by Smith, T. O.
He sat on the ground, rocking me in his arms. Blood was getting onto his clothes and hands, but he didn't seem to care or notice. "Fuck, baby, I'm so sorry I broke my promise." He whispered, his voice breaking with the emotions running through his body. "I'm so fucking sorry."
"I want to go home." I cried hoarsely.
He stood up, cradling me in his arms and held me tight against his chest. "We found Katie!" I heard someone bellow through the noise of men shouting and gunshots firing.
Cole ignored whoever had shouted that and strode over to the van. He got into the backseat with me, still holding me close. Travis slid in beside him with a now-conscious Katie. I struggled to push myself into a sitting position on Cole's lap. Katie reached over and pushed my hair back. I flinched away from her hand. She instantly yanked her hand back. "You're safe, Amelia." She whispered.
"Why is it that she has been beaten almost to fucking death and you look perfectly fine except for a few fucking cuts and bruises?" Cole ground out through his clenched teeth, anger practically rolling off of him in waves.
"They didn't want me." She murmured to Cole, looking down at her fingers. "If I could have stopped them . . ." Her voice trailed off as tears streamed down her face. "I've never seen something so fucking brutal." She cried. "Not even on TV. It was enough torture just for me to witness it."
I pushed my hands to my ears, trying to block her out. I didn't want to hear it. I was away. I was safe. I didn't want to relive the pain and suffering I had went through.
"Stop!" I heard Cole roar. "That's enough! Christ, mom, she's sitting right here! Do you think she really wants to fucking hear what she felt happening to her?!"
Katie shut her mouth quickly. I leaned my head on Cole's shoulder. He rubbed the back of my neck gently, knowing I was bruised there, but also knowing it would help calm me down. When we got to the club house, Cole ignored everyone and carried me inside. He wouldn't even stop long enough to let my parents see me.
When we made it to his room, he untangled the sheet from around me. His jaw clenched in anger as he ran his eyes over my body. So many emotions swirled in his eyes that it was hard to make out just one of them. He didn't say anything, however. He just ran bath water and set me in it. He got undressed and got in behind me and held me to him.
Blood almost instantly filled the bathtub, turning the once clear water red, and Cole sighed, draining the water. He turned the water on again and turned the shower on, letting the water spray over us instead. I curled into him.
I began trembling as the shock of my situation began to wear off and I became fully aware of my surroundings. I felt horrible, dirty, and exhausted. They had hurt me tremendously, and every single part of me hurt like a bitch.
Cole held me tightly, cooing to me to keep me calm as my shaking got worse and tears filled my eyes once again. Someone knocked on the bathroom door and Cole tensed up. "What?" He ground out harshly.
"Cole, where's my daughter?" I heard my dad demand through the bathroom door.
"She's in here with me." Cole sighed, relaxing once again and gently running his fingers through my hair to get rid of some of the dirt and blood.
I heard my dad breathe a sigh of relief. "Is she . . ." His voice trailed off for a moment. "Is she okay?"
Cole sighed and held me tighter as if it would somehow make me okay again. "No, she's not. I'll let you see her once I've got her taken care of. Just give us a little while."
I heard my dad walk away and the bedroom door close. When I was clean and bandaged up, Cole held me to him on the bed. My head was on his chest and his arm was wrapped around me tightly, his other hand holding mine captive on his bare abs. I couldn’t have been happier to have Cole with me than at that moment. He was the only thing holding me together.
Someone knocked on the door and Cole’s hold on my hand tightened once again. "Cole, it's me and Amy." My dad said.
Cole grunted in response and they opened the door. My mom rushed over to the bed and grabbed my hand. I flinched away from her slightly. "Oh God, Amelia, are you okay? Please tell me that you're okay." She exclaimed frantically, not noticing my fear of her touching me unexpectedly.
"Do I look okay?" I muttered, pulling my hand from hers.
She sighed and ran her hand over my hair. I winced in pain and jerked away, closer to Cole if that were even possible. "She has injuries everywhere, so be careful." Cole snapped at her.
My mom's eyes filled with tears. I sighed. I had done enough crying to last everyone a life time. I didn’t need her crying as well.
"How could I let this happen to you again?" She cried. "Amelia, I'm so sorry that I failed you as a mother."
My dad squeezed her shoulder. "Calm down, honey. You're not going to make Amelia feel any better." He murmured, his eyes sad as he looked down at my blue, black, and purple face.
She stood up after she kissed the back of my hand. "Get some rest, honey." She whispered, another tear slipping down her cheek.
They left the room and Cole gently set me onto the bed completely so I wasn’t lying on him anymore, and stood up. "I'm going to get you some food. I'll be back in a few minutes."
I nodded. He leaned down and kissed me gently, leaving the room. When he came back, he had a plate of food in his hand and a bottle of water. "Eat the food and drink all of the water and then go to sleep, alright? You need to rest to get your strength back."
~*~*~
Cole's POV
I sat at the table in the meeting room. My mom was no-where to be seen. She had texted me last night saying that while she was gone, I had the authority to make all of the decisions. I didn’t understand why the fuck she needed time away when she didn’t even have a lot of shit happen to her. My girl was the one that received all of the harsh treatment.
"As you all know, we have a severe ATL problem." My dad began. "Two women of the club were kidnapped and both of them received some harsh treatment." I snorted. More like Amelia received all of the harsh treatment and my mother only got knocked out a few times. My dad narrowed his eyes at me, but continued on with what he was saying. "Katie has taken some time away from the clubs to deal with the trauma that she has been through. Amelia is currently unavailable to us. Both women need to be watched carefully and they are never allowed to go anywhere alone." My dad looked at me, his eyes showing the anger I was feeling. I knew he was angry over my mom – his wife – being taken, but I was absolutely fucking livid at not only the ATL, but at myself for letting Amelia suffer this through this shit again. "Cole, what plan of action do you feel we should take to deal with the problem?"
"I say we kill every single one of those bastards.” I ground out, my hands fisting on the table. “Every fucking person that laid their hands on Amelia will be tortured under my hand, do I make myself clear?" Just thinking of what Amelia looked like when I picked her up off of the ground was enough to make my heart ache and to make even more anger run through my veins.
My dad nodded his head in consent. "We attack them tomorrow. Don't let any of them survive, am I clear?" My dad looked over at me. "Talk to Amelia and find out who the men were that put their hands on her so we know they're the ones that don't get killed on the spot." He looked at the rest of the men sitting at the table. "For the rest of you, this will be bloody. We can't let any of this fall back on us or we'll have the cops crawling up our asses. Don’t leave any fucking DNA on the scene, do I make myself clear?”
Everyone around the table said yes. My dad slammed his gavel down and I got up from my chair. When I walked out into the main room, I saw Amelia sitting at the bar sipping a beer. She was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Her long dark hair was pulled up into a messy bun. You could clearly see the hand shaped bruises that surrounded her neck, and there were cuts and bruises covering almost every inch of her skin. I clenched my jaw and walked over to her. "Amelia, you're supposed to be in bed." I told her. She needed to be resting, not out here drinking.
She glanced over at me and back down at her beer. "
I'd rather be out here drinking. I don't want to lay in a bed all day and do nothing but go over and over the shit that happened to me." She retorted.
I sighed and sat on the bar stool next to her. "Amelia, can you tell me who it was that hurt you?" I asked gently, knowing it wasn’t going to be easy to bring this up to her.
She turned to face me, her glare burning flames into my skin. "I'm not fucking talking about what happened." She spat at me.
I rolled my eyes at her. "I'm not fucking forcing you to talk about what happened, Amelia. I want to know who the bastards are that hurt you because we're riding out tomorrow to kill every fucking member of the ATL. I want the sons of bitches that touched you to beg for death before I give it to them, so tell me who the fuck they are."
"They're three brothers." She ground out, turning back to face the wall of liquor and not looking at me. "Triplets to be exact. They look exactly alike. They have dark skin, brown eyes, and black hair. They're tall and muscular. You can't miss them. President, Vice President, and Sergeant in Arms."
I turned her to face me. "I will end this nightmare for you, Amelia. You have my word on it."
She glared at me, obviously pissed that she even had to go back in her memories to tell me who it was that had raped her. "Like I'll believe your word." She spat at me. I actually recoiled a little at her words. "The last time you promised me something, I had to face it again anyway, and I came back worse than fucking ever."
She got up, sending the bar stool crashing to the floor. She stormed out of the room pretty fast for a girl who was as injured as she was. I sighed and ran a hand down my face. "You want a beer after that?" Peanut asked me quietly.
I gave him a short, curt nod. Within seconds, I had a beer sitting in front of me with the lip popped off. My dad and Luke came over to me. I glared at them. "What the fuck do you want?" I ground out between clenched teeth.
"Everyone in here heard what she said to you, Cole. She'll forgive you." My dad said, clapping a hand on my shoulder in what I guessed was supposed to be some kind of support.
I took a long drink from my beer and slammed it down. I stood up and glared at him. I was done with all of this bullshit. The only goddamn person I wanted to talk to me was currently pissed the fuck off at me because I broke my fucking promises to her.
"You both need to learn to stay the fuck out of my personal shit, do you understand? I'm so fucking tired of you and Luke butting in where you're not fucking welcomed."
"I'm looking out for you, Cole. You're my fucking son!" My dad hollered at me.
"I don't need you to fucking look out for me!" I roared, finally losing my temper. "First, you two don't want me having shit to do with Amelia and now, now you fucking want to give me relationship advice?!" I glared at Luke. "How about this for the both of you?! All Amelia and I do is fuck!"
Luke punched me in my face, busting my lip. I worked my jaw around and then, I let my fists start swinging. Luke and I fell to the floor and I continued slamming my fists in his face, not giving a fuck. I was livid, and I was fucking tired of everybody butting in my fucking life.
My dad finally yanked me off of him and I glared at him. "It's in your best interest to fucking let go of me." I spat at him.
"Get your head on straight, Cole!" My dad roared at me.
Amelia came into the bar room and helped her dad up off of the floor. "You!" My dad roared at her. Instead of flinching back, Amelia stood her ground, glaring at him. I swear I was almost to the point of blacking out when he yelled at my fucking girl. "I fucking told you that you were messing him up!"
I wrapped my hand around his throat and slammed him down onto the bar. "You don't fucking talk to her like that!" I hollered in his face.
Two club members pulled me back from him and shoved me down onto a chair a few feet away. "You need to fucking calm down." Ryan told me.
I glared at him. "Fucking shut your mouth before I do to you what I did to Luke." I snapped at him.
"I told you to leave him the fuck alone, Amelia, but instead you get him wrapped around your fucking finger! Now, Cole's all fucking twisted up and it's all your goddamn fault!" My dad hollered.
Amelia walked up to him, glaring daggers. "Well guess what, Travis? I never really gave a fuck about anything you had to say, anyways. You don't fucking scare me and neither do the rest of these fucking pussies around here. I've been through hell and back and I’ve made it out alive. Don't you dare try to fucking scare me."
"You're lack of fear is the exact reason you were clinging to Cole then, huh?" He snapped at her.
She slapped him, sending his face swinging to the side. I saw a flip in Amelia's eyes that made her look like a cold-blooded killer. This last time with the ATL had changed her, and it definitely wasn’t for the better.
"You want to accuse me of being weak, but where's your fucking wife at? Sitting at home, moping and crying that her life is so horrible because she got knocked out a few times? Burn in hell, Travis. You're crossing the wrong fucking person." She growled.
He gripped her arm and within a split second, the arm that his hand was attached to had a knife stabbed into it. He roared in pain, releasing her. My mouth dropped open in shock. The room went deadly silent. Amelia glared at my dad. "Touch me again, and the next place that knife will go is in your fucking heart."
She stormed out of the club house, slamming the doors shut behind her.
Eleven
Cole's POV
I stormed out of the club house into the lot, following Amelia outside. When my eyes landed on her, I sighed. She was trying to pull a piece of glass out of her foot. I shook my head. She stabbed a ruthless man in the arm and then, her next worry is that she's got a piece of glass in her foot? For fuck's sake, this woman was hopeless sometimes.
I walked over, sighing. "Amelia, use me to keep balance. I'll pull the glass out of your foot." I muttered.
"Go fuck off somewhere, Cole." She spat up at me. "I'm not in the mood to deal with anyone."
I glared down at her. I knew she was pissed. Hell, she had a few reasons to be. My dad was yelling at her for no fucking reason and I beat the hell out of Luke. She was kidnapped again when I promised her I would never let it happen again. If those weren't reasons to be pissed off, then I didn't know what was.
That didn’t mean I was in the mood for her smart ass remarks either.
"Shut the fuck up for once.” I snapped down at her. “I'm trying to fucking help you. You can't get the damn piece of glass out without my fucking help." I ground out through clenched teeth.
She glared at me even harder if that were possible. "Fine. Get it out and then fuck off like I said."
I ignored her, but got the piece of glass out of her foot. "What the fuck are you thinking coming out here barefoot anyway?” I snapped down at her. Could she be anymore stupid? “This place hasn't been completely cleaned up yet since the ATL destroyed it.”
"Don't mention that fucking crew to me." She spat out.
Her eyes lit up with uncontrollable anger. I couldn't even begin to imagine how she was feeling at that moment. I didn't push it. I let the whole thing drop. I wasn't going to force her to talk about it, not when she was in such a fragile state of mind.
"Fine.” I muttered. “Though, I'd like to know what in the fucking hell you were thinking when you stabbed my fucking dad in arm?!" I hollered down at her. I was pissed at him for treating her like a man and putting his hands on her. I was pissed at her for fucking injuring him. He was my fucking dad for crying out loud. I had a right to be fucking pissed off about it, didn’t I?!
"I wanted him to get the fucking message to never fucking lay his hands on me again, Cole.” She snapped back at me, a thousand different emotions lacing her words. “Being raped does not make me weak and I won't let any fucking bastard try to treat me as if I feel otherwise, do you understand? I don't regret stabbing him." Tears had filled her eyes as she said this to me. I sighed and pulled her into my arms and held her as silent tears fell down he
r face. "Cole, I don't want to be a victim." She muttered, her voice breaking.
I tilted her chin up so she could look into my eyes. "Then fight back, baby.” I told her gently, kissing her forehead. “Taking it out on the people who want to help you won't help anything, though. Now, when we ride out tomorrow to get these bastards that hurt you, my dad's shooting arm isn't going to be useful and we're going to have to hope that his other arm works just as well."
She sighed and rested her head back against my chest.
~*~*~
Amelia's POV
The guys had been gone three days, and it had been the longest three days of my life. Katie hadn't rode with them. She had been sticking around the club house, keeping her eye on Clay who still wasn't allowed to go on runs because of his drug addiction. Wasn’t it ridiculous how you could have an alcohol addiction, but you couldn’t have a drug addiction? Sometimes this club had some seriously fucked up guidelines.
Yeah, they were called guidelines. No one really liked the word rules. Guidelines were a much more dimmed down term of the word rules and made everyone more comfortable following them.
I looked down at my phone as I felt it vibrate in my hand. I answered it as soon as I saw Cole’s name flash across the screen. "Hey." I said when I answered.
"We're riding in. Clean some tables up. We've got some members that need immediate help." He told me and then, he hung up.
"What a dick." I muttered, putting my phone back in my pocket. "Katie, we need to clean up some tables, and we need medical supplies."
She nodded at me and we began cleaning the tables up quickly. I heard the bikes the instant they rode through the gates. I flung open the clubhouse doors and watched as Cole jogged over to the van and began helping carry people in. My stomach twisted with a bad, uncomfortable feeling when I didn't see my dad anywhere.
I ran over to Travis, not caring that I knew he was probably pissed at me still for stabbing him. "Travis, where's my dad?" I asked frantically.