That was a good question. I never put together a bucket list besides escaping the hell that awaited me. What did I want to do? It’s not like I had much time left in this world.
“Is it that long?”
I smile and shake my head. I couldn’t tell him the truth, and I couldn’t confess that I wouldn’t be long for this world.
“I want to ride on the back of your bike.”
I scramble to think of other simple things. Ones that I could do quickly.
“That’s it?”
“No, give me a moment!”
“I want to dance under the stars. I want to have sex in the rain. I want to eat a s’more, swim in the ocean, I want…” I hesitate. The last one was a doozy.
“What? You want what?” He prods.
“I want to get married,” I shrug like its no big deal. Truthfully, when I ran, I never wanted to get married. But I want to die with a different last name just to know that I was truly free. That I did everything most women do and some crazy things too. I want to know what it feels like to be loved. Truly loved.
“Married?”
“Yes,” I say firmly. It was true, I did. And I wanted it to be just Gage and only Gage.
He was entirely too quiet. I feared that I pushed too hard.
“Get dressed,” he tells me while giving me a quick hard smack on the ass.
“Ouch, asshole,” I growl.
He was already getting dressed when I sat up. My brows scrunch together. What the fuck was he going to do?
“Something nice,” he tells me with a wink.
With that, he was gone. I was left to stare at the closed door, wondering what the fuck just happened.
Chapter 23
Ronnie
Present Day.
Riding on the back of his bike was like flying. The air whipped around us and tugged at my lose locks of hair. My arms wrap around him, and his back started heating my front.
I had no fucking idea where we were going or why we were following Crow and Maria. A small part of me feared it was to hand me over, but I didn’t want to ruin this beautiful moment by asking.
After Gage left, he went into the meeting Crow demanded earlier. Maria appeared at the bedroom door with a beautiful dress. The white top flowed into a light teal.
She had to push and prod until I finally put the thing on, and it came to my knees. She then handed me a pair of white and teal sneakers, and I looked at her in confusion.
She gave me one look, and I also put them on. After everything, I told her this morning, her willingness to do something nice for me made it hard to open my mouth.
When we stopped, I looked around utterly lost. Then I saw the courthouse looming in front of us. No, this couldn’t be happening.
“Come on, sweetness,’ Gage’s deep voice had my heart fluttering. Taking his hand, I slowly climbed from the back of his bike.
“If this is what I think it is, you’re insane,” I tell him with a laugh.
“Then, I’m insane.”
Turning, I looked at him again. He was serious. My heart fluttered.
“Really?” I ask him.
“You’re already mine, baby. This is just a formality.”
Maria comes skipping over and grabs my hand pulling me to the courthouse. She was laughing as we both started running.
I was getting married. Turning my head, I looked back at Gage as he followed behind us. For a moment, I feared he was going to change his mind and run.
As the doors swung open, we walked into the lobby, and my eyes misted. Maria grabs the white roses from the lady behind the counter and pulls me into a little room.
Gage appeared next to me. We shared our vows, exchanged rings, and then his lips were on mine.
“Forever and always, I do,” I whispered to him as his lips claim mine again.
“I love you,” he whispers into my ear as he pulls me in close to his body.
“I love you, too.”
He lets Maria push him aside so she could pull me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around her and sighed. I thought I lost this.
“Come on, baby. We have something to do.” Gage grabs my arm and pulls me out of the courthouse and down the steps.
“Where are they going?” I ask as I point to Crow and Maria.
“To get the party ready,” Gage replied with a casual shrug.
Climbing back onto his bike, I press a kiss to the back of his neck. I wrap my arms around his waist and hold him close. Those amazing calloused fingers wrap around my hands and squeeze.
“Hold on tight, baby,” he shouts as he takes off with a squeal of the tires.
My eyes slam shut as we drive down the windy roads at a downright terrifying speed.
I smelled it before I opened my eyes. The salty air had my lungs expanding, and my chest tightening.
“The ocean,” I whisper into his ear.
I look at the beautiful water as the sun beams down on it, making it sparkle.
“I don’t have a swimsuit,” I tell him.
“Baby, you can go naked, and I would die a happy fucking man,” he laughs as I swat at him.
“Bra and panties,” he tries again.
Looking around, I realized there wasn’t anyone here.
“I wouldn’t take you someplace that had a bunch of people. I don’t want anyone looking at what’s mine,” he growled as he pulled me into his hard chest.
His lips met mine in a deep kiss. My toes curled in my shoes and my pussy clenched on air. Squeezing my knees together, I try to alleviate the ache to no avail.
“Dress off, baby.”
The sound of his voice had me obeying. Something tells me if it’s not off, it’ll get wet. I then pulled my shoes and dress off and draped them over the seat of his bike.
“Alright…” everything I was going to say got lost on a scream as I’m thrown over his shoulder. As soon as I’m up there, he’s running.
“Going to be cold,” he shouts as he runs into the waves, taking me with him. Just as I open my mouth to yell at him, I’m flying through the air and being swallowed by the cold salty water.
Every muscle froze for a moment. It felt like I was swimming in melting ice. Breaching the surface, I quickly stood and started running. Not further into the water, but out of it.
My lips, I’m sure, was a shade of blue that could be considered lipstick. My whole body was shaking and covered in goosebumps.
Laughter erupts from me as I ran as fast as my stiff body could go. The water in Maine was freezing.
“Where you going?” Gage asks, his voice straining with laughter.
“Away from here!” I scream as more laughs fall from my frozen lips.
“Thought you wanted to swim in the ocean?” He laughs harder, making the words almost hard to hear.
Looking over my shoulder, I stick up my middle finger. “Did that, thanks!”
My eyes widen as he starts moving in my direction with determination written all over his handsome face. Oh god, I wasn’t going back in there. Not fucking happening.
To my utter relief, he didn’t plunge me back into the depths of where, I’m sure, jack frost takes a bath. Instead, he lays me down on the sandy beach and fucks the life out of me.
Having sex on the beach wasn’t on my list, but it sure the hell made its way there quickly.
Chapter 24
Ronnie
Two Days Later.
I should feel something right now, but everything was drained from me. I looked around the secluded barn with new eyes. What I thought was a sweet moment turned into nothing but the club’s chip to freedom.
Zec’s cold, calculating eyes landed on me. The darkness swirled along with anger. They were dark, glittering coals of menace, and I could see the promise in them.
I didn’t bother looking at Gage. It was over. Including the free air and beautiful moments. All the things that I thought I could have flashed in my mind.
Like a kaleidoscope of bright colors flashing too fast to catch a gli
mpse of one single moment.
I resisted the urge to palm my stomach. I found out yesterday morning that I was pregnant. I was going to tell Gage last night, but instead, he took me dancing under the stars.
My fairy tale was over, and this was it. I was no longer the woman that I wanted to be. I was who everyone else wanted me to be. They acted like I was just going to go along with it. Fuck that! I was going to be who my child needed me to be.
“Rosaline,” Zec’s cool voice had goosebumps rise all over my body.
“Zec,” I smiled.
“Come here, now,” the coldness in his voice lashed at me like a whip covered in ice.
Swallowing the fear that wanted to strangle me, I let my feet pull me closer to the man who’s going to destroy me.
I wanted to laugh. Zec missed his chance, and Gage successfully took what he wanted so badly. But, Gage destroyed me, leaving this hollowness behind. This empty pit of nothingness.
Pain radiated over my face, and my eyes watered. A small cry left my lips, and I hated myself for the weakness. Zec’s hand raised again as if to go for another blow. Blood filled my mouth from the cut on my split lip, I could still feel the pain, but I wasn’t going to show it.
I turned and spat my blood-filled saliva onto the floor. Looking back at Zec, I grinned a huge smile which was covered in blood.
If I was going out of this world, I was going out fighting. Raising my hand, I held my palm out, bending my fingers, giving Zec the come get me motion as I slowly backed away.
“You want me, come get me, motherfucker,” I scream as I lunge backward.
I didn’t look around for a friendly face. I didn’t look for help, I knew there was none.
My hair flew around my face as an arm wrapped around my waist, knocking the air from my lungs. Zec pulled me back into a hard, firm unforgiving body. Before the air had returned to my lungs, I was being handed off.
“Take her to the house,” Zec demands coldly.
The person he handed me to latched onto my arm and pulled me hard. His grip was harsh, and his blunt nails pierced my flesh. But I refused to show the pain it caused. Swallowing, I kept my head forward.
“Are we done here? I have shit to do,” Gage asks just as I was pulled out into the blinding light of the sun.
His tone was devoid of any emotion as if he was handing over a cigarette or beer. Like I was an object and nothing more. There was no affection, no regret.
This was really happening. Gage was handing me over to Zec. I wanted to cry, scream, and beg him to save me. To save us.
Instead, my head tilted back, and the sun caressed my face. This may be the last time that I could feel or see the sunshine.
The hand on my arm tugged me harder, and my heels dug into the ground. The man continued to pull me closer to the tinted windows of the dark sedan.
Once I was in that car, it was over. My hand touched my stomach, and I sent a silent prayer. I begged for my child. Don’t let it suffer for my mistakes or my choices.
The phone Maria had given me was stuffed in my pocket. I knew it was soon to be smashed on the side of some road. The watch Gage gave me this morning felt more of a shackle than a sign of love. I wanted to rip it from my wrist and shove it down his lying, heartless throat.
Please give me the chance to kick him in the balls. I need only two things. One, to save my child and two, let me kick Gage’s balls into his throat. I would gladly give my life for those two things. The ring on my finger never felt tighter, never felt as cold, or as fake as it did at this moment.
Looking back, I should have seen this coming. The last few days Gage checked off all the items on my bucket list. Marrying me was something he did easily. It would be over in a few days. Fuck him. Fuck them all.
Chapter 25
Gage
Yesterday.
“The fuck I do! That’s my wife your talking about!” I snarl at Crow. My old lady, my wife. Who the fuck does he think he is? My chest heaves as anger and fear fought a battle inside me.
“Listen to me. I don’t like it anymore then you do, but we need to get the location dammit. We’ll get Ronnie back,” Crow shouts.
“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one giving your wife over to a fucking psychopath!”
“He knows the location of Maria’s sister, and we need to do this,” he tells me coldly.
“Fuck her sister! The backstabbing bitch! Let them fucking kill her,” I snarl.
He wanted to give my wife to the Albanian mob. To get the junkie who sold out his old lady and kid. What the fuck was wrong with him?
“There’s more to it than that.”
“The fuck there is. You just want to make Maria happy. Well, I’m pretty sure handing over the woman that saved her isn’t going to make her happy.”
Crow leans back heavily in his seat. His eyes were tortured and dark.
“Fucking listen to me. When Zec takes her, we’ll track them, and then we’ll kill the fucking assholes.” Crow sighs.
“While Ronnie endures whatever the fuck he wants to her? Fuck you, Crow!”
I half expect some bullshit from Knox or Weston, but neither has pipped in on this.
“I’m going to kill her fucking sister, but if we don’t play the fuck along, we won’t get Ronnie free from this fucking asshole,” Crow says darkly.
I couldn’t hand her over. The thought of Zec touching her, hurting her was tearing me up inside.
“Don’t make me do this,” I beg him.
“She can’t know,” he tells me before leaving the room.
I thought it was done, but he looks at me and says something that has me flying out of my chair.
“Tomorrow, Gage. The meet is at the old barn on Wilton road.”
Bloodlust. Something I’ve been dealing with since prison, but Ronnie calms me. She made me feel human again. Now, I need to hand her over without a fucking explanation.
None of my brothers would meet my eyes as I walked out of the room. Tonight, I would fulfill the last thing on her bucket list. Tomorrow, I would lose her. Possibly forever.
Chapter 26
Ronnie
Present Day.
The room, if you can call it that, was dark. How much time has passed? Where am I? I knew I wasn’t home, the drive wasn’t that long.
“There she is,” Zec’s dark, angry voice fills the once silent room.
“I fucking hate you,” I scream at him.
Either way, he was going to kill me and not in a quick ‘how do you do’ way. It was going to be painful, and I knew he was going to force me to accept him.
I would endure this with all the grace that I could muster. Freedom was always an option if I am still breathing. When it comes to that, just check out, and be somewhere else. Pretend you’re anywhere but here.
Strong words to myself, and I want to laugh. It wouldn’t just be Zec, it will be his brother and any of his men that want a piece. I was ruined, and no longer suitable to be a wife.
“Now, I need to make sure everyone sees what happens when you fucking run. And for that, we need to go home,” Zec sounds almost gleeful.
My shoulders sag. I have a little more time before he destroys what little Gage had.
“But that doesn’t mean I can’t play a little now,” Zec laughs as something cracks through the air.
“Get her shirt off,” he commands.
Feet pound into the room as I scramble backward in the dark while looking for a place to hide. The only light was from the opening where Zec now stands.
Harsh hands grab me as something cold touches the skin at the back of my neck. I freeze instantly. They could easily just force it down and sever my spine from my neck.
A quick death, my mind whispers. Freedom, close at hand. For a moment, I think about trying to force it, but I can’t. The baby deserves to live, and I was going to fight to make sure that happened.
“Tie her to the pole,” Besin demands.
The sound of fabric rendering filled the roo
m. More hands latch onto me. One was tying my wrists together while another lifted me off the ground and carried me into the middle of the room. Or at least, I think it’s the middle.
Fear like I’ve never felt before strangles me. Something cold touches my hands as I get pushed into the metal pole that Besin was referring too.
Another loud crack splits the air, but this time, I felt it, and my skin burns. Then another crack, this time I felt my back split under the force of the hard leather whip.
Another lash and more blood dripped down my back as my screams of pain mix with my tears.
“I’m going to play with you, Rosaline. First, with this whip, then with a knife, and finally with my cock,” he laughs coldly.
The blood began to drip from the gashes and drain by my feet. After Zec was done, I was going to be a broken shell, and the baby would definitely be no more.
I cried. Not for my fate, not to be saved, but for the loss, I could feel coming. Was freedom, the small taste that I had, worth this?
Then there was more searing pain, more blood, more screams, and more tears. No one was coming for me. That was something I wished for. I had to hold onto hope, but I had no hope left.
“Leave us,” Zec commands after what feels like hours. The sound of shuffling feet mix with my quiet, stuttering breaths.
“I need to have you now. I’ll cut little pieces off after I fuck you,” Zec tells me.
The room was so quiet, I could hear him undoing his belt. The button on his pants releases and the zipper slowly lowers.
I wait for him to tear at my clothes. But I hear feet moving, and then something hitting the floor hard. Still, I keep them closed. Something like hope tries to blossom, and I know this is a part of the game.
Whatever hit the floor was being dragged closer to me. My breath hitched, and then I screamed. I tried to pull away and kick with my legs.
“Shhh, baby. I’ve got you,” Gage’s deep voice filled the room. It was so full of pain, I just knew I dreamt it up.
“I’ll kill you. Don’t touch me,” I scream, as I pull as hard as I can on my bound hands. I was trying to pull away from this mean, cruel trick.
Destroying Gage (Bloody Saints MC Book 2) Page 6