“Whether you take part in it or not, Vee, the men who did this to you aren’t leaving that basement alive. And whatever you choose,” she adds, “your men will accept it.”
Silence stretches between us. Then she pulls me into a hug. Her arms are warm and reassuring. I know what I’m going to tell them and I know they will accept it, just like Ash says they will.
Chapter 37
Luke
Ipullmybikeintothe clubhouse lot, park to the left of the door, and cut the engine. The rumble dies, but the bass from inside the clubhouse still thumps through the walls, vibrating the night air. Luca’s leaning against the building out front like he’s been waiting a while, cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. Not lit. Just there.
I swing off the bike and walk up the steps.
“Need a light?” I ask, already reaching to pull the one out of my pocket.
He flicks the cigarette out of his mouth and rolls it between his fingers. “Nope. Got a lighter already. Used it earlier.” He gives me a wink. “Besides, I’m trying to quit.”
I snort. “Since when?”
“About five minutes ago. Burning flesh kind of kills the mood.”
Now the whole wink makes sense. Seems he’s been having some fun.
He glances around the lot. “Where’s Doc?”
“Staying with Vee.” Luca pushes off the wall, and sticks the unlit cigarette back in the pack and slides it into the pocket onhis cut. “She wants them gone… but doesn’t want to be part of it. She’s trusting us to end it.”
“My sister has too good a heart. Even for the wicked.” Luca pauses before continuing. “Let’s go.”
We head inside.
If the music wasn’t enough to tell me a party was going on then the inside was. Brothers crowd the bar, bottles clink, laughter cuts through the roar of music. Someone’s shouting over a card game in the corner while others are in various states of undress and fucking. It smells like whiskey, smoke, and sex and long ago I would’ve stopped, grabbed a beer and shot the shit. Before Vee, I would’ve even fucked one of the club girls, but since I laid eyes on her, she’s been the only one for me.
But tonight my mind is already downstairs, focused on the two men in the basement.
We move through the crowd without stopping and head straight for the basement stairs. The music fades with every step down, until all that’s left is the low hum of the fluorescent lights.
When we step into the room, Hank is standing near the far wall with the two Satan’s Rejects prospects. I’m sure their names were given to me at some point, but right now that’s irrelevant.
My eyes drift from them to the two men hanging from the chains. They’re a little worse for wear. Blood pools on the floor under their feet. One of them has a swollen eye that’s already turning a deep purple. The son's head is hanging forward like his neck doesn’t have the strength to hold it up.
I raise an eyebrow and glance over at Hank and the prospects.
Hanks shrugs his shoulders. “We were bored. So we had a little fun. Wanted them to have a taste of what was to come. Serves them right for what they did.”
My gaze drops to the duct tape over where I knew their gunshot wounds are.
“And that? Since when do we bandage our victims?”
“That wasn’t us,” the larger prospect says. I step closer and look at his cut for his name. Ace.
“Doc stopped by and put some duct tape and gauze over the gunshot wounds,” he adds. “Said he wouldn’t want them bleeding out too soon.”
Luca lets out a laugh beside me and I join in. Leave it to my brother to be a doctor and do the bare minimum to keep a man alive when he chooses to. But I get it. Death from bleeding out from a wound would be too good for these fuckers.
“Where’s Vee and Doc at?” Hank asks, his eyes staring past me to the door.
“At home,” I tell him curtly. Home. It’s odd to think but Vee’s apartment is now my home too because I sure as fuck ain’t leaving. Where she is, I am.
“Oh,” Hank whispers, nodding. He steps closer to me. “I want to see her,” he says quietly.
