“Go back, Kassi, how did they use you to get her to talk?”
“Please, I don’t want to talk about it.” Her tears are breaking my heart. What else did they do to her? I knew she’d been stabbed and beaten, but I have a feeling it was much more than that. Please don’t let it be what I’m thinking.
“Kassi, we have to know. What did they do to you?”
“T-they, um, they made me l-l-lick their cocks. They played with my tits, grabbed my crotch. I could see how it affected her; I begged her a few times to tell them what they wanted to know so that they’d leave me alone. But she wouldn’t! It was then I realized that Granger meant more to her than I did. It hurt. My heart broke. Over and over again they shoved their dicks down my throat. They pinched me so hard it ached. They moved on from there, punching me… again. I lost count of the blows to my face, arms, legs, stomach and back. Pain laced my entire body. I was used as a punching bag. Her eyes stayed on me the entire time, but she also had this faraway look. It’s as if she was there, but she wasn’t. At some point, I blacked out and woke up in Malibu’s arms. I remember him rocking us, me, but I couldn’t speak, forcing my eyes to open and alert him that I was there… alive. He begged us to live, to fight, for him, for us… but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to fight; I wanted the darkness to take me. At least then, I couldn’t remember, relive what they did to me. I hated her then, she didn’t care about me. She let them do those things to me. I didn’t want to remember that! I couldn’t! She destroyed me with her silence. I just wanted to float into oblivion and never wake up again.”
“Fern, how could you have done that to her?” I murmur. I understand the bonds of blood, but this was her woman… our woman. I’m going to put Kassi back together, then, I’m gonna track down these pieces of shit and make them wish they’d never crossed me and mine.
“One more question, Kassi. One more, then we’re done. Can you do that for me?”
“W-what’s the question?” she quivers out her response.
“Who were they, Kassi? The men that did this to you and Fern.”
“The Bloodthirsty Bastards.”
Motherfucker! They are a bunch of thugs who think they are an MC. We brushed them off, thinking they’d die out on their own. We let them be, my brothers and I… we are responsible for the destruction of my family.
8
Malibu
Creed gave something to Kassi to knock her out. After I carried her to bed and changed her clothes, I walked back out into the living room. I watched her closely for a bit, making sure she wouldn’t wake up. She never stirred, so I finally left her side, even though I was heavy hearted by doing so. My body’s simmering in heat from my ire. Bloodlust is in my veins. I hate myself, despise them; want them obliterated, decimated, destroyed, and am determined to rid the world of them. Every single member will die at my hands.
The doctors never said a word to me about her being mouth raped. They never even indicated they had a clue. Did they even check? I notice Creed has packed up, his things settled at the front door, but he’s looking at me with contempt. “What?” I snarl out at him.
“She’s going to need aftercare, man. That was brutal, what she had to relive. Therapy would be my advice. She’s gonna need a professional to go through all of those emotions that just crashed in on her.”
“Don’t worry about my woman, Creed. I’ve got her,” I insist.
“If you say so,” he rebuts.
“I say so,” I defend. Right now, I’m ready to crush his face into a thousand fragmented pieces if he continues pretending he gives a fuck where Kassi’s concerned. He had a job to do, it’s done, it’s time for him to move the fuck on now. We’re not all fixing to become one big happy family. I don’t know what world he’s living in, but there’s no room in mine for him to join.
“I’m outta here,” he huffs like an irate child.
“Bye,” I hiss as I turn my back on him. I need to put up the chair he had her tied to. Fuck, if I’d even taken a moment to think, I would’ve told him she couldn’t be tied to one after that night. I knew they had been, the remnants of that night, and the setup of our furniture, will forever be ingrained in my mind. I still see ties hanging from the legs of the kitchen chairs, blood on the carpet, my two women’s bodies lifelessly sprawled out on the floor. They weren’t left in those chairs when the Bloodthirsty Bastards left our home, they’d placed them on the floor, side by side. Was that a message left for me by them? For Granger? I may never have these answers; another piece of the puzzle that hasn’t been put together.
“Think, Malibu, think. Where do we go from here?” I ask myself as I continue to clean this cottage style cabin spotless. I don’t want Kassi to wake up, walk out here, and see the remnants of tonight’s interrogation. Everything needs to be put back to rights, the way it was when we left for the day.
Kassi
“Fern, please tell them what they want to know!” I beg her with not only my words, but with a pleading look. I don’t know how much more I can take. My legs are throbbing from where they’ve been stabbed. My body feels like it’s gone a round in the ring with Muhammad Ali. My eyes are swelling, my jaw feels like it’s being ripped apart from my body. All she does is shake her head ‘no’ at me, and just like that, my hope fades away. She doesn’t care what they do to me, as long as they leave her brother alone. She’s determined our fates, without consulting me. “Please,” I try again. Her eyes fill with tears as she tries to look away from me. The guy behind her grabs her head in his hands and forces her to look. “Why?” I mouth, but she simply shuts her eyes.
“Your friend asked you a question, bitch,” the guy over me says to Fern. She simply narrows her eyes at him and doesn’t say a word. “You willing to give her life for that of your brother?”
When she doesn’t stammer a single syllable out of her mouth, the guy behind her yanks her head to the side so he can look clearly into her eyes. “You’re a brave, tough bitch, huh? Let’s see how tough your skin is once my brothers force your girl to swallow their cum.” Fuck, the guy behind Fern must be the guy in charge. A whimper escapes me at the things he’s insinuating will happen to me. “Look at that, do you see how scared she is? This is all on you and your brother. You’re both spineless assholes. You don’t love her, do you? Not really, because if you did, you wouldn’t be able to sit by and let my brothers have their way with her, now would you?” His words hit home. Like a wrecking ball slamming into my chest, my breath leaves me in one whoosh. My Fern, the love of my life, just doomed me to my death.
My mind leaves my body, I go to my happy place as man after man feeds me their dick. I gag, my reflexes are still aware of the activities even if my mind is elsewhere. I’m floating above my body, witnessing these acts of violence happening to me.
“No! Stop!” I suddenly startle awake from this endless loop of a nightmare. I don’t want to relive this! I want it all to go away, I want to be oblivious to what’s happened to me, what I suffered, what I witnessed. “Malibu!” I remember that he was hurt, I didn’t see him once that man took hold of me and forced the memories to resurface.
“Kassi,” he calls out as he comes limping into the room. His face is swollen, I see dried blood coating the back of his shirt. “It’s okay, baby. It’s over,” he hushes me as he crawls onto the bed, bringing me into his arms.
“Why did I have to remember that? It hurts,” I cry into his shoulder.
“Shh. You’re so damn strong, Kassi. If anyone can overcome this, it’s you. And I’ll be right there by your side while you fight these demons.”
“Who was that man, Malibu? Why did he come here? How did he find us? What was the purpose of forcing me to relive that nightmare?” My sobs become inconsolable.
“I don’t know, but we’ll figure it all out.” He continues to hold me throughout the night. I wake several times, but he’s there, holding me, comforting me, lulling me back into oblivion.
* * *
The next day, we wake up a
round one o’clock in the afternoon. The sun is shining, penetrating through the opened window and I can’t find the energy to climb out from the bed. “I don’t want to be here anymore,” I voice to the man beside me, holding me tightly in his embrace.
“I know, Kassi. But we both need time to heal.” He pulls me firmer into his body. I know he’s sore, hell, I’m sore as well, but it’s not right being here. This sanctuary now feels like a house of horrors.
“I can’t be here, it doesn’t feel safe anymore,” I utter to Malibu.
“Then we’ll go somewhere else,” he counters.
“Where? Where else will we be safe? He found us here, who’s to say he’s finished with us? What if you’re next on his torture list? We need to be home, where the brothers can help protect us,” I implore through my wobbly speech.
“You don’t think I can keep you safe?” he bewilderedly asks me. Does he not remember the events that took place last night? Nothing against his manhood or anything, but how well did that work out for us?
“It’s not about whether or not you can or can’t, it’s about having backup in case we get caught off guard. One of us could have died.” I leave out the again part of that proclamation.
“I guess I just don’t want to face my brothers with this shame. I wasn’t able to protect either of us last night. It makes me feel like they’ve been right all along, you deserve someone better equipped. My head is still in a fog from losin’ Fern.”
“Fuck her,” I hiss. “She didn’t care about me, she allowed those savages to abuse me in the worst ways possible, Malibu. She didn’t give a rat’s ass about us.”
“Kassi, she was caught between a rock and a hard place,” he defends her. Anger spikes inside of me, a spark has been lit and the fuse is fixing to explode.
“Seriously! That’s excusable to you? She was caught between her brother and me! I call bullshit.” My anger has ramped to an all-time high. How dare he!
“What would you have done, Kassi? If it was Ryder, Kaci or Fern, who would you have chosen?” What the actual fuck? My family would’ve never put me in that predicament in the first place.
“Not someone who was innocent,” I begrudgingly proclaim, not hiding the ire one iota. “I didn’t deserve to suffer the consequences of her brother’s actions, Malibu. I wasn’t aware of his misgivings, yet I’m the one who was worked over and fucked up. I was the victim!”
“Yet, she paid the ultimate sacrifice. She’s dead, Kassi!”
“And I was right there next to her. Left for dead for a crime I didn’t commit! You know what? Fuck this shit. You want to protect her, fine, you can live with her ghost. I’m not going to do this with you anymore. I’ve tried to keep us together, but I’ll never be enough for you. Go to hell, Malibu. Take me home, we’re finished.”
Malibu
The fuck if we are! “We’ll never be finished, Kassi. I fuckin’ love you.”
“I don’t think you do. I believe you love the idea of us, but without Fern, I’m a nobody in this relationship. I’m tired of being the only one who cares about us.” Her words cut me open like a knife to my humanity. Her words wound me, even though I comprehend how true they are.
“I do love you, Kassi. To the depths of my soul, I do. But I’m strugglin’, baby. I wasn’t there to protect either one of you. And what they did to you…”
“You heard it all, didn’t you?” she asks me.
“I did. It was heart wrenchin’ to hear,” I admit. “Tore me wide open and flayed me into pieces.”
“Then why are you still defending her and what she did?” Her tears would bring me to my knees if I wasn’t already lying in bed.
“Because I was in love with two women. I never got the closure of losing one of them. I’ve never battled so hard with anythin’ in my life. I want to hate her on one hand, and avenge her on the other. I’m stuck in a crossroads here, Kassi. Please try and understand, it’s not about me lovin’ her more than you.”
“Then what’s it about?” The quiver in her voice as she asks this, fucks me up.
“It’s about comin’ to terms with the two sides of her. Lettin’ her go, findin’ myself. Most of all, I need to avenge you both so I can move forward from here. I won’t be at peace with myself until I do.”
“And us, Malibu? What happens to us in the meantime?”
“We hold tight, and ride the wave until it’s done. Then, we fight to hold onto what’s left of our fractured life. We may struggle; fight, hate each other, but we never let go.”
“Then we better get started,” she inserts.
“On what?” I question.
“Getting revenge and finding us,” she conscientiously responds.
9
Kassi
We didn’t have much in the cottage style cabin to pack up. We called the antique store and arranged for a prospect to come with a truck and trailer to grab my things later next week. We had to pay a hefty storage fee for the owner to ultimately agree, but it was worth it to get the fuck out of dodge. We head straight for the clubhouse, never looking toward turning down the street we reside on. We need the brothers, I need my sisters, we need them all. Tension deserts me as the clubhouse comes into sight. It’s my safety net. I know we’ll be safe and protected behind these walls.
The clubhouse used to suffocate me, cause my skin to crawl with claustrophobia. Now, all I want is nothing more than to hide behind the fenced-in brick building. Malibu only wants vengeance against those who took Fern from us, I want to destroy whoever set up that man forcing me to relive those horrific memories. I want them all to pay… whoever they may be.
As he shuts the bike down and backs it up, my nerves kick into high gear. I know that my brother and sister are going to lose their shit once they hear about what Malibu and I suffered. The romantic, reconnecting get away, turned into a nightmare of epic proportions. I never imagined that I’d come back home with memories that should’ve stayed long since buried. Now that I remember it all, my memories are tarnished and ill-conceived where it comes to my love for Fern. Malibu assists me off the bike, removes my helmet, then laces his fingers through mine as he hauls me into the clubhouse. I’m numb, I’m angry; whereas I was anxious to share our story while on the road, I now want to run and hide in the safety of Malibu’s room. Telling them about what happened over our time away, also means I have to relive and tell the story of the night that changed me.
Forever yours, that’s what she used to say to me as we’d finish making love, or while just holding each other tight at night. Was everything she told me and shared with me lies? I can’t help but wonder if I even knew her at all. “What would you have done if you were in her place and it was your siblings?” Those words that Malibu asked me, are playing on repeat in my mind. Would I have stayed silent or spoken up? I doubt that I would’ve hurt someone I claimed to be in love with, or would’ve put them second to one of my siblings, if they’d made the choices that her brother, Granger did. If Ryder or Kaci had been selfish enough to steal from a gang of outlaws, they’d have to answer for their own indiscretions. I’d never put Fern nor Malibu in the position that I was put in. When we make it into the main room, Ryder is sitting on a stool, drinking a cold beer with Skylar nestled into his lap. I stop and admire the love they share with one another. Her head is casually laid on his chest as he bullshits with Travler and Tumbler. I can feel her happiness radiating off of her in spades. Yes, he drives her insane sometimes, but I don’t think she’d have it any other way. He is who he is, and she wholeheartedly accepts him for that.
“Kassi!” I hear my twin holler. My head turns and I watch as she rushes toward me. “You’re home earlier than we anticipated,” she says as she pulls me in for a hug.
“Yeah, things got… complicated,” I inform her, trying not to seem as down in the dumps as I feel. I notice Ryder’s head turn in my direction; when he sees my face over Kaci’s shoulder, his eyes narrow in on me. He’s trying to read me, but he’ll have no luck in this instance. M
alibu squeezes my hand that’s still entwined with his before announcing, “Kassi and I need to speak with you all.”
Ryder slowly lifts Skylar up from his arms, then places her on the stool. He leans over and whispers something in her ear, her eyes shoot to me before nodding her head ‘yes’. He struts over to me, pulls me from Kaci and Malibu and begins escorting me down the hallway. His hand stays plastered to my back as he leans over and kisses the top of my head. Ryder’s never shied away from public displays of affection when it comes to Kaci and me. “You okay?” His voice is soft when he asks me this.
“No, but I will be,” I try to reassure him.
“Did that fucker hurt you, Kassi? If so, say the word and I’ll bury him personally.”
“No, Ryder. He didn’t hurt me. But what we have to say, I wanna say it only once. You’ll understand once we close the doors,” I insist. Because living this again and again, is destroying me. I want to say it, then shut the memory down like I did before… if that’s a possible thing.
Malibu comes and yanks me away from Ryder, walking me over near Kid’s desk and sitting me in the chair next to the one he sits at. Kid walks behind his desk and sits in his chair, Ryder takes the corner of Kid’s desk, as Tumbler and Travler stand behind us, leaning against the door.
Funny, I never noticed what an imposing sight those two make… not until just now that is. They’ve always just been my friends; the soft-hearted, fun-witted, easy-going twins. One eventually ended up being my brother-in-law; another a protective brother in another way. After the childhood Travler survived, I admire and look up to him as an ally, a strong person—someone who understands devastation and the ultimate, personal betrayal.
Forever Yours: Rage Ryders Templeton Chapter Book 2 Page 6
