Making the Cut

Making the Cut

The Son’s of Templar MC

Anne Malcom

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©
 
2015 Anne Malcom

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work or fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblence to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely conincidental.

Prologue

I remember back when I was in high school, I was goofing around with some of my friends on a playground. Wine and vodka were involved. Thanks to liquid courage or liquid stupidity, I walked along the top of a jungle gym, in heels. I fell and broke my arm so badly the bone stuck out from the skin, and no amount of alcohol could anesthetize that. I thought that five minutes before I passed out was the most horrific pain I would ever experience, I was wrong. Now I knew there was a kind of pain so terrible it almost made you want to die. I wanted to live though, as enticing as oblivion was, I was fighting hard against the blackness that beckoned me.

“Oh Gwennie, I will miss you. It seems like such a shame to let you go to waste, but you had to disobey me, then you tried to run. Not very smart.” He shook his finger at me as if scolding a child. “But you did, you saw what you shouldn’t have, so now you have to go. But not before we’ve had some fun with you.”

I couldn’t believe the vile words coming out of his mouth, the violence that had emerged from the man I thought I knew. The man I thought I loved. He circled me, perusing me coldly. I didn’t know where this
creature
had come from. It had lurked underneath the chiseled jaw, the messy auburn hair, and the bright green eyes. The sculpted muscles that I had found so enticing were being used to inflict pain on me, the tattoos that I thought were sexy were mocking me every time they flew past my face for a punch. The other men laughed, one of them kicked me viciously and a sharp sting erupted in my side, my stomach started to feel weirdly full. The phrase ‘internal bleeding’ vaguely floated into my mind. I didn’t make a sound, silent tears streamed down my cheeks.

“Got nothing to say Gwennie? Funny I never could get you to shut that smart mouth. I should’ve smacked you around more often.” He mused, peering at me the way a fox watched its prey.

“Fuck you Jimmy” I whispered, my throat raw and dry from screaming.

He pulled out a long knife from his belt and crouched down beside me. His attractive face was marred with a sick smile.

“No baby, fuck you. Which is exactly what me and the boys are going to do, and after everyone has had their turn I’m going to fuck you will this knife.” He ran the long blade against my throat.

I should have felt a sting because blood trickled down my neck. But I felt nothing, the pain that near crippled me seemed to be floating away, my body was light and weightless.

“I think I’ll go first, one for the road ae Gwennie?” His accent caressed my name in a sick taunt.

My heart bet furiously as I watched him undo his belt, the other monsters settled in for the show. He viciously seized my head and thrust his tongue in my mouth. I bit down as hard as I could, feeling satisfaction at the grunt of pain that came from the asshole’s throat.

“BITCH!” He yelled, punching me in the face. My head cracked off the concrete, white spots danced across my vision, it was far from the first time I had been punched. He grasped my head again and spoke in a soft tone. “Try that again, I’ll put this knife through your spine.”

I met his emotionless gaze with determination, and spat in his face. He laughed, slowly wiping his cheek before sucking on his finger. He thrust my legs open and I tried to struggle but my movements were slow, groggy. I wanted to fight, I
had
to fight harder than this, but my body was betraying me.

“I’m going to enjoy this, much more than when you were willing, this is more interesting, no matter how good you were in the sack.” He whispered in my ear.

I barely acknowledged him, feeling my consciousness start to leave me. I knew that this was it, I was going to die, and I couldn’t fight it anymore. I just wished that I drifted away before he violated me.

“Go to hell.” I croaked, my parting shot.

Suddenly doors crashed open. “POLICE, FREEZE!!” Multiple voices yelled.

I must be dreaming, this is too good to be true
.

Gunfire filled the air, Jimmy jumped up, firing shots in every direction. I watched as one by one, my captors collapsed, bullets peppering their bodies. Jimmy, the cockroach, struggled with the officers cuffing him, escaping the bloodbath unharmed. My vision blurred at the edges. The darkness that threatened to engulf me drew stronger,
no I can’t die now
, I thought desperately.

“Ma’am, stay with me.” An officer filled my vision, taking off his jacket to cover me. “You’re safe now paramedics are on the way, I just need you to stay awake.”

I tried, I really did. I tried to fight the force pulling my eyelids down, but it won and everything went black.

Chapter 1

“When is she going to wake up? It’s been over a week!” Demanded a desperate voice.

“When it comes to brain injuries we have no certainties, and your sister’s body was badly beaten, she needs time to heal.” A woman’s voice responded calmly.

I tried to open my eyes but they felt like they were glued shut, I couldn’t move my body. I started to panic, was I paralyzed? Please God don’t let me be paralyzed. I put all of my effort into trying to force my eyes open, they didn’t seem to want to comply. I gave that up and tried to move my mouth, make some kind of sound to alert the people around me that I was awake. But I couldn’t, my body didn’t want to obey me. My panic grew as I realized I was trapped in my own body, unable to control it. I couldn’t think of anything else before the darkness claimed me again.

A loud beeping was disturbing my sleep it wouldn’t shut up. I thought I’d be in tune to New York sounds by now, this didn’t sound like street noise, and it was too close, right in my ear. I’m sure my alarm didn’t sound like that, and Amy was never up before me. A sterile smell wafted into my nostrils, which had me instantly suspicious, my apartment is never clean enough to smell sterile. Then the memories hit me like a freight train, what I saw, what happened after. The pain, not something I think I’d ever forget. I slowly began to try to unstick my eyes, my vision blurry at first. It took a few minutes for the room to come into focus. I looked down the bed noticing one of my arms in a cast, the other was hooked up to an IV and that machine that woke me up. My gaze wandered to the corner of the room where a man in an army uniform was curled up in an uncomfortable looking sleep.

“Ian?” I rasped, my voice sounding like I smoked a pack of Malbros last night. Which of course I would never do, regardless of the fact Carrie Bradshaw did. Yellow teeth and premature wrinkles? No thanks.

Ian stirred and then leapt out of his chair, at my side in a second. “Ace? Holy shit, your awake! Thank fuck for that!” He pushed a little red button beside the bed, eyes on me.

“Yes but I think I might have to go back to sleep for a bit Ian.” I mumbled, suddenly feeling exhausted.

“No, Ace just stay awake….”Ian pleaded, I didn’t hear the end before I drifted back into dreamland.

I opened my eyes to light streaming through the room and immediately realized I had to use the bathroom. I gave myself a moment to get my bearings then sat up. “Holy fuckstick.” I whispered as pain radiated through my broken body, tears welled up in my eyes. I would
not
let them fall. Gritting my teeth, I swung my legs to dangle to the side of the bed, reaching out to the little IV trolley.

“Okay good work Gwen, now stand up.” I muttered to myself. I took a deep breath and gingerly reached my feet down to touch the cold tile.

“Ace!” My brother’s voice exclaimed with a hint of panic, I glanced up to see Ian striding from the doorway towards me, arms extended. I lost my footing and stumbled towards the ground, strong arms caught me before I made impact.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? You could have hurt yourself even more!” Ian declared angrily.

“Well I was doing just fine until you distracted me!” I snapped.

  My brother smiled down at me, eyes twinkling. “I’m sure you were little sis but how about we wait for you to get a bit better before we try for any escape attempts.”

“I wasn’t trying to escape!” I cried.

“Sure you weren’t trying to escape when you were getting your appendix out either, you were just ‘stretching your legs’ right?” Ian teased.

“I was!” I argued.

“In the parking lot?”

“It was a nice night, I liked the fresh air.” I declared, inwardly grinning. I hated hospitals. “I wasn’t trying to escape this time if you must know, I need to pee.”

“Um hate to break it to you sis, but you don’t need to get out of bed for that.” He informed me, pointing down to a bag attached to me.

“Okay, ew.” I screwed up my nose, not that I was embarrassed in front of my brother, but that’s a bag of pee. Gross.

“Well I want to brush my teeth anyway, I feel like I ate a urinal cake.” I informed him.

“Okay Ace, lets get you to the bathroom before I pass out from your urine breath.”

Ian scooped me up directing us to what I guessed was the bathroom. I winced, and bit my lip trying to hide my reaction. Ian’s expression hardened immediately, into a look I’d never seen before on his handsome face, one that didn’t belong there.

“I’m going to kill that motherfucker.” He muttered under his breath, voice shaking.

“Now what would that do to your impeccable military record?” I joked, trying to keep our exchange light, I wasn’t ready for reality to hit just yet.

He opened the door and gingerly set me down on the bathroom floor, his face was hard, tortured even. He looked my in the eyes, and stroked my face, as if to make sure I was real. “Don’t joke about this Gwen, seriously, if I had lost you…” he shivered. “Mum and Dad are going to be heartbroken, I’m only glad they didn’t have to sit waiting for you to wake up. I wouldn’t wish that shit on anyone.”

“NO! We are not telling Mum and Dad!” I tried to yell, but my husky voice was barely below a whisper.