by LeAnn Ashers
“You have two options, you can die or I take your hands.” I’m not fucking sugarcoating anything.
His eyes widen as it sinks in that I mean fucking business, and he looks around like he is trying to figure out a way to get out of it. He swallows hard, sweat pouring off his face, because he realizes he is stuck.
“It sucks being trapped and scared, doesn’t it?” I am loving seeing him ready to piss his pants.
“Look man, I was young and dumb.”
I shake my head. “I heard that you did things to other girls too, it wasn’t just my woman. You knew what you were doing, and it’s time to face your sins.”
I grip his face. “Now, hands or die.” I let his face go, causing his head to snap back.
He swallows hard. “Hands.”
We brought a doctor with us. He will make sure Grace’s uncle doesn’t die from his wounds, and one of the prospects will drop him off at the hospital. He will never touch anyone else. Her father will not get an option. He is going straight to fucking hell.
One of the prospects drags out a table, and Grace’s uncle starts to shake.
“I want you to remember, she was scared and she was stuck. The other girls were scared, and everything was out of their control. You are hopeless, you’re trapped. You will never fucking feel fear and helplessness to the extent they did, but you will suffer. You hurt your wife, you killed her. You deserve fucking more, but I take great pleasure in knowing that you will suffer for the rest of your life.”
I kick his legs out from under him, and he lands on his knees. Logan grabs his arm and stretches it out across the table. I am handed an axe and Logan nods at me, trusting that I won’t hit him. Grace’s uncle starts to scream, hiding his face.
Logan holds the uncle’s hand, and I lift the axe and slam it down as hard as I can. Logan falls back as the hand detaches from the arm. Travis catches him, and I sever the other hand. The doctor steps in and does whatever is needed before the prospect takes him to the emergency room.
I throw the axe to the ground by his face. Logan sets one of his hands on his porch like it’s a fucking decoration.
I do not feel regret; sick fucks like this deserve it.
A vehicle pulls in, and I smile as I realize it’s her father. I wiggle my finger, grinning. He is next, but it’s not going to happen just yet. I want him to be terrified, waiting for me to pop up. When he least expects it, it’ll happen.
Let the games begin.
13
Grace
A month later
“Let’s go, girls!” I scream as they run around the bases. We are about to secure the state championship, and if we win we will be hitting the nationals.
One of the girls dives for the ball, and Leah jumps over her and slides into home.
We won!
I throw my clipboard and run onto the field to my girls. We have worked and trained so hard. Leah and Tiffany have trained every single day, at each other’s houses, in addition to team practice. They are determined to be the best in the world.
And it paid off—we won with flying colors. They all fall onto each other and I laugh; they’re so excited. Aiden laughs as Leah jumps up and down. The grin on her face is one of pure happiness.
This past month I have seen such an amazing change in her. She has settled into her new life, and she becomes happier every day.
Therapy has been a huge help to her. Braelyn, her therapist, works with the Devils Souls MC often. She is a sweetheart and Leah loves her. Aiden and Ethan, who is Braelyn’s husband, have become good friends on top of that. Ethan is a police officer, but he is cool with the MC because they helped rescue his sister a couple of years ago.
Tiffany and Leah are doing a handshake they made up. I love the fact that they’re such close friends.
“This is utter bullshit!!” someone yells, and one of the parents throws a water bottle at the girls.
What the…? I look at Aiden in disbelief. I understand you’re upset your child has lost, but that doesn’t mean you should act like an ass.
I walk over to the fence. “Ma’am, can you please not throw things?” I don’t want trouble, but that is uncalled for.
She looks at me, and I can tell that I made a mistake in approaching her. But I’d rather her attention be on me than on the girls.
The guy sitting next her gets up, and all I can think is uh oh. “You have a problem, bitch?” He charges down the metal bleachers.
“You better not be talking to my woman.” Aiden has handed Reid off to Leah, who is staring at me. I smile at her reassuringly.
“Look, there are kids around.” My trying to defuse the situation just makes the guy madder. He walks around the fence until he is face to face with me, and the woman who started it all charges right behind him.
Oh joy.
Aiden is at my side in a split second. He gently pushes me back and moves in front of me. “Look fucker, you need to turn around and get behind that fence before I beat the shit out of you,” Aiden says in a hushed tone. “It’s a game. Kids are around, and I am sure you’re embarrassing your daughter.”
The guy wouldn’t stand a chance against Aiden, who is at least twice his size. He looks at both of us before backing away and practically dragging the woman from the dugout.
Aiden shakes his head. “People are literally dumb.”
I have to agree. I have seen upset parents many times, but I have never been threatened before—that’s a new one.
Leah runs over.
“You did so amazing today, sweetheart!” I hug her and she hugs me back, jumping in my arms with excitement.
“I can’t believe we are going to the nationals!” she screams. She hugs Aiden and we both laugh.
She has brightened up our lives so much; she is an angel. Always laughing and happy-go-lucky. She is so resilient.
Amelia and Lane walk over to us. “Want to take all the girls out to pizza before we drive back home?”
“I love that idea. Tell the girls, sweetheart?” I ask her and she runs over to them.
“What happened with the parents?” Lane asks. They’re standing at the opposite end of the field, glaring at both of us.
“They didn’t like losing.” I try to ignore their stares. All the kids pile into the bus. Aiden is driving behind us, because the bus isn’t exactly car seat approved, and Lane is riding with Aiden. Amelia sits down beside me, and we start singing a song with the girls. It makes me so happy to see the excitement on their faces. Most of these kids don’t have much enjoyment in their lives. I even see a huge difference in Tiffany since she and Leah have gotten so close.
Someone blows their horn loudly and swerves toward us before speeding away. My heart is in my chest. I look behind us at the girls; their faces are glued to the windows.
“It’s okay, girls, return to your seats.”
They all sit down, and the crazy driver is instantly forgotten.
We just finished our food, and I am holding the door open for the girls. Lane is standing at the bus, and Aiden is inside paying for it all. Amelia helps the girls get seated.
We are an hour from our town. When we arrive, the girls will be dropped off at school, where someone will pick them up.
“Well, if it isn’t the bitch of a coach?” someone says. It’s woman from earlier who was mad they lost.
Are you kidding me?
“There is a bunch of kids around, can you please not do this?” I ask her and let the door shut.
She laughs. “Of course I am going to do this. You have a smart mouth.” She moves closer, until I can smell her and feel her breath on my face. It’s rancid, that’s for sure. I pinch my lips together so I don’t vomit right in her face. I think it's been a long time since she bathed, and half her teeth are missing or cracked in half. I have a huge inkling that she is on something, and that’s what’s causing her to act so rashly, but what do I know? It could just be her beautiful personality.
What do I do? I don’t want to get into a fig
ht with this woman, because the kids are nearby, on the bus. “Please, what would this settle?” I ask her, and she bursts out laughing, causing spit to fly everywhere. Luckily, I dodge it.
She grins—I wouldn’t do that if I were you. “How about I go tell all the kids what kind of bitch you are.” She takes out a knife.
Oh, hell no. I see red. She starts to run across the parking lot, and I catch up to her easily. She’s not even running. It’s just a bit faster than her sluggish walk.
I grab her by the hair, making her head snap back and causing her to fall on her ass. “Look, you can do whatever the fuck you want to me, but don’t ever threaten these kids.”
Lane runs over. “What the fuck is going on?” he asks, and I explain what she is trying to do.
“Bitch, you better get your ass out of here before my wife finds out what you’re doing,” Lane growls at her, his fists clenched.
I would do whatever it takes to protect those I care about but, honestly, I am not a fighter unless I have to be. This woman just needs to get the fuck out of here before I lose my temper and make her eat concrete.
“What the fuck?” Aiden asks, still holding Reid. I take the baby from Aiden so he can deal with this woman.
“Grace, what is happening?” Leah asks from the steps of the bus.
I smile at her reassuringly. “Nothing is wrong, sweetheart. Why don’t you and Tiffany watch a movie on the iPad?”
She slowly takes in the scene before she disappears into the bus.
The woman is still lying on the ground like I just beat the shit out of her or something. She looks up at us, her eyes wide, before she starts screaming at the top of her lungs and rolls, on the ground, toward Amelia. Lane snatches her up off the ground, and she starts to scratch her skin.
“What is going on?” I ask Aiden.
“Let me call an ambulance.” Lane takes out his phone, and I watch in horror as the woman takes off at a dead run across the parking lot.
“She is going to hurt herself.” She is already too close to traffic. I start to go after her.
She stops suddenly and turns around; then she grins and takes out the knife. She raises it maniacally, reminding me of Chucky, and runs toward us, screaming at the top of her lungs.
Aiden lifts me inside the bus, and Lane does the same with Amelia.
The lady tries to run into the bus. The girls start screaming, and I slam the doors closed as Lane pulls her back by her hair. She hits the ground with a smack. Her arm is lying at funny angle, but she gets right up and runs face-first into the door.
Is this the zombie apocalypse or something?
“Gracie!” Leah calls and I open my arms for her. She buries her face into my chest as I hug her tightly. Tiffany is doing the same with Amelia.
The woman jabs the knife toward the bus windows. “Close the windows!” I tell the girls, and they hurry to do as I ask. Luckily, the windows are too high for her to reach, but I don’t want to take the chance of her throwing something inside.
Aiden and Lane hold her down until the ambulance comes; it’s the longest five minutes of my life.
Amelia looks at me, pale. “A new drug is on the street,” she whispers. Clearly, it’s dangerous, and someone needs to put a stop to it.
Grace
The next day
We have decided to stay inside the house today and relax after such an exhausting night. Leah is lying in the floor with Reid, playing with some of his toys.
That lady was in horrible shape last night. I stood next to Aiden as the paramedic told him this was the fifth call that night to people in this condition. It’s scary to think that a drug can make someone completely lose their mind. I mean she didn’t even blink—it was that bad. And she laughed and rolled around on the ground like she was possessed.
There’s a beep at the gate. “I think it’s the grocery man.” We just ordered some ingredients for lasagna, which I have been majorly craving all day. I yell for Aiden, and I look at the security screen on the wall. I push a button to let the delivery man through the gate, and he does an absolutely weird thing. He stops just inside the gate, gets out of his car, and walks toward our house.
Aiden walks into the living room with cash for a tip. He looks at the camera and his brow furrows. “Why is he walking?” He is shuffling along with his head hanging down, and his cap is pushed down close to his eyes.
Okay, this is very sketchy.
Aiden opens the door and steps out onto the front porch. I stand at the entrance waiting on him. The man walks up our drive and I wave at Logan, who is sitting on his porch with a beer. He waves back. Note to self: invite him over for dinner.
The delivery guy sets the groceries on the porch, and I bend down to pick them up just as I hear a snap.
Aiden
Something is not right about this—the hair on the back of my neck is standing up. Something is up with the delivery guy.
He sets the groceries down on the porch. He doesn’t say a word but continues to look down.
What the fuck?
Gracie bends over and tries to pick up one of the bags. That’s when his head shoots up, and I see his grin and the fork in his hand. He raises his hand to stab Gracelyn. I grip his hand and twist it, breaking it instantly.
Gracelyn backs away and looks at him in horror. The stupid fucker tried to stab her in the head.
I grip him by the throat and drag him off the porch. I put my foot on his throat, and he goes batshit crazy like the woman last night. Logan runs over to me and, one by one, all the guys who live in the area follow.
Gracelyn is sitting on the stairs, her eyes filled with fear because she could have died.
I am pissed right the fuck off. This drug issue is going to cause a lot of problems unless we stop it.
Lane rolls up on his bike as Logan is tying up the delivery guy. “We have a big problem,” I tell Lane and the others. “We need a fucking meeting. I just got a call from the chief because this is too much for them to handle. A police officer is on his way to get this guy, and then we head to the club.”
The fucker is rolling around on the ground laughing, his arms tied behind him. He kicks his legs up in the air, and it makes me fucking sick.
“Come here, honey.” I motion to Gracelyn, and she runs over and buries her face in my chest. It fucking kills me that she was scared, that the fucker came right up to my front door and tried this.
The police come and take him away, kicking and screaming.
“All the women, go inside the house and hit the code red button. It will completely lock down the houses. We have prospects at the gate, and we will electrify it. No one is getting on that fucker unless they want to be fried.”
I help Gracelyn into the house. “I will be home later, baby. You know how to alert the system, correct?”
She nods but I can tell she is worried.
I push her hair out of her face, cupping her jaw. “I will put a stop to it, honey. Relax and spend time with the kids. Nothing is getting in.” I kiss her forehead.
She lets out a deep breath. “Be safe, okay?”
“Always.” I kiss her on the lips.
I walk over to my kids. I kiss Leah on the top of her head and then Reid. “I will be home in a couple of hours.” Leah nods, going back to texting Tiffany.
I walk to the door, kissing Grace one more time before I step outside, where Logan is waiting on me. I hear the groans as the steel windows and doors snap into place. No one can get into the house unless they’re let in. Our tech guy will be monitoring the whole property and alarming it.
Nothing is going to hurt them. Usually if it’s something extra dangerous we go to the clubhouse and go on lockdown.
We are going to drive our trucks because it’s safer; we don’t want to get shot on the way to the clubhouse by all the crazies.
It’s bad. We watch the video: people are running all over town blown out of their minds. When the drugs wear off, they go back to normal, but while they’re high, the
y’re unpredictable.
“Apparently this drug is the cheapest on the market outside of weed, but it’s the most dangerous,” Lane explains. We watch as a woman leaving a grocery store is charged by one of the workers. She manages to get in her vehicle before she is hit with a watermelon.
“What are we going to do?” I ask Lane, not taking my eyes off the commotion happening all over the city.
“I am in the process of tracking down the source, and once that happens we will destroy the operation.”
Smiley slams his hand on the table. “Did it hit Raleigh?” His daughter and son-in-law live there, along with Smiley’s stepdaughter, Alisha. Lane looks at his phone and nods.
“I just got a text from Kyle. He was telling me that he just got a call about a crazy running around downtown naked,” Lane says.
I lean back in my chair, my hands behind my head. “Jeez.” What the fuck is this shit, and how did it spread so quickly?
“All I can tell you is to go home. I am waiting for a phone call about the location, and Randy is checking all the cameras in town, trying to pinpoint where it’s flowing from.” Lane sits down, and none of us moves as a woman runs through town, wearing only a pair of underwear on her head, laughing.
“Everyone in the gated community tonight, phones ready. I should get the call tonight or in the morning. Prospects will be lined up all across the property for extra safety.”
We all file out of the clubhouse, going to our vehicles. There is no one on the streets but a few people who are on the new drug. They run right in front of our vehicles, throw rocks at us, and try to head butt our windows whenever we stop.
Logan voices what I’m thinking. “Fuck man, this shit is bad.”
Up ahead I see a woman trying to break into a car and hear a scream come from within the vehicle. I screech to a stop, and Logan hops out and tears the woman away from the car. I hold her down on the ground, not wanting to hurt her. Logan opens the car door, and the woman inside has blood pouring down her face. “Come with me,” he says. “I can patch you up. It’s not safe.” He hovers over her as he puts her in his vehicle. I let the woman on the ground go and hurry back to my truck.