From The Ashes (The Knights of Mayhem Book 3) (21 page)

“What does he mean?”  I ask as Roman practically runs up the steps carrying me.

“It was a setup. Markus wanted us to be distracted.”  He sets me on my feet and inspects me for any kind of injuries.  “Where does it hurt?”

“My tailbone.”  I reach around to rub the sore spot.  Then it hits me.  “Oh no … the compound … Roman?”

“Yeah.”  He turns to Leo who just emerged from the basement with a limp Eno on his arm.  “What are we gonna do?”

Leo hustles past us.  “Get back to the clubhouse.”  He’s out the door and we’re all close behind.  Cowboy and Dalton bring up the rear with guns drawn. 

“Hollis, how the hell did you get here?”  Roman asks as we run through the yard.

“I stole a car, at gun point,”  I say sheepishly.

He stops and pinches the bridge of his nose.  “You know what, we don’t have time to get into this right now.”

Leo stops.  “Eno needs to go to the hospital and―”

“I’ll take him.”  I rush over to Leo.  “You go and save the girls.”  I take Eno from Leo and stumble under his weight a bit.  Leo and the others take off in the direction of the treeline at a dead run.

“Here, let me.”  Roman takes him from me, dragging him to the sedan I’d stolen, putting him in the back seat.  “You got this?”

“I do, just go.”  He turns to go but I stop him.  “Roman, wait.”

“What, Hollis? I don’t have time for a long apology.”

“No, not that, just be careful.”

“Always babe.”  He leans in, kissing my cheek then he’s gone.  I turn to look down at Eno, then back to the house I hate.   “Give me a minute.”  I slam the door on him and run back into the house, to retrieve the gun I had hidden before I had left with Roman.

Chapter Nineteen

Roman

The two hour drive back is tortuous and we make it in half the time.  We don’t plan a strategy or discuss how we’re gonna handle whatever scene we might find at the clubhouse. 

I press my hand against my shoulder and wince as I readjust my vest. “How’s the shoulder?”  Leo asks.

“It’s sore, but nothing I can’t handle.”  I’m putting on a brave face because it hurts like hell.  Not gonna lie, I’m thankful for my vest, but it took nothing off the speed of the bullet when it hit me, other than keeping it from going through me.

Our worst fears are realized as we pull up to the gate. 

“Son-of-a-bitch.”  Leo rolls to a stop, slamming the gearshift up into park.  We all jump out with guns drawn, assessing the situation. I quickly check the men we had at the gate for a pulse.

“Roman?”  Leo asks over his shoulder.

“They’re gone.” 

“Damn it! How could we be so fucking stupid?”  Leo takes off running to the building.  “Cowboy and Dalton, you two take the back while me and Roman take the front.”  They separate from us and head to the back.  We both come to a stop on either side of the door. 

“You sure about this, I mean doing it this way?”  I whisper.

“You got a better way? All I know is Avery’s in there and I can’t think of a better reason to get shot.”  He turns, pulling open the door, leading with his gun as he enters the dark room. 

“Late to the party, as usual,”  Markus sneers at us.  “I don’t understand how a group of military trained DEA agents could be so easily fooled.  I guess that’s what you get when you start thinking with your heart instead of your head.”  The lights flip on to reveal a scene of pure horror.  The women are bound and gagged and on their knees in a line. Their red, bloodshot eyes turn to us.  A limp unconscious Matty boy lies beside and I can’t see Beeker anywhere.  We move to go to them but stop short when we hear guns cocking through the room.  “No, no, no, boys. They’ve all been ordered to shoot them if you make any moves.”  He turns to us with Caden in his arms, who’s now hysterical. When she spots Cowboy, she begins to scream and reach for him. 

“I’m going to kill you.”  Cowboy grits out.  His face, normally stoic to the point one doesn’t know what he’s thinking, is betraying him now, giving away his inner turmoil.  The man is torn up at the situation of being unable to help his child or his wife. 

Markus holds her back, shushing her.  “Now, now, child. It’ll be alright.”  He looks up at us, then around to Dalton and Cowboy behind him.  We all have our guns trained on one of his men as they have theirs pointed at the women. “I count four men, but not one woman I’ve asked for.  Might I ask why?”

“Because we don’t use our women as pawns,”  I answer before anyone else can.  I can hear the distant sound of pipes rumbling through the air.  “And there’s our backup, shithead, so why don’t you give up the little girl and just go ahead and surrender.”

His laugh at my comment makes a chill run up my spine and has all my other brothers on the edge. 

The door slings open behind us as Oz and his crew enter.  “Bout damn time you get here, man.”  Leo welcomes our backup over his shoulder.  The doors slams shut, only to reopen as Hollis comes through.  She comes to a stop beside me in shock at the scene unfolding around us. 

“Well, now that we’re all here, the fun can begin.”  Markus smiles at Hollis.  “Hello, love … long time no see.”

Hollis

I take a deep breath to steady myself.  “Hello, Markus.”  I take another step forward, separating myself from Roman.

“Hollis?”  Roman’s voice breaks with his question. “Get out of the way.”

I close my eyes to muster the courage needed for what I have to do.  My feet move me another step, then I reach at my back for the gun I have there.  The pain hits me in the chest, ripping out my heart Roman had put back together for me.  I pull the weapon from my waistband and turn, leveling it at my target.  “Drop your weapon, Roman.”

I watch as his face morphs from confusion, to hurt, then to hate.  “What the fuck are you doing, Hollis?”

“Pointing a gun at you.  Now put your weapon down, lower yourself to your knees and lace your fingers behind your head.”

Markus begins to laugh again and clap his hands together as his men advance on the rest of Roman’s brothers.  Oz comes up and places his gun at Leo’s temple.  “You too, big man.”

Leo’s nostrils flare at the position I’ve put him in.  “You fucking bitch. You will pay for this,”  he sneers at me.  I take a deep breath and accept the fate I’ve sealed for myself.

“Probably, if you can get to me before Markus is done with me.”  Cruz walks up to Roman as all the bad men begin to disarm the good guys.  I watch in horror as they are humiliated by my actions. I have never felt so low.  I walk over to Markus and take Caden from his arms, then head for the door as I watch The Knights of Mayhem be taken to their knees by me, again.

I stop in front of Roman and bending down to be face to face with him.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t have a choice.”

“Yes you did, you just chose wrong, just like you always do.”  I swallow down the hurt at his inability to look at me.

“Roman, I never meant to hurt you. I hope you know that.”

He finally looks at me. The cold blue I see is the same from before I had made him believe I was a different person than what I am.  And for the first time, he looks at me like everyone else does, as the cheap whore who lies and steals to get by.  I have no heart left to give. I lean in to kiss him but he spits in my face.  “Get out of my fucking sight, you disgusting whore.”

I stand, wiping his spit away then looking around the room at all the people who’d put their undeserved trust in me.  “You all have to know I never really fit in here, on the right side of life.  But thank you all for trying to make me welcome, I appreciate it.”

“Just leave, but know we’ll find you and this time, he won’t take the gun from between your eyes.”  Leo stares at a frightened Avery the whole time he speaks.  Caden screams for her daddy, reaching for him over my shoulder as I take her out of the clubhouse.  Oz and his men, along with Markus, follow me out to the blacked out vehicles sitting, waiting for us.

Oz opens the door for me and I stop before I load in.  “What have we done, Oz?”

“Nothing we haven’t done before, babe.”

“I know, but it just seems wrong this time.”

“Get in the truck, Hollis, and shut the hell up,” Markus barks over Oz’s shoulder.  “I’m sick of hearing about your fascination with them. They’re nothing.” 

I look back at Oz and climb into the back seat with Caden clinging to me for dear life.  I hold her close the whole ride back.  The sight of Roman’s eyes haunt me, they will for the rest of my life.  What have I done?  I look behind us at the motorcycles following close behind as a sinking feeling comes over me and lands in the pit of my stomach like a rock.   I hug Caden closer and whisper in her ear.  “Everything is going to be all right, baby, I promise.”  She sniffs, nodding her head.

I rock her as I watch the landscapes pass by the window, thinking back to the haunted looks on the faces of everyone I had betrayed.  They’d trusted me and I had let them down again.  I swipe at a tear I don’t want Markus to see, it would garner me lord only knows what.

He’s taking us back to the farmhouse, and I feel like I’m going to be sick. I close my eyes and swallow down the spit flooding my mouth and lay my head back on the headrest, closing my eyes for the rest of the ride, back to my prison. 

~~~~~~

Markus yelling my name jerks me from my euphoric dream.  It was of Roman’s face, the first morning we’d woken up at the cabin together.  The memory of his beautiful eyes and the smile on his face warms the hole where my heart used to be.  It would’ve warmed my soul if it wasn’t so black and eaten up with deception.

“Get out of the car, Hollis, and get her in the house.  I have to deal with Oz.” 

Fear grips me at his words and I worry for Oz and his men.  I haul myself and Caden out of the back seat and circle around to stand beside Oz.  “So, what do you think is going to happen now?”

“The shit is going to hit the fan.”  Oz widens his stance as Cruz, Dex, and Mose stand around us.  “Don’t worry, babe. Just stay behind me and you’ll be fine.”  He turns to me and for the first time, I see just how good looking Oz Kellen is.  I’ve seen him, talked to him, even cleaned up blood for him, but I have never really just looked at him.  “You trust me?”

I swallow the huge lump in my throat and cast my eyes down in embarrassment for lusting after this man.  But a woman can’t help it, he is fine.  “Do I have a choice?”

He lowers his voice so only he and I can hear.  “Neither of us do,  so keep your head about you and get Caden out of here when I say.”  I walk with Oz behind Markus, up the steps and into the house, still holding Caden close to me.  Markus goes in the direction of the kitchen as Oz turns to me and nods to the room where I’d left Megan. 

Markus stops and turns to look at us.  “What the hell are you two discussing back there?”  I freeze with fear.  We both stop and look at him.  “I’ve been wondering the whole way here, Hollis, where the hell is Megan?  What did they do to her?”  He’s holding a beer in his hand, looking more menacing than usual.  “Well?”

“They had nothing to do with it.”  I smooth my hand down Caden’s hair, looking around, wondering what I could do with her to keep her out of the line of fire.

“What do you mean ‘
with it
?’”  He steps towards me, Oz edging a bit closer to me with Markus’s movements.  I look to Oz.  “Don’t fucking look at him, damn it, tell me,”  His voice cuts through what self-preservation I had left and the need to cut him to the bone fills my gut.

“I killed the bitch.”  And turn to point to the room where she’d died.  “Right in there,”  I say before turning back to him with satisfaction eating me alive.  I smile the bitchiest smile I can muster.  “And then buried her ass in the back yard.”

I watch as a man, whom I have seen lose his shit on more than one occasion, spin off into a whole other world of pissed off.  “I will end you.”  He looks at the big man to my right.  “Oz, it’s time.”  He holds his hands out for a crying Caden.  “Give her to me.” 

I jerk her back away from him.  “Over my dead body.” 

He lifts his weapon, pointing it at us both.  “That can be arranged.”

Oz raises his weapon and points it at Markus.  “You need to drop your gun.”   

Markus looks around in disbelief.  “Did you cut a deal, Oz?”

“No, I didn’t have to.”  Oz replies flatly.

Markus drinks from the bottle he’s holding, not looking the least bit threatened by Oz and his gun.  He looks at me with his menacing black eyes.  “And you, how much of a role have you played in this?” 

“Enough.”  Oz looks over at me, then back to Markus.

“Oh, I see. You two are in this together.  I’m guessing, Oz, you got cozy with our whore here on all those nights I left you two here alone?”

I take a step forward.  “Fuck you, Markus. Can’t you just accept the fact that not everyone is scared of you?” 

He points the weapon and I hear the pop.

Roman

I sit on the couch, staring off into space.  The rest are talking indistinctly around me.  I can’t decide if I’m pissed off or pissed on, maybe a little of both.  I can’t believe I let her get one over on me like she did, again.  I’d actually thought she’d turned a corner and was the beautiful person inside and out I so hoped, wanted, needed her to be, and now I’m left with nothing all over again.

Leo had rushed Avery off to the hospital for a checkup, after all the stress she had been under today, they were afraid it would send her into early labor.  So we sit in the waiting room, waiting to hear news about how she is.

I feel a hand on my shoulder.  “Man, she fooled us all.” Cowboy lowers himself down beside me.

“They have Caden.”  I look to an emotional Emily, it all seeming so sickly familiar.  “What the fuck are we gonna do?”  Cowboy doesn’t answer me so I turn to him.  “Well, we can’t just sit here and let them do this to us again.”

“That’s exactly what you’re going to do,”  Kent’s voice makes me stand, followed by the rest of us.  He’s holding Caden, who he hands off to a shocked Emily.  He comes to a stop in front of us and rests his hands on his hips.  

Cowboy rushes over to Emily and Caden, inspecting his child and finding blood on her pink jumper. “What the fuck is going on?”

Before he can answer, the emergency room becomes a flurry of activity as several EMS workers rush in, working on a person lying on a gurney, being pushed past us through the double doors.  I watch as a strand of chestnut brown hair falls to the side that is strangely familiar to me.  The knife she had plunged into my chest earlier begins to grind against the bones of my rib cage. 

“Is that…?”  I point to the patient as the doors close behind the workers.  I stare at the closed doors for a heartbeat and for a millisecond, I’m gripped with fear, then what she’s done has me recognizing the fact she deserves to be where she is.

“Yes, son, it is. Let’s sit down.”  Kent motions for us to all sit. 

“Sit down?  How the hell am I supposed to sit down?”  I rush to the doors as they close in my face.  I see through the small window as she’s wheeled around a corner and out of sight.  I turn back to Kent.  “What the hell happened and what’s wrong with her?”  Even though she’s fucked me over, it’s gut-wrenching to see her hurt.