by Kat Cameron
I was pacing the clubhouse waiting for Knuckles to find or hear something about Stana. I didn't know who it was that took her. My brothers had lost track of the SUV. Grinder told me that they hit the highway and that was it. And now ten hours later, we were told there was someone at the gate asking for me but they didn’t recognize him. As I was walking out there and I looked at the slump of a body on the ground I didn't know how I knew but I did. It was Stana. The probates were standing over her and Snake was flipping her onto her back pushing her hair out of her face. He looked up and saw me charging in but jumped up to make his way to me before I could get to her. He was saying something but I wasn’t listening. I just wanted to get to her.
I finally got to her and noticed she was covered in blood. Jesus fucking Christ! What the fuck happened to her? “Baby! Fuck where are you hurt? Let’s get you inside. I gotta find the bleeding baby.” I shouted. I scooped her up and carried her inside.
On the way she mumbled, “S’not my blood… fucker that left you for dead is dead. I killed him. F-f-fuck I killed people.” The shock was starting to set in but that only made everything worse. I begged her to stay with me, terrified she was gonna die since there was so much blood. I didn’t know if it was hers or the people she talked about killing.
As she nodded out we got her to the back room where Rooster always took care of everyone that needed medical attention. We couldn’t bring her to the hospital because they would ask too many questions. They would get police involved and if it wasn’t the right ones, we would have a lot of problems on our hands. We only had a few of the Little Creek Police Department in on what we were doing. Most people didn’t agree but if the law couldn’t handle it, then we took care of it ourselves. A lot of people came to us for help. Our reputation was well known around this small town in Little Creek, New Jersey. We weren’t into drugs or illegal anything except taking the law into our own hands when the law failed for justice. So taking Stana to a hospital was absolutely out of the question.
When we got her clothes off I realized she was telling the truth about the blood not being hers. The only place she was bleeding was a little cut on her face, her wrists, and her ankles. These were signs she was strapped to a chair or a table. I thanked God that her clothes were still on when she came back to us. What I didn’t understand was how she got away. I mean she didn’t get away scot-free because killing people puts a mark on your soul that wouldn’t ever go away. Her dad was the head of the shitty little gang, but there was no way Stana got away unless he wanted her to getaway. Which if that was the case he was probably having her watched, which meant he would have had her followed all the way here. Fuck! This was not good. Leaving Stana in the hands of Rooster, I went to find Snake.
“Snake! We got a fucking problem!” Not two seconds after the words left my mouth, we heard what sounded like a fucking tank rolling up to our clubhouse. I went to the door to find none other than Andrei Dobrev standing in front of our gates. His truck was not inconspicuous at all. The floodlights we had out there were lighting him up. He had a girl that looked the same height as Stana standing next to him.
His guys were behind them looking just as big as fucking Snake and Knuckles. I was not small, by any means, but both of them were both at least six and a half feet tall and mean looking as fuck. What the fuck could they possibly want? He just saw his daughter, most likely watched everything that happened with her killing three of his guys, so what the hell did he want from us? This could not be good at all.
I followed Snake and Knuckles out to the gate to figure out what he wanted. We knew he wouldn’t pull any shit knowing how we ran. He most likely knew everything about everyone around this town. Just like we did. As we got to the gate, I couldn’t help but think something fucked was about to go down. He wouldn’t have a woman next to him unless he wanted her there for a reason. Fuck this really wasn’t good.
“The fuck you doing here on my property, Dobrev?” Snake thundered. Fuck. It wasn’t good when he sounded like this. Usually, we stayed away from murder if we could help it but I think Snake had a newfound soft spot for my woman. Seeing her that way made us murderous.
“You see, I have come to the conclusion that my daughter would make a great team member under my lead. Watching her ruthlessly kill those men was the proudest moment a father could have. I think we should trade. I will give you her useless sister, Riley and you will give me back Stana. Then we can all walk away like nothing ever happened. Hell I will even forgive the debts your sister owes my men. All I want is her. You can have this useless bitch.” He grunts as he threw his daughter to the ground like she was trash. Then all hell let loose. We all watched as Bullet shot both of Dobrev’s men in the head. There was a reason we called him Bullet and that was because he was amazing with a gun.
When Dobrev realized that both his guards were gone he yelled, “You just fucked up. It's been nice knowing ya.” He left his daughter lying on the ground while he sped away like a little bitch after he picked up his guards bodies and loaded them into his vehicle. Bullet ran over to Riley and scooped her up in his arms, well shit!
As we all walked inside, I was still pondering how any father could say shit like that about his daughters. He was talking about them like they were tools. I mean my parents weren’t the best either so I couldn’t really talk but at least they fucked off. I couldn’t imagine trying to live with a man that was only worried about what you could do for him. There was no way in hell that I would ever be such a shitty parent to my kids. They were my fucking entire universe. Hell, I didn’t have much of a soul or a purpose before them. I was mostly fucking and doing whatever Snake ordered me to.
A little while later, Stana finally woke up and to say she was surprised to see her sister was an understatement. She wanted me to tell her how she ended up here but that was not my story to tell. So as I sat here watching them catch up Bullet was sitting next to me tossing back shot after shot of our old friend Jose. That means some shit went down with him and Riley.
“You good brother?” I hedged not trying to barge into his life too much. He didn’t normally drink like this, if anything he was known as the coolest and most level headed of us all.
“She is fucking crazy. That little woman is a fucking psycho wrapped in a god damn barbed wire packaging so tight I can’t even get through to her. When I tried she threw the fucking lamp from my nightstand at me. All I did was ask her how she was doing. That was my answer. What the fuck do I do with that?” He said with a sadistic laugh and continued to throw back another shot. That sounded like a situation that was a lot more than he was willing to deal with. Then again Stana had a lot of baggage too but I was willing to go through all of it just to have her. The shit we go through for our fucking women. I could already see Bullet and Riley together. Maybe after a lot more fuckups but they would get there. Bullet didn’t kill for just anyone.
By the time midnight rolled around, we were all fucking exhausted. The day’s events wore on all of us. My eyes felt like sandpaper and my head pounded like there was a jackhammer in there trying to split my head in half. Stana was already in bed sleeping. We didn’t do much talking about what went on but she told me while I was tracing my fingers up and down her back that we would tomorrow. All I knew was I needed sleep and I needed it desperately. I took a shower to try and wash the day away but I couldn’t get the image of Stana laying there covered in blood out of my head.
My shower didn’t help at all. Sighing, I left my room to go out and maybe take a shot myself hoping it would put me to sleep. The clubhouse was pretty quiet tonight. Usually we had one or two guys here drinking, or up watching tv since they had issues sleeping too. The only one that was up, well I couldn’t even really say he was up because he was slouched over the bar, was Bullet. Jesus Christ the whole fucking bottle of Jose was gone. He was gonna regret that in the morning. I couldn’t just leave him there so I put his arm around my shoulder and dragged him to his room. On the way, he looked at me and slurred, “You bel
ieve in love at first sight, Crow?” His eyes were begging me to tell him yes.
“Why don’t we just get you to your room? You need to sleep this off,” I grumbled. This was not what I wanted to deal with.
As I carried him to his room, I heard him say, “Fucking dumb asshole. Ruined my life and I couldn’t even be fucking happy. Now look, I find a good woman and she is a fucking psycho.” He sighed and started giggling like a loon. I couldn’t tell you what the fuck he was talking about. He was real tight-lipped about his past.
Getting him to his room took an unnecessary amount of time. He was dragging his fucking feet and all I wanted to do was go to bed. Why the fuck did I come out here?
When I finally got him to his door, I opened it and flicked on the light. Little did I know Riley was in here and she had a knife up to my throat within a matter of seconds.
“Easy there, honey. I am just bringing Bullet to bed. I ain’t gonna hurt ya,” I whispered. She looked like she hadn’t slept in weeks. She nodded and went to sit in the chair in the corner of the room. I got Bullet laid in bed but the fucker was on his own getting himself out of his clothes and boots.
Looking at Riley I told her, “Just give him a chance. He just wants to help.” She looked like she wanted to run but I doubt she would considering her sister was in the same building. She just blinked at me with her big eyes that gave me goosebumps. I couldn’t tell if she was even here right now. As I left, I saw her get up and trace the shaggy hair off of Bullet’s forehead. Guess she was in there somewhere.
Chapter Fourteen
Stana
When I came to, I was disoriented and feeling a kind of emptiness in my soul that I couldn’t explain. Most likely because I killed three people. It was probably normal to feel this way. Although I should have started talking to someone as soon as I woke up. There wasn’t much that I wanted to do besides talk to my sister. When I saw her sitting in the chair next to me, I thought I was dreaming. Fortunately for me, I wasn’t. She told me what happened with my father and I made a promise to myself that I would make sure he paid. Nobody deserved to be treated that way and especially not my sister that did everything he ever asked. Ruined her own life by marrying someone twice her age. Did that fucking man think he was untouchable? Because if he did, he had another thing coming for him. Mainly me.
“What’s got your brain working so hard over there?” Riley asked three days later.
Sighing out, I focused on the screen in the living room and answered, “Just thinking about our life.” She knew exactly what I was talking about. Riley was always there for me as much as she could be. When she was there it was the best days. Some of the worst days were when she wasn't.
“You know you don’t have to keep living in the past honey. You can move on. We are out of that life. There is nothing keeping us there and if he comes for us we have the whole club behind us,” she explained. She didn’t get it. I didn’t think she would ever understand. I was looking at life through a whole new point of view. He would never go away unless he was dead. He would never stop trying to get us and he would stop at nothing for us. He was too proud of a man for that. Turning around, I looked at her and tried to calm my temper.
“What do you mean the whole club behind us? I don’t want anyone else to get hurt because of our fucking father. It was bad enough that Crow got hurt because of his sister through our father. You want to see anyone else hurt? Because I sure as fuck do not! I won’t! I will take care of him myself. You will stay here where you are safe!” I demanded.
Walking out of the room into the main room where everyone was, I noticed Malia and her guys were sitting at the table eating lunch. I wasn’t in the mood to eat. I wasn’t in the mood to do much of anything except plan revenge on my father. Helen needed to be found too. My whole body was sore but it didn’t stop my mind from spinning in every direction.
Since everyone except Knuckles was in the living room/bar area I went to Snakes office and knocked on the door. Knuckles answered and looked surprised to see me. “What can I do for you Stana?”
“I need your help. My father needs to be taken down and I think I am the only one going to be able to do it. But I need you to keep this between you and me for now. Please. I know you don’t know me all that well. Actually, you probably know everything about me. Even the worst things that I wish you didn’t know, but I am fucking desperate to get him out of my life for good. I can’t have him coming into my life putting the twins and Crow are at risk. I won’t bring this to them. In order for me to be happy, I need him gone,” I pleaded.
“Come in and stop your begging. You aren’t a fucking dog, woman,” He chuckled. I released a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Crow would have to understand. This was something I needed to do by myself. When I walked in I realized that Knuckles was not messing around. One side of the room was filled with technology and I was definitely looking at Knuckles in a new light. I sucked in a breath when I looked at the white-board sitting in the middle of the room. Apparently, he was already looking into my father. There were pictures of every one of my family members. Including my mother. Walking over to the board, I felt tears stinging my eyes. The familiar ache in my nose I always got right before I cried was making its appearance as I traced the lines in her face. God, it had been so long since I had even seen a picture of her.
My anger at my father transforms my tears into rage. I know in my heart that she isn’t dead. Not like he told us she was. Turning around, I told Knuckles, “We need to find her. He told us she was dead. I know she isn’t. I know it like I know I need air to breathe.” I stammered out.
“Stana I know. I have a few leads already. We will find her but I really think we should involve everyone else. It would be easier to get things done and we don’t keep things from each other in the club.” He explained. I understood where he was coming from but what he didn’t understand was Crow wouldn’t be okay with anything that I wanted to do.
“Fine bring in Snake. I will talk to him and we will figure some way to talk to Crow about this. I know he will be mad. At this point, I need to make sure my father will never bother Riley or me again. I want to be able to live my life freely. With this dark cloud hanging over our heads neither one of us will be happy. Riley deserves a life of happiness and frankly so do I. So get him in here so we can talk shop.” I sat myself right in Snakes chair and propped my feet up on his desk as Knuckles went out to get Snake.
As he was walking out he said, “Seems like Crow picked a good one. You are going to fit in here like peanut butter fits with jelly.” He said it so seriously that I busted out laughing, a deep belly laugh, that hurt my face since it was still a little swollen.
As I waited for Snake I contemplated backing out of my plan, but then I looked at the picture of my mother again and I knew for a fact I would not be second-guessing myself ever again. Not for the sake of finding my mother. Snake walked in while I was in the middle of my thoughts. He raised an eyebrow when he saw where I was sitting. Putting his arms across his chest made his muscles bulge and look even bigger than they were.
“What the fuck you doing in our office?” He rumbled.
“Here is the deal, Snake. I am going to work on taking my father down. You are going to help me convince Crow to be okay with it. And of course, you want to know why I think you will help me right? Well if you don’t, dear old daddy will reign hell down on this club if he doesn’t get me back. In his mind now that I have killed he thinks he will be able to use me in ways he couldn’t use others. Riley would never be able to pull it off because she is too sweet. So you need me to go in and act like he is getting what he wants. I pretend to be daddy’s right-hand daughter and kill him while I am in there. Easy. He thinks he is smart but I know he is getting desperate. When he wanted me married off he was losing his money. I don’t know where he was losing it or how he was losing it but he was. He won’t be looking at me funny if I go crawling back to him.” I took in a breath after that spiel and waited for him to
think it through and give me his answer.
Regardless if he told me no I would do it anyway. Yeah, it would most likely hurt Crow but I had to do what I had to do and he would forgive me. If not well then at least Riley and I could move on from this point in our life.
He dragged a hand down his face and sighed. “How the fuck do you expect me to be okay with this? Honestly, I have a bad feeling about this and I don’t know if you realize the possible consequences of sending you in there. You could fucking die this time Stana.” I was just about to answer when the door burst open and Crow came barging in and right in my face.
“Are you out of your fucking mind? Do you really think I will let you go in there just to get yourself killed? You have fucking kids to worry about now. As far as I am concerned you are their mother. You want to just abandon them like this?” He growled. I got up from the chair and pushed him back so his ass was propped on the desk,
“Don’t you go giving me lip Crow. You have no idea what the fuck I went through. I love those kids and you. I want us to be able to live. We can’t fucking do that if he is alive. Believe me, I wish there was a better way but there isn’t.” I softened my voice by the end of my rant. His eyes were big and he had a dumbfounded look on his face.
“You love me?” He whispered.
Shit did I say that? I must have otherwise he wouldn’t have asked right? Well, this was a new revelation. I guess the only thing left to do was own up to it.
“Yes, you fucking ass now you are going to let me…” I didn’t get to finish my sentence because he was kissing me so passionately. He shoved his hand in my hair but not roughly since he must have remembered that I was still hurting. His other hand cradled my face so gently it was like he was trying to memorize the feel of my skin.