Chapter 22
Chainz
Ican’t contain myanger as I listen to Fuel’s explanation for where he’s been. I ball my hands into fists at my side, ready to throat punch him. I’m fucking furious he didn’t come to me, although it’s my fault. I didn’t set a good example for our younger members when I took off after Amera and almost got myself killed. That behavior ends now. We’re brothers and family protects its own, no matter what trouble we’re in. This is the last time any of us deal with anything alone.
“Come on, we end this now.” I hook my arm around the back of Fuel’s neck. He winces from the added weight on his injured shoulder. “We need to get Mercy to look at that.”
“After I get even with these fuckers. I came for the flamethrower to light their asses up.” Fuel confesses as we walk back toward the clubhouse “and if I find out they fucking hurt Raven, I’m going to gut them.”
“Raven’s fine. She’s here with me.” As his strides slow, I realize I should have chosen my words better. I don’t know how to fucking sugar coat shit. “Look man, I get you have a thing for her, but these things happen. She was in danger and I thought she had answers about what happened to you.”
“So, you fucked her?” Fuel turns on me. I get why he’s pissed, but he needs to understand how things are.
“Careful, brother.” I warn. I don’t miss the way Fuel’s face cringes.
“Raven won’t settle for being your property. She’s better than that.”
“Back off kid,” I growl, “you don’t know what you’re fucking talking about.” It might take him some time to come to terms with the situation, but Raven is mine. That’s all there is to it. The sooner he accepts that, the better off he’ll be.
“I guess I can’t blame you, she’s fucking hot.” He backs down.
When we step into the common room, I let out a loud whistle, and the noise comes to an abrupt halt. All eyes turn our way.
“Fucking hell.” Cobra slaps Fuel on the back. Fuel tries to hide his discomfort but I catch his shoulders slump forward in pain. Reaper and Crusher, Hound, Freedom, Tornado, Hawk, Thrasher, Axel, Taz, and Gunner drop what they’re doing and welcome him home.
“Someone get Tank out of that damn bed. We need to have Church now.” I bark out. This shit can’t wait until morning.
“That’s not happening.” Mercy hooks her hands on her hips and shots me a deadly stare. “He needs rest, not stress.”
Even though I don’t like being challenged in front of the club, she’s right, so I let it slide. I have to put his health first. We’ll deal with this and fill him in when he’s feeling stronger. “I’m going to get Raven, then we can head into Church.”
She’ll want to know Fuel is home, and I want to be the one to tell her. My steps grow wider when I reach the top of the stairs and notice my door ajar. Goosebumps erupt on my skin. I push the door open and look inside. Everything is how I left it, except Raven isn’t here. I stalk toward the bathroom. I give the door a gentle rap, so I don’t scare her. She doesn’t reply. I twist the knob and open the door into a dark bathroom. Where the fuck is she?
Anger radiates through my limbs as I head back to the common room. If she was at the party, I would have seen her. Something isn’t right.
“Everything alright, Prez?” Cobra asks as I enter the room, scanning the faces in the crowd. “You have that crazed look in your eyes.”
“Cobra, lock this place down.” My heartbeat thuds against my chest. Something isn’t right. I can feel it in my bones. “Hound pull up the camera feed. Now. Raven’s gone.”
“On it, Prez.” He hollers back as he races toward the command center.
A few moments later, Hound returns with a laptop. He pulls up a chair at a table and pushes some buttons until the screen fills with live feeds from areas around the compound. Since Amera’s betrayal, we don’t take chances here. Not with my club. Not with my family. I watch the grainy images play. It’s a strain to make anything out since it’s dark outside. “What are we looking for, Prez? There’s only one way in and out and nothing is off at the gate.”
Shawna saunters closer to me, but I don’t give her the attention she’s after. My focus is on Raven and figuring out where the hell she went. “Make this shit bigger and check every camera.” I bark, even though Hound is already zooming in on each one.
I can smell Shawna’s heavy perfume from behind me and then the sting from her fingernails as they graze my skin, trailing down my arms. “Let her go, Chainz. I can take care of your needs better than she can.”
I push Shawna off me, twisting around and grabbing her by the throat, “If you know something you better tell me now.”
“I don’t know anything, baby, but she’s been talking about leaving for days. That’s all I’m saying.” The tears in her eyes don’t affect me at all, but the shrill of her voice permeating my ears makes my head throb.
“Sit the fuck down, Shawna and for God’s sake shut the hell up.” I don’t want to hear it. A few days ago that may have been true, but that was before. Before I filled her with my cock. Before I marked her as my own. Before she fell asleep in my arms. I know in my gut Raven didn’t leave.
Turning my eyes back to the computer screen, I watch as the camera feeds scroll by. “Stop. Blow that shit up. See that right there?”
Hound enlarges the image, so it fills the entire screen. He zooms further and further in. I point to the image. “There. See that? They cut the fence. Play this back.” I order, the uneasy feeling in my gut getting heavier by the second. She didn’t leave willingly.
Hound pushes some more keys on the keyboard and the image rewinds. He hits play and we watch the scene unfold as a man dressed in all black cuts through the chain-link fence. He disappears for a while, then appears again behind Raven. My heart slams against my chest as I watch him put his hands on her. She shoves him off, but it doesn’t work. He covers her mouth and injects something into her neck. When her body goes limp in his arms, he drags her back to a dark-colored pickup truck parked along the barrier road.
