by Ryan Michele
Those words were spat because I could feel her spit hitting me everywhere. My body stayed stock still.
“Good thing Starling was my backup plan. Knew he hated Crow and was an easy mark. Now you and my man both can rot in hell together.” She rose and a savage kick came to my stomach. A large huff of air came out of my mouth, but I stayed still.
“Damn. That stun gun really put you out. Good. Then you won’t be any trouble.”
Her heels clicked on the floor going away from me. Only then did I open my eyes and take in the space. My eyes were focused now and as I didn’t see or hear anyone, I tried moving each of my limbs.
They moved, but my strength wasn’t all there yet. Maybe if I could shake them it would help, but I didn’t want to risk getting caught. My wrists were indeed wrapped with duct tape and the rest of my body free.
I found that strange considering how I kicked Sophia’s ass before. She knew I could hold my own.
It was then several men came in and out of the building. I was able to open my eyes a few times, seeing them carrying in barrels of something. My guess would be anything that would go boom. I kept track of where they put what and also noted that Sophia, Starling, and Lemon hadn’t come back. Another guy was there giving instructions, who had to be the three’s lackey.
They were setting this place up to be a hell of a mess.
It didn’t take them long and the place was quiet once more. They were going to be contacting Crow soon, and this place needed to be blown sky high before he and his brothers got here. They weren’t going down. No way in hell. I may be, but they would not.
It was my chance to move, but as soon as the thought came voices could be heard once more, and I closed my eyes as the sound of heels and boots came my way. Fuck, what was this now?
“Give it to her,” Sophia said as they got closer. “We don’t need her conscious for any of this. When she comes to she’ll be ready to fight, and we don’t need her shit. Give it to her.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck. This wouldn’t work. This would be the beginning of the end of me. No way in hell that asshole was giving me anything. Two of them. Sophia was easy, but I hadn’t had a look at the man with her, and if I had to guess whatever she wanted to give me would be from a syringe.
“She won’t wake up from this,” the man said, and I knew there was no choice. No way in hell I was going out with a fight. It was now or never.
“That’s the point,” she said with a snip in her tone. “Give it to her then move her to the middle of the room. That way Crow and his brothers have to come all the way in to rescue her.”
“You got it, boss.”
Boss. Seriously, she was the fucking boss? Who would’ve thought she had that in her. I knew she was a bitch, but to be this spiteful was psychotic.
I felt the man at my back as he bent down to the floor. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Scenarios ran through my head of how to take on this man and Sophia, but not alert all the others to this shit. If more came in, I wouldn’t be able to fight them all, and I would be as good as dead.
It was my turn to move, and I just prayed that Crow and his brothers weren’t here. Please, God, don’t be here.
15
Rylynn
Eyes flying open, I grabbed the man’s hand tightly, twisted it around, and jammed the syringe into his body, pressing the plunger and injecting him with whatever in the hell he was going to give me. With my hands tied it wasn’t the easiest, but I got it done.
His eyes went wide as Sophia screamed. I didn’t have time to watch the man fall back onto his ass as I jumped up, held my hands above my head and in one swift move, slammed them down and pulled breaking the tape instantly. I grabbed Sophia around the face covering her mouth. Her hands came up flailing, nails scratching my face.
“Bitch. Shut the fuck up.” She twisted and turned her body trying to break free, her heel coming up and landing on my toe.
Biting back my pain, I kicked her knees hard making her crash to the floor. She cried out again trying to maneuver her head so she could bite me. Fuck that shit.
Adrenaline pumping, I bunched her hair together and then stuck it in her mouth. It quieted down the sounds, but she started coughing and gagging. Maybe she’d puke and die gagging on it.
What could I say, the bitch pissed me off.
The man fell to the floor in almost the same position I’d been laying in for the past few hours. His body was moving like he was having a seizure because he couldn’t control it.
He had a hanky sticking out of his back pocket. I grabbed the snot rag, pulled her hair out of her mouth and replaced it with the rag. She was flailing, but with the utter rage going through my blood, she got nowhere. Fuck her. Her hands came up to pull out the rag, but I subdued her with my knee. Physically, she was no match for me.
Sophia wanted to kill my man, but she had another thing coming. She wanted to kill me. I wasn’t about to let that shit happen either. A long cord was on the ground leading to an outlet on the wall. After yanking it out, I picked it up, wrapped the cord around her head, then did the same to her hands putting them behind her back, and wrapped her feet with it as well.
Sophia laid on the floor, eyes wide with fear. It was probably sick, fucked up, and twisted, but I got off on it. It made me happy to be the one to put that fear inside of her. Fear that she’d never see her kids again. Fear that she’d never breathe free again. Fear that she was going to end in the dirtiest of ways. Burning alive. No way I’d put a bullet in her. That was too easy. She needed to feel the pain and agony of her flesh burning and melting off her bones.
Fuck her.
Fuck it all.
Now I needed to figure out how to get every one of the assholes who worked for her inside the building before I set it on fire.
No one hurt my family.
No one touched my family.
No one planned against my family.
Fuck all of them. Every last one of them here.
They were going to learn what the Ravage MC was made of. This club was in my veins and soul. With the last breath in my body, I would protect Crow and his brothers. No one was killing them. They would not walk in here to be burned. If I didn’t come out on the other end, at least I’d know everything in my power was done to keep them safe.
Maybe I should’ve thought of Greer and the little girl and how a loss like this would affect them. But I couldn’t. Not now, in this moment, because she was gone. That fallout would need to be handled later. If God willing, I had a later.
Next to Sophia, her cell laid on the floor, and it couldn’t be more perfect. The assholes getting blown up the exact same way as they wanted to do to Ravage. That, my friends, was called karma. She was a nasty bitch.
I swiped the screen, and the damn thing told me to enter the password. Fuck if I had a clue on that one. Her eyes narrowed, and a glint of humor came to the corner of them.
Maybe it was one of those that had a fingerprint identifier. Turning it over, the phone did. Sophia tried to squirm, but with ease I was able to get her index finger and put it on the pad. The phone opened showing a picture of her and Crow. They appeared young. His arm was draped over her shoulder, and she was looking up at him like he was the only thing in her universe. Fucker.
Plan, Rylynn. Plan! There wasn’t much time.
Searching around the large space, several barrels were along two of the walls with metal lines connecting them across the room. One spark and this place would light up, the roof blowing off the building.
There were doors in three different places. One the trio came in and went out of, so I’d need to pick another because that would probably be where they came back in from.
Checking the man on the floor, he had a gun in the back of his pants and a knife in a holder at his side. I grabbed both, stuffing the gun in my jeans, and carrying the knife with Sophia’s phone.
The other doors had no windows. This would be a game of Russian Roulette. It was a risk with my life that I was more t
han willing to take. Mine for all of theirs. It was no contest.
Hopefully though, I’d get out of this alive to see another day with Crow. Hope was about the only thing I had in the moment.
I went to the door on the right and pulled up Sophia’s texts. Going to Starling, I typed out, Honey! Get in here and bring the guys! Now!
Hitting send, the phone vibrated in my hand right away with Starling’s name coming up on the ID through a call. I didn’t answer it. It rang again. I didn’t answer.
The door opened with a whoosh, and men started pouring into the place, guns up and at the ready. Starling was first with his lackey behind him. Then several others who helped move in the barrels.
This was it. It was going to work, or it was going to go very south. Either way, the decision was made. Everything was going to blow.
Starling looked around as I opened the door behind me, my back to it, holding my gun aimed at the barrel.
“Stop!” The sound was behind me coming from a male’s voice. Fuck.
This was the end. The guy behind me would shoot me no matter what.
I would do this so my family would be safe from these dickheads.
The man I loved and his brothers would be protected. That was all I cared about. Nothing else mattered. Least of which was my life. Love you, Crow.
I aimed and fired all the while darting to the left and out the door. Everything around me exploded. The heat searing my skin as I fell into the rocks, my leg hitting something seriously sharp. Smoke was everywhere. My body hurt, but this was my only chance to get away. The men who were going to shoot me were both knocked out on the ground.
Survival. On hands and knees, I crawled away from the building seeing woods far off in the distance and making my way there. It took forever, and I swore my body would give out on me, but it didn’t.
Each step or crawl hurt like hell, but I kept going. Needing to get to safety.
Pressing my back against a tree, I turned to look at the blaze. Things were flying into the sky as the flames billowed out of the building.
Still feeling the heat a bit, I willed my body to move farther into the woods. Using every bit of strength I had, my legs were able to support me with my hands holding on to the trunks of the trees. Peering down at my injured leg, a glass bottle stuck out of it. Fuck me.
Making my way deeper in the woods took longer, but I managed finding a space and falling to the ground.
Only then, when I didn’t feel the heat of the building or hear anyone coming after me, did I let the relief hit. My breaths heaved and chest tightened. The left side of my body where I fell killed, my leg the worst. There was blood oozing onto my jeans and shirt, but I was too exhausted to move. Too exhausted to think. Safe. That was all I needed.
Therefore, I laid in the woods hoping after I rested, I’d be able to get out. Holding the gun and knife I hoped.
Little did I know, I was hurt more than I thought. Too bad I dropped the phone somewhere between here and the building. It would’ve come in handy.
16
Crow
My phone chimed, and I pulled it out. A text from Rylynn. At 5343 Ducan Warehouse. Come please, I need you.
She needed me, what the fuck was that about? And why was she on the other end of town in a fucking warehouse, nonetheless.
“Rylynn’s in trouble,” I said to everyone around me as I tried to call her number. It went to voicemail. I texted then called again, and nothing. “We need to go.”
“Where do you want all these jackals?” Tex asked as I looked down at Ebony on the ground.
“Your pretty little woman will be blown to pieces by the time you get there,” she taunted. My stomach churned.
“Get Rising and Steel Ravage to tie them up. Get them into the barn and shut it down. Ebony said blown up. Make sure none of that shit’s around. We’ll be back.”
Tex nodded then ran off to the other chapters’ presidents.
I ran down what was happening for Cruz in a rush, needing to get shit taken care of.
Rhys turned into the man I knew him to be. His feel around the place turned utterly hostile. “Let’s go,” I ordered as Rebellion and Sumner took off directly to the warehouse.
What Ebony said couldn’t be true. Blown up. What the fuck was going on? Why did Rylynn need me at a warehouse? None of this made sense.
We hauled ass to the other side of town, each mile feeling like a hundred. Time ticked by, and I had this gut feeling that we were late. Fuck.
The smell of smoke hit my nostrils, then the haze of it through the sky, then the flames large and billowing. No. Fuck no! She’s not here. She’s not! I pushed my ride as hard as she’d go.
Pain inside me speared my heart. The entire building was up in flames. Not mild flames, flames that when you stood twenty feet away, singed your hair.
Parking the bike, I ran around it just as I heard sirens in the distance. Rylynn couldn’t be in there. She just couldn’t. My heart was coming out of my chest.
There were several cars, and I looked in them as I passed. None of them I recognized. Two men laid on the ground, not moving.
Rhys rushed up to them and kicked one savagely in the gut. He moaned out as I kicked the other one. His eyes opened wide as I picked him up by his shirt. “Rylynn. Where the fuck is she?” I barked at the guy as he shook his head.
Shaking him, I repeated myself.
His eyes finally widened as he took in the scene. “She was… She…”
I went nose to nose with him as Rhys picked up his guy. “Tell me where the fuck she is!”
“In there!” He nodded to the fire, and my heart sunk. With a savage punch and kick to the stomach, I sent him flying into the flames, his screams heard through the night sky.
Taking off my cut, I moved to the flames. My woman was in there, and I was going to get her out.
More screams were heard as Rhys pushed his guy off to Nox and Deke. Rhys came up next to me. “Feel how hot it is?”
I did. So much so, the hair on my arms started to shrivel. No words came out.
“Fuck!” he yelled out. His attempts to stop me weren’t going to come. I was going in to find Rylynn. There was no choice. There was no option. She had to be safe.
Rhys took off his cut, and we nodded to one another. We were going in to find my girl.
Rylynn’s face flashed through my mind. The ways she touched me and held me. Her words how they filled me.
We made a move to go in, and we were tackled. Full body tackled. There were two men on me, and I struggled. Wrong Way and Tex. They were strong, but my adrenaline was pumping so hard and fast, nothing was going to stop me.
I fought. Every hit and punch. My brothers weren’t trying to hurt me, they were only trying to detain me. I got some good licks in and crawled to my feet, only to be tackled once again. This time by Phoenix. He knocked the wind out of me, and I landed hard on my back.
Next to me, grunts and words were exchanged, but my attention was only on the men trying to stop me from getting to my woman.
This went on as sirens came from all different angles. Firetrucks, police cars, and ambulances filled the space, guns out at us, but I kept trying to get up.
“Crow! Calm the fuck down!” Wrong Way bellowed in my ear, but I didn’t hear him, or I didn’t want to hear him, because I was meant to be inside with Rylynn. Lay beside her. Fuck!
“Sir, we’re trying to stop them from going inside. His woman and his daughter was said to be inside.” I thought it was Nox who said it.
“Fuck,” I heard a voice.
Somehow some way, they were able to get me to back up. It was all a fog, and I was pretty sure they had to carry me.
“Calm!” Cruz yelled in my face, getting in my space.
“She’s in there!” I yelled right back.
His hands came to my shoulders. “Let these men do their job, Crow. Stand down.”
“I can’t.”
Cruz pointed, and I followed his finger. Rhys was sitting o
n the ground, head in his hands and shoulders shaking. It knocked the wind out of me. Seeing this strong man who I’d always looked up to, crack, did me in.
Turning to Cruz, I nodded and fell to my ass on the ground. Brewer grabbed his cell and made some calls. No doubt trying to make sure Rylynn was in there. In my gut though, I knew. It was as if I could smell her in the air. I could feel her.
Now, all I could do was watch the flames.
Stare at them and wonder why.
Why would something so perfect be taken away.
She was a good person.
Confident. Strong. Independent.
She was everything I ever wanted in a woman.
We were supposed to have forever.
The reds, oranges, and yellows of the fire rolled and rolled, turning black as they went up. The windows above shattered as the flames took over there. The wood was kindling stroking and making it grow.
Rylynn didn’t deserve to die like this.
The tears welled in my eyes. While my body didn’t move, the tears did, rolling down my cheeks.
“I love you, Pixie.”
17
Rylynn
I woke with a start. My eyes opening and seeing tall trees all around me. My clothes and body were damp, and everything ached. Blood was on my shirt, jeans, and hands. Hands that were holding a gun.
Disorientation hit me. Why was I in the woods? It was barely light outside and cool.
Was it dawn? Or was it night? What was the weather like today? I couldn’t remember.
My limbs hurt as I tried to move them. Each lift or squeeze caused me to want to cry out. I held it in, not knowing where I was or what was going on. It was instinctive.
Blood. I needed to see the blood.
My leg had half of a green bottle stuck inside it. How the fuck did that happen? Then the fall flashed back. Dammit.
