Six
ZAC
PULLING into the carpark at the club, I look over at Alyssa and take a deep breath, attempting to calm my rage.
I should get someone to take her home. I shouldn’t want her to be here when I may just kill someone in the underground cellar of my club.
I shouldn’t want her to see the other side of me, the side that will hunt and kill to protect those close to me.
I know I should let her go now, try to forget her and not bring her down with my level of shit.
I know I should, but I don’t. I don’t want to let her go.
I don’t care if I have to spend the next month grovelling and apologising for whatever she is about to witness tonight, because right now, I need her.
I can’t explain it or put a label on what it is, but having her next to me feels right.
“Wait there,” I instruct her as I jump out of the car and go around to her side.
Opening her door, I reach in for her hand to help her out.
Although every bone in my body is screaming at me to run up to my office to make sure Ella is okay, I don’t.
I take another deep breath and silently count to ten in my head.
Gripping Alyssa’s hand, I walk as calmly as I can muster.
When I notice that Alyssa is struggling to keep up with my pace, I slow a little.
We stop at the elevator; stabbing at the button over and over does not make it open any quicker.
Alyssa gives my hand a squeeze and looks up at me with those grey-blue eyes of hers.
The doors open and I pull her in. As soon as the doors close, my arms go around her. I hold her tight, probably too tight.
“I’m sorry for whatever you’re about to see, for whatever I have to do tonight. Know that no matter how much I may want you here, how much I need you here, if at any time you want to leave and go home, you tell me and I will have someone take you.”
She rests her head against my chest, wrapping her arms around me. She hugs me back but it’s what she says that has me holding her tight and not wanting to let her go. “I want to be wherever you are, but I also don’t want to be in the way. So, you need to tell me if I am.”
Damn, I think I could be losing my mind. I can’t ever recall wanting… no, needing… a woman as much as I need Alyssa right now. “Sunshine, you could never be in the way. You are right where you belong.” As the doors open, I grab her hand and pull her along the hall to my office.
Nothing could have prepared me for the sight that greeted me as I walked into my office.
Ella is curled up on the corner of the couch.
She’s rocking slightly, crying silent tears that I can see run down her cheeks.
She’s bleeding from a gash on her forehead, an enormous bruise is forming on her right eye, and her arms are covered in marks.
My world is tumbling; the anger I thought I had controlled comes barrelling back full force.
Bray is pacing back and forward throughout the office. He stops as soon as he notices me. “Zac, thank god you’re here. She won’t let me touch her. She keeps asking for fucking Dean. Where the fuck is Dean?” He looks like he’s about to lose it.
Alyssa squeezes my hand before walking slowly over to Ella.
She takes a seat on the couch next to her, not touching her and speaking softly.
“Ella, my name’s Alyssa, but you can call me Lyssa—all my friends call me Lyssa.
I’m a nurse. I can help you. Would you like me to help get you cleaned up a bit? ”
Bray and I both watch in shock as Ella picks her head up and gives a slight nod. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding before going over to Ella and crouching in front of her.
“Ella, sweetheart, I need to know…” Swallowing, I try again. “I need you to tell me what happened, please.”
Ella looks at me. “Zac?” she questions like she doesn’t believe it’s actually me.
“Yeah, honey, it’s me Zac. Can you tell me what happened?”
“I… I was so scared, Zac. I didn’t know what to do. I screamed for help. I kicked, scratched and hit wherever I could, just like you told me to, but he was too big.” Her sobs get louder. This is killing me. I can feel my body vibrate with rage.
Alyssa must sense something in me; she touches my shoulder.
“Zac, I’m going to take her through there.
” She points to the bathroom. “I need you to get me a first aid kit. I can help her. The cut on her head is not bad; it looks it because head wounds bleed a lot. It doesn’t look too deep.
” She turns to Ella. “Ella, honey, I’m going to take you to the shower and help you get cleaned.
” I watch as Alyssa grabs Ella’s hand to help her up.
Ella follows Alyssa blindly through to the bathroom attached to my office.
Bray watches them go through, then he looks at me.
“I’m going downstairs. I can’t stand this, Zac.
I feel helpless. I should have been there.
This shouldn’t have happened to her. This won’t happen again.
I will make sure every asshole out there knows what will happen to them if they even think about touching her,” he says, pointing towards the bathroom door.
“Give me five minutes. I’ll get the first aid kit for Alyssa and meet you down there. Don’t finish without me,” I demand. I need this… I need this fucker’s blood on my hands. I need to watch the life drain out of him. I dig a first aid kit out of the cabinet and knock on the bathroom door.
Alyssa cracks the door open slightly, not enough for me to see in. “Is she okay?” I ask, almost pleading that she is.
“She will be.” She takes the first aid kit before stopping me from entering. “Zac, I’ll take care of her. You can trust me to do this for you, for her.”
Nodding in agreement, I let out a breath. “I know… I just need to know how bad it is.”
She reads between the lines and nods her head. “I’ll find out.”
“Thank you. I’m going downstairs for a bit. I won’t be too long, but I’m locking the office door. Don’t open it for anyone. Everyone that needs to be in here has a key, okay?”
She gives a small smile and says, “Okay, I’ll be here when you get back.” I place a kiss on her forehead. Turning, I walk out the door, looking forward to getting all my rage out on this fucker.
Walking into the basement, I can hear the tell-tale signs of skin meeting skin. I can hear Bray telling the fucker the mistakes he made tonight.
“You think you can come into our club, touch our sister and get away with it? You just signed your own death certificate, fucker.”
I walk through the room they’re in and see they have the drummer hooked up to chains; his face is already unrecognisable. Turning to Dean, who is pacing the back wall, I ask, “Did you have to start without me? You know how much I enjoy the start of the show.”
Dean looks up but doesn’t greet me with his usual devious smirk—the one he usually saves for these situations. He’s hanging on by a thread.
“Zac, just let me take him out. I need to take him out.” I look at him, really look at him, for a moment.
“This isn’t just some random fucker who wronged me, Dean. He thought he could touch my sister, my fucking sister!” I yell. Dean bends his head, running his hands through his hair. He lets out an anguished grunt and continues pacing the back wall.
Looking back over, I see Bray hasn’t given up on this fucker.
I walk over and tap him out. He looks at me, nods his head, and goes to stand in front of the door.
Leaning his back against the door, he focuses his eyes on the drummer as he says, “You think Dean was bad? You think I was hard on you? Well, now you’re about to wish for death to greet you. ” Bray laughs a little.
I take my time rolling the sleeves of my shirt up. I look the drummer in the face, although I suspect he’s having a hard time seeing me, seeing as though both of his eyes are pretty much swollen shut already. I stand in front of him.
“So, I hear you thought you could put your grubby little hands on my little sister. You know you shouldn’t touch things that don’t belong to you, don’t you? Especially when those things don’t want to be touched,” I say, oddly calm.
Now that I’m in this space, I can feel my rage simmering.
I’m always calm once I get into this zone.
It’s like a drug—a rush of endorphins runs through me.
What can I say? I fucking enjoy teaching fuckers like this a lesson.
It’s sick… I’m sure I’m a perfect candidate for the nuthouse, but I don’t fucking care.
What I care about right now is that this fucker put his hands on my sister, hurt my sister.
I look over to Dean. “Pass me the sheers,” I say, holding my hand out.
Dean picks up the sheers and walks over to hand them to me, giving me his trademark devious smirk. He knows what I have planned and is one hundred percent on board with it. I make a show of opening and closing the sheers a few times before lining them up with a pinkie.
The fucker must realise what I have planned because he attempts to back up and move his hand away. He can’t though; those chains have no give in them.
As I cut through his pinkie, I say, “This little piggy…” and revel in the scream he lets out. I continue until all of his fingers have gone, and the drummer is about to lose consciousness.
Grabbing him by the throat, I say, “I would love to stay and play, but I have more pressing matters.” I don’t let go until I know he’s no longer breathing. Turning to Dean and Bray, I growl, “Deal with this. I need to get back upstairs to Ella.”
They don’t say anything, knowing better than to question me right now. I walk out of the room, feeling only slightly better than when I walked in.