Rage (22 page)

Layla

“Babe, I think she’s wakin’ up.”

I heard a hushed voice, but when I tried to open my eyes and get a glimpse at who was speaking all I saw was black.  Felt a cloth on my face too.  Must’ve been a bag over my head, keeping me from seeing anything.

I moaned, the pain of a drug induced headache flooding my senses.

“Are you awake, princess?” I identified Bones’ voice, his irritation evident.

“Water, I need wa-“

“Get her some water.” He barked out an order to who I assumed was Audrey, and I listened to her scurry toward the other end of the room and up the stairs.  Her steps echoed.  We must’ve been in the basement.  How many floors there were, I couldn’t tell, but I listened intently.

“Why are you doing this to me?” I croaked, my throat dry as hell.  I needed that water, but I also wanted to know more.  More.

“I’m just protecting what’s mine.  What I worked so long for.” Bones’ voice was manic, crazed.

“So that’s why you created an entire war between us and that little gang? To protect what was yours?”

“To expand it.  They were a little shit of a gang, could barely work the drugs the mob was giving them.  I didn’t know it was them.  I had no idea.  But it worked out well.  Now we have their support.  Our alliances are stronger than ever.”

“Then why am I here?”

“Oh, I’ve been planning this since the day you got here.  Waiting.  Planning.”

I coughed, unable to control it any longer.

I heard a light body on the steps.

“I brought her a bottle of water, babe.”

Audrey again.

“I thought you wanted to make up with me?” I asked her, trying to do anything to prolong what I knew was going to happen.  I was going to get beaten, or worse.  They didn’t tie women up to chairs just for fun.  At least, not in my world. 

“Oh, hun, I do.” I could hear a little trill in her voice as she pulled the fabric off my head.  “We’re all going to make up.  Aren’t we, Bones?”

“If she chooses, but that’s entirely up to her.” Bones reached out and put his hand in my hair, making me shudder as he petted me.

I blinked.  It was dark in the cellar, the damn moldiness of the expanse strong and earthy against my nose.  I couldn’t tell where we were, but it wasn’t a house, no.  It was much larger and more industrial than that.  It was a warehouse, maybe, or an old factory.  He put the bottle up to my mouth and tipped it back, letting me sip from it.

The smell of machine oil wafted up as I squinted into the only light illuminating the basement, a small naked bulb hanging down from the ceiling.  “My choice? What do you mean?”

“The only thing we are missing is you.  Your brother is out of the way, and your pathetic excuse for a man has been snooping around.  Trying to figure out what happened.  Thought I wouldn’t find out? I have spies all over this damn ’Burgh.  But with you at my side, no one would buy his story, and we’d have a perfect foundation for an empire.”

“Alongside us.  Right, babe?”

“Shut the fuck up, Audrey.” Bones pushed her back and she pouted.  “You know your part in this.  I’ve already told you, do not question it.”

“I want a share of her, too.  You promised.” Her high whine pierced my ears.  “You said we could both have her.”

“What do you think? Will you join us? If not, there are other things we have in store for you.” Bones caressed my face and then made his was down my shoulder to my breast grabbing it, pinching my nipple hard.  I cried out in anguish as his voice turned nasty.  “We’ll have you either way, Lala.  You can count on that.”

They were actually bickering right in front of me, asking me to be their fucking mistress.  I knew that the alternative was going to end in my death, but I didn’t understand how Bones thought he would get away with this.

“You’re fucking crazy,” I spat, glaring at him.  “You really think forcing me to be your… your
concubine
is going to save you from the consequences of your betrayal?” I actually laughed.

It was the right response, because as soon as I did, I received a hard slap.  I glared at him, a cruel smile all I could muster.

“Do your worst, you fucking piece of shit.  My uncle, my man, and all of your crew are going to come and do so much worse to you.”

Another hard slap.  “You ignorant bitch.  By the time I’m done with you, you’re going to be begging for me to make you one of my whores.”

Audrey whined and looked over at him.  “But I wanna play with her.”

“You’ll get your chance, just like you had your time with her man.  We’re going to fuck her real good, put her in her place.”

Blood trickled down my eyebrow, the sting of it in my eyes and all the way down to my mouth.  He’d gotten me good on the brow, and the blood was flowing.

I didn’t even let out a howl.  I just kept laughing.  “I don’t care.  You think my life matters? You think I matter? This club has been my death sentence ever since I was born, why not let it be at the hands of you?” I spit in his face, my saliva and blood hitting his cheek and rolling down his cheek into the hair of his beard.

“You little shit.” He grabbed me, pulled me, chair and all toward him, and bent down, his lips landing on mine.

It was a hard and disgusting kiss, his teeth scraping against my closed lips as I tried to prevent it from happening.

But his vile tongue breached my lips and invaded my mouth, my biting teeth held off by his hand on my jaw, forcing my mouth open at the joint.

Motherfucker.

I pulled away from him as soon as I got control of my jaw, biting the tip of his tongue as hard as I could.  He flinched right before I could spill any blood.

Damn.  Maybe next time.

“Bitch.  You’re going to pay for that.”

Chapter 16

Cullen

I rolled up to the warehouse, the morning light bouncing off of the old windows, the broken ones standing out like black holes in a universe full of stars.

It was the place on the invoice, but it looked completely abandoned.  Until I noticed Bones’ hog parked up against a rusted abandoned dumpster.

Shit.

“What you want us to do?’ Thrash was at my side in an instant, off his bike, waiting and watching.

He was the best scout we had, and I was thankful he sided with me.  More so than he’d ever know.

“Keep Tommy and Drew outside so that we can have a lookout and a couple of guards.  I didn’t notice any boys missing from the clubhouse, but who the hell knows? He could have an entire fucking posse in there.”

“Want to scout and see how many?’

“Yeah, cages or bikes could be parked around back.” I was already scanning the area, double-checking for anything I may have missed.

It just pointed to a small abandoned property.  Maybe it was where he went to fuck off alone.  I don’t know.  That motherfucker was absent more than he was around.

It’d become the normal so no one questioned it, and besides, most Presidents only hung around when we had Church, doing most of the work from remote locations.

Men like Snake were the exception, not the rule.

I let Thrash set the pace.  It was possible that they’d heard us pull up, but we cut the engines a while back and walked.  Probably just thought we were normal riders, out on a warm spring day.

I peaked in through a broken window, the light of the early morning streaming in through the east side, giving me enough illumination to see just a couple of men sitting on a couch, fucking around with a set of cards.

Neither one had their cellphones out.  I checked mine.

Signal didn’t fucking work.  Dead-zone.  Made sense.

It was the perfect place to hide, and to plot. 

It was where no one would bother you.

“Man, this fucking sucks.  How long is he going to be down there?” The younger of the two, barely fucking out of diapers, had to be eighteen, but just barely, complained.

“I don’t fucking know.  He promised us some fucking action.  How is this action? We’re just up here playing lookout while he fucks two chicks at the same time.”

“I dunno, that chubby one was out when we carried her down there.  Whatever he’s doing it has to be fucking kinky as hell.  Might be a little fatter than I’m used to, but damn, never fucked a redhead before.”

“Wonder if her pubes are the same color.”

It was like I’d been plunged into ice.  A woman who was curvy, with red hair.

Layla.

“You hear her yell? Sounds like she might be giving as good as she’s getting.  Maybe he’ll let us have sloppy seconds.”

The older of the two chuckled.

My blood was boiling hot and I almost charged them right then and there, but Thrash got my attention first.

He hissed, “Hey, man, over here.  Found an open side door.”

I nodded and shrunk away from the window, crouching through the shadows until I crawled through the door.  We stayed low behind a set of filing cabinets in a small office that had a big picture facing the factory floor blown out.

I could see the back of the one’s head from that angle. 

“You get the old fuck, and I’ll go after the little shit,” I whispered to Thrash, and he nodded back, receiving my message. 

It wasn’t a hard course for either of us, the lack of artificial light meant that there were a lot of shadows we could use, and the two of us knew how to make our steps silent.

It was a perk of being sneaky little shits as kids.

Always getting into trouble, hearing more than we should.

But it was an asset we used in our adulthood.

“Damn, you suck at this game.  Gotta get the cards in the bucket, dumb shit.”

“What? I ain’t never played it.  This is dumb as fuck.” The younger kid rolled his eyes and threw another card toward the bucket on the floor.  You old fu—”

Before I could continue talking we both moved, putting our guns right into their backs.

“Shut the fuck up, and keep quiet, or you’ll both end up dead, you got it?”

“The fu—?”

“You hear him, or you need my .45 to explain it to you?”  Thrash hissed.

They both shook their heads.

“Towards the door.  Now.” I ordered, my breath low as I pushed them toward the entrance.

My men were waiting there, guns ready.

“Tie these motherfuckers up.  Make sure they can’t get out of their binds.  I don’t want to deal with these shits until after it’s all done,” I barked at the prospects and then turned my attention on them.

“Where the fuck is Bones?” I had no idea who these two men were, but I knew if they were here, he was here.  This was his place.  Motherfucker had guys outside the MC working for him.

“Man, fuck you.” The younger of the two spit, but a quick blow to his head had him bleeding from his nose.

“You next?” I looked at the older guy and he shrugged at me.

“Basement.” It was the only word he said, but I nodded.

That might go in his favor later. 

I walked through the place, double-checking for anyone else.  Anyone hiding.  Thrash was right.  Two.  That was all.

Bones had two chicks down there, and who the fuck knew what he was doing to them.  If one was Layla, she might be dead by now.

The anger and rage boiled over in me.

He would be lucky to get out of there alive.  I wasn’t going to question this dumb fuck.  Not if he took my woman.

No.  He was guilty.  I had enough information to know that shit.

I didn’t need to give him a trial—just an execution.

I found the rotted basement door and swung it open, Thrash close behind me.

Two men upstairs, two men coming down.  I hoped it was a close enough match that he just thought we were his motherfuckin’ goons.

“Rage.” I was halfway down the stairs when I heard him yell.

“Bones, the fuck you think you’re doing?” I could see him, behind Layla who was tied to a chair, blood running down her face, a knife to her throat.

“You’ll stay right where you are, or I’ll fucking slit her throat.  I swear.”

“Nah, man.  I came here to talk to you.” I held up both my hands, my gun holstered.

“Bullshit.  What you do with my men?”

“They’re fine.  A little bruised, but only the one.”

“Audrey, take their guns.”

Audrey.  That fucking bitch.  Club whore gone wrong.  She walked over as we both pounded down those rickety stairs, grabbing the guns from our waistbands, and holding them out with each hand like they were contaminated.

“Here you go, baby.  What are we going to do with them?”

“They say they wanna talk, let ‘em talk.” The piss-ant held the knife a little closer.  “What you got to say?”

“I want to know what you’re doing man, come on.  You are the fucking President of the club.  It’s come to this?”

“You don’t understand.  I
am
the club, you asshole.  I’m the only one fighting to expand it, get our territory up.  You wanna get swallowed up by the mob or another gang? None of you think big.  Not you, not Beast, not Crusher.  You are all the same.  You don’t understand.”

“Understand what?” The motherfucker was high as hell.  I could tell by the way the words came rushing out in a jumble.  Shit.  I knew he was dipping into some shit, but I didn’t realize just how bad it was.

How long had he been lighting up?

“You stupid motherfuckers didn’t even know.  You had no idea.  Not until Sean… but I stopped that shit.  And you brought her.  She’s a fine piece of ass, that’s for sure.  But she ain’t dumb, and I knew she would figure it out sooner or later.” His eyes were wild.  He was so fucking paranoid and I should’ve seen it sooner.  If I’d known… but that had to wait until later.

“Just, just calm down.  We can work this out.” I inched toward him, watching Bones and Audrey, who was too busy looking at Thrash to notice me.  A little bit closer.  Each time he talked.  “Right, Layla? It’s just some big misunderstanding?”

I looked to her, tied in her chair, for some reassurance.  She was a bloody mess, but she was conscious.  “Yes, I think if we all just talk, we can come to an arrangement.”

“What the fuck are you doing?” Bones asked.  I was right next to him now, so I took a step back and he seemed satisfied.  I felt the switchblade in my back pocket.  Bitch hadn’t thought to check our pockets.  Hadn’t patted us down.  Bones was too fucking high to even notice.

“None of you fucking get it.  This.  This is all for the club.  All of it.  Without me, we’d be nothing.  Dead.” He ranted and I inched forward, making up the ground I’d lost.

Close.  I was close enough.

I flicked my knife right up to his throat in an instant.

“Everyone stay where you are, or I’ll kill him.  I swear to fucking God I will.  Drop the knife, Eric.  Drop it.”

The knife clattered onto the dirt floor of the basement in a soft thud, and Layla took in a big breath.

Bones was there in a flash.  He jumped on me, the two of us wrestling for the knife.  He was weaker than me, always had been, but the power of his drug-fueled rage was almost too much to bear.

I slammed him onto the ground, but he had the upper hand in a matter of seconds.

It was a blur, and the next thing I knew was a sharp pain in my side.  Fuck.  I reeled in pain, but he was off of me, the knife imbedded in my side as he took off running.  Thrash ran to me as I yelled, “Get him!”

“You’re more important.  That motherfucker told us everything we know.  He’s dead.  It’s just a matter of time.” Thrash turned toward Layla.  “Layla, you okay?”

“I’m… I’m fine.  Just, take care of him.  Make sure he’s okay.  Then you can untie me.” Layla sounded like she was in a panic, but it was so very far away.

“The bitch?”

“Took off with him when I turned.”

“Untie her.” Each word was like a struggle, sweat crowding my brow as I tried to concentrate.  It hurt like hell, but it was in the gut.  Fuck.  Had to get to the hospital.  Had to get stitched up.  Stomach wounds were the worst.  It took days to die.

I needed to get help for the wound in my gut.

I rushed the words out, determined to say my peace before the pain took me.  “Call George, tell him to handle this shit.  Gotta get to the hospital.  Gotta call a church meet—”