Mine Now (The Phantom Vipers MC)

50. Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Hunter

It has been a long ride back to the clubhouse. All of the men are tired and rightfully so. We haven’t rested since we got attacked. Some are wounded, and Xavier has long since started complaining that his leg is killing him.

We make our way up the gravel road to the house. An unfamiliar car sits in the driveway with its lights shining on the windows, front door wide open. I pull up behind it and quickly get off my bike, sensing something is wrong. When I round the front of the vehicle, I see a large figure sitting on top of someone.

The fuck is happening now?

I quickly turn toward the other men getting off their bikes and yell, “Check on the women!”

I see Sam’s lifeless body to the left and panic rises in the back of my throat. Where is Blake?

I jump into action. I clothesline the man and land on top of him. I quickly look over my shoulder to see that Blake is the one laying on the ground and put two and two together that the man I now sit on top of must be her husband. I look down at his face, and I am met with a crooked smirk of the man I have already threatened.

Her body–lifeless, still– hits me harder than any bullet ever could. A black rage explodes inside me, so violent, so all consuming that I don’t think. I can't think. All I know is that Craig is still breathing and she isnt, and that is fucking unaccepable. I don't hold back, I start to hit Craig in the face and body—anywhere my fists will connect. He tries to fight back and screams profanities at me, but I don’t hear them through my rage.

The first real sound I register is the crunch of his nose when my fist lands on his face. But that doesn’t deter me. I keep swinging. Again. Again. Again. I continue pounding punch after punch until I am being pulled off of a lifeless body who is mere skin and blood. I want him gone. I want every memory, every scar, every fucking moment of pain he ever put her through erased. He will never hurt her again. Never.

“He’s dead, Hunter.” Viper’s voice sounds from above as he drags me backward from Craig.

Dead?

I did that. I fucking did that and I would do it a thousand times over. But the victory is hollow because—

Blake.

Blake is still on the ground unmoving.

The moment that thought registers, I shove Viper off of me, scrambling to my feet, my breath coming too fast. I drop to my knees beside her. “Blake?”

I am met with silence. “No, no, no, you don’t get to do this to me. You don’t get to make me feel something and then abandon me when I need you the most!” I plead with her body and slam my fist down on her chest. I turn toward the rest of my crew who stand idly by, giving me space and rage boils. How can they just stand there and do nothing? Watching her die

“Someone fucking help her!” I am ready to stand and start fighting someone, anyone who will take this pain away from me. I can’t lose her. I didn’t lose her. I can’t.

I pull at my hair and squeeze my eyes shut. This can’t be it.

A sudden gasp of air is sucked in through her mouth, and her chest rises and then falls only to repeat it once more. “Blake?” I fall to my knees again beside her and shake her shoulders, desperate for more, for anything. She groans a little –-soft, weak– but alive.

I pull her into my arms and stand, carrying her into the house so that I can lay her on my bed. “It’s going to be okay, Crash. You are safe now. I got you.”

She’s here. She’s alive. And I swear to God, I will never let her slip away from me again.

She jolts in my arm and takes in a big breath before opening her eyes. As she frantically looks around the room, her eyes land on me, and she grips the front of my vest for dear life. “Shh, it’s okay. I promise.” I whisper, gently laying her on the bed.

Once she is set down, she looks around the room in a panic again. “Charlie? Where is Charlie?” she croaks.

I can tell her throat is killing her.

“Charlie is fine, Crash. She is with the other kids, still asleep. I didn’t want to wake her up yet.” Sam says from the door.

It’s the first time I really look at her.

Busted lip. Swollen cheek. Bruises already darkening against her skin.

Guilt slams into me like a freight train.

I left her on the ground. I saw Craig dragging Blake away, and I didn’t stop to check if Sam was even breathing. I let her fight for Blake on her own while I lost my mind in my own rage.

I nod my thanks to her, the words I should say sticking to the back of my throat like razor blades.

I nod my thanks to her, and she brings me over a damp towel. “Figured you would want to wash your hands.” She points at my bloodied hands, and I grimace. I didn’t realize I was such a mess.

“Thanks,” I mutter, my voice gruff as I scrub at my hands, watching the rag turn red with the evidence of what I did. What I had to do.

When I glance up, Blake’s eyes are brimming with tears. Her gaze flickers to the towel, to my hands, and then she reaches out, taking my wrist in her shaking fingers. She pulls my hand to her chest, holding it there like she’s trying to anchor herself to me. “Are you okay?”she whispers, her voice thick with emotion.

I blink at her. Me?

I raise my brow. “Of course, I’m okay. We’re all worried about you right now.”

But as the words leave my mouth, the weight in my chest tightens. Because the truth is—I don’t know if I am okay. I don’t know if I ever will be after seeing her like that. After almost losing her. After leaving Sam behind when she needed me, too.

She shakes her head. “There is no need to worry about me. I’m okay. See.” She tries to prop herself up on the back of the bed and struggles to do so.

I chuckle and help her to a sitting position. “I see, Crash. I see.”

Viper sticks his head inside the door. “Xavier is ready for you,” he says to Sam, As she turns to leave, guilt gnaws at me. She put herself in the line of fire for Blake, got hurt because of it, and I left her on the ground without a second thought.

“Sam.” My voice is rough, but she pauses, looking back at me.

“I should’ve had your back,” I say, the words tasting like failure.

She doesn’t hesitate. Doesn’t even let me doubt myself. “You always do.”

That’s it. No question. No resentment. Just trust.

She gives me a small nod and walks out, and somehow, that makes the weight in my chest even heavier.

Before Viper leaves, I grab his attention. “Hey, you get rid of the problem?”

He nods. No words needed. We both know what I mean.

Craig’s lifeless body, broken and bloodied, is in our front yard. The problem is handled .

Blake tries to clear her throat, but I pat her hand. “You need to rest your throat, sweetheart. Just sit here and relax.”

She nods, settling against the pillows, but something shifts in her expression. A sudden tension, her body going rigid.

Then, she grips my shirt, her fingers digging in like she’s afraid I’ll disappear..

“Where is Craig?” she gasps, panic flashing through her wide eyes. “He is so fucking mad at me. Did you call the cops?”

I push my finger to her lips. “Princess, Craig will never hurt you or Charlie again. You do not need to worry about him anymore.”

Her breathing quickens. “How? Why? Did he get arrested?” Her mind is spinning, grasping for something— anything —that makes sense.

I give her a soft smile and push some hair back from her face. “Craig is dead, sweetheart.”

Her eyes widen as her breath hitches in her throat, and all the color drains from her face.

Fuck.