Chapter 23 Dean
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Dean
Ihate leaving Sloan behind, but there's no way I want her anywhere near the Hell Hounds ever again.
After tonight is done, I'm paying a visit to Victor to let him know that they are persona non grata at all of my establishments from here on out. Even if she never steps foot into the other clubs I own in Cherokee Falls, she’s still part owner.
I'm not taking a chance with her like this again.
I jog over to Slade's Automotive and find him in the back bay of the garage, strapping down like he's going to war. It makes me feel silly with just a dagger and a single piece. But if I need more than that, I'm already dead.
“Slade,” I call out so he knows who's walking in behind him. “I know where you're headed and I can't let you do it.”
“You can't fucking stop me,” he growls as he spins around to face me. “I know who you are…what you are, Sergeant. So, you can either call your department to stop me and blow your cover…or you can let me go take care of mine.”
“That title is the real cover,” I admit.
“I promised my woman I would try to stop you from doing something that would send you to prison. I tried.” I shrug.
“But one of them touched mine, too.” I put my hands up when he snarls.
“Not the same way, but they would have if my security wasn't so tight.
They would have gotten a hell of a lot closer than they did if you didn't step in.
So, I'm with you tonight. I'm not a cop. I'm just taking care of mine.”
“Fuck me sideways, Lancaster.” Slade chuckles. “You just earned a whole new level of respect. You still got your bike or you wanna borrow my spare?” He points the Harley Sportster in the corner.
“Fuck you, dude,” I scoff. “My Chopper is in the shed behind my club.”
“Let's get this shit done, then.” He slings a leg over his Indian and starts the engine.
I jog to my storage shed and open the barn style doors. I mount my bike and start the engine before sending a text to Mac.
Gonna be a long night.
I get a text back within seconds.
Mac
We're all tucked in. Do what you gotta do. I'll be on watch.
Once upon a time, I would have invited Mac to ride along, and he would have jumped into action.
But since a close call a couple of years ago, he's preferred to stay behind the scenes.
Tonight, that works in my favor since there's no one I trust more to watch my woman while I help make the world a little safer for her to dance in.
Five minutes later, we’re burning up the highway on the way to Cherokee Falls.
I know where the Hell Hounds hold Church, and I'm sure after the shit they stepped in tonight, that's exactly where they'll be.
They'll run to Victor for protection, but he won't do shit to save them when we pull up.
I still supply ninety percent of the guns that arm his compound, and the drugs that he plies his members with to keep them loyal.
Too bad for them that loyalty doesn't go both ways.
The whole ride, I think of Sloan. On her knees, sucking my cock. In my bed, taking my cock. In my kitchen, stealing my coffee. In my club, dancing for other men, knowing it drives me crazy even if I'm the one who asked her to do it.
I could die tonight and the only thing I regret is having Sloan the way we were meant to be for only a month instead of the years I wasted.
I should have told her I wanted her in college.
I should have held her close from day one, because there was no way I wasn't going to pull her in eventually.
She's the other half of my soul. The half that was missing until last month, when I showed up on her doorstep.
I haven't even told her that I love her. Not that I need to for her to know it's true. I don't need the words from her, either. But if I survive what's next, I'm damn sure going to marry her. I want the world to know what she already knows…she's mine.
Not long after rolling up to the Hell Hounds’ compound, we're in the dungeon with Rocky, Rufus, and Spot, chained to the wall where I've heard they chain the women who don't do what they're told.
Unlike Maxine, these women sign up for this.
They willingly step into the clubhouse, knowing the consequences if they step out of line.
After a five-minute conversation with Victor and the video of his three low-ranking men threatening to take my woman, he offered a place to do whatever we deemed necessary. When Slade told him his men wouldn't be leaving alive, he just shrugged and told us to clean up our mess when we were done.
We're well aware that we may have to fight our way out when we're done.
Just because Victor sanctioned this doesn't mean all of his men will fall in line. I expect his VP will incite a riot on behalf of the three men in front of us, since I know from Axel’s past encounters that they are his minions.
They do the deeds he wants to keep hidden from Victor.
“Slow and brutal…or fast and out?” I ask Slade as I pull my dagger from its sheath.
“Fast and brutal,” he replies, pulling a blade from the scabbard on his side that's twice the size of mine. “I want to hear them scream. I want to see them bleed. Then, I want to go the fuck home and tell my woman she’s safe.”
“Sounds like a fan-fucking-tastic plan to me,” I say as I step toward Rocky. “What did I say would happen the first time you came to my club? You touch what's mine, you leave in a fucking body bag.”
Before he can respond, I stab my blade through the hand that touched Sloan, and revel in his shout of pain. I jerk the freshly sharpened blade up, severing his hand down the middle. His blood spills on my boots and I relish the sight as he passes out from the pain.
“Fucking pussy,” Slade says as he steps up beside me. “Which one of you pricks held my woman's arms until she fought so hard one of them broke?”
Rufus and Spot look at each other before turning back to Slade with true terror in their eyes. The same terror I'm sure Maxine felt when she was helpless against them.
“Him,” Rufus snivels as he nods toward Spot. “He…he had her back.”
Slade steps toward Spot and takes his right arm in both hands, twisting until we hear a bone snap, followed by Spot’s howl of pain.
“Now, I know why you all use dog names for your road names,” I chuckle. “You all cry like bitches.”
When another bone snaps, Spot joins Rocky in the land of unconsciousness, leaving Rufus to face Slade's wrath. Slade glares at Rufus as he snarls, “Which hole did you violate on my woman?”
Rufus shakes his head with a whimpered, “I didn't…” But he's cut off by Slade's monster hand backhanding him across the face, making his lip split and blood to dribble down his chin.
“Little shit like you ain't man enough to take what matters.” Slade backhands the other side of his face so hard that he knocks him out cold.
I’ve read the details of Maxine's attack more times than I can count.
I know what they did to her, and it's clear that Slade knows, too.
I can't imagine living with knowing that the three men who beat, raped, and sodomized my woman were walking free. Slade deserves this as much as they deserve the hell they’re going to before we leave this room.
I knew the three of them liked to share women—one for each hole as they said—but I never knew they would go after someone who wasn't willing to be their toy. If I did, I would have put them down years ago.
“I'm done with this shit,” Slade says when the only sounds are the breaths of the three unconscious men and their blood dripping on the floor. “You want that one?” He nods at Rocky. “Or you want me to do all three?”
Without answering, I lift my blade and slit Rocky's throat, watching the crimson spray hit my chest. Slade does the same to the other two and we watch as they bleed out until their skin turns gray.
We each grab a hose from the corner to wash the blood down the drain in the middle of the floor in silence.
We don’t need words to know that we each have a new brother. One born of a different kind of blood. Blood that burns hotter and runs darker than any family ever could.