Naturally Yours (Vicious Snakes MC Book 3)

by Mallory Funk

  I shake my head. He’s starting to sound crazier by the minute.

  “Sophie is mine. You won’t take her from me,” I growl at him.

  He chuckles with a “tsk” sound. “She’s mine!” he yells at me.

  I chuckle back at him. “She will never be yours.”

  He walks over to me to kick me in the stomach. The pain is excruciating. I have no idea what’s wrong with me from the accident but, whatever it is, it hurts a hell of a lot.

  “It’s not like you will ever see her again. He walks back over to the gasoline. He starts pouring it all over the place.

  “I just needed you out of the picture. This woman who was with you was an added bonus. It was enough to get most of your club to search for the both of you. Now my baby is ready to come home,” he says as he walks over to me showing me his phone with a message from Sophie saying that she will be there.

  I close my eyes tightly and curse under my breath.

  I know Sophie. If she thinks that there is a way to save Stacey and me, she will do anything she can.

  Vince chuckles at my expression and starts to head out of the room.

  “Don’t worry about Sophie. I won’t punish her enough that people will notice,” he says with a dark laugh. He flicks the lighter he’s holding and throws it on the floor before bolting out of the building we are in.

  I curse and look around. The room starts on fire pretty quickly. I know that I only have moments to get us out of here. Stacey starts coughing and I start yelling out curses.

  I roll myself so that I can try to use the flames to burn the rope enough so that I can get free.

  I clench my teeth tight from the pain.

  I know that I’m going to be burned like crazy after this.

  I manage to get the rope melted enough to break my arms and legs free.

  I throw the remains of the rope off of me.

  I run over to Stacey and she’s looks me in the eyes. “Just leave me. You need to save Sophie. I’m already dead,” she says.

  I shake my head.

  “No darling, I’m not leaving without you,” I say with my voice firm.

  “Trigger, you need to go. It’s too late for me. I don’t have any time left. Tell Tyler that I love him and to be happy,” she says with a cough before her head slumps down.

  “Fuck!” I yell trying my hardest to get her out of the chain.

  I press my fingers to her neck to feel for a pulse.

  One beat. Two beats. Then nothing.

  I stand there longer than I should have feeling the heat at my back.

  I close my eyes tightly as agony rips at me.

  When the building starts making noises, I look around knowing that I have to leave if I want to get out at all.

  I look at Stacey one last time. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you,” I say, my voice filled with pain.

  I run out of the room as fast as I can hoping that the flames don’t catch me.

  I see the direction Vince ran. He left the door wide open.

  When I make it to the end of the building and outside, I look around immediately.

  An abandoned house.

  The house collapses before my eyes and I can feel my heart being ripped in two. I don’t bother to wipe any tears that fall.

  I failed. I couldn’t save Stacey.

  I hear the noise of sirens in the distance, but it doesn’t surprise me. Since the fire is big, it wouldn’t be hard to notice.

  Once I’m far enough from the flames, I collapse and the world around me goes black.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Sophie

  I make my way to the spot Vince had told me to go. I can feel myself shaking.

  I look and he’s leaning against a tree looking right at me.

  I swallow hard. There is a dark, evil look on his face that I had never seen before.

  I don’t trust the smirk that comes to his face either.

  “Darling, it’s about time that you came back to me,” he says in a deadly calm voice. I take a step back. Something is off. He looks too happy.

  There is movement around us and Vince is caught completely off guard.

  Before I know what’s happening, he’s tackled to the ground.

  I look at the person holding him down.

  “Hey darling, you want to back up a bit. Seems like he wants to put up a fight,” he says with a wink. He’s not out of breath or anything, like holding down a grown man isn’t putting any strain on him.

  I look at the other people around us and notice three other guys.

  They are casually standing back like they aren’t holding the man who is trying to destroy my life.

  They are all wearing suits.

  You would think that they all belonged on a cover of a magazine with how they are dressed and look. I could tell that they were well off just by looking at them.

  “W-who are you?” I ask, nervous to hear the answer. Could these be the guys Stitch was talking about?

  One of the guys smirks at me. “We’re here to help. When baby brother calls, we come to help.”

  I can’t help but letting my jaw drop. Baby brother?

  I take another look at them. All of them have the same brown hair with a slight curl in it on them. Then there are the blue eyes that are the exact same as Stitch’s. I know that I have been caught looking at those eyes so blue before.

  He must see the confusion in my eyes because the other one beside him smirks at me too. “I see baby brother didn’t tell you.”

  I shake my head. I hear a grunt and look over to see Vince passed out cold and the man is tying him up.

  “Tell me what?” I ask.

  “That dear baby brother had such handsome billionaire brothers,” he says, completely confidently. I can’t help but snort, and then I cover my face because I just snorted in front of billionaires.

  They all must take amusement in this because they chuckle.

  One of their phones ring. So much for introducing themselves.

  “Yes brother,” he says in a drawl.

  “She’s here. We’ve got him. It’s clear to come in,” he says, and it’s only minutes later that a few Harleys pull up.

  I look, and Stitch is with a couple of prospects and Steal.

  “The rest are still looking, but Steal came to make sure that we had him,” Stitch says, and I nod my head in understanding.

  Everything happens so fast. They throw Vince into the van that they brought. Stitch gets teased by his brothers, but the look on Steal’s face tells me that this happens often.

  I follow behind them to the van and ride with Stitch’s brothers since everyone else had a bike and I was not getting on another man’s bike.

  We see a bunch of fire trucks and an ambulance on our way back into town.

  When I see a bunch of Harleys pulling up, I scream for them to stop.

  Before the guy has time to put it in park, I’m already climbing out of the vehicle.

  If the rest of the brothers are here, it has to be Trigger and Stacey.

  I run up to the paramedics and they are working on someone. Once I get close enough, I can tell that it’s Trigger.

  I let out a sigh of relief that he’s here, but it turns to horror when I get a good look at his injuries. They don’t waste any time getting him on the stretcher to rush him to the hospital.

  Tears are welling in my eyes watching, but I’ll head to the hospital after this.

  I look around for Stacey and, as the fire fighters are trying to get the flames to go down, I hear Torch start screaming.

  “She was with him! Where is she?” he yells, his face going red.

  “Sorry sir, there was only the man outside,” a guy tells him with a grim look on his face.

  Torch looks at the burnt down house in horror.

  I gasp, and a sob escapes me.

  No. No. No.

  I scream “Stacey!” and try to run toward the house, but someone wraps their arm around my waist halting my movements.

/>   The voice whispers in my ear. I automatically know that it’s one of Stitch’s brothers. “She’s gone. Look at that house. No one could have survived that.”

  I break down crying and feel my body go weak.

  She’s gone.

  I look up when I hear Torch give out an agonizing scream. It’s a sound that I have never heard from anyone before. It’s a sound that I will never forget.

  “STACEY!” he yells in pain.

  Prez tries to comfort his son, but Torch pushes him away.

  I can see the pain on every bikers’ face as they all glance at the old house.

  The flames are almost out and one of the firefighters looks at the fire chief and shakes his head.

  I can feel everyone’s pain from seeing that head shake.

  I can’t stop myself from sobbing.

  It’s all my fault.

  If I hadn’t have come here, then she would still be alive.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Trigger ‘Colton’

  Beep.

  Beep.

  Beep.

  I feel myself slowly wake up.

  I hear voices around me. It takes a few minutes laying there with my eyes closed before I remember everything that happened. It all comes rushing back like a bad nightmare.

  I remember Vince lighting the house on fire. I also remember trying desperately to get Stacey out of there before she demanded that I go without her. I remember her dying before my eyes.

  I also remember rushing out of the house only to collapse outside and hear the house finally cave in.

  After that, everything went black and I don’t know how I got here. I can tell from the machines that I must be in the hospital.

  I feel a weight on my left hand and realize that someone is holding my hand.

  My fingers grip whoever is holding me, and the soft gasp followed by my name lets me know that it’s Sophie.

  I feel tension leaving my body knowing that she’s here. That means that the fucker never got her.

  When I open my eyes, I see the face of my woman with tears running down her cheeks.

  “Colton,” she says in a soft voice like she can’t believe I’m awake.

  “Wa..water,” I say, my mouth feeling incredibly dry.

  She hands me some water and helps me drink it as I take a couple small sips.

  When she backs up to take the seat beside the bed and resumes holding my hand, I notice other people in the room.

  I’m in a room with Shield. I don’t know how that happened, but I would imagine that the brothers made it that way. They probably intimidated the staff until they were able to put us together. That, or Olivia helped to get us a room together.

  There’s quite a few brothers and their Old Ladies in here. When my eyes meet Prez’s, I can see questions and pain in his eyes.

  I nod my head at him so that he knows I’ll talk after the doctor checks me over. He nods back and presses buttons on his phone. I have a feeling that he’s calling Torch. I don’t know how I’m going to face him after everything, but he deserves to know what happened.

  The doctor tells me that everything will be fine after a lot of rest and some medication for some wounds that got infected while I was being held. I will be fine, but I need to take it easy.

  Everyone looks at me when he shuts the door. I feel Sophie grip my hand tightly. Torch has now made it to my room.

  “Tell us,” Torch says in a strained voice. When I look at him, you can tell that he’s broken.

  I clear my throat.

  “Stacey asked for help with a present she got you. I went to help her haul it to your place. That’s when the fucker hit us, and we rolled. I blacked out after that and woke up in that house. I was tied up by my hands and feet and Stacey… she was chained to the wall.” I have to clear my throat a few more times as emotion overcomes me.

  “Fuck,” Torch lets out.

  I tell them about being stuck there for days and watching Stacey as she bled out slowly before my eyes. How Vince splashed gasoline all over the house before setting it on fire. I let them know that I tried my hardest to save Stacey, but she took her last breath and told me to tell Torch that she loved him and for him to be happy.

  I don’t think that there is a dry eye in the room, and the women are all sobbing. Prez is holding Lily close as sobs take over her body and tears stream down his cheeks. He also doesn’t bother to hide that he’s hurting.

  “I’m fucking sorry, brothers. I couldn’t save her. If she wasn’t with me, she would have been fine,” I say with pain and regret clear in my voice.

  Prez immediately shakes his head. “It’s not your fault, brother. We know that you would have done anything, even die yourself in that fire, had she still been alive. That fucker Vince will get what’s coming to him.”

  “Do you know where he is?” I finally ask the question I have been wanting to know.

  I knew that he was so sure he was going to get Sophie.

  A smirk comes across Damien’s face. “We’ve got him in the holding cells.”

  I can’t help that my eyes widen in surprise.

  When I look at Prez, he nods his head. “We will deal with him after we say goodbye to an Old Lady. She deserves it,” he says looking at me and then Torch.

  Torch nods his head and then walks out the door without a word.

  I can’t help but close my eyes tightly as emotion overtakes me.

  I feel like I’ve let the club down by not getting Stacey out of there sooner.

  Sophie

  I felt so much relief when Colton finally opened his eyes. There was nothing I wanted more. When I finally got to see him, I couldn’t help but cry at how he looked. He was bruised and swollen all over, and he had burns all over his arms and ankles. I knew that they wouldn’t heal without scarring him, but that wouldn’t bother me because I am just so relieved that he is alive. I’d rather have him than worry about burn scars.

  When he told us the details of what happened, I could feel the anger and sadness coming over everyone.

  I was glad that we already had Vince locked away because after what he did, and letting Stacey die, he deserves whatever they decide to do to him.

  The day after Colton woke up, we were burying Stacey.

  This will be one of the hardest days that I have ever had to face.

  I had gotten close to Stacey. She was a great person to be around and now I can’t help but feel absolutely terrible that this happened to her.

  Colton wanted to be released, but he had to wait to heal. The doctor had given Shield and him permission to leave for the funeral, but they were expected back at the hospital afterward.

  We had a nurse planned to come with us. I would never ask Olivia or Krista since they are friends with Stacey and would need to grieve or help our club grieve for their loved one.

  Olivia had asked her friends Katy and Danielle to help in case anything went wrong with Trigger or Shield.

  The cemetery was completely full of people. There were a lot of people there who had worked at the salon with her, and there were also a ton of bikers. I noticed more than Vicious Snakes cuts out there and had seen some Wicked Dragons. I knew that Krista’s dad wouldn’t let her out of his sight for a while, but he was also paying his respects to the club.

  It seems like over the course of Stacey’s life, and since she had become a member of the Vicious Snakes, she had touched a lot of hearts. There isn’t a person who didn’t love her smartass comments and sassiness.

  The casket was closed because of the fire doing damage to her body, but I was told she was wearing her Old Lady’s cut.

  I look down at the one I’m wearing, close my eyes, and take a deep breath.

  When I open my eyes again, I look over to where I know Torch is

  standing with his parents, brother, and sister.

  I can see how broken he is. His eyes are red with black circles underneath. I would bet that the only reason he has cleaned himself up is because of his mother.
r />   He doesn’t bother hiding the tears streaming down his face.

  When it comes time for the funeral to end, he stands there and falls to his knees like he can’t bear to carry himself anymore. He drops to the ground and tries to push everyone who is trying to help him.

  “Why did this happen?” he yells, and Lily comes to put her arms around him. He doesn’t push her away, wrapping his arms around his mother.

  “I don’t know, sweetheart. We will get through this,” Lily whispers in a

  broken voice.

  “It hurts, it hurts so fucking much, mom,” he says as he breaks down clutching to his mom for dear life.

  Prez comes up to the other side of him to kneel and wraps his arms around both of them.

  I watch as my heart cracks wide open for him.

  Colton grabs my hand as he slowly walks away bringing me with him.

  I give Torch one last glance before I leave.

  They have a big thing going on for Stacey at the clubhouse, but we need =to get Trigger and Shield back to the hospital.

  I don’t want to leave my man’s side for anything right now. As I clutch to his side, I grieve for the friend that I had made and the short life she had that was taken away.

  Chapter Twenty

  Trigger ‘Colton’

  Four weeks later

  It gets harder and harder every day to watch my brother fall apart. I don’t think that there has been a day since the funeral that Torch was sober. He has been drunk since he got back to the clubhouse. I don’t know what it will take to bring him out and I sure hope my brother survives his grief.

  I haven’t spoken to him since that day at the hospital. It’s been hard because I completely blame myself even if I can tell that Sophie blames herself. I wish there was some way I could convince her that it wasn’t her fault.