Acceptance (The Chicago Defiance MC Series Book 5)

by K E Osborn

  He leans down planting a kiss on my forehead. Pulling back, he takes the larger gun from my hand then looks at me sternly. “Stay in here. Don’t come out for anything. I will come get you when I can.”

  “Be careful,” I tell him.

  Then in a flash, he’s out the door. I turn back to Luc as the gunfire sounds like it’s getting closer. Tears prick my eyes as I walk over to Luc, standing beside him with the gun drawn.

  “What the hell’s going on, doc?” Luc asks.

  A knot catches in my throat. “I have no idea.”

  Luc’s breaths are short and shallow as he looks up to me, obvious fear in his eyes. “What if they come in the room?”

  Fear sweeps over me as my hands begin to shake, the gun wobbling in my grip. “Then I’ll… I’ll… shoot them.”

  He exhales. “You know whoever it is they’re probably coming for me?”

  I snap my head around look at him, my eyes wide. “How would they know you’re here?”

  He shrugs. “I don’t know. I have no idea. I’ve been locked up in a supply closet for a month.”

  My breathing quickens as I aim my gun at him, his eyes widen as he stuns back. “Do you want to go with them?”

  He shakes his head. “Whoa, whoa, hang on... I didn’t get them here. If one of their men goes missing, they’re naturally going to look. Believe it or not, I like the atmosphere here, the brotherhood, the respect you all have for each other. It shits all over the Sovereigns. I don’t want to go back there, so you’re pointing your gun at the wrong guy, doc.”

  My head is jumbled. The loud roaring of gunfire and the uncertainty of where Luc’s loyalties lie confuses me. I’m not sure what to do, when suddenly the door handle starts to jiggle. I turn aiming my gun at the door. “Shit!” I turn the safety off as I stand steady putting my finger over the trigger, but I wait to make sure.

  The door suddenly swings open, a guy steps in wearing all black, including a black hoodie. He looks at Luc, his eyes going wide as he runs toward him, so I don’t hesitate pulling the trigger. It recoils back, my shoulder jolting making me wince. My breath catches as the guy falls to the floor right in front of Luc’s feet.

  I let out a stuttered breath while blood begins to pool from his chest as he lays face first on the concrete. I look at Luc whose eyes are saying so much right now. I just can’t tell what.

  “Shit,” I murmur while my hands shake in terror. My vow in life is to do no harm, and I willingly took a life. My bottom lip trembles as my eyes begin to water with the realization.

  “You’re doing great! Keep your cool, doc.”

  Glancing to the door which is now wide open, I wonder if I should run and close it, but before I can think, another man runs in. I go to shoot, but as I do another runs in behind him. There’s two, I tense up not knowing what to do as one runs for me, the other straight for Luc.

  I freeze as I aim at the guy running for me, but he’s fast, and he sideswipes the gun from my hand. Hard. The pain radiates through my wrist as I almost spin with the force. He pushes me back into the cupboards with his weight. “Don’t try to fight me. It will end badly for you, princess,” he spits. He’s only young, but I see the evil in his eyes as I resist trying to fight back.

  I bring my knee up, hitting him in the balls. He hunches over, so I move to dodge past him and notice the other guy untying Luc from his chair—his handcuffs already off while Luc looks at me in horror. I scrunch up my face as I scurry to get out of the room, but my guy grabs at my ankle, yanking it from me as I face plant the floor right next to the dead body. His blood soaking through my top, smothering my left arm.

  I wince as he rolls me over onto my back. Kneeling over me, I let out a scream as I bring my hands up to scratch and claw to fight him off, my nails ripping into his flesh.

  “Thanks for getting me free,” I hear Luc say.

  Fucking traitor.

  But I can’t worry about him right now. I’m fighting for my goddamn life as the guy brings his hand back. I see it in slow motion as his fist comes right for my face, and I’m helpless to stop it. I clench my eyes as I hear a weird sound then a loud bang in the room. Something sprays on my face, a metallic tang I know so well floods my senses as a massive weight smacks down on top of me, knocking all the air from my lungs.

  I’m scared.

  No, I’m terrified.

  And I’m not ashamed to admit it.

  “What the fuck, Lucian?” an unfamiliar voice calls out.

  I hear a scuffle.

  Then another bang.

  I jump, even with the weight on top of me, even with my eyes closed and me freaking the fuck out on the floor. Sure, I’ve been in a shootout once before in this club, but I’ve never been in this kind of situation. It seems to be only getting worse at the club, and right now I’m fucking terrified. I don’t know whether Luc or the other guy stands in the room with me with Chains’ gun, but I can’t bring myself to open my eyes.

  “Doc?” Luc’s soft voice murmurs as the weight is peeled off me. “Doc, you’re okay, I’m right here. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.” Luc’s hand gently caresses my shoulder as I continue to lay on the ground shaking, my eyes clenched closed as I pant for breath.

  The gunfire in the clubhouse seems to be ebbing, my anxiety is evening out, but I can’t seem to open my eyes. Even with Luc here, trying to calm me down. “Doc, doc… shit!” Luc murmurs but stays with me the entire time.

  “Bex!” A roaring voice echoes from outside as I hear running footsteps. My eyes fling open as I look to see Luc staring down at me, concern etched on his face, gun in his hand, and three dead bodies on the ground.

  Chains slides into the room, his eyes widen as he bursts through the door then over to me, seeming to ignore Luc and the fact he’s out of the chair and holding a gun. “Shit, you’re bleeding. What did he do? Are you okay? Fuck, Bex!” Chains groans pulling me into his arms.

  Luc steps back dropping the gun to the floor, stepping right into the corner of the room with his hands up in surrender. “No… I… I’m okay. Luc, he saved me. One of the men tried to… then Luc…” I stop closing my eyes as Chains pulls me to him embracing me.

  “Fuck, I can’t believe I left you. I thought you’d be safe in here. Luc… helped you?”

  I look at Luc in the corner. “No. You don’t understand, Ty, Luc saved me. Without him, I think the guy would have seriously hurt me, probably killed me. Luc killed them both… for me.”

  Chains furrows his brow. “Wait, you said both. There’s three in here?”

  “I shot the first one.”

  Chains puffs out his chest like he’s fucking proud, then looks at Luc exhaling. “How did you get free?”

  Luc steps forward pointing to one of the bodies. “He untied me. Somehow had a cuff key, too. They thought I’d want to go with them. But I don’t. I wanted to protect the doc. I want to stay. You all treat each other with so much respect. The Sovereigns never, ever, treat me that way, and they never, ever, could. I want to stay here, Ty.”

  Chains’ eyes widen as he takes it in. “You want to stay here? At the club? With us? With… me?”

  Luc tries to hide his joy. “I know we’re broken, Ty. I know I came in here like a cocky little shit. But I know what you did for me then. I know what you’ve done for me now. I want to fix this.”

  Chains dips his head like he’s thinking. “I need to run this past Torque, but… thank you, for saving Bex.”

  “She means a lot to you,” Luc states.

  “She means a lot to all of us.” Chains tries to keep up this charade, but I think it is safe to say our cover is well and truly blown with Luc.

  “I’m not sure why you’re trying to hide your relationship from me, but by trying to hide it, you’ve made it even more obvious. So, you may as well stop trying. It’s kind of annoying,” he scolds making me let out a small sigh.

  Chains looks at me with a grimace. “Seems I can’t keep myself away from you even when I’m trying to.�
��

  Luc rolls his eyes. “Doesn’t mean you have to flaunt it either, though.”

  I look up at Chains, then to Luc, then back to Chains. “What do we do with Luc?”

  “For the meantime, he stays in here.”

  “Do we have to tie him up again? Surely, he can just stay in here. I mean he proved a point today, didn’t he?”

  Chains shrugs. “I need to talk to the Pres. You’re coming with me. I’m not leaving you alone in here with him, untied. You might have won Bex over, but I’m still not sure.”

  Luc puts his hands back up in surrender. “I understand, Ty, I won’t fight you on this. I’ll stay in the room as long as you need me to. Tie me up if it makes you more comfortable, but honestly, these were the people I spent the last nineteen years with, and I just killed two of them for you and the doc. I’m pretty sure I’ve fucked up any chance of going back. That’s all I’m going to say about that.”

  Chains lets me go bending down to the bodies feeling them up and down. I tense hating the fact he’s doing that. It’s not like I’m nervous around dead bodies, hell, I work with them all the time, it’s just this situation. It’s not something I’m used to. He pulls a spare gun from each of the men and a blade from one of them too, then keeps searching until he’s satisfied there’s nothing left for Luc to obtain.

  Once he has everything, he turns to Luc. “You’re gonna be in here with three of your dead comrades for a while. Just have a good think about whose side you really want to be on, then Torque will come have a chat. See where your head’s at… deal?”

  “Yep.”

  Chains hands me some of the weapons. I take them feeling like a fish out of water as I look at Luc letting him know I’m on his side. Chains ushers me out of the closet into the main room. My eyes widen as I take in the sight. There’s got to be at least six men dead on the floor, all shot. Blood litters the clubroom floor as Chains and I dodge the bodies to walk toward Torque who’s talking to Trax and Surge.

  “Pres,” Chains says handing over the weapons. I do the same handing mine to Trax.

  They all look at me seeing my red-stained clothing. “You hurt, Kline?” Torque asks.

  “No, thanks to Luc. This is their blood, just… lots of it. One of them freed Luc while the other was assaulting me. Luc let them think he was on their side, then once he was free, he grabbed a gun and killed them both.”

  All their eyebrows raise in surprise. “I knew he was doing better, but I hadn’t realized he was fully on team Defiance,” Torque queries.

  I roll my shoulder to ease the ache. “I wasn’t sure he was either, but after what I just went through in there with him, I’m almost one hundred percent sure he wants to be here.”

  “Almost, one hundred? What’s holding you back?” Surge asks.

  “I guess you can never be one hundred percent sure on one’s motives, or how they’re going to act in a situation. To be honest, I’m not a trained psychiatrist. I don’t know the true signs of a psychopath. I’ve only had limited training, but from the training I have had, Luc’s showing real progress. I might be having wishful thinking, but I believe he’s truly seeing the privileges of being at this club over the Sovereigns.”

  Torque tilts his head. “Well, let’s just hope you’re right, Kline. Let’s just hope you’re right.”

  CHAINS

  I left my brothers to deal with the mess in the clubhouse while I take Bex back to my room to get her cleaned up. When I stormed into the supply closet and saw her covered in blood, I nearly lost my fucking head thinking it was hers. Fuck! I don’t know what I would have done if she was badly hurt in that shitstorm. All I know is Luc helped her, and for that I’m thankful.

  Leading Bex down the hall to my room, I open the door, my hand on her lower back as she walks through. Neither of us say a word as I close the door behind us, the woodgrain creaking in the deafening silence. She turns to glance at me, her eyes obviously searching my body, for what, I’m unsure as her bottom lip begins to tremble.

  The sight makes me weak at the knees as I rush forward pulling her to me without hesitation. My nose nuzzles into her hair as her arms hold me so damn tight it’s hard to breathe. “Hey, it’s okay, you’re okay. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, Bex,” I tell her kissing her hair.

  She sniffles pulling back shaking her head. Wiping a stray tear from her cheek, she looks up at me. “No, that’s not it.”

  My stomach turns wondering what has her upset. “Talk to me.”

  Her hand slides up smoothing across my chest, past my rapidly beating heart, then past my healed neck wound. She looks me over. “No injuries.” Her voice is breathy like she’s fighting to hold herself together.

  Taking a deep breath, I run my thumb along her bottom lip, then caress her cheek. “I have more to live for now.”

  A tear falls down her face onto my fingers. I wipe it away. Her glistening eyes convey so much as I stare into her sky blue irises that have so much life in them. In a world so full of darkness, so full of death and depravity, she’s a beacon of hope. Knowing there is good in this world. Knowing if she can get through to a man like Luc, then there is hope, not just for Luc but for me. I can make it through my storm with Bex by my side, I can overcome anything.

  “Your psych told you not to get hurt on purpose as a form of self-punishment anymore?” she asks still in doctor mode.

  “He did, but it’s not why I stopped, Bex. I did it for you. I know it worries you, I know you hate patching me up. So, if I can avoid getting hurt from now on…. I will… for you.”

  Her eyes light up, she tightens her arms around me as she leans forward pressing her lips to mine, hard. That fucking tingle shoots all the way to my cock as she kisses me. Her tongue battles with mine, it’s so hard to fucking concentrate when all I can think about it how much I want to fuck her. It’s been building—the sexual tension between us, and eventually it’s got to give.

  My legs move, my body thinking more than my brain right now as I push her back up against the wall. My animalistic urges start to take over. But she doesn’t stop me as my hand moves to her hair, I grip tight, forcing her lips to mine. My now completely hard cock grinds against her as she whimpers into my mouth. Her nails claw into the leather of my cut making me wish it were off right now, so I could feel her ripping into my back.

  The last few moments at the club have been intense, but right now I just need to remember she’s okay and the metallic smell of blood in the air isn’t hers. She’s safe, and for the moment, until I speak to Torque about what we do with regards to the attack, I just need to take this all in. Take her in. Enjoy being with her. Because this, right here, this heated moment, doesn’t come around all the time.

  Her lips break from mine suddenly as she pants for breath. My eyes fling open while I take in her sudden change in tempo as she looks in my eyes cheekily. “I think we need to get in the shower, this blood is doing my head in.”

  I look at the blood covering her clothing with a wince, regretfully taking a step back as she lets me go. “Shit.” I glance to my cut to see some of the dead guy’s blood on my patches, and I curl up my lip.

  “Sorry, I’ll wash it off.”

  I look back at her taking her hands in mine. “Later. Shower first. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

  Her fingers loop with mine as we walk toward my bathroom. Memories of the first time we saw each other naked filter through my mind. We enter the room, I turn, shrugging out of my cut, placing it carefully on the laundry hamper as Bex looks at herself in the mirror. Shock adorns her gorgeous face as I step behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist, leaning my chin on her shoulder gazing in the mirror with her.

  Our reflections look back at us.

  Taking a deep breath, I see us, for the first time. Not as family, not as friends, but as a couple who would walk over burning-hot-fucking-coals for each other. She would do anything to help me, just as I would lay my life on the line for her, every damn time. We just work better when we�
�re working together and for each other.

  I see something passing through her head, some thoughts plaguing her. I want to know what she’s thinking as she looks at our reflections. I lean in behind her ear, kissing her tenderly, so many emotions running through me. “What’s going through your mind?”

  She sighs, her hands holding onto mine around her stomach. “I normally have a level head in intense situations. I’m calm. I’m a doctor, it’s my job.”

  I kiss under her ear again. “Today was stressful, Bex. You had men coming in after you to get Luc. It’s okay to lose your strength.”

  She turns to face me, her eyes hard. “You don’t understand, Ty, my priority should have been Luc. I should have been either protecting him or trying to stop them from getting away with him, but I was scared, too fucking scared. For me, for you—”

  “Stop! You did your best. I mean you shot a guy for Christ’s sake, Bex, you did your part… I’m proud of you.”

  She gnaws on her bottom lip, taking a deep breath. “I didn’t know if you were going to come back to me.”

  Slumping my shoulders, I gulp down a lump in my throat. “When I saw all the blood on you… fuck, I thought I was going to lose you.”

  Her hand snakes around my neck as her forehead meets with mine. “I’m not going anywhere. You and me, we’re bonded, Ty. Whether it’s from forging such a close friendship or from what we have now… or both… either way, my feelings for you are stronger than anything I’ve known any other normal couple to have this early on. I don’t know what to call this, Ty, but… it’s powerful.”

  My lips turn up, I take a deep breath. “Yeah, woman, it is.”

  She rolls her eyes pushing away from me with a gorgeous laugh. “You had to go throw that in, didn’t you?”

  Bex steps away pulling her top over her head, throwing it to the floor in a bloody mess. My cock throbs at the sight of her pale skin looking so fucking perfect as I step out of my boots then yank my shirt over my head. “Can’t help it, it just flows from my mouth,” I tease as she steps over to me, moving her hands to my belt and undoing the buckle. My eyes widen as I let her have her way with me as she undoes my jeans, and they fall to the floor.