Impulsive (The Houston Defiance MC Series Book 4)

by K E Osborn

  Prinie was right. Anna is a piece of work, and I have enough drama in my life right now without her adding to it.

  But I like Neon.

  This is putting me between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

  I just have to figure out if I want to grab a chisel and work my way out or let that rock encase me whole.

  NEON

  “Dammit, Anna! Would it kill you to be nice to people for once in your godforsaken life?” I yell.

  She shrugs, curling her hair around her finger. “I’m nice to you.”

  I snort out a grunt. “Debatable.”

  Anna moves in beside me, wrapping her arm around my waist. “Aww… c’mon, big brother, I’m just trying to look out for you. I don’t want just any harlot coming in here taking advantage of you.”

  “Anna, you haven’t even given Oakley a chance. Any woman you meet won’t ever be good enough for me for some fucked-up reason. You’re gonna have to let me go eventually.”

  She curls up her lip. “But we’re a team, Ash. We’ve always been there for each other.”

  I grip her shoulders staring dead into her eyes. “I will always be here for you, Anna, but you gotta live your life, and I have to live mine. We’re not ten anymore. We can’t hang off each other and pretend like it’s the old days.”

  “The old days… you, me, and Zero…” she weakly smiles, “… we had so much fun growing up, didn’t we?” Her eyes glisten, tears threatening to fall.

  I soften my aggressive stance. “We did, but life moves on, mistakes were made, and people move forward, Anna. You’re the one who’s stuck in the damn past.”

  She folds her arms over her chest, scrunching up her face. “I don’t trust, Oakley.”

  “She hasn’t given you a reason not to. Look, this conversation isn’t going anywhere… let’s talk about why you’re here. I need any information on this guy you were seeing.”

  She turns, walks over to her bag, pulling out a piece of paper and a picture. “I knew you would ask, so I wrote all his details down and brought a photo. I know how thorough you like to be on the finer details.”

  I take the paper from her, reading the essentials. Name, address, social security number, password to his computer. I smirk. I guess Anna was listening when I told her what to take notice of with potential new boyfriends. “Great work. I’m gonna jump onto this right now. You get settled in here, and I’m gonna go hunt me down, one…” I glower down at the paper, “… Bradford Jennings.” I snort, raising my brow at her. “Bradford? Really?”

  She rolls her eyes. “Don’t judge me.”

  I smirk, turn, then head for the door of the boudoir. “And Anna?”

  She lifts her head in answer.

  I gesture to the closet. “Don’t open that door. We are holding a criminal in there. A guy who’s done wrong by the club.”

  “What the fuck! You’re bunking me in with a psycho?”

  “He’s cuffed in the room. He can’t get out. Don’t talk to him. He’s dangerous.”

  “Great… and Oakley says I’m not seen as the trash of the club. No, I’m worse! I’m locked in with the club’s enemy.” Her bottom lip trembles.

  I grip her shoulder looking at her sympathetically. “You’re not my enemy, Anna.”

  She inhales deeply, then pulls me in for a hug. Without saying anything else, I pull back, nod at her once, then turn for the door. “I’m gonna go search for Bradford. I’ll let you know what I come up with.”

  “Thank you, Ash.”

  I dip my head again, then walk out to get to work in my den.

  It’s hunting season.

  After I found a rap sheet a mile long for good ‘ole Bradford, I went to find Zero and filled him in. He said it was my call to do whatever I thought was appropriate. I understand Anna is a thorn in everyone’s side, but if this were happening to anyone else’s relatives, the path would be clear.

  So, I told Zero what we needed to do.

  He sent Ax and Chains to bring Bradford in. The stress he’s caused Anna can’t go unpunished, so we need to teach him a lesson. Why Anna got involved with this guy is beyond my understanding.

  While I wait for Ax and Chains to arrive with our package, Zero and Wraith stand with me in the chamber. “I understand if you don’t want to be here for this, Zero.”

  He’s more than uncomfortable down here. I know anything to do with Anna makes his skin crawl. Making a man she was dating pay for treating her bad must be making Zero feel all kinds of wrong.

  “As a president, I should be here.” His tone is less than convincing.

  Wraith grips Zero’s shoulder, judging him sternly. “Brother, I get you feel like you need to be here for the club, but right now, you need to think about your Old Lady.”

  I step up to Zero’s side. “He’s right. You can’t be in here defending Anna, Zero. It’s not fair on Cherry. Even though she would say she’s fine with it…” I take a breath, “… she won’t be.”

  “I want to help, Neon, but—”

  “Stop. Cherry is more important, especially when it comes to Anna. You guys have been through enough because of her. We got this, don’t we, Wraith?”

  A maniacal grin lights up Wraith’s face. I see it the second the hunger ignites his soul, that addiction creeping into his veins. Wraith loves the thrill of the kill. It’s his kryptonite. He’s found ways to curb his appetite, but when we come into the chamber, all bets are off, and Wraith doesn’t have the name of the Harbinger of Death for no reason.

  “Oh yeah… we got this.”

  The Chamber door opens, Ax and Chains drag in a gagged Bradford as Zero rolls his shoulders, slips past them to make his way out, closing the door behind him. Ax and Chains push a struggling Bradford to the middle of the room as Wraith and I stand back.

  Chains holds Bradford as Ax strips him completely naked in front of us. The guy’s a walking Ken doll. His blond hair sweeps over in a tuft making him look like a douche, complete with a square face and a jawline I’m sure the ladies love. He’s built—I’m positive he works out. I bet the asshole was a jock in high school, the type who used to beat Zero and me up for fun when we were kids. Though, I can’t help but smirk at how tiny his cock is. The way he’s shaking dramatically makes me wonder if he’s about to piss himself at any given second.

  Chains slams Bradford down onto the silver chair. Ax straps his ankles to the legs and his wrists to the armrests.

  It’s a sight.

  Seeing a man so vulnerable.

  So scared.

  Especially after the fear he instilled into Anna.

  He should have never crossed a member of the club, or at least the sister of a member of the club.

  Because he’s going to pay for that mistake right now.

  Chains stands back as Ax walks over to the cupboard to prepare. I slide off my cut, handing it to Wraith, and step in front of Bradford. His eyes are so wide the whites are puffing out like balloons. I signal to Chains, and he releases Bradford’s ball gag. He takes in a deep breath, letting out a small cough.

  Bradford’s eyes meet mine then he starts pleading, “Look man, I’m just a rich kid from Nebraska. I don’t know who the hell you guys are, or what you think I’m involved in, but I swear you’ve got the wrong guy!”

  “I know all about you… Bradford Jennings, Social Security Number 078-05-1120. You went to Bellevue University, got a 3.0 GPA which Daddy was not happy about. Your password for everything is Imaballer69. You had chlamydia in high school and passed it on to Chandi Shep—”

  “What the fuck?” Bradford mumbles under his breath, his face in utter shock.

  “What really got to me while doing my research was the fact you didn’t check to see who the woman you were dating was affiliated with.”

  He narrows his eyes on me. “Man, I don’t know what kind of fucked-up game this—”

  “The woman… who you tried to scare… when she tried to break up with you!”

  Bradford stills. His wide eyes s
hooting from me, to Wraith, to Chains, then back to me. He lifts his chin in defiance. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  I take a step closer. The little piss-weak flinches. “You’re telling me, you don’t know who Anna Creed is?”

  He turns up his nose. “Nope… never heard of her.”

  I reach into my boot, grabbing my pocketknife. I flick it open, holding the blade up at my eye level. He gulps a lump down his throat. “Still haven’t heard of her?”

  Bradford narrows his eyes on me. “You did your homework, so you know who I am, who my family is.”

  I let out a small laugh. “I know you believe your family is big shit, but kid, we deal with much richer families than your measly pathetic excuse for an empire. So, Mr. Bigshot, I’ll ask you one. Last. Time… do you know Anna Creed?”

  He scoffs. “You’re bluffing. Otherwise, you would have done something already. You’re just doing this to scare m—”

  I slam my knife down into his left nut. His eyes bulge out of their sockets as he lets out an ear-piercing scream. Blood pours out of the testicle as I twist it a little, which makes spittle fly out of his mouth in his agony. “You, mother…” he splutters, “… fucker!”

  I wrench the knife out of his ball, blood and innards oozing out as he pants for staggered breaths. “Remember her now?”

  Bradford huffs, his eyes watering as a single tear slides down his face.

  Why are the guys who act so damn tough always the first to crack?

  “You just shoved a knife th-through my b-balls!”

  I stand up straight as Ax hands me a towel. I wipe off my blade matter-of-factly with a shrug. “Actually, it was only one ball. But, sure, if it makes you feel better to exaggerate then yeah, there’s a giant hole in your balls.”

  He starts blubbering, the tears falling freely as he loses his shit like the little pussy he is.

  “We got a cryer, boys!” Wraith chuckles.

  Bradford snaps his head up, his eyes wide. “Wait, you’ve done this before? To other p-people? What are you? W-who are you! Why are you d-doing this?” he stutters again in his distressed state.

  “The more important question here, Bradford, is… why are you threatening my sister?”

  His eyes widen, his entire body sags. “Anna’s your sister?”

  I tilt my head. “So, you do know her.”

  “Of course, I know her! I thought this was some kind of fucking initiation, or interrogation, or some other fucked-up thing. I was trying to play along with whatever messed-up fantasy she was throwing my way this time.”

  “Fantasy?” I jerk my head back.

  He huffs. “You know… role play?”

  Cringing at the thought, I scrunch up my face. “Fuck! Shut the fuck up. I don’t want to hear about that shit!”

  “But this isn’t that, is it?” he asks, sniffing back the snot that’s trying to run down his face from his frantic sobbing.

  “No, Bradford, this isn’t some kink thing. This is deadly serious.”

  “Well, whatever the fuck you want, I’ll give it to you. You know my family is rich. Let me go. I’ll write you a check for whatever you want. Just let me go, man.”

  “I have to talk to you first. Find out what’s really been going on with Anna. Why she felt like she had to flee her home.”

  His eyes widen as he shifts up the seat a little more, the blood now dripping onto the plastic on the floor. “I don’t know what she told you, but it was all part of our games.”

  “Anna doesn’t think so. If a woman tries to break up with you, Bradford, you gotta let them go.”

  He scrunches up his face. “She was serious about that? About the breakup?”

  “You threatened to burn her house down with her in it. I think she had good reason to leave your punk ass.”

  Bradford’s eyes flick from mine to Wraith, back to me. “Look, this is all a simple misunderstanding. She got angry at me for the fight we had, then she kicked me ou—”

  “Why were you fighting?”

  “C’mon, man, that doesn’t matter.”

  “It sure as shit does.”

  His eyes flood with tears again, and he lets out a single sob. “I might have put my hands on her a couple times. But you gotta understand, man, Anna’s a handful. She can be fucking crazy—”

  “You. Hit. Her?” I yell, my entire body flushing with an insatiable heat as my hands clench at my sides, my fingernails digging in so much I am sure there will be blood.

  Bradford’s eyes shift to the ceiling. “I mean… once or twice…” He hesitates. “Maybe a few more times. But you get what she’s like. She pushes and pushes until you snap. She made me—”

  “Shut. The. Fuck. Up!” I grunt out very slowly and succinctly, trying to keep my rage intact. “Ax, bring me something. I don’t care what. Anything will do.”

  Wraith chuckles from behind me as Bradford’s eyes widen, and he begins to shake. “What? Why? What’s happening? Why is no one talking!”

  I step in front of this asshole, the need to inflict pain on him courses through my body like never before. I’ve never been the man in the Chamber doing the torturing but fuck if I’m not going to take every ounce of satisfaction I can from this. No one hurts my family or the people I care about and gets away with it. If this was all a misunderstanding, we might have been lenient, albeit with one less ball and a stern talking to. Now? Now, he’s going to suffer greatly at the hands of Defiance.

  Ax walks over with a tray of goods.

  I reach for the rusty nails. “Chains,” I call out to him, gesturing for Bradford’s fingers. “Because you used your hands to hurt my sister, I’m going to hurt those fucking hands to show you what real pain feels like.”

  Bradford tries to pull his fingers away, but Chains holds them out straight. “No, no, I need my hands. Please, I’ve learned my lesson…”

  I tune out his pathetic begging as I line up the end of the rusty nail at the tip of his finger, just under his fingernail and grab the hammer. He fights like all hell to wriggle free, but Chains is no stranger to holding people down during torture.

  I peer up at Chains, giving him a little nod, then slam the end of the nail with the hammer. The rusty steel enters his finger, sending his fingernail shooting upward. Bradford screams out in pain with the push of the muscle and bones beneath the hit of the hammer. But the nail still has a way to go, so I hit it again, causing it to extend further into the length of his finger. He screams out so loud it grates in my ears, but I love the sound of his agony.

  This fucker hurt Anna with these fingers, so he has to pay.

  Blood pools onto the plastic sheeting as he sobs uncontrollably. “How am I-I going to work now with my f-finger like this?”

  I grin salaciously. “I’m not finished with you yet.” I grab another nail, repeating the process with his middle finger. Bradford screams as the nail enters, but my aim must be off as I hit the second time because the nail shoots up, piercing through the top of his finger, splitting it open. His face turns pale white, and he dry heaves like he’s going to vomit, but somehow, he keeps it in. Then he begins to daze in and out.

  I drop the hammer to the tray, then open my palm slapping him hard across the face. The violent sting reverbs through my hand as his eyes shoot open wide.

  “You’re fucking psychotic. You know that?”

  “You attack my sister, mentally and physically, and you think I’m the psychotic one?”

  “It was all in g-good fun.”

  “Hitting women is not in good fun, Brad! And I’m gonna make sure you never hit another woman again.”

  His eyes widen. “What the hell does that mean?”

  I lean under the tray grabbing out the small hatchet, the steel tip glistens in the light. I bring it up to my eye line. “It means you can’t hit anyone if you have no hands.”

  “What the fu—”

  I slam the hatchet down on his wrist just as Chains ducks out of the way. The push of the sinew disbands i
nstantly as the hatchet slices right through his joint. Bradford lets out the biggest scream, and his wrist squirts out a line of blood, narrowly missing my leg, landing straight on Wraith’s jeans.

  Wraith chuckles to himself, the sick fuck, as I turn, making quick work of the other. The hand drops to the plastic floor, lying lifelessly alongside the other in a mess of blood and gore.

  Bradford pants heavily, spittle flying everywhere like an enraged animal. Blood is pissing out of so many parts of his body, he’s got to be feeling the blood loss in his system by now.

  His head sways on his shoulders, his eyes rolling in his head slowly as he moves to pass in and out. I place the hatchet on the tray, standing between his legs, my fingers grip his chin forcing him to focus on me. “Bradford… look at me, stay with me.”

  He blinks a few times, then focuses. “Are y-you going to k-kill me?”

  I purse my lips. “Yes, yes, we are… you hurt a member of the club. That doesn’t sit right with us, so you have to pay for it. I just want you to know before we kill you that your life was meaningless, worthless, and you amounted to nothing.”

  A slow grin forms on his face. “If I die, my brother will go after Anna to finish the job. To make sure she burns.”

  I curl up my lip in anger. I’ve had enough of this asshole. Shoving his head back with force, I step back, assessing my clothes to see how much blood is on me. Not enough to worry about, so I give the signal to Wraith. He’s itching to get in on the action, and honestly, I don’t want this fucker taking up any more valuable oxygen.

  Wraith wastes no time sliding into the position I just vacated, his hands instantly wrapping around the douche’s throat. It’s like a trance washes over Wraith as all his energy engulfs him. Bradford’s eyes bulge out of their sockets as he stares Wraith down, struggling in the seat to try and get free. Gasping for air.

  How Wraith gets his kicks from this I’ll never understand, but to each their own.

  However, I have more important shit to deal with now than watching this fucker’s last breath.

  I give the nod to Chains. He hands me a towel. I walk over to the sink and wash my hands as Bradford gurgles and gasps behind me. I clean up as best I can when Wraith lets out his final relieved moan. I know the job is done.