Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The events of the night before lingered on his mind. Vicious wasn’t one to take a life without cause. Jerome, Dawson, and who he later learned was Clay needed to be put down for what they had done to Sway. Thinking about Sway, he desperately wanted to hear her voice. Even if things ended, he needed to know she would be okay.
Teller stepped inside the room where Vicious was packing his bag. After the evening’s events, they had all come back to the clubhouse. Vicious had disappeared into his room while the rest of the boys partied it up. The entire thing was to have an unmovable alibi for everyone. Not that anyone would ever find the bodies, but still, they wanted all bases covered.
Noise behind him had Teller glancing at the door. Leaning against the doorjamb was Sway. He struggled not to smile. The woman was one hell of an ol’ lady, even if she didn’t know it. For a woman to go through what she’d endured and still hold herself tight, that shit spoke volumes. Nodding for her to come in the room, he watched her shove off the door. Holding his finger to his lips, he let her know to remain silent.
“Vicious, are we stopping off at Sway’s?”
Vicious grunted, “She’s done with me.”
“Am I now? Funny, I thought we were in it for the long haul.” Sway watched Vicious spin around. She almost moved to him, but when he winced, she stayed put. “Are we done, Vicious?” Sway was struggling to keep her shit together when all she wanted to do was run into his arms.
“Sway.” His eyes bounced from her to his President. “Teller?”
Teller laughed at the expression on his brother’s face. “Did you think we left her swinging in the wind?” Shaking his head, Teller leaned in and kissed Sway’s cheek. “Take care of his ass, little sister.” He left the room, snickering to himself.
When it was just her and Vicious standing silently in the room, she raked her eyes over her man. Sighing, Sway shook her head at him. For a man normally with a lot to say, he seemed speechless. “Did you or did you not tell me I belonged to you?” She took a step closer to him.
“I did.”
“Are you sure? Because I thought I was since the first time you looked up at me from between my damn thighs.” She cocked a look at him. If he forgot that night, she’d have to remind him.
“I remember everything about that night. I remember your taste, and the feel of your pussy gripping my cock. ”
There was her crude man. “I love when you talk dirty to me.”
“You think that’s dirty? Baby, wait until I get you home.”
“What are you waiting for? There’s a bed right here.” She saw the change in his expression and it wasn’t one she liked. “Where’s your head at, Vicious?” Sway watched him close the distance between them.
“I need to see you.”
She hadn’t given her wounds a thought when she headed to the clubhouse. She had been so excited when Teller told her she was going to see Vicious. Of course, he’d want to see what they’d done to her. Would he still want her? “Can we do that at home?”
“I need to know.”
Sway lifted her head. “I . . .” Squaring her shoulders, she would own what happened to her so it would never happen again. She fought for her life and for his. If he couldn’t love her through this, he wouldn’t love her at all. “I don’t know how many or who. I was doped and unconscious for most of it. I don’t know if that’s a blessing or a curse. What I can tell you is that I fought. Every conscious second, I fought them.”
Vicious stared into her eyes and saw she was being brave. Brave for herself, and even more so, brave for him. “It doesn’t change anything between us.”
Teller had told him everything that had been done to Sway. He blamed himself for what she’d been through. If he would have left her alone, maybe they wouldn’t have taken her. “I wanted to see if you were healing. Your chest . . . ”
He wasn’t sure what was real and what wasn’t. There had been so much blood loss, then he woke up in the hospital without her.
Sway lifted her sweater so he could see the bandages that covered her from the centre of her chest to a few inches above her belly button. “I get the stitches out in a few weeks.”
There were other marks she had an idea about. They were small slashes on the inside of her thigh resembling a tally count. There was no reason to bring those up at the moment. It would all be talked about later. Much later.
Dropping her shirt, she could see the struggle in Vicious. He was battling his own demons over what had happened to her. Touching her hand to his cheek, Sway wanted him to know she didn’t blame him. “Vicious, nothing that happened was your fault.”
“You ended up kidnapped, raped, and tortured because of me.”
Sway hated blaming anything on her brother, but Tesh brought all of it to her door. God rest his soul, but if he’d gone to the clubhouse that night, none of this would be happening.
If he wouldn’t have gone to confront Jerome and Dawson about extorting money from the auto repair shop and all the other businesses, Tesh would be alive and Clay would have never come to the shop that night. She would have never attacked Jerome and met Vicious. Dawson would have never looked at her as a means to get what he wanted. So, yes, most of what happened was Tesh’s fault. She knew all of it because Clay had told her as much .
“Tesh put me in the middle. The blame lies with him.”
“Don’t put it all on your brother.”
“He added to it.”
“The dead can’t defend themselves, so it’s not fair to blame them.”
“Let’s agree to disagree on the subject.”
“We’ll discuss it later.” Vicious moved closer to her and gently wrapped his arms around her waist, testing the waters to see her reaction.
“You can touch me, Vicious. I’m not broken. Just a little damaged is all.”
Tilting his head down, he watched Sway lift her face toward him. When his lips touched hers, he was relieved for the first time since she had been snatched from her apartment. “Take me home, woman.”
“I thought you’d never ask.” Keeping her arm wrapped around his waist, she picked up his duffle bag with her free hand and led him out the room. She was sure there would be times when both she and Vicious struggled with what happened, but they’d get through it together. They’d tough it out together.
“Hey, what would you think about moving into the boathouse with me? You could rent out the apartment.”
Sway stopped walking. “You want me to live with you?”
“Yeah, I do.”
Dropping the bag, Sway put both arms around his waist and kissed him hard. “I’d love to live with you.” Staring into his eyes, she saw something in them that was different. The haunted look was still there, but something else lived there too.
“I love you, Sway.” Those words had her heart stumbling over itself. She never expected them from Vicious.
“I love you, Vicious.”
“That’s my girl. Now, let’s get the fuck out of here.” As they walked through the clubhouse, she kept her smile tucked away so she wouldn’t laugh at her happiness. The brothers would start asking questions, and they’d never get home.
Everyone had a comment to make as they headed to the front door.
“Thanks for taking him off our hands.”
“Good luck, Sway. He’s a horrible patient.”
“Sweet Jesus, is he finally leaving?”
“Sway, make him your bitch.”
A tall, lean guy cut them off before they could get the front door open. “I’m your chauffeur today.”
“Are you now?” Vicious asked.
A firm hand on his shoulder had him looking back at Teller. “If you prefer someone else to drive you two home, I could ask Player and Joker. I’m sure they’d love to babysit you both.”
Sway cut in, putting her two cents in. “Nope. This lovely young man can drive us.”
“This is Tank, Sway. He’s a prospect for the chapter,” Vicious explained. “Teller, keep Player and Joker here, please.”
“I think there’s a party tonight to celebrate you two getting sprung,” Teller told Vicious, chuckling at how the entire chapter was ready for him to go home. The brother sucked at being a patient, but Teller couldn’t blame the man—they’d kept him from his woman for a month while taking care of business. “Tank, get these two home and get back here ASAP.” Teller slapped him on the back as he walked away.
He stopped long enough to watch the couple climb into a waiting cage. When the SUV pulled out of the parking lot, Teller relaxed for the first time in over a month. If they could get through a week without anything else happening, he’d happily embrace being bored. Opening the door, his ears were assaulted by loud music as the party kicked off. He took the beer Blackjack handed him and joined the celebration.
“Here’s to the VP and his ol’ lady,” he shouted. Everyone raised their drinks and cheered, making Teller laugh.