Текст книги "Redemption Road"
Автор книги: Katie Ashley
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Текущая страница: 18 (всего у книги 19 страниц)
TWENTY-THREE
ANNABEL
Pacing around Deacon and Alexandra’s bedroom, I kept an eye on the nightstand clock as well as the light blue bassinet in the corner. Rev had left two hours ago for his meeting with the Rodriguez cartel, and by now I was beginning to get antsy. As a novice in the MC world, I had no idea how long such meetings should take.
While she waited for Deacon to return, Alexandra had slipped into the shower while Wyatt slept peacefully. I had offered to watch him to put her at ease. Although it had initially been hard being around Wyatt, I had grown to enjoy being with him, feeling his soft skin, smelling his sweet smell.
Digging in my pocket for my phone, I checked to see if there was a call from Rev that I had somehow missed. When there wasn’t, I decided to be the overbearing fiancée and call him. After the voice mail connected, I said, “Rev, I hate to be a nag, but could you please give me a call? I love you.”
Loud, panicked voices and heavy boots stomping down the hallway caused a chill to run down my spine. I hurried over to the door and threw it open. I gasped at the sight of Deacon and Mac carrying Bishop into his room. I ran into the hallway, forgetting all about watching Wyatt.
Boone stopped me before I could go into Bishop’s room. “What’s happened? What’s wrong with Bishop?”
With a grimace, Boone replied, “He’s been shot. Breakneck’s on the way.”
Craning my neck, I surveyed the group of men in the hallway. Rev was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Rev?” When no one answered me, it felt like I was free-falling off the edge of a cliff, my arms and legs pinwheeling madly. “Where is Rev?” I demanded again, my voice growing shrill.
Deacon appeared in the doorway. His face and arms were torn with ragged cuts, and dried blood crusted over the deep scratches. With legs that shook so hard they could barely support me, I lunged at him.
“Where is Rev?”
“We were ambushed on the way home from our meeting. He took Rev.”
I didn’t have to ask who had taken Rev. I knew without a shadow of a doubt. “Oh my God,” I murmured.
Deacon’s arms reached out for me, pulling me against him. “We’re going to get Rev back, Annabel. Mendoza took him for a reason. If he didn’t plan on making demands of us, he would have killed Rev then.”
“You don’t know Mendoza,” I whispered. Flashes of his vicious eyes, his volatile temper, and his never-ending cruelty raced through my mind.
Tilting my head to cause me to look at him, Deacon said, “Mendoza is pretty much fucked. He has both us and now the Rodriguez cartel on his ass. He’s not going to win this one. We’re already working on tracing his phone to find him.”
I wanted to believe Deacon. I couldn’t bear the thought of living in a world without Rev. After all, he was my world—the sun, the moon, and the stars. I knew I needed more security than just what the Raiders could do.
“We need help.”
Deacon’s brows rose in surprise. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t want to take one chance when it comes to Rev’s life.”
“I said we would—”
“I’m calling my father. I want the FBI or the ATF or whoever the hell takes out men like Mendoza to make sure Rev gets out of this alive.”
A collective intake of breath came from the other members of the Raiders. Deacon’s expression darkened. “We don’t work with the feds.”
With adrenaline pumping obscene amounts of courage into me, I stood toe-to-toe with Deacon. “You might not work with the feds, but I do.” When Deacon growled with frustration, I countered, “Think about it for a minute. Mendoza would never imagine you coming at him with the feds, would he?”
“Probably not.”
“I think it’s pretty clear what Mendoza is going to demand when he does reach out to you.”
Deacon winced. “I imagined as much.”
“Then I think if I’m the target it’s only fair I get a say in this.”
“She’s right,” Alexandra said behind us. Outfitted in a robe, she stood at the entrance to her bedroom. “It’s just like with me and Sigel. You have to come at them where they least expect it.”
“I’m not sure when women started having a fucking say in the way this club runs, but it sure as hell needs to be stopped. Fucking pronto,” Deacon grumbled.
Holding up my phone, I said, “Sometimes you don’t have to have a dick to come up with the best plan.”
Deacon stared openmouthed at me before slamming his hand against the wall. He breathed heavily for a few seconds. “Fine. Call your father and the feds. You just make sure that nothing blows back on the Raiders since we’re going legit.”
“You’re such an asshole,” I muttered as I started dialing my father.
“Damn straight, babe,” Deacon replied.
TWENTY-FOUR
REV
Oh, sweet Jesus, the pain. Fiery torrents of it plagued every inch of my body. It pulled me out of the depths of unconsciousness. The smell of burning flesh assaulted my nose. It took a few seconds for my brain to process that it was my own skin being burned.
My eyes shot open to see Mendoza standing before me with a blowtorch in his hands. When I tried to jerk away, I found my hands were bound and my arms were stretched above my head. I had been stripped of my shirt to give him better access to torture me.
“Glad to see you’re back with me. I was almost afraid I had kicked you too hard. I didn’t want you to miss out on the fun.”
“Fuck you,” I spat.
He rewarded my outburst by singeing my bare lower back until I couldn’t bite back my screams. I panted and heaved as I tried to stay upright. When I moved, it felt like the entire layer of skin on my back was peeling off as it blistered and bubbled.
“You know you deserve much worse for what you and your men did to my camp. Do you know the money you cost me?”
I didn’t answer him. I knew if I opened my mouth I would throw up from the searing pain biting my flesh. Instead, I focused my energy on staring him down.
Mendoza met my glare. “But the worst thing you did was taking my Roja from me.”
Gulping down the bile rising in my throat, I grunted through gritted teeth, “She isn’t yours. She never was.”
Burning agony engulfed my chest. Pinching my eyes shut, I tried riding out the pain. I bit down on my lip so hard that blood ran down my chin. When Mendoza finally let up, I couldn’t speak. I could barely think. All I could do was try to focus on my breathing. As long as I was breathing, I was still alive. I had to stay alive for Annabel.
“Did you enjoy fucking her?” Through my tormented agony, I opened my eyes. When he saw I was looking at him, a cruel smile curved on Mendoza’s lips. “She’s one of the finest pieces of ass I’ve ever had. And the way her pussy tasted when I stuck my tongue deep inside her.” He licked his lips. “I can’t wait to taste it one last time.”
I jerked against my bindings, desperate to get free so I could tear him apart. The thought of him reminiscing about the way he had tortured Annabel made me as rabid as a feral dog. As I focused on Mendoza’s throat, I envisioned ripping it out with my teeth.
Mendoza’s next words chilled me to the bone. “I’m about to call her to make a deal.” While I stared at him in disbelief, he said, “I’m going to lead her to believe I will trade you for her. What a beautiful little fool to be willing to risk her life for the man she loves. Some would think I would be stupid to trust her, but I know my Roja. She is honorable to a fault. Took the worst fucking beating of her life just to keep a ring one of the whores gave her.”
I hung my head and my chest tightened as I remembered that it had been Sarah who gave her the ring. Surely my brothers wouldn’t let Annabel come for me, even if it meant my death.
Mendoza jerked my hair so I had to look at him. With a sinister gleam in his eyes, he said, “When she gets here, I’m going to fuck her one last time in front of you. Then to truly devastate her, I’m going to kill you in front of her. For the big finish, I’ll slit her throat.”
Holding up my phone, he smiled. “Let’s get the party started.”
TWENTY-FIVE
ANNABEL
Regardless of the way I had left things with my parents, I believed they wouldn’t completely abandon me. Of course, it didn’t hurt that my life was in danger once again by the man who had enslaved me. Within minutes of our call, my father’s connections had us patched in with the Georgia branch of the ATF, and after just a half hour, they had two teams heading to our area. I also had my phone being tracked for my location as well as to trace incoming calls. If I had ever doubted the power my father possessed, I would no longer do so.
All that was left was to wait for Mendoza to reach out. I once again resorted to pacing around the main room of the roadhouse. Thankfully, Breakneck had stitched up Bishop’s bullet wound to the back. Luckily it had narrowly missed nicking one of his kidneys. Breakneck had gotten Deacon and Mac cleaned up as well.
The eerie silence in the roadhouse was interrupted by my phone ringing. I would have ignored it had it not been Rev’s ringtone. Snatching my phone to my ear, I said, “H-Hello? Rev?”
There was a pause on the line before I heard the voice from my darkest nightmares. “Roja¸ how lovely to speak to you. I’ve missed you. Haven’t you missed me?”
A chill ran over my body at the sound of his voice in my ear. I had been haunted by it for months. Flashes of his rapes instantly tormented my mind, but I fought with everything in my being to push them out. I had to be strong and focus on the here and now to get Rev back.
“Where is Rev?” I demanded.
“Ah, I would assume you’re speaking of the biker trash you spread your legs for.”
“Tell me where he is!”
“You have been away from me for far too long, Roja. You should know better than to speak to me that way,” he admonished.
Refusing to let him ever intimidate me again, I snapped, “Cut the bullshit and tell me what you want!”
“That should be clear. I want you.”
I closed my eyes as a wave of revulsion ran through me. “So you are willing to trade me for Rev?”
He chuckled. “You’re already trying to negotiate a deal. This man must mean a lot to you.”
Thinking of what Deacon had said, I replied, “You obviously took him for a reason instead of killing him. So tell me what to do so we can end this.”
“I don’t give you any directions until I know you’re away from the Raiders.”
“Fine. I’ll leave the compound now.”
“I’ll give you ten minutes. If you’re not alone then, I’ll start taking out chunks of your lover.”
My stomach churned at his words. “I’m on my way.”
Deacon and the others stared expectantly at me. “He won’t tell me where he has Rev until I’m away from the compound.” I then related to them what he had said about giving me ten minutes or he would hurt Rev.
“So that’s it? We’re just supposed to let you walk out of here alone?” Deacon demanded.
“I won’t be entirely alone. I’ll have the ATF with me then.”
With a roll of his eyes, Deacon said, “That makes me feel so much fucking better.”
“I can’t argue about this anymore. I have to get out of here.”
“If something happens to you, Rev will never forgive me,” Deacon said.
I smiled sadly at him. “This isn’t his choice; it’s mine. I’m doing what I feel I have to do to save him—and to save me.”
After shaking his head, Deacon gave me a quick hug. “You be careful, okay?”
I nodded. “I’m a lot stronger than I look.”
“Trust me, I know that.”
I got halfway across the room and stopped. Whirling around, I said, “I don’t have a car.” It was the one part of the plan I had overlooked.
Boone came over and handed a set of keys to me. “It’s the Mustang outside.”
My brows shot up in surprise. “Are you sure?”
He nodded. “It’ll get you to Rev faster.”
I gave him a quick hug before racing out the door. After cranking up the car, I roared out of the roadhouse parking lot. Of course, I had no idea if I should go right or left. All I knew was Mendoza would phone with instructions.
With just a minute to spare before my ten minutes were up, the phone rang. With a shaky hand, I reached for it. “Hello?”
“Go to the old rock quarry off Route 19. Come around to the back of the barn.”
“But I don’t know—” I started to protest.
“You’ll figure it out.” Mendoza hung up.
“Son of a bitch!” I shouted. Pulling the car off to the side of the road, I Googled a rock quarry. Amazingly enough, the route pulled up. It was only fifteen minutes away, but it was in the other direction than I had come out of the roadhouse. After turning around, I gunned the engine. Even though they were tracking my phone, I wasn’t taking any chances with the ATF. I dialed Agent Hollis’s number that I had programmed in my phone earlier. “I’m supposed to meet him at a barn beside the old rock quarry on Route 19.”
“We are only a few minutes from the location. When you arrive, stall for a few moments in the car before you go in. We do not want too much time to elapse before you go in the barn and before we come in.”
“Okay. I can do that.”
“I know you can. We have every confidence in you, Annabel,” Agent Hollis said.
I wished that his words made me feel better, but sadly, they didn’t. While I might’ve looked calm and collected on the outside, I was a fucking basket case on the inside. I had stared down death once before, so I wasn’t afraid of being killed. More than anything, I didn’t want to lose Rev.
Veering off the road onto Route 19 caused my stomach to churn. Rolling down the window, I threw up the contents of my stomach. With a nervous laugh, I thought about how Boone would regret loaning me his car when it came back with puke down the front door.
When I saw the barn, my heart started beating so hard it felt like a cannon’s blast inside the car. I eased around the back of the building, craning my neck to see if anyone was around. Just one car was parked there, and I knew it had to belong to Mendoza.
Once I turned the engine off, I tried to collect myself. My arms and legs trembled uncontrollably with nerves. But then I focused on the image of Rev’s face and it gave me the strength I needed. Opening the car door, I slowly got to my feet. I took small steps from the car, taking as much time as I could.
When I got to the back door, it opened before I reached for it. The next thing I knew I was being grabbed and dragged inside. Then I was thrown to the ground. “So glad you could come,” Mendoza greeted me.
I started to glare up at him, but then something to my left drew my attention. Rev was strung up to one of the lower hanging barn beams. His arms were jerked at a painful angle over his head, but the worst thing was the burns on his chest. “Rev!” I cried as I started to scramble to my feet.
But then I felt the familiar bite of a belt slamming across my back. I couldn’t hold back the scream that tore from my lips. Grabbing me by the hair, Mendoza jerked me to my feet. With a cold glare, he asked, “You didn’t think you could just waltz in here without being punished, did you?”
Another crack of the belt had me shrieking. “You wanna beat someone, you beat me, you cocksucker!” Rev shouted.
“You don’t get to call the shots.” He licked his lips as he drew me closer to him. “Right now I think I’ll make her scream for another reason.”
Mendoza grabbed one of my breasts, kneading it harshly. At my whimper of pain, a cruel smirk curved on his lips. “That’s nothing compared to what I’m going to do to you, Roja.”
At that moment the barn door burst open and four agents came crashing through it. “Freeze! Drop your weapon. Now!” an agent shouted. After recognizing his voice, I knew it was Agent Hollis.
“You lying cunt!” Mendoza spat before lunging at me so hard that we both fell to the ground. He started punching and kicking me until he was wrestled off me by one of the agents.
“Are you okay?” Agent Hollis asked.
My sides and stomach screamed in agony where Mendoza had kicked me. When I tried to sit up, I couldn’t. I seemed to be working overtime to catch my breath. But the sound of Rev screaming my name had me struggling to my feet with some help from Agent Hollis.
After I wiped the blood off my busted lip, I nodded. At that point, I didn’t care about the pain. All I could think about was Rev. As I limped over to him, I met his haunted gaze. “Oh, Rev,” I murmured. Turning back to Agent Hollis, I said, “Get him down. Now!”
As he worked to cut the rope that held Rev in place, I brought my hands to Rev’s face. “I’m so, so sorry, my love,” I murmured.
“Not your fault,” he gasped. He tried to lean closer to me, but he couldn’t reach. I leaned in and brought my lips to his. “Thank God you’re okay.”
With a smile, I said, “I feel the same way about you.”
Agent Hollis eased the rope so that Rev’s arms could come slowly down at his side. I started working at getting his hands free of the rope. Suddenly, one of the agents shouted in alarm. When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw Mendoza push out of one of the agents’ reach and grab the agent’s extra gun from his chest holster.
Mendoza then whirled around toward me and Rev and pointed the gun. As the blast went off, Rev shoved me out of the way. After I fell to the ground, I glanced back to see Rev’s body contort in pain as blood spewed out of a wound in his stomach. “No, no, NO!” I screamed.
Rev collapsed on the ground at the same moment the agents tackled Mendoza. I crawled over to Rev, cradling his head in my lap. He stared up at me, his eyes glassy.
“Been gut-shot,” he gasped. “Not good.”
“Don’t say that!”
“I love you, Annabel.”
I shook my head. “Don’t you dare act like you’re saying good-bye. You’re going to marry me, remember? We’re a team—you and me against the world.” Tears streamed down my cheeks and fell onto his face.
One of the agents dropped down beside us and started working on compressing Rev’s wound. “Ambulance is on the way,” he said to me.
“You hear that, Rev? The ambulance is coming, so you have to hold on until it gets here.”
With a weak smile, he reached up to cup my cheek. “My beautiful Annabel Lee.” Then he closed his eyes.
“Rev, stay with me. Please . . . please stay with me.” I buried my face against his, unable to stop the sobs that overtook me.
TWENTY-SIX
REV
A pulsing white light filled with peaceful energy enveloped me from head to toe. As I gazed around, I realized the light was filling me up and healing me. I no longer felt any pain from the gunshot wound. I brought my hands up to pat around on my gut. No blood. No wound.
“What the . . .” I muttered.
In the distance, a figure began walking toward me. As it got closer, I blinked several times to make sure I was seeing clearly. When I still saw the person in front of me, I decided I must be hallucinating because it simply couldn’t be possible. “Pop?” I questioned.
Preacher Man smiled at me. “Hello, son.”
“What are you . . .? What am I . . .?” I questioned lamely.
“I’m here to tell you that it isn’t your time, and you have to go back.”
I frowned in confusion as everything floated along in this trippy consciousness. “Are you trying to say this is heaven?” I swallowed hard. “Like I’m dead or something?”
“Maybe it is or maybe you’re just hallucinating this from a temporary lack of oxygen,” Preacher Man suggested with a sly smile. He reached out and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Just know I’m proud of you, son. Regardless of what happened to you, it never broke you; it only made you stronger.” He squeezed my arm. “You’re the man I wish I could have been.”
Although breaking down was the most unmanly thing I could do, I let the tears flow freely. “Thank you, Pop.”
“No—thank you, son.”
As he faded away, a jolt of electricity rocketed through my body, sucking me out of the white light and slamming me back onto a stretcher in the back of an ambulance. A paramedic held the crash cart paddles in his hands and I heard him say, “He’s back. We have sinus rhythm.”
I gulped in the oxygen from the mask on my face, trying to still my out-of-control heart rate. I started to bring my hand to my gut to see if my wound was real again, but the other paramedic grabbed my arm. “Easy there.”
Once he released me, I moved my hand up to my face. At the feel of moisture on my cheeks, the world grew dark around me again.
When I came to, I was in a bed at the hospital. Blinking my eyes, I took in my surroundings. Machines beeped on and off, but I was grateful to find I just had an oxygen mask, rather than a breathing tube. It felt like there was some sort of cool sheeting on my back—it must’ve been something to deal with my burns. They must’ve been giving me some good drugs because I wasn’t in any pain.
As I looked around the room again, I saw that one entire wall was covered with balloons, flowers, and cards. Jesus, how long had I been out of it? Turning my head, I saw something that made my heartbeat speed up on the monitor. Annabel slept in one of the uncomfortable chairs next to my bed. Her disheveled hair and the dark circles under her eyes told me she hadn’t left my side. Not that there was any doubt about my feelings for her, but her true devotion made me fall in love with her all over again.
I eased the mask off my face. “Annabel?” I croaked.
At the sound of my voice, she shot upright and almost fell out of the chair. “Rev! Rev, you’re awake!” she cried as she dove for the bedside. She bent over to bestow kisses on my cheeks and then my lips. Just when I could barely catch my breath, she pulled away, tears flowing. “I love you. I love you so, so much.”
Smiling up at her, I replied, “I love you, too.”
She pushed my hair back from my face. “I thought I had lost you. You came so close to dying.”
An uneasy feeling prickled over my skin. “I did?”
Annabel nodded. “They said you crashed in the ambulance on the way here. You went into emergency surgery as soon as you got here. The doctor said you were lucky to be alive.”
Slowly, I began to remember the bright light and seeing Preacher Man. I didn’t like thinking how close I had come to leaving Annabel and my brothers and Mama Beth.
“It wasn’t my time,” I murmured.
“What?”
Realizing I had said Preacher Man’s words, I shook my head. “It’s nothing.”
“Deacon and Bishop have taken turns staying the nights with me.”
“Nights?”
“You’ve been unconscious for five days. Well, most of them you were kept in a medically induced coma to let your burns heal.”
“Holy shit.”
Annabel laughed. “The doctor said you would come around when you were ready. Of course, that didn’t mean that your mother and I didn’t worry to death about when that might be. But thankfully, there’s no lasting internal damage. You might have some scarring from your burns.”
My mind went back to Mendoza and his sadistic use of a blowtorch. Then a sobering thought hit me. “What happened with Mendoza after he shot me?”
“The ATF took him in. I’ve been assured he won’t get out of prison.”
“He won’t,” I said adamantly.
Annabel’s expression became unreadable at my words and tone. Gazing down at the blanket, she hesitated before asking, “Does that mean you’ll have him taken care of in prison?”
I reached forward to grab her hand. “He won’t be coming out alive, you can rest assured of that. But before it’s done, he’ll suffer.”
A tremor ran through Annabel’s body. “I suppose the thought of you having him tortured should disgust me, but it doesn’t. I think of what he did to me and then what he did to you. . . He deserves everything he gets.”
Squeezing her hand, I said, “That’s an old lady talking right there.” She shook her head, but then smiled in spite of herself. As I stared into her eyes, I thought of what she had gone through to save me. “You were so strong and so brave. I’m so very proud of you, Annabel. Proud and honored to call you my future wife.”
Tears once again shimmered in her eyes. “It was my love for you that gave me the strength.” She bent down again to kiss me. I brought my hand up to tangle through the strands of her long auburn hair. When she pulled away, she smiled. “I’d better call your mother and Deacon. They’ll want to see you.”
“They can wait. Why don’t you lie down with me for a while? I want to feel you close to me.”
She narrowed her green eyes at me. “Nathaniel Malloy, I certainly hope you’re not trying to get fresh with me just a few minutes after regaining consciousness. I’m sure the doctor will be in here any moment.”
I laughed. “No, Annabel Percy, I merely want to hold the woman I love close to me since there was a brief moment when I didn’t think I would ever get the chance again.”
Annabel’s expression softened. “We have to be careful, though.”
Sliding my body over in the bed caused more pain than I had anticipated. At my sharp intake of breath, Annabel started to move away from the bed. “Oh no, you don’t,” I muttered through gritted teeth.
Gently, she eased up onto the mattress and stayed practically hanging off the edge to ensure that she didn’t hurt me. I took her hand in mine and brought it to my cheek, enjoying the softness of her skin and the warmth of her touch.
Somehow two broken people had found their other half that completed them and made them whole. The worst of circumstances had brought us together, but some of the greatest loves in the world were born of tragedy.
As I kissed her palm, I thanked God that I had gotten a second chance to love and be loved by this woman—this Annabel Lee.
