Chapter 24
BLAIZE
Ishould have sent Annika to patch her up instead of laying a finger on her.
Fuck. I really fucked up, and I didn’t even fuck her.
The way her eyes dilated with my hand wrapped around her throat went straight to my fucking cunt.
She was so turned on I could smell her. I had barely enough willpower not to shred the lace from her body and devour her soaked pussy right there on my desk, just to get it out of my system.
She needed to get out of my fucking head.
Reacting like this over a woman was childish.
The last time I got this drunk was after I buried my family.
It was a long bender that almost cost me my life and my clubs.
Back then, I was mending a shattered heart and wanted to die.
Now, I was trying to drown a need that hadn’t been woken in five years.
Groaning, I rubbed my eyes, feeling the pulsating throb behind my eyes.
Jesus fuck. At some point, the whiskey made me numb and I had no fucking clue how much that was anymore.
I reached for my phone with closed eyes, feeling it on my side table connected to the charger.
Glancing, I saw a bottle of water and aspirin waiting for me.
Look at Hunter, being considerate. I tapped the screen, cringing at how bright it was.
As my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw the ten missed calls and copious amounts of texts from Hawke and some others.
HAWKE
Someone torched the hotel.
“Motherfucker,” I cursed, forcing myself out of my bed, ignoring the pain rattling in my skull. I popped the aspirin and slipped into clean black slacks, the same lacey red bra, and my leather jacket. I’d shower and get ready for tonight after I dealt with everything.
BLAIZE
I’m headed to the pier now.
I broke every traffic law possible from the club to the hotel.
Smoke and burnt wood lingered in the air as I pulled my bike up, coming to a halt.
My hotel was still smoldering as the fire department contained the remaining flames.
I took a moment to control my anger, my fist clenching against my sides. Whoever did this would pay dearly.
I pulled my helmet off, shaking my hair out as I glanced at Hawke who was standing in one spot, looking at the ground. Quickly, I rushed to his side, only to freeze when I saw the symbol in red spray paint. I grabbed his arm, and he held me up knowing what this symbol meant to us and this town.
That symbol had not been seen in five years. Not since that night.
“What the fuck.” Elijah always bragged about how he was God and made sure to leave his mark.
The upside-down cross with the V through it was not impressive or original, but he loved leaving it all over Westhaven.
“Elijah West is dead,” I said out loud, needing to hear the words.
“Every single one of his minions, too. We both know this.”
The massacre of the Vandals took out the bastard who killed my wife and daughter.
I would've been fine with his head on a stake, but I needed to clean these streets. That blood-filled night destroyed Elijah’s operations, ending his pathetic existence.
I was not proud of the woman I was that night.
Looking back, I couldn’t even recognize myself, and neither did Hawke or Hunter.
Elijah taunted me, trying to get me to kneel at his feet, but I refused, standing up to the bastard and calling him a pussy for what he did to innocent women and children.
He wasn’t a fan of a woman standing up to him.
When the torture didn’t work, he sent me a video of Olivia and Charlee in our house while I was in the next town over, gaining allies to destroy him.
I listened to him torment my wife and daughter before he killed Charlee.
The man I had watching my house was dead, and everyone was out of town when they both needed me the most. Olivia’s last moments involved holding our daughter’s body as Elijah brutalized hers.
She fought to stay alive long enough to say goodbye to me as I held her in my arms, before joining Charlee.
Her final breath was I love you, and to not turn out like him before she died in my arms. It was a promise I couldn’t keep because I became a monster worse than Elijah.
Olivia tamed the beast inside me for a long time.
I wasn’t nearly as bloodthirsty with her, but the beast was released once she took her last breath and her body went limp in my arms. I still heard her screams, still saw her broken body, and I still saw my little girl.
If it wasn’t for Hawke and Hunter, I would’ve swallowed a bullet years ago.
I failed the two people I promised to protect, and I had to live with that failure every day for the rest of my life.
I looked at Hawke, and he frowned. Having Hawke and Hunter with me that night tested everything we had together.
Hawke found me after Hunter called him since I never showed up to the club.
My eyes were hollow, and I shook with rage.
We raided and destroyed Elijah while I still had Olivia’s blood on me.
The only regret I had from that night was the innocents who died.
“Elijah was a sick fuck who got exactly what he deserved,” I hissed out.
“I know, Blaize. This was his mark. His symbol. Someone is going the extra mile to piss you off.”
“It’s connected. The feds snooping around and whoever the fuck this is.” Hawke nodded. “I want patrols around the docks. Call a meeting. I want everyone at the clubhouse in the next hour. I’m not letting whoever this is get away with this bullshit.”
If someone wanted to bring Elijah West back from the dead, they had another thing coming to them. He was one demon who would never rise from the ashes again.
When I arrived in Westhaven years ago, the town and the territories were polluted with vile men doing horrid things.
Elijah West thought he was a god, and women were nothing more than trash on the bottom of his boot.
It took me a few years to gather enough people to trust me, but there were a lot of men here who hated Elijah and how he acted, Hawke being one of them.
I gained Hawke’s trust, and he allowed me into his unnamed motorcycle club.
They were hesitant with a female member, but I was different.
I was a born leader, and I was not afraid of big buff men.
We created everything between those four walls.
From how we made money, to how we would destroy Elijah.
Drugs were fine. Illegal gambling was a part of life.
Sex work was perfect if the girls were of age, consented to everything, and safe.
But sex trafficking innocent women and children?
Fuck no. I allowed drugs and weapons to be brought in through my ports, but I would never allow men to hurt innocents.
Elijah didn’t care. He wanted money, and he had a lot of clientele that liked the ‘product.’
This place was a constant reminder of what happened that night.
From the blood of the Vandals, rose the Reapers.
I took the throne with Elijah’s blood still dripping from my fingertips.
I won the war, but he took my heart with him.
I was angry and hellbent on revenge. He took my wife and daughter from me, so I took his life.
And eye for an eye. It was very biblical.
I created an empire. Blood, sweat, and the ashes of my enemy created the foundation of my territories.
My own kingdom that I was queen of, in a way.
After the bullet went through his skull and his body went up in flames, Westhaven was cleansed from his vile touch.
Most of the men from before listened to me, and the ones who doubted me?
Well, let's say they were on their knees begging for forgiveness within an hour.
Elijah was a cruel asshole who had growing targets on his back, everyone else was just too scared to do something about him.