2. Chapter Two
Chapter Two
Torrent did as he was ordered, and they were on the road in under five minutes. Bravo, their medic, had his small bag of supplies even though the woman didn’t indicate anyone was hurt.
The time seemed to drag. The ride between their home of Hazard and the smaller town of Demise could take thirty minutes and be enjoyable.
But all that was on Torrent’s mind was what he’d find when they arrived.
As they got closer to where she’d indicated, Dragon had Fury and Maverick park their bikes and approach on foot through the woods.
When the cabin came into view, Torrent realized things had gotten a lot more complicated. Parking and shutting off their engines, Dragon turned to him.
“Tell me I’m seeing things and that’s not Officer Horse’s Ass’ car?” Dragon vented.
“Wish we were, Pres,” Torrent grunted, walking slowly toward the vehicle, his gun drawn and ready for anything.
“We’re here,” a woman said, walking out from beside the house, her bloody hands up and away from her body, making him turn away from the car and approach her with Dragon. He lowered his gun when he confirmed she was unarmed.
The first thing he noticed was a black eye that had swollen almost shut.
He’d guess her vision was impaired from it.
Cuts and multiple bruises marred her face, with a slice on her lip bleeding when she talked.
As he checked her out, the handprints on her neck stood out from ten feet away.
There was barely a centimeter of skin on her neck that wasn’t marred.
She’d obviously been through something traumatic.
Torrent shook off the feeling that was making him want to wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything would be okay. He wasn’t that guy.
“Motherfucker,” Torrent whispered, glancing around for anyone else.
The deputy was in the front seat of the car.
Bravo was leaning in and checking for a pulse.
His head shake told Torrent all he needed to know.
Not that Torrent had any doubt when he’d seen the spray of blood on the windshield.
Dead cop. At least one woman assaulted. Now, they needed to figure out how to contain this.
“Darlin’, can you tell us why you called Torrent?” Dragon asked.
Dragon calling her by a pet name had Torrent stepping forward, then forcing himself to stop. What the fuck was wrong with him? He’d helped in situations before and never felt like he should comfort anyone or got irritated when his President called a woman something sweet.
She shivered, then stared at him, nodding. “He came by the house. He was in a uniform, and I assumed it was official business, and we know what assuming does, don’t we?” she said, pausing, her words trailing off.
When she didn’t continue, Torrent stepped closer.
He didn’t see a second person, but he was positive she’d mentioned her sister.
If that slimy fucker in the car had harmed the sister too, Torrent might need to figure out how to resurrect him and kill him again.
Hurting a woman was one of Torrent’s hot buttons.
Harming a child was his kryptonite. Too many kids weren’t protected from monsters.
“Is there anyone else with you?” Torrent asked.
She nodded. “Calliope’s behind the house, waiting until I knew it was safe.”
Dragon pulled his phone out to call someone. Torrent thought there was a time and a place and now wasn’t it for a phone call. But he’d bow to his President’s wishes.
“Hey, sugar, you remember our first date as fondly as I do?” he asked.
“Yeah, well, let’s relive it this evening. Why don’t you meet me?” he suggested after letting her answer.
Torrent would really like to hear both sides of that call and why the hell his President was calling about his and his Ol’ Lady’s first date. In all the times they’d dealt with issues, Dragon had never called Sally during one.
“Okay, sugar, see you soon,” he murmured.
Turning to them, he walked closer to the woman.
He tried to remember what Mr. Wilson had said her name was.
He knew her sister from buying stuff from the store.
Torrent had also helped the Old Man a time or two when funds were short.
Calliope was always quiet with her nose in a book when she was at the store.
“Cecilia, my Ol’ Lady is going to drive up here and help you and your sister. Can you tell me who else knows that Horace was taking you here?” he asked.
His President was a smart one. Torrent had to admit he’d been a little surprised to find a dead man in the car when they arrived.
“He talked with his brother, the Police Chief. Said he knew his brother would be out of town at a conference this week in Texas and then on a charter for three weeks, but he’d rethought the plan.
He wasn’t going to just scare me. He was going to make some money from my sister and me,” she said, swaying a little.
Bravo had joined them. “While we’re waiting, why don’t you and I go to the porch. You can sit down and sip some water. You can also tell me if there are any injuries that I can’t see that need to be checked out immediately.”
Cecilia didn’t say much so his brother led her to the porch. Torrent wanted to follow them but did his duty and went with his President to check out the car with Horse’s Ass in it. Maverick and Fury joined them.
“She fucked him up,” Fury observed, leaning down to peer in the car.
She definitely had. From the stab marks, it looked like she’d stabbed him in the side of the neck, then grabbed his head and pulled it back before slicing his throat.
Torrent wondered where the younger sister had been sitting.
Cecilia’s hands had been coated with dried blood.
Most people would have tried to clean up but Cecilia hadn’t.
“This could bring us a world of problems heading our way,” Dragon said.
“What the fuck, Pres? Are you insinuating we aren’t helping them?” Torrent yelled.
“Lower your voice. That woman doesn’t need any more men making her feel threatened. I’m not saying we don’t help them. I’m saying it opens us up to a lot. We’ll need to take precautions,” Dragon ordered.
“Precautions that if we help her do this, she can’t come back and turn us in,” Maverick reasoned.
“Agreed,” Fury said.
Torrent agreed with their code—the Club was above everything in his life—but that woman was making him overthink what was normally second nature to him.
Torrent wasn’t sure if it was because she’d taken someone out that Torrent had wanted to kill for years, or maybe he was overtired after the long trip and not thinking clearly.
Even with the bruises and covered in blood, she’d been beautiful with her brown hair and blue eyes.
“Torrent?” Dragon asked.
“Keep the club safe. Take precautions, and if the Chief fucks around with us, he’ll find out what I’ve been wanting to do for years,” Torrent stated firmly.
“Aww, look at Torrent using full sentences and all,” Maverick teased.
“Mav, shut it. When your mom gets here, we’ll start moving stuff. Until then, let’s check on the girls,” Dragon instructed, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting up.
“Okay, but Mom’s going to know you were smoking,” Mav muttered.
Torrent followed behind, listening to father and son bicker.
“Torrent, tell Flappy Lips to shut up, or I’ll take care of it,” Dragon said, walking close to where Bravo had Cecilia and Calliope sitting on the steps of the cabin, sipping water.
Torrent watched Maverick stomp toward the porch after hearing Dragon adopt Torrent’s name for Mav when he talked too much.
Cecilia’s hands had been cleaned of the blood as best as they could be out here.
“Hey, not you too. I do not have flappy lips,” Maverick grumbled as they got close to Bravo.
“Flappy lips sink ships,” Bravo quipped, grinning when Calliope giggled.
“And we don’t need that, do we?” Dragon asked, winking at Calliope.
Dragon took a long drag on his cigarette, crouching down in front of Calliope.
“I’m sorry we’re having to stay here a little while, but Sally will be here soon,” Dragon soothed.
“Are you her dragon?” Calliope asked.
“What do you mean, darlin’?” Dragon questioned.
“Sally, who works at the mortuary, visited my mom sometimes. They’d let me have snacks with them, and my mom would tease Sally about her protective dragon,” Calliope said.
Dragon chuckled, nodding. “Yes, I am. I’d do anything for that woman, and darlin’, I’ll be your protective dragon too.”
Torrent was pleased that Calliope felt comfortable with Sally because it would make what they needed to make happen easier.
Torrent listened as his President put the girls at ease, chatting with Calliope about inconsequential things.
Cecilia didn’t talk much, but a couple of times, she urged Calliope to tell Dragon about something she’d done at school.
The adults were all on the same page about minimizing the trauma to Calliope from this point forward.
The sound of a vehicle turning onto the gravel road to the cabin had all of them pulling their guns to be ready just in case it wasn’t Sally.
Torrent breathed a sigh of relief, spotting Sally driving a large box truck.
It was similar to the ones they used for transporting the guns and coffins, but this one usually sat at the back of their junkyard.
Torrent hadn’t realized it still ran. He’d guessed they used it for spare parts to keep the other trucks running.
But then, he’d only been out of prison the last two years.
During that time, he’d been on the road a lot.
When he was home, he was hanging at the clubhouse or in their shop, building coffins and other wood items.
Dragon walked over to the truck, opening Sally’s door and helping her down before grabbing some bags and a cooler. Sally hurried to the girls.
“Oh, my sweet honeys, I’m so sorry this happened. Let’s get you cleaned up to get out of here if you’re ready to let me help?” she offered softly.
Calliope nodded, staring at her sister.