by Franca Storm
And I ain’t been able to get it outta my head for even a second.
The way I spoke to her and the things I said—I were way outta line. She didn’t deserve that. I behaved like a real asshole to her. A sweet, innocent thing like her. Can’t let that slide. I gotta do something I ain’t used to doing.
I gotta apologize.
I just lost my temper when I saw her standing in the clubhouse. Seeing the pain in her eyes and that flash of betrayal when she saw me with those whores had cut into me. The hurt were all over her face. That guilt that look on her face had made me feel had me reacting real bad. I don’t do well with that emotion. So I’d pushed it down with my anger, tryin’ to convince myself that I weren’t to blame, cuz we weren’t even together.
Nah, we ain’t together.
In my mind.
But I knew, in hers, that were a different story.
And I shoulda gone easier on her. I shoulda at least shut it down a week ago, so she didn’t come up to the clubhouse like that. But I just ran without a word. Like I usually do.
And a sweet thing like her deserves better than that.
Truth is, I can’t just walk.
Dunno what the hell it is, but she’s got some sorta hold on me that I just can’t shake.
That’s why I rode three hours to get down here, just to see her.
Not just to apologize. I been trying to convince myself that’s the only reason I’m here.
But it ain’t.
Do I want her then? Is that why I’m here?
Fuck knows.
All I do know is I can’t leave it. I gotta figure out what’s going on with me and her.
That’s why I’m here.
I pinch the bridge of my nose and get my head together.
And then I knock.
No answer.
I eye the driveway. She’s home. Her old car’s right there.
I knock again.
And again. And again.
Why ain’t she answering?
“Sarah! It’s Zeb. I know you’re home. Open the door, yeah?” I call, as I knock again.
Nothing. Can’t even hear footsteps inside, approaching the door.
My gut’s telling me something ain’t right here.
Shit.
I grab the doorknob.
Adrenaline spikes through me as the door just pushes open. The lock’s been messed with. It’s broken.
I kick it open the rest of the way and storm inside, not giving a shit ‘bout the pain spiking through my side from my aggressive movements.
“Sarah! Sarah, you here? It’s Zeb, darlin’!” I thunder as I scan the living room quickly, searching for her. She ain’t there.
I run into the kitchen. Nothing.
I hurry through it and out into the backyard. Nothing.
I sprint back the way I came and down the hall. That’s when I see blood staining the walls and the light-gray carpet. Jesus.
It’s been a hell of a long time since I’ve felt what I am right now. Terror.
What the hell’s happened here? Is she…no…can’t go there. Just gotta find her. Now!
When I get close to her bedroom that’s when I finally hear something.
Whimpering.
It’s coming from beside it. The bathroom.
The door’s wide open. Looks like it’s half off. One of the hinges has been ripped from the door frame.
The second I step inside, I see her.
Jesus fucking Christ.
Blood.
Blood everywhere.
She’s slumped against the bathtub with a white bathrobe wrapped ‘round her that’s more blood-red than white right now. Her hair’s wet and hanging in front of her face. There’s blood all over the white tiled floor.
And there’s a knife in her hand. A chef’s knife. Stained with blood as well.
I skid to my knees in front of her.
She screams, clearly not even realizing I were standing in her bathroom.
I react quick and grab her wrist that’s holding the knife. I gently ease it outta her grip and place it behind me on the toilet seat.
“Sarah,” I whisper softly, not wanting to scare her.
“Zeb?” she murmurs.
“Yeah, darlin’. Can you look at me?”
She shakes her head.
I brush her hair outta her face and lift her chin, needing her to look at me.
I growl as I see her right eye. Black and blue. “Who did this?” I demand, losing my cool at seeing the mark on her.
My aggression has her whimpering and holding up shaking hands to her face in a defensive reaction.
I take ‘em in mine and gently ease ‘em down. “I’m sorry. I ain’t gonna hurt you. You’re safe with me, Sarah. You know that, right?”
It takes her a moment, but she finally nods.
“Good. Can you tell me what happened here?”
That has her crying again.
Shit.
“I…I was stepping out of the shower. He came, Zeb. He came!” she cries. It takes her a moment to get a hold of herself and then she goes on, “I heard footsteps in the house...ran to the kitchen and got the...the knife. Made it back here…locked the door. But he’s strong. He broke it…the door. He was yelling. Then he hit me and I fell and….” She trails off and looks behind me at the blade. Her eyes meet mine and I see something hard there that I’ve only seen flashes of before. And then she says, “I…I stabbed him. He staggered away and left.”
Fucking hell.
“Who, Sarah?”
She bites her lip and looks away. “I thought…I thought I was free.”
And that’s when I know.
“Torvin.”
She nods.
“That fucker is dead. You hear me? I’m gonna fucking kill him, Sarah!” I growl, pulling back a bit.
She grabs my arm and shakes her head. “No, Zeb. He’s too dangerous.”
“So am I.”
She starts screaming then, begging me not to do nothing.
“All right. Stop. All right, darlin’. You got it, yeah? Won’t do nothing.” Lies. All lies. But she ain’t gonna calm down otherwise. Besides, she don’t need to know what I’m really gonna do to that low-life, sick motherfucker. Ain’t for a sweet thing like her to know ‘bout dark shit like that.
I look her over. There’s blood stains on her hands, her legs, her robe and on her face and forehead.
“This blood all his?”
She nods. “Yeah.”
Thank fuck.
I stand up and lean over her to switch on the shower.
“What…what are you doing?”
“Need to get you cleaned up. Then I’m gonna take care of your eye.”
I wrap my arms ‘round her and help her to her feet. She cries out as she tries to stand up straight. I watch her grab her left side.
“Let me see,” I say, reaching for the belt of her robe.
She bats my hand away shakily. “No. Don’t. I’m naked underneath.”
“Sarah, I ain’t looking at you with sex on my mind right now. Just tryin’ to help you. You’re hurt. I gotta see it.”
She shakes her head and takes a step back.
Fuck this. There ain’t no place for her shyness right now. I’m a whore. I’ve seen hundreds of women naked. Ain’t gonna make a bit of difference to me. Not like I can tell her that. That won’t go over well.
Instead, I step into her and untie the belt of her robe real quick. She tries to close it quickly, but in her struggle, it just ends up pushing the thing right off her shoulders, leaving her naked.
“Fuck,” I blurt out, before I can reel it in.
Scars.
I step back, horrified. Not at the sight of ‘em, but cuz of the reason for ‘em. That someone’s caused this. Hurt her like this.
There’s so many of ‘em.
Several jagged ones across her stomach. Stab wounds? There’s one on her right upper thigh as well. “Jesus. Is that…a bullet scar?”
S
he nods slowly and sobs, “Because…I…I tried to escape…for the third time.”
I step closer and trace my fingers over a three-inch one across the top of her left tit.
Before I can ask, she murmurs, “He bit me…deep.”
“What?”
She wipes her eyes with the backs of her hands. “His pain and pleasure experiments.”
She don’t need to say more. I get it. And it’s beyond messed up. It’s downright sadistic.
My hands are shaking from the rage I’m tryin’ to hide from her at seeing the permanent damage that bastard has left on her.
She wraps her arms ‘round herself. She’s hiding from me. “Can you go now?”
“Go?”
“Now you know…you know why I never let you see that night. These scars…I’m ugly.”
“Ugly?”
“Yes. Now, go, okay?”
“Ain’t going nowhere, Sarah,” I tell her, cupping the side of her face.
She pulls away and yells, “I don’t need your pity, Zeb! I’m ugly, okay? I know it. Now…just go!”
Everything makes sense now. The way she is ‘bout sex. Not letting me take her shirt off that night. Her always covering up, even though she’s got the hottest curves I’ve ever seen. I always wondered why she hid her body when it’s so damn smoking.
I step into her and press my palms to her tits.
She gasps and her gaze snaps to mine.
I slide ‘em down her body, over the scars on her stomach and down to her thighs. My eyes are burning into hers as I tell her, “I been with a lot of women, Sarah. Hell, too many. And I ain’t never seen a body more perfect than yours. It’s outta this world. Your curves always get me so fucking hard just looking at ‘em. These scars don’t do nothing to take away from that. You hear me? You’re a goddamn bombshell, woman.”
She lowers her head.
And then she breaks down crying.
“It’s okay, sweet angel.”
I step back and pull my gun from my holster. I pull my phone outta my jeans pocket, too, and place both items down on the toilet seat.
Then I sweep Sarah up in my arms and carry her into the shower with me.
“Zeb!” she cries through her sobs.
“Need to get you cleaned up,” I tell her as I put her down and reach for a cloth and some soap nearby.
She moves away and shakes her head as I come close to her with it.
I pull her into me, holding her steady with one arm as I start soaping her up with the other, tryin’ to scrub the blood off her.
“Shh. Ain’t gonna hurt you. Never, Sarah. You’re safe with me,” I whisper into her hair.
She relaxes against me and I take her weight as she collapses into me and just breaks down crying.
Chapter 12
~Runner~
I watch Sarah’s eyes go wide as Ax steps through her front door with Dealer just behind him.
“No!” she cries, tryin’ to scramble off the couch where she’s been sitting for the last hour just staring into space with me watching her from the armchair across from it. After drying my soaked clothes from the shower in her dryer, I pulled a beer outta her fridge and had her drink it to calm her down a bit. Since then, I been sitting with her, keeping an eye on her and waiting on ‘em to get down here.
“They’re here to help, Sarah,” I tell her, getting to my feet and stepping into her path so she can’t bolt outta the room.
“I told you I don’t want to go to the hospital. My ribs are just bruised, not broken. Trust me on this. I know the difference. You promised you wouldn’t make me!”
“That ain’t why they’re here. Swear it, darlin’.”
That calms her down a bit, but not completely. Probably the sight of Dealer. Big guy with dead fucking eyes—eyes of a killer—walking on in to her living room. Hell, the guy freaks me out half the time. Can’t imagine what he’s doing to Sarah.
He gives her a chin lift and a smile, clearly picking up on her fear. “I’m Rox’s dad. We met at her wedding, remember?” he tells her softly.
She nods slowly, realization flashing in her eyes. I see her relax at his words.
Ax brushes past Dealer and reaches out to her. He gently rubs her arm and bends down to her eye level as he tells her, “You’re gonna be safe now. You ain’t got nothing to worry ‘bout no more. You feel me?”
“Yes,” she murmurs, unable to look him in the eye. Seems he intimidates her.
Come to think of it, every guy I’ve seen her ‘round does. Except me, weirdly. She were nervous like this when I caught sight of her inside the clubhouse. Bikers scare her then? Huh. That ain’t good.
Ax and Dealer both give me a look.
I tell Sarah, “Be right back, darlin’.”
“Okay,” she says, slumping back down on the couch.
Ax and Dealer follow me outta the room. I lead ‘em into the kitchen and out onto the patio. Don’t want Sarah to overhear none of this shit.
“What the fuck happened?” I demand, glaring at Ax. “You had two guys watching her.”
“The diner. Not her home.”
“What?”
“This place ain’t linked to her in no way. Rox had it hidden real good. Weren’t no call for the boys to be watching here. Supposed to be safe.”
“Well, it weren’t! Where the hell is Rox anyway? Would be good for her to be here along with you two scary-ass fuckers walking into her home. You scare her. Would be good to have another woman here.”
“I stopped her from coming down. She’s making calls, tryin’ to figure out how Torvin got hold of this place.”
“You stopped her? Why?”
“Cuz she gets fucking crazy and she’s a mother now. Those days of her getting mixed up in shit like this are over. No front line stuff for her no more. She’s helping in another way, by tracking the leak.”
“‘Til then, it ain’t safe for Sarah here. Gonna take her to one of my safe houses,” Dealer says.
“Safe house?” I basically spit. I eye Ax. “Better if she stays with you. Your place is safe and in the middle of nowhere and she knows Rox. She’ll feel comfortable there.”
He shakes his head. “No. Ain’t happening. Already told Rox that, too. She had the same idea as you.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Cuz Sarah’s a target. She comes and stays at my house, then my family is gonna be put at risk.”
I blow out a breath. What can I say to that? He’s right. Don’t want him risking himself or his family.
But I don’t want her staying in a safe house—a place she don’t know at all and all on her own.
“I’ll take her back to my place.”
Both of ‘em look stunned for a second.
And then Ax shakes his head. “Nah, brother. Took me two minutes to break into your apartment the other night.”
“Well, you ain’t like most people, are you?”
“Betting Torvin’s got guys on his payroll who ain’t neither,” Dealer points out.
“Fine. You take her to one of your safe houses then, but I’m going with her.”
“What?” Ax demands.
“As security. Prospects ain’t gonna be good enough. I will be.”
Ax eyes Dealer like he can’t believe he just heard what he did outta my mouth, so he’s needing some sorta confirmation from another pair of ears. He folds his arms across his chest and asks me, “Something you ain’t telling me here?”
“Like what?”
“Like her being your Old Lady? An old lady that you ain’t told nobody ‘bout yet,” Dealer says, amused.
“Fuck you, asshole.”
He takes an aggressive step towards me. Ax throws out his arm and holds him back. He shakes his head at him and then tells me, “You forgetting where your respect’s at? I get it. Your head’s too full of pussy to see straight right now, ain’t it? But watch your mouth. Dealer’s ex club Prez, my wife’s old man and a close friend of the club. Plus, you dickhead, he’s helping Sarah
out here. Now the club’s legit it ain’t got the ties to certain things that Dealer still does. Off-the-grid shit, for one.”
I blow out a breath and grit out, “Apologies, Dealer.”
He nods.
Ax smiles, happy I backed down for once. Ain’t like me, but right now other things matter more than my ego. Sarah.
“She’s…important to me.”
“Didn’t seem that way up at the clubhouse the other day. Rox told me what you said to her.”
“Yeah, well. Her coming up there caught me off guard and you know how I get when that happens.”
“Crazed?”
I roll my eyes. “Fine, yeah. Crazed.”
“All right. That’s sorted then,” Ax says. “Dealer? Give her time to pack a bag, then move her ASAP, yeah?”
“Got it.”
“Sorted? It ain’t sorted, Ax. Like hell.”
“What?” he growls.
“Want Torvin buried.”
“No.”
“You know what he did to her? She’s got scars all over her fucking body. Jesus Christ, he’s a sadistic piece of shit. And now he’s coming after her again. What if she hadn’t had that knife in her hand? He woulda killed her.”
“He ain’t a threat to the club.”
“Yeah, that’s why you’re putting her in a safe house instead of putting her under club protection. Don’t think I didn’t figure that out right away.”
“She ain’t connected to the club. Only connection is she’s a friend of my wife’s and you got a hard-on for her. That’s it. She ain’t a member and she ain’t an Old Lady either. You know the rules, Runner! Jesus, of everyone, you’re the one quoting the goddamn rule book more than anybody else all the fucking time.”
“You don’t give the order and I’ll fucking do it on my own, Ax!”
He stiffens at my words, his jaw ticking in that menacing way that means he’s ‘bout to lose his shit.
He steps up to me, getting in my face. Calling over his shoulder, he tells Dealer, “Need a minute.”
Dealer’s gone back into the house in the next second.
And then Ax’s hand smashes into my chest, knocking me back hard.
“The club’s legit now! What you’re wanting ain’t what we’re ‘bout no more!”
“Yeah? What ‘bout Malcolm Kent? You had him and his guys murdered in a fucking bloodbath.”