“Levi! Come say hi to me,” Rainey pouts.
He walks over to the bed, leans down and takes her face between his hands. He leans down and kisses her, he’s rougher with her than I was, but she’s not complaining so I don’t say a damn thing about it. He looks up at me when his lips detach from hers and I raise my eyebrow in question…I’m silently asking him if they got them. He nods his head at me and my shoulders slump in relief. Finally!
“Tell you about it later, brother.”
“Thank you,” I tell him.
“Tell him about what?” Rainey asks.
“Club business,” he tells her.
“You’ll tell me,” she states confidently.
“Probably,” he mutters and we all chuckle at his demeanor. He knows he’ll give in. She still doesn’t remember the attack, we were advised not to tell her, to let her remember in her own time, but it doesn’t mean it’s easy for any of us, we’d like to know what happened before we got to her.
“One day,” I tell her and she gives me a go to hell look, causing me to smile deeply at her. She can try, but until she’s ready, she’s not getting shit. She not only needs to heal physically, but emotionally as well.
“Hosh-posh, let’s not talk any nonsense right now,” Glory states, her hands waving wildly in front of her. “Let’s get dinner for our girl, hospital food sucks and she needs her strength for when she comes home.”
“Best thing I’ve heard since everyone came in,” Rainey smiles.
“Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s feed our girl. Carson and I will go get our girl’s deli, everyone text us your order.” Levi says, code for let’s go so we can talk alone.
Chapter 11
Levi
Life’s journey never ends, it’s always a new beginning…
When we walk out of the room and make our way to the elevator, I know my brother can’t wait any longer for details so I prepare my words to give him what he needs. “We found them hiding out in an abandoned building downtown where the druggies settle down to get their fix and have a roof over their heads. There were plenty of homeless folks there as well.”
“You’re shittin’ me!” Carson says exasperatedly.
“Not even close, brother. They fit right in, they were biding their time, guess they were waitin’ on news to find out if our girl perished or not.”
“You mean they know we know it’s them.”
“Basically, yeah. They fought tooth and nail, but no one stood up for them or helped them fight us off. We got them bound and they’re at the clubhouse. Wasp and Tic are discussin’ their punishment.”
“What’s there to discuss? They need more than banishment, brother.”
“We know that, but we don’t make it a practice to hurt women either, you know that,” I say, grabbing his shoulder and squeezing it. I knew this was going to be hard on him to hear just as much as it was for me to live it.
“They need to let the women at the bitches.”
“Like I said, it’s being discussed. I promise you, they will pay.”
“One way or another,” he mutters under his breath. But I caught every word and need to warn the others that he may go rogue and try to take care of the issue on his own. That wouldn’t be good for him nor his standing in the brotherhood. We get food and head back to the hospital, I take out my phone while we’re sitting around eating and text Tic and let him know that I’m worried about our brother. He responds telling me not to worry so much, they’ve got it causing me to smile. I love my fuckin’ brothers, we’re always watching out for each other. I know they won’t let him go over that edge or embrace the dark side I see in him trying to come out. He’d never get past taking the life of a woman, I wouldn’t, however, put it past the Ol’ ladies to put them to ground and still get a good night’s rest. Ashton and Kori have shown they are a force to be reckoned with, and they each love the fuck out of Rainey and would do anything it takes to protect her.
Rainey
I’m laying in this bed watching my family. I can’t believe I almost left them, unwilling as it may be. I wish they’d talk to me, tell me what happened. I know it was bad, and I know my counselor said it would be detrimental to me if they told me before it had a chance to come to me on my own. I want to laugh and enjoy conversation with them, but my mind won’t shut off and I’m lost in thoughts of what it is that could’ve possibly given me the trauma my body is experiencing. I close my eyes and try to force a memory to come forward, but nothing I do or think about causes it to rear its ugly head. I hate this, I hate the unknown and the fact that my brain can’t or won’t allow me to understand or remember. I feel like a failure, not only to myself but to the men as well. I know they’d like to know what happened just as much as I do. I feel like I’m on repeat, but I can’t seem to let it go.
“What’cha thinking about so hard over there, sister?” I open my eyes and see Emory standing over me.
“I’m trying to make myself remember,” I inform her.
“The doctor said not to force the memories,” she reminds me.
“I know, but I can’t seem to help myself.” She smirks at me, because she would do the same exact thing if the roles were reversed.
“Let it go for now, and know that you’re alive and safe and we all love you.”
“I’ll try,” I tell her, she gives me the stink eye, but lets it go.
A nurse walks in the room, “I need to change your bandages, Miss Masters.” The room empties pretty quickly, with everyone giving me hugs and kisses, and after all goodbyes are given, the nurse quickly checks my vitals and changes my bandages.
“When do you think they’ll let me leave and go home?” I ask my guys.
“Soon, Rai,” Levi answers.
“Yeah, but how soon?”
“Patience, Rainey,” Carson states, sitting next to me and grabbing my hand in his. We interlace our fingers and I close my eyes. I drift off to sleep, thanking my lucky stars that I have them and the family I have.
Carson
Two days later I find myself in a meeting with the brothers and I’m seething. They want to hand the bitches off to law enforcement! “Since when do we work with Leo!” I holler out.
“Watch your tone and remember who you’re talkin’ too!” Wasp hollers out.
“Sorry! Meant no disrespect, Prez,” I huff out.
“I understand and get where you’re comin’ from so I’ll give you this one,” he tells me. I nod in his directions not wanting to speak considering my mouth is doing nothing but getting me into trouble.
“We have enough evidence to put them away for life,” Tic reassures me.
“Life, not likely,” I mutter under my breath. Levi elbows me and I give him a fuck off look.
“You’re right, Tic may be exaggerating with the life statement, but they’ll be behind bars for a very long time,” Wasp tries to placate me.
“The Ol’ ladies did a number on them, have you seen them?” Justice asks me. I shake my head because that’s a negative, I’m afraid if I go down to the holding rooms I’d strangle the life out of their pathetic bodies.
“If it’s any consolation, they really fucked them up. Not sure they’ll ever look the same or talk the same again.”
“Bomber, share with Levi and Carson every bit of evidence you’ve been able to gather on the bitches,” Wasp commands. As if it makes things better, I want them to never see the light of day again, and this isn’t working for me, but I know better than to go against the club and the vote I was outnumbered on earlier. Bomber slides two folders over to us, one for Levi and one for myself. I open it up and can feel my eyes bugging out of my head the further I read. Every incident I know of, including her attack has been traced back to them, there’s even things here I had no knowledge of.
“They’re certifiable!” Levi calls out, and I can’t help but agree with his assessment of the sisters. Talley was my girl in high school, and she was walking a fine line then, but this shit is some craziness unlik
e anything she ever portrayed as a teenager. When at the age of sixteen and eighteen, Levi and I caught Chrissy and Talley planning our weddings, future children and where we’d all live. I’m not gonna lie, we ran as fast and far away from them like the little shits we were. Could we have handled things better, yes, we could’ve but we didn’t and now our girl is paying the consequences of those actions. The fear of a planned future at that age terrified us and we weren’t anywhere near ready to make a commitment at that level. Had I had an inkling of what she’d pull in the future, I would’ve ended things on a better note with Talley. All we wanted then was sex, plain and simple. Our hormones were at an all-time high, and we thought with our dicks and not our brains. Levi had already been at the end of the line where Chrissy was concerned and had planned on breaking things off with her before the day we caught them. She was already clingy and would throw a fit if she didn’t know where he was every minute of every day.
“If the law doesn’t take care of them to our likin’ we’ll get someone on the inside to end them permanently,” Tic states and finally there’s something said that I can get down with.
“Let’s put that to the table for vote,” Wasp proclaims.
Aye’s all the way around have me relaxing in my seat. No nay’s tell me my brothers have my back like they always do.
Levi
I feel myself relax, and see my brother have the same reaction as me. I don’t know why either one of us wouldn’t realize that they’d have our best interests at heart, but when emotions are running high, all bets are off. I knew Chrissy was off her rocker when we were in high school, she was so high strung and always needing to know my every move and whereabouts. I couldn’t stand it then, and we fought constantly, I’m so happy my woman now isn’t so insecure that she doesn’t trust me and what I’m doing when I’m out of her sight for longer than thirty minutes. She does her thing, I do mine, then we come together at night time and share if we feel up to it, if not, we just sit and hold and love each other. I get the best of both worlds with her as my partner. We all exit the room; Carson and I stop at the bar to grab a beer before heading up to the hospital to sit with our girl. She should be getting released tomorrow, so I don’t want her stuck up in that room alone or with her family on her own. They are a great family, I love each and every one of them, but they can be overwhelming at times. Glory alone can be a handful, but she’s a great mom who loves her girls the way any mama bear would and should. I’m very grateful for her loving nature, our mother was the same way, but she and my father have decided that traveling is the best way to live out their retirement years, so we hardly see them and are lucky to get a phone call from them. Most of the time they have no signal and we have to depend on emails from them to know how they’re doing and what they’ve been up to.
“Chrissy and Talley are gettin’ off easy,” Carson says to me.
“No one said at the table we couldn’t get our own brand of revenge on them while they’re locked up,” I reply. He gets an evil grin on his face and I match it with one of my own.
“True enough, a lot of those women locked up need things and money on their accounts wouldn’t be a bad thing. If we can figure out a way to do it without it comin’ back on us.”
“True statement,” I reply, and we sit here coming up with ways to make them hurt on a daily basis. They’ll never be safe from our wrath, I’ll make damn sure they sleep with one eye open every night. The guys wanted to do this legally, thinking that they’d suffer more being locked up. I won’t go against my brothers, but that doesn’t mean I won’t dole out my own brand of punishment.
“When we get our girl home, we’ll get her better, then we’ll put our play out. First, we need to find someone who would be willin’ to take on our revenge for us. Second, we’ll get pay set up anonymously.”
“As soon as they’re sentenced, and we know where they’ll be placed, they won’t know what hit them, brother.” We bump knuckles and suddenly, the brothers locking her away doesn’t seem so bad.
“Let’s go see our girl,” Carson says, emptying his bottle. I swallow mine in one drink and get up and walk out the door with him…life is looking up.
Chapter 12
Levi
Love is gentle, kind and forgiving…
One week later…
We’re sitting at home watching television. Rainey is sandwiched between Carson and me when my phone rings. Seeing as it’s Wasp, I excuse myself and take the call. Once I step outside the back door, I swipe my finger over the answer button on the screen.
“Hey, man, what’s up?”
“Needed to let you know that Talley and Chrissy were picked up from the clubhouse by the Commissioner himself, Alan Sorrento, about twenty minutes ago. He informed me before he left that he’s charging them with assault and battery, trespassing, breaking and entering and attempted murder. They’ll be seein’ the inside of a jail cell for quite a number of years.”
“Did the Ol’ ladies get another turn with them?”
“They did, let’s just say when they left here they were damaged, I think they learned a hard lesson on what happens when you mess with one of their girls,” he says. I can hear the pride in his voice and know that Ashton led the pack on the beatdown those two deserved.
“Good, they needed that lesson and then some. If I had my way they’d be headin’ to the county morgue in a bag not on their way to live their lives out behind bars. At least Rainey, Carson and I can rest a little easier knowing that they aren’t able to lay hands on her again.”
“Brother, I don’t think they’ll ever be able to use their hands again the same way, if at all.” I smile at that statement, I wish I could’ve seen the Ol’ ladies at work, when they’re pissed, you don’t want to get in their way.
“Is there a chance of them getting’ off at a trial?”
“Doubtful, with the evidence Bomber was able to gather, there’s no way a judge or jury will let them walk. And if by any chance they do, we’ll take care of it in a not-so-legal way,” and by his tone, I know he’s telling me the truth.
“May they rot in hell!” I state, vehemently. There is no hiding the anger in my voice, they got off scot-free as far as I’m concerned. Carson and I were outvoted, so at this time, there’s nothing I can do that won’t blow back on us. Doesn’t mean I can’t make their life a living hell while they’re put away.
“We’ve got y’alls backs, brother, however this plays out in the judicial system, we will be there to make sure it’s a punishment to fit the crime,” Wasp says. I know he has to be frustrated since he is always seeming to repeat this to me, but I need to hear it from him, however many times I need, in order to make sure they’re still onboard with plans if the courts don’t take care of them in a fitting manner.
I wake up to something pounding on my chest. I open my eyes and realize that Rai is going to town on me. Her fists hurt upon impact, but her words have me not doing a damn thing to stop her.
“Don’t! Stop! Who are you? What do you want?” I hear her cry out in her sleep.
Not knowing what to do, I say, “Rai, it’s me, Levi, you’re safe, baby, open your eyes, no one is here to hurt you.”
“Leave me alone! What did I ever do to you?” Carson jumps up out of bed and turns on every light in the room, we are suddenly flooded with light and it hurts my eyes, but I ignore that and try to lightly grab her wrists to stop her onslaught of me.
“Baby,” Carson says coming up behind her. “Rainey stop, you’re safe now,” he says, and tries to grab her from behind. She swings her elbow back and connects with his nose. I hear it crunch and know immediately that she’s done some major damage. He has blood flowing from his nostrils down his chin and steadily flowing to where it drips down to his chest. But he doesn’t stop trying to comfort her. I manage to grab her wrists, which causes her to freak out even more. We begin wrestling her as easily as we can to not hurt her anymore than she already is. Even though she’s healing nicely, she’s not there just
yet. After a bit, her fight gives and she slumps into Carson’s chest, I lean up and wrap her in my arms.
“You’re okay, we’ve got you,” I whisper in her ear.
“Levi?”
“Yes, Rai, it’s me, open your eyes now…hush, everything’s okay, I promise.”
“They hurt me,” she huskily gets out, sleep very much apparent in her speech.
“They did, but they never will again,” Carson says.
“Carson? Where were you, I called for you and Levi and neither one of you came,” she cries. It breaks my heart to know she had needed us to protect her, and neither one of us was here to do that for her.
“We know, baby, we’ll never leave you again,” he says, and I can see that he too has tears falling from his face. He does nothing to get rid of them, and I can feel his emotions ready to burst from deep inside of his soul.
“Don’t leave me, ever again,” she says. Her eyes are still closed, so I have no clue if she’s with us or still lost in her dream.
“Open your eyes, baby,” I say again, hoping this time she complies. I see her eyes begin to flutter, once they have finally opened she throws herself at me. I catch her and pull her close, I start whispering words of devotion and love. She cries, and cries, until I feel my heart ready to break. I can’t stand her tears, they do more damage to me than any beat down ever could.
We get her settled between the two of us on the bed, she’s laying on my chest, but looks over her shoulder at Carson and gasps, “Oh my God! What happened to you?” She looks appalled at what she’s seeing. I have to admit, he looks like an abuse victim…his nose is still bleeding and you can see the beginning stages of a bruise coming up under his left eye.
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