Pushing her away hard enough, she gets the message. I watch as she pouts but doesn’t move away. Oh well, I can’t be bothered to play this game tonight. If she’s going to hang around, I’ll have to be the one to leave and make myself scarce. After the long ride today, I won’t be that sorry to get into my bed. Uh-uh.
I’d had a good time tonight, unwinding in the club and catching up with my brothers on what’s gone on while I’ve been away, particularly over the last half hour after loud-mouthed Buster decided to take his leave. God, I hate that fucker. Thinking of him pushes Chrissy out of my head, and I resolve when Drummer’s back tomorrow I’m going to be having another little chat with him about our newest patched-over member. Not that he’s done anything in particular, but during our trip it was interesting that Peg’s view of him is about the same as mine. Neither of us trusts him nor believes he’s a good fit for the Tucson chapter—maybe we can get him to go back to Cali. Yes, I’ll need to have words with Drum in the morning, see if there’s some way we can get him out of our hair.
Leaving the clubroom, something guides my feet away from the direction of my room. Telling myself I’m only going to get a breath of fresh air before turning in, I carry on up the track, walking up toward the guest suite where Wheels is staying. I’ve overindulged tonight, making up for the need to stay sober on the road while carrying such a risky cargo, so I’m a little unsteady on my feet as I make my way up the small incline to the building she’s in, and my earlier, very inappropriate thoughts of what I’d like to do to her come back into my head in blazing technicolour. That rack she’s got hiding, I’d like to see that for myself, put my hands all over it…
Suddenly a panicked scream fills the air. My inebriation disappears in an instant, and my hand goes to the gun at my back. Pulling it out, I walk briskly forward, another scream guiding my way. That was no scream of pleasure, and it’s coming from Wheels’ suite.
Adrenalin kicking in I start to run but reaching the door I find it’s locked. There’s a key somewhere in my pocket but I don’t want to delay searching for it in my drunken state, so kicking out sharply I smash the wood into smithereens. Moving swiftly across the central sitting area, I shove open the door leading into Wheels’ room.
What. The. Fuck? Charging over to the bed, I grab Buster by his cut and throw him off Wheels, my right arm arcing up and pistol whipping him as I do so. With all my strength and rage behind it, he’s out like a light.
Multi-tasking, I take my phone out of my pocket as I leap forward, pulling the hysterical woman into my arms, taking just a moment to console her and yanking up the duvet to cover her nakedness. “Shush, it’s over now. It’s me, Wraith.” I’m not even sure she recognises me through her tears until I feel some of the tension leaving her body. “Did he…?”
A shudder and shake of her head tells me, hopefully, I got here just in time. I press a key on my phone, it’s answered quickly. “Peg—I’m with Wheels in her room. Get here quick, Buster tried to fuckin’ rape her.”
The man in question starts stirring at my feet and leaving her I go and give him a sharp kick to his nuts, he doubles over. At least he’s immobilised for a moment.
Only moments later, Peg, Viper, and Dart dash in, their faces turning dark as they take in the scene.
“Motherfucker!” Peg takes a swing at the wall with his fist, his palpable rage rolling off him.
“Fuckin’ bastard!” Dart unwittingly copies my earlier kick and I give a very male wince when he too kicks Buster in the balls.
Viper just stands and stares, his eyes wide in disbelief.
I just want Buster out of here for Wheels’ sake, she doesn’t need to see him any longer than she has to. “Get him out, and take him to the storage room,” I snarl. This is it, the end of Buster in the club, and the end of him completely if I have my way. As Peg and Viper grab him by the arms and drag him out to take him to the location indicated, the area with the innocuous designation where all manner of unsavoury actions take place, I’m so angry I can’t trust myself to follow them now. I’ll kill him, and to take the life of a patched member without the club having voted on it wouldn’t go down well. But to try to rape a woman who’s even more defenceless than most―I simply don’t have the words to express my repugnance.
And anyway, my first duty of obligation is to the woman still crying uncontrollably in my arms.
“She okay?” Dart has lingered, his face taut with concern, his voice almost breaking with worry.
“I don’t know.” Honestly, I don’t, not yet. A horrendous thing to happen to any female, but to her? It hasn’t escaped my notice that her wheelchair is on its side against the opposite wall of the room, the crutches and prosthesis lying out of her reach next to it. “Can you go get a bottle of vodka?” Probably not the best answer, but it might help.
With a sharp nod and a quick glance at Wheels, he leaves to do as I asked. I know it will be killing him too, he’s got a soft spot for the woman who’s been attacked tonight in the very place she should have been safe. And it won’t just be him. I know all my brothers have taken to her by the way they behave when she’s in the clubhouse.
Now, how to comfort Wheels? I shift her so she’s held more comfortably in my arms. “Hey, sweetheart. I’ve got you now, he’s gone, and I swear you’ll never see him again.” I try to get through to her. “I promise you darlin’, he’s gone.” I smooth my hand up and down her back, not caring that her tears are soaking through my tee. When her sobs stop being quite so forceful, I decide to find out exactly how far Buster had gotten. “Here, tell me, did he fuckin’ hurt you, darlin’?” I’m hoping to get some response from her and that she’ll tell me I got here in time. Fuck, if he laid a finger on her…
When her hand comes up to wipe her eyes, I think I’m beginning to get through. As she lifts her face, it’s then I notice the blood trickling from the side of her mouth, and that her cheek’s split open. My breath catches in my lungs, and as gently as I can, I turn her to face me. “He fuckin’ hit you?”
“Yes.” Her voice catches. Her hand comes up to touch her cheek to check the damage, but I cover it with mine and pull it down.
“May I?” I hover my other hand over the cheek where it looks like a ring caught it. I’ve seen that type of injury often enough before—hell, we all wear rings that double as knuckledusters. But I don’t want to take liberties or to scare her more, so ask again for her permission to examine it closer.
She gives such a tiny little nod I almost miss it. But taking it for consent, the only thing she’s consented to tonight I remind myself, I rest my fingers lightly against it, making sure I don’t hurt her more than she is already. It doesn’t look deep enough for stitches.
At that moment, Dart comes back into the room, and thank fuck he’s had the sense to bring the first aid kit with him. I ask him to put on the main light, and he brings the small case over to me, then I hear his sharply inhaled breath.
“He’s a dead motherfucker,” he breathes. “Never liked the fucker anyway.”
At least I wasn’t alone in that! Someone else as well as Peg was of the same opinion. Maybe that vote will go my way.
Keeping my voice as gentle as I can, working hard not to let my anger show, I tell her what I’m about to do. “Here, sweetheart, you don’t need stitches, but I’m gonna clean that up, okay? And put a Band-Aid on.” I’m going to use the butterfly strips to hold it together, hopefully she won’t be left with too much of a scar—she won’t want a reminder of this night.
As I take an antiseptic pad and start gently dabbing at the blood, I get around to my main concern. “Did he hurt you anywhere else?” She goes to shake her head. “Be still now and let me do this. But I want an answer, babe.”
Her voice has a little more strength in it now, but she still stutters as she replies, “He… he… groped me, roughly. My breasts, he bit me. He had his hand down my underwear, but you stopped him before… before…”
As tears start to fall again, I pull her
to me and hold her close. Behind I can hear Dart swearing, and a thump tells me he’s probably copied Peg’s earlier action and has hit the wall with his fist. I can’t fucking believe any member of the Satan’s Devils would even think of doing something like this. It’s not what the club stands for. And I blame myself for not acting on my instinct to get him kicked out of the club before he went this far. The warning signs had been there. Why hadn’t I acted on them?
“If he bit her, she might need a tetanus shot.” Dart interrupts my thought, making a good point.
“Can you show me, sweetheart?” I know I’m asking a lot. Her hands are gripping the duvet to her like a shield.
Warily, her gaze flicks over my shoulder to where Dart’s standing, but after only a moment’s pause, she pulls down her cover. She doesn’t have to expose much, there are clear teeth marks on the top curves of her luscious and perfectly natural-looking breasts, not deep enough to break the skin, but nasty bruises are already forming. Dart whistles air in through his teeth, takes out his phone, fiddles with it for a moment, and then hands it to me. I take a picture of the marks and cover her up again, then take a photo of her face.
Proving his usefulness, Dart hands me a glass with clear liquid, which I’m pretty certain isn’t water. I pass it into her shaking hand. “Drink this, it will help settle you.”
She takes a couple of swallows, the neat vodka making her cough, but it works to make her loquacious and it all comes pouring out. “I was completely powerless, Wraith. He broke in. I locked the door, honest, but he must have gotten a key from somewhere. He came in, kicked my wheelchair away…”
“Hush, now.” I grit my teeth, knowing I’d been right but not feeling any the better for it; it was her helplessness that bothers her the most.
Her hands grip my tee, her fingers curling and uncurling. “Thank God you came, Wraith, I couldn’t have stood it if he, if he…”
“Hush,” I repeat, she doesn’t have to put it into words. We all know what his intentions were. “You’ll never have to see him again, babe.” I reiterate my earlier promise.
“What… What’s going to happen to him?”
“We’ll make sure he never gets his fuckin’ hands anywhere near another woman, sweetheart,” Dart answers for me.
“I can’t stay here. I’ve got to get away.” She’s pulling back, pushing herself from me. “What if someone else…?”
She thinks someone else in the club would take advantage of her? I have to get that thought right out of her mind. Gritting my teeth, I tell her, “You don’t have to worry about that! None of the other brothers would even fuckin’ dream of coming near you, babe. You’re safe here. I fuckin’ guarantee it. None of them would lay a finger on you.”
But instead of calming her, my words seem to make her more agitated and she lets go of me completely, her shoulders slumping in defeat. And just when I’m about to ask her what’s wrong, she wails, “That’s what he said.”
“You, what?” Dart and I say virtually the same thing at the same time. I’d like to hope she just meant they’d have too much respect for her, but something in her tone makes me believe she meant it an entirely different way.
She shrugs, and the way she shrinks back into herself is almost like watching her will to live seep out of her as she explains with a catch in her voice, “He said no one would go near a cripple like me. So, I suppose I have to believe you.”
My anger, which had been replaced by sympathy for the woman in my arms, returns with a vengeance, and the thoughts which had been plaguing me all night come rushing to the fore, making my words come out unfiltered. “He’s a fuckin’ liar, babe. He’s twisted and doesn’t know what he’s fuckin’ talking about. I want you. Christ, how I want you.”
I ignore the whistling sound Dart makes behind me as a myriad of emotions flick over her face at my admission—hope, disbelief, fear. I hurry to reassure her. “But the one difference with me, babe, is that I’d want to be fuckin’ sure you wanted me too. I would never force you. But whatever happens, I’ll protect you, you feel me? I’m gonna fuckin’ be here for you, babe. Whether you want me or not. But I won’t touch you without you saying yes.”
She looks at me as though she can’t believe me, her brow furrows. My declaration has given her something to process, so I gently pull her to me and brush my lips over her hair, hoping to convey my sincerity with actions, not words. She sobs once again, reminding me she’s sore and in pain. I ask where she keeps the Tramadol, then open the bedside table and take the box out. I know you’re probably not supposed to drink with the medication, but I’m hoping it will ease her pains, and if it makes her sleepy, that’s what she needs tonight. Still bemused and uncertain by my admission of my desire, she washes it down with vodka. Another possibly not-so-good idea.
“I’ll be off now, man. Unless there’s anything else you want?” A shuffling of feet lets me know Dart’s taking his leave, and I turn to nod at him, seeing him pause by the door. “Wraith, what you said here. I’m not gonna tell anyone, okay?”
Thanking him—Drum would have my ass if he knew—I turn my attention back to Wheels. “I’m staying with you tonight. I’ll take that chair over there, but I’m not leaving this room, okay? Now, settle down and close your eyes, you’ll be safe, I said I’ll protect you.” As my voice murmurs on, she shuffles down the bed and rests against the pillow I recovered from the floor. Her eyes close, and then flick open again and she looks around the room, her pupils wide and staring.
“It’s alright, babe. I’m here. I’m gonna switch off the main light and then go sit on the chair.”
But before I can move, she grabs me. “Stay here. Hold me. Please.”
I don’t need much encouragement—the thought of how far Buster might have gone, even killing her to cover his tracks as he must have known what the penalty for her rape would have been, is devastating. I could have lost her before I even had her. With a shudder, I get to my feet and darken the room, but leave on the bedside light. My heart’s beating so fast just imagining what could have happened had I not gotten here in time, and my teeth clench together as I think about the morning to come and what I’ll have to do. Lying down beside her, I gather her into my arms, smoothing my hand down her back until her breathing slows.
She wakes once more during the night with a heart-rending cry, but I pull her closer and gently kiss her hair, her eyes, and cheek on the unharmed side of her face until she drifts off to sleep again.
We’re woken to voices outside. As I go to leave the bed, wanting to open the door and check who’s there, she pulls at my tee, holding me back. Her eyes look at me warily in consternation. “Wraith, what you said last night. I know you didn’t mean it. It’s alright, I know you just said it to make me feel better.”
Leaning over, I place a chaste kiss to her forehead. That she’s having difficulty believing me makes me want to smile—there’s hard evidence of it if she cared to look, but I keep my amusement from my face. My face as serious as I can make it, I try to impart my sincerity. “I meant every word,” I tell her. “Every fuckin’ word. And whatever happens, if you want to take this further or not, well, darlin’ that’s completely up to you. But never doubt exactly how I feel. And exactly how much I fuckin’ want you.”
She lets me go, her brow creasing as she considers my words.
Opening the door, I find quite a crowd waiting outside. Sandy and Carmen have covered dishes on a tray, and Blade, our enforcer, is standing behind with a jug of coffee and mugs, and behind him is Dollar. I wave them all in. She gives Blade a wary look, and one look at his reddened face wearing a deep scowl, rage rolling off him in waves, tells me why. I remember Peg explaining how he got his name. With Blade, it’s all true, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find Buster at the mercy of some of his handiwork later.
The women bustle in and take over, fussing over Wheels, helping her get herself straight and putting the tray of bacon, eggs, and waffles on her lap. The first thing she goes for is the coffee
, almost seeming to inhale it, and when Sandy offers one to me, I take it without hesitation and do the same.
Blade takes me to one side. “Emergency church at ten,” he tells me quietly. Checking my phone, I see it’s just nine now. “I’ve brought the prospects with me. They’ll stay with Wheels until you’re out.”
I’m glad he thought of that.
“You okay, darlin’?” Looking up, I see Bullet staring at her carefully, and the thought flits through my mind that I don’t like him doing that. He catches sight of my eyes narrowing, but waits until she nods, then after a moment’s further consideration, he turns away and joins Blade and myself.
“I s‘pect I know what you want, Wraith. I’ll be voting that way myself. Fuckin’ motherfuckin’ coward going after a defenceless woman.” I lift my chin in thanks at Bullet.
“I’m with you, man. He’s sick.” Blade’s not wrong in my opinion.
After slapping my back, both men leave. I watch her with the women for a second, seeing how strained her face is, as though having to keep up the pretense that’s she not suffering any after effects of her ordeal is draining. I decide to rescue her and wheel her chair across to her and pick up her crutches and prosthesis to give her a feeling of independence, as well as a gentle hint to the girls.
“You ladies wanna give her some space now? To let her get some clothes on?”
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