Ryder (Phoenix MC #1)

Twenty-One

I t was worse than before, so much worse. I could feel everything he was doing to me, and I couldn’t escape. I couldn’t hide from it. Every cut of his knife, every brutal touch, and the way he plunged deep into my body, and fucked me savagely and relentlessly.

I couldn’t do anything but scream, and beg him to stop. It was the look of triumph and enjoyment on his face that told me my screams were adding to his pleasure, but I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t shut up. Without the bliss of unconsciousness, something I’d never considered to be a good thing at all, I couldn’t escape his attack.

The door suddenly crashed open, and men poured into the room. Dom was torn away from me, and then there was a guy viciously beating him with his fists, while two others held him in place.

Others approached me, and my screams started again. No more. Please. No more touching me .

“Ry! You wanna see to your lady?” I heard a gruff voice yell, over the sounds of fists and pain. I couldn’t turn my head to see what was happening around me, but it was so overwhelming and terrifying.

There was the slightly muffled sound of a gunshot. And another. Another three. And then he was there. Beside me. In the flesh. Ryder .

“Jesus Christ, darlin’. Let me get you out of this.” His face was blood-splattered and grim, as he pulled at the ropes, and eventually hauled a knife out of his belt to cut at them. It didn’t matter, because I couldn’t move anyway.

He frowned when each rope was released, and I didn’t move away. Someone handed him the sheet that had covered me, and he held it in his hands as he looked at me, something dawning in his eyes.

“You can’t move?”

I blinked rapidly; words suddenly impossible. Tears were pouring from my eyes, and my skin burned from the many small cuts he’d inflicted on me. Ryder’s eyes travelled over me, curses pouring out of his mouth, as he took in the damage.

He was here. He was right here with me, and he cared . He cared that I was hurt. He turned and muttered something to a big guy beside him. The guy looked vaguely familiar, with long blonde dreadlocks, and a large build that I instantly found intimidating. The guy looked shocked, worried, and sad, as he joined Ryder by my side.

“I’m Has-Been, love,” he whispered, staying far enough back that I didn’t have to fear his touch.

“Get the fuck out of here, you lot,” Ryder yelled at the swarm of men in the room, who were beating on some other guys, who’d run in to protect their bastard boss. The room emptied out, the noise level dropping with it, and I felt safer instantly.

“I really want to cover her up, but she’s bleeding from all this shit. It could hurt her even more,” Ryder muttered to the other guy, Has-Been? Was that his name? What a strange name.

“She’ll feel safer covered up, brother.” He was right. I wanted to nod, but couldn’t move. Suddenly I could speak again though.

“Please,” I whispered, and both of them focused on my face again.

“You want me to cover you?” Ryder asked quietly, and I breathed the word ‘yes’.

He nodded, draping the sheet over me, finally covering my naked body, and hiding it from their eyes, even though they were both trying really hard to keep looking only at my face.

“Listen, I know you’ve just been through something horrific, and the last thing you want is to be touched, but we need to get you out of here. Fast.”

The other guy nodded. “We didn’t manage to take them all out. They’ll be coming for us.”

Ryder sighed. “I… we need to carry you.” He looked morose as he spoke, probably understanding exactly how much I didn’t want to be touched right now, but would it be okay if it was him? He cared. He wanted to help me, not hurt me.

“You,” I whispered, making him blink with surprise.

“Me? You want me to carry you?”

“Only you,” I added, my body starting to tremble, even though I still couldn’t move.

“Okay, darlin’. I’m gonna pull you across the bed, and lift you, okay? It might hurt.”

“Everything hurts,” I whispered back, my throat feeling hoarse, now that I was trying to speak more.

“He’s been choking her,” the blonde guy murmured quietly, nodding at my neck. Ryder cursed, his eyes dark and angry.

“Kinda wanna kill him again.”

I gasped. “He’s dead?”

Ryder smirked as he reached for me.

“Only a lot.” I didn’t panic as his hands closed around me, and he slid me from the bed, carefully tucking the sheet around me as he lifted me. If anyone else had touched me right then, I’d have been screaming my head off.

“Do you wanna see?” The other guy asked me, and it took me a moment to realise what he was asking. My head lolled against Ryder’s chest, but the word ‘yes’ hissed out of me pretty fast then.

They both chuckled quietly, and then Ryder moved away from the bed, and turned us toward the wall. Has-Been reached down and grabbed something; Dom’s hair. It was soaked with blood, and his face was badly beaten, but I knew it was him. There was a lot of blood, and many dark, dripping holes in his chest. He was really, truly, dead.

“Thank you,” I whispered quietly to Ryder. I would be safe now… if I planned to go on. Right now, I really didn’t know if I would, or could.

“We need to get going,” someone barked, sticking their head into the room, and then we were hurrying out into the hallway.

Ryder

I couldn’t let my mind focus on anything other than getting her out of there. She was in my arms at last, and I knew that it was the right place for her. She belonged in my fucking arms.

That bastard was dead, and I had to let that be enough, because right now, I wanted to find every last person who knew him and kill them too, but I had to focus on her; Tori . She’d been through hell, and I had to be the one to get her through it.

The others surrounded us as we made our way out of that place, taking out several guys as they appeared. The place was littered with bodies, and we’d put bullets in quite a few. I’d practiced with a gun, but never killed anyone with one before today. It seemed fitting that he’d been one of the first. I only wished he’d survived to feel all of the bullets I’d fired into his cowardly asshole body.

We made it out to the van, and I sent one of the prospects to ride the bike back, under strict instructions to protect it with his life or I’d kill him slowly. I climbed in the back of that van, and sat on the hard metal floor, with Tori still cradled in my arms. She was warm against me, but limp, not moving. I hated it. I hated this lethargy that he seemed to have caused in her somehow.

She didn’t speak, she just kept her face buried against my chest, her breath warm against my skin through my t-shirt. It shouldn’t have felt so good to have her pressed against me like this, but it felt right.

“You still with me?” I whispered to her, hearing her breath catch in her throat, like I’d startled her.

“Yeah,” she finally replied, when I’d expected just a nod of her head.

“He dosed you with something?”

She groaned, her body trembling but otherwise unmoving.

“Paralysed.”

Bastard. She groaned again, and then she cursed.

“Gonna… throw up…”

I moved her just in time, angling her away from both of us, as she purged the contents of her stomach all over the inside of the van.

“Jesus,” I heard one of the prospects mutter from the front. I ignored them, because all that mattered was that she was hopefully getting that shit out of her. She was slack in my arms, but no longer retching.

The scary part was that she’d have choked to death, if that had happened while she was still tied up. She couldn’t move, so she would have had no chance. I wouldn’t mind betting that the bastard would have let her die like that too, like a final insult.

“Better?”

I used part of the sheet to wipe her face. I had to hold her head up to do it, and it was freaky. I’d talked up the idea of drugging her for sex, but this, this was the most fucked up thing I’d ever seen. It definitely wasn’t a turn on for me, and that bastard had been on top of her, thrusting his fucking cock into her, while she was paralysed and screaming.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered to her, stroking her hair, as I rested her head against my chest again.

“Why?” She breathed, a tremor running through her, as I held her tight.

“We were on our way. We were just too slow.”

She shuddered more violently in my arms.

“I deserved it.”

What the actual fuck? “That’s bullshit. Now I want you to shut up until we get you back for the doc to look at. You need to conserve your strength.”

She fell silent, and the rest of the journey was more than a little unpleasant, trapped in the back of a van with a paralysed woman in my arms, and foul smelling vomit rolling around, dangerously close to my boots.

W hen we finally stopped moving, the prospects helped me out of the van, so I didn’t have to let go of Tori for even a second, and then I hurried into the infirmary to see Doc. He’d been briefed, and had been patching up some of my brothers, but the moment we arrived, he turned to look at the few guys still waiting, and told them to man up and sort themselves out.

Tori was whimpering quietly in my arms, and my muscles were admittedly starting to cramp. I had to relinquish my hold on her, but it was almost impossible to do willingly.

Doc pointed to the gurney that he’d set aside for Tori, and I gently rested her on it. When I tried to back off, she gasped, and tried to grab my t-shirt. Her fingers flinched at me, but she couldn’t grip the fabric.

“I’m not going anywhere, darlin’. I’ll be right here.” I finally eased away from her, just enough to rest her on the bed, so the doc could check her over.

He stepped closer, not touching her at all yet. My respect for the man intensified in that moment, because he knew she’d struggle with being touched right now.

“Hi Tori. I’m Doc. I’m sorry for what happened to you. Can I come a little closer, to see how you’re doing?” She made a sound, and tried to move closer to me.

“He’s not gonna hurt you, darlin’. He’s safe, okay? I’m right here.” I had her hand tightly gripped in both of mine, and I felt it twitch slightly.

“You’re getting your muscles back.”

“Don’t touch me,” she whispered, and I started to release her hand, thinking she wanted me to let go. “NO!” She practically screamed.

“Okay, okay… I’m hearing you. Calm down, darlin’.” She fell silent again, her breathing rapid and erratic.

I glanced at the doc. “So… she was dosed with something which paralysed her, but didn’t knock her out.”

He cursed under his breath.

“But clearly you’re getting some movement back now. That’s good. Do you know what the drug was?”

“No.” She seemed to be whispering a lot. Had he hurt her throat when he choked her? Had he done other things that we didn’t know about?

“Let’s get you some water, and some paracetamol,” Doc said, leaving us alone for a moment. Would that even be safe? We didn’t know what she’d been given. What if there was a reaction?

“Doc…”

“Relax. Paracetamol is the least likely thing to react with whatever Tori was given, and the poor girl is suffering. It’s not going to help like something stronger would, but it’s the safest option right now.”

She couldn’t hold the glass, so I helped her drink some, and then we washed down the pills.

“He cut her,” I blurted out, making Doc curse again.

“Can I take a look, Tori? Just to make sure you don’t need bandaging?”

“Small cuts,” she murmured. “ Always small cuts . Hurts like a bitch, but you don’t lose too much blood.”

She said it like it was familiar to her. She said always . Jesus.

“All over her body,” I growled at doc.

“Jesus. Okay… Tori, are any of them serious enough to need bandaging?”

She shook her head, and then her eyes widened a little.

“I moved my head. Oh god… moving is bad.”

She lurched to the side, and threw up again, losing the water and the pills in one go.

“Jesus.”

“Look, I can’t give you anything else without knowing what he gave you.”

“He said it was engineered for him. Even if I knew the name, it wouldn’t help. It paralysed me, but left me conscious, and able to feel everything.”

“Fucker,” I cursed, my fists accidentally clenching around her hand. She shot me a look, blinking fast.

“Tori, I need to ask you something. It’s intrusive, but…” Doc looked serious as fuck, and like he really didn’t want to ask the question.

I squeezed her hand gently, wanting to protect her from what I knew he was about to ask.

“Doc...” When he looked at me, I just nodded, a single jerk of my head.

Tori shuddered, and I was glad I’d answered for her, and prevented him from actually asking that question in her presence.

“Asshole. He’s dead, yes? Tell me he’s fucking dead.”

I nodded. “Look, Doc, she’s cut up, but not bleeding anymore. Can I take her to my room, and help her clean up? I’ll watch over her all night. We can come see you again in the morning, but she’s had a bastard of a day.”

He frowned, turning to address his patient.

“Is that okay with you, Tori?”

She glanced at me, almost shyly.

“Yes. I trust him.”

Wow. She trusts me . A few weeks ago she raped me, and I swore I’d get my revenge on her. And now, the tables had been turned so fucking viciously, that she’d been raped, and I was now her protector.

“Let’s get you up to my room, darlin’. Thanks, doc.”

She whispered her thanks too, and Doc handed me more paracetamol.

“In case she can keep them down later. Plenty of water to keep her hydrated please.”

I carried her to my room, passing by several of my brothers, who’d waited outside for us, their faces sombre.

“Taking her to my room. She doesn’t want to be examined.”

Reacher nodded, waving the others away.

“Tori, I’m Reacher.”

“Club President?” She whispered, and he nodded, a small smile on his face.

“You’re safe with Ryder, you know that, yeah?”

“Yes.”

He turned to me. “Anything you need, brother, just shout. I’ll put some prospects outside again for you. Use them for whatever you need.”

I nodded. “Thanks, Pres. Uh… I need to check back in with Doc tomorrow, but I guess we need a debrief?”

He glanced at Tori again. “Church tomorrow. We’ll work around you.” Wow .

“Thank you,” Tori whispered, and then I left him behind, and made my way to my room. It wasn’t the way I’d wanted her in my bed, but it was pretty clear to me now, that she was meant to be there.

Once I’d stepped inside my darkened room, and pushed the door closed, I finally breathed a sigh of relief, because we were alone. For the first time with both of us aware of it.

“I can’t hit the light switch without jostling you, so I’m gonna take you to the bed first, okay?”

Tori nodded, her face pressed against my chest. I knew my room well enough to navigate it in the dim light, making my way without incident to the bed, but the second I looked at it, I cursed.

“Fuck… I should get the bed remade first.”

Tori groaned. “It’s fine. I’m hardly clean myself.” The next sound she made was a broken sob, as she buried her face in my t-shirt again.