I’m about to take a long drag from my cig when I feel her presence of the porch.
“You should be in bed, Nance,” I playfully chastise her.
“How did you know it was me?”
“I always know when it’s you.”
“Well that’s just creepy, you know that?” She chuckles and takes a seat next to me.
“Nothing new there then. How are you feeling?”
“Worried.” She rests her head on my shoulder and yawns.
“About what? There’s nothing to worry about, Nance.”
“You’re going to the Infernos’ compound to kill him. You’re risking your life, Cal. Of course I’d be worried. You’re the brother I never had.” She frowns and I see tears form in her eyes.
“Fuck, I’ve been brotherzoned now?”
“Yep, you’re hot but you know my heart has always been Bennett’s.” She grins and the tears in her eyes subside.
“I know, don’t worry.” I kiss her forehead.
“I’ll always worry about you and the guys, even though I haven’t known them that long they feel like family.”
“You’re pretty awesome, you know that?” I snicker.
“I do.” She looks at me with a smug grin on her face.
“And so humble.”
“That too. You’ll meet someone as great as me one day, don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried but I doubt I will, no one would be able to handle my fucked up past.”
“Fuck off with that, I will not tell you again.”
“Shut up.” I glare at her.
“Never, but I’ll shut up for now. I just came out here to tell you to be careful. So, be careful.” She kisses my cheek before standing up and walking back inside.
As I watch the door close, I realize that a part of me does hope that one day I’ll meet woman as fucked up as me but for now, I have more important things on my mind. It’s time to get everybody up and ready to go hunt that fucker down.
Two hours later and we’re finally on our way to Pinehurst. The Infernos still have no idea that we’re about to take their Prez out. A shit storm of trouble will surely follow after this, but we have to stop him. We have one rule: do not hurt women and children. If we find out that an MC has, then we take them out, simply as. I have a nasty feeling that, despite us having the element of surprise, today is going to be a lot bloodier than we think and not necessarily in a good way.
A couple of the guys from the Bastards and the Angels are joining us which makes me feel a little bit more positive about our chances. I think Ray wanted in because something went down between him and the Infernos a long time ago. All I know is that it had something to with his ex–wife and as soon as we mentioned the name Satan’s Inferno, he was in, he didn’t care what we were asking him to do. The Angels joined us because of their rough past with the Infernos dating back to over ten years. The only shadow to this pretty cheery morning for me is the fact that Lewis is with us. Even though I don’t feel anything for her, I still feel like I need to protect her in a situation like this.
I thought we’d have to knock Bennett out this morning before we left. He didn’t look happy to be left behind, even Nancy was struggling to make him see reason. I have a bad feeling that he’s going to either follow us or take another route and meet us there or get there before us. The fucker better stop acting like a fucking kid and not do anything crazy, but we’re talking about Bennett.
I focus on the task ahead of us, allowing my mind to fall into my fucked up place. I think back to the first time I saw Nancy, how scared she was of me, how we built our relationship and the fucker behind it all. It doesn’t take long for an evil grin to cover my face and I know I’m ready.
Their compound, which looks like a fucking mansion, is sat at the top of a small hill which gives us a slight advantage, we can leave our bikes down the hill and creep up to the compound through the small wood which surrounds it. Why do we always end up in some kind of ditch or wood when we plan an ambush? Déjà vu washes over me and leaves with an uneasy feeling that I push to the side.
We all park on a side road that’s hidden from the main road, well as hidden as you can be when you have forty bikes and two vans.
“Right, we’re going to split up and surround the compound just in case they have men on the perimeter or have heard of our plan,” Ant instructs.
“These fuckers up there all need to die. I have a personal vendetta against one of them. I’ll understand if you don’t want anything to do with that. I’ll just find the fucker who took my Ashley and kill him,” Ray spits, his voice full of rage.
“He’s all yours, Brother,” Gabe claps Ray’s shoulder who nods at him.
“Looks like it’s going to be a shootout,” Aleck groans.
“Oh the memories, remember when we went against you lot because of your rat.” I smirk at Ray.
“Fucking good memories, my thigh remembers it fondly.” He chuckles darkly.
“You know I’ll never apologize.”
“Don’t expect you to.”
“When you two are finished with your lover’s conversation can we separate into groups and set off?” Ant asks pleasantly but I know he’s getting pissed and is really telling us to get our asses in gear.
“All done for me,” I tell him as I keep my eyes fixed on Ray.
“As much as I’d love to kick your sadistic ass, we have bigger fish to fry. Let’s go,” Ray says.
We’re just about to head off in our groups when we hear the low rumble of a bike riding up the hill. Now, to anyone else, that could be just one of the Infernos coming back from some business but we know that fucking rumble.
Fucking Bennett. Why won’t that bastard ever listen?
“Fuck,” I bellow and we all start to sprint up the small hill.
CHAPTER 26
Bennett
I’m pacing the front porch of the safe house in an attempt to stop myself from going mad. I should be the one riding over there to take that bastard out, not waiting here on ladysitting duty like a chump. I can’t stand being here whilst my brothers get revenge for what they did to Nancy, I need to be the one to do it. They all had the right to avenge their girls but I’m not allowed? Fucking ridiculous.
“Bennett, come inside,” I hear Nancy say behind me, bringing me out of my tormented thoughts.
“I can’t.” I rub my face and carry on pacing like a lion in a cage.
“Pacing the porch isn’t going to do you any good, come inside.”
“It’s killing me, I need to go help them,” I tell her as I come to a stop in front of her.
“You ca-”
“I don’t know who you’re trying to protect me from but I need to do this. It’s fucking with my head too much. I’ll never be able to forgive you all if I don’t get to be the one doing it. I love you my Gorgeous Girl, so fucking much, but I need to be the one who puts a bullet in that fucker’s head. Ryan is here to protect you. Do as he says at all times.” I kiss her passionately before rushing down to the underground garage.
“Bennett, don’t!” She screams after me and tries to catch up, but I’m faster. I have to go, surely she can understand that? I get on my bike and am already riding towards the entrance as I see Nancy round the corner. She looks at me with an expression of desperation and her eyes beg not to go. It’s almost enough to make me stop, but I need to do this. I need to know who robbed me of five years that I could have spent Nancy. I drive out of the garage and towards the Satan’s Inferno’s compound without looking back. I don’t know if I’ll get there before my brothers do but they better have left me a piece of whoever hurt Nancy.
As I’m getting closer to the compound, I become more and more anxious to find out the secret that everybody’s been hiding from me. How come Callum never did anything about this all, he knew Nancy, he knew what she was going through, why not help her when he had the chance? And now that I’m on the subject, why not tell us this was going on sooner? He knows how we feel about
women being used like this, hell he’s the greatest advocate of freeing the women. Callum has some explaining to do.
I drive down the final stretch of road that leads up to their compound and still can’t see any bikes around. I don’t know my brothers’ plan, they made sure I wouldn’t know any of it but surely there would be some sign of them. Not knowing anything has led me to this point, going in blind without any idea where my brothers are or what they are doing.
I park just before getting at the top of the hill and against my better judgment, decide to go straight through the door that leads to the Chapel. I have my hand on the door handle, ready to turn it when I hear my name being called from somewhere behind me.
“Bennett, no!” Callum shouts, but it’s too late, I turn the door handle and step inside. I look at the person who’s sitting at the head of the table across the room. He looks incredibly familiar but I know I’ve never met him.
“Well, well, well, what a surprise. Hello, Bennett.” He stands up and walks closer to me. He knocks on the door that goes into the hall of the compound as he passes, probably to signal for backup. I also have ‘back up’ in the form of Callum who is standing to my left and Gabe on my right. There are a couple of other people behind me, but I’m not about to turn around to see who has my back.
“What the fuck?” I stare at the man as he get closer and I can see his face clearly. He looks like an older version of me.
“Aww, our parents didn’t tell you?” He smirks evilly as he carries on walking closer.
“I don’t have a fucking brother.”
“I hate to burst your only child bubble, but it kind of looks like you do. I must say I’m surprised no one told you, or maybe they were trying to protect you. Isn’t that sweet,” he says in a condescending tone.
“What? How is that even possible?” I look at Callum and Gabe. I feel numb. They all knew and they didn’t tell me! I HAVE A FUCKING BROTHER? I’ve been stabbed in the back by my parents, my friends, and my woman. They all fucking betrayed me!
“Fucking knew he would go ape shit,” Callum mumbles.
“It’s a long story, but I’m sure you have some time to listen to it. Unless your friends out there decide to attack straight away of course. Did you really think we wouldn’t know? We have cameras all over the place, we knew you were coming; at least Bennett took the smart way up or maybe he’s just a lazy fucker,” the guy mocks.
“Shut your fucking mouth or I swear I will kill you with my own bare hands,” Callum hisses next to me.
“Is he the one who took Nancy?” I ask Callum. I’m so fucking fucked off with him that I don’t even want to look at him but I need the clarification.
“What do you think?” he retorts.
“My own fucking brother stole my woman and pimped her out? What the fuck is wrong with you?” I lunge at him and we fall through the door he had previously knocked on. I manage to connect a few punches in this fucker’s face, but he quickly gets the upper hand as his hand coils around my neck and starts to squeeze. I see out of the corner of my eye that this fucker’s men were waiting outside for us and are holding Callum and Gabe at gun’s point.
“It would be so sweet to strangle you until you stop breathing, but there’s so much we need to talk about. And let’s not forget about our sweet little Nancy. Her pussy is so fucking good. Wouldn’t you agree, brother?” He smirks and his words fuel my anger. I manage to kick him off and land a punch to his nose in one move. I smile as I hear and feel it crack under the pressure.
“Bring them in!” He yells suddenly as he wipes the blood from his nose with an evil smirk on his face. “Oh, I’m Richard by the way, since you’ve never been told about me.”
My blood leaves me as a few of his men bring in Ayden, Viv, Line, Nicole, Nancy and Ryan.
What in the actual fuck?
This cannot be happening.
“Who’s laughing now, Bennett?” Richard smirks as he circles me. “Didn’t think I’d be able to find them after you tried to hide them?” Richard laughs evilly.
“They have nothing to do with this, let them go!” Ant bellows from somewhere nearby but I can’t stop looking at Nancy to see where he is.
“Oh I beg to differ, Anthony, they have everything to do with this, pimping women is our business and your ladies will bring in big bucks,” Richard explains with a smirk on his face.
“I am going to fucking kill you!” I yell at him.
“Don’t you want to know the story? Why you have a brother who you didn’t know existed?” He tilts his head to the side and offers me his hand to help me up. I slap it away and get to my feet, locking eyes with Nancy as I do, hoping she can see it in my eyes that I feel guilty about the situation she was put in because of my stupidity. I feel like a piece of shit right now, she’s here because I didn’t stay behind to protect her and the others like I should have. If I had left Ant to it, they wouldn’t be standing here now. But, I’m still fucking angry with her for omitting the truth from me.
“Fucking spill it then. Quickly,” I bark at Richard.
“Easy tiger.” He chuckles and he starts to circle me. “See, growing up I was a happy kid. It was just me and my parents, there was no bratty little brother cramping my style. I was a happy kid and loved growing up around the Last Hangman, well, until the day I was kidnapped,” he says calmly is if he just told me the sky was blue.
“What?” I ask dumbfounded.
“Oh yeah, I was part of the Last Hangman family, once, but those days are long gone now.”
“Who the fuck kidnapped you and how come none of us know any of this?” Ant asks.
“I guess it was kept quiet and it was long before you guys were even born. The Last Hangman was a sworn enemy of the Satan’s Inferno’ back then, all because of one dumb bitch. See, the wife of our ex-Prez was in love with dear old Dad, but he didn’t want her. He was in love with Mom. At that time, the woman who had me taken wasn’t married to our ex-Prez but once she married into the MC, she set out to ruin our father’s life, which meant kidnapping his beloved child,” he says, almost sounding sad.
“What the fuck does that have to do with me and Nancy? Why take her from me?” I ask, getting more confused and pissed off by the minute.
“I hated the people who took me. Hated them. I wanted them dead, but I couldn’t do anything about it, I was just a regular nine year old kid. All I wanted was to go back to my parents but that was never going to happen. The happy kid slowly disappeared and this guy standing in front of you was unleashed.” He points to himself with an evil look on his face and I feel a shiver run down my spine. “What you don’t know is that our parents had you to replace me, I had only been gone for a couple of years and they fucking REPLACED me!” He roars, before taking a second to calm down. “My new ‘family’ kept me regularly updated on you guys, they showed me how happy our parents were once you arrived and how that happiness only grew as you did.
“The last nail in the coffin was when y’all moved away. You had a good life growing up with our parents whilst I was forced to do unspeakable things. I fucking had to kill someone when I turned fifteen, as part of a right of fucking passage as they called it! What do you think that did to me? I was angry at the world and everybody in it. I knew one day I’d get my revenge on you. You stole what I loved the most so I took what you loved most.
“But for me to be able to execute my plan, I had to become Prez and since I was VP at the time, all I had to do was kill the Prez and his wife and boom, I was in charge. Everybody already feared me so no one dared say anything. I mean if someone could just kill their Prez without blinking then what could they do to the rest of the MC? My plan fell into place perfectly after that.”
“You’re fucking sick.” I groan.
“I’m sure we’d have been great friends if we were allowed to grow up together,” he says in a melancholic tone and I almost feel bad for him.
“You’ve killed women because they didn’t want to whore themselves out. You kille
d people in cold blood, you can’t blame it all on the fact that you were kidnapped. If you were actually a good person, you’d never have turned out this way; you’d have a fucking conscience, you sick bastard. I’m glad you were taken away from my parents, it saved me from growing up with a fucking psychopath like you. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have a fucking brother,” I say as calmly as I can despite the fact that my blood is like lava flowing through my veins.
“They all fucking deserved to die, they were useless cunts.” He snarls. “Especially, sweet little Ashley.” He smirks and glances over to Ray who looks like he’s ready to kill him on the spot.
“You deserve to fucking die,” I tell him without emotion.
“You wouldn’t kill your own brother. You don’t have the balls.” He chuckles creepily.
“Watch me.” I hold my fists up, ready to fight him the good old fashion way. “Come on, are you scared? Need your mommy and daddy, Dick?” I mock and he lunges at me. I quickly duck out of the way and for once in my life, I mentally thank Callum for sparring with me.
Richard removes his jacket and throws it to the ground, before squaring up to me. He’s bigger than me, but I’ve been training with Callum for years now and I know how to use my opponent’s weight against them. We both manage to land a couple of punches each, the sound of bones and knuckles cracking are the only thing that my brain registers. The world around us is tuned out; I have no idea what everyone else is doing, I’m only focused on taking this fucker down. With a well-placed right hook, I manage to make him lose his balance and I take full advantage of it. I jump on top of him and punch his face over and over. He struggles against me and manages to punch me in the ribs, knocking the wind out of me. It’s his turn to take advantage of the situation and he rolls me over before wrapping his hands tightly around my neck. I try to push his arms off of me, but his strength is undeniable. I begin to feel faint rather quickly and everything around me starts to blur. I hear a lot of commotion and vaguely see Nancy and the girls being pushed out of the way out of the corner of my eye. Gunshots are exchanged and I find myself praying that none of the Hangman are getting hurt.
Forgiving Nancy (Last Hangman MC Series Book 5) Page 18