Chapter 19 #2
Four is standing off to the side of the room. Dani is in front of him, hands gripping his cut like she's making sure he's real. He's listening to her, but his eyes are scanning the room.Watching everything.
My eyes sweep the crowd, looking for one person, scanning the destruction of the room. I need to find the prospect. The kid I told to keep an eye on Bex. Where the hell is he...
My gaze lands on him, standing behind Razor and three of the guys that always circle him. The second I see that something cold slides down my spine. I cross the room fast, and the kid straightens when he sees me coming. His face goes pale.
"Where the fuck is she?" I demand.
He blinks, stuttering, "What?"
"My wife." The words come out like a growl. "You were supposed to keep an eye on her."
His mouth opens and closes without making a sound
Razor shifts beside him, saying, "She's not yours anymore."
My head snaps toward him, and that’s when I register the state he is in. His nose is swollen twice its normal size and crooked slightly to one side. Two dark bruises were already blooming under his eyes. Blood crusted along the edge of one nostril.
My stomach drops. “What the fuck happened?”
I take a step towards him, flexing my hands at my side to keep from plowing my fists into his smug fucking face.
"She said she was done," Razor says. "Not your ol' lady anymore."
Something about the way he says it makes my stomach twist.
"How the fuck would you know that, Razor, if you were in your room..."
The fucker shrugs, and I see red. I move towards him, and Axel steps between us.
He lowers his voice for only me to hear. "Wait till Angel gets back, Clutch. You go at him now, and it's like lighting the fuse to a powder keg."
I understand what he is saying, but something isn't right.
I look back at the prospect, asking, "What the fuck happened?"
"I..." The prospect, I think his name is Connor, sputters. His eyes flick toward Razor, then back to me. "I... I was upstairs in one of the spare rooms, and she came out with two bags packed... She. She said she was leaving. I tried to get her to go back to her room."
My chest tightens.
"And?"
He swallows.
"They told me to take the club girls back to their room."
The words feel wrong the second they come out, like maybe I heard them wrong.
"Who told you that?"
His throat bobs, he looks terrified but he says, "Razor."
The room shifts slightly, I feel it. Angel's orders echo in my head. Razor stays in his room.
My eyes move slowly back to Razor, and I move on him, Axel matching my steps.
"What the fuck were you doing out here? What happened to your fucking face?"
Razor runs his thumb over his lip with a sadistic grin on his face, and I lose it. Axel tries to stop me, but anyone between me and that fucker is my enemy right now. Axel falls back, shouting my name. But I don't care. Let it all fucking burn.
I grab Razor by the shirt and throw him across the room, landing on the broken table. A whoosh of air leaves him, and the room explodes in shouts and screams. Someone grabs my arm, but I am not stopping this time.
I move towards Razor, growling, “Get the fuck up.”
Razor doesn't move, but his smile widens as he says, “She isn’t yours anymore, brother… You are a little too late!”
I am on top of him before I register that I moved, slamming his body into the broken wood. There’s commotion around me, noise. I know people are yelling. But with every punch I land, all I hear is the crack of his hand connecting with her face.
I feel hands on me, and I am yanked back. I fall back on to a few brother’s, and as I am scrambling up Four moves between me
“What did you do to my wife?” I roar.
Before he can answer… The front door slams open, and every head in the room turns. Angel walks in, with Ledger behind him, and Cypher already moving toward the bar.
Angel stops just inside the doorway. His eyes sweep the room once, taking in the wreckage. Then they land on Four holding me back and Razor laying in a heap of broken table.
"What the hell is going on?"
My patience finally snaps.
"What the fuck happened to my wife?" The words explode out of me.
Angel's eyes narrow.
"Start talking."
I gesture around the room. "Look at this place. This was like this when we got back."
Broken chairs, scratched floors... Blood.
"Something happened here, someone broke his nose before I got to him."
My gaze swings back to the prospect.
"Tell me what I want to know."
The kid looks like he might throw up, and something is definitely wrong.
"She said she was leaving. J...Just like Razor said."
My chest tightens.
"She said she wasn't your ol' lady anymore."
My jaw locks, and I try to take a deep breath through my nose.
"And then?"
"I tried to stop her." His voice shakes now. "But Razor told me to take the club girls back to their room."
Angel's head snaps toward Razor.
"What the fuck were you doing out here?" His tone is deadly. "And why were the club girls out?"
Razor spreads his hands, saying, "I was worked up.... Stressed about Mara."
His eyes flick toward me.
"And about everything we learned about Bex."
I lunge but Four doesn’t budge, the man is a mountain.
Four straightens slowly. "Shut the fuck up, Razor."
Four's voice carries weight even now. "You ignored a direct order."
His eyes shift back to the prospect.
"Then what happened?"
The kid looks sick.
"L...like I said. I tried to get Bex to go upstairs." He swallows hard. "But they said to take the girls back."
He takes a step back.
"And I... They..." His voice cracks."I left."
Silence settles heavily across the room.
One of the ol' ladies speaks up from the group huddled near Four and Dani. "We heard yelling."
Another nods, adding, "Stuff breaking."
"But we stayed in our rooms." Another cries.
My stomach twists as my brain is trying to run in ten directions at once.
Razor hitting her.
The wreckage downstairs.
The kid leaving Bex alone.
Four looks toward Razor, asking, "Then what?"
Razor shrugs. "She left. Said she was done."
Something in his eyes makes my skin crawl.
He adds, "I even watched her leave. Figured it's better to have her gone than to keep poisoning us from the inside."
I go to move around Four, but I notice something on Razor's wrist. A hair elastic. For half a second, something in the back of my mind sparks. But the thought slips away before I can grab it.
Angel raises a hand.
"Enough."
Angel waves over a prospect and points towards the door.
"Take the gate and send in whoever you are replacing. I want to talk to him."
The kid nods and bolts.
The room is tense, everyone is waiting for what comes next.
Angel exhales slowly, saying, "Preacher never showed."
Murmurs ripple through the room.
"But that's not all."
My stomach drops as Angel's eyes find mine.
"On the way back, we found Bex's car."
The room erupts.
"What?"
"Is she okay?"
"Where was it?"
"Did someone take her?"
"She probably ran off with Preacher!"
"That's why he didn't show."
Angel raises his voice. "Quiet!"
The room falls silent again.
"It was abandoned on a side road."
My heart slams hard against my ribs.
"The keys were still in the ignition, and when we tried, the car wouldn't start."
The door opens again, and the guard from the gate steps inside.
Angel turns to him, "What happened with Bex?"
"She left on her own."
Everyone turns.
"She looked panicked. She had a cut on her lip."
My chest tightens remembering the sound, the blood, and her eyes when she told me I shouldn't need permission to protect my wife.
"She said she was going to work."
The room fills with confused murmurs. Angel gestures toward Cypher. But Cypher is already typing.
"She didn't make any calls," he says after a moment. "No incoming or outgoing. I don't see anything out of the ordinary for her, nothing sticking out. But I'll dig deeper."
The world feels like it's tilting under my feet. I blink when my eyes go fuzzy. Things don't feel right. Something isn't adding up.
I look back at the prospect.
"What the fuck aren't you telling me?"
His eyes dart toward Razor again. My hands curl into fists.
"That's it. I'm going to find her."
Voices explode around the room.
"Where would she go?"
"It's the middle of the night!"
"What if someone grabbed her?"
Angel slams his hand down on the bar.
"Shut the fuck up!"
Silence crashes over the room again.
Razor smirks slightly, offering, "If you're worried about her, Clutch... Maybe we should all go look for her."
Something inside me snaps. I push Four and lunge. But he grabs me before I can get my hands on Razor again.
"I don't know what has been going on here." His voice cuts through the room. "But this bullshit stops now."
He points toward Razor.
"Room. Now."
Razor laughs. "Are you serious?"
Four doesn't blink.
"You fight me on this..." His voice drops. "...and I'll let you wait for me in the shed."
The room goes completely still. Nobody wants to spend time in the shed with Four.
Razor stares at him for a long second.
“You will stay there until you are told you can leave.” Four adds.
Razors stands from the broken table on the floor and walks away. Four watches him go, then signals to a brother who has been loyal to Four and Angel even longer than I have been a part of the club. "You follow him and watch his fucking door."
Then points toward the prospect.
"You."
The kid freezes.
"You're coming with me."
He looks back at me.
"You're going to sleep."
I bark out a laugh.
"I'm not..."
But he cuts me off, "That wasn't a request." His voice hardens. "That's an order."
Something ugly bubbles out of me.
"Yeah?"
I laugh again, pushing out of his hold.
"That's what got us here. Me blindly following fucking orders."
I shake my head, trying to clear the fog.
"I'm going to find my wife."
Angel scoffs. "Oh, you think it's my fault your wife left you?"
The room explodes in voices again.
Four roars. "Enough!"
Everyone shuts up.
He looks around the room, saying, "I am so damn disappointed in this club right now. But there's only so much I can do while I'm benched."
His gaze lands on Axel and Torch.
"Take the tow truck. Go get Bex's car. Find out why it died."
Then he looks back at me.
"We'll figure this out. But not like this."
My legs feel like they might give out.
He studies my face, asking, "When's the last time you slept?"
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. Because I honestly don't remember.
Four exhales slowly. "Get some sleep. You can start fresh tomorrow."
“Fuck that, I am not leaving her out there without looking for her.”
Four shakes his head, saying, "I didn't say no one would go look for her. Dani and I will look on our way home, and I will send some of the brothers who don't look like they are about to pass out where they are standing."
He comes to me, a look that makes the guilt and pain bubble up from deep within, a look that says I know you fucked up, brother, and I am going to help.
"Give me time to catch up. Then we fix this."
My hands shake slightly, and my voice comes out smaller than I intend, "I have to try. I have to look for her."
I drag a hand down my face and the room spins slightly.
Four claps my shoulder once.
"We'll find her. Tomorrow is a new day." He sighs, and Dani comes to his side, whispering to him. “You can ride with Dani while we look and stay at our place tonight.”
I want to protest and say I can ride my damn bike. But he is right.
I give Dani a nod and move to the door of the clubhouse. I passed Angel without acknowledging him. I have no idea what I would even say to him right now. But it wouldn’t be good.
I hear Four announce that he will be doing his house arrest at his home, and the guilt turns into bile, as it starts to bubble. Because he did what I didn't, Four built Dani a house off the compound and is taking her there now so she feels safe.
Safe.
Is Bex safe right now?
My head spins, and the nausea worsens.
The last thing I hear as I walk out the front door is some of the ol' ladies saying they aren't staying at the clubhouse either, and Dani offering them a spare room.
What the fuck have we done? How did we get here?