Seven (Angels of Death MC)

by Hilary Storm

  I can hear Switch. There was a day I’d have done anything to have him with me, but today I feel different. I don’t want him to see me like this. I’m ruined.

  “Can you hear me?” He speaks softly even though I can hear the anger in his voice. I know this has to be hard for him to deal with, which is why I don’t want him here.

  Forcing my eyes to open, I begin to move my legs only to stop right away. Fuck. It all hurts.

  He moves closer to me and doesn’t say a word. His eyes say enough. It’s pity I see all over his face. He feels sorry for me and I want to fucking come out of this bed and scream at him, but I can’t.

  “Stop. Don’t look at me.” My voice sounds terrible and I start to feel myself get even more upset when he doesn’t listen. “Please go.”

  “I’m not leaving you.” He responds quickly and I begin to feel the chaos caving in on me. I turn away from him and start crying as I try to find a way out of this claustrophobic conversation.

  “I can’t deal with this. Please just leave.” This time it comes out as a scream. I want him to leave. I need him to stop looking at me like he feels sorry for me and I wish like hell he didn’t know what I just went through. How am I supposed to look at anyone again after all of this?

  “Piper, stop. I’m not fucking leaving you.” His refusal only makes me crazier. My yelling has the doctors rushing into the room and the last thing I remember is the sting of the shot before I relax and go back to sleep.

  The shift of my hand and the soreness in my arm only reminds me that it wasn’t just a nightmare. It really happened. “She was strung up on the fucking bar and I don’t know who the fuck did this. I just know they signed their death wish the second they touched her.” I can hear Switch and Tori talking. I try to stay calm and accept that they know pieces of what I went through, even if I don’t remember all the details myself.

  My heart begins to race as they continue to talk, so I make a movement to let them know I’m awake. Tori’s scent invades my senses and her soft hands wrap around both of mine immediately.

  “Fuck, Piper. I’m here.” That’s all she says. That’s all she needs to say. I know she’s here for me and always has been, but there’s just somethings she can never understand, even if she tries. Just like I’ll never comprehend everything that she’s been through in her life. Words aren’t strong enough to describe what we’ve been through in our lives.

  Her slight squeeze on my shoulders hurts, but in a way it reminds me to continue feeling. Right now I’m drawn to the numbness swirling around inside my head. It’s just easier that way.

  I don’t look at Switch. I can’t. I don’t want to see the way he looks at me. Before there’s time for anything else to run through my mind, Blade busts through the door, moving as if death walks beside him. He’s lost all touch with reality. I don’t know how, but I can sense it as if it’s the only thing I can feel in the room. The look on his face says everything he’s not as the room fills with a heavy silence. He moves straight for me and doesn’t let his eyes falter from taking in my appearance and every single one of my visible injuries.

  “I have one of those fuckers and I’ll get the rest of them. Tell me what you remember.” He looks down at me with guilt all over his face. Guilt and disgust. It hits me deep inside the longer he looks at me. I try to take a deep breath, but can’t with everyone staring at me like this.

  “I don’t know anything. I can’t remember details.” Blade desperately watches me like he wants me to keep talking, but he’s gutted that I can’t. I have nothing else to say, even though I wish like hell I could tell him who did this to me.

  “Stop it right now. Quit looking at me like you feel sorry for me. I can’t stand this. Either fix your fucking faces or get out. Don’t you think it’s bad enough to feel the like the filth I do? I don’t need you looking at me like this for the rest of my life.” I shift in the bed and squirm in pain as I do.

  They all stand and try to look away to correct themselves. “I know this is awkward and strange, but for fuck’s sake, I need to deal with all of this before I can handle all of you. Will you all please go?”

  “Not a chance in hell.” Switch is louder than Blade this time and I look at him through my swollen eyes and try to make him understand what I need from him. He’s just like my brother and there’s really only one way to get him to leave this room. I know what I need to do.

  “Go find the fuckers who did this to me. Leave me here with Tori and let me heal. I can’t stand you guys in here. You’re too heavy in this room and I just can’t fucking deal with that right now.” He walks slowly to the side of the bed and I can tell he’s thinking about what I’m asking.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I find them. Sarge is standing post outside the door and he has strict orders not to let anyone in.” I nod quickly, agreeing so he’ll leave and the hardest part is not turning away when he leans over to kiss me.

  I want to want his kiss. It’s just right now, I don’t want anything except rest.

  The guys leave and Tori looks at me with a serious stare on her face as she sits down on the bed next to me and lays down the law. “Rest. I’m going to stay with you and there’s not one fucking thing you can say to get me to leave.” I close my eyes knowing she’s not joking in the slightest because that’s exactly what I’d do if it was her lying in this bed.

  The next thing I know it’s daylight outside and I wake up to Tori sleeping next to me in the small hospital bed. She’s holding my hand in hers and doesn’t move until the door opens and the nurse barges in to take my vitals. “Looks like the doctor is releasing you this morning. I’ll be working on your paperwork and he’ll be in to see you shortly.” She leaves as quick as she came in and Tori gets up quickly.

  “What can I get you?” She starts to fuss over me again and I have to give it to her like I always have. Straight up honesty.

  “I need you to treat me the same as you did yesterday.” She looks at me sadly and I know she’s going to struggle with this, but it’s what I need.

  “I’ll do what I can. I just want to make sure you’re ok.”

  “I’m not sure how I’ll get there, but I will.” I edge off the bed and let my feet touch the ground. It takes me a minute to walk across the room by myself, but I manage it. Tori gives this to me. It’s just a small gesture showing she understands I need to do this for me.

  I close the door to the bathroom and stop dead in my tracks in front of the mirror. It takes me gripping the sink to hold myself up as I glimpse at my face and take in all of the bruises. “I don’t even look like me.” Tori hears me talking and speaks through the closed door.

  “Did you say you needed something?” I lower my gown and uncover more bruises. Bandages cover my back and I can’t see what’s under them, but I can feel that most of it feels tight and hurts as I move. When I don’t respond, she opens the door. She looks at me reacting to the way I look and must see the feeling of disgust written all over my face.

  I don’t fight her when she wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me against her. Small flashes of that night continue to torture my mind and I’m fighting like hell to get past the way I feel inside as she holds me. She doesn’t release me until we hear the doctor enter the room.

  “How are you feeling today?” He asks me the impossible question. I feel disgusting. Dirty. Ruined. Damaged. Shredded into a million pieces only to be tossed on the ground to blow away in the wind. How else can I describe what I’m going through?

  “I’ve been better,” I respond and make my way back to the bed. Tori stays in the bathroom and closes the door. The doctor sits beside me and begins to go over everything.

  “Your cuts need to be kept clean, especially on your back. You’ll need to have the stitches removed in ten days or so. One of the standard medications we give is an emergency contraception used to prevent pregnancy from that point on. I want you to know there is a slight chance that you could be pregnant, but we won’t know for sure for until a fe
w days pass and we can test you.” My mind goes insane at what he’s saying and I can’t even fathom being pregnant after all of this.

  Tori opens the door and there’s no doubt she heard everything he just said, but she does a good job of going with the flow of the room and keeping her reaction to a minimum for my sake.

  Jesus. I feel like a damn fragile shell of myself as I think of everything that’s happened and what this all means for me as I’ll try to put all of this behind me. The real question is, can I do this with Switch, Tori, and my brother all huddled around me the entire time, reminding me daily that I’ve been through hell?

  Switch

  “Tell me what the fuck you know.” I stop Blade right outside her door. He starts to walk around me before I stop him again. “Right the fuck now, Blade.”

  “We’ll fucking talk outside. You know the goddamn rules.” His angry response tells me this is going to be one fucked up situation. I follow him without another word and wait until he lights up a cigarette in the parking lot before I expect him to start talking.

  “A fucking prospect of ours took her. He’s at the yard being held until I tell them to move him.” He takes a few steps each way as he talks and I just wait for the part where he tells me who else is behind all of this. “He’s playing games and I’m headed to make him talk. Figured you’d want in on it because honestly, I want to kill him with just the possibility of him touching her.” His voice cracks before he stops talking to smoke again and I have to make myself breathe in to calm the emotions that start to take over.

  It’ll be hard to rein in all of this anger and wait for him to talk. The possibility of him taking the information to his grave is huge but hell can’t hide his soul. I’ll get my answers and he’ll suffer and beg for death before I’m finished with him.

  “Beast is still working to find the other fuckers that did this, but for now I say we go deal with the piece of shit at the yard.”

  He throws his leg over his motorcycle and I call Shadow over to drive me. He just walked out a few minutes ago, I’m sure ready to serve some paybacks for the shit he saw wrong with Piper.

  The drive is short and completely quiet. Shadow doesn’t ask a word and I don’t offer any information as I work to stay focused and inside my head so I can come face to face with the man responsible for what Piper went through.

  “Open your eyes,” I roar in anger as I kick in the right knee of this piece of shit prospect, shattering it with my steel toed boot. He screams in pain and yet I feel nothing but joy, sinister joy knowing that every second the pains burns through his beaten body.

  “Who do you work for?” I don’t give him a chance to answer before my right hand connects with the left side of his face and the sound of his teeth cracking fills the air.

  “If you want to die, this is your chance to answer these questions. No one will find you here, I can keep you alive and torture you every fucking day if that’s what it takes. My own personal form of hell just for you, so it’s your decision.” Again I strike with force to the same shattered knee. His screams echo again and I feed off of his pain like a fucking high I used to crave. Each time I hit him, I think about Piper and how they didn’t give her any mercy as they tortured her. This only makes my job easier.

  I pace in front of him, never taking my eyes away from his. “Did you rape her?” I decide to cut straight to the fucking chase with this shit. If he touched her like that, I’m cutting his fucking dick off.

  “No.” He’s terrified for his life, but I can tell he’s telling the truth about this.

  “What did you do while they tortured her?” He doesn’t respond, so I move in closer.

  “What did you fucking do when they ruined her?” I kick his other knee, sending him into a screaming fit before he answers.

  “Held the chain.” This doesn’t make me feel any better.

  “You fucking took her to them, then held her in place so they could rape her. To me it’s the same.” I hear Blade turn on the blowtorch and actually look forward to him burning the fuck out of this guy. He fucking deserves to rot in hell and it may as well start right here.

  “I’m giving you one last chance to talk before I burn your dick with a damn blowtorch. Who are you working for?” He cries out and doesn’t even try to talk until Blade moves the torch toward his jeans.

  “If I talk will you let me go quickly?” He wants to make a deal now that the fire is literally an inch from burning him.

  “Talk and then I’ll decide.” Blade growls in his face and I watch the turmoil on this guy’s face as he chooses to speak.

  “Snipe.” Blade takes a step back and I move forward.

  “Why should we believe you?” His response has me even angrier than I was before. Something like this will be the death of the club as we know it. When Clutch talked about someone on the inside, I never dreamed it would be an officer that I consider a brother.

  “Because I have no reason to lie. We all know I’m dead.”

  “You got that fucking right.” Blade begins to walk and mumble as he does. I’ve seen him lose his shit before, but I’ve never felt the same level of rage as he’s showing during one of these runs like I do tonight. I just want to end this guy, but I know we need to pull more information from him before I get to finish him off.

  “Prove it!” Blade demands. “Fucking call him. Tell him you escaped and there was a struggle. That your weasley ass managed to kill us and now you need him here to clean up before you’re caught.”

  Blade pulls the phone from Chewy’s pocket and dials Snipe. “If you even hint that he’s in danger coming here, I will personally remove each finger one by one then cauterize what’s left so you don’t bleed out. You’ll feel everything and I’ll enjoy the fuck out of making you suffer. Am I clear?”

  There’s no delay before Chewy answers. The phone rings and time seems to stand still as we wait impatiently.

  “Who is this?” Snipe answers with a long pause.

  “Boss it’s me, I escaped but there was a struggle. Blade and Switch are dead; I know I fucked up, but it was either them or me. I need you here at the yard now, help me out before this gets any more fucked up!” Chewy cries out into the phone with frantic emotion that fits both the situation he’s pretending to be in and the one he’s met in reality. “Come around back. I have the front locked up and I’m on look out.”

  “I’ll be there in two minutes, I’m right around the corner.”

  The phone goes dead and we wait for a few minutes before we hear the roar of Snipe’s engine roll up. I signal for Blade to stay hidden, but he stands directly in the center of the room gun drawn, waiting for Snipe.

  I better make the first move because if I don’t, there’s no telling what Blade is thinking or how he’ll respond. I back myself against the wall and listen to the footsteps coming from outside. There’s a pause almost as if the air is still and the whole world has stopped for this very moment. My heart is beating relentlessly because the thought of putting a bullet in my brother’s head has my mind uneasy. I can tell when Snipe reaches for the door, the knob moves and Chewy lets out a loud yell at the same time.

  Before Chewy has the time to finish yelling the word ‘run’, Blade has put a bullet in the back of his head and fired two shots through the door. There’s a loud thump as Snipe’s body hits the ground.

  Fuck. Blade just killed him and now the last person that could possibly tell us anything is dead along with the only person to give us any clue as to who did this. Just then I hear Snipe scream in agony and before I have the time to blink, Blade is kicking the door open and has his pistol at Snipe’s head and a knee in his chest.

  “You didn’t think I’d just gun you down now, did you Snipe? No, that’d be too easy. I made sure to drop you and now I have you at my will, which is much worse than hell will be now that I know you’re a fucking traitor in my club.” Blade’s words flow from his mouth like poison gas fills the air, almost taking all the life from everything.

&nb
sp; The hate and anger is so vivid I watch Snipe’s face pale as he takes in every single word he growls out. “Now let’s pull these bullets out and have some fun for old times sake, why don’t we? Look, I even brought Switch to join the party.” Blade pulls him up by the hair on his head to make him look at me then buries the barrel to the wound in his right shoulder as Snipe screams in agony. “This one in your leg should come out real nicely; looks like it might be in the bone. That’d be a shame to take your whole left leg so quickly but I can’t have you dying on me, now can I? Switch get a saw; it looks like we’re gonna have to amputate.” Blade is in his insane state and I have to say this time I fucking welcome it. Anything he pulls out of that fucked up head of his is not going to be justice enough for what has happened.

  Blade drags Snipe through the door to the shop and begins to order me around. “Call Beast. Tell him to stop looking for those fuckers and get to the hospital to watch over the girls. I don’t know how fucking deep this shit runs and he’s the only other solid I know for sure right now.” I step to the back of the shop to make the call because Blade instantly begins to yell at Snipe.

  “Where do you need me?” Beast answers, ready to go. I fill him in on his orders and end the call quickly. I need to hear how Snipe responds to Blade’s interrogation because I have a few things I need to say to this mother fucker myself.

  Chapter Eleven

  Piper

  I’m numb again. The shock of everything has consumed me entirely and I’m trying to grasp onto the shreds of reality that can keep me sane. The problem is, insanity is literally a moment away and I’m just not sure I can escape it this time.

  The light from the single window in the room has had my attention for the last hour while we wait for my discharge papers. Any other day and I’d be raising hell to get out of here sooner, but today I feel safe in here. The confinements of this tiny room and the fact that there’s only a single entrance that’s being guarded makes me feel at ease.