AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She was a lovely young woman, and so fragile-looking.I’d kind of been infatuated with her since I’d first laid eyes on her but had tried not to think about it.I know Lemon and Apple adored her and, though I’d only seen her once, there was something about her that snagged my attention.I knew there was something going on with that son of a bitch Hammer, but how anyone could willingly hurt that young woman was beyond me.
“Fuck!”I screamed once as I sped down the twisting, winding road.The house Hammer had rented was only ten minutes from the clubhouse, but it seemed to take an eternity.More than once I thought I was going to lose traction.Had there been gravel or dirt from logging, I was sure I’d have laid the fucking bike down.
When I pulled up in front of the little house, I got the eeriest feeling.It was likedéjà vu.Like I’d been here before…
I shivered.No.This would not be like before.Scarlet would be alive.Maybe beaten and broken, but alive.
I jumped from my bike, not bothering to make sure I got the kickstand secured.As I sprinted to the house, I heard it crash to the ground but couldn’t make myself care.The only thing I had to do was get inside and get Scarlet out.She would be alive.
She would be alive, Goddamnit!
Kicking in the door, I was greeted with silence.It was the kind of silence that made the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention.There were a few pieces of furniture turned over, but I couldn’t see much else in the dimly lit interior.Something was wrong.Very wrong.
I heard my brothers pull up in front of the house, the roar of the pipes on their bikes loud.The light was dimming in the evening.There was barely enough to see inside the house.It took precious seconds to search the interior.There had obviously been an altercation of some kind.There was blood in what I could only assume was Scarlet’s room, judging by the underwear strewn over the floor.Not much, but splatters and a few drops here and there.Other than that, there was precious little in the room that said it was hers.No pictures.No trinkets.There didn’t seem to be anything of Hammer either.
There were only a few articles of clothing in the closet.One pair of shoes.Her backpack.But Scarlet wasn’t there.
By the time I exited her room, Breaker and Rage were searching the rest of the house.My heart pounded in my chest, making my ears roar.I shook my head, trying to rid myself of the panic threatening to push its way through to my mind.I broke out in a sweat, and it was hard to put one foot in front of another.
“She’s not in here.”Rage sounded calm, but I could hear the underlying tension in his voice.“Check out back.”
Breaker was the first out the door.He moved a few steps into the yard, then stopped dead in his tracks.“Fucking hell…”
I pushed past him to see a sight I never wanted to see.Scarlet.Hanging from a tree in the corner of the yard.I knew it was her like I knew my own name.
“Get Stitches!”I yelled on the run, needing to get to her.Please, don’t let it be too late…
I pulled out the knife at my hip with one hand while I wrapped my arms around her legs with the other, trying to lessen the tension on the rope in case there was still a chance she was alive.I stumbled against the chair lying on its side underneath her.There was little doubt she’d done this to herself.How much Hammer had been involved remained to be seen, but once I found him, I was going to make him pay.Slowly.Painfully.He might not have killed her, but this was his fault as sure as if he’d put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger.It was also my fault.Because I’d stood outside on that fucking porch and hadn’t pushed my way inside to make sure Scarlet didn’t need help the day I’d followed her and Hammer from the clubhouse.
Reaching the rope with my knife was going to be hard while I had my arms around her.I needn’t have worried, though.Rage was at my side, snagging the knife from my fist and cutting Scarlet down.
“Lay her on the ground.”Stitches hurried to us, a jump kit slung over his shoulder as he entered the yard.
I did as he ordered, laying her carefully on the plush grass, I saw the bruising to her face and arms.The rope burns around her neck.I’m sure there were more injuries, but I couldn’t seem to look away from her face.I willed her to open her eyes, but she didn’t.
Then Stitches was pushing me out of the way while Rage started CPR.Stitches hooked up an AED to her as I watched.He was barking orders, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying.It was like his voice came from a deep well.Distorted.Vague.
Stitches called out something and Rage stopped doing chest compressions.I tried to force my way to Scarlet, to continue to try to save her life when it felt like Rage was giving up.The other man held me back.
Her body twitched slightly before Stitches put his fingers at her throat.Checking for a pulse?When he didn’t start CPR again immediately, I howled with rage.I would find Hammer and kill the motherfucker.Then I’d go after her father and Grim Road.
“Get him under control,” someone snapped.I honestly couldn’t tell who.
The next thing I knew, Rage and Breaker grabbed me and pulled me farther away from Scarlet.I fought, throwing fists and lashing out in a blind rage.I had to get back to her.To save her.
“Mars, stop!”Rage had his arms wrapped around my neck in a choke hold.He wasn’t trying to cut off my air or the circulation to my brain so I passed out.He was merely trying to pull me out of the hell inside my mind I’d stumbled into.What he didn’t realize, and what I had no way of explaining, was that this rage wasn’t the result of my past.At least, not solely.Somehow, Scarlet had become my present nightmare.Her.Not the ghosts from my pasts.“This isn’t helping her, brother.”
Rage tightened his hold on me, making dark spots swim in my vision.Slowly, the fight seeped out of me until all I could do was breathe.The big man loosened his hold fractionally.Probably trying to see if I was going to lose my mind again.I could have told him I had very little left of my mind to lose.All I could see was Scarlet’s lifeless body…
She sucked in a breath.Her eyes fluttered open.Then she whimpered and turned her head away from us.
“It’s all right, honey.”Stitches tried to soothe her, but he was distracted as he started an IV in the bend of her elbow.“We’re gonna take care of you.”
“Please,” she pleaded weakly.“No more.Let me go.”
“No one’s gonna hurt you anymore, Scarlet.We’re gonna take you back with us, and you’ll be safe.”
“Never… be safe… again.”She let out a broken sob, her voice scratchy from the constriction of the noose.
