Calix punches some keys and the screen turns from black into something that looks like a corner of a living room. I don’t recognize any of it. Not even the two guys who are each strapped to what seems like some sort of cross. Not even their heads are clear.
Inching closer, I ask, “Is it really them?”
“Oh, yeah. No doubt. We needed a twist in kink to make sure they went out being tortured for the sake of sexual play, so the choking element was performed this way.
“Oh. My. God. What is my ex doing there and why is he doing this? Did he do this?” Leaning forward, I see the guy wearing all black along with a mask, put some kind of a torturer device on a guy’s cock. Then I see it.
“Jesus, Christ, and everything else that’s holy and pure. Please tell me that isn’t my brother doing that.” I gasp in shock.
“Ah.” Calix smirks. “you noticed his tick, right? The slight twinge of his wrist where he lets the joint snap. He does that when he gets...icky, yes?”
I’m actually smiling at Calix because that’s it. He used to do that a lot growing up. I always had so much fun teasing him with stuff that would make him freak out. Our mom would always tell him to quit or it would ruin his joints but he never stopped...and clearly our mother didn’t like the sound because his joint never bothered him.
“Yeah, icky is the right word for it.” Pointing my finger at the screen, I ask, “Brandlee killed those two who,” I swallow and brace myself to actually say it out loud and stand by my own words for the first time, believing them, knowing what they did wasn’t my fault. “Those who raped me?”
“Yes, sweetheart.” Sico squeezes my fingers gently. “He wanted to. That was his condition when I told him about my plan, that he would be the one who would get to kill them.”
“But how? How did he know? I told him it was me, that I did it, my idea and that I wanted it...I showed him the video...said it was my experience to have three guys at once.” I sob and shake my head, remembering the disappointment in his eyes and yet he didn’t say anything.
“It wasn’t hard to find the full video, Everleigh. Nerd had it with a few clicks, and your brother...”
Sico cuts Calix off and continues, “He knew you would never want that out of the blue, Simi. The night he inked my forearms we danced around the topic until we both realized we were trying to see what the other guy knew about it. So, I asked him straight to his face and he confessed that he searched online all night and found the full video. He went nuts and confronted your ex but he knew damn well if he killed or assaulted the fucker he would go to jail and you’d have no one left. When I told him about my plan, he wanted in. Or better yet...he wanted to be the one. Who was I to take it from him?”
Leaning closer to Sico, I place a kiss on his cheek and whisper, “Thank you.”
He’s taken aback by my reaction so I simply smile at all of them.
“Weirdos.” I chuckle. “You guys set up this whole...crap, is Brandlee shoving a, holy hell that’s large, how does that...oh, that looks painful.” I cringe at the fact that I’m watching the video where my brother inserts a very large butt plug into a guy’s ass without adding lube. Or I missed that part. Ugh, yikes. “Okay, you can turn that off now.” I cringe again and shake my head in an effort to shake the screwed up visual.
Sico leans in next to my ear. “You should have seen some of my brother’s faces when Brandlee handled those two fuckers. Dams might have gone a little green while Zack turned white as a sheet. The only one unaffected and talking Brandlee through it was Calix here. Man, I seriously don’t ever want to be inside that man’s brain, that’s for damn sure.”
“Believe me. You can’t handle being in there.” The smile Calix gives is kinda frightening.
I sigh and think back how my brother did that for me.
“Your brother was a very strong fucker. He chose to be there for you, you know. Backed you up when you made your decision, never judged or confronted you. He was right not to pursue those guys back then. Your ex had a strong position in his father’s business, the one he took over. A lot of people would rather believe a high-status person than the words of a tattoo artist.” Ransom’s words warm my heart because that’s it...that’s how Brandlee was, always smart, always there for me.
“I’m lucky to have you weirdos around me.” I give everyone a small smile because through all the sadness with losing my brother I’m now aware that he didn’t leave me all alone. He damn near ordered me to come work for him and move here.
Here where he built up a friendship with this MC knowing they’d let me in, mask in place and all. Hell, this man next to me even managed to strip me of all the walls I built high and even loves me. Yeah. From that point in life I do feel lucky to have these weirdos around me. Weirdos my brother made sure I had around me.
Chapter 13
***Sico***
“Still no damn news then?” Another two weeks of silence.
It’s getting overly frustrating that there hasn’t been any change over the last few weeks. We’re at a standstill. When I pulled the bullseye on myself with the Cape Town crew, I hoped to drive them either to the point where they would run off and scatter, or that they would attack with their head in their ass.
But no such luck. First intel we got was that these were a bunch of no good punks but we either underestimated them or they have been on a lucky streak because the hits we took were pretty drastic. Their retaliation; a brother for a brother. The loss of Brandlee still hurts my chest and I can clearly see the grief still visible, haunting, in my ol’lady’s eyes.
Casey has managed to connect the hit on Jean to when our bikes were set on fire. Jean witnessed the incident so they beat him up and left him for dead. Another fucking victim because of all this shit. That’s how petty they are; go after the ones who are connected and yet on the outside. Easy targets. Fucking lowlife scum to attack this way.
“No, but Casey is working hard, man. I don’t think he’s slept more than eight hours this week, cut the guy some slack. Hey, you got more stuff coming in?” Ransom says as he points to the screen that shows a van pulling up at the side of the house.
I frown, thinking what wasn’t delivered yet. “I don’t know, maybe a thing or two, but the bigger shit came yesterday and the day before already.”
Standing up, I stalk to my woman and pull out her earbud. “Hey, beautiful, there’s a van pulling up, did you expect a delivery today?”
She scrunches up her nose. “I ordered two lamps but I thought they were going to deliver them tomorrow. Oh.” Simi swallows and her eyes turn sad before she adds, “Brandlee and I ordered some equipment overseas that was supposed to arrive this week. I forgot about that. Maybe that’s it.”
Calix is sitting on the couch going over something that’s on his iPad. He doesn’t even look up when Ransom strolls to the door.
“I’ll get it, but I ain’t carrying shit down the stairs again,” Ransom grumbles as he checks the video feed. It shows a guy holding a piece of paper and checking it. As he does, Ransom opens the door before the guy even has a chance to ring the doorbell.
I’m staring at the feed as I see the guy draw a gun out of his waistband. Ransom acts fast but bullets start to fly as the van bursts open and four more guys jump out. “Calix!” I bellow in a warning. “Simi, get the fuck down.”
I reach for my gun while grabbing the knife from my ankle strap. Four guys are already firing their guns and I feel heat licking my arm but that doesn’t stop me from squeezing the trigger. One kid. A fucking kid with a gun drops to the floor as I see James lunge toward me.
The impact causes my gun to drop and I have to let fucking go of my knife too because the fucker’s got a knife pressing down my throat. I’m trying to get a grip on his forearm but the fucker is squirming. I barely manage to create some space between us. More gunshots ring out before it’s only grunts and curses. I’m struggling to keep James off me. He’s still holding the knife but I finally manage to get a good grip on his arm.
Pulling him away, I rip the knife out of his hand and plunge it into his side, over and over until his knees buckle. It’s not enough. I twist him around and grab the fucker’s neck before the knife digs deep into his back. Once, twice, before I leave it in and kick him to the floor.
My eyes scan the room and I see Ransom’s upper body is drenched with blood. His face is a raging mask of fury as he keeps pounding his fists into a guy’s face. On the other side is Calix who’s got one guy with his neck at an odd angle at his feet while another one is standing at a distance, two knives in each hand, sizing Calix up and getting ready to lunge at him at any time. Calix on the other hand is just standing there. As if he’s waiting on a fucking bus or something.
Knowing he’s got this, I scan around for Simi but come up empty. James’ lifeless body is lying in front of me on the floor as I step over him to check behind the desk where Simi was before those guys came in. Nothing. Panic hits my chest as I roar her name. Nothing.
Movement on the video feed draws my attention as I watch a guy that’s carrying Simi over his shoulder heading for the van. He throws her in the back, closes the doors and gets in. Fuck no.
“He’s got her, fuck,” I throw at Calix who meets my eyes and then checks the screen.
He steps forward and with one smooth move breaks the guy’s neck who was still trying to attack him with two knives. Calix runs off in front of me and grabs his keys out of his pocket. “My car, come on man, move.”
Running to Calix’s silver Aston Martin DB9, we get in and Calix steps on the gas to chase the van that’s speeding off.
“He needs to slow the fuck down. Simi’s in the back. Fuck. She’s being thrown around, what if...fuck,” I growl as my fingers dig in my thighs.
I don’t ever think I’ve felt this scared in all my life. The van races around the corner, almost going frontal with an upcoming car. He takes another right and heads for the highway.
There’s a dial tone going through the car before a grouchy voice answers, “What’s up Calix, I’m kinda busy here.”
Calix’s voice is flat when he says, “In pursuit, Casey. Suspect is about to head for I-80. Civilian hostage.”
“He’s got my ol’lady in the back of his fucking van. White one,” I rattle off all the details and fuck. “Casey, send an ambulance to Simi’s house. Ransom might need one.”
Casey starts to bark out orders to others but stays on the phone with us until Calix says, “Gotta go now, man. Talk later.”
He presses a button and swirls his head toward me. “Two choices. We keep behind him and wait for Casey to block the highway and let him handle it...or I try to cut off the van but it might tip over.”
Fuuuuuuck.
“Think, Sico. Make a damn choice because the window of opportunity here is getting smaller by the second.”
I don’t fucking know. I don’t fucking know how to make a choice. What if it’s one that involves life and death? She’s in the back...no damn seat belt.
“The van is going too fast,” I croak.
“He’s got to lessen speed with the upcoming turn, Sico. I can cut him off, but we need to act fast and also jump out and kill the fucker if the van doesn’t flip over but stops... get me?”
“What would you fucking do?” I bellow through the tiny space of the car. “She’s my every-fucking-thing, Calix. The only damn thing in the world that means everything to me is in the back of that van right there. I love her. I can’t fucking lose her.”
“Good. Then we’ll do it ourselves instead of leaving it to others, yeah?” Calix’s voice is hard and determined.
I give him a sharp nod as he revved the engine. Blasting us forward, Calix maneuvers us in one smooth move in front of the van. The man mutters, “This one better be worth hurting my baby.” Swinging his head to me he says, “Hold the fuck on, this is going to be rocky,” before he hits the brakes a few times swinging my body forward while it’s being grabbed tight by the seat belt.
He’s pumping us slowly to a stop and forcing the van to lessen its speed. But the fucker does that two more times before the van rams us, making Calix curse and hit the brakes hard. The force of the van hitting us makes the car spin to the side. Calix grabs a gun from underneath his arm and shoots straight through the side window of his own car, shattering the front window of the van and flying straight into the fucker’s skull.
It takes a moment for me to realize that we’ve come to a stop. I unbuckle the seat belt and jump out of the car, heading for the back of the van. Opening it, I have to swallow hard. It seems like the Cape Town crew stole the van that was filled with deliveries. Due to the high-speed chase all the boxes are scattered around and on top of Simi. I can only see her goddamned feet and she’s not moving.
Jumping in, I start to throw out the boxes in an effort to dig her out. I hear sirens coming closer, hoping Casey also called a damn ambulance. “Simi, sweetheart, please.”
Her face is all busted up and she’s not responding. My fingers go to her neck as panic strikes me hard. It takes a moment to find her pulse. It’s weak but it’s there, she’s still alive. I hear car sounds and look over my shoulder. Thank fuck. A police car and a damn ambulance pull up.
“Help her dammit, come on. Ambulance, now, please,” I bellow but fuck...I get two cops with their guns drawn in my face.
“Hands in the air,” one guy says.
“Put those away,” Casey rumbles from behind them. “The perp is dead and in the driver’s seat. Medic, we need the medics to get in there,” Casey urges.
With regret, I step away because they need to help Simi. It’s so fucking hard because all I want to do is hold her but I can’t do shit for her so I get out of the van.
“Aw, fuck. That’s going to take a while to get you all shiny again.” Calix’s voice is filled with distaste.
I glance around the van and see that his car is absolutely totaled due to the impact with the van. Yeah, I think he’d be better off buying a new one, but like hell I’m going to be the one that mentions that shit to him.
“Thanks man.” I slap his shoulder. “You don’t know how much I appreciate what you did.”
“Always. You know that,” Calix states but keeps his eyes on his car.
“Fuck.” Casey stalks toward us. “Calix. Can you...dammit. I want to go myself but I have to deal with this shit here. Ransom was just transferred to the hospital, he’s critical. Can you get there and let me know? I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“On my way, brother,” Calix says and takes the keys Casey’s holding out, running off toward Casey’s SUV.
Casey isn’t a biker but he’s close to one. He loves his job as an FBI agent and doesn’t want to risk that wearing a cut, so he won’t. I know Ransom and he are like brothers and Casey has been there more than a few times for the club.
I grab his shoulder and squeeze it. “He’s going to pull through man, you’ll see. He’s not a man who would slide his way out of life without bugging you some more.”
“Yeah.” Casey nods warily. “Let’s go check on your woman and get shit going so I can get the fuck out of here too.”
We watch as they load Simi into the ambulance. She’s still not conscious as we arrive at the hospital and I have to wait in the waiting room for almost an hour before a nurse comes out to tell me she’s regained consciousness but they need to run a few more tests before I’m allowed to see her.
When I finally do, I have to swallow back so many emotions because right now all that matters is that she’s alive and lying in a bed before me. Although her face is all bruised, she’s still beautiful as fuck. They are keeping her overnight because she got banged up pretty bad. Not just from the blows to the head when the guy knocked her unconscious and took her, but also from being inside the van with all the heavy boxes throwing her around and then the van crashing. Fuck. I’m just thankful she’s alive.
“Hey,” she croaks and I reach for the cup of water with a straw that the nurse brought in for h
er.
“Hey yourself, beautiful,” I tell her and she takes a few sips before I place the cup back on the table.
“Are you okay?” she asks.
“Fuck. Am I okay? You’re the one all banged up.” I chuckle. “But yeah, I’m okay as long as you keep living and stick with me.”
Her eyes droop and it must be from the painkillers they gave her earlier. “You’re stuck with me, stud.”
“Try and catch some sleep while you can. I’m going to spring you out of this joint early tomorrow morning so I can pamper the hell out of you in our own bed, yeah?” I tell her with a fierce voice.
“Okay.” Her eyes close as she mutters, “But I want to be hand fed chocolate ice cream, or caramel, whatever.”
“You’ll get both, sweetheart, you’ll get both,” I whisper and place a soft kiss on her lips but she’s already fast asleep.
I sit back in my chair and settle in for the night because I ain’t going anywhere and I’m not going to sleep. I’m going to stare at the most beautiful thing life gave me and will make damn sure I get to live long enough to treasure her each and every day.
Chapter 14
***Simi***
“Ha! See? I told you I’d kick your ass,” I beam and place the controller on the tiny table beside my chair.
Standing up, I curl my toes into the soft carpet while I enjoy watching Sico sulk because I just beat his ass at a racing game.
“It’s this damn controller. It doesn’t work at all when I press this, it’s just fucked up,” he growls, stands up and throws the controller in his chair.
“Meh, you’re just a bad loser. I won, fair and square. And...I told you I would kick your ass before we started working on this game room, didn’t I?” Yes, still beaming, rubbing it in, whatever.
It’s been almost three weeks since I spent the night in the hospital. I needed about a week for my body not to feel the impact of everything that happened. Some bruises took longer to fade but I’m finally feeling like my old self.
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