26. Venom
26
VENOM
T here’s a dead body by the gate. It’s a Shamrock. An old-timer with his throat slit. Tank is likely one of Brutus’ faction. Not that that matters in moments like this. The death of a brother is always hard to deal with. Especially when it’s someone you’ve known your entire life. Shared a beer with. Been on runs with. I know the names of his kids… the same children who are now going to grow up fatherless because the Shamrocks failed to live up to their oath of brotherhood.
“Fuck,” I curse when I recognise the vehicle that’s hidden in the trees on the other side of the fence.
It’s one of Joseph Kingsley’s SUVs. A blacked-out, four-wheel drive from his personal collection that Alex has been known to use.
There’s no denying reality now.
He’s here.
With Lily.
Gunshots echo in the night. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
Leaving my bike at the entrance to the long, gravel driveway that winds its way up the hill to the house perched on the peak, I pull the strap securing the semiautomatic over my head and run as fast as I can to the front steps. As I stop to listen for sounds of life inside the split-level farmhouse, I spot Weston. He’s been tucked under the front stoop. His neck has been reduced to ribbons of flesh and blood, his chest is a bloody pulp. Whoever stabbed him apparently possesses a flair for the dramatic. Slitting someone’s throat is pretty effective on its own, the other injuries inflicted are redundant in the extreme.
As quietly as I can, I take the stairs two at a time. The front door is locked. When I can’t hear anything from inside the house, I decide it’s time to throw caution to the wind. Shots have been fired, and the time for taking Slash’s advice is over.
Cold calculation isn’t going to get me inside.
I take three steps back, then surge forward to ram my shoulder into the door.
It splinters but doesn’t open.
Repeating the same motion, I shove it out of my way when it breaks.
The house is dark, except for the light over the stove and one in what I guess is a bedroom at the far end. Someone moves in that part of the building. I raise my weapon and edge my way toward the noise. Once I’m hidden behind a bookcase, I lean over and flick the switch on the overhead light. Figuring that it’ll take their eyes a second to adjust, I run through the kitchen and into the hallway.
Tangled blonde hair. Swollen face. Bloody torso. Bruised legs.
That’s all I have time to take in before Lily keels over in front of me.
She crumples to the floor, hitting hard, yet she doesn’t make a sound.
My feet are in action while my brain continues to grapple with the situation.
When I reach my woman, I drop to my knees next to her. My hands shake as I turn her over. I brush Lily’s hair out of her face and grind my teeth to bite back the howl of rage that bubbles in my chest.
Lily has been beaten.
Cradling her head, I lay my woman in the recovery position on the carpet so I can inspect the damage. When I can’t find an inch of her skin, a limb, or feature that isn’t bleeding, swollen, or bruised, I pull my phone out of my cut and use my thumb to type triple zero.
“No ambulance.” Lily’s voice is raspy. I drop my phone next to me and stare down at her. She’s nursing a swollen and bleeding jaw that hampers her speech as she tells me, “No… hospital. No d-doctors.”
“You need an ambulance.”
“No.” Lily’s gaze flits from my face toward a door that’s a little further up the hallway. She tries to move her arm to point as she says, “Killed him … can’t... have... cops here.”
It goes against every instinct to say his name, but I manage it. “Alex?”
“Dead.”
“Fuck, metukà shelì ,” I blurt without thinking. “I don’t know what to do here.”
Lily groans when someone wearing boots runs inside the house.
She screws her eyes shut as the sound grows closer, then hisses with pain.
“It’s me,” Slash yells. “Figure it’s just us since there’s a bunch’a bodies all over the place and no gunshots.”
“Think it’s clear,” I shout back. “Can’t be sure. We’re at the rear of the house.”
“We?” The anxiety in his voice matches the anguish pounding a path through me.
“Me and Lily.”
As he approaches, I look from my woman’s naked body to the direction of the footsteps, then make the decision to drop my weapon to cover her with my t-shirt. I’ve only managed to peel off my cut, and I’m struggling to pull the cotton over my head when Slash reaches us.
He rocks back on his heels when he sees how bad Lily looks. “Jesus.”
“Yeah.”
After I grumble, he helps me free of my t-shirt then stoops over us to cover Lily from her chest to her thighs. Our eyes meet. Slash swallows hard and looks away. He shakes himself off. Mutters something under his breath. I drop my gaze back to Lily, stroking her face, then press my fingers to her pulse point when she doesn’t move.
“We need help,” Slash declares. I inhale once I’ve identified a steady heartbeat. “She needs medical attention.”
“Can’t call the authorities,” I tell him.
“Why the fuck not?” Before I answer, he spins on his heel and takes a step back in the direction he came. At the last second, he changes his mind and stalks into the bedroom. “Fucker’s lucky he’s already dead.”
Lily jerks in my arms.
She peers up at me.
“Take me… home .”
My heart twists as I realise that, thanks to the fucker she just killed and her bloody-minded father, we don’t have a home anymore. Everything, everywhere, everyone. It’s all suspect, potentially compromised, until we can confirm otherwise.
“Heya, doll.” Slash’s voice is loud in the night silence as he saves me from having to reject Lily’s request. “You know that marker you owe me? Well, I’m callin’ it in tonight.” He stops talking for a drawn-out moment. “I don’t care if you’re havin’ dinner with the fuckin’ Pope... I need you to hop your arse into that luxury car of yours and head up to the hills as fast as you can. I’ll send you the address. Bring every medical supply you have on hand… somethin’ to stop the spread of DNA… and a closed fuckin’ mouth.”
Typing on his phone, he steps out into the hallway. The grim set of his mouth tells me he’s not happy with the call he just made.
“Bebe?”
Slash cuts his eyes to mine. “Yep.”
“Think she’ll come?”
“If she doesn’t, I’ll make sure she loses every single fuckin’ thing that’s good in her life. Told her when she asked for her favour that she wouldn’t like the terms, not my fault if she proves incapable of listenin’.” I let his vehement declaration go unanswered. His shit is his to deal with. I’ve got my hands full with my own mess right now. When Slash plonks his arse on the floor and leans his back to the wall, I brace for more bad news. “She’s seen the photos. The prick had them blown up for her.”
“How? It happened less than two hours ago.”
He shrugs. “How the fuck do I know? You want me to go get them off the floor so you can see for yourself?”
“No.”
“You’re gonna have some explainin’ to do.”
“Least of my problems right now,” I tell him. When I brush my fingertips over Lily’s bloodied lips, and she doesn’t open her eyes, my gut tightens. “She keeps losin’ consciousness. Maybe we should take her to the hospital?”
“If you do that, she’s goin’ to jail. That room isn’t only covered in his blood… pretty sure some of it’s Cherub’s.”
Despite knowing that he’s right, I still shake my head. When he doesn’t give me anything else to work with, I struggle to my feet and carry Lily through the house until I find the living room. I lay her on the couch, carefully covering her with the soft blanket thrown over the backrest.
I look down at her in two minds.
I can’t expose her to the authorities.
No fucking way am I letting her get arrested for killing that piece of shit.
Joseph doesn’t get to prosecute her for his son’s death, not after the shit Alex has put her through.
But what if her injuries are more than Bebe can handle outside a hospital?
“I’m gonna call Cub… check in on the others.”
“I know I should, but—” I jut my chin toward Lily.
“Leave it to me.” He heads to the front door, then backtracks a couple steps. “Should I tell anyone about this? Or wait until she’s been looked at, and we can start the clean up?”
“Let Cub and Hunter know. Tell ’em they should keep it to themselves for now. If too many brothers find out, it’ll be harder to cover up.”
When the door clicks shut after Slash, I kneel next to Lily and gently pull back the blanket. As I’m checking Lily’s head for bumps, I grit my teeth when she whimpers beneath my touch. Her face is puffy, especially down the left side. Bruising around her jaw is quickly setting in. I struggle to keep myself from losing it as I catalogue the handprints around her slim neck. There’s a shitload of blood splattered on her since the motherfucker worked her over good. Three nasty-looking bite marks sit clear as day on her shoulder and left breast. Her stomach is red, swollen and painful looking. I move both her arms to make sure they aren’t broken. They work as they should. Everything’s as good as it can be in the circumstances.
So far.
Moving down her body, I lift one of her legs up to check her range of motion and find blood and fingertip-sized bruises on the inside of her thighs. My heart plunges into my boots, and I drop to my arse on the floor next to the couch.
After swallowing down my sorrow as much as I can, I push back to my feet. Lifting Lily as delicately as possible onto my lap, I pull her head to my shoulder and try my hardest to blink through the tears that burn at the back of my eyes. “Fuck, metukà shelì . I let you down again… I’m so fuckin’ sorry. Why am I so useless at keepin’ you safe, sweet thing, when you mean the most to me?”
“Zeke?” Lily’s hoarse voice shocks the shit out of me. She wriggles in my lap, turns slightly to look at me. “When… are we going… home?”
Ducking my head, I wipe my tears away before forcing myself to look into her eyes. The sadness and pain that shines back at me breaks my fucking heart.
“We’re waitin’ for Bebe. She’s gonna check you over.”
“I don’t… need —” Lily breaks off with a whimper when she tries to sit up but can’t. In a halting whisper, she confesses, “I just want to go home.”
“Soon, Lil. Soon.”
We sit in silence for a minute, then horror floods her face, and she struggles to pull herself upright in my lap. I help her into a sitting position when it becomes clear she’s going to hurt herself if I don’t. “Oh, my God, Zeke. Bear is one of the rats you’re looking for?—”
I press a finger to her lips to stop her from straining her throat any further. “We know. So far, we’ve got Joker, Bear, Honey… they have somethin’ cooked up and need our votes when Brutus brings whatever it is to the table.”
The second I say Honey’s name, Lily’s body stiffens. I’m about to explain all that led up to me and Slash faking a threesome when the front door opens. Quickly snagging the blanket, I pull it over Lily in time to hide her from Bebe’s searching gaze.
“Venom,” the tiny redhead greets me in a cold voice. “How did I know you’d be involved in this?”
“Considerin’ we’ve said ten words to each other since we met, I don’t have a fuckin’ clue why you’d make that assumption.”
The doctor’s cheeks redden, then she dismisses me with an impatient wave of her hand. As she approaches, Lily drags in a ragged breath. When I try to lace my fingers with hers in support, she shakes me off and struggles back to her feet. I place my hands on either side of her hips to steady her, and the look she gives me could peel paint.
Refusing to let her go since she’s swaying on the spot, I try to get through to her, “Lily, listen to me?—”
“Are you my ride?” Lily clutches the blanket around herself as she addresses Bebe. The rasp in her voice gets worse the longer she speaks. “Not sure where we’re going… all I ask is that there’s some strong pain relief and a sedative available wherever you take me.”
I use my body to block Lily from sight when Bebe doesn’t answer straight away. My woman scowls at me, fighting to keep the blanket from dropping until she realises what I’m trying to do. Once she lets it fall, I slip my shirt over her head and pull it down past her hips. It’s not long, barely reaching mid-thigh, but it’ll do for now.
“I’ve got everything you need,” Bebe promises when I help Lily over to her. A cool, professional expression on her face, the small doctor tucks herself under Lily’s arm to support my woman. “Slash says I’m to take you to his place so I can check you over in peace.”
“Thank you,” Lily whispers as they make their way slowly toward the front door. “I’m sure this isn’t how you pictured spending your Sunday night.”
Helplessness coursing through me, I trail behind them. When they reach the front stoop, the narrow staircase between them and the driveway stops them in their tracks. Bebe shoots a pleading look over her shoulder as Lily tries to navigate the first step herself.
“Just go easy on her,” Slash murmurs when my woman tries to shove me away after I surge forward and sweep her into my arms. “There’s nothin’ to be gained by pushin’ the point tonight.”
As I carry Lily over to Bebe’s sporty Mercedes GLA-class, my sweet thing scorns Slash’s attempts to help as well. “Like you’re any better than he is.”
Feeling the heat of my best friend’s frustrated gaze on the back of my head as I lower Lily into the passenger seat, I take another shot at explaining, “It’s not what it looked like… for either of us.”
My woman snorts, pressing a hand to her swollen cheek. Knowing when I’m beaten and equally determined to stop her from stubbornly causing herself extra pain, I choose the path of least resistance and settle for pressing my lips to her forehead. “Let’s get you fixed up, then you can kick our arses for being so stupid.”
Staring straight ahead, even though it’s too dark to see anything out of the windscreen, Lily dismisses me with a half shrug. I close her door, then wait for Slash to finish talking to Bebe. He tries to kiss her, but ends up on the receiving end of the same cold shoulder I just endured.
As the women drive off, I turn to him to ask, “Did you get rid of Tank’s body from next to the gate?”
“Duh,” he tells me. We start walking down the winding driveway to our Harleys. “Stuffed him in the back of Kingsley’s SUV. Can’t wait to see Joseph try to explain that away when I call it in once we’re finished here.”
“When you’re not acting like a prick, you’re actually quite smart.”
“In that case, when you’re done apologisin’ to Cherub for being the biggest fuckup in the country, I’ll be waiting for mine.”
“What do I owe you an apology for?”
“Grabbin’ my arse. Leavin’ me to lug Joker down to the basement by myself. Sullyin’ my favourite pillowcase… the list goes on.”
I settle on the seat of my bike and pull my helmet on. Deciding to play along with him, even though it’s the last thing I can be bothered with, I reply, “I’m sorry about the pillowcase, but the rest is on you. What’s the point of being built like a brick shithouse if you can’t carry a body to the basement or deal with an arse squeeze or two every now and then?”
“Fair point,” Slash concedes with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.
He hits his ignition, and we pull away from the house of horrors to follow the women back to Slash’s. Just before we reach them, the taillights of Bebe’s car illuminate, then she turns the corner and disappears out of view.
I can’t help but see it as an omen of what’s to come.