Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Delaney
Everything feels like a blur.
Tank kicked in the door. Blaine taunted him.
Now they are fighting on the floor while I sit frozen on the bed. I know I should do something. I should tell Tank to stop. I should try and get him off of Blaine.
I can’t move, though.
“Delaney, are you hurt?” Smoke asks, coming to my side.
I can hear Gunner, Acid, Mac, and Jagger all trying to get through to Tank. I look over at him and see him growling down at Blaine while Blaine yells about me being his.
“Delaney, focus on me.”
I turn back to the man next to me. He is standing next to the bed. He’s careful not to touch me, but he is assessing me.
“I’m okay,” I whisper.
“You aren’t hurt anywhere?”
I shake my head. “Shouldn’t you be helping them?”
“You’re my priority. He would want that. Let’s get you out of here.”
He holds out his hand, and I stand, not thinking. Smoke coughs, turning his head as he pulls off his cut before removing his shirt, handing it to me.
I look down and wince when I see I am still naked. I honestly forgot with everything else going on.
I pull Smoke’s shirt on, grateful for how respectful he is being.
“He’s going to kill him,” I hear Mac yell out.
I look over, seeing Tank hitting Blaine over and over again.
Part of me wants to let him. If he doesn’t kill him, Blaine will never stop. He is delusional. He thinks I belong to him. If he gets out on bail, he will come for me again. I have no doubt.
“Come on, Delaney. You don’t need to see this,” Smoke whispers, gently guiding me toward the door.
I resist. “I want to. I need to see it.”
Jagger turns and looks at us. His eyes are full of worry.
“He’s going to kill him,” he echoes Mac’s words.
I nod. I know he is. He told me it might come to this. I gave him permission to finish it.
Jagger pleads with me with his eyes. “If he kills him, he will go to jail. This guy is too caught up in our club. They will come for us.”
It takes a second for it to sink in. Tank will go to jail for this. Blaine will take him from me as his final act.
The guys are still trying to get him to listen to reason, but he is a man possessed. He has every intention of killing Blaine right here, right now.
“Warren, that’s enough. Stop now!”
I bark the order at him, putting the full weight of my control over him into it.
The response is immediate. He freezes as he looks over at me.
The rage on his face is clear. He is on a rampage. If seeing red were a person, it would be him right now. He isn’t fully in this room with us. His brothers were screaming at him to stop, and he didn’t.
He did for me, though. My voice is what called him back from the edge.
I hold out my hand to him, beckoning him to me. “Come here, now.”
He doesn’t question it. He stands and strides toward me. I break away from Smoke, running and jumping into his arms, uncaring if I get blood all over me.
He catches me, clutching me to his chest. I can feel his heart beating quickly through his chest.
“I’m so sorry, Laney. I let you down. I’m so sorry.”
I pet his head. “It’s okay. Everything is okay.”
He glances over at Blaine’s lifeless body, but I turn his face back to me. Acid leans down, grimacing as he looks up at Smoke and shakes his head.
Blaine is gone.
I shouldn’t be relieved, but I am. I feel like a nightmare is over.
Then the worry sets in. Tank will go to jail for this.
“Tank, you need to go,” Smoke says, the distant sound of sirens wailing.
“No. I won’t leave her.”
Smoke looks at me, and I nod.
I pull back, cupping Tank’s cheeks. “You need to leave. Get out of here. Smoke will protect me and bring me to the clubhouse once the cops are done with me. I need to be here. Go. Now.”
“Laney…”
“No. I said go. Be my good boy and obey.”
He wants to argue, but he kisses me before rushing out the door instead.
Acid starts punching Blaine’s dead body. I wonder what he is doing until he stands and looks just as bloody as Tank. He looks as if he was the one that caused the damage.
“Acid…” I say, my heart breaking.
“I failed you and the club. It’s my honor to take this for Tank. You be good to him,” he tells me.
I walk to him, hugging him. He hugs me back.
“I don’t know what to say. I want to tell you not to do this, but the selfish part of me doesn’t want to lose Tank either.”
The cops are outside now. I can hear them running up to the building. I keep a hold of Acid.
“Let me do this. You tell them I was the one who killed him in defense of you. I’ll get involuntary manslaughter. Up to fifteen years in prison, but I’ll get out. I’ll happily serve the time knowing that you are safe and Tank is taken care of.”
I suck in a sob. “Thank you.”
“Hands up,” I hear screamed from behind me.
I turn, letting Acid go as I hold my hands up.
“Come toward me,” the officer demands.
I cry harder. “Please. I need help. That man on the floor kidnapped me. He knocked me out. I don’t know what he did to me. He wanted to keep me imprisoned.”
The officer wavers. “Come to me, ma’am. We will get you help. We have paramedics outside.”
I do as he asks, letting him lead me to the paramedics as I watch each brother cuffed and lined up outside the motel room.
“Ma’am, are you okay?” the paramedic asks. “What hurts?”
I shake my head, crying. “Everything. Everything hurts.”
Tank
I’m pacing the clubhouse floors until I finally hear it. A motorcycle driving up.
Rushing out of the building, I am relieved to see Jagger.
“You need to shower and get changed. Wear your riding gloves. The hospital is crawling with cops. If you can contain yourself, I’ve been told to bring you to her.”
“Is she okay?” I ask.
He nods. “She’s strong. She’s good, but the cops can’t know you were there. They will take you in.”
I nod, heading back inside. I take the quickest shower, only doing enough to get the blood off of me. I barely dry myself as I struggle to put fresh clothes on. By the time I am dressed, only five minutes have passed, but it feels like an eternity.
I leave my room, heading back to where I left Jagger. He hasn’t moved as he looks down at his phone.
I put my helmet on, something I only started doing because Delaney demanded that I do it.
Then I pull the riding gloves out and put them on.
Once I’m ready, I mount my bike and follow as Jagger leads me to the hospital.
I am grateful when I see she was taken to our preferred hospital.
With several in the area, only one staffs doctors that are loyal to the club.
I’m not surprised at all when he leads me to a private room on the top floor. When I step inside, my heart rips open seeing Delaney lying in a hospital gown with her eyes closed. She opens them as I move closer, tears filling them as she looks at me.
“You’re here.”
I nod. “Always.”
I take a seat next to her, holding her hand as Smoke fills me in.
“The lawyer is talking with the cops now. They want a statement from her. I wanted you here for it so you know what happened. You deserve to know.”
I stare at her. “You’re okay?”
She nods. “I’m good.”
I kiss her hand and nod at Smoke. He steps out for a few minutes, coming back with the club lawyer and the cops.
“Miss Harris, I’m Officer Jenkins, and this is Officer Gomez. We have some questions for you. Maybe it would be best if we had some privacy?”
Delaney clears her throat. “I don’t want to be alone with you. I hope you understand. I went through something traumatic, and I don’t know you. I would prefer my boyfriend and friend stay with me.”
The officer grimaces. “It would be best to give your statement without any influence.”
Our lawyer, Mr. Finnegan, steps up and clears his throat.
“She is not a suspect. She was the victim. While I understand you need a statement, she has already said she does not feel comfortable with you. So either get your statement then leave or get us a female officer here. She may be more comfortable with a female.”
The officer looks away, and I hide my smirk.
The female officer that is available is one of ours. They won’t call her.
“We need to know what happened. Start from the beginning.”
Delaney clears her throat. “Blaine is my ex-boyfriend. We broke up months ago when I caught him cheating on me with his boss. He’s a paralegal at Bronson and Gerbal and said he had to sleep with her to make partner once he passes the bar.
I didn’t care what the reasoning was. I don’t do cheaters.
At first, it seemed like he took it okay.
He didn’t bother me too much. He would still call and text, but I didn’t respond.
Then he started showing up in public places, but where he didn’t usually go.
Then he started getting scary. I think he broke into my house.
There’s a police report about that. He called my work and convinced parents to remove their children from my class.
I have reports on that as well. He uploaded a pornographic video of me and my boyfriend to the internet and sent it to my job, getting me fired.
He also called in false tips to hurt the motorcycle club my boyfriend is part of.
He’s been harassing me and those I associate with for months. ”
“We will look into all of that, but we need to know what happened today,” Officer Gomez says kindly.
He seems like the nicer of the two officers. I make a mental note to look into him. He might be good for the club.
“Well, I went to my former place of employment to clean out my classroom. When I finished, I found the tires to my car all slashed. I called Warren to have him come pick me up. While I was waiting, Blaine approached me and begged me to give him another chance. When I told him no and attempted to leave, he hit me with something. I don’t know how long I was out for, but I woke up naked in a motel room.
He was talking about how we were meant to be together.
He had a plan for us. We were going to get married and have kids.
He quit his job so we could move to another state.
He specifically said Vegas because there was a firm there he liked.
He was touching me and telling me the life he wanted us to have.
He seemed delusional. Like he had totally lost it.
He was unstable. He tried kissing me, but that’s when Acid kicked in the door. ”
My eyes fly to hers. She doesn’t look at me but squeezes my hand.
“He told Blaine to stop touching me and get away from me, but Blaine said no. That I was his, and he would rather us both die than to let me go. Acid made the decision to rush him to try and save me. He tackled him, and they were fighting on the ground. Smoke came in and cut me loose, giving me his shirt to cover me. Blaine was fighting back against Acid. He used his fists to stop him from harming me any further.”
It sinks in what she’s saying. Acid took the fall for my actions. I want to speak up, but the way she is squeezing my hand says to keep my mouth shut. It makes sense now. They wanted me to leave and cover my fists so no one would question who was the one to hurt Blaine.
“How did you get blood on you?” Officer Jenkins asks.
“I hugged Acid. I was hugging him when the police arrived. He saved me. If it weren’t for him, I have no doubt that Blaine would have taken me away and kept me captive. He would have sexually assaulted me. Physically too when I fought back.”
“Understood. Do you have anything else to add?”
“It was never anyone’s intention for Blaine to die. Acid was acting in my defense,” she tells the officer, using the calm, firm tone she uses when she means business.
“Noted. Thank you. We will be in touch.”
When they leave the room, she finally looks at me.
“Why?” I whisper.
“He wanted to. He said he has our back. He wants you to take care of me and me to take care of you. He knew what he was doing. He did it for us.”
“Where is he?” I ask Smoke.
Mr. Finnegan speaks up. “He’s being held in jail.
We will have a hearing in the morning for bail.
He’s looking at involuntary manslaughter.
The maximum time is fifteen years, but we are going to work on a plea deal.
With Delaney’s statement, it is clear that Blaine was a danger.
We could go to trial for self-defense, but the amount of force used will make that hard.
A deal would be better. I am aiming for under five years with probation. ”
“Do you think he can get that?” Delaney asks.
“I’ll do everything in my power to make it so. Don’t you worry. I have to go check in with him. Make sure they aren’t trying to interview him without me present. I’ll check in later.”
Smoke nods. “I’ll walk you out.”
Then I’m alone with Delaney.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
She smiles. “Don’t be. You saved me. I’ll never regret what you did for me.”
The relief is instant.
“He didn’t rape you?”
She shakes her head. “No evidence of it. He roughed me up a bit, but that’s it. I’m okay.”
I take a much-needed breath.
“Thank you.” She pulls my hand to her lips.
I stand, leaning down to press my lips to hers. “I will always protect you.”