I found Rogue's name staring at me with the little surfer girl emoji she'd added beside it and my heart thundered excitedly as I hit answer.
"Hey, hummingbird," I said, my voice rough from sleep.
"Fox," she gasped and I sat up instantly, certain she was crying and my mind slammed into overdrive.
"What's wrong?" I demanded, already pushing out of bed, tugging on the jeans I'd discarded on the floor.
"I didn't mean to - but then I did and - and, it all just happened so fast. And he was hurting me, I just-"
"Who was hurting you?" I growled, a fierce protectiveness coursing through me, possessing me.
I buckled my jeans with one hand and checked my truck keys were still in the pocket. Then I grabbed a black shirt out of the closet, pushed my feet into my boots and opened my balcony door. I didn’t know where she was, but I knew I was going there.
"My neighbour, that fucking creep Axel, the one who works for your dad," she sobbed.
My blood chilled as I stepped out into the balmy night air. "What did he do?" I growled, heat and rage and fear colliding together inside me. If he'd hurt her, touched her, I'd fucking destroy him. Wipe him from the face of the earth. I didn't know how, but I just would. I’d find a way.
"He dragged me into his house, then he tried to force me to - he tried to make me…he was on top of me and I couldn’t fight him off so I...I hit him with a poker. He's not moving, Fox. H-he's dead."
Ice slid through my veins and shock made my brain jar. I didn’t care that she'd killed some pervert, but I cared because that pervert was one of the Harlequins. My dad’s gang. My dad's guy. She was in serious trouble. For far more reasons than I could process in that split second of terror.
"I'm coming," I promised, clawing a hand through my blonde hair and shoving it back out of my face. "Are you still at his house?"
"Yes," she said shakily.
"Stay there. I'll be with you soon. Just breathe, Rogue. Just fucking breathe. You've done nothing wrong. And I won't let anything bad happen to you, you understand me?"
"Okay," she said heavily. "Thank you. And…"
“What is it?” I asked gently, trying to keep my tone level but it was really fucking hard.
“Can you bring me some clothes? There’s blood and…my panties are torn.” I could hear the embarrassment in her tone and I despised that as fury curled through my veins like hellfire. She had no fucking reason to feel that way. That bastard had done this. Had dared touch my Rogue. Touched her there.
“Listen to me, hummingbird. I’ll bring you everything you need, and don’t you feel uncomfortable about this, baby. I’m gonna make it right, okay?”
“Okay,” she breathed. “Just hurry.”
“I will. We’re all on our way.”
I hung up and returned to my room, grabbing a bag and shoving a shirt, a pair of sweats and some boxers into it. The sound of my brother Maverick's bike reached me and I hurried back onto the balcony just as he pulled along the drive. I swung my leg over the side of the balcony, my heart hammering as I climbed down and my boots hit the gravel. He pulled up beside the garage, frowning at my expression as he jumped off his bike and hurried towards me.
"What's going on?" he asked, his eyes searching mine as I opened the garage door.
"Rogue's in trouble, Rick," I hissed, jerking my head for him to follow me and he abandoned his bike as I ran down to fetch my truck, trying to keep my head and not spiral out of control.
"What's happened? I was just with her." Fear filled his deep voice and that set off another wave of fear in me in turn. Maverick didn’t get scared. Not for anything. But we'd handle this. We'd figure it out. I just had to get to her, make sure she was okay, make sure that fucking asshole hadn't hurt her.
I hurried over to a metal storage box at the side of the garage and pushed it open, taking out a tarp and a length of rope before running back to my truck, throwing them in the bed and climbing into the red Ford pick up. I checked that my gun was in the glove box then snapped it shut again as Maverick got in the passenger side. Dad always told me to carry it though I never usually took it out of the car unless we went shooting for practise.
I turned the headlights on, racing out of the garage and pressing the button on my dash to close it behind us.
"What the fuck has happened, Fox?" Maverick asked urgently, his dark eyes on me in my periphery.
I swallowed the hard lump in my throat, but it wouldn’t go away. "Rogue's been attacked. That creep Snake Eyes took her to his house and-"
"What?!" he bellowed as I turned street corners at speed, driving like a fucking maniac as I raced towards Axel’s house.
"She killed him," I told him quickly before he lost his head. "Call JJ and Chase."
He stared at me in shock for a moment then nodded stiffly, taking out his phone and ringing them one at a time. He explained what had happened in short, clipped sentences which I had no doubt was sending them into a fucking frenzy right about now. I heard JJ shouting down the line when Maverick cut him off and shoved his phone back into his pocket, breathing heavily.
"They're coming," he growled as I rounded onto Fellowship Street and accelerated toward Axel’s house.
If that bastard was still twitching, I had the feeling I was going to make sure he was firmly dead. I’d never killed before, never planned on it either. But he'd touched Rogue. My girl.
From the way Maverick was breathing and the strained silence between us, I had the feeling he was thinking the same thing.
I killed the headlights and circled around to the back of the asshole’s house, bumping along a dirt track and pulling the parking brake as we reached the back door.
Maverick jumped out before the truck had even stopped, running up to the back door and I was hot on his heels half a second later.
He hammered his fist on the door and it yanked open to reveal a pale faced Rogue in a bloody t-shirt. She lunged at Maverick, wrapping her arms around him and he fisted a hand in her long, brunette hair as he held her against him.
I stalked past them into the darkened house, hunting for the monster who'd dared lay a finger on her, needing to be sure he wasn’t still a problem.
Axel was lying in the lounge, a bloody poker firmly wedged in his head as blood pooled out around him. I went to a dark place inside me as I saw all of that blood, that death. But I wasn't afraid like I should have been. I was glad he was dead. Glad he'd felt pain before Rogue had ripped him from this world. Proud of my girl for showing him what happened to anyone who dared try and hurt one of our own.
I stalked back to Rogue and took her hand, drawing her away from Maverick. “Get the tarp,” I instructed him and he nodded, walking away as I guided Rogue deeper into the house.
She was shaking and I held her hand tighter as I sought out a bathroom and drew her into it, switching on the light. It was a small space with just a toilet and a sink, but it would do. I checked her over in the stark light, needing to be sure she wasn’t hurt. Her sapphire blue eyes were puffy and red, but I couldn’t see any other obvious signs of discomfort. The blood splattered over her face and shirt clearly wasn’t hers and I sighed in relief, taking a towel from beside the sink and wetting it.
She remained quiet as I worked to clean the blood from her face and hair before gently dabbing at her busted lip, a growl building in my throat. Then I took the clothes I’d brought for her from my bag and held them out to her.
“I’ll just-” I started, but she pulled off her shirt and dropped her torn panties, making my heart lurch at the sight of her naked body and I rapidly turned my back on her while she changed.
I blinked hard, trying not to think about what I’d just seen and rage blinded me as the bruises on her flesh were imprinted on my mind. I’d never felt anger like it, it was coiling through me like smoke, desperate for an outlet, but with the man responsible already dead, I didn’t know where to aim my fury.
When she was dressed, she caught my hand, turning me to face her again a
nd I folded her in my arms, crushing her into my chest. I could lay my chin on her head now, though I hadn't always been tall enough for that. She fit against me better than she ever had and I never wanted to let her go.
"We're going to deal with this," I promised her. “I’ll always protect you.”
"I'm not sad he's dead," she whispered into my chest.
"Me neither," I growled and she pulled away from me, biting her lip with fear in her eyes and making it bleed again.
"We'll deal with it," I repeated, taking her chin and forcing her to look at me, to see the truth of those words in my gaze. I meant them right down to the depths of my soul. Nothing was going to happen to her because of this. Not on my watch.
She nodded, evidently believing me, though her hands were still shaking and I brought them to my lips to kiss her knuckles. She stilled under my touch and I lifted my eyes to hers, finding her looking at me in a way that I’d always hoped she’d look at me. Like she finally understood the way I felt about her and like maybe she felt it back.
“Rogue…” I murmured, my voice rough as my gaze slipped to her full lips for the briefest moment, tension coiling between us that I felt so powerfully, I had to believe she was feeling it too.
She moved a fraction closer to me, her head tilting the tiniest amount just before a loud bang and a curse came from Maverick as he slammed the back door behind him on his way back inside.
I glanced away and as I looked back to Rogue, the expression vanished from her features and I wondered if I was just deluding myself. I sure as hell couldn’t stand around mulling that over either way.
I kept hold of her hand and headed back into the hall and through to the lounge where Maverick was laying out the tarp like the sight of the body wasn’t the least bit disconcerting to him.
“Do we pull it out or leave it in?” I wondered aloud, pointing at the poker in the guy’s head.
Maverick strode over to him, gripped the end and yanked it out with a firm tug.
“Out,” he announced as Rogue let out a little gasp, but she didn’t take her eyes off of the dead guy.
“You don’t have to stay and watch,” I murmured to her and she pulled her hand free of mine.
“I’m staying,” she said resolutely. “I did this. I can face it.”
“It’s all of our doing now, beautiful,” Maverick said seriously and I nodded my agreement, our fates thoroughly decided. I had absolutely no hesitance about that either. Where Rogue was concerned, I’d battle through the nine circles of hell and face the devil himself without a single doubt in my mind.
Two sets of footsteps up the back steps announced JJ and Chase's arrival and they appeared with worried faces as they sought out Rogue beside me before sighs of relief left them. JJ's shirt was on backwards and Chase looked like he'd run a marathon, his curly brown hair blown back and his breaths coming heavily.
“Are you alright?” JJ asked Rogue, embracing her and she nodded, squeezing him tight as his dark gaze met mine over her shoulder. He was usually so happy and easy going, the first of our group to crack a joke or start the laughter, that seeing that fear and horror in his eyes made my gut lurch.
“What can we do?” Chase asked, his blue eyes cold as he took in the body while Maverick threw the poker onto the tarp.
"We need towels and bleach to clean up the blood," I directed them and they immediately fell into line, the two of them splitting up to search the house.
I moved to help Maverick as he gripped Axel’s shoulders and I grabbed his legs, nodding to my brother before we lifted him up and placed his body on the tarp. It was gross and all, but still my stomach didn’t churn. I guessed my dad’s blood really did run hot in my veins.
Chase appeared with some towels, immediately kneeling down to mop up the blood without a moment's hesitation, his features fixed in stern concentration. When JJ returned with some bleach, he gazed at the dead body with apprehension, his knuckles turning white around the bottle. He was the smallest of all of us still, though by no means did that apply to his balls. His growth spurt was waiting to happen whereas we’d all shot up this year. I could see the man in him ready to come out, but I still felt protective of him all the same and I wasn’t going to watch him get fucked up over this.
"Here." I took the bleach from him and he nodded to me in thanks then we all started cleaning. Rogue determinedly joined in even though I told her she didn’t have to, but there was a strength in her eyes that blazed and my heart settled a little at the sight of it. She wasn’t broken. Not even close. Nothing could break my hummingbird.
Every time a towel became saturated, we tossed it on top of the dead guy until every last drop was gone. Then I poured bleach fucking everywhere we’d been and used the final towel to scrub away the lasting imprint of blood on the floorboards. The acrid scent lingered in the air and my eyes burned as I worked to cover the evidence of Axel’s death with fumbling hands.
I had no fucking idea what I was doing, but I just kept moving forward, making sure there was no evidence that Rogue had killed this asshole. Her life was not going to be ruined over this. There was no fucking way I’d allow that to happen.
"Did he hurt you?" JJ asked Rogue.
"He tried to," she said, standing there in my black hoodie and sweatpants which were way too big on her and I was half aware that all of us were holding our breath and staring at her. "But he didn't manage it. Not before I..." She gestured to the body with a grimace, but not like she was disgusted by the blood, more that she was disgusted by the man who’d tried to hurt her. "I didn't mean to drag you all into this," she said, an apology shining in her eyes.
"We wouldn't be anywhere else, beautiful," Maverick said darkly, wiping his hands down his jeans and smearing blood across the denim. We’d have to dispose of our clothes after this, get rid of anything that could link us to this prick.
We can pull this off, I just need to keep my head. I can figure this out for Rogue.
I nodded to her and JJ held her tighter as Chase moved to start wrapping up the body.
"Nice night for disposing of a corpse," he said dryly as me and Maverick moved to help him, rolling Axel up tight in the tarp before binding the ends with rope.
The three of us wordlessly lifted him into our arms and JJ and Rogue hurried ahead of us as we followed them towards the back door. My pulse was jack-hammering in my throat as I gazed at the back of Rogue's head, determined to fix this for her. But how? Where were we going to take him?
Maverick seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me as he looked my way, the clouds shifting over the moon to highlight his face for a moment before darkness fell once more. I was glad of the cloud cover tonight at least. We were going to need it.
We tossed Axel in the back of my truck between our surfboards and I pulled the cover over the top of them all, concealing the entire bed.
Maverick moved to my side, lowering his voice as he muttered to me while the others climbed into the cab.
"The cliffs?" he said. "We could bury him."
"We'd need shovels." I shook my head. "How about the ocean?”
“But we need a boat,” he hissed.
"I've got a key to dad's speed boat." I took my car keys out, showing him the boat key on it and he smirked.
"Of course you do, Foxy. Let's go." He slapped his hand to my back and I nodded to him as he walked around to the passenger side of the truck while I climbed into the driver's seat.
Maverick opened the cab door and I frowned as I realised there weren’t enough seats. He usually took his motorcycle when we were heading anywhere together or sometimes everyone sat in the back when we didn't have the boards. But that wasn't exactly an option right now.
Rogue was on the far end of the bench, her fingers clasped with Chase's beside her who was staring at her with a look I simply couldn't place.
"Sit on my lap," Maverick told Rogue, stepping into the truck and lifting her up without giving her a choice.
We didn't exactly have a bett
er idea right now so it would have to do. Her hand was tugged from Chase's as Maverick placed her on his lap and yanked the door shut behind him.
“Give her to me,” Chase growled, tugging her from Maverick’s lap into his and winding an arm around her waist. Maverick snarled like a damn pitbull and started pulling her back.
“Stop it,” she snapped, but they both still had a hold of her.
She pushed off of Chase’s lap, dropping onto JJ’s and his eyes widened in surprise as she wrapped her arms around his neck. JJ’s hand took her hand firmly and she leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder.
A tug of jealously filled me over the fact that I couldn't be the one comforting her right now. But I had enough to focus on. I had to get us to the marina and somehow get a body onto dad's boat without being seen. It might have been late, but there was always life on these streets, no matter the time of day.
But I was the son of the most ruthless man in Sunset Cove, and though I had zero experience of dumping a body, that shit was in my genes. So I was damn well gonna figure it out.
I leaned against JJ as I was crushed on top of him in Fox's truck, the scent of blood still clinging to me even after I'd washed it all off. I felt like I was going to need to bathe in bleach to ever feel clean of it again. Or more to the point, to feel like I’d cleaned the feeling of Axel’s hands off of my flesh. Not that I'd change what I'd done for a second. I didn't care that that bastard was dead. In fact, I was glad of it. I clearly wasn't the first girl he'd done that to and Mary Beth had been running that group home for fucking years with girls walking up and down that street every damn day. I was clearly just the latest in a long line of his victims. But what he should have realised about me was that I was no victim. Life had been trying to kick me in the ass since the day I was born. My mom gave me a freaking adjective for a name and the bad shit didn't stop coming my way from there on out. And I’d long since learned how to roll with the punches.
But that was cool. Because I had my boys now. And it didn't even matter what else I had to live through in this shit hole we called home because a bond like ours was unbreakable. Un-fucking-touchable. They were the kind of friends I could call up and tell I'd killed a guy and they just showed up and helped me fix it. If you had one friend that good in life then you were damn lucky and I had four. I was the luckiest bitch I knew.
Devil's Pass: A Sinners' Playground Prequel Novella (A Harlequin Crew Novella Book 1) Page 4