Chapter 17
Storm
My head drops to the side, all my fucking energy depleted.
I don’t know how long I’ve been down here now.
Jenny, she never came back after the last time we talked.
She said she got her ass beat and was knocked out for a few days before she came back the last time.
She said she was going to try to get to a phone as soon as she could, but she didn’t know when that would be. Now she’s gone too.
I try to focus on anything I can, especially now that no one has been back for me.
I don’t know where they are or what the hell is happening, and I figure I’m just going to rot here in this basement until the fucking smell alerts someone.
Or maybe we’re not even close to anything, I don’t fucking know.
And Kenzee. Fuck, I miss Kenz. I miss her little defiant attitude and the way she takes no shit from anyone. Something about that girl makes me smile more than I thought I’d ever smile in my life. And now that’s gone.
The last couple of nights, I’ve woken up in a cold sweat because of the damn nightmares.
Instead of me finding Ethan, it’s Kenz finding me.
And my fucking heart shatters every single time.
I was glad when they took me and didn’t leave me there.
I didn’t want her to see me the way I saw him, even though she had a glimpse of it.
My eyes slowly close, and the fucking dreams come back again. This time, I can hear them coming. Boots hit the ceiling above me. No other noise can be heard but the sounds of people stomping.
I try to pry my eyes open, but they feel like lead weights. So I endure it. I let the dreams come as they are.
Someone’s coming down the steps. No. There’s more than one person coming down the steps. I can hear multiple sets as they stomp down. I vaguely hear someone talking but I can’t make out what they’re saying. Then I feel it. As if it isn’t a dream. Someone slaps my face.
“Wake up!” They roar. Again, I try to pry my eyes open, but it does no good.
“Wake the fuck up,” I hear it again, another slap to the face. Then I feel cool liquid being splashed on me. I lick my lips and taste the water.
“He’s not dead.” Is that Patch?
“Patch?” I mumble his name and get a laugh in return. Are they here? Is this a dream?
“Am I still fuckin’ dreamin’?” I grumble, my voice sounding scratchy.
“If you’re dreamin’ about this shit hole then there’s somethin’ seriously wrong with you, brother.”
“You’re here?” Laughter once more.
“Yeah, motherfucker. We’re here. We’re gonna get you up and out of here,” he adds as something or someone tugs at my wrist. I can feel the weight of the chain as it comes loose and leaves my arm. I sigh when I feel hands on me.
“Can you stand?”
“Haven’t stood in a while,” I tell them.
“Okay. We’re gonna lift you, and get you the fuck outta here.” I nod my head as my eyes slowly open to slits. Not enough to see well, but enough to see that the guys are all here.
“The assholes that took me?” I ask as I’m lifted off the ground. I groan from the pain as I’m carried toward the steps.
“Not here. Some chick named Jenny called us.”
“She got out?”
“She’s upstairs,” Tide tells me.
“She comes with us,” I mumble as my head drops forward.
“Got it,” Patch adds as I’m taken up the steps. I can feel when we leave the house, the light of the sun burning my fucking eyes after being in the dark for so long.
The guys place me in the back of what I assume is the van before they close the doors. I take a few deep breaths before forcing my eyes to open partially.
“Fuck,” I grumble.
“That’s gonna hurt. Keep them closed,” Tide tells me.
“Kenzee?”
“She’s safe. We got her out.” Thank fuck for that.
“Said they torched the house,” I say as best I can.
“They lied. They didn’t.”
“They want her,” I tell them.
“Stop talkin’, Storm. No one is gettin’ to her. We’re gonna make sure of that,” Patch says this time. I let my head drop back onto the seat behind me and keep my eyes clenched shut. She’s safe.
That’s the one thing that plays over and over in my head. Kenzee is safe. She’s where she belongs at the clubhouse.
A part of me blames myself for this shit.
If I hadn’t been so insistent on staying at her place, they never would have been near her to begin with.
That’s all on me, and I know it. I should have made her stay at the clubhouse, knowing it was safer there but I didn’t know this fuck was after her.
How could I have? Doesn’t change what I feel though, and I know this is on me.
The ride takes a bit before we pull up at the club. When the engine dies, I sit up and force my eyes to open once more. I feel like I died six times now. My body hurts and not in a good way.
The back door opens, and Tide is there helping me out of the van and onto my feet.
“You want me to carry you?” he asks. I shake my head.
“Just let me get some feelin’ in my legs,” I say as I stand here, holding onto his shoulder for balance. It takes me a minute to get myself steady before he wraps an arm around me and helps me inside, but I do walk myself. Well, limp that is.
As soon as we make it inside, I see her. My eyes move over her, just making sure that she’s okay before the guys lead me down the hall to my room.
“She wasn’t hurt, right?”
“No. She’s fine.”
“Good,” I say as they lead me into the bathroom and start the water.
“Doc’s gonna take a look, but you need to be cleaned up,” Tide tells me.
I nod my head, wanting nothing more than to wash this shit off me.
The guys help me out of my clothes and into the shower, which is embarrassing enough, but after spending years in the pen, I’m used to other men seeing me naked. So fuck it.
The warm water rushes me, and I tip my face up to let it hit me front and center. I feel the fucking rag, as one of them washes me off, and if I wasn’t a bigger man, I’d be embarrassed, but I’m not.
Once I’m clean, they help me out and over to the bed where the doc checks me over. He doesn’t say anything that I didn’t already know. Blood loss. Concussion. Bullet wounds that can no longer be stitched. The cut to my face. Nothing is new to me as he shoves a needle into my arm for pain.
“This gonna fuck me good?”
“I would hope so, but even if it doesn’t, it’ll take away some of the discomfort.” I nod my head when Jenson holds a straw to my lips.
“Beer?” He chuckles and shakes his head.
“You’re dehydrated, asshole. It’s water,” he adds before I lean up and take a sip before coughing.
“I can start an IV.”
“Fuck that. No.”
“It’ll work better,” the doc adds.
“I said no. I’ll drink whatever you want me to.” He rambles on about what to give me to drink but I don’t pay attention to him. I let the others handle that since I won’t be getting out of this bed any time soon.
Once I’m situated, they all leave to let me rest. I hear the door creak open but I don’t bother to look to see who it is. I don’t really care right now.
“I was so scared,” Kenzee whispers. “So fucking scared that you were gone too.”