Storm the Night: An Iron Guardians MC Romance Novella

Chapter 8

Acall came in from Romeo. “Hey man, what’s up?” I asked.

“He turned the lights out about 15 minutes ago, but I haven’t seen him come outside, bro. His truck is still sitting the down street.”

“Go around back. Calliope mentioned that dickhead had a classic car in the garage. See if it’s still in there.” My knee was bouncing, I was so damn nervous. I pulled another cigarette out, lighting it to help cool my nerves. If he had left and we didn’t know it, then he could’ve already been at the cabin. We were still a good ten minutes out from there.

“Fuck man. The garage is empty. I’m sorry, Ryder.”

“FUCK!” I yelled for the second time that night.

“What do you want me to do, bro?”

“Go back to the clubhouse. Wait there in case we need anything.” I instructed him.

“Alright. I really am sorry, Ry.”

“We’ll update you in a few.” I hung up. I knew it wasn’t Romeo’s fault. We asked him to sit out front and he did that. Colin was a sneaky snake of a lawyer. Getting out of his house quietly so our guy didn’t see him, hadn’t surprised me at all. It didn’t make me any less pissed or worried but still, not surprised.

I looked over at Doc who was driving. “We gotta step on it. Dickhead left out the back and Romeo didn’t see him. I’m sure he’s already at the cabin. I’ve got a real bad feeling.”

Doc didn’t say anything, just upped his speed. It was hard to see through the storm and there was a fog rolling in that made it even more difficult. We were getting close as Doc turned down a road that was surrounded my dense woods made up of pine trees. The paved road turned gravel and if it weren’t for the fog, I would’ve been worried someone would see the kickup of dust from our van.

“There! I can see lights, pull off into the woods here.” I said to Doc. “Kid, lemme have your binocs.” Sawyer passed his binoculars to me, and I looked through the windshield as best I could given the rain. I could only see one car, dickheads classic. “Here, Prez. Take a look.”

Doc took them and started mumbling. “This pussy has a Chevelle. You know I love my cars. Piece of shit doesn’t deserve that car. What are ya thinkin’ Ry?”

“I’m gonna go. I want Sawyer with me as an extra set of eyes.” I looked back at him and he nodded. “One of us will call you when we want you to come up with the van. My first priority is finding Calliope.”

Sawyer and I hopped out of the van and made our way through the wood line toward the house. We went around to the side of the house, but the curtains were closed on all the windows so looking inside of windows wasn’t as easy of an option as we hoped. “What do you want to do, Ry?” Sawyer asked.

I needed to think. “There has to be a way we can see what’s going on inside.” Suddenly we heard the back door open making us both stiffen against the side of the house. Sawyer was in front of me, so he attempted to peek around the corner. Sawyer looked back at me and motioned that dickhead was on the phone and then we heard him yell.

“I fucked up! She isn’t moving and I can’t get her to wake up.” My stomach sank. He hurt her. “I’m not taking her to the hospital. How the fuck will I explain this? Just get here NOW.”

We didn’t know who he was talking to, but we needed to be prepared. I pulled out my phone and text Doc to let him know what was happening and to be on the lookout for another car.

The thunder and lightning cracked overhead again as the rain poured down in sheets. “Sawyer, we can’t wait. As soon as he turns his back, let’s go in after him.” Sawyer nodded at me.

Dickhead sounded frantic. “Ok… Yeah… OK, I hear you. Bye.” He turned his back to go inside and Sawyer took off, I followed immediately behind him.

“Don’t fucking move, asshole.” Sawyer said with his gun pointed at the back of Colin’s head. I was right behind him as we pushed him inside the house and closed the door.

“Where the fuck is she?” I asked him.

“You’re making a big fucking mistake. Do you know who I am?” Colin said with a laugh.

I walked around to the front of him and shoved my gun under his chin. “You’re the guy I’ll make disappear if you don’t tell me where she is.”

“Fuck you. There’s someone on the way. You guys are fucked!”

Sawyer laughed and I said, “We’re two steps ahead of you, asshole. There’s a van full of our guy’s outside waiting for whatever fucker is on his way here.”

Colin looked defeated. “She’s in that room there but the door is locked. The keys are on the counter.” He motioned over to the kitchen.

Grabbing the keys off the counter, I made my way to the room he said she was in. “Sawyer, keep him on his knees. Shoot him if he fucking moves.”

Unlocking the door, I opened it slowly, raising my gun in case there was someone on the other side other than Calliope. I didn’t see her. The bathroom was right inside to the right, so I went in there first and cleared it. Looking up I noticed the window broken and that’s when I saw the blood. Moving to the other side of the bed, I saw Calliope laying there. I immediately kneeled down, setting my gun on the floor beside me. “Grace…” In that moment, I didn’t know why I called her Grace but that’s who she was to me. I tried to roll her over to figure out where she was hurt. She was bleeding from the back of her head. “Damn it.”

Reaching up onto the bed, I pulled a pillow down and removed the pillowcase. Using my knife, I cut it apart into long strips to wrap around her head. “Grace, it’s me, Ryder. Can you hear me? I’m gonna get you outta here. Help is coming.” I kept tying until her head wound was completely covered.

Without being intrusive, I tried to look over the rest of her body so I could attempt to carry her out of there. She had bruises all over her arms and if her arms looked like that, I could only imagine how the rest of her body looked. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to torture him the way he tortured her and then bury him so he could never do it again. The agony she’d been through. The pain.

Slowly, I picked her up and held her close to me. “Wake up, Grace.” I whispered to her as we moved across the room to the open door. “Wake up, pretty girl.”

When I reached the living room, Sawyer had Colin on his knees still. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to take her out to the van.” I said to him.

“She’s my fucking wife!” Just as Colin spewed that shit, Sawyer hit him over the back of the head with his gun, making Colin fall over onto the floor.

“Don’t kill him…not yet.” I said to Sawyer.

He kneeled to check his pulse and looked back at me. “He’s fine.”

I nodded. “I’ll be right back.” It was still storming outside, but D came running up to me. “D, take her and put her and stay with her please until I come back.” D reached for her and took her in his arms and then went for the van.

Once I saw them get inside, I turned back to the house. Walking up to Colin, I kicked him just as hard as I know he hurt Grace. “Get the fuck up, asshole.” Reaching for him, I forced him awake with a few slaps to his face and adjusted him into a sitting position. Sawyer and I both looked at the front door when we heard someone come in. It was Prez and he had Colin’s friend with him.

“Get over there with your boyfriend, fucker.” Prez said as he pushed him toward Colin.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble. Colin called me so I came.”

“Shut the fuck up.” I said to him. “We heard his conversation with you. You were coming here to help him figure out what to do about Calliope.”

“Calliope…” Colin muffled through his bloody lip. “Her name is Callie.”

Before I could think, I was on him with my gun shoved in his mouth. “Her name is Calliope Grace. Did you even know her middle name?” He shook his head no. “That’s what the fuck I thought, you selfish prick. Here’s how this is going to go.” Now he looked scared. “Calliope is going to file for divorce and you’re not going to contest it. She doesn’t need your money. She doesn’t need anything from you. And if you come near her again… I fucking swear…”

“Ok ok ok…please…” His friend spoke for him.

Removing the gun from Colin’s mouth. “Please what?”

“You can have her. No wife of mine is a whore.”

I didn’t think, I just acted, hitting him over the head again and punching him relentlessly until his face was almost unrecognizable. Prez came and pulled me off before I killed him. Prez looked at his friend and said, “Hey… make sure he does what he’s supposed to do. Otherwise, next time, I won’t stop him. We’ll be watching you both.”

“I swear. I’ll make sure he doesn’t contest the divorce.”

“Let’s go.” Prez said.

Sawyer grabbed me as I stood standing over Colin wishing to just finish him. “Let’s go, Ry. Calliope needs you. We need to get her to a hospital.” Just the mention of her name snapped me out of my hate filled trance. I turned and ran out the door and to the van.

Climbing in, I took D’s spot and held onto Calliope as we took off. She still wasn’t awake. I leaned down to her face so she could feel my warmth. “Grace. It’s me, Ryder. Please wake up. We’re gonna get you fixed up. Hang in there for me, please.” We rode the storm out all the way to the hospital and I held her, praying to whatever higher being existed that she would be ok.