The Rules We Break (The Alphaletes Book 4), page 26
“She’s awake.”
A rush of fear clenches my stomach, forcing me to hold my breath as the man disappears from the doorway, and a new man appears in his place, shutting the door behind him. It’s a familiar man, one who I never thought I’d see again. Or at least, I hoped I never would.
It’s funny, being with someone for years who you think you know inside and out, until one day you wake up beside them and have no clue who you’re asleep next to, or what they are capable of.
He looks different. It’s only been about nine months, but in that time, he looks older, more haggard. He looks every bit the biker Prez that he is, and I spot more than a few new tattoo pieces crawling up his neck apart from the required snake tattoo that is reserved for the column of the neck right over his Adam’s apple.
The fear I have for this man isn’t for him solely. It’s for what he’s capable of, for what I feared he would do if he ever found me. I never in my wildest dreams thought that if he did find me and catch me, that he would give me the adoring smile he is right now.
“Hey, firecracker. It’s been a while,” he says, a soft lilt to his voice as he looks at me like I’m a daydream come true.
I do my best to hide my surprise and confusion. If he wants to be pleasant, I’ll play his game until I can figure out how the hell to get out of here.
“Yeah, Alec. How are you?”
“Better now,” he says as he takes several steps toward me before reaching out his hand, running his fingers over my face. I wince when he touches my upper cheek, and a thunderous look crosses his face when he inspects the blood on his fingers.
Fuck, when that guy punched me, he must have split me open. Fucker.
“Don’t worry, firecracker. I’ll kill him before the night is up.”
“Didn’t you want this, though?” I can’t help but ask.
He frowns and shakes his head as he pushes some of my hair out of my face, running his fingers through it like I used to love. Now the motion sends a chill down my spine.
“I never told them to hurt you. I told them to bring you back to me, but not to harm you.”
“Yeah, well, the blood dripping down my shoulder doesn’t reflect that,” I snark.
I can tell he wants to smile at my sass. He always told me it’s why he called me a firecracker because I was small and snappy. It was always his favorite.
“I’m so sorry, baby. Do you want to kill him?”
For a moment, I almost think I see the Alec I fell in love with. But the way his eyes spark to life when he says the word kill tells me he’s so far gone from that person. I mull over his offer though, if I was going to kill this guy, he’d give me a weapon. A weapon I could use to get out of here.
“Sure. Can you cut me loose?” I ask as I wiggle at my restraints.
He smiles sweetly at me as he shakes his head.
“Not yet. My men told me you were a little violent, and I know you don’t cool down that easily. Besides, I haven’t forgotten how you left me.”
Shit. This is not a good direction.
“Why would you do that, firecracker? We were so happy. We were going to get married, have a baby. Why would you leave?” he asks, his voice becoming more manic with every word.
“I didn’t think you missed me. I heard you were fucking Britt after I left. Where is she at?”
That earns me a slap across the face, of course, right across the open cut that has my eyes watering and my teeth sinking into my lip as I bite back my squeal.
“Don’t you dare speak to me like that,” he says, pointing his finger in my face and truly showcasing how fucking insane he’s become.
“She was nothing but a whore to get lost in while I tried to find you. I knew you hated Seattle. I didn’t think there was a chance in hell that you’d come back here. But then when I found out your dad had leased a new condo without selling his house, I knew it had to be for you.”
I nod more to myself than anything as I confirm what I’ve honestly suspected from the beginning but didn’t want to admit.
“So, you’re behind the break-in?”
He shrugs. “It was Pyro’s men. He was gracious enough to send a few over while I handled some business in Santa Fe. Gotta say, I’m more than a little surprised that didn’t send you running home to me,” he says as he runs a hand through his greasy black hair.
I don’t speak as he continues, a dangerous glint in his eye as he watches me.
“Then again, I guess you didn’t need to when you found a cushy place to stay at the football player’s house.”
The mention of Trevor on his lips has fear running through me. Of course he already knows everything about Trevor. He knows that we’ve been together for a while, and he probably already has men after him as we speak. Dear God, I hope he came back to the house and ran like hell. If they find him…I can’t even stomach thinking about it.
Alec’s fingers dance down my neck before wrapping around it, squeezing tightly enough to show he holds all the power but not so much that I can’t breathe.
“That hurt my feelings a lot when I saw the pictures of you two together.”
“What pictures?” I ask evenly.
He smiles and shakes his head.
“C’mon, firecracker. You’re smarter than that. You think I would have my men take you out of nowhere without assessing my surroundings? I didn’t even step foot in Washington until I knew all about Trevor Michaels or Erica Caldwell, Sebastian Caldwell, Slater and Scarlett Santos, and Declan and Vi Daniels. Even the Caldwells’ cute twins, Daphne and Rosalie. They seem to have taken a liking to you. I always knew you were going to make a great mother.”
I do my best not to let my panic show as I keep my breathing even.
“I get it, Alec. You’ve been watching me. I’m sorry I left. I was scared. You hurt me,” I say, straining to put extra emotion into my sentence.
I have a better chance of appealing to him if I tell him I was scared to be hurt than sick of his psychotic, sociopathic bullshit and him beating the living hell out of me was the last straw. His weakness is me. It always has been. Even after he beat me and came down from his high, he couldn’t look at me for days, shame twisting him inside out. I think he truly loves me. I just think this lifestyle combined with the meth has finally gotten to him.
He winces at my words as he brings his forehead to my own, sliding his hand from my throat to the back of my neck to keep me in place.
“I know. I’m so sorry, firecracker. But I won’t hurt you again. You’re always safe with me. You know that, right?” he practically begs.
God, he’s so fucking off his rocker.
“Yeah, baby. I know,” I say as I close my eyes like I’m fighting back the tears. “When can we go home? I just want to go home,” I say as I nuzzle my head into the crook of his neck.
He latches onto the bait like a fish on a hook. He pulls away, angling my head up slightly before crushing his lips to mine. The foul taste of cheap whiskey, cigarettes, and bad breath invade my mouth, and it takes everything in me not to puke. But I put on a show, act like I’ve never enjoyed anything more as he pulls away.
“Soon. I just need to tie up some loose ends first.”
With that, he walks out the door, shutting it behind him and plunging me back into the darkness of the room. I try to wiggle my hands free, but it’s no use. Whoever tied me up did a good fucking job. Too good. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Trevor obviously made it home by now—he had to have. He will have, no doubt, walked in on what looks more like a warzone than his living room. I tried. I fought with everything I had, and it wasn’t enough. Now he has me and a deep vile feeling sinks into my stomach as to what my fate has become, what lies in wait for me.
Sage
Idon’t know how much time passes before the door opens up once more, a new face I haven’t seen yet stepping inside. He’s a younger guy, probably around my age if not a little younger. The prospect patch on his vest clues me in immediately to what his place is here.
“You a prospect for Seattle or Santa Fe?” I ask.
He looks surprised that I’m willingly talking to him before he answers.
“Seattle.”
I nod like I’m interested. “What’s your name?”
“Chris.”
“I’m Sage,” I say with a soft bat of my eyelashes that seems to hook him instantly.
His eyes can hardly leave mine as I continue.
“You know you’re too cute to be hanging around these guys.”
A crooked smile spreads across his face before he ducks his head and rubs the back of his neck nervously. My god, the kid is practically a child. There is no way he’ll ever get patched in.
“Yeah?” he asks with that smile as he takes a few steps toward me.
I bite the inside of my lower lip as I let my eyes roam over him in what seems like appraisal.
“Mhmm. Do they take care of you? As well as they can for a prospect?” I ask, arching my back just barely, his eyes snapping to my pushed-out chest as he swallows.
“Sure. Yeah,” he says over another swallow as he glances to the open doorway behind him.
I nod before looking down at my feet and back up underneath my eyelashes.
“All of your needs?”
The husky lull of my voice seems to be just what he needed to hear as I watch him adjust his stance and tuck his hardening dick to the side. He takes another step toward me, I think subconsciously before he gets a little braver, bracing his hands on either side of my chair as he leans down face to face with me.
“Why, you offering?”
I feign a shy smile before looking up at him, letting my lips hover over his as I speak.
“Definitely. Want to free up my hands so I can put them to better use? I promise you won’t be disappointed.”
He curses under his breath before looking over his shoulder once more and nodding.
“We gotta be quick,” he says, as he reaches behind the chair and grabs the rope.
Excitement runs through me. I can’t believe he is actually falling for it. I can practically feel the adrenaline buzzing through my veins as I map out my next move. Once he’s undone my hands, I just need to take him down long enough to take off the rope around my feet and get the hell out of here.
When I feel the sharp fraying of the rope freed from my wrists, I let out a steady breath when he grips the back of my head, holding it in place as he begins undoing his pants. Before I can even make my move, though, he’s being ripped away from me, his grip on my hair falling instantly as a heaving Alec stands over him. He rains down punch after punch on the kid, and I know this is the only shot I have.
My hands scramble to my feet, desperately untying the knot as fast as possible as the sound of flesh beating flesh echoes through the musty, dark room. I feel my heart thundering so loudly I’m not sure if I’m hearing my heartbeat or Alec’s fists.
When the rope falls loosely around my ankles, I could cry in relief as I stand and dart forward. Unfortunately I only make it a few feet before a searing hot pain rips through my skull, yanking me backward before I land on the floor with a loud smack.
Alec’s grip tightens, and I feel my scalp burning as he drags me across the room until I’m lying next to the bleeding, unmoving prospect. Fuck. He’s dead.
“You fucking WHORE!” Alec roars into my face. “You think you can leave me? You think you can run from me? Not again! You are fucking MINE!”
The steel boot that drives into my stomach takes me by surprise, knocking the wind out of me as he repeats the move again and again before I feel the solid connection of his fist to my cheek. I see stars as he continues again and again, the sound of his consistent hits becoming a dull melody as my vision dulls, and the world around me turns black.
A sharp sting across my face rouses me. I blink hard for several seconds, struggling to open my eyes as a thick liquid cakes my eyelashes.
“Wake up, bitch,” Alec’s low voice sneers.
I can hardly react as pain radiates from head to toe as Alec moves behind me where I’m apparently sitting in a chair once more. I hear the flick of his blade before it slices through the rope tying my hands together.
“Wake up. We’re leaving. Now,” he says, freeing my feet next before forcing me to stand.
I do my best to go with him, but I crumble almost instantly. Goddamn it. I think that motherfucker broke my ribs.
“Get up! Hurry, Sage!” Alec practically roars.
“Ribs,” I wheeze.
Understanding passes over his face before he rolls his eyes and tosses me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I whimper at the impact it has on my already burning ribs as he smacks my ass.
“Shut the fuck up and keep quiet. They’re here.”
“Who?” I rasp, my mind foggy and whirling as I try to make sense of his words.
“Your little ball-playing boytoy and his friends. Don’t worry, baby. They won’t be leaving here alive.”
Trevor
“This is fucking stupid,” Declan says again. “The police are on their way. We know where they are, we will follow them if they leave. We can’t go in there guns blazing!”
“Why the fuck not?” I snap.
“Well, for starters, we only have two guns?” he fires back. “And I don’t know about Seb, but mine is for self-defense only. I don’t particularly want to seek out murdering people tonight. Jail doesn’t sound like a good time to me.”
It took Declan’s contact almost three hours to get back to him with an address. Three fucking hours. We were already in the car, and we arrived at this piece of shit shack house in less than fifteen minutes. Apparently it’s a safe house for the Snakebacks MC.
I’ve never felt so out of control than I have in these last three hours. I feel like the whole world is caving in on me and I can’t fucking sit and wait any longer. If Declan wants to be a little bitch and wait for the police, he can do that. But it isn’t his entire life that was taken and having god knows what done to her in that house.
“Fuck it. Fine. Be a pussy, stay here. I’m going to get my girl,” I say as I practically kick the door open before slamming it shut.
I walk around the side of the car to find Sebastian doing the same. I open my mouth to question him when he grips my shoulder.
“I got you.”
Seb doesn’t say much, even when he didn’t hate my guts. He doesn’t have to, though, for people to know what he means. I give him a thankful nod as two other car doors open and close. Declan and Slater stand behind me, though the former is still shaking his head like this is a bad idea, before we creep up to the side of the house. There is only a van and two bikes parked out front so there can’t be too many guys here. Six at most.
On the front porch, two guys are smoking cigarettes and bullshitting about fuck knows what. Seb and I look at each other before nodding as we climb up the side of the porch. As soon as our feet hit the wood, the two goons’ eyes shift to us. I grab the first guy, driving my fist into his jaw as Seb grabs the other in a sleeper hold almost immediately.
The guy tries to fight against Seb, but he has almost a solid foot on him, and in his current position, he’s basically incapacitated. Meanwhile, my guy throws a punch that I barely miss before I deliver one to his ribs. He groans out and reaches for what I’m assuming is a gun in the back of his pants when Slater comes out of nowhere, tackling him like a defensive lineman before wrangling him for the gun. Slater takes the gun and pistol whips the guy, effectively knocking him out before standing up.
He smiles at me pridefully as he admires the gun.
“I’ve always wanted to try that.”
We look over to see Sebastian waiting for us, his guy already passed out at his feet. Forgot we had a trailer park scrapper on our side. Declan is standing at the end of the stairs, looking toward the street, no doubt waiting for police that I swear to God are not coming before he nods defeatedly and gestures toward the door.
The guys all hold their guns at the ready, because who the fuck knows what’s on the other side of that door. I’m the only one unarmed but that’s okay. The amount of fucking fury I have right now is enough to hold my own against anyone who crosses my path.
Seb throws the door open going left, while Slater goes right, and Declan comes up the middle. Three guys are sitting in the living room on the couch watching TV when their eyes swing to us. One of the guys reaches for his gun on the table, but Sebastian is faster. He slaps the gun to the other side of the room before driving his elbow into the guy’s temple.
Meanwhile, Slater ends up in a fistfight with the guy in the La-Z-Boy chair as Declan pins the last guy to the ground, driving his meaty fists into him over and over again. Fucking hell. Who knew my friends were such badasses.
Grabbing the gun Sebastian pushed away, I glance at it to make sure the safety is off. I’ve only shot guns once at a range when I was a teenager, and I’ll be honest, I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing, but I figure it’s better to at least hold it than to walk deeper into the house empty-handed.
I check each room quickly, coming up empty with every one. I’m starting to think she’s not here when I see a figure running toward the backyard, a body over their shoulder. My heart seizes in my chest at that.
Sage.
“Hey!” I roar, causing who I assume to be Alec to look over his shoulder at me.
He pulls out a gun from his side and begins shooting aimlessly. Sage’s head pops up, eyes full of terror as she screams.
“NO! RUN, TREV! RUN!”
I duck into a side room as I hear Alec fire off six shots before they stop. I’m hoping that means he’s out of bullets for now, so I dip back into the hallway to find it empty and the back door open. I tear through the old house, running out into the cool night air to find Sage and Alec fighting.
Sage kicks the side of his knee, causing him to stumble as he goes down. He grabs a fistful of her hair as he does, and they end up in the grass, his hands around her throat.
I run at him at full speed. I may not be a two-hundred-plus-pound linebacker like Declan, but I might as well be with how hard I hit Alec. He falls off Sage as we end up in a tangle. I throw a punch at him that lands then he delivers one right back at me, before he manages his way on top of me.
A rush of fear clenches my stomach, forcing me to hold my breath as the man disappears from the doorway, and a new man appears in his place, shutting the door behind him. It’s a familiar man, one who I never thought I’d see again. Or at least, I hoped I never would.
It’s funny, being with someone for years who you think you know inside and out, until one day you wake up beside them and have no clue who you’re asleep next to, or what they are capable of.
He looks different. It’s only been about nine months, but in that time, he looks older, more haggard. He looks every bit the biker Prez that he is, and I spot more than a few new tattoo pieces crawling up his neck apart from the required snake tattoo that is reserved for the column of the neck right over his Adam’s apple.
The fear I have for this man isn’t for him solely. It’s for what he’s capable of, for what I feared he would do if he ever found me. I never in my wildest dreams thought that if he did find me and catch me, that he would give me the adoring smile he is right now.
“Hey, firecracker. It’s been a while,” he says, a soft lilt to his voice as he looks at me like I’m a daydream come true.
I do my best to hide my surprise and confusion. If he wants to be pleasant, I’ll play his game until I can figure out how the hell to get out of here.
“Yeah, Alec. How are you?”
“Better now,” he says as he takes several steps toward me before reaching out his hand, running his fingers over my face. I wince when he touches my upper cheek, and a thunderous look crosses his face when he inspects the blood on his fingers.
Fuck, when that guy punched me, he must have split me open. Fucker.
“Don’t worry, firecracker. I’ll kill him before the night is up.”
“Didn’t you want this, though?” I can’t help but ask.
He frowns and shakes his head as he pushes some of my hair out of my face, running his fingers through it like I used to love. Now the motion sends a chill down my spine.
“I never told them to hurt you. I told them to bring you back to me, but not to harm you.”
“Yeah, well, the blood dripping down my shoulder doesn’t reflect that,” I snark.
I can tell he wants to smile at my sass. He always told me it’s why he called me a firecracker because I was small and snappy. It was always his favorite.
“I’m so sorry, baby. Do you want to kill him?”
For a moment, I almost think I see the Alec I fell in love with. But the way his eyes spark to life when he says the word kill tells me he’s so far gone from that person. I mull over his offer though, if I was going to kill this guy, he’d give me a weapon. A weapon I could use to get out of here.
“Sure. Can you cut me loose?” I ask as I wiggle at my restraints.
He smiles sweetly at me as he shakes his head.
“Not yet. My men told me you were a little violent, and I know you don’t cool down that easily. Besides, I haven’t forgotten how you left me.”
Shit. This is not a good direction.
“Why would you do that, firecracker? We were so happy. We were going to get married, have a baby. Why would you leave?” he asks, his voice becoming more manic with every word.
“I didn’t think you missed me. I heard you were fucking Britt after I left. Where is she at?”
That earns me a slap across the face, of course, right across the open cut that has my eyes watering and my teeth sinking into my lip as I bite back my squeal.
“Don’t you dare speak to me like that,” he says, pointing his finger in my face and truly showcasing how fucking insane he’s become.
“She was nothing but a whore to get lost in while I tried to find you. I knew you hated Seattle. I didn’t think there was a chance in hell that you’d come back here. But then when I found out your dad had leased a new condo without selling his house, I knew it had to be for you.”
I nod more to myself than anything as I confirm what I’ve honestly suspected from the beginning but didn’t want to admit.
“So, you’re behind the break-in?”
He shrugs. “It was Pyro’s men. He was gracious enough to send a few over while I handled some business in Santa Fe. Gotta say, I’m more than a little surprised that didn’t send you running home to me,” he says as he runs a hand through his greasy black hair.
I don’t speak as he continues, a dangerous glint in his eye as he watches me.
“Then again, I guess you didn’t need to when you found a cushy place to stay at the football player’s house.”
The mention of Trevor on his lips has fear running through me. Of course he already knows everything about Trevor. He knows that we’ve been together for a while, and he probably already has men after him as we speak. Dear God, I hope he came back to the house and ran like hell. If they find him…I can’t even stomach thinking about it.
Alec’s fingers dance down my neck before wrapping around it, squeezing tightly enough to show he holds all the power but not so much that I can’t breathe.
“That hurt my feelings a lot when I saw the pictures of you two together.”
“What pictures?” I ask evenly.
He smiles and shakes his head.
“C’mon, firecracker. You’re smarter than that. You think I would have my men take you out of nowhere without assessing my surroundings? I didn’t even step foot in Washington until I knew all about Trevor Michaels or Erica Caldwell, Sebastian Caldwell, Slater and Scarlett Santos, and Declan and Vi Daniels. Even the Caldwells’ cute twins, Daphne and Rosalie. They seem to have taken a liking to you. I always knew you were going to make a great mother.”
I do my best not to let my panic show as I keep my breathing even.
“I get it, Alec. You’ve been watching me. I’m sorry I left. I was scared. You hurt me,” I say, straining to put extra emotion into my sentence.
I have a better chance of appealing to him if I tell him I was scared to be hurt than sick of his psychotic, sociopathic bullshit and him beating the living hell out of me was the last straw. His weakness is me. It always has been. Even after he beat me and came down from his high, he couldn’t look at me for days, shame twisting him inside out. I think he truly loves me. I just think this lifestyle combined with the meth has finally gotten to him.
He winces at my words as he brings his forehead to my own, sliding his hand from my throat to the back of my neck to keep me in place.
“I know. I’m so sorry, firecracker. But I won’t hurt you again. You’re always safe with me. You know that, right?” he practically begs.
God, he’s so fucking off his rocker.
“Yeah, baby. I know,” I say as I close my eyes like I’m fighting back the tears. “When can we go home? I just want to go home,” I say as I nuzzle my head into the crook of his neck.
He latches onto the bait like a fish on a hook. He pulls away, angling my head up slightly before crushing his lips to mine. The foul taste of cheap whiskey, cigarettes, and bad breath invade my mouth, and it takes everything in me not to puke. But I put on a show, act like I’ve never enjoyed anything more as he pulls away.
“Soon. I just need to tie up some loose ends first.”
With that, he walks out the door, shutting it behind him and plunging me back into the darkness of the room. I try to wiggle my hands free, but it’s no use. Whoever tied me up did a good fucking job. Too good. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Trevor obviously made it home by now—he had to have. He will have, no doubt, walked in on what looks more like a warzone than his living room. I tried. I fought with everything I had, and it wasn’t enough. Now he has me and a deep vile feeling sinks into my stomach as to what my fate has become, what lies in wait for me.
Sage
Idon’t know how much time passes before the door opens up once more, a new face I haven’t seen yet stepping inside. He’s a younger guy, probably around my age if not a little younger. The prospect patch on his vest clues me in immediately to what his place is here.
“You a prospect for Seattle or Santa Fe?” I ask.
He looks surprised that I’m willingly talking to him before he answers.
“Seattle.”
I nod like I’m interested. “What’s your name?”
“Chris.”
“I’m Sage,” I say with a soft bat of my eyelashes that seems to hook him instantly.
His eyes can hardly leave mine as I continue.
“You know you’re too cute to be hanging around these guys.”
A crooked smile spreads across his face before he ducks his head and rubs the back of his neck nervously. My god, the kid is practically a child. There is no way he’ll ever get patched in.
“Yeah?” he asks with that smile as he takes a few steps toward me.
I bite the inside of my lower lip as I let my eyes roam over him in what seems like appraisal.
“Mhmm. Do they take care of you? As well as they can for a prospect?” I ask, arching my back just barely, his eyes snapping to my pushed-out chest as he swallows.
“Sure. Yeah,” he says over another swallow as he glances to the open doorway behind him.
I nod before looking down at my feet and back up underneath my eyelashes.
“All of your needs?”
The husky lull of my voice seems to be just what he needed to hear as I watch him adjust his stance and tuck his hardening dick to the side. He takes another step toward me, I think subconsciously before he gets a little braver, bracing his hands on either side of my chair as he leans down face to face with me.
“Why, you offering?”
I feign a shy smile before looking up at him, letting my lips hover over his as I speak.
“Definitely. Want to free up my hands so I can put them to better use? I promise you won’t be disappointed.”
He curses under his breath before looking over his shoulder once more and nodding.
“We gotta be quick,” he says, as he reaches behind the chair and grabs the rope.
Excitement runs through me. I can’t believe he is actually falling for it. I can practically feel the adrenaline buzzing through my veins as I map out my next move. Once he’s undone my hands, I just need to take him down long enough to take off the rope around my feet and get the hell out of here.
When I feel the sharp fraying of the rope freed from my wrists, I let out a steady breath when he grips the back of my head, holding it in place as he begins undoing his pants. Before I can even make my move, though, he’s being ripped away from me, his grip on my hair falling instantly as a heaving Alec stands over him. He rains down punch after punch on the kid, and I know this is the only shot I have.
My hands scramble to my feet, desperately untying the knot as fast as possible as the sound of flesh beating flesh echoes through the musty, dark room. I feel my heart thundering so loudly I’m not sure if I’m hearing my heartbeat or Alec’s fists.
When the rope falls loosely around my ankles, I could cry in relief as I stand and dart forward. Unfortunately I only make it a few feet before a searing hot pain rips through my skull, yanking me backward before I land on the floor with a loud smack.
Alec’s grip tightens, and I feel my scalp burning as he drags me across the room until I’m lying next to the bleeding, unmoving prospect. Fuck. He’s dead.
“You fucking WHORE!” Alec roars into my face. “You think you can leave me? You think you can run from me? Not again! You are fucking MINE!”
The steel boot that drives into my stomach takes me by surprise, knocking the wind out of me as he repeats the move again and again before I feel the solid connection of his fist to my cheek. I see stars as he continues again and again, the sound of his consistent hits becoming a dull melody as my vision dulls, and the world around me turns black.
A sharp sting across my face rouses me. I blink hard for several seconds, struggling to open my eyes as a thick liquid cakes my eyelashes.
“Wake up, bitch,” Alec’s low voice sneers.
I can hardly react as pain radiates from head to toe as Alec moves behind me where I’m apparently sitting in a chair once more. I hear the flick of his blade before it slices through the rope tying my hands together.
“Wake up. We’re leaving. Now,” he says, freeing my feet next before forcing me to stand.
I do my best to go with him, but I crumble almost instantly. Goddamn it. I think that motherfucker broke my ribs.
“Get up! Hurry, Sage!” Alec practically roars.
“Ribs,” I wheeze.
Understanding passes over his face before he rolls his eyes and tosses me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I whimper at the impact it has on my already burning ribs as he smacks my ass.
“Shut the fuck up and keep quiet. They’re here.”
“Who?” I rasp, my mind foggy and whirling as I try to make sense of his words.
“Your little ball-playing boytoy and his friends. Don’t worry, baby. They won’t be leaving here alive.”
Trevor
“This is fucking stupid,” Declan says again. “The police are on their way. We know where they are, we will follow them if they leave. We can’t go in there guns blazing!”
“Why the fuck not?” I snap.
“Well, for starters, we only have two guns?” he fires back. “And I don’t know about Seb, but mine is for self-defense only. I don’t particularly want to seek out murdering people tonight. Jail doesn’t sound like a good time to me.”
It took Declan’s contact almost three hours to get back to him with an address. Three fucking hours. We were already in the car, and we arrived at this piece of shit shack house in less than fifteen minutes. Apparently it’s a safe house for the Snakebacks MC.
I’ve never felt so out of control than I have in these last three hours. I feel like the whole world is caving in on me and I can’t fucking sit and wait any longer. If Declan wants to be a little bitch and wait for the police, he can do that. But it isn’t his entire life that was taken and having god knows what done to her in that house.
“Fuck it. Fine. Be a pussy, stay here. I’m going to get my girl,” I say as I practically kick the door open before slamming it shut.
I walk around the side of the car to find Sebastian doing the same. I open my mouth to question him when he grips my shoulder.
“I got you.”
Seb doesn’t say much, even when he didn’t hate my guts. He doesn’t have to, though, for people to know what he means. I give him a thankful nod as two other car doors open and close. Declan and Slater stand behind me, though the former is still shaking his head like this is a bad idea, before we creep up to the side of the house. There is only a van and two bikes parked out front so there can’t be too many guys here. Six at most.
On the front porch, two guys are smoking cigarettes and bullshitting about fuck knows what. Seb and I look at each other before nodding as we climb up the side of the porch. As soon as our feet hit the wood, the two goons’ eyes shift to us. I grab the first guy, driving my fist into his jaw as Seb grabs the other in a sleeper hold almost immediately.
The guy tries to fight against Seb, but he has almost a solid foot on him, and in his current position, he’s basically incapacitated. Meanwhile, my guy throws a punch that I barely miss before I deliver one to his ribs. He groans out and reaches for what I’m assuming is a gun in the back of his pants when Slater comes out of nowhere, tackling him like a defensive lineman before wrangling him for the gun. Slater takes the gun and pistol whips the guy, effectively knocking him out before standing up.
He smiles at me pridefully as he admires the gun.
“I’ve always wanted to try that.”
We look over to see Sebastian waiting for us, his guy already passed out at his feet. Forgot we had a trailer park scrapper on our side. Declan is standing at the end of the stairs, looking toward the street, no doubt waiting for police that I swear to God are not coming before he nods defeatedly and gestures toward the door.
The guys all hold their guns at the ready, because who the fuck knows what’s on the other side of that door. I’m the only one unarmed but that’s okay. The amount of fucking fury I have right now is enough to hold my own against anyone who crosses my path.
Seb throws the door open going left, while Slater goes right, and Declan comes up the middle. Three guys are sitting in the living room on the couch watching TV when their eyes swing to us. One of the guys reaches for his gun on the table, but Sebastian is faster. He slaps the gun to the other side of the room before driving his elbow into the guy’s temple.
Meanwhile, Slater ends up in a fistfight with the guy in the La-Z-Boy chair as Declan pins the last guy to the ground, driving his meaty fists into him over and over again. Fucking hell. Who knew my friends were such badasses.
Grabbing the gun Sebastian pushed away, I glance at it to make sure the safety is off. I’ve only shot guns once at a range when I was a teenager, and I’ll be honest, I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing, but I figure it’s better to at least hold it than to walk deeper into the house empty-handed.
I check each room quickly, coming up empty with every one. I’m starting to think she’s not here when I see a figure running toward the backyard, a body over their shoulder. My heart seizes in my chest at that.
Sage.
“Hey!” I roar, causing who I assume to be Alec to look over his shoulder at me.
He pulls out a gun from his side and begins shooting aimlessly. Sage’s head pops up, eyes full of terror as she screams.
“NO! RUN, TREV! RUN!”
I duck into a side room as I hear Alec fire off six shots before they stop. I’m hoping that means he’s out of bullets for now, so I dip back into the hallway to find it empty and the back door open. I tear through the old house, running out into the cool night air to find Sage and Alec fighting.
Sage kicks the side of his knee, causing him to stumble as he goes down. He grabs a fistful of her hair as he does, and they end up in the grass, his hands around her throat.
I run at him at full speed. I may not be a two-hundred-plus-pound linebacker like Declan, but I might as well be with how hard I hit Alec. He falls off Sage as we end up in a tangle. I throw a punch at him that lands then he delivers one right back at me, before he manages his way on top of me.
