23. Colt
Chapter 23
Colt
T he ride back to Braham takes longer than I would like. I check my phone over and over again, feeling desperate to get back to her.
Deveroix wasn’t there and he never showed up in the hours I waited. My gut didn’t feel right. Even though Zane and Bullet both confirmed that everything was fine, there was a sinking dread in my stomach that I couldn’t explain. I put off the hit for another evening until I could track him again and decided to head home.
Unease grows in my stomach when I pull up outside the house. The entire place is dark. I guess she could have gone to bed. They could be holed up in the office. I didn’t get a chance to let them know what was happening because my phone had shitty service most of the ride, and I had been in too much of a hurry. Still, the closer I get, the more I notice something doesn’t feel right. I barely park when a dark figure in the trees catches my attention. Bending down, I manage to get to the side of the house and crouch, gauging what I saw. My fingers itch to grab my phone and alert the guys, but the glow from the face of my phone is enough to stop me. My eyes scan the yard again, but I don’t see a fucking thing. I feel blind.
My heart is hammering in my chest. The sick feeling that I’m missing something is nagging me. Fear for Lyric sends shivers down my spine. Imagining her in danger, scared, and needing me is my fatal flaw in this moment.
My brain doesn’t register until it happens. An arm wraps around my neck. Mine starts thrashing, ready to grapple. My jaw clenches, right as there's a small poke to the side of my neck followed by a stinging sensation. I feel my legs go weak; my muscles unable to coordinate. I swear I hear Lyric scream. My eyes try to track where she’s at, where I am, only, my vision is blurring. I lift my arm in one last attempt to elbow the person behind me before everything goes dark.
“Colt,” Lyric’s voice whispers my name over and over. It sounds like she’s praying, and I have to take a minute to make sure I didn’t die. That this isn’t heaven and she’s not crying over my casket. My legs feel sluggish. There’s a pain behind my eyes, and it feels like I took a beating around my rib cage. My brain scrambles to put together my last memories. The house. I was back because Deveroix was gone. The unease. The shadow in the woods. The prick of a needle.
I open my eyes and instantly have to squeeze them shut. There’s barely any light, but the sliver of the moon is almost too bright and it's right in my eyes. I blink over and over, clearing my vision, trying to figure out where the hell I am. I push myself up against a wall and realize I’m on the floor. My ears are ringing.
“Colt?” I hear Lyric again. This time my head turns toward her voice. “Oh, thank god.”
“Lyric.” I say her name, panic rising in my gut, because she’s real. She’s here with me and she’s kneeling on the floor. I see the duct tape on her wrists and ankles. I try to move toward her, but she shakes her head frantically at me, tears falling down her face. All my mind sees is red. The woman I love has been hurt and I need to get to her. In this moment, I’d rather take a few rounds of bullets to the chest than see the fear and hopelessness that’s written across her face.
“Are you okay?” I ask. Words feel foreign on my tongue and my voice is scratchy. I swallow a few times, trying to ease the feeling of swallowing wood splinters away.
“Are you?” she asks, looking at me like she used to when I would make her mad in high school. Like she can’t believe I would dare get hurt.
It must be the drugs because I can’t help but grin. Trying to force my body up straighter, I peer at her. “Is it Deveroix?”
“Yes,” Lyric answers, her eyes brimming with tears.
“Where are Squirrel and Bullet?” I ask, hating the way my throat tightens.
Lyric’s eyes drop to the floor. “I don’t know. They got a message that you were back; they saw your bike pull up and they left. There was a knock on the door, and I thought maybe you lost the key. I didn’t even think about it, I missed you and opened the door. God, I was stupid, Colt.”
“You’re not stupid, Lyric,” I shut her down quickly on that train of thought.
“I tried to close the door and activate the alarm again, but he shoved his way in. I ran but he knocked me to the ground.” She ends her story and I want so badly to get free so I can make him pay for touching her.
Slowly, my brain filters in all the information she tells me. Once I was out, he must have used my phone. How long was he waiting for? When did he first follow me? Tonight had been the first time I ever brought Lyric out in public in a month. “So, Doc, you're the specialist. You said he’s unstable.”
“I said he’s unhinged,” she whispers.
“Okay, so what level of psychotic are we dealing with here, just to be clear? Like Dahmer?”
She snorts. “No. Lukas is vengeful. Narcissistic. He has a god-like complex where he thinks women should obey him. He’s on the verge of snapping. This whole scenario could definitely be an episode of Criminal Minds .”
“Only if I’m played by Shemar Moore,” I say, keeping her talking and things light while I try to figure out how to get us out of here.
She huffs next to me. “He’s not on the show any longer, remember? Plus, he’d be a profiler. Shemar would never be held captive like us.”
“Well, maybe he’d make a guest appearance. It's a new storyline,” I scoff at her.
Lyric stares at me for a second before she laughs. “Only you would find something in this situation to make me feel better. I can’t believe you’re here.”
“I headed back when I realized he was gone,” I tell her, while twisting around to see what the ties holding my hands together are made of.
“You shouldn’t have left. You never should have been involved in the first place. We fell right into the trap he wanted us to. Typical Colt, making decisions without thinking.”
I can hear her fear in her barbed words, each one like a little bullet. My vision clouds, and anger bubbles under my skin. “I’d rather be here with you right now, than let you be on your own. He was never going to stop coming after you, even if I wasn’t involved. I don’t fucking care what happens to me, Lyric. I would do anything for you. I will die for you if it means you get out of here safe,” I snap back at her.
I hear her sniffle and a sob escapes her. “Do you honestly think I could live with myself if you die because of me, Colt?”
“It would be worth it to me. You are worth it, Lyric. I love you. I promise we will get out of here,” I tell her, my words fierce and strong. The will to live is strong inside me, knowing I finally have something and someone to be here for. I need her to believe in a future too. I will get her out of this alive.
Right now, I make the choice to treat this like any mission. Pushing down the emotions, I concentrate on survival. “Start moving your hands and stretching your bindings.”
I hear a rustle and watch her face as she tries to concentrate on the task I gave her. My eyes dart around the room, now that I can fully open them and the spinning has stopped. “The fuck, are we at your house?”
“You were out for a while, but yeah. He wants Stella.”
There is a window above the kitchen sink, but we’re far from any of the doors. I pull and stretch at my own bindings, hoping that at least if Lyric can get out of hers, I have a knife stashed in my boot. Fucking moron didn’t think to even pat me down.
“Well, well, well,” a new voice says, right as the door opens and Deveroix steps inside. “About time Soldier Boy woke up.”
I keep my face expressionless, only a hint of amusement flickers in my eyes. My refusal to acknowledge the degrading nickname riles him up even more. I’ve seen him plenty in photos and during surveillance, but here, close up, the crazy in his eyes is hard to miss.
“So, what's your plan here, Lukas? How is tying me up going to help you?” I turn to him.
His face burns a bright red and he starts pacing, too worked up to even realize how hard I’m working to stretch and pull at the restraints. Fucking zip ties.
“You’re just here as collateral, my friend. That's what happens when you let a viper on your dick.” He nods his head at Lyric. “You’re my insurance. She does what I tell her to do and maybe I’ll let you live,” Deveroix goes on and on, his eyes bloodshot as if he’s been drinking too much.
“Sorry to break it to you, but that's not going to happen. I won’t let you near her, and as for your wife, there's a reason she left. It's time to look in the mirror, buddy, and realize what a piece of shit you are.”
“I am a good husband!” He stomps over to me, yelling in my face. I calculate every move he makes, running his hands through his hair, his chest breathing rapidly under his button-up shirt.
“Then why did she leave you?” My head cocks to the side.
His hand twitches and his gaze turns to Lyric. “Because of that bitch right there and her poisonous lies!”
“No, she left because you hurt her.” She snaps at him.
“Fuck you, bitch!” He turns, screaming at Lyric, his face turning red as spit flies from his mouth. He stalks over to her, leaning down, and I flinch when he grabs her shoulder. “Where is my wife? Where is my kid? Give me my fucking family!”
“Hey, let's take it down a few notches, okay? How about you untie us and we can figure out if Stella wants to come home or not,” I try to reason, spewing lines of bullshit, but I need him to back the fuck up away from my girl.
He laughs, and it sounds deranged, detached, and sinister. “You think I’m stupid enough to fall for that?”
“No,” I shake my head. “I don’t think you’re stupid at all. I just think there is a better way to handle all of this.”
He glances from me back to Lyric, before bending down to eye level with her. “Oh, there is. She’s going to tell me where my family is or she’s going to watch me gut you open all over her kitchen floor.”
My insides turn cold and my gaze darts to Lyric. Only instead of fear on her face, I find her staring the asshole down, her lips tipped up in a sneer. “You’ll never have them.”
Two things happen at once. My last restraint snaps, and Deveroix pulls a blade out of his back pocket lunging toward Lyric. I do not hesitate and throw myself at him, tackling his body and taking him by surprise. He swings at me, and I attempt to trap his arm or knock the weapon away with my boot. I’m painfully aware that my own knife is within reach. I just need him to be unarmed for a second.
We grapple, and finally I’m able to shove him, knocking his hand, and the knife drops, slicing my hand on the way down. I kick it to the right, opening my body up, and he lands a punch to my abdomen. My arm wraps around my side, faking a double-over, and I roll away, which allows me to grab my own blade.
Deveroix snarls at me, coming back for more; only this time, I’m faster. I swing at him, nicking his shoulder when he moves. He screams, and I smirk. Of course he’s only a tough guy when it comes to hurting women. He makes a move in Lyric’s direction, and I grab him, the momentum sending us tumbling into the living room. He manages to round me and grabs me in a chokehold. With one hand on his arm, I hook my ankle around his leg, breaking free and taking him down to his knees. I lurch toward where my knife dropped at the same time he charges at me. I turn and slam my knife right into his throat. His eyes open in surprise and his lips part in a gurgle of blood. Fuck, that’s messy. For a split-second I feel triumph, we won, and Lyric is safe. Until I notice the searing pain in my gut from the knife in his hand. Shit.
He slumps forward and I yank my knife from his neck and move back. Blood spurts out of the wound I gave him and trickles out of his mouth as he falls to his knees. His eyes go wide as if he just realized how fucked he is. His hand reaches forward, then he slumps to the side as all the life drains from inside him.
I fall to a knee, covered in blood, his and mine. I press my hand to my side, trying to stop the bleeding. I’m not sure where he stuck me, but it feels vital. I’m losing a lot of blood.
“Colt!” Lyric yells my name, then she’s right there next to me, grasping my shoulders as I sprawl out on my back.
“Phone,” I manage to rasp out to her, pointing at Deveroix’s dead body. She takes the hint and rummages in his pockets. She pulls a phone out and scoots closer to me.
“Shit! It's dead!” She looks defeated, and I’m scared she’ll cry again. I can’t have her crying over me. I grab her arm with my free hand and pull her to me.
“Go,” I tell her, holding her blue eyes with my own. Fuck, she’s so beautiful. Even with tears in her eyes and covered in my blood, she’s the best thing I’ve ever seen. I love her so much. “Run to your neighbors. Find anyone.”
I’m starting to feel like I’m having an out of body experience. My words feel far away and my vision looks as if I’m watching what is happening. Deveroix definitely hit something vital when he stabbed me. I can taste the coppery tang of blood in the back of my throat.
“I can’t leave you,” Lyric sobs next to me.
With the little energy I have left, I push her away. “You have to so we can both get out of here. I’ll be fine. I promise.”
“You can’t die on me, Colt!” she shouts, getting to her feet. “I love you. I never stopped loving you. You can’t leave me again.”
“I won’t. You owe me a trip down the aisle someday, Taylor. I need to see that dress.” I manage to laugh and cough up blood at the same time. Her face pales.
“I’m coming right back,” Lyric whispers as she kisses my forehead.
In the next second, she’s gone, and I feel cold. I’ve always assumed this is what dying would be like. Pictures of your life playing like a movie in your mind, some of the sweetest memories burning the brightest while the saddest ones make your chest ache. After years of not caring whether I lived or died, as long as I kept my country safe, it sure sucks to know I probably am not going to live this time. My biggest regret is not looking for Lyric sooner. For handling rejection the way I did. I think about my dad, AJ, Zane, the club and my brothers. All the things I’m going to miss out on. Even as my chest rattles and breathing gets more difficult, I really hope that someone remembers to play “Wanted Dead or Alive” at my funeral and those idiots party at the bar afterward, taking shots and singing to “Carry On My Wayward Son.” I trust Zane will get it done. I trust that my family and my club will take care of my girl. Fuck, Lyric. All I wanted was to love her again. My eyes water. I realize it’s tears as they leak out and trail down into my hairline. Everything feels numb. My eyes close and as they do, I see Alex and Jordan. I recognize him in the Crimson Tide sweatshirt.
You need to hold on, little brother…
Do not leave her again…