The Queen of Carnage

by Wright, Candice

  “Get in before the water runs cold,” he urges me with his arms crossed over his chest.

  “I’m not showering in front of you. You can fuck right off.”

  “You will get in there and clean up or I will do it for you.”

  I fold my arms across my chest, acutely aware of my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest.

  He sighs but turns around and gives me his back. “I’m not leaving and giving you a chance to escape or do something stupid. But you can’t go back to them looking like that.”

  I look down at my clothes and skin and see King’s blood smeared all over me. Orion, Gage, and Halo would be like bulls to a rag if they saw me like this.

  “Fine, but stay facing the door or I’ll punch you so hard in the dick you’ll taste your own balls.”

  He laughs but doesn’t answer me. I strip out of my clothes and toss them in the sink before climbing into the shower. I wash my hair and body with a masculine scented shampoo and soap before switching the shower off and snagging the towel from the rail. I step out and wrap it around myself just as I catch the reflection of Zero watching me in the mirror.

  “You asshole!” I yell at him.

  “Hey, I never claimed to be a monk. You can’t put pussy as fine as yours in my face and not expect me to look.”

  I pull the towel tightly before reaching for a second one for my hair. I wrap it up, ignoring his eyes on me, praying to fuck we can get out of this bathroom sometime soon.

  My prayers are answered when he leans over and opens the door, indicating for me to go through.

  “Opening doors for me doesn’t make you a gentleman when you just watched me shower naked, fucker.”

  “That’s one smart mouth you’ve got there, Luna. I bet your guys have fun trying to fill it.”

  “Pervert!” I bite back.

  He smiles at me. “Bitch.”

  “Stop antagonizing her, Zero, for fuck’s sake,” Viper calls from what I’m assuming is a bedroom. Zero’s hand on the small of my back maneuvers me that way. When we get there, the door is open and Viper is holding up a pair of gray sweat pants.

  “These should be okay.” He tosses them to me. I reach out instinctively to catch them and nearly lose the towel in the process.

  Zero closes the door and walks over to the bed. He sits with a smile on his face as he watches me, letting me know in no uncertain terms he won’t be turning away this time.

  I make sure the towel is secure before slipping the sweats up my legs. I pull the drawstring tight and put a knot in it to stop them from slipping down and leaving me bare. Viper walks over with a large black T-shirt and thick gray socks, offering them to me. I snag the T-shirt and turn my back on them both. I pull the turban towel from my hair before slipping the T-shirt over my head, pulling the towel from around my body and tossing it at Zero.

  I snag the socks and move to the bed when the room tilts and I stumble.

  “Woah. Steady, sweetheart.” Viper’s hands on my hips stop me from losing my balance but my head continues to spin. When my mouth starts to water, I know I’m going to be sick. I pull away and run back to the bathroom, emptying the meager amount of food in my stomach into the thankfully clean toilet. Fucking morning sickness. Why it’s called that I have no idea. It’s not that I get it often but it always comes on when I least expect it.

  “Here.” Zero thrusts a glass of water at me, a look of concern on his face.

  “Pregnant?” he guesses. I don’t know if I should continue to hide it but I am so fucking exhausted with all the goddamn subterfuge.

  “Yeah, I’m pregnant,” I admit. Saying the words out loud still sounds odd on my lips.

  “How far along are you?”

  “I’m not 100 percent sure but I would say I’m just over three months.”

  “Congrats. They know yet?”

  I shake my head no.

  “Probably for the best, given what’s going on right now. They would forego any meeting and burn everything down if it meant getting you back.”

  “How do you know that?” I ask but I suspect that’s true. Well, assuming they’re happy about nugget in the first place.

  “Because it’s what I would do,” he says softly.

  “He’s not wrong, we both would. That little baby is their legacy, the future of Carnage.” Viper nods at my stomach as he leans against the doorframe. I don’t dwell on their words. It's pointless right now and will only stress me out.

  “Here.” Zero hands me a toothbrush and helps me to my feet. I ignore them staring at me while I brush and try to get my thoughts in order. We’re going to be walking into pandemonium. I have to hope they don’t just shoot first and start asking questions later. It’s a good thing my brothers aren’t going to be there as well or—fuck! I really am off my game today. Maybe baby brain is real after all. I glance at my watch and turn, heading toward Viper who is still blocking the door. He doesn’t move when I get close so we just stand, eyeing each other.

  “Zero,” Viper calls. I turn my head to face him but find my wrist snagged in his large hand. I try to grab him with my free hand but Zero snags that one before I can.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” I struggle against them.

  “Calm the fuck down,” Viper barks as he slides my watch off my wrist and tosses it into the bathroom garbage can. He drops my wrist and walks off.

  I don’t move for a second as I try to process what just happened. The GPS will work regardless but I wanted to send an SOS in case they were unaware of what had happened. There is no way these guys could have known there was an SOS function in that watch. Unless…

  “You have someone inside Carnage,” I whisper, feeling Zero’s hands on my wrist tighten a little before he lets go.

  “Now why would you think something like that?” He smirks at me but that smirk is anything but pleasant.

  “Come on now, we have places to be.” He nudges me out the door, urging me to follow Viper into the living room. I come to a halt when I catch sight of a second person in the room. I don’t remember moving, I don’t even remember pulling back my arm and throwing punch after punch until I find myself pinned within Vipers arms.

  “Enough,” he barks into my ear but the words don’t stop me from struggling to get back to Kibble, who is standing in front of me wiping blood from his lip.

  “You goddamn son of a bitch.” I fight and kick until Viper roars.

  “Enough!” I still in his arms, breathing heavy as the fight drains out of me.

  “They trusted you,” I whisper furiously, letting every ounce of my disappointment bleed into my voice. His jaw ticks, his only outward sign of reaction to my words.

  “But not you?” he questions with a tilt of his head.

  Viper lets go of my arms, sensing the threat to his friend is over.

  “I don’t trust men who hit women, full stop.” I spit the words out and feel Viper tense beside me.

  “Who’d you hit?” Viper asks him, his voice deceptively calm, too calm.

  “Me. Like the fucking coward he is, he hit me on the back of the head with a gun and knocked me out.” He glares at me when I call him a coward but his attention soon shifts to Zero who steps up beside me and Viper.

  “And I suppose you had a good reason for this?” Zero asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

  “Fucking Joker,” Kibble spits out.

  “Joker didn’t know King asked you and Gage to bring me back to Carnage,” I point out, remembering Joker and Gage’s conversation when I was pretending to be unconscious.

  “Oh, he knew and he was beyond pissed. He heard King telling us to go get you and grabbed me on the way out. He wanted you roughed up so you wouldn’t agree to stay. He figured if you were scared of us, you would turn tail and leave no matter what Orion and Halo said to you. He just forgot to factor two things into that equation. Gage’s feelings for you and your own lack of common sense,” he explains, exasperated.

  I flip him off.

  “
Knocking you out was the best I could do without raising suspicion. If I had done nothing, Joker would have questioned me and I couldn’t afford to draw any more attention to myself.”

  “What were you doing at Carnage? Shouldn’t you have left when Weasel did?” He looks to Viper before answering me.

  “Joker patched me in as Weasel’s replacement. Weasel brought me in as a prospect so he had someone to do his dirty work. Joker knew I was a Chaos Demon and needed me to fill Weasel’s role as a go-between. It was working out well until that fucking dickhead went to Megan’s shop and fucked us all up the ass.” He sits down on one of the sofas with a sigh.

  “So Stacey and Gecko were Chaos Demons too?”

  He looks at me in confusion for a second before answering. “Stacey was Joker’s whore. She had her sights set on becoming his old lady but that was never going to happen. Gecko isn’t a Demon, we just have dirt on him that makes him look the other way when it comes to missing shipments.”

  I shake my head at him in disgust before his words register. He used present tense not past. He doesn’t know about what went down today. I turn to look up at Viper in question but he’s staring at Kibble with an odd look on his face.

  “I’m pulling you out, now. Your cover’s blown. Give the Carnage cut back to Luna and put your Chaos one back on,” Viper tells him.

  You would think he would be relieved at the news but if anything, he looks agitated.

  “I’m not sure that’s the best idea. I’m so close to finding out where these guns are coming from. If I can just get a lead back to Gemini, I’ll be able to find my sister,” Kibble tells him, making the plot thicken. I feel like I should be taking notes or something.

  “You are never setting foot back in that clubhouse,” I tell him emphatically.

  He stands up and stalks toward me but Zero stands in front of me and shoves Kibble back.

  “Back off, Grim. Luna’s right. You will never be welcome back in that clubhouse. It’s over,” he tells him but if anything, this just pisses him off more.

  “What, because of her? I’m sure we can keep her quiet for a little longer. I’m so close, guys, don’t ask me to do this. Gecko has a meeting set up for tonight with one of Gemini’s henchmen. I just need to put a tracker on their vehicle, then I’m out. Seriously, just a few more hours that’s all.” He’s virtually begging now.

  “Gecko’s dead,” I reveal emotionlessly.

  “Shit,” Viper bites out beside me.

  “What?” Kibble or Grim or whatever the fuck his name is whispers, his voice filled with pain and regret.

  “I filled him with bullets a little while ago so, you see, you’re too late.”

  “What have you done?” He charges Zero to get to me but Zero anticipated that and punches him. Grim stagers back, never breaking eye contact with me.

  “I fucking survived, you fucking prick. Where were you today, huh? Tell me, where were you?” I scream at him.

  “I was chasing a lead which means fuck-all now, thanks to you.”

  I walk around Zero, who grabs my wrist to stop me going any further but he doesn’t pull me back.

  “Whether it was an act or not, Carnage trusted you to have their backs. If you weren't in church, I’m guessing you had been given a job to do.”

  “Gecko and I were on guard duty while you and Megan were around but, with Megan at the shop with a couple of prospects on her, I knew Gecko could handle you,” he spits out.

  “Oh, really, and how did that work out for him, huh? Let me tell you what happened, shall I? Stacey pulled a gun on King, Gecko, and me. Gecko managed to get to Stacey before she could hurt anyone but then he turned the gun on me. Turns out he didn’t trust you any more than I did and with Stacey becoming a loose cannon, he snapped. He was banking on my and King’s deaths buying him enough time to sort his shit out. King saved me. He saved his grandchild,” I explain with a hand on my stomach.

  “King took a bullet to the chest and one to the stomach, both of which were meant for me. Gecko took King’s life so I took his and fuck you, you piece of shit, for being so selfish and only seeing your own problems.” My chest is heaving now as I stare at Grim but his eyes are firmly fixed on my stomach.

  “You’re pregnant?” he asks, looking as white as a ghost.

  I don’t get to answer before he collapses to the floor and roars, pulling at his hair and hitting himself in the head over and over. I turn to Viper in shock but he’s already moving, trying to restrain a struggling Grim. I have no idea what’s going on but Grim’s anger and grief are palpable and at odds with everything I know about him. When Viper can’t calm him down, I take a step closer. Zero’s grip on my arm tightens.

  “Luna?” he warns but I shake him off and step closer. I get on my knees in front of Grim, whose head is bowed and shoulders are jerking with the force of his rapid breathing. I place a shaky palm on his cheek and suck in a sharp breath when he freezes. Everything in him stills until he tips his head up and looks at me with anguish etched across his face.

  I’m yanked against Grim’s chest. I let out a shriek and hear Viper curse. Grim’s arms band around me and grip me tightly as he buries his head against my shoulder.

  “I’m sorry.” The rest of his words tumble over each other until they become a tangled mess. I catch Viper’s eyes, which look back into mine with a look of sadness of his own.

  I don’t say anything. I tentatively run my fingers through Grim’s hair until his body starts getting heavier and heavier against my shoulder. I feel Zero’s hands on my back as he slowly pulls me free of Grim’s arms. Viper steps in before Grim topples forward. I realize belatedly he has fallen into some kind of trance, not quite awake, yet not asleep. Viper picks him up and tosses him over his shoulder before disappearing down the hallway to the bedroom. Zero helps me stand up and leads me to the sofa.

  I open my mouth to ask a bazillion questions but Zero raises his hand to stop me.

  “Not my story to tell.” He sighs and sits next to me. “Fuck it.”

  “Grim, Viper, and I all served in the same unit. That unit had my back and after thirteen years, I consider them family. Viper and I were already patched members so when we left, we talked Grim into prospecting for the Chaos Demons. As soon as we got back, we knew something wasn’t right. Viper’s uncle John was dead and his uncle Rock had stepped up. It’s wasn’t a position Rock wanted and was more than happy to hand over the presidency and VP position to us. Perhaps we should have wondered why he was so willing but we just took it as a legacy thing. Viper’s dad died when he was a kid, leaving him with just his mom, same for Grim. I never had one to begin with. My mother was a sweet butt and my father was nothing more than a cum shot at the end of a gangbang.”

  I make a face at that. I really could have done without that information.

  “Anyway, long story short, Viper and I grew up in the MC and enlisted just after we got patched in which is where we met Grim. Grim came home from war to find his mother dead and his sister missing. The only lead we had was a name, Gemini, the guy who supplies Carnage with their guns. We found out that Joker had a deal with John and Rock had honored it after John died so we used that as a way to get Grim into Carnage and sniff around. He played the game but he’s loyal to me and Viper. What you just saw is a man who hasn't slept more than two hours a night for almost a year realize he might never find out what happened to his sister. He doesn’t hurt women and children. I think you made him realize just how far over the line he had crossed.”

  “I don’t really know what to say to that. It’s not okay. What he did to me and what happened after because he wasn’t where he was supposed to be will never be okay but I have brothers. I get it, there isn’t anything they wouldn’t do for me.”

  He nods but before he can say anything else, Viper walks back into the room with my shoes.

  “Showtime,” he tells me, handing them to me to slip on.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The ride to the compound feels lon
ger than it did when we left. I can feel the adrenaline flooding my system in preparation for what’s to come. When we pull up, I see MC members lining the gates, armed and ready. We wait, idling on the bikes as the gates swing open. We pull through and park, then Viper is off his bike and pulling me in front of him before Zero has even turned his engine off.

  “Cherub.” I look up when I see Orion barreling toward us.

  Viper pulls his gun and points it at my side. “Not so fast.”

  I look down at the gun wedged into my ribs and notice it's mine. My empty one.

  “You are not doing yourself any favors, Viper,” I say quietly for only him to hear.

  “I’m just trying to stop Zero and me getting taken out by a fucking sniper. But just in case someone gets trigger happy, I don’t want to accidentally take out you and the baby now, do I?”

  If he wasn’t a Chaos Demon, I think I could have really liked him. Zero too.

  “Sugar?” I turn my attention back to Orion and see Halo and Gage standing beside him.

  “I’m okay,” I tell them with a wobbly smile.

  Halo nods, then scowls at Zero and Viper.

  “You know the chances of you walking out of here are looking increasingly unlikely, don’t you?”

  “Well, maybe we should just take Luna and go. I thought she meant more to you than your pride, but by all means, stand there swinging your dicks. I’ve got all the time in the world and I guarantee my dick’s bigger.”

  “Not likely,” I mutter.

  “Something to say, Luna?” Zero asks from beside me, placing a hand on my hip and snapping the focus of all three of my men to it.

  “I said not likely. If you have a bigger dick than Orion’s, it would be classified as a trunk, trust me.” At that, Zero starts laughing.