Captivate Me

by Ryan Michele

  Cruz holds up one hand then signals for us to follow him. We ready our guns and put the silencers on. Then he motions us to take out the first guy. His signals are just like the ones we used in the service, so we all understand clearly.

  Slowly, we move through the trees over to the section that brings us closer to the house, closer to being detected by the idiots guarding Ransom.

  The mission is to take them out quietly and not raise suspicions, hoping like shit the few minutes it takes us are enough to avoid Ransom being alerted.

  Breaker nods to Cruz, and we sneak as much as possible without being seen. Then there is no choice. It’s open grass and prime pickings.

  I see Pops, Rhys, GT, and the rest of the guys coming in from two other points.

  The first shot comes from the other side.

  Our target turns quickly and moves to the side of the house, peeking around the corner and giving us the perfect shot. I raise my gun and aim, but Cruz gets his shot off first. The asshole falls to the ground.

  I cut my eyes at him, and he shrugs.

  “Be faster,” he says, burning my ass. Fucker.

  Breaker stands behind us as we each keep our eyes on our brothers’ backs.

  “Now,” Breaker says, and before I can turn around, shots are fired at us from what sounds like three different guns.

  I turn and pop off rounds as I hear a horrible screech, and Breaker falls to the ground in a heap.

  Fucking fuck me! This isn’t happening.

  I aim at the assholes, and Cruz and I take them down.

  I rush to Breaker’s side as blood oozes from his upper chest, and he grips it tight.

  Fucking hell.

  “Bad, brother.” He coughs.

  “Where the fuck is your vest!” I yell in his face.

  “On.” He coughs again, and blood comes up from his mouth.

  Using my hands, I put pressure on the wound right above his heart and toward his neck, and warm blood flows between my fingers.

  Shots are being set off in the front of the house, but all I can think about is how to get my brother the fuck out of here.

  “What’s that?” Cruz says, and I’m so lost in my brother I hear nothing.

  I shake my head.

  “Buzz, stop for a goddamned minute and listen.”

  I tear off Breaker’s shirt and stuff it far into the hole of his chest as the blood continues to pour out.

  Then I hear it. So damn soft it’s barely a noise.

  Ticking.

  “Bomb!” I yell, gripping my brother under his arms and pulling him as hard and fast as I can.

  Cruz grabs his legs, and then we run in a full-out sprint.

  BAM!

  We are catapulted through the air and knocked to the ground. My head hits the grass hard. Heat burns my back and legs as pieces of the house fly every which way. The explosion is so large the ground below us shakes and vibrates.

  Inhaling, I smell burning embers as ash falls around me. I faintly hear the sounds of movement. But blood, dirt, and sweat cover my face, impeding my ability to see as I look for Breaker.

  My brother, he’s hurt. He needs me, and I can’t move. Why can’t I move?

  Panic, shock—it all rushes through me as I fight to make my body work and fail. The more I struggle, the more my vision blurs.

  I continue to fight, but the blackness overtakes me. My last vision is of my dark-haired beauty with a small smile on her face, telling me she loves me.

  Pops gives me too much credit, because today, I just don’t have it in me. Keeping everyone entertained yesterday was a great time sucker. Today … Today, I just feel like something is wrong. Like part of my soul is in deep, and I can’t pull it out.

  I refuse to call or text Pops. If he’s in the middle of a heap of shit, I don’t want to be a distraction. Instead, I move through the things I have to do because there is no choice. I feel almost like a zombie moving through the clubhouse, but I can’t seem to snap myself out of it.

  “Ma,” Princess calls from the doorway of my room, and I look up.

  “Yeah?”

  She steps into the room and closes the door. “Enough, Ma. Weren’t you the one yesterday getting my shit sorted?”

  She’s right. But my gut is beating at me, and I can’t get it to shut up.

  “We’re making lunch and need your help.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  She grabs me by the arm. “Yeah, I fuckin’ do. You’re my rock, and by hell, you need to act like it, because if I go apeshit, I’m beatin’ the hell out of somethin’, and Derek is a challenge, but nothing like Cruz.”

  I chuckle. She’s right, and it pisses me off that I’ve let myself down for a while.

  “Time to buck up, Ma.” She pulls me out the door and to the kitchen that is buzzing with activity.

  “Ma!” Cooper calls, and I scoop him up.

  “How’s my boy?”

  “Where’s youz beenz?” he asks innocently.

  Damn, I hope he keeps that for more years to come and doesn’t have to experience the harsh reality of the world.

  “Resting. Want to help me make pudding?”

  Cooper squirms in my arms. “Yeth!” He wiggles so much that I have to put him down. He grabs my hand and pulls me into the kitchen.

  Pops and the guys remain on my mind the entire time I work, but I keep going because that’s what I do, even if I don’t feel like it.

  Two hours later, we are cleaning up, and I swear, even with our guys out, the ones here, kids and women, eat a lot.

  I scrub the pot with an SOS pad, trying to get the potato gunk off as my mind replays the conversation with Pops when he left.

  That’s when screaming comes from the main room as guns go off and bullets bounce off the walls, hitting everything from bottles to wood.

  I get down low, seeing three men with guns, aiming them around the room and shooting at random. I look, and along with the women and children, Coop is there, too. Shit.

  Pulling out my gun from the back of my jeans, I ready it as I see Princess across the room, behind the wall that connects to the hall.

  “Get the fuck down!” one of the men screams as he shoots more bullets off in the air.

  Crying comes from the children as whoever is close grabs them and tries to calm them while the assholes move farther into the room.

  I see Legs, Becs’ ol’ lady, grab Coop and lay on top of him. His eyes come to mine with tears in them. I fight back my own tears, knowing I can’t go to him right now, and that kills. I mouth the words, “Stay calm. It’ll be okay,” to him, knowing full well that I have no clue how this is going to turn out.

  He sniffles and holds back his tears. My strong boy.

  Princess takes a shot, hitting one of the guys right in the forehead, and he crashes to the ground.

  One of the other men starts taking rapid aim where Princess stands while the another starts shooting at the people on the floor, yelling, “Kill my fucking men!” Bullets ping.

  I gain my calm and aim directly at the man shooting. First shot, shoulder hit, and he turns toward me and starts firing rapidly.

  I do the same, ducking down as I watch the man’s body jerk this way and that.

  He doesn’t give up, though. More gunfire occurs, and the man coming at me crashes to the ground, dead.

  I look down to see Angel and Blaze next to each other, both with screaming kids under their bodies.

  We turn quickly toward the man still going at Princess and take aim. He goes down, but Tanner must have been rising, because she falls to the ground hard with a loud thump. Blood pours from her body as the big man goes down, too.

  Bella lies next to her, unmoving. Shit, she must have gotten shot by a stray bullet.

  Princess comes out from behind the wall. “Fuck, fuck fuck!” she screams. “Where the fuck are Dagger and the guys!”

  “Ahhh!” is screamed by a little voice by the door, and we all turn, our guns pointed in that direction.

&n
bsp; I see Legs out of the corner of my eye wrapping her hand around Coop’s mouth as she and some of the other women get up and rush the children out of the room.

  Shit, shit, shit!

  Shaina is held by the hair tightly with a gun pointed directly at her temple. The man holding the gun … is Ransom.

  What the fuck!

  “Put the fuckin’ guns down,” he orders, but we don’t.

  Shaina’s face looks terrified, and I need her desperately to hang on to her shit. Her eyes are wide as tears form in them and begin to stream down her face. I know she’s been through hell, and I’m sure this shit brings it up, but dammit, she just needs to hang on.

  Ransom shrugs, puts the gun to Shaina’s back, and pulls the trigger. Shaina falls to the ground, screaming and crying. Seconds later, she goes silent.

  My gut tightens as I take a step closer, wanting to help her, but Ransom points his gun at me.

  “Charlotte, I told you you’d be mine, you little whore. I told you I get what I want.”

  Bile rises in my throat. I want to throw up on him.

  “I don’t want you. Why are you doing this to my family?”

  He laughs. “Your family?” He turns the gun on Princess.

  I pull my trigger, aiming at his heart, and I hear Princess’s gun go off just as Ransom’s does.

  “Son of a motherfucking bitch!” Princess screeches, and a clatter of metal hits the tiled floor, but I don’t turn to her. Instead, I stare at the man I just shot who is smiling. How in the hell did he not go down from a chest shot, and there is no blood?

  He turns the gun back on me. “Aw, sweetheart, you should always aim for the head.” He pulls his shirt open, revealing a bulletproof vest. “It’s doubled up, so I barely felt it.” He chuckles. “Who else needs to die before you realize you’re not winning this one?”

  I aim at his head. He moves just as I squeeze the trigger.

  His laugh is creepy as hell.

  Suddenly, arms wrap around my body, and the gun is knocked from my hand. I fight, kick, and bite what I can find, but the arms are strong and fierce. He subdues me, and I’m not sure how. All I know is that my hands are captured behind my back, and even with my kicks, it does nothing to stop him. I know I’m not alone, but the urge to take him out myself grows.

  “Abe, let’s get the fuck out of here before the place blows,” Ransom says to the man that is holding me.

  The place is rigged to blow. No! Too many … Too many of my family!

  “What did you do!” I screech, whipping my head back to try and make contact, but I miss.

  I look to my left to see Tanner isn’t moving, Princess is groaning in a way that she never does, Shaina is unmoving, and Angel and Blaze are missing. Where the fuck are they?

  He turns toward the room, announcing, “All your men are dead. I bombed them about thirty minutes ago.”

  My heart cracks and shatters to the floor. My husband, son, son-in-law, my brothers—my family. No!

  “And as soon as I get my Tink out of here, this place will go, too.”

  “What is wrong with you?” I yell. “You’ve lost your mind!”

  He steps closer to me and slaps me hard across the face. I try not to let my head jerk, but it does, anyway. Asshole.

  I ignore the pain. This is ride or die time. This asshole has taken too much from us all because of his ego.

  There’s a chance the whole club is dead.

  Boom, boom, boom. The constant thumping in my mind suddenly matches the rapid beating of my heart.

  A bomb. He’s taking out my family. My family, my heart, my soul. He’s taking them with a boom. My ears ring, my palms sweat, and my senses fight to clear my mind.

  Survival mode.

  Fuck him.

  Fuck him.

  Anger thumps through my veins. I lift my legs, trying to kick Ransom, but he takes a step back, his brows knit together.

  “You fucking bitch. When I get you out of here, you’re going to wish you would have stayed with me instead of traipsing off like some whore to this club of assholes!” His voice rises, and I can feel that he’s right on the edge.

  “Get away from her,” I hear Blaze say.

  “Now,” Angel says from beside her, both with semi-automatics in their hands.

  Ransom grabs me from his man and puts the gun to my temple just as Angel fires her gun, and the asshole, Abe, falls to the ground in a heap.

  “You know, it’s true I want this bitch to suffer, but I’ll kill her where she stands. And if you bitches think you’re getting out of here alive, you’re sadly mistaken.”

  “Head. Shoot through me if necessary,” I tell them as the metal presses harder against me and Ransom uses me a shield.

  At this point, I’d rather they put a bullet through me to get to him. At least then, he would be dead, and maybe they can save everyone else.

  “Shut up, bitch. You want to die? Want your kid to watch you die?”

  I move my gaze to Princess, but she’s gone. A puddle of blood is the only thing left from where she lay.

  I dart my eyes around the room and see nothing. Shit!

  I say nothing, hoping Ransom doesn’t notice she left.

  My thoughts run in rapid succession. Pops, Coop, GT—everyone. Everyone who has my heart. I can’t lose them. I just can’t.

  “This is all your fault!” he yells, gripping my arm tighter and shaking it, obviously losing his cool. “You’re the bitch who put all this shit into motion. I had to spend years and so much fucking money to get to you, but I fucking did it. Now you’re going to pay for the rest of your fucking days!”

  On the last word, something hard hits me in the side. His hands release me, and I crash hard to the ground, my head hitting the tile hard.

  “Now,” I hear Princess scream as a little ball goes rolling across the floor. Suddenly, it bursts open, shining a light so bright another planet could see it.

  I close my eyes and shield myself as guns go off and loud thumps sound all around us. My head throbs, and I feel blood running down the side of my face. I try to roll over but only get to my stomach.

  “Ma, don’t know what the fuck that is, but stay down,” I hear Princess say and feel her pull me with her across the floor as she crawls.

  There is no way in hell she’s using her eyesight for this. That’s my girl, going with her gut.

  “Stay!” she orders, pushing me against a hard wall. My head throbs, and it’s hard to think. My eyes burn, and the sounds of women and men’s screams tear through my ears.

  I fight to breathe. I fight to hold on. I fight to take in anything and everything around me. Only, I can’t.

  I must’ve hit my head too hard. Everything is fuzzy. Everything hurts. Everything is … black.

  It hurts worse than any pain I’ve endured. My chest feels like a hole was placed in it. I could probably look through it to the other side. My skin burns, and I can smell the scent of burnt flesh. I try to move, but I can’t.

  I try my fingers: nothing. Toes: nothing. Arms: nothing. I can hear screams, things exploding, and debris falling to the ground, but I can’t move.

  And I can’t hear Buzz, which makes my heart ache.

  I search inside myself to try to find him. We’ve always had a deep connection, but when I search for it, nothing comes.

  Something hard smacks me in the head. It’s hot, and I try to remove it from my skin to stop the pain, but I can’t. I can’t scream for help. I can’t do a damn thing.

  My chest tightens, not in pain, but in an ache for what could have been.

  My breathing is irregular, and the harder I force myself to stay in the here and now, the more I lose the battle.

  I fight to connect with Buzz one more time.

  My brother. My mother. My woman. Just one more time. One more time, I want to feel Shaina, the woman who gave me more than I think she even realizes.

  This is it. Never again. I’m done.

  My eyes throb, and even though the light is n
o more, it doesn’t matter, because my eyes still see it. I’m not sure how Princess and I communicated our plan, but somehow, we at least pulled part of it off.

  She was going to Ma. I was going to Tanner and Shaina. After grabbing one of each of their arms and pulling them the opposite way down the hall, the burst of light stopped me in my tracks, and I fell to the ground. The light was so blinding it messed with my senses.

  I reach over and feel bodies next to me.

  “Motherfucker!” the male voice that I believe is Ransom screeches a second before it’s silenced.

  “That son of a fucking bitch!” Dagger spits as a couple of shots go off, and I jump.

  “You think you’re gonna get my daughter, do ya?” another male voice I’ve never heard before says. I have no idea where he came from. The tone is rough and frightening.

  I lie there, still wishing I could see what’s happening as fear filters through every nerve.

  More shots go off and thumps hit the floor, vibrating out.

  I catch myself, wanting to move back yet freezing because I fear what’s going on.

  Then silence.

  Nothing. Not a single sound.

  Not a whimper.

  Not a cry.

  Not anything.

  Terror grips me. How do I know we are safe? How can I help anyone if I can’t freaking see?

  I blink rapidly and rub my eyes, trying to get them to function again. When I open them, I see a blur of white then red. I put my hand on the red. It’s warm and wet. Blood.

  Not giving a shit, I tear the shirt from my body and place it on the red. I feel around for the other body, but it’s not there.

  I stay quiet, not knowing what’s going on or who’s here. I reach back for my gun, but it’s not there. It must’ve fallen out when I went to get these two. Or one, because I don’t freaking know where two is!

  I take a deep breath and try to calm myself. I can handle this. I’m a strong woman. It’s push mode, and I need to think.

  “Dad?” Ma’s voice comes through the space. I’ve never heard of a father, but then again, I haven’t been around that long.

  “Hey, baby girl,” the male voice responds, and I blink, wanting to see what the hell is going on. How come they can see and I can’t?