Again, something pulls at my heart. The pain is worse than the physical pain that I’m feeling. She’s dead. Gone forever.
“Okay, I have the kit, so I will fix you up now,” the woman says, rushing back into the room. I open my eyes and follow her movements as she kneels on the floor beside me. “I’m a nurse. I promise I know what I’m doing. I think it would have been better to go to the hospital, but I understand that you didn’t want to- and I know that you don’t know me. You don’t have to worry about me doing anything to hurt you, because if I wanted to hurt people, I wouldn’t have chosen to be a nurse, right? Ha. Well, I-”
I gently lay my hand over her mouth, interrupting her rambling. Her eyes widen, and I drop my hand. The woman’s cheeks flush pink as she lowers her head a bit. “Sorry, I tend to ramble when I get nervous,” she nervously laughs. My eyes narrow at her a bit and she bites her bottom lip.
Again, I note her beauty. She tied her blonde hair up into a sloppy knot on top of her head, little wisps falling around her face. Every few minutes, she pushes her glasses up her nose. She continually worries her lip between her teeth, switching from top lip to bottom lip.
Shaking my head, I look at her and speak, “I make you nervous, Lass?” Her eyes snap to mine again. Her mouth opens and closes a few times before she looks away. She continues wiping the blood away from my cuts, making me wince.
“Well, I-I found you shirtless, bleeding, and beat up on the side of the road,” she points out. I nod and reach for her hand, taking it in mine.
“You don’t have to be nervous about me, Lass,” I promise, and she looks at me, her eyebrows pulled together and mouth twisted to the side.
“Why do you keep calling me that?” She asks, staring down at me. She dips her rag in a bowl of water, letting the blood soak into the water. Next, she pulls out a needle and some thread or something that looks like thread.
“You mean Lass?” I ask. She nods. I chuckle, but groan when I feel the pain flare in my torso. “I dinnae know your name,” I answer, and her eyes widen. I hadn’t asked before, but I’d like to know the name of my rescuer.
My rescuer. Not every man can say a woman saved him from what could’ve been a painful death.
“Oh, my gosh! I totally forgot. My name is Harley Reed. I should have introduced myself earlier,” she rambles, something she’s done ever since she started talking. I nod and hold my hand out.
“I’m Axel,” I introduce myself. She smiles and takes my hand, shaking it carefully. Her small hand drowns in mine. If I had to guess, Harley is at least a foot shorter than my six-foot height. Her smaller, curvy frame leans closer as her eyes search me, looking for something in me.
“I like your accent. Is that Irish? No, Scottish?” She inquires. I choke out a laugh and nod. The movement still causes pain, but with her, I don’t mind the pain.
“Aye, I’m Scottish.” I’ve had many people tell me they like my accent, but by far, she’s my favorite. I’ve seen many beautiful women in my life. This woman, with her angelic features and character, is the most beautiful. And I have a feeling that if she knew what I was thinking, she’d turn the color of a strawberry.
“Cool. You need some stitches in this larger gash, along with the one on your arm, but the others I can just patch,” she informs me. I nod, and she stills, “Do you want some Aspirin or Advil or something for the pain?” I shake my head at her concerned questioning, letting her know that she can start. She nods and stands, “I’m going to get some ice for your face before I start,” she tells me, and I nod again.
Her hands twisting, she stares at me for a second, then takes off into the kitchen. The setting sun, coming through the windows, shines off the cascade of golden hair falling down her back.
It only takes her a few minutes to get the ice, so when she comes back, she places it on my face saying, “This is going to be cold.” I ignore the stinging cold of the ice pack as she runs her hands down my body to the knife cuts. I close my eyes and grit my teeth when the pain pulls in and out of my skin.
My hands curl into fists, and I growl in pain. “I’m sorry,” Harley apologizes as she continues to thread the stitches through my skin. I push the pain away and focus on her concentrated blue eyes. They look like Sapphires.
“Sapphire,” I whisper. Harley looks up, her eyes filled with confusion. Her fingers stop moving as does the needle.
“What?” I shake my head and motion for her to continue, which she does. She continues to pinch the skin as she laces the needle in and out, pulling and tugging at the thread.
“Your eyes, they look like Sapphires,” I tell her. The pink hue on her cheeks darkens, and she bites her lip again. God, I wish she would stop doing that. She pulls the final loop through the first cut and ties it off.
When Harley finishes, she looks up at me and smiles. “Thank you,” she murmurs. She moves to the other gashes and works quietly on them. She doesn’t ramble, and I can tell by the way she nibbles on her lip and shifts her eyes that she’s trying not to babble and look at me. I keep as quiet as I can, so I don’t disturb her and cause her to mess up.
After about ten or fifteen minutes, I have two cuts with stitches and two with gauze over them, then my wrists are cleaned and wrapped. My face feels numb because of the ice, which is a plus. Another couple minutes later, Harley cleans up my face, put a bandage over the cut on my forehead, and gives me medicine to help with the pain.
When she finishes, Harley leans back and sits on her feet. “There, good as new… well, not new, but you look much better, Axel,” she tells me with a smile. My heart flips and I sigh. She almost made me forget about Emerald’s murder. Hawk will kill me.
Hawk!
“Can I use your phone?” I ask, and Harley nods. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out an iPhone. She unlocks the phone and pulls up the call keypad. I type in Hawk’s number and listen to the phone ring. After six rings, the phone goes to voicemail. Cursing, I end the call and hand the phone back to her.
“You can try again later,” Harley says, making me look at her. She blushes and looks away, making me growl. I don’t like the movement. Because of the tightening in my chest, I don’t want her looking away from me. Curling my finger under her chin, I lift her face and make her look at me with those remarkable blue eyes.
“Don’t look away from me, Sapphire.”
She visibly swallows, and her eyes widen a bit. She stammers, “Um, okay, but it’s getting late, so I should probably sleep. I mean, I don’t have anything to do tomorrow, but I’m still tired, you know? I do have to take a shower so that’ll take even more time, and I still have to figure out where you’ll sleep, because this couch is too small. I mean, you’re huge! No, I uh- you’re not huge like fat, I meant that you’re huge like muscly and-”
Again, I put my hand over her mouth, not enough to hurt her, and she silences. “I can sleep on the couch, and I’ll see you in the mornin’,” I tell her, removing my hand. She nods, and I continue, “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. It wasnae safe for you to pick up a man you dinnae know, but thank you,” I tell her.
“You’re welcome,” she replies, smiling her thousand-watt smile. She walks over to a closet and pulls the doors open, grabbing a pillow and some covers. Using her foot, she closes the door and comes back over to me, “Can you stand? I need to remove the bloody towels and put the sheets down.”
Struggling, I stand from the couch with Harley’s help, but still feeling better now that the medicine is kicking in. As Harley fixes the couch for me to sleep on, I lean against the wall and wait. I step up behind her when I notice she’s almost done, so when she turns around, she runs into my chest. I grab her arms to keep her from falling, her hands grabbing my forearms and gripping them.
“Um, you should be fine to take a shower if you want as long as you keep the gauze and bandages over your cuts while you wash,” she tells me, stepping away from me. Again, she bites her lip. “You can use the bathroom down the hall. There should be so
me male shampoo in there from my… ex,” she informs me, her eyes losing light and darkening. Her entire face falls at the mention of her ex.
Mixed in with the sadness is anger and hurt. No woman should look dejected because of a man. It’s not a realistic way of thinking, but it’s what I believe.
“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” My protective instinct swells as Harley wraps her arms around her stomach as if she’s hugging herself. Her head snaps up, and she shakes her head quickly.
“No, no, he- he just… no,” she denies, but the range of emotions in her eyes tells me she’s not giving me the full truth. Her wide blue eyes stare up at me, silently asking me to drop the subject.
Nodding, I move past her and settle on the couch.
“Goodnight, Axel,” she murmurs, turning and walking away. I watch as she walks up the stairs and disappears from my sight. She’s a woman any man would be lucky to have as their own. With a sigh, I lay there thinking about the blonde beauty.
Chapter 18
“Your destination is on your right,” Siri tells me. I slow my bike to a stop, my men slowing behind me, and we all park. A long driveway with a white mailbox sitting at the end, the number twenty-two painted on the side.
The house at the end of the long driveway looks to be a medium-sized, two-story house. There’s one vehicle out front, a Jeep, and there are a few lights on in the house.
“Park here, and we’ll go on foot to the house,” I call out, checking my weapons. I slide one in the waistband of my jeans and load the other. My brothers follow me up the driveway and to the Jeep. I peer in, noting a cell phone on the floor along with blood on the seat.
“Blood,” I call out, pointing into the car and then to the ground where drops of blood lead from the passenger side, around the front, and up to the house. It’s not a lot of blood, but there are several drops along the way. It’s easy enough to follow and whoever has Wolf didn’t clean up.
Looking back into the Jeep, I pull my phone out. I dial Wolf’s number. When the call rings, the phone on the floor lights up with my name on it. “It’s Wolf’s phone,” I tell them. I glance back at my brothers to see firm faces and angry eyes. Reaper curses, Beast growls, Sniper clenches his fists, Drax grabs at his hair, and the others do different variations of the above actions.
“Beast, Reaper, Romeo, go around back. Drax, Sniper, come with me. The rest of you spread out to make sure no one runs,” I order. Each man nods and moves into position.
Quietly, I try the door and find it unlocked. Stupid decision. Drax and Sniper follows me inside. The sound of a woman humming reaches my ears, and I head towards where the kitchen is. If there’s a woman, there has to be someone else because there’s no way a woman inflicted the damage at the Roadhouse.
Peeking around the corner, I see a small woman making breakfast. She has blonde hair and is swaying her hips to her own humming. I step into the kitchen just as she turns around. When she sees me, she screams and drops a glass plate, shattering it on the ground.
Thundering footsteps come towards us. Drax spins around, gun raised to whoever heads our way. Sniper kneels, his gun pointed toward the thundering sounds.
“Sapphire!” A deep, Scottish voice yells as the girl screams, “Axel!”
“Wolf!” I call out, clicking the safety on the gun and putting it in the back of my jeans. He comes running in the room, sighing when he sees us. I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to see Wolf in my life.
Wolf, completely ignoring us, pushes past me to get to the woman. “God, I thought someone was hurtin’ you,” Wolf says. The woman clings to Wolf’s arms, her eyes darting from me to Drax to Sniper. Wolf circles his arms around her and pulls her into his chest.
“It’s okay, they’re friends; although, I wish they hadnae come in like this,” he growls the last part at us. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sniper and Drax leave the room to tell the men to stand down.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I chuckle. “Sorry, brother. We thought someone was holding you here,” I tell him, and he nods. I look him over. His face is bruised black and blue, he’s shirtless, and there are patches of gauze on his torso and arm.
“Are you okay?” I ask, opting not to hug him because he, even though he ran in here, is leaning on the woman and looks to be in pain.
“Aye. Sapphire took care of me,” he motions to the woman.
“Thank you,” I reach out my hand. She shakes it, then moves back to Wolf’s side. I watch as she whispers something to Wolf, and he nods. They move together, her pointing him to a chair and then moving back to the stove.
Suddenly an idea comes to my mind. “Is Emerald here too?” I ask quickly. Wolf is looking at me one second, then looking at the ground the next. This gives me a moment to study him. His hair is a little wet and pushed back, showing the bruises and cuts on his face. Someone beat the hell out of him.
“Brother, I’m sorry. I- I couldn’t save her,” he says, his voice thick with regret. He drops his head into his hands, his shoulders heaving. Confusion fills me, and I step forward, grabbing his shoulder.
“What are you talking about?” I growl. He shakes his head and looks up at me, tears filling his eyes. The only other time I’ve seen Wolf cry is when his parents died in the same fire as my parents, and when he lost Emerald three years ago.
“Men attacked me at the Roadhouse and knocked me out. When I woke up, I was in a room with my ankles and wrists tied up,” he says, fussing with his hair. “After a while, Snake, the leader of the Hell Riders…. Viper’s twin came in and had a man drag me to another room,” he says. He goes through the entire thing. The torture, seeing Emerald, hearing Emerald’s screams.
Wolf wipes away tears that track down his face. The blonde woman, Sapphire, puts her hand on his arm, and he looks down at her. She gives him a slight smile and stays by his side.
The more he speaks, the angrier I get. My blood boils. My heart stops. Curling my hands into fists, I try not to lash out. I clench my jaw and nod for him to continue. Wolf rubs at his red eyes and sighs again.
“He came back into the room taunting me, telling me how good she was and how feisty. He said that you picked a good one,” he tells me. “I tried to get out of the chains, Hawk, I really did, but I was too weak. I couldn’t help her, and he killed her,” Wolf sobs, dropping his head into his hands.
Sounds stop.
People stop.
My breathing stops.
My heart stops.
Everything stops… until it doesn’t. It all comes rushing back in a second. His words, the meaning, and my anger.
“WHAT!?” I roar. “HE KILLED HER?” I yell, and he nods, gripping his hair and pulling on it. I’ve never seen him this disturbed. I reach out but pull my hand away, not trusting myself to not hurt him.
“I- I felt for her pulse… it wasnae there. She had n-no pulse,” he chokes out. My heart stops. I fall to the floor in front of him, my knees hitting the ground with a loud thud. Pain spears my chest, like a knife thrust into my heart.
Why her? Why did it have to be her? They should’ve taken me. Killed me. Anyone but her.
“She- she’s dead?” I mutter, my voice wobbling, scratchy and uneven. I feel something wet on my cheek, and Wolf looks at me. I don’t bother wiping the tears, hoping they’ll wash away the hurt.
“When he finished with me, his men dumped me on the side of the road,” Wolf tells me. I wait for him to tell me more, but he says nothing, just stares at the counter.
“That’s when I found him,” Sapphire speaks up. Wolf nods and turns his face into her neck, making her blush. She runs her hand through his hair to comfort him, and I turn away. I can’t see them interact. I can’t help but wish that Emerald was here. The sight of them wrecks my heart.
How am I going to tell Reece and Rosaleigh that their mom was murdered? What will I do without her?
“Where is- Where’s her body?” I choke out, making Wolf look at me again. He shrugs his shoulders and rubs at his eyes. S
apphire continues to rub his back. Again, I look away.
“Snake said he was going to ‘dispose of the body’,” he tells me, making my anger spike. Dispose? Like trash? How can anyone treat another human being like trash? I’ve hated some people in my life, but I don’t think I could ever treat them like trash. Although, if I get my hands on Snake, that’s exactly what he’ll be. Trash.
Pushing myself to my feet, I clench and unclench my fists, pacing the kitchen. “Where is his base? Where did he take you?” I ask, swiping at the tears in my eyes. She’s gone. The woman I love is gone. That monster killed my woman.
“I don’t know, he knocked me out on the way there and on the way to dump my body,” he tells me. “Hawk, I’m so sorry,” he tells me.
With a roar, I spin around and ram my fist through the wall. Again, I yell, throwing my fist through the wall again. I hear Sapphire scream, and I notice Wolf move in front of her to protect her. Not that I would hurt her, but he’s got to think of her safety. I can see in his eyes he wants her.
“I didn’t keep her safe.” Sighing, I lean against the wall and slide down. My head drops to my knees, and I sigh, putting my face in my hands. I run my hands through my hair, take deep breaths, and look up. I have to blink several times to get rid of the tears.
“We need to find her body and give her a proper club burial,” I tell him. Wolf nods and holds his hand out to me. I take it, clasping his arm, and letting him help me up. When I’m on my feet, I turn to the girl. “I’m sorry for scaring you and putting holes in your wall,” I apologize, and her eyes widen. She nods and shows me a smile.
Sighing again, I take another breath. “I’ll get a prospect to patch it up when we leave…” I trail off, not knowing what to call her.
“Um, my name is Harley, but for some reason, Axel keeps calling me Sapphire,” she tells me, motioning to Wolf. I nod and speak again.
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