Chapter 13 Maverick
Maverick
Hearing my brother say those fucking words sent me over the edge, but not only that.
They fucking beat him to a pulp, and I’ve about had it with the Radleys.
I want them all dead. Fuck this shit! I don’t care if they are one of the founding families.
I don’t care that we aren’t supposed to touch them.
I don’t care about any of it. They hurt my Beauty.
Been hurting my Beauty, and that shit ends tonight.
My phone goes off, but I ignore it. They are not going to talk me out of this! This needs to fucking happen!
Shifting gears, I gun it towards her house because I know Braxton wouldn’t be stupid enough to break into the Radleys' house, especially in a gated community. If this were Caspian or Axel—that would be a different story. They would blow the whole place up just to get to her. “Fuckkk!” I scream, pounding my fists against the steering wheel as my phone goes off again. I shouldn’t have left the house.
I should’ve stayed and helped Harley, but the more Brax spoke, the madder I got.
This move might very well get me killed, but I need to get to her!
I need to save her, and I’ll figure out the rest later.
As long as she’s safe and with me, everything else can fuck off!
My phone rings again, and this time I pick it up.
“What?” I growl down the line.
“Mav, where are you?” Caspian yells as I come to a red light.
“Going to her. Where else would I go?” I chide because that was a dumb fucking question.
“Pull the fuck over and we will go together,” he orders, and I growl.
“You are not talking me out of this, Caspian,” I spit, and he laughs.
“Trust me, I won’t. If anything, I want to help,” he says, and I pull off to the nearest gas station and wait for him.
“I’m close to her house, at the gas station on the corner,” I tell him.
“Be there in five,” he says, and the line goes dead. If he’s not here on time, I’m out, and I’ll do it by myself.
A few minutes later, the rev of his engine pulling into the lot signals his arrival.
He parks next to me and gets out of his truck, lighting a joint.
I follow suit and lean back against my car with my arms folded over my chest. He hands me the joint, and I take it from him, bringing it to my lips, sucking in the woodsy aroma.
I needed this—it helps me calm my nerves, and it seems my brother has been paying attention.
“What’s the plan, Mav?” he asks as I pass him the joint.
“I’m going to get her! It’s pretty simple,” I answer, and he laughs which makes me grit my teeth.
“That’s not a plan. That’s asking to be gunned down before you even make it out of the car, and I don’t feel like losing a brother tonight,” he says, taking a hit then passing it back to me.
“Then what do you suggest? I’m not letting her stay with them for another fucking minute, Casp.
It’s been long enough and I’m done, especially after hearing what they did to her and seeing what the fuck they did to our brother.
Speaking of which.” I stop, take a hit of the joint then pass it back to him.
“Why are you so calm about it? Brax is hot headed. I have anger issues but you take the cake. You are usually kill first ask questions later. So what’s up? ” I question, and he chuckles.
“Axel is in an institution, Brax was just beaten and witnessed the girl we all have a thing for being raped. Harley is trying to keep it together, and you dipped. Internally, I want to burn the world for her. But you four are my main concern right now. Plus, power in numbers. I may be the most impulsive out of you all, but tonight, we need to be fucking smart,” he fires back, and he’s right.
It’s just weird seeing him be level headed, but it makes sense.
“Okay, I get it. So again, what do you suggest?” I ask, taking the joint from him.
I take a deep inhale and let it out slowly, then stomp it out with my sneaker.
Suddenly, a few cops roll by along with an ambulance heading down Presley’s block.
We both look at one another and walk towards the sidewalk to see where they stop.
“You don’t think—” he says as we see them stop and quickly get out right in front of her driveway.
“Fuck!” I yell and start running down the block with Caspian right next to me. We make it to her walkway and immediately a cop stops us.
“Can I help you boys?” he asks, and I roll my eyes.
“This is my girlfriend’s house. Is everything okay?” I ask, and he looks between us and shakes his head.
“We can’t allow you to go in there. So, you both will have to wait here until we know what is going on,” he tells us, and Caspian growls.
“What was the call for?” I ask, trying to remain calm as we watch numerous EMTs coming and going out of the front door, and officers taping off the area.
I look at Caspian with wide eyes and clear my throat, hoping the officer will answer my question.
“Sir, do you know what happened?” I ask again, and he huffs.
“I don’t know the full details just that it was a possible attempted suicide,” he says, and my heart drops. Then I see the EMTs bringing a body out. I run for her as the officers tackle Caspian, but I make it to her, fuck them.
“Sir, sir, I’m going to need you to give us some room,” the EMT states, but I don't. I grab her hand that's full of blood, her wrists are bandaged, and my heart just shatters. Breaks right here on this grass as I’m ripped away from her still body.
“Get the fuck off of me. That’s my girlfriend," I yell as the cops bring me to my knees. I look up and see Mr. Jake Radley Senior smirking at me. I thrash against the cop holding me down.
“Son, you need to relax,” he shouts, and I growl.
“What you need to do is arrest that prick. He raped her tonight. Arrest him!” I yell, but they do nothing. I’m lifted off the ground and thrown onto the pavement. Caspian grabs me, helping me to my feet.
“Calm down. Let’s go. We ain’t going to win this tonight!” he whispers in my ear. I turn and look at Jake Senior who is still watching us and I flip him the bird and storm off back to my car with Caspian on my tail.
“We need to go home!” Caspian growls.
“She tried to kill herself. Her hand was covered in blood and her wrist was wrapped. What the fuck?” I yell as we continue to walk.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” he shouts as I try to take a deep breath. Why? Why would she want to leave us? I know that's a selfish thought but I wouldn’t survive without her. That girl is my best fucking friend. My first for everything. I cannot lose her. I stop in my tracks and look at my brother.
“We need to do something. We have to get her!” I yell, and he nods, pulling me along to our cars.
“We will get her back!” he promises, and I nod.
“But most of all, we will kill them all. Fuck it! They want a war. Now they have one. Let’s go update Harley,” he yells over his hood, and I nod again.
“See you at home,” I tell him as I get in my car and start the engine.
I drive home like a robot as tears fall down from my eyes.
I pray that she is okay as I pound my fists against the steering wheel, then shift roughly, pushing my car to its limits.
I need my Beauty. I need to see her gorgeous eyes and that sexy smile.
I need to see her chest rise and smell her hair.
I just need her… Because what is Beast without his Beauty?
Walking into the house, Brax is passed out on the couch, and Harley is drinking a beer. Once we are both inside, he nods for us to go into the kitchen. He walks to the fridge, grabbing more beers as we all sit around the table.
“So what happened?” he asks, and Caspian updates him on everything. A full bottle of beer goes flying across the kitchen and shatters against the wall.
“I don’t know how much longer I can do this shit with the Radleys. I don’t fucking care about the deal granddad has with them! That shit ends tonight! Fuck them and the contracts. If we lose money, oh well. She is more important than money,” Harley says, but Caspian holds his hand up.
“How much money do we owe them for the Dungeon? Can we buy them out so they can’t shut it down? The shop is ours along with a few properties, but The Dungeon and half the land at the mansion, we share with them. Do we have enough to cover both?” he asks, and Harley shakes his head.
“Fuck! We are going to have to give up something. The revenue that came from the land is a huge loss, and right now, we are going to need all the money we can get,” Harley says, and I raise a brow.
“I thought we were set, that the businesses were just bullshit income,” I ask, and Harley nods.
“We are and it is, but…” He trails off, taking a sip of his beer. “We have another issue,” he says, and my eyes snap to his. What else could be going on? Like what the fuck?
“What is it?” Caspian growls, bringing his beer to his lips, then reaches into his pocket, taking out a joint. Thank god. I take it from his fingers and grab the lighter, sparking it up. I take a deep hit then pass it to Harley. He takes it from me doing the same thing, then handing it to Caspian.
“I got a call from Hillsboro,” he says, and we all freeze. “Axel is under evaluation and is under lock and key. He isn’t allowed visitors at the moment,” he informs us as Caspian passes me the joint.
“What happened? Is he okay?” Casp asks, concerned laced in his tone as his chest heaves the more impatient he gets. When it comes to Axel—Casp is like a rabid dog. No one hurts our little brother and lives.
“I’m not sure–”
“What do you mean you aren’t sure,” Casp yells, standing from his chair, pounding his fists against the table.
“That’s not a good enough answer for me.
I know they are hurting him, and I’m not there to fucking kill them,” he growls, chucking the joint on the table.
I pick it up and take another hit. Fuck my fucking life tonight.
“They wouldn't tell me anything other than he killed a few orderlies and the lawyers are going to find out exactly what happened,” Harley says with a look of defeat spreading across his features.
“You know that’s fucking bullshit, right? Like you know the only way we are going to find the truth out is by speaking with Axel—”
“But he’s not speaking to anyone. All he says is Presley. We can’t get her to him. So what the fuck do we do?” I say, and Caspian pounds his fists again.
“He will talk to me. Every time he would say her name, we didn’t give him anything. We didn’t tell him where she was—nothing. We kept avoiding it. He needs answers, so if we give him what he wants, I might be able to get him to speak, at least to me,” Caspian growls.
“The problem is–the institution wants to press charges,” Harley says.
“They what? We need to get him out of there. He doesn’t belong in a cage like a dog!
We fucked up that day. We didn’t inform the staff that he has trauma and doesn’t like to be touched.
If they would’ve known, they would’ve been able to treat him differently,” Caspian states, and I nod because he’s right.
We were so concerned with their lives hanging in the balance that we all weren’t thinking.
“Can’t do anything about that now! Fuck!” Harley yells, and I sit back in my chair, thinking how the fuck we got here. “They want to keep him there indefinitely. Which means there will be a court hearing and a sentencing. We have to stop that from happening,” he adds, and I take a deep breath.
“Let’s bust him out, we can call the Kings and ask for their help.
We need underground strings to be pulled.
We can’t do this shit ourselves. We may come from old money, but we need connections,” I suggest, and Harley's eyes widen, but Caspian slowly turns his head towards me and a small smile lifts at the corner of his lip.
“That might work. How much time do we have? I can make some phone calls and see if we can get there,” he says.
“I want to know who runs that place. Who can we pay off or maybe threaten,” Harley says, and Caspian's smile widens.
“You look creepy when you smile, I prefer the stone cold look,” I tell him, and we all laugh.
“Me too,” Harley adds, and we laugh even harder.
“Looks like it’s going to be a long night.
I’ll make some calls, Mav call the hospital and see if you can get an update on Presley.
Harley, keep an eye on Brax. He should be out until the morning, but I don’t know how he’s going to wake up from that shit,” Caspian says. I nod, finishing the joint and my beer.
Come hell or high water, we are going to save our brother and our girl because what is this life without them in it?