27. Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Jokester
“Essy!” I shout as her scream echoes into the receiver, a scream full of terror and pain that will forever haunt me. I spring off my stool with fear and panic as my girl’s struggles can be heard through the phone.
Having her answer the phone after a week and a half of radio silence, except one text, was fucking bliss, but now, I’m ready to fall apart.
“Jokester?” I hear Bullet as he enters my room at the Black Angels and Essy’s scream echoes again and he furrows his brows hearing it and I get into action. Dropping my phone on the floor, I turn and shove past him through the black door and state loudly, “Essy’s being attacked!” while passing Hammer in the hallway who is walking out of his room, his eyes going wide at my words.
I hear Bullet curse as I enter the reception area while Hammer shouts, “911 at the bakery!” before their footsteps follow me as I rush out the front door.
Instead of going to my bike, I sprint down the road, knowing it would be quicker as the street lights slowly begin to come on, one by one. Bullet and Hammer’s footsteps are right behind me, and my heart thunders as my girls screams echo around the cold air and Bullet curses, “Fuck no,” while I pick up speed hearing the horror and pain that she’s in, her pleas, “No please….” hitting my ears and my heart pounds with fear.
Horror washes over me as I get near the bakery to see a hooded figure laying over my girl, pinning her down as she struggles against him, her fucking legs bare, jeans next to her.
No, no, no!
My heart pounds as I helplessly watch him put his hand between them before a scream full of terror surrounds me, and my stomach tightens.
“Fuck, he’s raping her,” Hammer gasps as he picks up speed, and I roar out before I jump on the fucker, pushing him off her and we go flying onto the concrete as I land on top of him.
He grunts at the impact before he looks up and we lock eyes. His widen in shock before true fear shines back at me and without a second thought, not giving a shit his cock is hanging out, I bring my fist back and punch him in the temple, making his eyes roll back and his head slump, knocking him out instantly while sobs echo around us and I breathe heavily.
Fuck, Essy…
I climb off the fucker and quickly turn to my girl to find Bullet covering her lower half with his cut as Hammer tries to calm her, gently cupping the top of her head while her hand clutches something underneath Bullet’s cut and her body shakes.
Fuck, fuck, fuck….
My mind can’t catch up to what happened, and I look at the guy again.
Black hair, his eyes were hazel, he’s medium build.
I don’t recognize him, meaning I haven’t seen him at the bakery, the shop, or the club before, so why would he attack my girl?
Sniffling hard, I boot the fuckers head hard before breathing deeply then I rush over to Essy and kneel, instantly cupping her cheek to get her to look at me.
Her eye is swollen, and blood covers her face and hair… Fuck.
“Angel?” I rasp, and our eyes connect, her tears falling, and I murmur, “I’m here, baby. I’ve got you, everything is going to be okay.”
She shakes her head before lifting up her hand from underneath Bullet’s cut, showing a fuck lot of blood, and cries, “The baby….” As her body shakes with how violent she’s crying.
No, please, no….
Bullet and Hammer suck in breaths, unaware is pregnant, while I stare at the blood covering her hand, and I swallow hard and demand, “Bullet, we need a car, and we need one now,” while panic for our unborn child fills me.
That is a fuck load of blood, too much for her not to be losing our baby…
Essy cries, fear etching her face. Her main concern is the baby, not what she has just gone through, proving she wants this baby and now we could lose it.
She was attacked, raped, my girl, my sweet caring girl…
I swallow hard as I gently rub her swollen cheek with my thumb as Bullet's voice carries, “Dad, we need the club’s truck at Jacobs bakery. Essy’s been attacked. Get the prospects to bring the van as well,” just as a load of bike pipes echo in the air, cavalry already here, the club showing me what I, and what my girl, means to them.
I gently rub my hand through her hair as I grab her other hand, not caring about the blood, and mumble, “It is going to be okay, I promise. Everything will be okay, no matter what happens, we’ll get through it.”
She shakes her head and cries harder, her tears mixing with the blood covered on her face while her body shakes. I try and stay calm despite the urge to kill the unconscious fucker behind me.
My sole focus is on my girl, it has to be.
“It’s mainly cuts and bruises, only a few larger injuries that will heal within weeks,” Dr. Hammond says, but I don’t take my eyes off my girl, sedated in a hospital bed, my hand tightly clasping hers.
When we arrived an hour ago, she was inconsolable because she started cramping, and if she didn’t realize it before, she realized, at that moment that she wanted this baby. Unfortunately, it didn’t matter what anyone said to try and calm her down, the more she cramped, the more panic surrounded her and the doctors had to sedate her more for her own protection.
“All the tests have come back clear,” he says, “she has eighteen stitches on her inner thighs and five stitches to her brow. They are dissolvable, and as long as she takes it easy, they should heal in no time. Now her eye is bruised but thankfully not broken though she does have two cracked ribs, road rash on her stomach which will heal easily and a concussion. Again, she needs to take it easy, and thankfully the gash on the back of her head is only superficial, no stitches required,” he clears his throat, “Also there is some tearing to her vaginal walls so no sexual activities until she is fully healed and all the necessary tests have been completed to ensure no transmitted diseases have been passed on. She will have to repeat these in two weeks.”
I flinch as I squeeze Essy’s hand tighter and Adam asks carefully, “What about the baby?” Knowing I’m a ticking timebomb and needs to keep me under control.
Aiden is with Cody. He wants to be here, but right now, the one person Essy would like to be okay is her baby brother, so when I called, Adam agreed to my suggestion, much to Cody’s dismay, though he understood so right about now, he’s making brownies for his birthday and for his mom’s grave.
Dr. Hammond clears his throat and states, “She is nearly ten weeks, and there is a heartbeat. As long as she takes it easy for the next month or so, then I don’t see why she can’t have a normal pregnancy.”
Relief fills me, and I slowly close my eyes and place my girl's hand that I have not let go of to my lips.
I want this baby. It’s a part of her and a part of me, and despite us still trying to find our feet and enjoy each other, I want it despite it not being part of our plans right now. I know that after Essy’s reaction to seeing the blood and experiencing the cramps, she also wants it.
“Why would someone want to do this to her,” I whisper with pain after the doctor walks out, and Adam replies, “I don’t know, but you need to go and find out.”
I look up at him, and we lock our eyes because surely he did not just command me to leave my fucking girl after she’s been attacked?
He nods to the door and states, “The whole brotherhood is outside this room. It is time for you to go home, Damian,” I swallow, about to refute, but he commands, “It is time to put that cut back on your back where it belongs and become Jokester again,” his nostrils flare, “It is time you go and find out who this guy was and why he did this and then take revenge for my daughter, the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with.”
I lick my bottom lip and look at my unconscious girl. I go outside that door and put that cut back on it won’t come off again. This will be it. I don’t know if I’m ready for that, but I need to be prepared for Essy. She was targeted, and it’s time I became the person I was raised to be for her.
It’s time to become a brother again.
I stand and bend over my girl, gently kissing her head. I mumble, “I will be back soon, angel. I love you.” Then I look at Adam and nod before walking out of the room and down the hallway, ignoring the nurses eyeing me.
I can feel the energy becoming electric as I walk out of the exit before I see the brothers all parked in a line, Bullet is in the middle with his dad holding my cut.
I don’t think, I don’t even give myself a moment to try to change my mind. Instead, I walk over to him, grab my cut, and put it on like it's second nature all while I keep my face cold and angry.
The brothers rev their engines in celebration, and I climb my bike, not questioning how it got here. I rev it before spinning out of the parking lot and speed down the road, knowing exactly where I need to go.
Time to get some answers and then revenge.
I tilt my head at the man tied to a chair in the middle of the floor at the club’s torture chamber twenty minutes later from where I’m leaning against the wall.
Never fucking thought I'd be back in this room, yet here I am, all because this fucker decided to target my girl. Because of him, I’m back in my leather, ready to torture and kill.
“I don’t recognize him,” I say lowly to the brothers around me who are allowing me time to try to figure out if I knew him.
When I knocked him out, I didn’t recognize him, but I thought maybe I was just on adrenaline, but again, I don’t know him. I haven’t even seen him in passing.
“He’s been out of it since you hit him but what Stone managed to find out is that his name is Decan Handler, he’s twenty-five and lives in a hostel, no family or job and likes to drink,” Bullet says, and I nod, keeping my eyes on the figure.
A prospect I don’t know the name of walks over with a bucket of freezing water and throws it over the fucker that tried to rape my girl. He jumps awake coughing and spluttering, “Wha… what?” and tries to move his arm to wipe away the fluid from his eyes, and the moment I see panic hit him because he can’t, I fucking relish it.
He looks around the room, his eyes widening seeing men in leather, and he stutters, “What, uh, what-what–” His words trail off as Butcher steps forward and tilts his head, and as soon as the soon-to-be dead fucker sees his president patch his face pales and he lies, “I-I didn’t do nothing to the club….”
Butcher doesn’t address him, instead, he calls, “Jokester,” and I try to squash the feeling he’s giving me right now, a feeling of wanted and home, a feeling of belonging.
I haven’t had them since before I was sixteen.
Pushing off the wall, I take the knife off Acid as he holds it out to me and I walk over to the man who looks ready to piss himself, and when close, I don’t speak. Instead, I bring the knife down on his thigh hard, the blade pushing through his skin and muscles with ease and he screams, “What did I do?!”
I lean forward, ensuring my face is close to his as he pants and tears trail his cheeks and I sneer, “You tried to rape my pregnant girl, succeeding in entering her after fracturing her ribs and causing stitches not only just on her brow but also on her thighs!”
“She’s pregnant?” I hear Slick whisper in shock, but I ignore him and pull the knife out of this fucker’s thigh, making him grunt, but he soon screams when I stab it just above the other slash causing blood to spew out of the wounds.
“She has a gash on the back of her head,” I continue and pull the knife out again before, this time, I move to the side and grab hold of his little finger and slowly, I bring the knife to it and begin to carve like I‘m carving a bird for thanksgiving dinner. He screams and thrashes as I make it through to the bone, and I mutter, “She could have lost our child, and why, huh? Why?” before I put a lot of pressure on the digit and slice his finger off and he screams, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry….” But I ignore him, and I grab his index finger next, ready to carve it off, but pause when the guy cries, “My girl said she threatened her, she begged me to do it, please, please stop…”
I lick my bottom lip and step back and confirm, “You tried raping my woman over whatever bullshit your girl said?”
He swallows, sweat beading his forehead, spot running out of his nose, and he admits, “She said she tried to kill her and-and take her stuff, that she wanted me t-to fight f-for her, and that is-is the kind of punishment she deserves for trying to take what is hers.”
A horrible fucking feeling fills me, my stomach tightens, and I ask, “Your girl wouldn’t be Bethany by any chance now, would it?”
The room becomes tense, but a bang echoes when the guy nods, and I know either Butcher, my dad, or Bullet must have kicked the wall.
Essy didn’t end things, and the bitch must have decided this was the best solution all round. Why not have my girl raped so she wouldn’t want me anymore huh? Then she could try and swoop in while I’m all heartbroken over the breakup hoping I’d give her a chance and throw it in Essy’s face every day.
That’s better punishment instead of death for taking something she saw as hers all because she was entitled. Fucking bitch!
I chuckle darkly at the fool and get in his face, and state, “You’ve been fucking duped,” and he frowns. I continue, “The men behind me, one is the president of the Black Angels MC, her father, the other, the future president, her brother and me. I’m the man who was supposed to become vice president and I was forced to date her because she wanted me, the patch I would have held. Me, whose girl you just raped, a punishment she fooled you into completing because I fell in love with someone who wasn’t her.”
The pulse in his neck goes quicker, and I focus on it as he stutters, “N-no, she-she, no, please…”
His pulse accelerates, and for the first time in six months, I bring the knife up and without thought, I slice it against his pulse with ease before looking into his eyes, and I watch as he chokes on his own blood, his eyes wide, tears falling.
“Rot in hell, mother fucker,” I mumble before his head drops, and I step back.
“Damian,” Bullet whispers and I sniff hard as I drop the knife before turning and leaving the room without a single word, the men cursing behind me. I ignore them all and head to the yard at the clubhouse, my goal, Butcher's house.
Bethany is still banned from the clubhouse, but I know she is on club property.
“Damian,” I hear gasped as I enter the large yard from the side and I turn and notice the woman of the hour dressed in a skimpy black dress, one Victoria used to wear to school a lot, and I change my direction.
She looks over me, not realizing the danger she’s in, instead she eyes the cut back on my back and her pupils dilate as she grins, twirling her finger in her brown curled hair, but her grin falters when she looks at my face and sees the fury. “Damian are you okay, baby?” she questions again, a little fear showing in her eyes, fear I relish.
She caused this, she did this all because I didn’t want her.
Butcher and Dad should never have forced me to date her at her wishes because they also created this evil vindicated monster.
I get to her and bring my hand up. She doesn’t flinch, instead, she leans towards me, and I know she thinks I’m going to cup the back of her head to kiss her, something I have never done making her an idiot to believe I would do it.
I grab her neck, making her eyes widen as she gasps in shock, and I squeeze before lifting her up off the floor, and she kicks her legs as her hands come to mine at her neck, her nails digging into my skin as she begins to panic.
I feel every brother behind me, but not one steps in, making her kick out harder seeing she’s alone.
“You had my girl raped,” I sneer, and she freezes while she continues to struggle for breath. “When you saw that your pathetic lies about me cheating on her, knocking you up had failed, you had her attacked tonight and raped hoping I wouldn’t want her anymore, my pregnant girl!”
Her eyes widen further as she chokes, and fury takes over as I black out.
Now, I’m not one for hurting women but the bitch, she isn’t a woman, she’s a monster.
Tightening my hold on her neck, I lift her higher, then with all my strength and doing a move I’ve seen Bullet do in the ring over the years, I bring her down hard, ensuring her legs swing up, and I slam her onto the concrete, making sure her head hits it hard, as hard as Essy had hers hit, and she goes limp. Knocked out as some blood becomes visible just underneath her head and I don’t even feel satisfied, if anything, I want to grab the knife and slice her throat too.
I hear screams from the women and sobs, but none walk over, probably hearing my words, and I breathe heavily as I stand up straight and lock eyes with her mama, Louise.
Tears stain her face, but instead of pleading with me to spare her daughter, she whispers, “Welcome home, Jokester,” and the women all nod, not one coming to Bethany’s aid.
I give her a nod in respect knowing she’s probably torn, then turn to Bullet and rasp, “I need to get back to my girl. Can you contact Cody and see how Aiden is doing and if you want me back on this property, back in the house I built, get that trash,” I point at his sister, “off club property because I can guarantee the next time I see her, I will kill her. I won’t put you, your mama or your dad first like I just have by sparing her, the woman who has had my girl attacked and raped, my girl who could lose our child.”
He nods seriously, and I turn and walk away towards the gate without a word.
I have a girl to see, and hopefully, she hasn’t woken up while I’m not there. I don’t need her to think I don’t care or that I see her differently.
I fucking love her, and we’ll get through this, but whether Bethany survives is a different story.