AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I glanced to where Raina lay trembling on the bed. “You call that a little fun? Well, then I guess I’m just going to have a little fun of my own.”
Grabbing Blaze by his stupid long hair, I drove his face into the wall next to the closet over and over. I didn’t stop until his face was bloody and he was barely conscious. Beside me Knight bounced Cash’s head off his knee. It took a lot to make Knight break like this. Apparently, Raina was enough to do it.
Gage and Daire wrestled on the floor for control of the knife. Blood dripped from wounds on Gage’s arms. He didn’t seem to notice. Running on autopilot, he was intent on only one thing. Killing Daire.
He dropped an elbow into Daire’s face, splitting open the skin across the bridge of his nose. It loosened Daire’s grip on the knife. Gage swiped it, flipping it around in his grasp. Without hesitation, he plunged the blade into Daire’s shoulder.
He jerked it free, ignoring Daire’s pained shout. Gage pulled back, preparing to slash the knife across Daire’s throat. As much as I wanted to watch it happen, I couldn’t let him do it. My father wouldn’t cover our asses if we were involved in an unplanned murder. If he didn’t give the order, we couldn’t do it. We’d be on our own, left to rot in prison. Who would protect Raina then?
Leaving Blaze unconscious on the floor, I grabbed Gage’s arm seconds before he brought the knife down in a killing blow. “Gage, stop. You can’t kill this dumb fuck, even if he deserves it. He’s not worth the prison time.”
He was reluctant to listen even though he knew that I was right. Jerking free of me, Gage plunged the knife into Daire’s upper arm. Then he pulled it free and stood up.
“Don’t even think about getting up until we’re gone,” he snarled. “I’ll stick this knife so far up your fucking ass even the doctors won’t find it.”
I stood over the three of them with my gun in hand while Knight and Gage cut Raina free. Gage stripped off hisA Clockwork Oranget-shirt, tugging it over her head. She sat there shaking in silence, barely acknowledging them as they dressed her.
Knight scooped her up in his arms and carried her from the house. She clung to him like he was her lifeline. Like he was her everything. Seeing as he’d done the least horrible shit to her, maybe he was. Envy ate at me like a disease. I wanted to be the one she clung to with such desperation. I didn’t deserve it though. Neither did Gage. The solemn expression he wore confirmed that he knew it.
Knight tenderly placed Raina on the passenger seat before getting into the SUV. When we were all piled inside, he drove us home. Not one of us spoke a word. What could we possibly say? That we were sorry? That it would never happen again?
Upon arriving home, Knight carried her upstairs to his bedroom. I followed as far as the doorway. Leaning in the threshold, I watched him gently clean and bandage her wounds.
“Did they do anything else, Raina?” he asked, smoothing her tangled hair back. “Did they…?”
He trailed off, like he couldn’t say the words. We were all thinking it though. If they’d violated her, I would go back there and finish what we’d started. Prison be damned. They’d have to fucking catch me first.
I wasn’t delusional enough to think that this didn’t make me a hypocrite. We’d violated Raina in our own way. Maybe we were as bad as the Angels. The collar locked around her neck proved that we were far from the good guys.
Raina stared at the floor. Her voice shook when she said, “Daire used the knife handle. That’s all. He didn’t use his…I’m tired. I think I’d like to be alone.”
If Gage had heard that, he’d already be on his way back over there. He hadn’t come upstairs. Instead, he’d remained on the main floor, knowing his presence wouldn’t be well tolerated by Raina. It was his fault that this happened to her. We all knew that.
Of course, the Angels had wanted revenge. They’d have found a way to get it even if Gage hadn’t played a part.
Knight and I left Raina alone and went downstairs. “Should we be worried?” he asked. “I mean, do you think it’s safe to leave her alone?”
I nodded. I didn’t know shit. “It’s what she wants. We have to respect that.”
Because I didn’t know what to do with myself, I got to work cleaning up the mess left from the short-lived party. Gage sat at the table smoking a joint, a glass of straight tequila in one hand. He stared straight ahead through the kitchen window into the backyard. Blood still ran from a deep cut on his forearm, dripping onto the floor.
Knight fetched a wet towel and wrapped it around Gage’s arm. Gage didn’t even glance in his direction.
After what felt like a long time, Gage said, “She should kill me. I owe her that much.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Part of was mad as hell at Gage. I suspected that he would punish himself worse than the beating I’d have given him.
It wasn’t like Gage to feel remorse. Hell, it wasn’t like Gage to feel anything. Maybe he’d grown more attached to Raina than I’d realized.
It was almost three in the morning when a noise on the stairs drew our attention. Knight and I had finished cleaning up. We sat at the table with Gage, watching him alternate between chain smoking cigarettes and marijuana. All three of us looked up as Raina entered the kitchen.
She didn’t come all the way inside, hovering in the short hallway that led to the front door and the staircase. Her voice sounded flat and distant when she said, “I think I’m going to go stay at my dad’s. I can’t be here right now.”
All three of us stared at Raina. She was fully dressed now in a hoodie and jeans. Her bag was slung over a shoulder. She’d washed her makeup off. Her face was bare and blotchy, like she’d been crying. The sight of my fiery girl looking so forlorn and beaten down killed me. I felt sick.
Gage looked away first, like he couldn’t stand the sight of her like that. Or maybe it was the defeat in her pretty hazel eyes.
“Are you sure?” I stood up, approaching her slowly, like one would a frightened puppy. “You don’t have to leave, Raina. You’ll be safe here. You can have your own room.”
