Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
WRENLEY
H e was gone. Lost in his need to hurt everyone around us, bar me. All Torch wanted was to kill to protect me. I had to reach him. I had to help him.
“Move, bitch,” Tony clipped and shoved me into Mitch, who roughly took hold of my upper arm. Tony ordered, “You take her. Wait for me to get my dad, and then we’re getting out of here.” He took off to where Plank and Chester took time to have words, knowing Torch, Bentley’s guys, and Plank’s men would keep one another busy and distracted.
I had to stall. I wouldn’t leave without Torch.
What could I do?
I tugged my arm from Mitch’s grip while he watched Torch lose it and laughed when Bentley pressed the gun to his head. But then Torch dropped, kicked out, and swept Bentley off his feet before diving down on him. He whispered something in Bentley’s ear that had the man frozen.
Torch would have all their lives.
And he deserved them too. They’d kidnapped us. They’d hurt him. They would have stood by and watched while Tony violated me.
Torch would have their blood.
Watching the man I loved, I realized Torch was on a different level than any other man here.
And he was all mine.
Slap.
Ignoring the sting, I blinked up at Mitch as he got in my face. “What’re you smiling at?”
“That you all are nothing but boys trying to play in a real man’s world.”
His hands wound around my throat but didn’t tighten, just held me close. He breathed heavily down on me while the other friends either encouraged him to hurt me or begged to leave. Their chances of escape would soon be gone once the other men turned their attention on everyone else in the room besides one another and Torch. Some finally knew it was a mistake to come here—to take on Torch—and they wanted to run with their tails tucked between their legs.
“You think that psycho is a real man?” His grip on my neck tightened. “I just wish we had time for him to watch us fuck you again, all take turns, because that’d send him over the edge. He’d probably kill himself knowing he couldn’t help you. That’d be poetic.”
I scratched and pulled at his hands, and when that didn’t work, I went for his face. Red painted his cheeks after I’d clawed at his skin.
He hissed out an order, and hands grabbed my arms, stopping my fight by pinning them back. I tried to kick to wiggle free, but my legs were held down, feet to the floor, with hands around my ankles while Mitch applied pressure to my neck.
My lungs ached. I needed to breathe. I wouldn’t die like this.
Not when I finally had happiness.
Rapid gunfire went up around the room.
“Don’t fuckin’ move” was boomed.
My heart leaped.
Help had arrived.
The hold on my arms and legs disappeared. Mitch let go and shoved me hard. I stumbled back and fell on my butt while trying to breathe as I searched for Torch. He stood on the other side with bodies all around him. Blood coated his skin, his clothes.
I gasped for air, had to get my lungs working, my voice, so I could call for him.
“You have just interrupted a police investigation,” Plank called angrily.
“Don’t fuckin’ try and pull that shit,” Country snarled. “We have video proof?—”
Plank ran.
He turned around and bolted our way while his men lifted their guns and fired at Torch’s brothers.
I went to get up and run for Torch, who had started my way, but I was suddenly grabbed around the waist and hurled up.
“They won’t hurt me if I have you,” Mitch said as Tony rushed over with his father.
“Give her to me,” Tony ordered.
“No. Let’s just fucking go,” Mitch said, backing up.
With my heart in my throat, I tried to drop all my weight so he couldn’t take me. Tony stepped up, punched me, and picked up my legs.
“No,” I screamed, kicking at him when I got one free.
“Fucking stop.” He dropped my legs and grabbed my neck, squeezing, while Mitch had my arms pinned back. “I’ll kill you right here, right now. Just do as I fucking say for once.”
I caught his father’s wide gaze, but he did nothing, said nothing. Just looked away.
There was shouting, more gunfire, grunts, curses, but all I wanted was to see if Torch was okay.
I needed to get to him.
I wouldn’t be taken away from him.
Fuck you, Tony. Fuck you all. I’ll fight back and get to Torch.
Tony released my neck and bent to pick up my legs. I kicked out and got him in the face hard enough to knock him onto his ass. His father went to help his cursing son while Mitch pushed me to the ground and kicked me in the head, the stomach.
I tried to reach out, trip him up, push him down, but he dodged my hands and kept kicking.
There was a roar, and then Mitch was tackled to the ground. Torch sat on him, punching Mitch over and over until there was nothing but a bloody mess behind where his face had once been.
“Torch,” I called.
He stilled for a beat, stood, walked over to a wall, and picked up a canister. Gas in hand, he brought it back to a barely breathing Mitch and poured it over him.
“Stop it, you fucking freak,” Tony yelled.
“Tony,” Chester scolded. “Let’s just go.” His other friends had already bolted when Torch had taken Mitch to the ground.
“Torch?” I tried again, but he wasn’t hearing me.
Mitch groaned, shaking his head as Torch pulled a lighter from his pocket, flicked the flame to life, and dropped it.
Whoosh.
Wide-eyed, my stomach churned at the sounds Mitch made. He rolled side to side, and the flames died to nothing, but I could smell the damage it’d done. It was like the room had filled with scents of raw, foul meat and burned plastic. His clothes were stuck to him now. His skin was red, oozing, and charred.
He lay still but breathing, staring up at the ceiling as tears mixed with blood on his barely distinguishable face.
He’d hurt people.
He’d raped women.
He deserved this pain.
Torch had been beaten and shot.
They had tried to kill us.
Which was why I had no pity or remorse over Torch’s actions.
With a slight whimper, I gripped my aching stomach and sat up, leaning against a wall to see that Tony and Chester had started moving away slowly.
Torch turned to them, and they literally squawked.
Despite the pain in my face, throat, and stomach, I smiled at the fear in Tony’s eyes.
“You looked at her. You touched her . You hurt her, was gonna kill her.”
“Now, wait here,” Chester started.
“No!” Torch roared. “You stood back and did nothing.”
Saint was suddenly at Torch’s back with Wreck and Quake. They didn’t move to stop their brother. They knew, as I’d already guessed, that Torch needed to do what he had to so it didn’t haunt him in the future.
Tony cried, “Please, I didn’t want to, but Mitch forced my hand.”
A sinister grin appeared on Torch before he snarled, “Coward.” He gazed with a murderous gleam down at Tony. “I’ll enjoy carvin’ you up before I take your life.”
Tony looked at me and yelled, “This is the type of man you want?”
“Yes,” I answered straightaway, a little croaky from the soreness. There wasn’t any doubt about who I wanted at my side for the rest of my life.
Tony sneered. “You deserve each other.”
Chester and I saw the gun on the floor at the same time.
We both dove and struggled to get a hold of it. The men around us shouted, swore, and ordered him to stop, but he wouldn’t, and in a flurry of panic, Chester gripped my finger and yanked it back. The pain had me releasing my hold for a second, but that was all he needed. He swung around and fired. It echoed through the room, and then someone grunted. Chester went to shoot again, but there was only a click.
“Fuck me,” Saint barked. “Kylo’s gonna kill me for gettin’ shot again. No one tell him. Quake, give me your pants.”
“Saint,” Wreck growled out.
“Shit. Okay.” He stormed over to Chester, though he limped a little. The old man sniffled and waved his hands out in front of him. Saint slapped them away and picked Chester up by the front of his suit. “I’ll take this trash to the car.”
“Wait, no. Leave my dad alone.”
“Tony, don’t worry about me,” he called before looking to Saint and begging, “Please, just leave my son alone.”
“Didn’t you hear what your son did? He’s gonna get what’s comin’ to him, and you’re gonna shut up about it, or you’ll die too.” Saint walked off with a squirming Chester, who still begged for his monster of a son.
“Let me take him to the compound, brother,” Wreck said, laying a hand on Torch’s shoulder. “We can finish things there.”
“Harley?” Torch demanded.
“He’s fine,” Death reassured him when he approached. I let out a breath of relief.
“Plank?” Torch asked as he glared down at Tony, but with a slight smile that told me he was probably imagining all the ways he would deal with the demon of my past.
“A group of the brothers are after him. He got out through a passage that wasn’t on the blueprints.”
Torch’s grin vanished as he clenched his jaw and grunted.
“We’ll get him,” Quake said. “But he knows he can’t go to the police. He knows what we recorded here this night. He’s screwed, brother, and he’ll fuck up again. We’ll nab him when he does.”
They’d recorded something?
“Take him,” Torch ordered, then placed all his attention on me.
Wreck and Quake didn’t listen, though. They stayed where they were. I suspected they were worried about their brother.
“Brother, you need to see Lucas, get patched up.”
“Later,” he told Wreck.
“But—”
“Later,” he clipped as he crouched in front of me. He was covered in blood from his wounds and the men he’d killed. Bruises, cuts, and marks marred his skin. He slowly reached out to me but saw the stains on his hands and pulled back.
Shaking my head, I got to my knees and ignored my aches and pains to curl into Torch, with my arms wrapping around his neck. “Torch,” I mewled, a sob caught in my throat.
We were alive.
We could heal together from this.
It might not be over with Plank still out there, but Tony and the rest of them would be dealt with. They’d never harm me or anyone else again.
We were safe.
“My Wrenley,” he uttered into my neck, following up with a press of his lips. His body shook, but he held on to me in a warm, comforting grip.
“I’m safe. I’m okay. You did it, Torch. You saved me. Nothing else matters. We’re here, alive, and together.”
I felt him nod against my shoulder as I ran my hands down his back. He shuddered.
Pulling away, I took his hands in mine. “Come on. Let’s go to the compound and get you looked at.”
His brows pinched, and he ordered, “You too.”
I smiled and finally relaxed, knowing we really would be okay. “I will.”
“Kid.” Death stopped next to us, and I was on my feet, wincing from the aches but hugging him still. “Christ,” he said into my hair. “Your sister’s fine. She’s good. Just wants you back.”
“Okay,” I said, sniffing, clearing my throat only to cringe again.
It would heal. We would all heal.
And at least we were safe.
Hands at my waist gently pulled me from Death and into a hard chest.
Death’s jaw clenched from locking his emotions in, but then he grinned at the man behind me. “Fuck, brother. Thanks for protecting her.”
“Always,” Torch replied.
“Now, can we get this motherfucker locked up in the basement and patch our brother up?” Quake asked, kicking a muttering and crying Tony, who’d curled up into a ball as he stared at Mitch. “I suppose we’ll have to take that one too.”
“Get Chaos to have a good chat with him on the way to the hospital,” Death ordered. Quake ducked off to speak to the other brother.
In the distance, we heard Gun yell, “You were fuckin’ shot!”
“Lover, I’m all right. It’s just a little scrape. Wait… what are you doin’?”
“Callin’ your mother.” Gun stalked out of the warehouse with his phone in hand.
Saint quickly limped after him, saying, “Boo bear, don’t you fuckin’ dare.”
A laugh escaped me, and I turned into Torch, smiling. I hugged him close as Wreck walked a dazed Tony from the warehouse.