CHAPTER FOURTEEN
T he stench of blood and gunpowder stung his nostrils as Kade scanned the room. The aftermath was a grotesque scene; bodies strewn across the floor, crimson stains splattered on the beds and walls. Even the neon lights, which once bathed the room in colorful hues, now cast a hellish glow over the area. He searched desperately for Jagger among the noise and bodies. His eyes looked over each lifeless form until he spotted movement by the back entrance near the stage. Scales lay there, clutching his side, gasping as a dark pool spread beneath him.
“Scales!” Kade yelled as he rushed toward him as his gut clenched.
No girls were in sight, but outside, their shouting rang through the air. As he collapsed at the bouncer’s side, Kade helped him sit up against the wall and made sure to check that the bullet wound wasn’t anywhere vital. The back door burst open and the men looked up to find his father and brother locked in a brutal dance with two men whose faces Kade remembered from when he went to the Inn, their masks long gone.
Without hesitation, Kade joined the fight, throwing punches like a man possessed because fuck them .
Fuck them for what they’d done.
As blood flew from broken lips and split cheeks, they kept going. Kade caught one of the men with a solid hit to the jaw, feeling it crack under his knuckles, and Jagger grunted a thanks without looking up from the Green Light man with the long beard as he used his momentary dizziness from the hit to get his hands behind his back.
“Why aren’t we ending them?” Kade shouted over the scuffle, struggling to understand why they were throwing punches instead of slitting throats. His father, Warren, ducked a wild swing from the other man before slamming his fist into his stomach.
“We need them breathing,” he grunted, wiping blood from his brow with a forearm. “They know where they’ve sold the others.”
Kade nodded sharply, a different purpose moving through him as he worked to subdue rather than destroy. His heart hammered with every strike, every block, but within another minute they all were able to knock out both men successfully.
Kade and Jagger dragged the unconscious men toward the stage, being careful not to slip in the crimson puddles on the hardwood floors. Warren followed, wiping his bloodied knuckles on his trousers.
“Scales, talk to me!” Jagger shouted from the stage as he looked over at his friend.
“I’m alright, man,” Scales coughed out, the pain evident in his voice. “Just a scratch.”
“He needs help–badly,” Kade exhaled as he helped Jagger prop one of the men up against the pole bolted to the stage.
“We need help here!” Jagger roared towards the back door as Warren shoved the other man up on the other side and together they bound the men tightly to the pole, back-to-back, ensuring they weren’t going anywhere.
Gremlin rushed in, tense and ready to kill with Camille hot on his heels, her face drawn tight with disbelief as she looked around. Scales lay crumpled against the wall by the door, his eyes fluttering as he fought to stay conscious. All the blood. The bullet casings. The discarded black masks.
“Hold on, brother. We’ll get you out.” Gremlin’s voice shook as he pressed down on Scales’ wound, his hands quickly turning red. Scales’ breath rattled in his chest as he fought to speak, his eyes pleading.
“Take my car,” Camille said, tossing Gremlin the keys. “It’ll be faster. Go .”
Gremlin nodded, already moving as he caught the keys. Without another word, he sprinted toward the door, Scales cradled in his arms.
Jagger turned toward the door, his eyes narrowing on Camille. “Wait, if they’re gone, who has the girls?” He started to rush outside but Camille grabbed his arm as a feminine voice drew their attention to the now open entrance where Jazlyn, a rival gang leader, stood with her crew.
“Nice night for illegal activities,” the older woman drawled. She wasn’t much older than them, early thirties at best. She was in ripped jeans and had a black sweatshirt pulled up over her head, her blonde hair flowing out the sides of the covering.
The Dregs were here.
Could tonight get any worse?
The memory of their last encounter had Jagger staring at Camille with such venom that she outwardly winced. She knew better than to have them here because she knew that they were trouble. They’d taken care of that territorial gang bullshit over a year ago. So why was Jazlyn here if she was forbidden from ever coming near The Serpent Pit again?
Behind her, you could see a few members of the Renegade Rebels along with Dregs members carefully putting the girls in the backs of trucks in the parking lot. Kade’s eyes widened as he panicked, his hand instinctively reaching for his gun. Camille placed a hand on his arm too, effectively keeping both brothers from approaching any further, her eyes landing on Jazlyn.
“Relax, pretty boy,” Jazlyn said, her grin aimed at Kade. “We’re just here to help.” She nodded toward the trucks outside. “Your girls are safe.”
Jagger’s nostrils flared as he and Kade shared a look, his muscles coiled tight as he fisted his hands by his sides. Camille stepped toward Jazlyn, placing her hands up in front of her to keep the boys back.
“I don’t have time to explain everything, but we’ve been seeing each other since last year. I trust her. You need to trust me now,” Camille straightened her shoulders, her pink hair now tied up in a messy bun on top of her head. “I knew that even the Rebels wouldn’t be enough to get this handled tonight, so I snuck off to call her for backup. And she came. Without hesitation . She came with her whole crew knowing that this was an absolute shit show.”
Camille crossed her arms over her chest and tried to stare down the brothers she had grown up with. “So while all our members are working together outside to get these ladies to the nearest hospital, you’re going to smile and say ‘thank you,’ do you understand?”
The tension drained from Jagger’s shoulders as he processed her words. “Right... Thank you.” He shot a glance at Kade, his eyes filled with an unspoken incredulity that Kade almost laughed at but the sound wouldn’t come out any time soon. There wouldn’t be laughter from anyone for a long time.
Jazlyn stepped forward, clasping Camille’s hand in hers. “Camille and I will take the girls to the hospital. We’ll get them back to their families.”
“We can take them,” Jagger tried to argue, but she cut him off.
“It’s better if they have other women with them right now.”
Warren finally joined the quartet on the floor as he jumped from the stage.
“That makes sense,” he said as he approached them. “They will feel safer with them right now.”
Camille nodded, her voice soft but firm. “We’ll make sure they get there. And we’ve already started giving them a backstory as to how they escaped that doesn’t lead back to The Pit.”
“To tell the cops?” Kade asked, only to find several pairs of eyes glaring at him.
“We’re not calling the cops.”
Kade blinked at Camille. “Why not?”
“That’s not how things work with shit like this,” Jagger said, his tone carrying a note of impatience. “The cops get involved, things get messy. We aren’t putting those girls through more than they’ve already endured unless they want to tell it to them themselves. You don’t think I went to the cops first about Green Light? They didn’t care to use their resources to try and bring them in. That’s why it had to be done this way. They can’t hurt anyone now–This way there’s no one out on bail or running away.”
The group nodded in agreement.
“You guys go. We’ll deal with this,” Warren added, his voice speaking of years of authority. He moved back onto the stage, casting a shadow over the tied-up men who were beginning to wake up. “I’ll take over from here and find out where they sold the other girls once these guys are talking.”
Jazlyn exchanged a glance with Camille before calling out to Warren in a voice that was not as confident as it was a few minutes ago. She was still intimidated by the leader of the Renegade Rebels–and with just cause. His father was a fucking menace. “Good luck with that.”
Kade watched as Jazlyn and Camille moved toward the exit, joining the crowd that had gathered outside as they decided where to move the bodies, while Camille and Jazlyn drove off in the trucks that had the girls piled in the beds all huddled together.
Jagger and Kade stood side by side, their faces now ghostly pale as their eyes fixed on the door through which the girls had exited. There was no more threat. No more screaming. No more gunshots. Just the stereo as it played All For Us by Labrinth and Zendaya pulsing around them.
Fucking fitting.
“How are they?” Jagger’s voice cracked as he turned to Kade, desperate for any scrap of news on how his girl was doing.
“Madison and Sadie are both pretty upset, but they aren’t injured.”
“But your girl was bleeding, wasn’t she?”
Kade shut his eyes and let out a breath as his throat tried to close against the emotion that flooded him. “She’s been assaulted. They pierced her nipples. I–I don’t think,” He faltered as it all started hitting him. “Jag, they hurt her. And then they wanted me to hurt her.”
Jagged nodded slowly as he felt Kade’s pain like a gut punch. “I know, brother. I know. You did good. You got her out of there without any more trauma.”
“And Sadie–She’s absolutely insane . Did you tell her to go up there and dance?”
“No.” Jagger snapped. “I actually forbid her from going up there and you see how well that worked out.”
“She saved us up there,” Kade whispered as he remembered how scared he was. Knowing in those moments that he wasn’t able to perform for them if it kept going. Not being able to continue would have gotten them killed.
“She’s never killed before,” he muttered, more to himself than Kade. “Seeing her take a life… Fuck , it’s going to mess with her head.”
Kade placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. “She’s strong as hell,” he assured him. The sounds of crying from the men around the pole as Warren worked them over began to cut into their conversation so they moved towards the back entrance. When they opened the door, several Dregs and Rebels stood there with cleaning supplies, body bags and murderous expressions.
“Let ‘em in!” Warren yelled from the stage.
The brothers held open the door as they swept in and began cleaning up the mess.
“Maybe you’re right about moving away, getting a fresh start.”
“I know that now more than ever, thank you very much.” Kade’s smartass remark was simply met with a very serious expression from Jagger.
“I’m talking about me.”
Kade’s eyes widened in surprise but he stayed silent, allowing his brother the time to gather his thoughts.
“I think I’m gonna offer the bar to Camille and take Sadie to New York with me when my book gets published this summer.”
“That might be best for you both,” Kade acknowledged as he gestured to the bloody bar and men in different gang apparel moving bodies around like nothing. This wasn’t a thriving environment for any kind of romantic relationship. “A new beginning. It’s not like you didn’t try to make the best out of this place, Jag. Sadie, too.”
Jagger just nodded again, his face blank.
“I’m tired.”
Kade sighed heavily as he looked at his brother. He stood there, cuts and bruises down the side of his face and blood-soaked from head to toe. If he wasn’t in all black it would have been an even scarier sight.
Those two words tugged at Kade because it wasn’t just the events of the night he was talking about. It was an entire life of trying to do better than what was expected of them. Be better. Make the right choices.
It didn’t help the fact that even when they were doing good things, it still ended in bloodshed.
Just like their mother.
“I’m tired, too.”
They took a moment to calm themselves before agreeing that once the bodies were gone, they would go get the girls out of the office. But now that the dust had settled, Kade shook with the realization that he would have to face Madison as someone who not only put her in harm’s way, but was the cause of it tonight as well.
He only hoped she would let him explain so he could tell her he loved her.
Kade and Jagger stumbled into the office–exhaustion couldn’t even cover how worn out they were from dealing with everything that night. The bar looked untouched, and bodies had been disposed of thanks to the Rebels and the unexpected aid of the Dregs.
“It’s weird that those guys showed up,” Kade muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, I know we needed the help, but still...”
Jagger waved a tired hand at him. “If Camille and Jazlyn are together, it makes sense that their crews would team up. Besides, I’m too old for this shit. Let them figure out their loyalties. I just want to be done.”
Kade nodded, his eyes drifting to the back of the room before calling out, “Mads? Sadie?”
There was no answer and Kade’s mouth ran dry.
“Shit,” Jagger sighed and led the way to the hidden closet, only to find it empty.
Kade’s panic rose, his eyes darting around the little room. “Where the hell did they go?”
“Calm down,” Jagger soothed, a small grin playing on his lips. “I know where they are.”
He reached into the closet, past the cleaning supplies where a coat was hanging, and pressed a hidden button. With a soft click, the back wall of the closet swung open, revealing a hidden room several times larger than the size of the office.
Kade’s eyes widened as he took in the sight before him: a red-lit room filled with BDSM equipment: a St. Andrew’s Cross, several floggers and whips hung from the wall to the right, sex toys splayed out on a table to the left in an organized display. There was even an aftercare area in the corner by the door with a small fridge, sink, towels and snacks in a basket.
And then there were the two girls curled up on a chaise lounge, wrapped in blankets, sipping from water bottles. Bloody washrags lay on the floor before them–a testament to their recent ordeal.
“What the hell, Jagger?” Kade spun to face his brother, his eyes seeing him in a different light. Maybe they weren’t quite so different. Maybe growing up in the gang life made them crave deviancy in the way normal kids wanted a dog. “You got a sex dungeon back here?”
Jagger ran both hands into his hair as he groaned. “Why does everyone call it that?”
Sadie’s laugh broke the tension and he looked up to find her looking at Jagger with a look on her face that screamed relief and adoration. “That’s what it is, baby.”
Kade strode into the hidden room, Jagger at his heels. Their expressions turned serious as they approached the girls, their faces drawn tight with concern as they looked them over for injuries.
“I’m so sorry you both had to go through that,” Kade whispered, his voice thick with emotion. “I don’t even know what to say. I’m just so sorry. ”
Sadie and Madison exchanged weary glances, their eyes filled with a mixture of sadness and lingering trauma. It had been such a terrible night and now that it was over, they struggled to sit upright with the weight of everything that had happened.
“We thought you were dead,” Madison said, her voice cracking as she rubbed at her eyes where her mascara had run. “When you didn’t come back...”
“It’s okay,” Jagger cut in, his voice gentle when he addressed Madison before dropping to his knees to hug Sadie around her waist. She stroked his hair as he breathed her in, his head in her lap and holding her so tightly like she might disappear if he loosened his grip. “We just had to get things cleaned up in case the cops showed up. The girls are on their way to the hospital. Everyone’s safe now. It’s done.”
Madison’s body trembled, her breath coming in shallow gasps.
Did he comfort her? Was he out of line in thinking he could? She looked like she needed to be held and he just couldn’t resist the need to be there for her. She could push him away if she didn’t want him, but in that moment, Kade stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him as he knelt beside Jagger on the floor, neither caring that he was sweaty and covered in blood. She melted against him, clutching his shirt as though he were the only thing keeping her tethered to reality. Maybe he was, because she didn’t push him away. She only tightened her grip on him.
“Madison, you need to go to the hospital too,” Kade murmured into her hair as he stroked her back. His voice was gentle but firm as he rocked her against him.
“No,” she mumbled, shaking her head against his chest. “I can’t be alone. Don’t leave me again.”
Kade’s heart twisted at her words. He never expected someone like Madison to want anything to do with him, and then she’d given him everything he never thought he deserved–a friend, a lover, a possible future. And he had thrown that back in her face in his desperation to get out of this lifestyle before things got worse–only for them to go so badly he didn’t think he’d ever fully recover from the experience… and he knew the girls felt even stronger about that than he did.
But she still wanted him? Even now? How could she, especially after that had been done to her because of knowing him. He pulled back slightly, looking down at her tear-streaked face. His thumbs gently swiped at them on her cheeks.
“Madison, this just proved everything I was afraid of. How could you still want me near you?” He couldn’t keep the disbelief out of his voice. “After everything that’s happened...”
She met his eyes, they were like green fire as she clasped his face in her hands, the blanket shifting open as she let go of it. Her nudity was exposed to the room as the blanket hung open and Kade saw that her nipples had been cleaned up and were no longer bleeding around the spaces they’d been pierced, but the silver bars were still there.
“Sadie told me everything,” she said, voice steadier now and more in control. “About how Jagger arranged the parties to save the girls. How you joined them so you’d be able to be close to me at the party. It was–I didn’t realize how bad it could be. I guess I just wanted to be with you so much that I didn’t think about this world you’re a part of and I should have taken you seriously. I understand now why you have to leave.”
Kade blinked in surprise, trying to process her words.
“I’m not mad,” she continued. “I’d go through it all again if it meant we could get everyone out.”
Her sincerity hit him like a punch to the gut. He just stared at her because he didn’t know what to say. The guilt he’d been carrying felt a little lighter, but it was still there slithering through his chest.
Jagger cleared his throat from behind them, breaking the moment as he stood up. “We still need to get everyone checked out,” he reminded them, his tone gentle but insistent.
Madison nodded reluctantly, unfolding herself from Kade but keeping hold of his hand. “Just... don’t leave me alone.”
Kade squeezed her hand reassuringly. “I won’t,” he promised.
Jagger led them out of the hidden space and into the main part of the office. The neon lights created familiar shadows on the walls, and they didn’t feel as menacing now. Luckily the girls would be spared of the bar being drenched in crimson and littered with bodies. It was the only thing they were able to shield them from, though.
“We’ll all go together,” Jagger said as they headed for the exit.
Kade glanced at the door, then back at Jagger. “What do we even tell the hospital? They’re going to wonder what happened.”
“Everyone has the same story,” Jagger replied, voice steady. “Just like Jazlyn and Camille said, the girls were prepped on what to say and they texted me the same. The girls all escaped from the Inn tonight and barely got away. Scales and Gremlin happened upon them on their way to work here tonight and called us because our girls were there. Scales got hurt fighting the men off as they drove us to the hospital with Jazlyn and Camille as backup. The men all fled.”
“What do you mean Scales got hurt?” Sadie demanded, grabbing Jagger’s arm so he’d look at her.
Jagger squeezed the small hand on his arm reassuringly. “He’s going to be alright, Sweets. Bullet went clean through.”
Madison frowned, confusion etched on her face. “But what about all their bikes? And your bar? I mean, it’s going to be traced back to here.”
“It won’t be,” Kade said matter-of-factly. “If there’s anything the Rebels are good at, it’s cleaning up messes. All evidence of them is gone by now.”
Jagger nodded in agreement, his eyes meeting Madison’s with a calmness she appreciated more than she could say. “Trust me, we’ve been through this before. By the time anyone shows up to ask questions, there won’t be anything to find.”
Madison took a deep breath, clearly trying to process everything. “I just... I don’t want you guys to get in trouble for helping us.”
“We won’t,” Kade promised.
Jagger glanced at his fiancé, then back at Kade and Madison. “We should go.”
The group moved toward the door, their footsteps echoing in the bar now that the music had long since stopped playing. Kade kept a protective arm around Madison as they walked, keeping the blanket closed tight over her naked body.
As they stepped outside, the cool night air hit them, a stark contrast to the tension inside. The parking lot was empty save for a few bikes–theirs, and a couple cars.
Jagger led the way to an older vehicle, Sadie’s dusty Camry, unlocking it with a click. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
As they made their way to the car, Madison’s eyes caught movement by the dumpster and she gasped as she clutched Kade’s hand. She stopped short, peering into the shadows. “Wait. There’s someone there.”
Jagger and Kade tensed, ready for a fight, but Madison stepped forward, her voice soft and clear. “It’s okay. You can come out now.”
One of the women she’d been held captive with emerged slowly, her eyes wide with fear and mistrust. She was shivering in her short black cotton dress, her breath visible in the cool night air as she hugged herself tightly.
Madison’s eyes widened in recognition. “It’s the girl with the braids,” she whispered to herself.
Sadie immediately shrugged off her blanket and hurried over, wrapping it around the girl’s shoulders, not caring that it left her in next to nothing in return. “You’re freezing,” she said gently. “Here, take this.”
The young woman looked at them with such a scared expression on her face, clutching the blanket tightly around herself.
“Where are they?” She asked, looking around.
“The men are dead,” Jagger stated plainly.
“All of them?” She still hadn’t moved from her spot.
“All of them,” Kade chimed in and moved to stand beside Madison. “The rest of the girls have been taken to the hospital. Why didn’t you go with them?”
Long braids swung over her blanketed shoulders as she shook her head.
“I didn’t know what was happening. I mean–there was so much blood. There were only a few of us left in there. The other girls must have left before me, so I was there when they started shooting. I don’t want to go anywhere.”
Sadie accepted Jagger’s Rebel jacket over her shoulders as she approached the girl again, keeping her movements slow so as not to scare her. “That was me. I’m so sorry, I should have waited until all of you were out but I couldn’t chance it. They were going to figure it out and I had to–I had to, I’m so sorry–” Sadie choked on a silent sob as she apologized, knowing she had a part in her terror from that night.
“It’s over now,” Madison assured her. “We’re going to the hospital. You should come with us.” She paused for a moment before adding, “I promise you’re safe now. Let’s get you checked out and back home, okay?”
Jagger nodded towards the car, signaling that it was time to go before they drew attention to themselves being out in the open like this.
“No one is going to hurt you anymore,” he said gently. “But it’s important that we make sure you all get medical care tonight. I’m not sure what happened while you all were with Green Light but it’s better to check, alright?”
“Okay,” she said finally. “Okay, I’ll go.”
Jagger led them back to Sadie’s car as he got in the driver’s seat. The girls all sat beside each other with the woman between Madison and Sadie. Once they were all settled inside, Kade glanced back at the girls as they pulled out of the parking lot, then through the back window. All traces of Green Light gone.
The car ride spent in silence for a few tense minutes until Sadie broke it with a quiet voice.
“I’m Sadie, by the way.” She turned to smile at her even though the girl was staring at her lap. “The man driving is my fiancé, Jagger. He and his brother, Kade–he’s the one in the passenger seat,” Sadie pointed in their direction and the girl’s eyes looked up to find them both nodding and smiling in the rearview mirror at her. “They’re the ones who arranged for you guys to come to our bar. So we could help get you out.”
The girl nodded in acknowledgement and looked back down at her lap while Sadie looked around her to catch Madison’s eye. Madison licked her dry, cracked lips and touched the girl’s shoulder gently. She still kept her eyes on her lap but pulled the blanket tighter around her, the ebony skin of her knuckles going white with how hard she was clutching the knitted fabric. “I’m Madison,” she whispered, now for the second time to her since they’d met. “What’s your name?”
At those words, something broke inside her. The amount of terror and pain and heartache that she had endured thinking that there would never be an end to it…and finding out that there was.
Well, that changed a person.
Tears streamed down the woman’s face and she twisted to throw herself into Madison’s arms.
“Amari,” she sobbed into Madison’s shoulder. “My name is Amari.”