Chapter Eight
ODIN
“This is where she lives?” Reid asked from beside me as I pulled the truck to a stop in front of Harmony’s house, and I cut the engine.
“Yeah,” I answered my boy as I glanced around her place.
And it was exactly where I expected a woman like Harmony would lay her head. The big farmhouse had white siding, a covered wraparound porch with big green ferns hanging from the overhang, and a bright red door—that was wide open.
That had my brows snapping together and my hackles standing straight up.
Reaching across Reid, I opened the glovebox and pulled my piece. “Stay in the truck,” I told him, chambering a round as I shoved open my door.
“Dad—” I could hear the fear in his voice.
“Stay. In. The. Truck,” I said again. “I’ll be right back.”
I didn’t wait for his response. My boots hit the gravel, and I was on the move.
As I approached the door, I could feel it in my bones that something wasn’t right. “Harmony, darlin’,” I called out, stepping into her home, listening for any sounds of life.
There was nothing, and then I saw her.
“Shit!” I hissed, seeing her body crumpled on the kitchen floor like a broken doll, her dark hair matted with blood, eyes swollen.
Who the fuck would do this?
Shoving my gun into my waistband, I hurried across the room, dropping onto my knees beside her.
“Harmony,” I said again, pulling her limp body into my lap.
Fuck, fuck, FUCK! I didn’t know where to touch her, so afraid that I was going to hurt her. My hands shook as I pressed my fingers to her throat, searching for a pulse.
My body instantly sagged when I felt the thump of her heartbeat.
Thank the Gods.
It was weak, but it was there.
“Dad?”
I glanced up at Reid standing in the doorway, his eyes wide and a look of horror on his face. “Is she…?”
“No.” Shaking my head, I swallowed the lump in my throat, turning my attention back to the lifeless body lying across my lap. “I need you to call Mimi,” I said without looking up. “Tell her to bring Doc. Now. And tell them to hurry.”
I could hear him fumbling with his phone, his voice shaking as he relayed the message.
But my entire focus was on the woman in my arms as I smoothed her hair back from her face, careful of the blood, my jaw locked so tight my teeth ached.
“You’re gonna be okay, baby,” I whispered. “I’m here now. I’m gonna fix it.”
Her face was a mess, swollen and bruised, her lip split, and her eye turning a gnarly shade of black.
And I knew—I fucking knew—who’d done this.
Ma burst through the door about five minutes later with Doc right behind her. Dash, Danger, and Jekyll brought up the rear, their faces going hard when they saw Harmony.
“Jesus Christ,” Dash muttered, his fingers locking behind his head. “What the fuck happened?”
“I know that motherfucker did this,” I growled as Doc dropped to his knees beside me, pulling out smelling salts from his kit. He waved them under Harmony’s nose, and her head jerked back.
Her eyes flew open, wild with terror, darting around the room like she didn’t know where she was, then they landed on my face.
And she started crying.
Her hands clutched at my cut, trembling so hard I could feel it through the leather.
“Hey, hey, you’re okay.” I cupped her bruised face as gently as I could. “I’ve got you, baby. You’re safe.”
“Wade,” she sobbed, the sound breaking something inside me.
“What happened, baby?” I asked softly, desperate to know who I was going to kill, but not wanting to upset her more. “Who did this to you?”
I already knew, but I needed her to say the words. I needed confirmation.
Her eyes closed. “Reggie. He was in my kitchen when I came downstairs. He… he went crazy.”
My vision narrowed to a red pinpoint.
“I’m going to end him.”
As carefully as I could, I transferred Harmony to Doc’s arms. “Get her back to the clubhouse,” I told him. “Get her settled in my room.”
“Son—” Ma started.
“No,” I rumbled.
Ma’s mouth snapped shut. She knew there was no stopping what was about to happen. She knew with the position I now held that I couldn’t let this transgression slide. I couldn’t afford to look weak.
Harmony grabbed my wrist, her eyes as big as saucers. “Please, Wade, please. Don’t do this. You don’t know him.“
Looking down at the fear in her blue eyes, I shook my head. “I’ll be back soon, baby. I promise.”
Pulling her hand away, I dropped a kiss on her forehead and headed for the door. I had to go. If I didn’t, I would end up staying, and that wouldn’t be best for her or my club.
Whether she understood the magnitude of what went down between us last night or not, she was my girl now. And that meant I had to take a stand; had to send a message nobody would ever misunderstand.
I wasn’t surprised when Dash, Danger, and Jekyll fell in behind me without a word.
They knew what had to happen.
“Wooohooo. Time to go huntin’, boys,” I heard Jekyll chant as I hopped into the cab of my truck.
Throwing my truck into reverse, I tore out of Harmony’s driveway, gravel spitting from under my tires with Jekyll, Dash, and Danger right behind me on their sleds.
As I tore through town, all I could see was Harmony’s face. How anyone, especially the man who once vowed before god to protect her, could ever lay a hand on someone like her was beyond me.
I pulled up to the stop sign and rolled down my window.
“Think he went into hiding?” Danger asked, pulling up beside me.
“No.” I shook my head. “That son of a bitch thinks he’s ten foot tall and bulletproof.” The man thought he was invincible. He was about to have a rude awakening, because his reign of terror was over.
“Let’s head down 50, and if we don’t see him, we’ll go back out later.”
As much as I wanted to get my hands on Reggie, I was starting to worry again about Harmony. It was a dick move to take off the way I had, but all I could see was red.
“Yeah,” Dash nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
I turned onto Highway 50. Just as I was starting to think he’d gone into hiding, I saw him.
Mother fucker was parked at the county line, leaning against the driver’s side door of his cruiser with his arms crossed over his chest, that smug fucking smirk on his face like he didn’t have a care in the world.
I stomped on the gas, speeding towards him, loving the way his expression changed. That’s right motherfucker. Slamming on my brakes, my truck skidded to a stop inches from hitting him. I didn’t even cut my engine before I was out of the truck.
Reggie opened his mouth. “You can’t—”
My fist connected with his jaw before he could finish the sentence, sending him stumbling back onto his ass.
There was nothing more satisfying than seeing the smirk wiped off his fucking face. “You put your hands on her,” I snarled, hauling him up by his collar and punching him again.
Reggie tried to fight back, even landing a weak hit to my ribs that I barely felt through the adrenaline pumping through my veins.
“I’ll have you thrown in jail for the rest of your life!” He shouted, spitting blood onto the asphalt.
My fist connected with his jaw again. “Better men than you have tried.”
I hit him again. And again. And again.
“P,” Dash said quietly from behind me.
But I wasn’t done.
Not even close.
I hauled Reggie up again and slammed him against the cruiser.
“You think you can put your hands on my woman and walk away?” I barely recognized the sound of my own voice. “You think you’re that fucking special?”
“She’s mine,” Reggie gasped, blood bubbling from his lips. “She’ll always be mine.”
That was the wrong goddamn thing to say.
I drove my fist into his gut, making him double over, then brought my knee up into his face.
He went down like a sack of bricks.
I stood over him, chest heaving, knuckles split and bleeding.
“What do you want us to do with him?” Danger asked, stepping up beside me, looking down at Reggie’s unconscious form.
I looked from Danger to Jekyll. “Throw him in the back of my truck.”
They didn’t question it.
Just hauled Reggie’s dead weight off the ground and tossed him into the bed of my truck like the garbage he was.
***
Walking into the clubhouse, I flexed my aching hand. Blood was drying on my knuckles, but I didn’t stop to clean it. I needed to get eyes on Harmony so I could fucking breathe.
What had she done to me?
It’d barely been twenty-four hours, and she was under my skin deep.
I walked into my room, and Harmony was tucked into my bed under the sheets.
Her gorgeous face was black and blue, but her eyes were open, watching me as I entered.
I slid onto the bed beside her, careful as I pulled her against my chest. “How are you feeling?”
“Sore.” She tried to smile and winced. “But I’ve had worse.”
My eyes closed against the rage that statement ignited inside me.
I’d suspected Reggie had put his hands on her during their marriage, but hearing her confirm it so casually made me want to go back to the barn and beat on him some more.
She took my hand and turned it over, and her eyes went wide when she saw the damage to my knuckles.
“You’re hurt—”
I gently pulled her back down when she tried to sit up. “I’m fine.”
She was quiet for a long beat before finally asking, “What did you do with Reggie?”
“Reggie is a bad man, Harmony. Worse than you know,” I said gently, watching her face as I spoke.
I didn’t tell her about the things Shine had found, about how deep her ex-husband’s corruption ran. She didn’t need to know that.
“I haven’t done anything to him yet,” I told her honestly, my thumb tracing her uninjured cheek. “But I wanted to kill the son of a bitch the second I saw you on that floor.”
“Did you?” she whispered.
I shook my head. “No. I was afraid you’d never forgive me.”
She was quiet for a long moment, those blue eyes searching my face.
“You’d kill him for me, wouldn’t you?” It wasn’t a question.
I leaned down and pressed my forehead gently to hers so she could see the truth in my eyes when I gave it.
“Yes.”
I held my breath while she stared at me.
Then she nodded.
Just once.
But I saw it in her eyes—she was giving me permission to do what needed to be done.
Letting out the breath I was holding, I placed the softest kiss on her mouth, mindful of the split in her bottom lip, then climbed to my feet and headed for the door.
It was time for Reggie to meet his maker.
***
When I pulled up in front of the barn, Seven was sitting in the same spot as when I’d left an hour ago. I’d given him strict instructions that nobody was to go inside until I got back.
Climbing off my bike, I gave him a nod and pushed inside to the smell of pig shit and the sight of Reggie tied to a chair in the center of the barn.
Seeing his face a swollen mess from the beating I gave him earlier made me feel marginally better.
“You son of a bitch,” he screamed, thrashing against the ropes.
“Shut the fuck up!” I barked.
“He’s been doing that shit since he came to,” Danger said from where he was leaning against the wall beside Jekyll, both of them with their arms crossed, looking bored.
I walked past Reggie without giving him a second glance, heading toward the back of the barn where we’d set up the new pig pen.
A dozen massive hogs were rooting around in the mud, snorting and grunting. They were big motherfuckers. Some of them weighing in at least five hundred pounds.
Leaning against the railing with my arms crossed, I watched them for a long minute.
“You see the newest addition to the farm, Reggie?” I called out conversationally.
“Who gives a fuck?” he snarled back from behind me.
Oh, he was definitely going to give a fuck real damn soon.
I turned around and met his eyes. “You should. See, it’s the strangest thing about pigs.
” I pushed off the railing and walked slowly toward him.
“They’re attracted to the sight of blood, and once they get a taste.
..” I shrugged. “They just can’t stop. And those big boys,” I thumbed over my shoulder, “they haven’t been fed in a couple of days. ”
Satisfaction swam through me as all the color drained from Reggie’s face.
“I think he’s starting to get the idea, P,” Danger chuckled darkly.
I stopped a few feet away from Reggie, pulled my piece from my waistband, and aimed it at his right knee.
His eyes, glued to my piece, went wide. “Wait—”
I squeezed the trigger without an ounce of hesitation.
The shot echoed off the barn walls, and Reggie’s scream followed a second later.
“That’s for putting your hands on my woman,” I said, surprised by how calm I felt.
Reggie was sobbing now, his head hanging forward, spit and blood dripping from his mouth.
“Please! You can’t do this!”
I sure as fuck could. Shifting my aim to his left knee, I pulled the trigger again.
“And that’s for pointing a gun at my son.”
Blood poured from Reggie’s legs as he sobbed. All of the bravado he’d had was gone.
Holstering my gun, I turned to Jekyll and Danger. “Let me know when it’s done.”
“You got it, P,” Jekyll said.
I pushed open the barn door and stepped out into the California sun, the sounds of Reggie’s plea for mercy following behind me. “Please! No! No! No—”
There was no mercy to be found there.
Not for men like Reggie Dane.