The Gallows at Midnight

by Courtney Lynn Rose

  “Guys,” I say just loud enough to get their attention.

  Vlad and Dres both go quiet and turn to stare at me as well.

  “Either of you remember how to set a broken nose?”

  Vlad walks toward me, stopping a few inches from my body, and gently puts both hands on the sides of my face and tilts my head toward the light. My hair falls back exposing all of my face, and he sucks in a breath. “You realize how bad this is, right?”

  “I fucked up, Vlad. I’m sorry.”

  “Wait . . .” Dresden says without bothering to hide the surprised tone in his voice. “Did she just admit she was wrong?”

  Blake chuckles and Vlad rolls his eyes as he gingerly presses around my nose. I wince as blinding pain radiates through my eye sockets and forehead.

  “Hold still,” he says, placing his thumbs firmly on either side of my nose. In a quick snap motion, he pushes inward on either side with a loud crunch. I scream as warm liquid runs from my nostrils and the room spins.

  Steady hands snag around my waist while black dots blur my vision. Someone presses a warm cloth under my nose and tilts my head back further as I’m lowered onto my bed. I squeeze my eyes shut for a few moments, waiting for the wave of nausea to pass before opening them again.

  When the room comes back into focus and the pain moves to a pulsing ache, Blake is kneeling next to me, his hands on either side of my waist, while Dresden is holding a towel to my face. Vlad walks out of the bathroom with a few pieces of medical tape hanging off one of his fingers.

  “Hold still one more time.” After Dresden removes the towel, he carefully puts the tape across the bridge of my nose tightly, so the bone won’t shift. “I’ll go get you something for the pain, though it probably won’t do much. Don’t get the tape wet when you get in the shower.”

  Slowly, I hang my head forward, and it throbs when the door slams behind Vlad. The bathroom sink kicks on and a moment later, I open my eyes as Dresden tilts my head back again, gently cleaning the blood and dirt off my face.

  “What the hell were you thinking, Lily? You’ve done some stupid shit since I met you, but going after Jax alone . . . do you have a death wish?”

  “I said I fucked up. What more do you want me to say?”

  He stops wiping my face and looks me dead in the eyes. “I want a reason.”

  I sigh and push his hand away as he tries to wipe more blood off my face. Blake lightly squeezes my hips and I wince again. Every little touch hurts. “You have a baby on the way, Dres. You can’t go out in the field anymore.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me? That’s why you did this? “

  I nod as the overwhelming guilt floods my entire body. I thought I was doing the right thing. I really did, but now we’re in a worse situation than before this all started. I’m going to lose all of them. Jax knew I’d make that decision. He knew I’d choose them over myself. I played right into his plan.

  Tears pool in my eyes and spill down my face. Dresden cups both sides of my face and tilts my head so our eyes meet. I blink trying to stop the tears, but they keep coming. He wipes them away with his thumbs, his own eyes shining too.

  “Lily. I love that you want to protect everyone and everything. But if you haven’t learned by now, we are stronger together. We always have been.”

  I nod and lick my lips, tasting nothing but salty tears.

  “Promise me. We figure this Jax shit out as a team. From this point on, we do everything as a team. No more hero bullshit. Your family needs you. Blake needs you. I need you.”

  My chest hurts so bad a sob escapes when I try to take a breath and more tears spill out. “I promise.”

  He leans in and kisses my forehead as the bedroom door opens again. Vlad is flanked by Sammi, Rhett, and Caleb. Surprisingly, no one actually looks pissed. Sammi’s eyes are red though, so there’s no denying she’s been crying, too.

  Dresden and Vlad switch places. Vlad drops two red and blue pills in my hand and hands me a glass of water. Blake hasn’t moved an inch.

  I hand the glass back to Vlad and turn to stare Blake right in the eyes. “You’re rather uncommunicative, Mr. Mason. You should fix that. Sammi, help.”

  She moves quickly to my side as I place one hand on Blake’s shoulder and the other in her hand to pull myself off the bed. Blake stands with me, but I point around him to the bathroom. Sammi slides my arm around her shoulders and her arm around my waist, helping me limp to the bathroom.

  “I love you,” Blake says a little loud, probably to make sure I don’t miss it.

  “Love you too,” I holler back over my shoulder. “Shut the door behind us, Boa.”

  Once we’re in the bathroom with the door closed, Sammi helps me shower and clean out all the cuts on my skin. A few are deep enough to warrant stitches, but for tonight, Sammi puts butterfly stitches on them and bandages.

  It takes almost 90 minutes, and she is kind enough to French braid my hair so it’s out of my face. When she helps me back to the bedroom, everyone is gone except Blake, who’s sitting up in bed, his back against the pillows and headboard. He’s wearing flannel pajama pants, no shirt, with a book in his lap. His hair is slightly wet. He must’ve taken a shower in the guest bathroom.

  As Sammi walks me to my side of the bed, Blake closes his book and comes over to me. He lifts me into his arms and quickly, but gently, gets me situated on my side of the bed. “Thank you for everything, Sammi. Could you ask Teresa to bring Lily a little more pain meds and water, please?”

  His voice is too calm, too business-like. Sammi nods, her eyes filling with tears again as she exits the room. Blake turns to walk back to his side of the bed.

  “You don’t have to be so cold to her. This isn’t her fault, it’s mine.”

  He stops at the end of the bed, the muscles in his shoulders and back visibly tensing. Now he’s going to get pissed. I knew he would, I just had to wait it out.

  “You have no idea how I feel,” he says in a low voice keeping his back to me. After a moment, he finally turns to face me. His eyes are filled with tears and his chest heaves with each breath.

  My mouth drops open slightly and it’s like I feel his pain and mine together. Emotional pain is a thousand times worse than physical pain. I’d take having my nose set again repeatedly over the hurt on his face for another minute.

  A knock at the door startles both of us. Blake wipes under his eyes as he goes to answer it. Teresa walks in with a small glass of water and more meds. I take them and drink all the water without giving her any shit. She looks angry. At least someone does.

  “Mr. Mason said I’m not allowed to give you a hard time, but I told you this was a bad idea. I was right. Look at you. Look at what you put them through. I hope you meant your promise to Mr. Scholl. I really do.” And she leaves without another word.

  Blake shuts the door behind her and then sits on the edge of my side of the bed. He places his hands over mine and rubs his thumbs back and forth across my skin. “I’m not angry with you. I’m tired of almost losing you. I know you’re trying to save everyone, myself included, but I need you to keep that promise. No more going solo, no more heroics, and no more lying to me.”

  He places his fingers under my chin and gently guides my head up so that I meet his eyes. I bite my bottom lip trying not to cry. “I mean it, Lily. I can tolerate a lot of things. But I won’t tolerate a wife that constantly lies to me.”

  “I won’t.” Tears spill down my face, but I’m exhausted. It’s like a tsunami of drowsiness washes over me. My eyelids droop closed, and I blink hard to keep them open. “I promise.”

  Blake stands and lowers me into bed, pulling the cool, fluffy covers over me. I’m passing out, but I think he kisses me . . . but I’m not really sure.

  32

  ~Lily~

  Thirty days isn’t a lot and now, I’m out of time. My body is just beginning to heal, and the team hasn’t come up with a viable way to stop Jax. He gave me thirty days, and I’m scheduled to meet him tom
orrow night. I’ve got a little over 24 hours left, and I’m silently freaking out.

  I’ve spent a majority of the time since being back resting. Dresden said healing as much as possible was an advantage we needed. With no real options on getting out of this, I have to survive until they can find me again. Blake, as is normal lately, has been unusually calm. It’s frightening in a way.

  Sorina has been optimistic. At the moment, she’s sitting with me on the sofa, painting my nails black because it’s the only color I’d agree to. She tried for a pink, which gave Teresa and Blake a good laugh. I wasn’t as amused. She’s chatting happily about the book she read this week— some teenage romantic tragedy about a girl with cancer that joins some kind of support group. I think if we get to have a normal life, I’m going to build this child a library.

  I haven’t spoken to my biological mother or sister in the month they’ve been here. Sorina spends a lot of time with them, as does Blake. He’s gotten us in the same room together, but I can’t find anything to say that won’t make me sound like a complete bitch.

  “What do you think, Mom?”

  I blink and look at her. “Sorry, what did you say, kiddo?”

  She laughs openly and everyone else chuckles too. Everyone but Blake.

  “Baby,” he says walking in from the kitchen. “You okay?”

  I swallow the lump in my throat and glance to Delia and Marcela who walk up and stop next to him. “Yeah. I’m good. Just a lot on my mind.”

  His jaw tightens, but Sorina demands my attention again. “I said, maybe when you get back, we can find some kind of writing class for me to take.” She won’t acknowledge that there is even the slightest possibility I won’t come back. She’s putting all her chips on the team figuring this out. If you hear Sorina tell it, I’ll be back in a week or less.

  Sadly, I’m not so confident.

  “Of course. Then again, I’d like to have you enrolled in a normal school, too.” I smirk at her and she playfully rolls her eyes as she lets go of my hand and closes the nail polish.

  “Done!” She smiles with pride at the perfect job she’s done on my nails. She’d ask to paint my toes too, but my right foot is still healing, and my left knee is still swollen a little more than it should be, so I declined.

  She jumps off the couch, quickly kisses me on the cheek, runs over to do the same to Blake, and heads down the hallway toward Carson’s room. I can’t help but shake my head and laugh to myself.

  “Being a mother suits you.”

  My laughter is cut short as Delia sits where Sorina had been. I can’t keep the muscles in my body from tensing up. I figured they’d try to talk to me at some point before I left, I hoped someone would advise them against it though.

  Blake moves to my side and sits on the arm of the couch. I reach up to take his hand and he gently kisses my knuckles. He’s trying to make me okay with this. I just don’t think I ever will be.

  “She’s a wonderful mother,” Blake says with pride in his voice.

  “When I’m around,” I say jokingly, though it’s only partially a joke. I haven’t been around as much as everyone else has, so my time with Sorina has been severely limited in the last year and a half.

  “Even when you’re not here, you stay with her.”

  “Mihn—, Lily. Please give me a chance to explain. I owe you at least that,” Delia says as Marcela scoots closer to her and takes her hand.

  “What is an explanation going to do for me? It won’t make the nine years I spent in the ring disappear. Despite what my fiancé thinks, it won’t give me closure. So why bother?”

  “Your father, your biological father, he had . . . issues. A lot of them. A year after he . . . sold you, I took Marcela and left.”

  A humorless chuckle escapes my lips, and Blake squeezes my hand just enough to help me take a breath. For the first time, I look Delia directly in her face. The resemblance between us is strong, but Marcela looks like a spitting image of me. She should be 25, or almost 25. I remember there being a four-year age gap, I think.

  “How honorable of you. You sell me and save her. Thank you for that.” I turn my body toward Blake and shift to the edge of the couch before standing up. “I’m going upstairs, baby.”

  He nods and pulls me forward, pressing his lips against mine. For a split second, I put my hand on the side of his face and forget there is anyone else in the room. My anger is bubbling in my chest and I need to get away from these women before I lose my temper. That won’t be good for anyone, especially them.

  “I tried to find you as soon as I left him,” Delia all but shouts across the room. “I kept looking. For 10 years, I looked. Even though you’d have been an adult by then and everyone I went to for help told me that you probably weren’t even alive, I kept looking.”

  My eyes burn with tears, and I just want her to shut up. I stop with my hand on the railing and turn my head just enough that my voice carries over my shoulder. “Jax rescued me when I was 17. You would’ve been too late. You’re too late now.”

  “Lily, please.”

  I shake my head and walk up the stairs, unable to stop the tears from falling down my face.

  Christ . . . I’m sick of being so damn emotional all the time.

  33

  ~Blake~

  Wearing a bulletproof vest is a new experience. Jax took Lily to an abandoned warehouse last night, and we arrived about ten minutes ago. Sammi wasn’t clear on how many people are inside, but none of that matters. He’s had Lily for almost 24 hours, and I want my fiancée back. The element of surprise is on our side. Jax doesn’t know we’re here, and Lily has no idea we’re coming for her.

  Dresden, Vlad, and Caleb are on one side of the door, Sammi, Hyde and I are on the other. Without making a sound, Dresden slides his rifle around to rest on his back, the strap straining across his own vest. He picks the lock on the outer door, opens it and steps back, swinging his gun back into his hands. We file in, alternating, and move through the darkened hallway.

  It smells like rust, mold, and stale air. A few minutes into the hallway, a blood-curdling scream echoes down the corridor and my blood runs cold. We move faster as more screams reach our ears. There’s silence every few seconds, and my heart is beating hard enough to power three bodies.

  After what seems like an eternity, we come to a wall of grime-covered windows that give a broken view of a circular room. Crouching down, we all peep in to figure out what we’re up against.

  My jaw clenches as I take in Lily, hanging by her wrists from a hook. There’s a black blindfold over her eyes and she’s wearing panties and a ripped tank top. She’s covered in fresh and dried blood and more bruises than she had last time.

  “Motherfucker,” I say in a hiss, moving toward the doorway. Jax can do a lot of damage in a very short amount of time.

  “Mason,” Dresden snaps as he grabs the front of my vest and pulls me down toward him. A zapping sound makes us all freeze, followed by more of Lily’s screams. Tears pool in my eyes and rage burns in my chest. Dresden signals for everyone to come close. “Jax is closest to Lily. Take out the five guards first. Interpol wants Jax arrested if possible.”

  “Bullshit,” Vlad growls.

  Dresden winks at him, which makes Vlad smile. Those two can be really scary sometimes.

  Rhett moves around all of us to the front of the line. He’s the one team member I don’t know well enough but wish I did. “On my lead,” he says turning toward the door and taking the safety off his rifle.

  I count in my head and as soon as I hit three, Rhett stands and runs into the room, all of us following suit. He shoots two of the guards before anyone else can get a shot off. Sammi takes out a third with a bullet to the head, and Vlad takes out the last two with chest shots.

  “Jax. Don’t move or we will shoot,” Dresden bellows as we form a semicircle on the outside of the room, all guns trained on him.

  He has some kind of metal tongs with a sponge attached to them. At the other end are wi
res that lead back to a box sitting on a makeshift stand. Dear god . . . he’s electrocuting my fiancée.

  “You fucking piece—”

  “Ah, ah, ah, Mr. Mason. Any nasty words from you and I might just have to press this to her temple. Electrical current this big would certainly fry a few brains cells.”

  “Bl . . . Bla . . .” Lily whimpers, blood dripping from her mouth.

  Dresden takes a step forward while staring through the scope of his rifle. “Jax, last warning. Drop the device and step away from Lily, hands in the air.”

  “How about you put that down and fight like a real man,” I say, lowering my gun to the floor next to my feet before pulling at the Velcro holding my vest on.

  Jax tilts his head to the side, the tongs lowering as well. “You want to fight, Mason? You sure that’s wise?”

  “Are you?”

  His tongs clatter to the ground and in my peripheral, Dresden and the others back up slowly, lowering their guns. I don’t take my eyes off him. I can’t. If I look at Lily right now, I’m going to run to her. As much as I want to do that, Jax isn’t going to walk out of this building.

  “You really want her to watch you die, Mason?”

  “No. I want her to watch you die.”

  His laugh is maniacal. If I hadn’t thought Jax was insane before, I certainly did now. There was almost a visible craziness to him. Like someone got some seriously important wires crossed in that brain of his. Or maybe he’d finally snapped.

  “Let the fun begin.” A beat after the last word left his lips, he charged forward.

  Ducking under my swing, Jax wraps his arms around my midsection, pulling me into a tight bear hug and squeezing. “No, Dresden,” I grunt as he takes a step toward us.

  Jax tightens his arms around me causing a sharp pain to radiate through my side as I’m pretty sure one of my rib’s crack. Back peddling, we move fast across the floor until both our bodies come to a halt, our heads snapping back as we hit a wall. Jax’s arms loosen just a tad. I pull us two steps forward and then throw all my weight backward again. This time, he grunts and swears, and his arms drop from around me.