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I go to head in first but freeze in the doorway. My angel is sitting on top of Ben as he lies on the dirty ground below her. Presley is covered in blood and dirt, and her hoodie is gone, leaving her in a sports bra as she holds a switchblade to Ben’s neck. I immediately get my feet moving again, ready to rip her off of him, but Rage stops me with a hand on my shoulder.
When I try to shake him off, he hisses in my ear. “She needs to come to this herself. Walk her through it. But don’t take this moment from her.”
I clench my fists but listen. Hesitantly, I move towards her. There is a guy on the ground that is just now starting to wake up, but the others grab him and will take care of him.
I glance towards the back wall and find Raven unmoving in a pool of blood. Presley’s hoodie she had been wearing is laying across her lower abdomen. I suck in a breath as I realize her chest isn’t rising and falling.
Focus. Presley needs you.
I squat down next to her. She still hasn’t moved or glanced up to see what all the noise is. I watch her suck in a breath and shudder slightly.
“Angel.” My hand slowly moves to the back of her neck. She slowly glances up at me. Her brown doe eyes hold no hope. She has given up. As if she thinks to survive, she has to take his life herself. “Angel, Presley, we got this. You can let go.”
She shakes her head and looks back down at him.
“Angel.” I say again. My hand on the back of her neck squeezes lightly. “Presley, I need you to look at me.”
Her head starts to move in my direction, but then a manic laugh comes out of the fucker under her.
Ben grins, but it doesn’t do much when he is struggling to stay conscious right now. He is bleeding pretty heavily from his shoulder. “Monster,” he whispers. Presley’s eyes widen, and her fingers clench around the blade. “You did this. You destroyed everything.”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Presley screams as the knife digs into his neck deeper.
“Can’t face the truth? Can’t—”
“Oh, shut the fuck up, you piece of lying trash.” A boot comes flying down, crunching into the side of Ben’s head, knocking him out. Presley glances to her other side where Blade now squats next to her. “Sorry Pres, but I couldn’t stand to hear another word from his mouth. You don’t need to hear it either,” he says with one of his usual smirks, only this one doesn’t reach his eyes.
Presley takes a shuddering breath and looks at me. “I have to kill him,” she whispers.
I shake my head. “No, you don’t. You will not be any less for not doing it. You are so fucking strong, Presley. You fought to get here. You fought to stay alive and not give in to Ben.”
Her head shakes from side to side. Her hair, which looks to have been pulled back in a bun, is a mess on her head. Tears stain her cheeks and her eyes, her bright, beautiful brown doe eyes, look so small and broken.
“No. I didn’t fight. I wasn’t strong. R-Raven was.” She looks back down and readjusts her grip on the knife. “He has to die,” she grits out. “But I–I can’t fucking do it!” she cries as she throws the knife across the room and sags back towards me.
I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her off Ben as Blade gets to work tying the fucker up. We stand, and her head falls against my chest as heavy sobs wrack her body. I grab the back of her thighs and pick her up. She wraps her arms and legs around me and cries into my neck.
I turn to look at the back corner of the room where Vance, Stone, and a few others are checking on Raven.
“Vance!” I yell, getting his attention, knowing Stone won’t answer me right now. His focus is on Raven. His eyes shoot up to meet mine, and he nods. His lips tilt up a tiny bit.
Fuck. She’s alive. It looks like they shoved something in the hole in her shoulder and are keeping pressure on her other wound.
“We can’t call for an ambulance,” Rage grumbles as he steps towards us, frowning down at Presley, who is still sobbing into my neck, clutching onto me hard. “As soon as they get her stable enough to move, we’ll get her out of here. Doc is going to meet us at the club. I called him.”
I nod my head. Doc is someone who used to be a part of the club, but he left about eight years ago. He still comes around when we need him. He was a doctor that Killer had met back in the day, and he started working for the club and then became a member. But after meeting his woman and getting married, he decided to leave. After Killer died, he contacted us and wanted to be around to see the changes and help in any way he could. He is now loosely connected to us and helps us when someone gets hurt.
“I want him at the nightclub. Close the club for the night.” I gesture towards where Ben lays passed out, tied up, and gagged on the floor. Blade nods his head at me, and I add, “I need to get Presley out of here so I can get her calmed enough to tell her what’s going on.”
Rage sighs, “Vance? Do you and Stone have this under control? You guys can take Raven in the van. The prospect should be outside waiting. We need to get Presley out of here, and Axe can’t drive her himself. Blade is on Ben duty with a few other guys.”
Vance looks at Presley and back down at Raven before turning a glare on Ben. “We’ve got it. I know this is Axe’s revenge, but I want to be there. He hurt innocent women. He deserves worse than death. I won’t take my pound of flesh, seeing as he is in no condition to withstand what I would do. But I want to see it.”
I nod and head out the door and back up the stairs with Presley still wrapped around me. I hate leaving Raven with so few of us, but I know we can trust Vance on this. We get outside to one of the trucks, and I climb in the back with Presley still holding onto me while Rage gets in the driver's seat. We have about an hour drive back to the club, and I need to get Presley calmed down some.
“Angel, sweetheart, can you look at me, please?” I ask after we drive away, so if she looks out the windows, she won’t have to see the cabin.
Presley sniffles and slowly lifts her head. My hands move from her hips to her face, holding onto her cheeks. I bring our foreheads together. “Oh, my sweet angel. I am so fucking sorry.”
