Dayanara Chapter 20 #2
Payne and Renegade dragged the struggling nightmare to a nearby truck. Marshall was roughly thrown into the bed of it. Renegade jumped up in the bed to watch him. Payne got behind the wheel.
“Everyone, let’s head out. We don’t want him to feel like he’s being neglected,” Bull stated.
I was so focused on watching the truck disappear further into the compound that I jumped when a hand landed on my arm. Turning my head, I saw it was Stalker.
“Melyster, you can ride out with me, then back with Predator. It’s not far. I’m glad you have your jacket on, though. Come with me.”
I took his hand and let him lead me to his bike.
Others were doing the same. They’d parked them around the clubhouse so if there had been shots fired, they would have been protected.
Stalker was right. We didn’t go far. We ended up outside the building that held the crematorium.
There was nothing pretty about it but it was functional.
Stalker held my hand as I dismounted, then he swung off. In seconds, I was hemmed in by my two men and my cousin. They formed what I thought of as an honor guard around me.
Inside The Cellar, I found several things.
For one, there were cells, actual prison cells along one wall.
Against another were several cabinets and drawers.
Off on one of the shorter ends was a room.
The light was on, so I saw there was a bed in it.
And at the other, a crouching beast of a thing that I knew had to be the cremation oven.
Someone had started a fire in it. In the middle of the open space was a metal table.
It reminded me of the kind you saw on those criminal investigative shows where doctors performed autopsies.
The sight of my brother halted my perusal, not Marshall.
Jess wasn’t in a cage. He was still restrained, but not at the ankles in addition to his wrists.
He sat on a chair over by the bedroom. He watched everything without blinking.
His mouth wasn’t duct-taped. And as far as I saw, he had not a mark on his exposed skin.
A bit of relief hit me. His eyes met mine, then I watched them drop.
I brought my attention back to Marshall.
He wasn’t in the same condition as my brother.
Besides the bloody cheek and dirty clothes from being pressed into the dirt, his nose was newly busted, and he had an abrasion on his chin, below the tape.
His hair was a mess. He wiggled and tried to move, despite being secured to the chair by his legs and arms. The duct tape was definitely in place.
His yells came out too muffled to understand, but it was clear. He wasn’t happy.
If he thought anyone here would feel sorry for him and comfort him, or cut him any kind of slack, he was about to be disappointed.
He glared at everyone. I couldn’t wait to wipe that look and more off his face.
Our entourage spread out in a semicircle, facing Marshall.
It consisted of the four of us, Ace, Rebel, Bull, Tank, Payne, Iceman, and Renegade.
My brother was on the edge of the semicircle. He had his sight fixed on his former best friend. I swore there was pure, unadulterated hatred shooting from Jess’s eyes. What the hell was going on here? He’d partially defended Marshall. Now he was back to hating him if his expression was real.
“We’re here for support. If you need anything, all you have to do is ask. The four of you have the floor. You decide how he’s handled and how you make him suffer. When you’re ready to end it, do it,” Bull stated with a wintery feel to his words.
I shivered despite the warmth of the building’s fire as Predator, Stryder, Stalker, and I broke ranks from the semicircle and stepped closer to my abuser, my rapist. Marshall’s glare landed on me. It morphed into something I didn’t understand.
Not wanting to get my jacket or my precious cut bloody, I unzipped and removed my jacket first, then my property cut.
Something in me pushed me to turn my cut around to face him, so the claim on the back was clear.
Marshall’s eyes widened. A swift peek at my brother showed he witnessed it, but his expression hadn’t changed.
“I’ll take that,” Ace said.
I thanked him. My cousin and my guys were doing the same. Each had a brother step up and take their things. When we were finished, I crept closer to the man I’d dreamed of killing multiple times.
“Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for this day?
Or how much I’m going to enjoy watching you suffer and hearing your scream for mercy.
Only here’s a newsflash for you, Marsh. No one has mercy for a piece of shit like you.
You deserve everything you’re about to receive and more,” I snarled.
I was right down in his face, eye-to-eye.
The desire to scream out my pain and every insult I ever imagined throbbed inside of me, but I held back.
It was too soon to let the fury out, to become a deadly hailstorm that would wreck his last moments of life.
Marshall was trying to say something around his muzzle.
I eased away from him. Stryder came forward.
“You hurt my cousins in vile ways. You stole what wasn’t yours to steal. As if what you did to Breezy wasn’t obscene enough, we discovered what you did to Daya when she was the same age. You took it further with her. I’m gonna enjoy watching you suffer.”
I noticed Marshall’s face registered surprise when Stryder said I’d told them what he’d done to me. He seemed shaken about it, but soon regained his arrogant demeanor. Before I could say or do anything, Stalker eased up on us. My cousin stepped back, waving him to take his spot.
“I doubt you know who I am, but I know who you are. You’re the useless piece of shit that gets off on hurting girls.
You’re a sick pedo, and we hate those. I have no clue why you survived prison, but I can guarantee you, there will be no curing what’s wrong with you.
And so we’re clear on what my piece in this is, I’m Stalker.
Daya is my old lady, my woman, my wife.” His arm came around me, then Stalker brought me close.
I let his strength seep into me. Suddenly, I was hemmed in on the opposite side of my body by Predator. His arm came around my body to embrace me. He scowled at Marshall.
“And I’m Predator, her other old man. Daya is ours, and as such, it’s our duty, no, our privilege, to assist in the elimination of a freak. The world will be a far safer place once you’re gone. We can’t get everyone like you, but we’ll settle for the ones we can.”
My brother’s former best friend tried to lunge at us, clearly forgetting that he was tied to a chair.
His muffled cries grew stronger. I debated whether to remove the tape and hear what he had to say or leave it in place.
That thought made me think of Jess. We hadn’t questioned him on why he’d stuck up for Marshall, then came to warn us of his plan. Nor had he ever told us how he knew it.
“Let him wait. I want to speak to my brother first. We need to know what has been happening with him,” I blurted out to the assembled bikers.
“Dolcezza, if you want to do that first, then let’s go. This son of a bitch isn’t going anywhere,” Predator assured me.
“Is that alright with you? Will the club care?” I asked.
“Honey, we’re at your disposal, remember? You do it your way. I agree, if by some miracle, Jess is innocent, then he might want to get in on the action. I know I would,” Bull interjected.
“Let’s talk to Jess first. Can we go somewhere we’re not overheard by this one?” I made a chin-lifting motion toward where Marshall sat.
“Sure. Why don’t we go into the guard’s bedroom? No one is staying there,” Stalker suggested.
Not seeing a reason to wait, I nodded. My guys pivoted and walked us over to Jess. He gave us a wary look, which was smart.
“We’re cutting you loose and taking you in here to talk privately. You’d better behave and tell the truth. If you try to harm us or escape, it’s your death sentence,” Stalker warned.
After a couple of moments, my brother replied, “I’ll behave. Let’s do it.”
That was how we ended up in a bedroom, in a torture chamber.
No one would believe me if I told them this.
I sat on the edge of the bed. There was a single chair inside.
Jess took that seat after my guys gestured him to it.
He rubbed his wrists as he sat. There was wariness in his expression. I worked to steel myself for more hurt.
I’d ignored, for the most part, the pain Jess’s coldness had caused me.
But with him showing up and knowing so much about Marshall, I was prepared for betrayal.
It would tear out my heart to have my brother betray me for my molester, my rapist. And then there was what it would do to Breezy.
I could get over it. She was softer than I was.
I wasn’t sure if she’d be able to do it.
Her life had been negatively impacted enough. When would the hits stop?
Stryder, Predator, and Stalker stood around the room. Stryder by the door. My old men on either side of me, like sentries. Their protectiveness radiated from them to me. I knew no matter what I learned in this room, I would never be alone or unloved, even if I did lose my brother.
“You got us in here, Jess. Get it over with. Tell us why you turned on your family and how you know so much about what Marshall had planned. You’ve been working with him since he got out, haven’t you?” Stryder snapped.
Jess’s head hung for a moment, then he raised it and nodded. Nausea hit me. I clenched my teeth to keep from vomiting. God, the pain was searing.
“Yes, I’ve been helping him, but you have to let me explain. It’s not a simple reason. I’m sorry for the pain I caused all of you.”
When he paused, Predator replied.