AllFreeNovel
Share Us
SWITCH
Stel’s body would heal. She was young, fit, and strong, but no matter what she said, she wasn’t “fine.” Shit, how could she be?
Stel prided herself on being able to hold her own against any man, and they had proven her wrong in the most brutal fashion. I knew it couldn’t have been a fair fight because my girl gave as good as she got, but she’d still had her free will stripped away from her in the end.
That wasn’t something she would easily get over or forget. It would leave a lasting scar on her soul, which was something I was very familiar with. My soul was littered with them, and I never wanted her to wind up like me. No matter what it took, what I had to do, I wouldn’t allow that fierce spirit of hers to dull.
She’d have her vengeance, even if it was the last thing I ever did. I only hoped it brought her peace because I couldn’t think of a person more deserving of it than her. Stel didn’t do anything in half measures, and the love she freely bestowed on the select few of us lucky enough to receive it was no exception.
“Was I not clear?”
Hunter’s detached voice came from the other side of my bike, and after having the first shower I’d had in several days disturbed by the sound of Stel’s terrified moan, I wasn’t in the mood for twenty questions.
“I’ve lost track of all the threats I’ve had lobbed at me lately, so you’ll have to narrow it down.”
My general fuck-off demeanor, and the fact I hadn’t once looked up at him, wouldn’t deter Hunter in the slightest. He had zero shits to give unless it was something that directly affected him.
Then again, that might not be a bad thing. It had been a while since I’d gotten into a street brawl with an opponent as worthy as Hunter. Nothing took the edge off like the threat of death.
“Tell me if this sounds familiar. Mad Dog brought over some of your clothes, so do both of us a favor and use my shower, because you smell like shit. Do not linger in my space any longer than necessary or cause me any problems. You won’t like what happens.”
“Fuck off, Hunter. Stel was having a nightmare, and I wasn’t about to leave her whimpering and thrashing around on the bed.”
“And, what? You thought you’d wake her up by holding her down in nothing but a towel. If I’d have known you were too stupid to live, I would have done the world a favor and killed you a long time ago.”
It burned me up something fierce to admit that the unfeeling fucker in front of me had a point. The sight of Stel being carried out of the warehouse, covered in blood, in nothing but Hunter’s shirt, would haunt me for the rest of my days. But in the heat of the moment, all I could think about was taking away her pain.
Then she’d finally woken up and that smart mouth of hers had been both a balm for my soul and my undoing. There had always been something about the way she challenged me that simultaneously pissed me off and made my dick hard. Which, of course, she had to fucking call attention to, making the situation worse.
“If that were the case, you would have put a bullet in Cannon rather than cleaning up his messes and hiding the worst of it from Ryder.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I instantly regretted them. It was a low blow, and we both knew it. Cannon had earned his road name many times over, but it seemed sacrilegious to bring up the man’s failings being that he was dead.
When I’d heard they were lowering him into the ground, I hadn’t thought twice about it, I’d jumped on my bike, and ridden out. Nobody saw me among the mourners because I didn’t want them to. I’d been there to mourn a brother, not cause a scene.
Hunter would prefer I didn’t know where his skeletons were buried, let alone that I’d had a hand in helping him cover them up. He could say he’d done it so the club wouldn’t have to face any blowback, and sometimes I think he actually believed his own lies, but we’d both done what we had out of loyalty. Neither of us could stand the thought of Ryder paying the price for another man’s folly when all he’d ever tried to do was help him.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, otherwise I’ll be tempted to break my promise to Brandy and kill you. She said it would upset Stella, though I can’t say I understand her logic. You already did that in the few minutes you were inside the house.”
For as long as I’d known Hunter, I’d never heard him sound…put out. About anything. Not even when he was a prospect, and we’d sent him on random shitty errands.
A tiny wrinkle over his left eyebrow disturbed his usual mask of indifference, there one second and gone the next, before his forehead smoothed back out. If I hadn’t been looking for it, I would have missed the one moment in time when Hunter actually appeared human.
“Not that I give a fuck either way, outside the general inconvenience of having you both in my personal space.” And with that, the moment was gone. Hunter had reverted to his usual cyborg self. “But Brandy is an altogether different matter. One I think we should discuss, considering how deeply she’s involved herself in Stella’s situation.”
“Situation would hardly be the word I’d use to describe my girl being kidnapped and traumatized, but you have my attention, nonetheless, out of respect for your old lady.”
Brandy protected Stel with the fierceness of a lion, and while I hated being separated from my girl, I was grateful for her. Stel didn’t have many girlfriends, and she desperatelyneeded her help to get through this because I knew fuck all about what she was going through.
“I may have received the invitation to the auction, but Brandy was the one who found Stella, along with the locations of about twenty other safe houses. Now it seems she’s taking things a step further by helping Stella and Jules’s sister take down the whole damn human trafficking ring. She’s escaped notice so far, but we both know it’s only a matter of time before these men come looking for the source of our information.”
Hunter was right. They’d come for Brandy eventually, and if she recoiled at Tweak’s touch, what in the hell was she going to do when a man attacked her? She wasn’t a fighter like my Stel, despite the dark energy that swirled around her.
“When I told Stel we’d go after these bastards together, I never imagined she’d drag anyone else into this shit.”
“While touching, your modern-day Bonnie and Clyde plan doesn’t help me keep Brandy safe.”
“Shocking as this may seem,” I snapped, springing up on the balls of my feet. “You’re being a colossal dicklasaur ’cause you failed to see this shit coming in your crystal balls is what’s un-fucking-helpful.”
