Chapter 10 #3
Pit had been an absolute bastard to so many recruits, especially when we’d been training before we got our names and took our vows. He loved to torture you with mindgames, but it didn’t mean he deserved to die.
He lived by the code.
“If you don’t, he will,” Wolf called to me again. “Finish him.”
We danced and parried for a few more minutes before he clutched at my sore ribs and I bowed over in pain, trying to catch my breath. He shoved me into the cage, the barbs ripping into my bare chest as I grunted out in pain.
Fuck this guy.
I gripped onto his arm and yanked as hard as I could so he headbutted the barbed wire. Pulling my ragged skin off the hooks and stumbling back, blood dripping into my eyes and down my chest, I watched as he tried to unlatch himself from some barbs, his arm ripped open, skin dangling down his wrist.
He was a mess. His blood dripping freely down his arm and onto the mat beneath us.
“You’re tougher than I remember,” he muttered. “But you won’t survive. No one does.”
“Try me,” I shot back. He lunged for me with everything he had. The blood loss was clearly taking effect as he stumbled when I stepped out of the way. He fell into the barbed wire again. Pushing up from it, his eyes caught mine. He was challenging me. He wanted me to end it.
Fuck.
He was directly in front of her.
I didn’t want her to see this.
I grabbed at his head and looked down at her.
“Look away,” I called out to her. She shook her head, fresh tears falling down her cheeks as she watched me battle for my life.
Fuck.
I ripped my wrappings from my hand and produced the razor blade I’d hidden. Gripping Pit’s head, I pulled his face off the barbed wire, and shoved the blade into his wrist, right over his vein.
Blood spewed out of his wound as he fell to his knees in front of her.
She would be the last one he saw before he perished.
A gurgle and he fell to his face on the mat, unmoving.
The sounds of jeering and cheering echoed around the large warehouse as the doors opened and Wolf barged in to pull me back from Pit while he was assessed.
I kept my eyes on her as Alex pulled her away from the rest of the crew in case anyone wanted to hurt me more.
The look in her eyes was hard to read. Did she hate me?
Did she see the monster I was inside?
“That was one of the best battles I’ve seen,” Wolf said. “He clocked you a few times. No one expected you to pull that off.”
“Did she?” I asked, my eyes never moving from her as they left the warehouse and were finally out of view.
“She only cares that you made it,” Wolf said, but I didn’t believe him. I saw the shock on her face when I took his life so easily in front of her.
Bullet made his way inside the cage, a large grin on his face. “Damn, boy, didn’t know you had it in you.”
“He’s good now, yeah?” Wolf asked.
“All clear. The rules are the rules. You need to cover that tattoo pledging to us, though.”
“I’ll see to it,” Wolf told them.
“Good job, kid.”
Bullet moved out of the ring and the warehouse slowly emptied, the rumble of bikes the only sound aside from my own hissing as I tried to breathe through my ribs. Wolf put his hands on them, causing even more pain, and grunted.
“Probably cracked, but they’ll be okay,” he said. “Morena can help you when you get back.”
In fighting for my life, I may have lost the only reason to keep on going.
I closed my eyes, but all I saw were her scared eyes looking at me as I took the life of my so-called brother in arms.
Wolf helped me into my shirt and cleaned my face up before he led me out to a car waiting for me.
“Didn’t think you’d be able to hold on for too long,” he said, handing me the keys. I took them and thanked him. He nodded and moved over to his bike.
Shae was sitting on her bike, Rebel next to her on his bike. Alex made his way over to me.
“You good?”
“Bit battered,” I said. “Might need to get your woman to cover the tattoo for me when I’m healed up.”
“She’d be happy to,” he said. “Need a hand?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m good. Is Shae okay?”
Alex nodded. “She’s understandably a little upset that the man she loves just got his ass handed to him by an older guy, but she’ll be okay once you two are back home.”
I chanced a glance over at her and saw her looking away.
“Do you think she’ll ever forgive me for what I put her through?”
“Without question, brother,” Alex said, putting his hand on my shoulder and squeezing. “Come back home.”
I nodded and watched as he rode off with Rebel in tow. Shae got off her bike and moved over to me, and I could see her taking a deep breath before she got to me. I braced for it.
I braced for her to end it all.
“Are you okay?” she asked me, her voice uneven and shaky.
“I will be,” I told her. “I’m sorry you saw that. Wolf shouldn’t have told you about it.”
“Why not?” she asked.
“I never want you to see anything like that. I want to protect you, Shae, I want you to smile and never have to witness shit like that. I know if the roles were reversed, I’d never be okay with watching you get beaten or even watch you take someone’s life to save your own.”
She put her hands on the sides of my face, the concern etched into her features as she took in what I could only imagine was a ripped apart face. Her soft fingers moved over the hot skin of my cheeks where I knew I’d have bruises tomorrow and probably a few stitches.
“Don’t,” I said. “Don’t mess your hands up.”
“Why?” she asked. “Why shouldn’t I? Dempsey, what you fail to understand is I’ve been around violence.
Was it easy to watch you? Hell no. I would have gladly stepped in there to save you multiple times but I knew you had to do that to escape, to be free, to be with me.
So I watched because I had to make sure you were okay, so you understood I am right here, by your side, always.
I don’t care where it takes us, I don’t care what comes at us, as long as we’re together, we will survive. ”
Hot tears splashed down my face, stinging my cuts, but I didn't care. Shae closed the distance between us and pressed her lips against mine. Fresh stings told me my lips were cut up as well, but I couldn’t pull away.
It wasn’t a passionate kiss, it was sweet, tender.
The kind of kiss that told me she loved me and damn but didn’t that do things to my cock it really ought not to, especially not in my condition.
“Come on,” she said against my lips. “Come home.”
“As you wish,” I whispered against her lips, placing a kiss on her forehead before I watched her ride out of the carpark and I followed behind her.