My heart pounds in hard, rapid beats. For the first time in my life, fear lives and breathes inside of me. What if… What if it’s Tillie behind that closed door? It feels like forever as my hand reaches out to grab the door handle and open it.
“What the hell?!” I grunt out as I’m tackled to the ground.
Without thinking about it, I instantly reach up, wrapping my hand around the guy’s neck as we roll across the floor, but joke’s on me because I find strong fingers grasping my neck in return. Once we smack into the bedframe, the moonlight shines down on us, and I see a flash of light brown eyes. I instantly start cracking up, even if it sounds choked, and loosen my grip from around his neck.
“Damn it, Tey! I could have killed you!” Logan whispers angrily in my face and groans in pain as he rolls to land on his back next to me.
“What a way to go. I always thought I’d die with someone choking me. Either fighting or fucking… maybe both.” My grin spreads across my face at the thought.
“You crazy fucker. We need to find Tillie. Now. I got jumped and her soon to be red ass dragged me into the closet even when I told her to run just before I passed out. My fucking head hurts like a bitch,” he grinds out through clenched teeth and rolls over to his knees before climbing to his feet slowly.
I’d offer a hand to help, but Logan’s pride won’t let anyone help him even when he needs it. I jump to my feet and wait by his side just in case he faints, his skin is a little pale around the edges.
“I know. Nicky and I spotted Demon Jokers out front. He’s going to take out some of the members we spotted while I came to your rescue, princess.” I bow dramatically and quickly stand to dance out of his reach when he growls in anger at my antics.
“How did you guys know to come?” he asked, confused, shaking his head as if to clear it while swaying on his feet.
“Tillie called from your phone. This isn’t good, man. I think there's more to the story that we overlooked and messed up big time,” I say seriously for the first time ever as I head towards her open bedroom door and peek quickly into the hallway, looking both ways.
It’s quiet, the murmur of voices coming from downstairs grows louder at someone yelling the longer we stand here to see if the coast is clear. I almost miss it but my head swings back towards the staircase when I see a shadow move towards the landing.
“We got company. Thirty seconds,” I whisper with a hand signal which he ignores as he walks behind her bedroom door while I plaster my body against the wall across from him.
I’m going to take the soon to be dead fucker by surprise. Sneaky is my middle name. Actually, that’s a lie. It’s Herbert, but I’m taking that to the grave with me. Gotta protect my reputation. The floorboard creaks outside the doorway and a scuffed up boot appears over the threshold. I quickly grab the leather vest and swing the asshole into the room as Logan shuts the door to block out the Demon Joker’s surprised shout. Logan kicks behind the club member’s knees, making him drop down to the ground with a thud. I wrap my forearm around his throat before he can even recover, my bicep squeezing until he’s turning purple in the face.
“How many downstairs?” Logan asks, getting in front of us and nodding at me to loosen my hold slightly so the asshole can talk.
“I ain’t tellin’ you wannabe thugs shit!” This guy really must be stupid, not seeing the hard, cold look in Logan’s eyes.
I swear his normal light brown eyes turn dark, his pupils expanding with his anger climbing at being called a thug. I think the term he should have used is Mafia. Like, show some fucking respect. Logan completely ignores the dry blood sticking to his eyelid from the wound on his head, his gaze focused on the club member with an intensity that makes me raise my brow. This guy might not make it to answering our questions with the way Logan is staring him down. Gone is the cool and collected guy I know, replaced with a furious Logan that hardly ever comes out to play.
“Is Tillie alive? Is she working for you?” Logan’s voice comes out raspy and stilted, almost like he didn’t want to even ask that last question.
“That cunt?” His laugh comes out dry but cocky and I take a look down at the front of his vest over his shoulder so I can remember his name.
Whiskey… Oh please. Weak ass bitch just likes the drink. He keeps talking even as I tighten my arm around his windpipe in warning. His name is going in my burn book after I kill him. A photo album full of good memories, but bloodier.
“Payne doesn’t let his property inside the club business.” His words come out taunting as a maniacal smile takes over his face. “Have you been inside her tight pussy? Even when it’s dry and bloody, her screams telling us to stop echoes in my ears. Best fuck I’ve ever had.”
Blind rage. That’s all I’m feeling. It’s like a forbidden door with warning signs swinging open and I’m running through it without looking back. Before Logan can stop me, I release my hold on his throat and grab Whiskey by his chin and wrap my other hand across his forehead to break his fucking neck. The loud, twisted crack is like music to my ears, my own kind of music that only I can understand, making my ears ring for more. I drop his dead body to the floor in disgust, wanting to wash my hands to get the dirty feeling off me. The things he said about our girl… I’m going to kill everyone who’s hurt her. I don’t care what I have to do. I’ll get it done. We all will.
“I’m done with this shit. Did this city forget who the fuck I am? I think it’s time we reminded them what exactly we can do. They touched her… Tey, I need you to have my back more than ever tonight, brother.” Logan’s chest heaves up and down as he bares his teeth at the crumpled body at our feet before sending a swift kick to the corpse of Whiskey.
That seems to calm him down a little bit. He takes a deep breath and pushes his hair off his face until he looks somewhat put together. I hold my fist, bumping his, and nod without saying a word. I have his back no matter what comes our way, always have and always will.
“Let’s go save our girl and beg for forgiveness. Nothing hurts her anymore unless it’s us.” I slap his shoulder and start making my way down the dark hallway towards the stairs.
I don’t hear him following but I can feel his menacing presence behind me. The rage is radiating off of him in waves, it feels good to soak those feelings up because it fuels my own. That rage is probably the only thing keeping him from passing out, adrenaline will do that to you too. My phone buzzes in my pocket and when I check the text message flashing on my screen, a grin slips over my lips.
Nicky:Bodies piled out back by the fire pit, going to cause a distraction with some gunpowder. Wait for my signal.
Me: What’s the signal? Does it have to do with the corpses you are collecting of club members? That’s hot.
Nicky: Let’s just say that I’m in a mood to start a bonfire. If you smell burning meat, it’s not BBQ. The signal won’t be hard to miss, trust me.
Me: Ohhh, keep talking dirty to me. Are we sexting now? Okay, let me have a try. So I just had another man in my arms, whose name was Whiskey. My hand around his throat, I could feel his pulse pounding under my fingertips. I held him real close to my body, gripping him tight… just before I snapped his neck and felt him go limp in my arms. How was that? Turn you on?
Nicky: ... Tey…. just get ready. Focus on Tillie… but tell me more later.
