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“I fuckin’ better.”Lemon moved to stand directly at my side.She took my hand, but not before whipping out a wicked-looking serrated knife from a sheath at the small of her back.She didn’t raise it in a threatening manner.Just let it rest at her side at the ready.
“Fuck.”That came from Deacon of all people.I glanced at the other man and he just grinned.“Glad I picked the docile sister.”
I thought his comment would break the tension, but it didn’t.Rocket shook his head addressing me directly.
“What happened, Scarlet?How did Lemon save your life that night?”
This was so fucking hard.Harder than I thought it would be.Harder than standing up to my dad and being so angry with the one person in the world who I’d trusted to protect me before I’d met Mars.“He said if I tried to run or to contact Claw, that he had people inside Grim Road he’d order to hurt Sunshine and Rainbow.At first I thought I could last until we came back to Florida.But as the weeks and months went on, I doubted myself.”
“What do you mean you doubted yourself?”
“That I could last that long.”I took a breath, trying to get myself back under control.In a way, my temper redlining was good.I got rid of some toxic shit I hadn’t realized I’d held inside.I felt like I could breathe easier.“Hammer never took it far enough that I was afraid for my life.He seemed to want to torture me, though I had no idea why.He beat me down both mentally and physically until I knew I had to escape.But I wasn’t about to sacrifice my sisters for my own safety.”
Rocket paled and his gaze snapped to Claw who looked even more upset than before.Claw shook his head while Rocket’s jaw clenched, the sides bulging almost convulsively.
“No, Scarlet.Just… no!”Claw looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown.Sweat beaded his forehead and I could see the pulse beating like mad in his neck.
“Yes,Dad.”I nearly spat the word.I loved my father, had thought he loved me, and I wasn’t entirely convinced Claw didn’t love me.“In order to save my sisters, I took the only way out I had available.I tried to kill myself.I’d been preparing for a couple of weeks but hadn’t gotten to that point.I had the rope behind the house in the corner of the yard already tied to the perfect branch in a perfect fucking tree.The last time Hammer beat me was my tipping point.Was it a weak moment for me?Maybe.But I had Lemon and Apple wanting me to come to the Tzars compound with them and the thought was just too tempting.To be able to sleep at night and not worry about Hammer coming into my room in a drunken rage to hit me?To have people who cared about what happened to me and be willing to protect me?I knew I’d give in and when I did, I was thoroughly convinced I’d condemn Sunshine and Rainbow to death.Or worse.To a life of what I’d been suffering.”
Once I’d started, all I could do was continue.I laid it all out there with a starkness I hadn’t really intended on relaying.But it was how I felt.If I were honest, I wanted to see Claw’s reaction.I wanted to see if it would hurt him.Maybe that made me petty and a bad person, but I didn’t care.If he’d tried to talk to me, even once, I’d have told him to come get me and I thought he would have.At least, I had thought so at the time.I guess I just needed to hear from him why he hadn’t tried to force Hammer to let me speak with him.
Claw stumbled toward me.He tried to pull me into his arms, but I wasn’t sure I was ready.Thankfully, Mars was right there.The second I took one step back he pushed his way in front of me to keep my father away from me.I wasn’t ready to forgive him yet.Claw growled at Mars, and I thought my father was going to plow his way through him, but Mars stood his ground and shook his head.
“Not until she’s ready, Claw.”
“She’s my daughter!”
“Shoulda thought about that before you threw yourself so far into your work you put her in the hands of a monster.”
“I didn’t do anything!Why won’t you believe me!”
That was all I could take.With a battle yell, I snagged the baton Rocket had dropped and swung it at Hammer.Over and over.And over.No one had secured his hands so he blocked as many hits as I landed, but it felt good to finally be able to fight back.
“How does it feel, huh?”I screamed at him, raining blows down on him again and again.“How does it feel, you motherfucker!”
I kept hitting him.The more I hit him, the more I wanted to hit him.I wanted him to feel as hopeless and desperate as I had all those months.I was to the point I was about to wear myself out when Hammer finally broke.
With a roar, he lunged at me, snagging the baton before I could hit him with it again.He struck out, trying to backhand me.When I was pulled out of the way by someone, he yelled again, this time trying to swing at me with the baton.
“Fuckin’ cunt!I’ll fuckin’ kill you!”
There was a deafening gunshot.I screamed and threw my hands over my ears.I thought Hammer would topple over or something and was surprised at the surge of disappointment I felt that he was dead already.Instead, he screamed before he fell to his side.Like someone had swept his leg from underneath him.When I finally got a closer look at Hammer, I saw his right leg from the knee down was lying beside him.
“Gag that motherfucker,” Rocket ordered.“I’m tired of hearing his fuckin’ whinin’.”He didn’t even acknowledge someone had shot Hammer’s leg off.I didn’t see a gun.
Hammer fought now.He lashed out as best he could from the sawdust floor of the barn.Even as hurt as he was, he was still a serious threat.His arms were seriously muscled.I remembered well how they could deliver his punishment with those arms and huge hands.
I looked around to see who had shot and was surprised to see it was Claw.My father.His face was a mask of rage and anguish.He found me in the chaos that was happening.OK, so chaos wasn’t really the word.There were two members of Grim Road -- Dom and Ringo -- along with three members of Iron Tzars gagging and restraining Hammer.I thought they might chain him upright.Like hang him from the rafters or something.Instead, they tied him down to a steel table.It looked to have been made for restraining someone.It reminded me of images I’d seen on TV of a lethal injection table.Only there were clamps at the ankle and thigh instead of just the ankles.There were also clamps at the wrists and upper arms.Like they expected someone to be missing body parts.When Hammer continued to thrash, they slid a metal clamp around his neck.
The men from Grim Road stepped back until the Iron Tzars started cutting Hammer’s clothes from his body.Then Grim helped until Hammer was naked and laid out on the table.The stump that was his leg bled, but not as much as I thought it would.Probably because the limb was completely severed.Roman still tied a tourniquet just over the stump until the bleeding completely stopped.
“Don’t let him bleed out,” Sting said.He looked for all the world like he could really give two shits about his leg, but was looking forward to whatever was about to happen next.“Mars.Wylde.Get the women out of here.”
“Like hell,” Lemon muttered.
“I’m not leaving, Mars.”My voice was surprisingly steady and the moment I uttered the words, I knew they were true.It wasn’t so much for myself, though I resented everything he’d put me through.I was the daughter of the vice president of Grim Road.I might be angry at my dad, I might not understand how he could not protect me, but I admired him for how he did his job for the club.I could honor him even if I wasn’t certain I could ever trust him again.
“Honey, please.”Mars gripped my shoulder.I knew he wanted to pull me into his arms, and I wanted that too.But there was another club of questionable integrity in very close proximity and I knew he needed his hands free.I might not know much about fighting, but I knew about safety and that these clubs might be loose allies, but given this situation they didn’t trust each other.“I think it’s best if we go.”
