Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
Parker (Spider)
Every single monster under Victor's thumb will die today.
"Parker."
I'll rip their spines from their throats and slice open their stomachs. Dancing in their entrails will be the finale.
"Parker!"
For every drop of blood that Cassie has lost, will be another hour of torture for Victor. He gets to keep his spine as I dislocate every fucking vertebra from broken hip to strangled neck.
"PARKER!"
Handlebars trembling in the wake of my shock, I suck in a heavy breath and turn my focus back to the road. "Fuck."
"Jesus, man," Koa mutters through the speakers in my helmet. "Are you okay?"
Looking to my right, I see Koa's helmet aimed at me as he weaves his bike around potholes and rocks. The terrain around Victor's property is hazardous, pissing me off even more.
"Parker," Maddox's voice comes through next. "I need you to keep it together."
"No," I snarl, eyesight zipping into pinpricks. All but zooming in on the clubhouse I can't see yet. "Cassie needs my crazy."
Ripley grunts and speeds past us. My rapid breaths fill the suffocating space with humidity and urgency. I want this helmet off. I need to see Cassie alive.
She better be alive.
"Not yet." Mads pulls me out of my spiral again. "Connor and his group will bust the gates down first. We follow behind and let them take care of the Chain Smokers."
Fuck no! "They deserve to die, not just be detained!"
Maddox slows his bike and swaps places with Koa in a move we've done thousands of times. With Koa close behind Ripley, and Mads beside me, we close the distance between us and our woman.
I can practically feel Maddox's glare at me through his pitch-black helmet. "Would you rather beat some guys up or rescue Cassie? Our only goal is her. Not them."
"Killing will be a bonus," Ripley growls above the rev of his engine.
Everything in me screams for blood. Victor has unleashed a beast I had hoped would stay dormant. My worst nightmare has come true. Nothing will keep me from meeting it head on with bullets and fists.
Beneath the angry atoms that fuel my rage is a warm current begging me to prioritize the thing that matters most. The reason we're speeding through the woods and orchestrating a rescue mission.
Because that's what this is. A rescue mission. Not a killing spree.
"We find her. If I happen to get a little blood on my hands along the way, I'll appreciate it," I grind out, battling my inner beast into submission.
Mom told me to set it free for Cassie. Not to quench its thirst for death.
"Pull back!" Maddox orders suddenly. No hesitation. We obey, our brothers following suit behind us. "Let them through!"
It pains me to slow down and let the blacked out SUVs charge past us, but I do it anyway. Just like I'd take a lifetime of torture for Cassidy to live.
Around the curve through the trees, the first few cars disappear from my sight, but the complete shattering of the tall fence can be heard over the rumble of twenty engines.
The pops of gunfire light my insides up in a flame from hell, preparing me for the inevitability of sacrificing my soul for the woman I love.
"HOLD!" Maddox bellows.
White-knuckling the handlebars as other men get to avenge my woman, I feel the tension rising. I'm about to snap. Listen to the boss. Don't fly off the rails.
"Mads," I warn, voice tight with barely restrained fury. I can't hold it in for much longer. Cassie's in there, bleeding, crying, pissing herself with fear and pain. "MADDOX!"
"GO GO GO!"
There's no easing off the clutch this time as I throttle the bike into gear. Cassidy's life is on the line. Hesitation isn't allowed.
Shouts and orders are just fucking background noise as I speed through the crumpled gates. Bodies on the ground and guns aimed in my direction go ignored. I fold over, forcing my body and bike to be as aerodynamic as possible.
Never have I rolled the throttle and dropped the clutch as fucking fast as I do now, screeching to a stop at the front door of the clubhouse. I've also never dropped my bike to the ground, skipping the kickstand in favor of scratching the silver paint.
Nothing matters more than Cassidy Sterling. My sunshine. Our Starlight.
I sprint past the cloud of dust the four of us kicked up in our haste and follow Ripley through the busted wooden door into the building where our girl is being tortured.
Women cower in the corners, glasses shatter against the walls, bullets fly and agents with cuffs tackle the monsters who walk above Cassidy. I have no choice but to trust Ripley's path through the chaos, even after a bullet grazes my thigh with a lick of lava heat.
"THERE!" Ripley shouts moments before ramming his shoulder into a door and practically falling down the steep, dark staircase.
"Careful," I hiss, grabbing the collar of his cut. He doesn't bother to reply as the four of us rush down the stairs.
Before I can do anything to stop the trajectory of this moment, a large body slams into Ripley, sending him crashing through another door. I don't have a spare second to help as the attacker rounds on me with far too many teeth bared to be normal.
Victor.
Every shitty, abusive, downright evil thing he's done flashes through my mind.
"Parker!" Koa screams, lunging for me at the same time Victor does. He doesn't need to worry, though. Not now that every ounce of vengeance clouds my vision in a haze of red.
Using the momentum of Victor's pursuit, I twist around his reach and wrap my fingers around the back of his neck. With the cement wall as his destination now and my muscles forcing the outcome, Victor's face explodes in a spray of blood.
Fingers on his pulse points, I yank him back and ram his face into the wall over and over again. Not once. Not twice. But three times.
Three cathartic, disgusting, garbled times.
Each squelch of his brain matter clears the red haze from my vision, allowing me to see this for what it really is. I didn't sacrifice my morals or my soul to save Cassidy. I wielded them and eliminated a threat to innocent lives.
With that thought, I retract my hold on the disgusting mess of a corpse and watch as his lifeless body thumps to the puddle of blood at my feet. Unrecognizable.
Vicious I may be, but always for Cassidy and always for good. Definitely a gray area. Hmm, like some of the chunks of Victor's brain.
"CASSIDY!"
Just like that, the life I took ceases to exist because when I turn around, what I find blinds me.
I force myself to ask the question I've dreaded since the day I laid eyes on her. "Is she dead?"