“Mom, oh mom, I am so sorry. I’m just so sorry. It’s all my fault. He’s dead because of me, it’s because of me my dad is dead,” Elle is ranting hysterically.
“Ma’am, I don’t mean to be rude, but can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?” Benelli asks.
I speak up knowing that my daughter doesn’t have the ability right now even though I don’t know all the details myself. “Elle, Jesus, Elle left a couple of days ago to find Reaper….her father. I never told him about her you see and she wanted to know him. I haven’t heard from her since yesterday morning and I had a bad feeling and took the first flight out here late last night. I saw her car out front. That’s why I stopped,” I tell him as calmly as I can so I don’t upset her more. “I don’t know myself anything after that, but let’s get her settled down. She’s obviously been through more than what just happened here,” I look at her torn dress hanging underneath the white T-shirt swallowing her.
“Yes, ma’am,” the biker tells me with understanding eyes.
Benelli nods and walks over to Winchester and Colt. “He good?” he asks Colt.
“Yeah, he’ll make it. We’ll have to have the doc meet us at the clubhouse, but he’s tough.”
“Fucking A, I am,” Winchester states back. Then he looks over to the the girls, Reaper and all the carnage. “We’re going to have to get this all cleaned up,” Winchester continues but visibly upset.
“I’ve got it covered, “ Justice lets them know. “The cleaning crew will be here in 30. We need to get out of here before anyone shows up. There’s an old car out back. We’ll put Reaper and Winchester in there. What are we gonna do with this guy?” as he nods his head towards Frodo.
“Take him with us. He’s the only person who has a clue what the hell happened other than her,” Benelli motions towards my daughter, “and I don’t want to have her go through a bunch of questions right now. I have a feeling she’s been through more than what just happened when we arrived.”
I am listening to everything that’s going on around me while still holding my daughter and looking at Reaper.
Ruger leans down and holds a hand out for me, “Michelle sweetie, we’ve got to go. We need to get you two out of here.” I don’t take it yet. I can’t leave Reaper. He looks back to the guys, “ how are we going to get the bikes and two cars all back? There’s no way they can drive,” he motions towards Winchester and then back to me and my daughter.
“We can put Reaper and Winchester in the car that’s out back. We’ll destroy that car once we have everyone back at the club,” offers Colt.
“That’s covered too. We have Virus, MacGyver, Toxey, Fireball and some of the rest of the club coming in the SUV’s helping us get all these bikes and cars out of here. We’ll chop their bikes for parts and burn the rest with the Vengeful Demons car,” affirms Justice.
“Good thinking, thanks, man. Let’s get everyone out of here,” Benelli states when I hear the other members of the club pulling up out front.
Ruger reaches down for my hand again, and this time I take it in his. Benelli is reaching out for Elle’s. That surprises me in the state that my daughter is in, but I don’t question it. He’s a handsome man with his dark, shorter, messy hair and his groomed mustache and beard. Much shorter than most of the bikers in this club. He has muscular arms and a strong body, much like his father had at that age. It clicks in my head that the man holding her around the waist and walking her to the car is little Matteo that I had met so many years ago at a birthday party. I look around and spot his brother, the one they call Remington, but when I knew him, he was a wild little boy named, Dante. He still looks wild with his long, dark hair and mysterious eyes, much more covered in tattoos than his older brother. He looks like he eats evil men for breakfast.
Before we head outside I see them working on Winchester, Ruger’s brother. He looks mostly the same, still long hair and a long beard, only more gray in it than last time. I wonder how he and Sheila are, I really adored that woman. Not so much of Ruger’s wife Barbie. There was something about that woman that didn’t sit right with me and I never understood why.
We walk out into the blindingly bright noon sun, shielding our eyes, and enter one of the black SUV’s they have brought. I say nothing on the way back to the clubhouse, trying to process everything that just happened and I just hold my daughter’s hand that’s in my lap with the two of mine and we look out the window in silence, knowing that whatever has happened in the last 24 hours has changed our futures forever.
CHAPTER FIVE
Benelli
We get back to the clubhouse and everyone is trying to pitch in and get everything done. We have Dexter, our club doc stitching up Winchester, with Tequila Sheila, his wife, by his side. When I told Dex of the situation, he brought his daughter along to help with Elle. I don’t have it confirmed yet, but I’m pretty sure those pieces of shit raped her. For some reason she is okay with me but won’t let any other man near her, even to innocently help. Dex’s daughter is a physician too and is as loyal to the club as her dad. You can never have enough people to mend us up if something happens. The old ladies of the club have separated all the duties of getting the meal ready, caring for kids and checking on Michelle and Elle. All very distraught their selves at the loss of their president but they are keeping things flowing. That’s what a good woman does. When we are nothing but seas of rage, anger and retribution, they are our captains steering us smoothly through the storm.
The entire club has such a somber vibe running through it. He was such a good man and had been our president from the inception of this club. What’s going to happen now? There’s nothing else to do, just carry on. I go into my office and get things lined out with Reaper’s death. We know the coroner, so we have that covered. After he leaves we have the funeral home pick up Reaper’s body. While they are here, dad is with me and tells them he wanted cremated and some other details that our president would have wanted. They have been best friends since the army over 25 years ago, he would know.
While dad is finishing up with them I go check on the guys who have Frodo secluded and let them know church will start soon. The men have him hanging from chains in the warehouse/torture room. Our club location is a long forgotten plot of land in New Freedom. There used to be an old shoe factory back in the 50’s before the big tornado wiped out half the town. That end of town never recovered and got built back up. Reaper, dad, Nato, Cuda, Grinder, Tank, Rivet, Bricktop, Buddha and Rooster bought the factory, the abandoned schoolhouse next to it along with some old homes and 20 acres of land, for a song. Some were army buddies, some went to school with Reaper, who was originally from New Freedom, just a bunch of guys wanting camaraderie and that feeling of home that a lot of them didn’t have. They all had a passion for riding, so what better way to have that piece of freedom from being on a Harley and the family to belong to aspect of the club, they made their own family.
My father, Ruger, had been stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia with Reaper, Nato, Grinder and Rivet. They were in the Ranger program. Not everyone they met made it, but this group did and they were in a brotherhood for life. in Saudi Arabia during The Gulf War. The size of the club has grown over the years adding other retired military men. Bricktop, Tank and Buddha joined shortly after. They were all from the area and wanted all that this club was. Brotherhood and a place to belong. Buddha and his wife Calgon have been gone for a while. They went to the Smokies and got married and took Tank and Izzy with them.Then they continued riding their Harley’s all over the US. They always wanted to travel and since Tank and Izzy’s son grew up and joined the Indiana Chapter they figured why not.
I enter the warehouse looking at my men and then to Frodo. I stare at his dangling body hanging from chains. He is beaten and bloody and missing a few fingers. Slices across his entire body with blood seeping out. He is currently passed out from the pain. “I told you he was mine!” I yell with authority. I am fuming with anger not just because he was, in fact,
mine to torture and end but that I made that abundantly clear and that how the fuck am I supposed to be president of this club if they, family included, were already not taking my orders seriously.
“We were just having some fun brother,” Remington states “just killing time till you got here.” Just like my brother, the enforcer, to jump into this with both feet, eager to inflict pain on this worthless piece of shit. I love my brother and I let it slide. I know he wouldn’t inflict enough to cause Frodo’s death. He saved that for me.
“Church, 5 minutes,” I tell them and walk away.
****Church***
The three prospects MacGyver, Toxey and Fireball will be watching Frodo as the rest of us have church. “Men, I hate to do this, but we need to have an election. As the VP, I was acting Prez in Reaper’s absence, but now we have to do this right. I’m going to have you all write down who you want to take over and I’ll read the ballots,” I say to the men.
“We don’t need any damn ballots, Benelli. You’ve been a great VP, and you had shit handled as the Prez. I nominate Benelli to be President,” states Phoenix, the club secretary.
“I second that,” Virus, the IT officer replies.
I look gratefully at Phoenix and Virus, “opposed?” no one raises a hand or makes a sound. “Okay men, I guess I’m you’re new President.” A round of Hooah is spoke through the group. “Now, we need a new VP. I nominate Justice. You’ve always had our six, especially today.”
Justice, the 6’6” muscular black biker with wicked good looks and the lightest green eyes looks at Benelli in shock and humbled by the nomination.
“I second that,” says Lucky.
“All opposed?” I ask the members. Again, no one makes a sound or movement, “Justice is now the new Vice President.” Another round of Hooah.
“Seriously, thank you guys. I won’t let you down,” Justice says with honor.
“Now, let’s get down to business. We need to plan the funeral and what the fuck happened today. What do we know?” I ask.
The group goes around and adds suggestions to the funeral, and we decide on it. After that is complete we all discuss what we know and that is that Reaper left this morning to meet up with the Vengeful Demons. Obviously, it has to do with Reaper’s daughter coming to meet him. We’re betting the VD somehow got a hold of her first, and that’s what all the mystery was about this morning.
“Apparently, when we pulled up and when we went around back, we distracted Calibar and Frodo enough that Elle was getting away from them. Calibar got away from us, but we grabbed Frodo. Man, they were raping her,” said Phoenix. Anger rose around the room, but no one was more furious than me. “He’s MINE!” I say forcefully and with a darkness none have them ever seen from me before. They all nodded in agreement. “Adjourned,” and I slam down the gavel onto the wooden table that was engraved and burnished with the American flag in the background and several soldiers in different positions in the foreground. One soldier very similar to the famous kneeling one with the gun, cross and dog tags. The table matching their club patch.
Dad, Justice and I stay behind in church to make all the appropriate calls and to the setup the funeral, as well as, get a hold of the other two charters, one in St Louis, Missouri and the other in Indiana. Once done we join the others in the main hall.
Michelle
When we pull up to the club and exit the vehicle we are greeted by several of the “old ladies”. A woman with big, “meet Jesus” hair loops arms with Elle and I and leads us toward a brick building that looks like a giant two story school.
“Hello girls, I’m Aqua Net, but you can call me Nettie,” she tells us and I smile thinking her name suits her. “Elle, here is your room, we have a doctor there waiting for you, OK?’ Elle takes in a breath and holds it but is relieved to see it’s a female doctor.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Karen Lipe, do you mind if I talk to you and check you out, just to make sure you’re okay?” the doctor asks.
Elle agrees and Nettie leads me out of the room, not by my choice, but I’m assured that she is fantastic and will take good care of my girl. I follow Nettie around as she shows me my room and around the club, introducing me to people as we come across them. She shows me the kitchen where many of the woman are working together to prepare an enormous meal for the entire club. I meet several of the women, among them Lashes, Vamp, Kitty and Claws. I ask if I can help and reach my hand out to the knife Claws is cutting veggies with. She understands my need to keep busy and hands it over and getting another for herself. I feel at home in the kitchen and the girls keep my mind off things with their chatter.
I see Dr. Lipe enter the kitchen and she motions for me and pulls me to the side. “I gave her the morning-after pill, I didn’t know if she was on any birth control. I gave her some antibiotics to be safe. Here is enough to last you till tomorrow and scripts for the rest. I also wrote for her to have Ambien for sleep if she needs it, but tonight just give her this Ativan. She wanted to take a shower first before she rested, and it would be a good idea if you can get her to eat a little too before laying down. I also drew some blood just to rule out any STD’s or diseases those P.O.S.’s might have had. I’m so sorry this happened,” she said as she patted my hand.
I enter Elle’s room and go to the bathroom where Elle was standing shaking in the shower. I take the washcloth and get it lathered up and start washing my daughter. I get her hair washed and rinsed and Elle tells me she’s okay to finish up. I leave her to go get my clothes. Our rooms are adjoined sharing the bathroom. Elle scrubbed her body hard to try to get the grime of them off of her. She slid to the floor of the shower, curled up in a ball, still shaking. I come back in to see her and help her up and get her dried off, hair brushed and her dressed and gave her the anxiety pill Dr. Lipe had handed me. I led her to the bed, had her lay down while I went and got myself cleaned and changed. Elle has dozed off, so I leave her sleeping and go out to the main hall where everyone is gathered together for the meal.
It was a solemn get together. Nothing like their normal big get-togethers. Children still ran around, but it was different. People chatted amongst those around them and the other members came off and on to congratulate Benelli for becoming President and Justice getting the VP position. All agreeing it was a good call. After the meal, people started to leave and head for home. The officers headed for the “factory,” it’s a concrete building across the lot. All but Benelli. Benelli rose and went over to me. “Is she ok?” he asks, sincerely concerned.
“No, but she will be,” I tell him.
“We’ve set the funeral for next Tuesday. It’s all taken care of,” he softly lets me know.
“Thank you, we appreciate it. We’d like to stay until after the funeral if it’s no problem,” Michelle thanks him.
“Of course. Do you think I could speak with Elle, if you don’t mind?” the handsome man around 30 asks me.
“She’s sleeping now. I’m bringing her some food. Can we let her rest for a little bit longer and let her eat? I will come get you before I give her another Ativan.” I ask.
“I understand, that’s fine. Let me know as soon as she wakes?” Benelli replies and I only nod.
When I see my daughter starting to stir, I go to get Benelli. I don’t want to, but I know they have one of the men and they need to know how to move forward.
“Elle, can I talk to you about what happened. If you’re not ready, I understand, but we really need to get some clarity on the situation,” Benelli asks.
“Can we talk with my mom here? I really can’t bear to tell this more than once,” Elle answers.
“Sure, anything you want,” he replies.
Elle sits up on the bed hugging a pillow and I sit down on the bed next to her. Benelli pulls up a chair. “Let’s start with how you ended up with the Vengeful Demons, OK?” Benelli asks gingerly.
She recounts the happenings of meeting Lilith and how she ended up at the club. She tells Benelli and her mom of how they locked her
in a room. How she stabbed Lilith with a pen and tried to get away. She tells them how someone grabbed her before she could and then she went blank until she awoke in the car out back and they brought her in. Then she bursts out crying. “I can’t, I just can’t, I’m sorry, it’s too horrible” she sobs.
“Oh baby girl, what did they do to you?” I ask while stroking Elle’s long, dark wavy locks.
“Did any of them rape you?” Benelli asks.
“Yes, the two guys that had me out back. They both did.” I wrap my arms around Elle and Benelli clenches his fists and storms out and goes straight to the building and room they have Frodo chained in.
CHAPTER SIX
Michelle
I leave my room and go out to the main hall. One prospect asks if I am needing anything. “I need to talk to Ruger,” I state with a demanding voice.
“Um, he’s busy right now, ma’am. I can get you whatever you’re needing,” MacGyver, one prospect lets me know.
I reach up and grab the top of his shirt and twist, “Listen Bucko, I have a daughter in there and I need some vengeance. You can either get Ruger for me or I go psycho mom on this whole place.”
MacGyver calls Ruger on the cell. “Kind of busy at the moment prospect, this better be good,” growls Ruger.
“Listen, I’m sorry. It’s that mother,” I caught myself grinning when he mentions Michelle and the prospect continues, “You know the one with the girl. She says she’s going to go psycho mom if you don’t talk to her,” begs the prospect.
Ruger smirks. He always liked Michelle back in the day. She was smart, feisty and let’s be honest, hot as fuck even now. “Bring her to the outer building. I’ll meet you two out there, and newbie…” Ruger says slowly.
Benelli's Elle: Unfortunate Souls MC Book One Page 5