurts.”

  “Awe baby, you just gotta hit the button,” a woman’s voice says. I feel a cool hand on my cheek, and breathe a sigh of relief when the smell of Anita’s perfume hits my nose. “Here. I’ll do it for ya.”

  I blink my eyes open, and realize I’m in a hospital bed with an IV jammed into my arm. “What happened?” I ask.

  Anita smiles as she fidgets with my blanket, tucking it in around my feet. “We’re still not a hundred percent sure, love. It looks like you got
a concussion, but we’re gonna keep you here overnight to make sure it’s nothing worse.”

  I will myself to sit up in the bed, but it feels like I’m being hit over the head with a brick as soon as I move. “You’re gonna have to push that button again for me, Anita,” I say with a laugh.

  I wrack my brain trying to remember what brought me here. One minute I was at the house alone with Juniper… and the next…

  “Where’s Romeo?” This time I manage to push myself up, panic instantly hitting me when I realize he was the last voice I heard before I was knocked out.

  “Relax, sweetie. He’s just down the hallway. He’s got a little more banged up than you did, but he’s gonna make a full recovery as long as he does what he’s supposed to do.”

  “You’re gonna make sure of it, right?” I ask, trying to smile.

  She raises her eyebrows. “Next time you’ll think twice about skipping family functions, I bet,” she says with a laugh. “Look what happens.”

  “How did you know I needed help?” I ask, the events of the night suddenly washing over me. I’m not sure what would’ve happened if I had been left alone with Old Nasty much longer.

  “We didn’t. We came to get you and bring you to the clubhouse to be with Ransom. He needed help. He’s like a lost puppy dog without you. Just didn’t feel right not having you there.”

  “Old Nasty told me he was going to sell my back to the Diamonds,” I say, pressing my fingers into my temples, remembering all the things he said to me before he got shot. “He knew this whole time. He was in on it.”

  “Well, he’s gone, sweetie. He’s dead and so is that part of your life. Nobody’s taking you away from us again. I’m sorry to say, you’re stuck here.”

  My face feels wet with the cold rush of tears pouring from my eyes. Anita laughs and grabs a tissue, dabbing at my face.

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I’m not crying cuz I’m stuck here. I’m crying because of how many people had to lose their lives because of me. I should’ve just stayed where I belonged and kept my nose out of your business.”

  “Now you’re just being ridiculous,” she says. “I’m gonna blame it on the morphine for now, but I better never hear that nonsense out of your mouth again. You know damn straight how many people you saved just by showing up here. You gave us all a new lease on life, little girl.”

  “I miss Ransom,” I confess. It feels like we’ve been apart for forever. I know I don’t ever want to spend another day without him.

  “He’s been here this whole time. I sent him out to go grab some coffee. I’m sure he’ll be back here any minute now.”

  “Thank you, Anita. For everything. I know my mom would’ve been very thankful for you.”

  “I have to go do my rounds,” she says, planting a kiss on my forehead. “You hit the buzzer if you need anything.”

  “I have one more question before you go. Did everybody see me in my… uhhh…”

  “Thong? Heavens no, baby. I made sure to dress you before they threw ya in the ambulance.” I blush and she just shakes her head and laughs. “That Ransom is a lucky man, not gonna lie.”

  “Speak of the devil,” I say as soon as he rounds the doorway. His eyes are dark and sunken in like he needs a week of sleep, but he looks gorgeous as ever with his five o’clock shadow and as soon as he sees me awake he smiles from ear to ear.

  “How you feeling?” he asks, rushing over to my bedside and sitting down next to me.

  “Keep it in your pants, son,” Anita says as she walks out the door. “Otherwise I’m gonna have to give you the boot.”

  I take his hand in mine and rest my head on his shoulder.

  “It’s over, Ransom,” I say. “It’s finally over.”

  He curls up next to me in the bed and takes my hand and puts it to his lips, kissing my fingers. “It’s nowhere near over, Annabella. It’s only just the beginning.”

  Epilogue

  Epilogue:

  Annabella:

  I walk Ashley through the stables and she coos at the horses, stopping in front of Sebastian, stroking her fingers through his mane as he whinnies in appreciation. She feeds him a sugar cube and squeals in delight.

  “He’s super sweet,” I say. “And he loves the ladies.”

  “Kinda like this old guy?” Ransom pushes Romeo in his wheelchair through the stalls. Ashley stops what she’s doing and fixes the blanket draped over her dad’s lap. He pretends like he doesn’t like the extra attention, but we all know he secretly loves it. Even though he’s still got a long way to go before he’s fully recovered, it’s obvious his spirits are high. I’m not sure if it’s because his oldest daughter moved in with him to oversee his recovery or because Anita has him over for dinner every night, but I’m thankful that something good came from all the chaos.

  “We have three more coming in this weekend,” I say to Ashley as we walk through the empty stables. “It’s gonna be a lot of work.”

  “Well, I’m just thankful you’re letting me be a part of all this. I’ve always wanted to work with horses.”

  “Me too.” Growing up, there was a lot of things I didn’t think were real. True love, for example, and yet here I am spending every day of my life with a man who makes me feel like my life is a fairy tale.

  Or my ability to be anything at all other than a burden on society, hiding from my own shadow, and yet now I’m free to go wherever I want and do whatever I want. I have a real live social security card, and I’m working on a driver’s license, too. I even breezed through my GED with flying colors. I am finally a ‘real’ person.

  Or horses.

  To think they once were only a figment of my imagination, a creature that only existed on paper, my only glimmer of magic in a childhood full of terror. Now, with the help of the club, I get to spend every day saving these animals that once saved me.

  My nonprofit organization is just getting legs, but the plan is to use this facility as a place for people like me to heal, a place where people who haven’t quite found their place in life to feel a little purpose and earn a paycheck by working with Ashley and I in the stables.

  There’s no kind of freedom in my opinion like riding through the trails in the forest on the back of one of these beauties. Ransom is coming around to horseback riding, too, but he prefers the motorcycle. He says it’s more predictable. I guess after the year we’ve had, predictable is good. A little steadiness is something we both can appreciate.

  “Hello,” Pearl’s voice fills the air. She tiptoes her way through the barn over to us. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything! I just wanted to bring Colton by to say hello.”

  “Come on in,” I say, grabbing my nephew from her arms and spinning him in the air until he squeals with delight. I smatter his face in kisses, rocking him in my arms. “Oh my gosh, he’s so precious.”

  “You like his outfit?” Pearl asks. He’s got on a little pair of jeans and cowboy boots and a matching leather jacket. “Uncle Ransom sure knows how to spoil a kid.”

  “He looks like a baby bad ass,” Ransom says, grabbing him from me. “All the girls are gonna be fighting over him in daycare.”

  Pearl, Ashley, and I crack up. It’s sweet how much he dotes on his nephew. It makes me excited for the future we have together. I can’t wait to mother his children one day. Seeing him with that baby damn near makes my ovaries explode. I think he knows exactly what he’s doing to me just by the way he shoots me that sexy wink and licks his lips.

  “It’s freezing out here,” I shiver and grab Ransom by the hand. He hands the baby back and wraps his arm around my waist. I feel this overwhelming joy just knowing how much love is in this room. Not only the love Ransom and I have for each other, but the love of truly feeling like I’m part of a family. I wish my mom was still around so she could enjoy this, too. I know it would make her so happy seeing me thrive. “Anita’s bringing dinner over. I hope you guys will stay. She always overdoes it.”

  “Don’t threaten me with a good tim
e,” Pearl, says with a huge smile.

  We walk through the field in the backyard, Juniper running circles around us as she wags her whole body feverishly with joy. If I could do the same thing and not look completely ridiculous, I would, too. I know it’s silly, but just the sight of the smoke coming from our chimney, the lights shining through the windows, and the sound of laughter amongst my closest friends makes me feel like I could die right here and now and have lived the most complete life.

  I obviously don’t want to die. Finally, I feel like there’s still so much more for me in this world, and I want to experience it all. There is life beyond revenge and jealousy. There is no more room for hate in my heart. I am finally free.

  The sound of Anita’s tires rolling up the driveway makes my stomach growl. That woman can cook, and ever since things have started getting back to normal, she’s insisted on bringing Sunday supper to our house every week.

  Ransom and I rush over to her van to help her unload. We both stop in our tracks when we see who’s in the passenger side.

  Kid throws open the door and runs over to me as I look up at Ransom in shock. I don’t know how to feel. This man has given me so much, but standing face to face with him right now, I feel like I’m seeing a ghost, a stranger - my emotions are completely mixed up.

  Ransom makes the first move, throwing his arms around him. “What the fuck, brother? You got out and didn’t tell anybody?”

  “It’s fucking weird, Ran. I thought I was gonna get out and just want to go balls to the walls, but I just needed a minute to decompress. Mom finally got sick of my sorry ass moping around the house, though.” He turns his gaze over to me, and instantly everything I remember about Kid comes rushing over me. How kind and caring he was. How he always made sure me and my mom always had everything we needed. How he finally gave me a scrap of hope when I thought for sure I was going to die in captivity. How he never asked for anything in return.