by Erin Osborne
“Grave, go check the house with Chains. Hawk, get your woman covered up so we can get her home,” Renegade says.
I take my cut off and hand it to Smokey after Chains takes off. After removing my shirt, I place it over her head and pull it down as she pulls her arms through the sleeves. My shirt hangs down to her knees almost.
Renegade and the guys go off on their own search. With Cass curled up in my lap, I take a minute to get my first look at the house she’s been held captive in the last four days. There’s bars on every window, the walls need repairs from holes being punched or kicked in them, and the house is small as hell.
However, I also notice, it’s cleaned to perfection. There’s not a single thing out of place and the only dishes in the kitchen seem to be the one plate still full of food on the table. Wait, there’s only one plate of food. Does this mean what I think it means? Has Cassidy even eaten since she’s been here?
Rage fills me once again. My body is vibrating with the anger I feel. Cass lifts her head and looks me in the eyes. She shakes her head before following my gaze to the table.
“I ate, Hawk. Craig might have been the first one to eat his meals, but I always made sure there was enough food for me to eat,” she tells me, her voice soft and small.
“Not good enough. You should’ve been the one eatin’ first. You fill up and then that scumbag fuckin’ eats,” I tell her. “Cass, I’m so sorry we didn’t save you. That it took so long to find you.”
“Hawk, I don’t blame anyone at all. You were all doing what you had to do. Craig came up with a plan and followed through with it. There’s something you need to know though.”
“What’s goin’ on?” I ask her, turning her in my lap to face me.
“Craig apparently got into debt with someone. He traded me to this man. I’m not even sure who he is. I never got told a name or anything else. Is someone else gonna come after me?” she asks.
“No. I don’t care what Craig did or who he traded you to. No one is ever gonna take you away from us again,” I tell her as the men begin to come back in the living room.
Cass nods her head and burrows her head back into my neck. Chains and Grave are still upstairs and I wonder what’s taking them so long to get back. Did something else happen here Cassidy doesn’t know about? Was she even the only girl here?
I guess we’ll find out soon. Until then, I’m going to sit here and cherish having Cassidy back in my arms. I’m going to make sure she knows how much I love her and care for her for the rest of her days.
Chapter Eighteen
Chains
WHEN I FIRST saw the state of Cass, I lost my shit. I knew I was going to and she doesn’t need to see it. We don’t know exactly what Craig’s done to her just yet, and I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen when we get her out of here. Plus, I’ve never let her see this side of me. The one where I want to take out everyone and everything in my path. Including Hawk and the rest of my brothers.
My dad used to use his rage and failures against us. I won’t do the same thing to anyone I love. Especially not my sweet, Pixie. The only thing I want to do is love her, protect her, and have her with us for the rest of our days.
Hawk sense my rage; all the guys do. The only thing I can do right now is get away from her and calm down for a little while. So, I leave the room. Leave my reason to breathe and live. Grave follows me upstairs. As soon as we’re out of the view of Cass, we each pull our guns out and creep up to the second floor of the small house.
The first door we come to is a bedroom. There’s a King size bed, dressers, a closet, and dirty laundry laying all over the floor. I back out of the room as soon as it’s cleared. The second door is another small room. There’s a shackle attached to the wall, the window is broken, and there isn’t a single other fucking thing in here. My gut tells me this is where Cass has been sleeping. No bed, no blankets, and nowhere to go to the bathroom.
Finally, I make it to the third door upstairs. After making sure no one is gonna come out and attack Grave and myself, I see Craig’s prone body in the tub. Grave stands back while I lean down over the tub and try to find a pulse. There’s not one there.
I turn to Grave and shake my head no. He begins to grab everything from the bathroom so we can get rid of it. There will be no evidence of Craig or Cass being here. She just won’t know it. I make the decision right now that Cass will never know what she did here today. That secret will be taken to my grave.
“Grave, she can’t know. I don’t know if she could handle knowin’ she did this,” I tell him.
“Got it. We’ll never share it with anyone you don’t want to know.”
Grave is usually a quiet guy. He’s the one you want to know your secrets because he’ll take them to the grave with him. Hence why he got his name. Other than the number of men as a Prospect he sent to the grave.
“I’ll tell the guys when Cass isn’t around. I’m gonna have to tell Hawk anyway. I can’t keep this from him,” I tell him.
Standing up, I close the shower curtain. If Cassidy happens to come upstairs, she doesn’t need to see him still in the same position. I’d rather her think we moved him somewhere than know she killed him. Anything so she can have peace of mind. That’s the most important part right now.
After making sure the bathroom is semi cleaned up and ready for the clean-up crew, I shut the door and head back downstairs. Cass is cradled in Hawk’s lap, but she’s covered by his shirt now. She looks up as I reach the bottom step. I offer her up a small smile and walk directly over to her.
“How you doin’, Pixie,” I ask her, placing a kiss on her temple.
“I’m okay. I just want to go home. Can we go home now?” she asks, looking between Hawk and me.
“Yeah, we can go home, Pixie,” I tell her.
Standing up, I pull her up in my arms and let Hawk know we need to talk and soon. He nods his head as we all walk out of the door of the house. I carry her over to the van that’s now sitting behind our bikes. After placing her in the seat and making sure her seat belt is fastened, I kiss her so she knows how relieved I am to have her back.
“We’ll see you back at the clubhouse, Pixie,” Hawk tells her. “Want to have Doc look you over before we head home.”
“You’ll be with me?” she asks.
“Yeah. Once we get back to the clubhouse, we won’t leave your side,” Hawk tells her.
Hawk gives her a kiss before we head over to the rest of the guys.
“Need to have church when we get back. And we need a clean-up crew here. Grave and I did a quick clean-up. But this isn’t good,” I say, throwing my leg over my bike.
“You got it,” Renegade says.
Hawk gives me a look and I just shake my head because now is not the time to get into what happened. He reads my look and nods his head. I’ll go over everything with him before bringing it to church and he knows it. This is how we operate. Besides, this deals with our ol’ lady and he has the right to know before anyone else.
The ride back to the clubhouse doesn’t seem to take as long as the ride here. My head isn’t clouded with thoughts of what condition we’re going to find Cass in or anything else. Before I know it, we’re pulling back into the clubhouse.
Hawk and I rush over to the van so we can get our girl. She’s been out of our sight too long and I’m ready to get her in bed and lay down next to her. I don’t want sex; I just want to hold her and reassure myself she’s really here with us. That we found her and Craig didn’t break her this time.
I pull Cass up in my arms and Hawk walks next to me with his hand on her back as we walk inside. Doc is sitting at the bar talking to the Prospect on duty when we make our way through the door. He stands up and leads us to my room. For this, we’ll take her to our room so no one can see her. She’s not bad enough to have to go to Doc’s medical room.
When we’re in the clubhouse, we always share my room. Hawk’s room is filled with his computers and other things related to club business. That’s not to say
Cass will never step foot inside the room, just not to sleep or rest. It’s a decision we made when we first started sharing women. It’s always been my room.
We also replaced the bed after Cass showed up. There is no way we were gonna have her share a bed with us when skanks have been in it. So, we had the Prospects put the bed in one of the other rooms and I ordered a new one. A bigger one. Cass’s comfort was the most important thing and Hawk and I don’t want to squish her when she’s sleeping.
“Cass, it’s time to get looked at by Doc. We won’t leave your side,” Hawk tells her.
Laying her down on the bed, I step back and let Doc sit on the bed next to her. He asks her a bunch of questions as he pokes and prods at her. Cass winces and it takes everything in me not to rip Docs arms from his body. Yes, I know he’s doing his job. But, I don’t want to see our Pixie hurt or in pain of any kind. So, I lean back against the desk with my hands under my ass.
Hawk isn’t looking much better as he stares at Cass. Every wince, squeal of pain, and little noise she makes sends rage through him. It’s written all over his face and by the way his eyes are clouding over. Those are the two main signs of Hawk’s rage and pain. Not many people know that either. They just think he’s a computer geek with no real feelings. He’s just better at hiding his shit than most.
I can’t hide my emotions even a fraction of the way Hawk can. Everyone knows what I’m feeling and who my rage is directed at. It’s why I didn’t get voted in as Enforcer or Sergeant At Arms. I’m too volatile when I feel wronged or someone I love is hurt. I wear my emotions on my sleeve and sometimes I go off without asking questions or waiting for Renegade to give me an order.
“Cass, I have to know somethin’ and I really don’t want to ask. But, were you raped?” Doc asks.
“No. He just slapped me around and hit me a few times. Craig was going to give me to someone else so he didn’t touch me like that. Plus, he was on drugs most of the time I was with him. I doubt he could have gotten it up even if he was hitting me,” Cass says, alert and honest with Doc.
“Okay. I’d still like you to have an internal exam done. You can make an appointment with your own doctor for that. As far as I can see, there’s no major damage. Just the bruising and superficial cuts. If you need somethin’ for the pain, take some ibuprofen or Tylenol. It will help,” Doc tells her, looking between the three of us.
“Thank you, Doc,” she says, covering her mouth as she yawns.
Doc leaves the three of us in the room alone. We have to get down to church, but I’m not ready to leave Cass. I want to keep her in my sights at all times and make sure no one ever touches her again. We fucked up once and I won’t make that mistake again. Someone will be on Cass at all times no matter what. Even if I don’t go into work to make sure she’s safe.
“Pixie, we gotta go downstairs for a bit. Will you be okay here?” I ask, knowing the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get back.
“Yeah. I just want to sleep for a little bit. My body is crashing,” she answers.
I lean down and kiss Cass, putting all my emotions into the kiss. Hawk does the same when I pull away from her and move away from the bed. Finally, we tear our gazes away from her lying in bed, curled up in the center with the blankets pulled up to her chin. Her eyes are already closing as we walk toward the door.
Every man is sitting in the common room when we enter. A few house bunnies are milling about, trying to get the brothers to have some fun with them. As soon as we enter, the room goes silent and the house bunnies begin to scatter.
“Church,” Renegade hollers out.
“Hawk, before we go in, you need to know somethin’. Cass killed Craig. He had no pulse when I checked. Grave and I started cleanin’ things up, but a crew needs to go in,” I tell him quickly.
Hawk’s eyes bulge out of his head. I’m sure that’s the last thing he expected me to say. A look of pride and happiness flashes across his face. It’s gone as quickly as it appeared. We pause outside the doors to church and hand Bishop our phones and guns. There’s no need to have our phones on us because Cass is safe and sound upstairs in our bed.
“Church is in session,” Renegade calls out as soon as our asses hit the chairs. “Chains, you wanted to meet, so what’s goin’ on?”
“Well, when Grave and I went in to find Craig, he was dead. Cass killed him when she hit him with the cast iron skillet. I know she thought she only knocked him out, but she killed him. I’m not sure if it was the hit to the head or the loss of blood that killed him though. I don’t want her to have to live with that. She can’t ever know she killed him,” I say, looking around the table.
“I agree with Chains. Cass has been through enough shit and doesn’t need anythin’ else piled on top of that. We’ve got to keep this from her,” Hawk says, speaking up.
Renegade thinks about this request for a minute, never taking his eyes off Hawk and me. Finally, he nods his head and sits back in his chair. There’s something on his mind, but he won’t share it until he’s ready for anyone else to know. It’s one of the ways he tries to protect us from the shit he has to deal with as President.
“Other than Diablo and startin’ the construction for Slim, is there anythin’ else we need to discuss?” he asks.
Each man shakes his head and Renegade calls church. Renegade remains in his seat after Bishop brings his phone in. He’ll call in the clean-up crew and the house with Craig in it will disappear after they’re done. It’s not like anyone was living in the house anyway. And it was in Craig’s mom’s name. She was killed in an accident a few years ago. His dad won’t miss the house because he never went there.
Hawk and I grab a drink at the bar with Smokey. None of us say a word as we drink our beer. My mind is on Cass and getting back up to her. But, after letting the guys know Cass killed Craig, I need a drink too. So, I’ll have the one beer and go up to bed. It’s been a long few days and I’m ready to crash.
Chapter Nineteen
Cassidy
IT’S BEEN TWO days since I was rescued by my men and the club. Two days I’ve been kept in bed, waited on hand and foot, and been kept from work. Hell, if I have to go to the bathroom, one of the guys stand in the doorway to make sure nothing happens to me. I’m not sure what the fuck they think is going to happen when I’m still in the same room as them.
I’m getting annoyed and aggravated at the attention and their constant need to know where I am and what I’m doing. Yes, I was kidnapped by my ex-husband and offered up in trade for a debt. However, I’m not a fucking china doll. I’m not going to break because this happened.
It sucks I was taken by Craig, but I’ll survive. I’m not damaged to the point I had to go to the hospital. I have cuts and bruises that are healing. But, I’m stronger than I was when I first left Craig and I won’t let this affect the way I’m living my life. Not with the love of two strong, amazing men in my life and a club full of badass people behind me.
Today, they’re about to blow their gasket. No matter what they say, I’ll be going to work. I need to get out of the house and live my life. There has to be some semblance of normalcy for me to live. If there’s not, I’ll be miserable and stuck in the past. I’ll have a constant reminder of being taken and forced to be Craig’s slave again.
Hawk and Chains are just being overprotective because they care about me. They want to make sure I’m safe and nothing else happens to me. I get it. However, I need room to breathe and I definitely need to get the hell out of the house. I can’t keep looking at the same walls and be stuck inside. It’s not going to be nice forever.
I get out of bed and make my way to the bathroom so I can take a shower. Hawk comes in while I’m getting out and gives me a weird look. Yeah, I haven’t taken a shower alone since I got back. I always wait for one of them to come in with me. Even if they don’t get in with me, and yes I’ve found I love shower sex, they still sit in here with me.
“What’s goin’ on?” Hawk asks, leaning against the door
frame.
“I’m getting ready to go to work,” I tell him matter-of-factly.
“You’re what?” he asks, acting as if I’m speaking a foreign language.
“I’m going to work, Hawk. The three of us need to have a talk before I leave. Can you please get Chains so we can do that?” I ask, getting dressed while Hawk’s eyes roam my body.
Hawk leaves the doorway after a minute more of watching me dress. I hear him talking to Chains, but I can’t make out what they’re saying. Well, they’re about to hear what I’m saying. It’s the only way they’ll know how I feel and what I need from them.
Once I’m dressed in a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt, to cover most of the bruising on my arms, I brush out my hair. It takes a few minutes as I’ve been lying in bed for the past few days. Before leaving the bathroom, I do my make-up and make sure most of the marks on my skin are covered. I don’t want to scare Ink’s customers away when they come in.
Finally, with my armor in place, I make my way out into the living room. Chains and Hawk are sitting on the couch, watching TV. Well, the TVs on, but I don’t think either one of them is paying much attention to it. Not after I told Hawk I wanted to talk to them. They don’t have a clue what I’m about to say and I know it’s gotta be messing with their heads.
Chains turns the TV off as soon as he notices me standing at the end of the couch. I walk to stand in front of them and take a few deep breaths. I’m ready to get this talk over with.
“Guys, you know I love you and there’s nowhere in the world I’d rather be than here with you. But, this has to stop. I have to get out of the house. I have to be able to do things without one of you hovering over me. I’m not fine china that’s gonna break at the first touch or glance from someone,” I tell them.
For a minute, neither man says a word to me. They sit on the couch in what I can only describe as stunned silence. Chains is the first one to say a word. And it’s not what I expect.