Broken Wings

by Sweet, Izzy

  “Not a one. Jude and Allie took care of most of them,” I say.

  “I want the thumbs of all the men there,” he demands, “and any information your wife may have.”

  “The thumbs?” I ask.

  “Yes,” he says and hangs up on me.

  Fucking prick.

  “Whitey,” I say and look to the man. “Get the brothers out here. We got somethin’ to do.”

  Nodding his head, Whitey says, “Anything else?”

  “Yeah,” I say before I mutter, “We gotta get the thumbs off all the dead guys.”

  * * *

  Standing still and watching everything going on around her, Allie lets me wrap my arms around her small, shaking frame. She’s comin’ down from all the adrenaline that was pumpin’ through her body.

  “Will Robert be okay?” Allie asks, her voice rough and scratchy.

  “Yeah, I’ve got Graveyard with them to make sure of that,” I say as I watch a veterinary emergency van pull away from the house.

  “Thank you, Coy,” Allie whispers, burying her face in my chest. “I don’t want to lose him, too.”

  “I know, baby,” I say, even if it’s not exactly clear to me who exactly the fuck he is.

  “Allie, we’re gonna have a talk when we get home, and you’re gonna tell me every single fucking detail,” I say and lift her chin up so that she’s forced to look me in the eyes. “I mean it, no more lies or holding shit back. We just killed a Russian Bratva guy, shit’s about to get bad if we don’t know everything.”

  “Everything, Coy, I promise,” she says and then looks to where the Poster and Grem have dragged Mikhail’s naked body out into the yard. “What are you going to do to him?”

  “Do you want to watch?” I ask her.

  “What are you going to do?” she asks again.

  “Royal Bastards justice,” I say and point to the bikes surrounding him. “We’re gonna send a message by shipping his ass back to his home in pieces.”

  We’re going to fucking kill this pile of human fucking waste. The motherfucker who tried to take my Allie from me again.

  My heart is fucking slamming in my chest. I know that we aren’t in the clear yet with that big storm cloud that’s still hanging over her head. We’ve got a long road ahead of us, but from now on it will be together.

  Still, I don’t have that fucking sense of justice yet. I don’t feel like Mikhail’s death will give me back the five fucking years that got ripped out of my life. I want this motherfucker to feel every single minute I had to live through.

  But I can’t do that.

  I just don’t have the time even if I wanted to torture this motherfucker for days on end. The longer he’s alive, the more danger he puts us in.

  Allie squeezes me tightly and brings my focus back to the now and present. Hugging her tightly to me, I kiss her head.

  Fuck. I wouldn’t have survived if she had died. I’m not sure how I could raise Levi alone. That right there fucking terrifies me more anything. He’s my son and if he lost his mom…

  Would he turn into a shell like I did?

  Fuck.

  “They bring some chain?” I shout to Whitey as he starts moving his bike up close to Mikhail’s body.

  “Yup,” he says and backs the bike up until his back tire is right by one of Mikhail’s arms.

  Nodding my head, I say to Allie, “This is going to be ugly.”

  “I need to watch. I can’t feel safe until I know he’s dead,” she says.

  I know she means that, but fuck. This shit ain’t gonna be fuckin’ pretty. It’s gonna be gory as fuck, and with the way Poster is already getting the body ready for it, the sounds alone are fucking nasty.

  Mikhail’s got a gag in his mouth to keep the moaning and crying down.

  After I crammed the crowbar Allie was using as far as I could up his ass, he wouldn’t quit screaming.

  But fuck him, now he really knows how it feels to be fucking violated.

  That was something Allie didn’t watch though, and I was good with that. But I still made sure that when I shoved it up Mikhail’s ass, I twisted it as much as I could.

  Fucker raped a woman. My fucking woman. I swear, while he’s burning in hell, he’ll fucking fear the day I get sent down there.

  “You want me to cut all the way to the bone, boss man?” Poster asks as he cuts into the four major limbs of Mikhail’s body.

  “Nah,” I say and walk over to take a look at what he’s doing. “Just cram some bolts in there somewhere and we’ll attach the chain to it.”

  My bike is already positioned and so is Grem’s and Poster’s. All we need now is the chains attached to the trailer hitches. I used to think the guys who had hitches on their bikes were goofy as fuck. Now I’m glad I installed one myself a while back.

  Shit’s real fuckin’ useful.

  “Should be about done then,” Poster says as he stands up from the ground and heads over to the bike he’s going to be using.

  Once all the chains are attached to the bikes, it’s finally fucking go time.

  I can feel my body practically floating to the seat as I throw a leg over it.

  “Remember guys,” Whitey calls out. “Don’t gun it. We do that and we’ll just pull the joints out and shit. Last time I did this, it took forever to get it right.”

  Nodding my head, I say, “Let’s go!”

  I rev the bike just enough to start moving forward and keep both my feet on the ground.

  Don’t want to fuck this shit up and throw us all out of whack.

  I hear a wailing sound coming from behind me and start feeling my bike pulling against the tension in the chain.

  “Ready?” Whitey shouts over the thrum of our bikes.

  “Do it!” I shout and we all move forward as one.

  As my bike pulls the chain, I look into the mirror and see that the body is ripping apart like a fucking doll.

  His arms and legs are pulled off his torso like a fucking sick science experiment.

  Glancing back when the chain loosens, I see a leg flopping behind me like something out of a horror movie as I speed up a little.

  Fuck, that’s the coolest shit I’ve ever seen.

  Turning back, I drive over what’s left of his fucking body until the blood stops flowing.

  All of us did it right. We didn’t split his body down the middle, we didn’t have enough traction on the bikes to make that happen, but dead is dead, I guess.

  And that little bitch is dead.

  I’m bettin’ he’s already on his way to hell too, screamin’ the entire way. Good fucking riddance to the world. Fucker deserved to die like he did, a little fucking bitch.

  Whitey comes over to me after removing the eyes from Mikhail’s head and asks, “We sending these back with the body?”

  “Nah, put ‘em in formaldehyde. I want ‘em in a jar in my office,” I say with a big ass grin.

  Looking at Allie, I spot the sexiest little evil grin I’ve ever seen on her, and it instantly makes my cock twitch.

  Fuck, she’s hot when she’s getting revenge.

  Fucking love that chick with all my damn heart.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Allie

  Coy holds me and keeps me close, some part of him always touching me now that everything has been dealt with. Occasionally, he barks out orders over my head to his brothers when it’s needed, but it’s not needed very often.

  And from how efficient the guys are at cleaning this up, I get the feeling they’re used to doing this kind of thing…

  Both emotionally and physically raw, I cling to Coy’s shirt as I try to process what went down. Mikhail is gone… he’s finally gone. I saw it with my own eyes. I even got to vent some of my own torment out on him.

  Yet I can’t seem to completely believe it’s real yet.

  It’s too fresh and too new.

  Almost too good to be true.

  I suppose it will take time and a whole lot of tears to accept that my living nig
htmare has finally ended.

  Coy kisses the top of my head and nudges his nose through my hair, breathing me in. He needs the reassurance that I’m still here, I’m still with him, as much I need it from him.

  My fingers tighten around his shirt though to endure the pain his kisses unintentionally inflict.

  I don’t have the heart to tell him that my scalp is fucking killing me.

  “You ready to go home, Allie Cat?” Coy asks, his chest rumbling against my ear.

  Smiling at the thought of returning to Levi, I tip my head up and tell him, “Yes.”

  Coy smiles right back down at me and gives me another quick squeeze before he grabs my hand.

  Still keeping me close, as if he’s afraid I could disappear at any second, Coy tugs me by the hand over to the driveway.

  Instead of leading me up to my minivan though, he tries to lead me to his motorcycle.

  “Coy…” I protest, immediately digging in my heels and tugging back on my hand. “I can’t ride on your bike.”

  Just the thought of trying to get on it is causing my heart and breathing to quicken with uncontrollable panic.

  “Allie,” Coy sighs and turns to face me. “It’s the only way we can get home.”

  I shake my head and tug on my hand. After everything I’ve already been through, I can’t do this, I can’t. “We can take Barney.”

  It’s still parked in the front yard.

  Coy gives up on trying to tug me up to his bike and walks up to me, pulling me into his arms. I tense up and resist him at first. He can’t sweet talk me into this. I know he wants me back on his bike again, but he needs to have a little sympathy and compassion for Christ’s sake.

  Now is not the time for this shit.

  “Baby, we can’t take your van,” Coy says regretfully, as if he understands, and his arms squeeze around me. “All the bodies are in there…”

  I almost say I don’t care before his words really sink in.

  All the bodies are in there.

  All, meaning what’s left of Mikhail’s as well.

  Fuck.

  “Can’t… can’t they drop them off wherever they’re going and come back for us?” I ask, desperate to find a way around getting on his bike.

  “They could,” Coy sighs and gives the top of my head a kiss before he breathes out, “But it might be hours until they could come back for us.”

  Dammit all. Hours before we could get back to Levi…

  There has to be another way. There has to be.

  Not willing to accept defeat yet, I ask hopefully, “What about an Uber or Lyft?”

  Coy’s voice is soft. Well, as soft as a deep, rumbling voice can be as he says gently, “Baby, we can’t risk anyone seeing what went on here.”

  And I know he’s right. If anyone sees what happened here, we’ll all probably end up in jail for a long time.

  If I end up in jail, the only way I’ll ever see Levi again is through one of those plexiglass windows.

  I choke on sob and shake my head as the full hopelessness of the situation washes over me.

  Even knowing there’s no other way, I don’t think I can do it.

  “I’ll take it nice and slow for you,” Coy tries to reassure me. “You can trust me.”

  “I do trust you,” I admit, my voice cracking as I struggle to hold tears back. “It’s not that.”

  I’m so damn sensitive and drained right now, my emotions feel like one big throbbing bruise. The slightest touch can set me off, and I hate it.

  I wish I could get over all this shit already.

  I just want to get home to my little boy, dammit. I need to hug him. I need to tell him he never has to worry again…

  “What is it?” Coy asks and I tip my head back to look up at him.

  All I see is love and sympathy in his eyes. He’s not purposely trying to push me into this for his own gain, and I’m pretty sure if there was another way, he’d find it.

  “I don’t know, Coy,” I choke and swallow more tears back. I’m so sick of crying. “I don’t know why I’m scared, and because I don’t know why, I don’t know how to get over it.”

  Coy nods his head slowly and a guilty look appears on his face. I don’t know what he has to feel guilty about as he squeezes me back into a tight hug.

  I’m the one who should feel guilty for being pathetic and weak.

  “Okay, Allie Cat. Okay,” he murmurs soothingly. “There’s no rush. Let’s wait a few minutes and see if you feel better.”

  Not knowing what else to do, I nod my head and cling to him, trying to overcome this unexplainable terror building inside me.

  I don’t know how much time passes as I struggle to overcome this final demon. Struggle and fail.

  But eventually Grem wanders up to us and says, “Everything’s packed up and we’re ready to head out.”

  “Alright,” Coy says, his arms still hugging me tight.

  “Everything okay?” Grem asks and I can feel his eyes on me.

  Coy answers him with one word, “Yup.” Not giving anything else away.

  I relax against him, appreciating that he’s not telling Grem my business.

  Grem sounds a little frustrated as he asks, “You need anything?”

  No doubt he knows something’s up, but Coy isn’t spilling.

  “Nope,” Coy tells him, his voice becoming firmer. “We’ll head out in a minute.”

  Grem lets out a heavy sigh. “Alright, if you need anything…”

  “Will do, brother,” Coy says dismissively.

  I hear Grem muttering under his breath as he walks away.

  Not much longer after Grem leaves, a couple of bikes start up followed by the minivan.

  Still clinging to Coy, knowing the inevitable is coming, I listen to them pull out of the driveway and fade into the distance

  Then it comes, the moment I’ve been dreading.

  Coy’s arms begin to loosen around me. “You ready, Allie?”

  Squeezing my eyes shut, I shake my head.

  I’m not ready, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be.

  “It’s the only way, baby. We need to get home to Levi,” he gently reminds me.

  And I almost wish he would be the heavy-handed bastard I know he can be so I could fight this out of my system.

  Grabbing me by the hand again, Coy begins to tug me back over to the bike. My body doesn’t want to move though, and he practically has to drag me up to it.

  “We’re gonna do it just like last time. I’ll start the bike up and get her ready, then you’re going to get on. Got it?” he explains, his tone still gentle.

  Frozen already, I neither nod nor shake my head.

  “You got this, Allie,” he tells me, squeezing my shoulders as if he’s trying to squeeze his strength into me before he releases me.

  I’ve never loved or hated him more as I listen to him mount his bike and start it up. The sound alone, so close…

  Fuck.

  “Come on, baby,” Coy says, and I still can’t fucking move because my body is convinced I’m going to fucking die if I get on the back of his bike.

  When I don’t move, he decides to play dirty. “You can do it. Do it for Levi.”

  Motherfucker.

  There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my son.

  Knowing he’s waiting at home for us, I will my body to move. It’s slow going, the damn thing still fighting me every step of the way, but I eventually position myself near the foot peg.

  When I start to step onto it though, the same icy, paralyzing terror I experienced last time wraps around my chest and squeezes.

  “That’s it, you’re doin’ great,” Coy encourages me. “You’re one step closer to him. Keep movin’ and we can go home. You can do it, baby.”

  Gritting my teeth, I fight through the paralysis. If I can drive over 900 miles on no sleep after getting the shit beat out of me, by god, I can do this.

  It feels like it takes an eternity, but I finally manage to get up on the foot peg
and swing my leg over the seat.

  My ass drops down on its own and Coy practically cheers, “Fuck yeah, baby! I knew you could do it! Now hold on tight, I’m gonna go real slow, I promise.”

  Ice water continues to flow through my veins and my entire body shakes and trembles as I wrap my arms around Coy and squeeze him in a death grip

  Clenching my eyes shut, I press my face against his back, feeling the Royal Bastards patch beneath my cheek.

  “Hear we go,” Coy says a little too cheerful for my tastes and the bike begins to roll forward.

  I’m going to die. I’m going to fucking die, keeps repeating in my head over and over as we move.

  True to his word, Coy takes it slow down the driveway then I feel us turning onto the street. He picks up a little speed once we straighten, and my heart, beating so fast now I’m afraid I’m going to puke, seems to pick up speed with him.

  Coy continues to shout comforting, encouraging words to me over the wind.

  Things like, “I’m so proud of you. So fucking proud of you.” And, “We’ll be home in no time. You got this.”

  Every so often he reaches back and gives my thigh a reassuring squeeze.

  And I wish I could relax. I wish I could let go of this fear now that I’m seated on the bike and be free of it.

  But the simple act of moving is only freaking me out more somehow.

  If this motorcycle doesn’t kill me, the heart attack I’m about to have surely will, I realize.

  Breathing so fast I’m hyperventilating, I crack my eyes open, hoping the sight of what’s going on around me will relieve some of my anxiety.

  But all of a sudden Coy pushes the bike faster causing the wind to whip at my hair.

  “Please slow down, Coy,” I whimper, the words ripped away by the night flying past us.

  He either ignores me or can’t hear me, and the bike picks up more speed.

  “Please slow down, please!” I beg. “I don’t need to get home this fast. It’s okay if my parents are there.”

  I’d rather take the punishment than die in a fiery accident.

  “Relax, Allie. I know what I’m doin’,” Horse laughs, the braying sound scraping at my frayed nerves.