Cleo's Rage (Devil's Riot MC Book 4)

by E. C. Land

  I wait for them to load up Gadget in one ambulance and put Ace’s body in the back of a coroner’s van. They must’ve been called in after they called it. Glancing around the room, a thought occurs to me. Fuck.

  “I just realized something, brothers. Where’s the new prospect and Shadow?” I ask. Rushing toward the back of the club, we find no one there.

  “Rage, look at the ground over here,” Hades calls out. Moving to him, I check out what he’s talking about. Seeing it, I narrow my eyes as I follow the tracks. From the looks of it, someone was being dragged through here.

  Following the drag marks, they stop at the shed. Pulling out my gun, I open the door enough to glance inside. “Fuck, found Shadow,” I say, moving to his side to check his pulse. I blow out a breath finding it steady. Whoever got him only knocked him out cold.

  “One of y’all stay with him. I’m goin’ huntin’,” I state, moving toward the entrance to the shed. Now I need to focus on the one thing that matters most to me— finding my woman and bringing her home.

  “I’m coming for you, Lave, just hang on for me,” I murmur to the sky. Turning my head toward Burner, I give him a nod. “Let’s go fuck some people up. It’s time this lunatic learned you don’t fuck with the DRMC,” I growl out letting the rage I’m known for take hold.

  No one fucks with my family.

  31

  Cleo

  “Time to wake up, bitch,” a female voice says as she slaps me across the face. Groaning, I try to bring my hand up to rub my cheek only to realize both hands are restrained behind my back. I open my eyes and at first, it’s blurry, thanks to the woman standing in front of me.

  When my vision clears, I get my first real look at her. She looks familiar, however, I can’t place where I know her from. She could be classified as stunning with a tiny figure if she wasn’t glaring down at me with animosity in her eyes. Taking her in some more, I notice she has her hair almost like mine, almost as if she were trying to mimic me. She even seems to dress the way I usually do. Which isn’t too off, well except for how she has her hair. With the way she’s made her appearance, she really could be my twin if not my sibling and no one would question it. The only difference is our eyes and the fact I have bigger boobs.

  Turning my head slowly, I recognize the room I’m in, panic begins to hit me. We’re in Lynsdey’s childhood house. Lynsdey put this place up for sale the moment she could. She didn’t want anything to do with her past and the horrors that came with it.

  “Who are you?” I finally ask.

  “Really, you don’t know?” she says, almost looking hurt. “Of course, you don’t, considering the fact that I've always been in the shadows compared to you,” she grinds out, pacing and mumbling under breath, sending me malicious glares. Furrowing my brows, I don’t get it. What does she mean she’s always been in the shadows compared to me?

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know who you are,” I try again, unable to figure out how I know this woman. With her looking almost identical to myself, you’d think I’d know her.

  “Oh, you’re gonna be sorry, bitch. It’s because of you I’ve lost everything,” she screeches. Footsteps above us draw her attention away from me. I watch as she walks toward the door. Opening it, she yells out to whoever it is up there to bring her toy down. Shivers run down my spine as memories of words similar to those run through my head.

  When she comes back toward me, she has an evil glint in her eyes I’ve seen before. I feel my face growing pale as memories form with the present. Shaking my head to clear it, I try to alleviate it of things that can’t happen anymore— he’s dead.

  “Now, I’m gonna tell you a little story while I wait for my toy to be brought to me. Maybe then, you will know who I am,” she announces as she goes back to pacing. “Several years ago, I fell in love with the most amazing man. Granted, he didn’t know at first. I watched him from afar, admiring everything about him. He was absolutely beautiful, even when he was doing horrible things. Then he saw you, and you took him from me. I’d planned to show him how much I loved him, that I didn’t care if he did what he did but of course, when he saw you, he made you his. Not me,” she screeches out the last part as she slaps me across the face again.

  My stomach turns at the realization she’s talking about Jake. “Then you and that bitch of a stepsister had to go and put him away. I was pissed at first, thought about going after both of you then. But I sent him a letter one day, professing my love to him and that I’d be waiting for him until he was released. When he replied, it was like the beginning of us. He’d told me how sorry he was for not being with me. Said when he came home, we could be together. I was so happy to get what I wanted. Then you two bitches had to ruin it all again and get him killed by those bikers.” Her voice is filled with venom on the last part. “I planned to seek my revenge out on you both, however, I figured with Lynsdey being with one of those bikers, it would be easier to get to you. I mean you were the one I really wanted anyway. Thinking you can have whatever you want. Even Cristy’s man.”

  The sound of the door to the basement opening causes her to smile. “Oh good, Darren is bringing me my toy,” she says with glee as a man drags a woman behind him. One look at the man and my eyes widen. It’s the new prospect from the club. He slings the woman down on the floor at my stalker’s feet.

  “Here you go, Megs, need anything else?” Darren asks slurring his words.

  “No, I’m good here, thank you for bringing me my toy,” she says, patting Darren on the arm. “Now go on upstairs. I’ll be up later and give you another dose.”

  Darren doesn’t even look my way or at the other woman as he turns to leave the room.

  “Please Megan, let me go.” The whimper of the woman on the floor draws my attention her way. I gasp at the realization it’s Cristy. Scanning over her body, welts cover her skin where she’s not covered by the small tank top and underwear.

  “Shut up, Cristy, you brought this on yourself just like Cleo did,” Megan yells, kicking Cristy in the stomach. “Now, let me finish the rest of my story. You see, when I got hired at Outlaw Rack’s, I instantly made friends with Cristy and we started talking about how she wanted Rage and told me she’d planned to make her move shortly after you left. Figured she could help him get over you. But he wouldn’t give her the time of day.” That’s when it clicks, I’d seen her working at the bar. She’d been one of the new waitresses Kenny hired.

  “I’m sorry, Cleo, I didn’t mean for this all to hap—” Cristy screams at the impact of Megan kicking her again.

  “Shut up, bitch,” Megan screams. Leaning down, she grabs Cristy by the hair. “Speak out like that again, my toy, and I’ll prolong my fun with you,” she says, kissing her hard on the mouth. “Mhmm, and you know how I do love to keep the fun going.” Oh, God, it’s like watching my past come to life with a female version of Jake.

  “You do know I didn’t take everything from you. I didn’t want Jake. He was delusional and a rapist,” I finally speak up earning Megan’s wrath.

  “Don’t you start with your lies, bitch. He told me all about how you wanted it. Just like all those other women, and they deserved everything they got,” Megan screams out clenching her hair in her hands, pulling it. “You know when you came back, I thought I might be able to stand you being here but then I saw how you were treated that night you came to the bar with Izzy. Men gawked at you like you were the hottest piece of ass. I knew then you needed to either leave again, which I was willing to let happen, considering I wanted nothing more than to kill you. But you refused to leave so I have no choice but to do to you as those men did to Jake.”

  Well, fuck a monkey’s ass and let pigs shit gold, this bitch needs to be in the looney bin. I hope like hell I can either figure a way out of here or someone finds me. One thing is for sure, I refuse to let this lunatic win. I will not be a victim again.

  32

  Rage

  Hours pass as I track the tree line. From what the girls told me, I figur
ed whoever took my woman didn’t use the road. We would have seen them go past that way on our way here. Took me about an hour to find what I was looking for— track marks. Burner and I began tracking the marks through the woods when we hear the rumbling of bikes coming down the road.

  “The rest of the brothers must be back,” Burner states keeping his eyes on the tire tracks on the ground.

  “Yeah, let’s head back in for a minute to get an update. I ain’t got all day to find my woman, times tickin’. We don’t know what this lunatic could be doing to Cleo,” I growl turning to head toward the clubhouse.

  The instant Twister spots me and Burner coming out of the trees, he rushes our way. “What the fuck happened here?” Twister roars out as he gets closer. He’s pissed and I can’t blame him for it.

  “Where’s my woman and kids?” Thorn growls out from next to him.

  I hold my hand up to stop any more questions from them, I know they all want answers and to see their women. “You must not have checked your phones. We sent you a message to let you know we had an emergency here. When we got here, we walked into the club to find Gadget and Ace on the floor surrounded in blood. Dragon and your women went to the hospital to be with Gadget. The last update, he was heading straight to surgery. Ace was DOA when we got here. Cleo’s missing.” I growl out the last part.

  “Fuck, Ace’s dead, Gadget’s in surgery, and Cleo’s missing,” Twister mutters under his breath. “What about Shadow and Darren?” he asks.

  “Shadows okay, we found him knocked out in the shed, still can’t find Darren. Right now, he’s the least of my concern. I need to find Cleo. There’re tire tracks back in the woods starting right in the tree line. Whoever this lunatic is, had the sense to stay off the main road. With that being said, they could’ve taken my woman anywhere. We need to see the feed from the cameras to see if we got this person on video,” I say impatiently.

  “Alright, let’s go check the security system, then we need to figure out a game plan,” Twister says, turning to head inside. I don’t bother warning him that it’s not a pretty sight inside. He can see for himself.

  Stepping inside the clubhouse, my brothers’ curses can be heard. I don’t bother to pay attention to them having already seen the worst of it. They at least didn’t have to see their brothers laying on that floor the way we did when we got here.

  Heading toward where Gadget had his system set up, I pull up the video stream from earlier. Scanning through, I stop at the motion of Ace banging against the outside of the door. Glancing at the inside camera, I watch as Gadget orders the women to move to the hallway. Going to the door, he speaks to Ace for a moment. His face becomes a mask of anger as he closes the door again. Moving to the hallway, he moves the women to a room further down the hall, the same one they were in when I called out to them. Moving to another screen, I see a blacked-out figure moving toward the back of the clubhouse, walking straight to Darren. I can’t make out the words exchanged between the two of them before they both turn to come into the clubhouse.

  Switching to the one with Ace again, he’s standing there doing as he’s supposed to all the way up until Darren shoots him. Ace’s body jerks. He quickly steps inside the door, leaving Darren and the blacked-out figure outside, moving in the direction of the door. Right outside the door, the figure looks up at the camera, their eyes are filled with malice as they step through.

  Turning back to the inside video feed, my head is spinning from all the back and forth. How does Gadget fuckin’ do this? My stomach turns seeing everything play out in front of me. The audio on the inside is better. Gadget is pulling his gun out as Ace falls to the floor holding a hand to his stomach when the other two come in shooting. Fuck, he didn’t even have a chance to pull the trigger on these fuckers. When we get our hands on Darren, he’s dead.

  “Trick or treat dumbasses,” the figures distorted laughter fills the room as she steps over Ace’s body. “Darren, go make sure the other prospect is taken care of while I get Cleo, she’s nothing I can’t handle, stupid bitch.” At those words, I don’t finish the video, I can’t. If I do, I will see just how much of a failure I am to Cleo and our child.

  “Motherfucker,” I roar out slamming my fist into the wall behind me. You’d think the pain from the wound in my shoulder and now the pain in my hand would be enough to stop me. It doesn’t. “Prez, why don’t you all go up to the hospital and check on your women, me a few others can handle tracking this dumbass down.”

  “Not happenin’, brother, we do this together. Cleo is just as important to the rest of us as the other women. Plus, they’d have our balls if we didn’t stay here to help. Now, let’s figure out where she is,” Twister says sternly.

  “Hades, you know how to check the tracking devices that are in all the phones? We find Darren, we might just find Cleo,” Horse suggests.

  “Yeah, give me a minute. I may not be as tech-savvy as Gadget but I can get around,” Hades grumbles moving to the computer. Minutes later, he has the location of Darren’s phone, dumbass never ditched it— which is a small stroke of luck for us.

  “Come on, brothers, strap up with whatever you need and let’s go,” Twister orders turning his attention to me. “Rage, I swear we’re gonna get her back, nothing is gonna happen to her or that baby she’s carrying.”

  “I hear ya, Prez, but I won’t be able to believe your words until I have my woman back in my arms,” I say moving toward the door. As this lunatic told me the other day, it’s time for them to pay what’s due.

  33

  Cleo

  After Megan finishes spewing of what she has planned, she turns her attention from me to Cristy. Making me endure watching everything sexual along with the torture she does to the woman who I use to call my friend.

  “Please stop, Megan, please, I can’t take it anymore.” Cristy’s whimpers fill the room.

  “But you’re so much fun to play with.” Megan laughs like a lunatic. How no one ever noticed the crazy in her, I don’t know. This woman is like a female version of Chucky. And not his bride either. Tiffany’s psychotic but she’s a dumb bitch compared to Chucky.

  A loud knock at the top of the stairs draws Megan’s attention from Cristy for a split second. “Don’t think about goin’ anywhere, Cristy. I’ll be right back, then we’ll have some more fun,” she says, her eyes sliding between the two of us.

  Neither of us makes a sound as Megan goes up the stairs. Listening to the murmurs of Megan and Darren speaking quietly, I wiggle my hands. I’ve been doing this a bit to try and loosen the rope. My wrists have become sore from rubbing against it. It doesn’t matter as long as I can get loose. I know if I don’t take my chance now, this is it for me. Maybe if Cristy is willing to help, I can get us both out of here.

  “Cristy, look, I know you hate me but untie me and we can get out of here,” I tell her hoping she listens.

  “How are you gonna get us out of here? Megan is an evil bitch incarnate,” Cristy sneers.

  “Don’t be a fuckin’ bitch about it. Untie my hands and I’ll show you. Now, hurry up so we can get out of here,” I whisper yell to get her to listen. God damn, pig snottin’ bitches and not listening. I’ve been in this situation, I don’t want to go through it again. All I need her to do is untie my freaking hands and I’ll do the rest.

  “Fine, but if we get caught, I’m telling her it’s all your fault,” Cristy says sarcastically, sounding like a damn teenager not getting their way with their parents. Was she always like this? Honestly, I’m not sure. I’d like to think we’d been good friends but, in all reality, I don’t think we were.

  Soon as she has my hands loosened enough, I pull my wrist free. Sharp stinging sensation courses through my hands as I move them to get some blood flow to them. Standing up, I grab the chair and move toward the window I knew was down here, the same one Lynsdey used to escape Jake. Ironic really that her and I both having to escape from her childhood home.

  “Come on, we’re going out this window. Soon as
you’re out, head for the trees straight ahead,” I tell Cristy as I place the chair right under the window. I let her go out first, knowing she’s in a weaker state than I am considering all she’d been through. Nodding her head, she climbs up the chair, opens the window and slides through. It’s a tight space but we’re both small enough to fit through. Even with my big boobs, I know I can make it.

  Once she’s through the window, I move to do the same. Only a hand grabs my ankle causing me to scream out trying to pull me back inside. “You stupid cunt, how dare you try to fuckin’ escape,” Megan screams. Kicking out, I use all my strength which isn’t much since I’m hanging halfway out the window. Finally, I get loose and the rest of the way out the window. Standing up, I make a run for the trees, hoping to get as far away from her as I can.

  Sprinting through the woods, I spot Cristy not far ahead of me as I move to catch up to her. She’s moving a lot slower than she should be. Reaching her, I grab hold of her hand, dragging her with me.

  “I don’t know if I can keep up,” Cristy breaths out.

  “Cristy, you have to, if not Megan is gonna catch you and who the hell knows what she will do then. We just need to make it a little further, come on,” I whisper as I continue to keep my pace.

  A gun firing from behind me causes me to release Cristy’s hand. Turning, I find Megan barreling down on us.

  “Run,” I scream at Cristy as I retake her hand dragging her with me.

  “I can’t, I just can’t,” Cristy cries out as she stumbles forward. I try to help her regain her footing, but she ends up taking both of us to the ground.