Soldiers of Chaos- Chaos Abounds: Book 1 in the Soldiers of Chaos series (23 page)

They roared into the compound and parked up. Nikki climbed off her bike and ripped her helmet off throwing it into the concrete. She pulled off her mask and glasses and stuffed them into her saddlebags then Trace spoke “Tex man you’re bleeding.” Her head flew up and she saw the sleeve of his white shirt slowly darkening with blood. “Shit.” Her heart and stomach took an immediate dive. She ran the few steps to him and pulled off his cut shoving it at Trace. “It's fine Ace, just a flesh wound.” She pulled aside the shoulder of his shirt to see a rather nasty exit wound in the flesh of his shoulder just above his collar bone. Blood was oozing out of the wound and down his skin. She leaned around checking the back of his shoulder. There was a neat entry wound. At least it had gone straight through no bullet extraction required. “Right inside now I need to clean this up so I can get a proper look at it.” She practically pushed him through the door to the clubhouse. “Get me the kit and a bowl of water.” She barked at Trace as she placed Tex on a chair. “It’s nothing Ace.” “Shut up and take your shirt off.” He grinned at her suggestively “Oh Ace you know I love it when you get bossy.” She was gonna sling something back at him but he winced when he pulled off his shirt and a fresh wave of guilt hit her, Trace came round the bar with the kit and a bowl of water. She cleaned him off with the towels and water inspecting the entry wound closely she could see something white sticking out of his wound. She grabbed his shirt and searched for the hole while the boys looked at her like she was mad. There it was a piece of material clearly missing.

She grabbed a pair of thin metal tweezers out of the kit “You’ve got a piece of material from your shirt stuck in there. I gotta get it out and it’s probably gonna hurt like a bitch.” If she wanted to get a good hold on that material she was gonna have to dig deep. He nodded at her. “Trace get the small squeezy bottle out, the one with the long nose on it and fill it with disinfectant.” She slid the tweezers into the wound one pincer on either side of the material. Tex hissed out a breath through gritted teeth but didn’t move. She pinched the material and slid it out slowly. She chucked it onto the bar and taking the bottle from Trace she slipped the nose just inside his wound and squeezed. Tex’s jaw clenched and she watched as the liquid came out through the exit wound. “Quikclot.” Trace passed her a packet of that awesome powder and she quickly shook it out packing it into his wound back and front. The blood quickly thickened and stopped dripping down his body. “What the fuck is going on here?” King was standing just inside the clubhouse door. “Long story. I copped a bullet to the shoulder no real damage Ace has it all fixed up, right?” She nodded her head as she applied an adhesive bandage to both wounds. “Yeah good as new.” That line seemed to be the lie of the moment. “Right well I want to see you two in the boardroom now. Nikki can clean that shit up.” “Right, just let me get a shirt.” They all disappeared from the main room.

Nikki moved slowly cleaning up the remnants of her quick patch job on Tex’s shoulder. She was on autopilot putting things back in the kit, throwing the bloodied towels in the bin and tipping the water down the sink but when she picked Tex’s bloodied shirt that feeling rose again. Anger from deep in her twisting gut. Her insides raged with the need for violence. She stormed straight to her room slamming the door behind her. She wanted to scream, yell, break shit, fuck someone up, anything. Instead she stomped into the bathroom. She went straight for the shower tearing her clothes off and climbing under the scalding hot spray. Shit was getting so fucking far out of her control. She felt like a bystander watching a car crash, her life swerving dangerously out of control but despite knowing what was coming she couldn't do anything to stop it. Now more of her family were getting hurt because of her bullshit. She punched the tiled wall of her shower, hard. Her hand began to throb and a loud sob ripped through her body. Where the hell did that come from? Another sob escaped her and her chest began to feel like it would cave in on itself. Frustrated angry tears spilled down her face and before she knew it she was screaming at the wall. Nikki collapsed on to the shower floor as the pain and anger overwhelmed her. The water suddenly got cooler and strong arms circled her. She tried to fight them struggling against them but they only tightened on her pinning her arms at her sides. She could hear Tex murmuring soothing words into her ear as held her and rocked her with the water cascading around them. Nikki let him hold her, let him tell her it would be alright all the while knowing everything was fucked up and nothing would ever be alright including her.

Tex had never seen Nikki like this. She was losing it, losing control of herself, her emotions. She'd always been happy, satisfied. Now she was angry all the time. Ever since that night. Fucking Bridges. She wouldn't talk to him or Trace about it. She'd shown no emotion about Sheila or about what she experienced. He knew she didn't want to appear weak to the brothers by crying and carrying on but this right here was so much worse. They would've understood and she'd more than proved herself worthy of a patch. Instead she kept that shit locked up tight inside her and now the cracks were starting to show. He sat in his soaking wet clothes on the floor just holding her telling her all the bullshit you tell people when they're upset. She had begun to quiet and he looked down at her. The makeup she'd used to cover the mark on her shoulder had washed off and he could clearly see a human bite. He instinctively knew that it had to be from sex. Hell he'd sunk his teeth into her flesh there on a few occasions when he reached the peak but never to that extreme. He looked down at her legs and ass checking on some marks he glimpsed when he first entered the bathroom to find her sliding to the shower floor. Stripes of bruised flesh coloured her lower body from her ass to nearly her knees. They were old, maybe a few days and fading. She looked like she'd been flogged with something, like a kid who’d gotten the cane in school. He was caught between his building anger at whoever had done this and his despair for her. He should've let Alex take her away when he had the chance. He should never have dragged her back to the life, to the club but he loved her fiercely. So fiercely it was destroying him watching her go through this shit.

Once she stopped sobbing he scooped her up from the floor and placed her on her feet. Barely letting go of her he grabbed a towel and wrapped her in it. He kept talking to her telling her what he was doing but she didn't react. Drying her off then wrapping her in a bathrobe she had hanging on the towel rail. He sat her on the edge of the bath then stripped his own clothing off. He quickly dried himself and wrapped the towel around his waist. She didn't make a sound as she sat there like a zombie not taking anything in. He scooped her up again laying her on her bed then climbed in behind her. hugging her to him. She was a wreck and he had no idea what he was going to do about it. He should've sent Trace in here he was much better at this shit, always had been. Tex had always been the guy that led her astray. Trace had always been the one who led her back. He stroked her hair and murmured soothing words to her, telling her she was ok that he was here now and he would fix everything. All lies. He wanted to make it all ok but it was near fucking impossible. He felt his heart ache as the words spilled from his mouth. In that moment he decided he hated the club, the life, himself. He would make this shit right if it killed him. Eventually Nikki's breathing evened out telling him she'd drifted off to sleep. He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of her breathing felt her body relax against him but he couldn't sleep. Too many things rattled around in his tired brain. First things first he had to get his hands on Lenny. The guy was not making shit easy and after today it was very clear he wasn't giving up. Then he needed to find out who marked her body like that and kill them. And last he had to find Bridges and make him pay. He was the cause of all this shit and Tex was going to take him apart piece by piece just like they did to Sheila just like they were doing to Nikki even now.

Tex laid there with her sleeping against him for a few hours when Nikki's phone began ringing. Not wanting to wake her Tex slid his arm out from under her head and moved off the bed as quickly and quietly as he could. He grabbed her jeans and fished the phone out of the pocket as it stopped ringing. He glanced at the screen. One missed call from unknown number. His blood began to boil again; if that was Lenny, he was going to. The phone rang again interrupting that thought. He slid his finger across the screen to answer it and put it to his ear. "Where are you Angel? I got up this morning and you'd disappeared." The voice on the other end was deep, gravelly. "Who the fuck is this?" Tex spat the question out. Silence followed. "I said who the fuck is this?" The answer came out on a growl "Who the fuck is you? And where is Nikki?" Tex glanced at Nikki's sleeping form and lowered his voice. "Who I am doesn't matter what matters is who you are and why you're ringing my girl." Nikki stirred slightly. "You're girl? She certainly wasn't your girl last night or the night before that or all the other nights she's been here with me. She belongs to me." Last night? So she wasn't with Slick. That asshole was dead. Wait he said or the nights before that. The marks on Nikki's skin. That sick bastard. "You the one who fucking beat her?" He hissed through gritted teeth. "I didn't do anything to her that she didn't want." His blood roared to his head and his grip tightened on the phone "You fucking sick cunt!" He yelled down the phone. "Tex! What the fuck?" Nikki's voice sounded behind him. "Aaaahhh Tex King. That explains a lot. Put Nikki on the phone now please." Tex looked at Nikki and her eyes widened "Who is it? Is it Lenny?" Her robe had come loose and fallen from her shoulder. He shook his head slowly barely able to speak "It's the guy who did that to you." Her eyes widened further and she flew out of bed prying the phone out of his closed fist. She walked away from him into the bathroom closing the door behind her. He was going to kill someone.

Nikki's heart beat a million miles a minute as she leaned against the bathroom door. Her life just got better and better, not. She took several deep breaths to calm herself then put the phone to her ear "Hello." "Angel" Cole's voice was soft and gravelly. It made her shiver with arousal. "You disappeared?" She had. "Something came up, club business, couldn't wait." "I got your note you could’ve woken me I would’ve liked to say goodbye.” “Sorry came up kinda fast didn't want to wake you and I wasn't sure how long it would take." "Club business?" he didn't believe her. "Yes Cole. Club business. Last minute meet I had to attend." She wasn't going into any more detail than that, he'd already warned her off chasing down Bridges. "Anything else happen that you wanna tell me about?" Anything else? What the hell else, unless. "How did you know?" "Three bikes shooting at a car, cops everywhere. How could I not know?" Jesus Christ this was a fucking giant mess. "Are you safe?" his tone got very serious. "I'm in the clubhouse now I'm fine but I don't know if you will be. What did you say to Tex?" Cole scoffed "Nothing he didn't already know." "Cole" she used her warning tone. "Don't take that tone with me Angel. He claimed you belonged to him and I was just setting him straight." She was royally screwed. If only she had've kept her mouth shut. Now not only did she have Cole carrying on with this bloody caveman routine she was gonna have to go out there and cop it from Tex. "You could've just hung up and called back later." "Some strange man answered your phone Angel. I do not like anyone messing with what's mine and I will do anything to make sure that doesn't happen." "The MC are the same Cole." "But they don't own you, not like I do."

This was going around in circles, time to change the subject. "Did the cops find Lenny?" "No. He ditched the car and ran but he was wounded left some blood behind." Satisfaction crawled its way through her. She hoped to god it was her bullet that made him bleed. "You getting anywhere with that?" He remained silent, which told her plenty. "Tell me Cole." "There you go with that tone again Angel. Do I really need to repeat my lesson in manners?" She thought about the caning he'd given her the other night and need weighed heavily in her body. "Yes. No." She struggled to pull her thoughts together. "No Sir. Can you please tell me what you know?" It grated on her to be sweet like that and falsely sweet. It wasn't her at all. He sighed, "Car was stolen from Trigg Street." Crows territory. That was a little too coincidental. "Is that everything?" "It's the only new thing I know." The only new thing? A loud banging shook the bathroom door. "Now Angel, when are you coming back to me?" At this rate it'd be never. "Now you've dumped me in the shit, who knows." The banging came again and Tex's voice sounded through the door "We need to talk Ace. Now." "Ace?" Cole questioned. "Club nickname." "You'll have to explain that to me." She had a feeling she would be explaining a lot and that was the last of the list that she was worried about. "Ace!" Tex yelled louder this time. "I gotta go." "Angel." Cole's voice was gruff and stern "Tell me." Her heart sank she knew she’d be digging the hole deeper with every word "You own me Cole, all of me." The banging got louder "You got thirty seconds Ace then I'm busting the fucking door down." Honestly. "For fuck sake Tex I'll be out in a minute" she screamed back through the door. "He lays a finger on you in anger or anything else he won't be alive to regret it." The threat was ice cold and definite. A shiver of the unpleasant kind travelled down her spine "He won't." "You've got my number call me." More bloody orders "Yes Sir." He growled down the phone "Oh Angel. What you do to me?" Then the line went dead.

She took another deep breath and opened the bathroom door to find a very pissed off Tex waiting for her. "Don't Tex." Nikki dropped her head she couldn't look at him. "Don't what Nikki? Don't ask what the fuck is wrong with you? Don't find the guy who's beat you and kill him? Don't chain you to the fucking bed so you can't hurt yourself any more than you already have? Don't fucking love you cos it's fucking hopeless? Don't. Fucking. What?" Her heart broke at his words. "You're fucking killing me here Nikki. I don't know how much more I can take, how much more Trace can take. I told myself I was not gonna beg, not after the last time" Nikki winced at the memory of the night he came to her. The guilt just kept on building; she broke Alex's heart that night and now she was breaking two more. "I shouldn't have begged then. I should've let you go with him. I may not have had you in my life but at least you would've been safe, you would've had a normal fucking life." She hadn't stayed because he'd begged her she'd stayed because deep down she knew she couldn't live without them, without her family, the MC. If she'd have gone with Alex she would've been living a lie every day of her life and he would've been living it alongside her and that wouldn't have been fair to either of them. "Tex." "No Nikki" he fell to his knees in front of her and her breath caught at the anguish on his face. This wasn't him at all. He never showed weakness or emotion like this which told her how seriously he was hurting. He gripped her thighs with his hands "I'm begging you now, come back to us. Whatever it is that's going on inside that head of yours we can help you, I can help you, if you let me." She couldn't keep doing this to him but she didn't know if she could let Cole go either, she needed what he did for her. "I want to. I want to so bad but it's not that simple Tex." "Why isn't it?" How could she explain it to him when it sounded fucking explain it to herself. "I can't explain it." He looked up at her like a lost little boy and she wanted to cry. She was worse than Melanie, far fucking worse, unlike her Melanie never toyed with people's emotions. "I need time. Can you give me that? I promise I'll come back I just need this, I need what he does for me." Tex looked crushed. Movement in the peripheral of her vision caught her attention.