Sweet Revenge (Sinners MC Book 1), page 3
“There’s one more thing.” Dr. Colbert’s voice broke the silence, but filled the room with tension. I flicked my eyes back to his, hoping this was the last thing I had to learn before I could close my eyes again. I was almost sorry now that I had ever opened them.
“What?” I asked quietly.
He closed his eyes briefly before they settled on me once again and squeezed my hand that was still grasped in his. “If you’d like, we can discuss it in private.”
My eyes stayed locked on his even though I heard the door open again and saw flashes of color out of the corner of my eye. There seemed to be movement everywhere, but I still couldn’t look away.
“That’s okay.” I recognized the sympathy in his eyes and knew what he was going to say. “Just say it.”
He squeezed my hand gently again and lowered his voice. “I’m afraid you were violated sexually. Do you remember that?”
“No.” Exhaustion was starting to take over, and I felt my eyelids growing heavy.
“Maggie?” Dr. Colbert called and I lifted my lids.
“Yeah?”
“We did a rape kit as soon as you were brought in, and the detective on the case has been given the results. I’ll let him know that you’re awake, and he can question you.”
“Already done.” Bear’s deep voice brought my attention back to him. I blinked slowly when I saw Gunner standing beside him, his eyes watching me.
Always watching me.
And I let the darkness take me back to the only place I felt any peace at all.
CHAPTER FIVE
GUNNER
“You find anything?”
My eyes locked on Maggie when I answered Bear. “No.” I breathed heavily through my nose before pulling my stare from Maggie and focused on Bear. “But I will.”
Bear ran his hand along his beard. “Where the fuck are they hiding him?”
I put my hands on my hips and shook my head. “Been everywhere, man. Pulled every fucking marker I had owed to me, but nobody knows anything. He just disappeared off the grid.”
Bear dropped his head, his stare pointed at the ground. I glanced back at Maggie. She looked so fucking small in that bed and her face, goddamn, her face was a mess, bruised and swollen. I clenched my fists at my sides and allowed the hate for that bastard to course like fire through my veins.
I felt a hand squeeze my shoulder and tore my eyes from Maggie to once again settle on Bear. “You good?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
He dropped his hand and crossed his arms over his chest. “We’ll find him.”
I only nodded. I would find him, but I had every intention of doing it without the club at my back. They were my brothers, the place I landed when my life exploded years ago, and I knew better than anyone how hard Bear has worked to clean up the club. How hard he’s worked to make it legit so we weren’t always looking over our shoulders and doing shit that only brought more nightmares than most of us already had. I couldn’t sacrifice the club for this. I wouldn’t. This was my fight. A fight that started years ago, and one I had to finish.
And I had to finish it alone.
The door pushed open from behind Bear, and my gaze slid over to watch Luke Dimarco walk through. His stride was relaxed, but his face was filled with absolute rage. He stopped beside Bear and glanced at Maggie before his eyes flicked to mine and stayed.
“How is she?”
“I just got here myself,” I answered.
Bear leaned in to our circle and lowered his voice. “She woke up, but it wasn’t for long, and she seemed really confused.”
“Bear.”
His head shot up, and he scanned the room until his eyes landed on Becs. I followed his stare when she nodded at Maggie whose eyes were once again fluttering open. I breathed deeply and shoved down the wave of emotions threatening to spill over if I allowed them.
Stepping around me and heading toward the bed, Luke pulled a chair close and sat down. He reached out and gently pulled her hand into his, only able to hold her fingers because of the cast that wrapped around her hand and thumb. “Hey, sweetheart. How are you feeling?”
His words were soft, but I heard the venom in his tone. It was easy to recognize something in someone else that I was also feeling.
“Okay,” she said quietly, and her voice made my gut twist.
“Do you feel like talking?” he inquired gently.
Her eyes flicked toward Becs who reached out and laid her hand over Maggie’s, careful of the sling, and smiled sweetly. They’d gotten close, I knew that, but I hadn’t realized just how close until right now when I saw Maggie reach to her for comfort.
“I’ll try.” Maggie answered.
I crossed my arms over my chest and stood next to Bear, bracing for what I may hear, knowing it had the potential to turn me into someone I didn’t want to be.
“Can you tell me what you remember?” Luke asked.
“I, umm, I…” She blushed and looked down toward her lap.
“You were at my wedding?” Luke prompted, and she glanced up, nodding her head slowly. He smiled. “I’m glad you were there. I just wish you’d been sitting with everyone else.”
“I couldn’t.” She moved her head side to side slowly. “I shouldn’t have even done what I did. I put Becs in a bad position.”
“No, you didn’t.” Becs said.
Maggie nodded, but then winced and laid her head back against the pillow. My eyes locked on the white bandage slanted across her forehead, and I growled.
“Easy, brother.” Bear said quietly from beside me.
I gave him a short, abrupt nod, knowing he was right. Right now, I needed to stay in control.
Maggie glanced at Becs. “You could’ve been hurt.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Maggie,” Luke called and gained Maggie’s attention again.
He was frustrated and impatient to get the answers he needed to find Snake and put his ass where he felt it belonged. In prison. I sensed his impatience because I felt it too, but my ideas for Snake’s punishment and Luke Dimarco’s ideas were very different.
“What do you remember from the wedding?”
She pulled her hand from his and rubbed it gently along her temple right near the stark white bandage. “I don’t really remember anything.”
I saw Luke’s jaw clench tightly. “Maggie…”
The door opened behind us, and we both turned our heads to watch two nurses walk through. They rounded us and stood at the foot of the bed, one speaking gently. “Hey sweetie, I hate to interrupt, but the doctor ordered some new tests, and I need to get you ready to go.”
Luke sighed and stood. “I’ll be here when you get back.”
“Okay.” she whispered.
“How about a little privacy, gentlemen?” the nurse asked politely, but sternly.
Bear tipped his chin at Maggie who flicked her eyes our way before turning back toward the nurse. I followed Bear and Luke out into the hallway, closing the door behind me.
“She’s not going to talk.” Luke ran his hand through his hair.
“Not long before you came, the doctor was in, and he asked the same questions. She couldn’t remember.” Bear said.
“That’s what she says.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You don’t believe her?”
Luke put his hands on his hips. “I’ve been through this with her over the past couple of years. The circumstances were different every time, but the results were the same. Every damn time, she clammed up as soon as she’d have to implicate Snake. I got her close a few times, arrested him, but I couldn’t hold him when she’d recant her statement.”
“I get it before,” I said. “She had to go back to him, but she’s safe now. She knows that.”
Luke’s eyebrow lifted. “She’s in the fucking hospital, man. To her, it probably doesn’t feel much different than before.”
The muscles in my back tensed. “You sayin’ we’re not keeping her safe?”
Luke met my stare, and I recognized the regret in his expression. “I’m saying, we all made a promise to her, and she’s back in the fucking hospital.”
“She doesn’t trust us.” Bear acknowledged.
“Far as I can tell, she doesn’t trust anyone.” Luke frowned.
“She trusts Becs.” I offered.
“I’m not putting my sister in the middle of this. Mainly because she’s my sister, but you know Race will cause a lot of shit if he thinks she’s in any danger.”
I smirked because it was true. We’d all watched Race and Becs dance around each other for years. One of these days, that shit was going to blow up.
The door to Maggie’s room swung open, and one of the nurses held it while the other nurse pushed Maggie’s bed through the opening. The nurse stopped moving right outside her room and went back in, leaving Maggie in the hallway with us. Luke and Bear were leaning against the wall, speaking quietly to each other when I walked over to the side of her bed.
I leaned in close. “We will find him.”
She closed her eyes slowly before she let them flutter open, and whispered, “Nothing touches Snake.”
I leaned my forearms against the rail on the side of her bed, putting my face closer to hers. She swallowed hard but met my eyes. “Those days for Snake ended when he made me a liar.”
She looked confused. “I don’t understand.”
My eyes flicked back and forth between hers. “I promised to protect you, and I failed. That won’t happen again.”
She moved her head slightly, almost like she wanted to deny what I was saying, but then winced from the pain. I felt my anger rising again. “I chose to leave. That was my fault.”
“None of this is your fault, Maggie.” She looked away, but I continued. “And I promise you that very soon, you’ll have the freedom to come and go when you want to.”
She blinked slowly. “I don’t believe in promises.”
I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “You will.”
“Are you ready, Maggie?”
I looked up and saw the nurse once again positioned at the head of the bed, and I stood when Maggie said yes quietly. I didn’t say more. Words were pointless to a woman who had lived through what Maggie had, and I knew nothing I said would hold any weight. The nurse pushed her past us, and Bear followed Luke to once again stand with me in the center of the hallway.
“I need to take off.” Bear looked my way. “You stayin’ here, brother?”
I nodded. “I’ll stay while she talks to Luke.”
He slapped his hand against the back of my shoulder. “We’ll find him, and when we do, we’ll take him down.”
We’d find him, and when we did, I would not only take him down, but I also planned to take down the whole fucking club.
CHAPTER SIX
GUNNER
I pushed through the door to the clubhouse, not surprised when I heard the music pounding through the room. It was Friday night, and the boys were rowdy after a long week of work. This was the benefit to having a bar in our clubhouse—a place to unwind, to hang out with good people, and to just let the rest of the world disappear. This was the club life Bear wanted to give everyone, and he was doing it.
But this shit with Snake and the Widows was going to change that.
Moving toward the bar, I tapped the top to get Skinner’s attention, one of the prospects, who was bartending. We’d been getting more and more prospects lately, a lot who’d done their time in the military and were looking for a place to belong, a place where they could be with a lot of people like themselves. They were all young and rowdy, but hell, so was most of our club. We had a few older members who’d stayed after Bear announced the changes he planned to make, but we also lost a good bit. The old members who’d been around when club life was a little rougher weren’t interested in a club that wanted to get clean and stay clean, so Bear told them they were all free to go with the promise of no retribution.
And we started building a brand new type of club.
“What’d ya need, Gunner?”
I grinned at the kid who had one eye on me and one on the blonde leaning over the bar with her tits practically hanging out. They would be by the end of the night.
“Give me a bottle.”
He nodded and moved down the bar to grab a beer. I didn’t care what kind it was; I just needed something to take the edge off. He handed me the bottle across the bar, and I put it to my lips, taking a long drink. Leaning my back against the bar top, I scanned the room, my eyes pausing on Bear who was talking to Bull across the room.
Bull was one of the original members and had been on the fence about staying when offered the chance to leave, but something made him stay. I wanted to think he stayed because he liked the direction we were taking the club, but Bull was a little rough around the edges. He didn’t mind doing the dirty work, the shit no one else wanted to do but would if they had to. He was all in when we brought up the idea of bringing down the Black Widows, but he wanted to do it fast and dirty, and we knew we couldn’t. That kind of impulsivity would end this club before it even had a chance to take off. Bear kept a close eye on him because he had a quick trigger and that could bring us shit we didn’t need. Especially now.
“Hey, Gunner.”
I glanced to my right when I felt a soft body push in tight against my side. “Candy.”
“You haven’t been around much.”
She lowered her lashes and moved her lips into a pout, and not for the first time, I regretted ever fucking around with her. She made no effort to hide the fact that she wanted to be in the club and on the arm of one of the guys—most recently me. I should’ve avoided her, but I fucked up. She got me when I was at a low point and needed some mindless fucking, but she hadn’t left me alone since.
That was well over a year ago.
“Nope.” I answered, trying not to be an asshole, but I wasn’t in the mood for her fake shit tonight.
She laid her hand on my chest, but I reached up and removed it. “Not gonna happen.”
She stuck out her bottom lip even farther. “We had fun last time, baby. Don’t you miss me?”
“That was a long time ago. You need to find someone else.”
She pushed her tits right up against my arm. “But I don’t want anyone else. I want you and your big cock.”
I dropped my head and stared at my shoes. She was really pulling out all the stops tonight. It was time to end this for good. Maggie would be home tomorrow, and I didn’t need her to see Candy anywhere near me and get the wrong idea. I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly before I turned to face her. I leaned down and saw her smirk, probably assuming she was going to get what she wanted. “I am never going to fuck you again. It’s not a game, and I’m not trying to make you work for it. It’s never going to happen.” She lifted her chin, her expression angry. “There are a lot of prospects here and members who I’m sure would be all too willing to give you what you need, so find one of them and leave me the fuck alone.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. She was pissed, but I’d tried the nice way in the past and she hadn’t gotten it. “Are we clear?”
She nodded and moved to step away, but I grabbed her arm. “And you better not cause any shit because of this, or you’re out. And I mean out for good.”
She nodded again, but this time she looked like she got it, and I dropped my hand. She made her way across the room and instantly attached herself to one of the new prospects.
“She get the hint?”
I turned my head to see Ritz leaning against the bar beside me and smirked. “I fucking hope so.”
He took a drink from his bottle. “Warned you, brother.”
He had warned me; I just hadn’t listened. “Fuck you, man,” I said without any real heat, looking back across the bar.
He chuckled. “When’s your girl coming home?”
I grinned and looked down at the bottle in my hand. “Tomorrow.”
“She know she’s your girl yet?”
I ignored the teasing, knowing Ritz well. “She will.”
He pushed off the bar and scanned the room before smirking in my direction. “I see someone who wants to be my girl for tonight.”
I chuckled and watched him move across the room toward the pool table and the brunette currently lining up her shot. He leaned down and whispered something in her ear that made her stand and face him. I shook my head when he lifted her up to sit on the edge of the table and moved to stand between her legs.
Tonight was gonna get rowdy.
Pushing off the bar, I headed across the room when I saw Race walk through the side door. I hadn’t seen him much lately and figured it’d be a good idea to check in. He jerked his chin up when he saw me.
“Where you been?”
“Working.”
Race worked construction and had just recently started at Dimarco Construction. Two of Luke’s brothers had taken over the company their father started years ago and recently started hiring. Race said the pay made it too good to pass up.
“Everyday?” I asked a little suspiciously.
He scratched the back of his neck. “Actually, yeah. The only day I had off last week was Sunday, same with this week.”
I frowned. “They requiring that?”
“Nah.” He shook his head. “They asked who wanted overtime with overtime pay, and I signed up. They’re building that new development and putting in a ton of hours. Thought it couldn’t hurt to help out.”
I put the bottle to my lips and tilted my head back, finishing the last swallow. “The overtime pay doesn’t hurt either.”
He smirked. “No, it sure as hell doesn’t.”
“You savin’ up for something?”
He put his hands on his hips and nodded at Bull who passed us and punched him in the shoulder. “I have my eye on a piece of ground.”
My eyes widened in surprise. Race had a room in the clubhouse and had lived here since he joined a few years ago. I’d never even heard him talk about getting a place of his own. “Tired of the club?”
