RAGE: President & First Lady Of The Death Dealers MC (51 page)

***Raven***

“Mmm…” I groan, trying to open my eyes.

“Raven?”

Is that Lonnie? What the hell?
I roll my head, trying
to figure out why it’s throbbing.

“Raven, are you okay?”

I open my eyes and see Lonnie sitting across from me. We’re
both tied up, bouncing around in the back of a van. It all comes back to me.
The mall, the Snakes.
I’ve been kidnapped. Sweet baby Jesus.

“Oh, look. The princess is awake.”

I watch my rapist climb into the back of the van, a sneer on
my lips. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. It was me.”

Confirmation. I can’t wait for Gage to wipe away that smug
grin. “You’re dead. You know that, right? You’re all dead.”

“Who’s going to kill me? Gage? He doesn’t have a clue. I’ve
been at the clubhouse every day and neither of you figured it out.”

“Why?” Lonnie asks. “Why would you do that?”

“I did it for you. It was all for you, Lonnie.”

Images from my dreams attack me—being tied to my bed, the
knife slicing into my flesh. I remember the pain, the scent of blood, and
something sweet and flowery. A sweet and flowery scent I now know to be a
mixture of essential oils and lotion, because my rapist is allergic to perfume.
I now remember lying in bed and watching as my attacker stood at the door and
pulled the mask off. I saw the same face I’m staring at now—Deena.
Fucking
Deena
. She’s gazing at Lonnie like a dog expecting a treat.

“For me?” Lonnie asks in disbelief.

“Of course,” she answers matter-of-factly. “You love him.
You said the only reason he wanted her was because she was a virgin. I took
care of it.”

“
¡Jesucristo!
” Lonnie exclaims. “Are you crazy?”

“They were supposed to do it.” She jerks her head toward the
men in the front. “They ended up being sent out of town, so I had to
improvise.”

“What did you do? Suck their dicks,
Super
Head
?”
I ask.

“Something like that.” She grins. “Remember that bike show?
You didn’t want to party, but I did. It’s funny the things men will tell you
after a few drinks and an orgasm.” She leans forward and continues. “They told
me about this new drug they were testing, what it does. I simply offered them
some revenge for what you did. We came up with a plan, and that was that. You
never moved the spare key from where Lonnie kept it so getting into the house
was no problem. I even tipped off the cops. Figured if you thought it was Gage,
you’d never want to see him again.”

Guess that backfired
. “And now?”

“Lonnie ran off. She was supposed to make her move, but it
doesn’t matter. She’s back now, and she can claim what’s hers after we get rid
of you. Of course, the boys want to have a little fun with you first.”

“Deena, it’s not too late to stop this,” Lonnie begs. “Just
stop the van and let us out.”

Something snaps and she turns angrily to Lonnie. “What do
you mean? After a few hours of sisterly bonding, you’re a changed woman?”

“This is wrong.”

Deena pulls a gun from her purse and aims it at my head. “I
could just kill her right now. How about that?”

“Deena, don’t!” Lonnie shouts.

“She tried to off herself. Do you know that? We can get rid
of her, make it look like a suicide. You can have Gage and it’ll be just like
old times. Only you’ll be an old lady. Isn’t that what you want? To be Gage’s
old lady?”

The bitch is crazy. And an excellent actress. I can’t
believe no one saw it. All the time she was helping me, she was planning to
kill me. She’s snapped, and unless Lonnie can talk her down, I’m a dead woman.

“Look.” She reaches into her top and pulls out the pendant
on the necklace she’s wearing. “I got it for you. She doesn’t deserve it.”

It’s my necklace.
My
fucking necklace Gage gave me. I
bite my tongue to prevent myself from further angering her. She removes it and
places it around Lonnie’s neck.

“He doesn’t love me. He loves Raven.”

I keep my eyes trained on the gun because she’s been waving
it around like the mad woman she is.

“Then why hasn’t he claimed her, huh? She’s
nothing
.
He can be all yours.”

“Why do you care?” Lonnie asks. “What do you get out of
this?”

“You’re my best friend. I want you to be happy.”

The hand holding the gun drops and she stares at Lonnie with
puppy dog eyes. Bat-shit crazy is what she is. For a moment, I thought she may
have wanted Gage for herself, but killing me so
Lonnie
can have him?
That’s a new level of friendship.

“At first, I thought you just wanted to be the prez’s old
lady, but when you told me you love him… I decided I wouldn’t be with him
anymore. I had to help. I couldn’t let
her
take him away from you.”

Goldie swears from the driver’s seat and speeds up. He takes
a sharp turn and the ride gets bumpy as if we’ve gone off the road. The sound
of Harleys echoes throughout the van, and I can’t help but smile.
The
cavalry is here.

“He’s here,” I taunt Deena. I know it’s not a good idea, but
I can’t help it.

“That… that’s impossible,” she stutters and moves to kneel
behind the men. “What’s going on?”

“Dealers,” Goldie answers.

I hear a few of the bikes pull away in front of us. Closing
my eyes, I pray Gage will get me out of here safely.

“Shit!” Goldie yells and jams on the brakes. The tires blow
out and the van swerves. Lonnie and I fall over, slamming into the cold, metal
floor. Deena stumbles, drops the gun, and it slides away, hitting the doors.
The van slowly comes to a stop, and I hear a gun cock.
Looks like the Snakes
aren’t going out without a fight.

“Out!”

Razor’s voice is like music to my ears. I struggle to sit
up, wanting to get to the gun before Deena can. The doors burst open and I’m
met with Reaper’s angry glare. He grabs the gun, sticks it in his waist, and
lifts me out of the van. Crow and Motor hop in, Crow grabbing Deena as Motor
helps Lonnie out. Gage sits me on his bike, working on the ropes binding me.

“Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

“Did they touch you?”

“No. I think they hit me on the back of my head, but that’s
it.”

When he releases my hands, I throw them around his
shoulders. He wraps me in a tight embrace, lifting me off the ground and
burying his face in my neck.

“It was Deena. She’s the one who—”

“I know. Fuck, babe. I was so scared I wouldn’t get to you
in time.”

“I knew you’d find me. I knew it.”

I hug him tighter, not wanting to let go. He’s here now. I’m
safe. He places me back on my feet and tries to untangle himself.

“I’m going to have Booker take you home. I need to handle
this.”

He motions to someone behind me, and I grab his hoodie to
get his attention. If he thinks he’s doing this without me, he’s out of his
mind.

“I’m coming with you.”

“No, you’re not. E’s going to take a look at your head then
you’re going back to the clubhouse to wait for me.”

“I’ll let Dr. E do his thing, but I’m coming with you. This
is
my
fight.”

I climb on the back of his bike and cross my arms over my
chest in defiance. He stares at me for a long time, but I meet his with an
unwavering one of my own. The corners of his lips curl up in a smirk before he
climbs on in front of me.

“You got it, Lady Reaper.”

***Gage***

I stare at Super Head, wondering what the fuck I’m going to
do with her. The Snakes are easy, but her? She’s a woman. She’s dead, no matter
what, but I don’t know if I have it in me to torture her. Maybe I should let
Raven loose on her for a while, let her pound her to a pulp. I have her bound
to a chair. We’re the only ones in the room, but she’s staring at the wall to
her left. Raven filled me in on the sordid details but I can’t, for the life of
me, understand why someone would do what she did.

I should have known it was a woman. The use of the dildo and
her freaking out when the nurse touched her were clear signs. Even her
drawings. I only realized the figure at the door became more feminine over
time, after I saw Super Head on the surveillance video. I was right about one
thing though. I’m the reason Raven got hurt.

“How do you think you should die?” I ask her.

“Of old age… sixty years from now.”

Now’s really not the time to be a smart ass, bitch.

“Look at me.”

She slowly turns her head to face me, her eyes unblinking
and lifeless.

“Don’t forget who I am. You hurt my woman, took something
that was mine. You’ll be lucky if you live through the night.”

She swallows and fear creeps into her eyes. Good. I leave
her to stew on that while I check on what the boys are doing with the Snakes.
Ace has been blowing up my phone, but Tek sent him a clip from the surveillance
video. There’s nothing he can say or do to stop me this time.

My warehouse is a multi-purpose location. Yes, it houses my
cars and bikes, but there’s an underground level where I’m able to…conduct
sensitive business. That lower level is exactly where we are now. Super Head is
in one room, the Snakes in another. I have Raven upstairs, impatiently waiting
to get her hands on all of them. Shaking my head, I chuckle at her reaction.
She’s something else. If women were allowed in the MC, I would probably patch
her in right now. I don’t know if she’s adopting this behavior from me or if
it’s been dormant inside her and I’m just bringing it out. Whatever the reason,
she keeps proving how perfect she is for me.

I told her I was scared, and I was. Since I met her, she’s
scared me more times than I care to count. The entire time we were tracking her
down, all I could think about were the things I didn’t do for her, things I
should have said but didn’t. I didn’t woo her or whatever the fuck you call it.
I didn’t give her the romantic shit she wanted. Fuck, I’ve never even taken her
on a date. I’ve told her how much I love her body, how much I love fucking her,
but never told her I love her. She’s the only woman who’s ever made me happy.
If love means not wanting anyone but her, not being able to see myself living
without her, not being able to sleep if she’s not sleeping next to me… if it
means jeopardizing my own happiness for hers… cutting out my own heart and
giving it to her if she needs it… if that’s what it is then I’m hopelessly in
love with her.

If Ellen could see me now.
She warned me I wouldn’t
see it coming. Now it’s happened, so that means those flying pigs are not only
making snowmen in Hell, but also throwing snowballs at the Devil. I love her. I
love her, and it’s time I told her.

After I take care of business.

I walk into the next room and immediately hear the
motherfuckers begging for their lives. They better save their breaths. It’s not
a matter of
if
they’re going to die but
when
. I see the guys have
followed my instructions to a “T.” The Snakes are both naked, suspended
vertically from the ceiling, above pieces of wood shorn to sharp points. One
word from me and they’re fucked, literally and figuratively. They also have two
blades strapped to their necks. The handles were removed and they were joined
by the ends. One points to the neck, the other under the chin. Their heads
drop, they’re dead. I cross my arms over my chest and glance from one to the
other. From the smell of the place, they’ve already pissed themselves. That’s
why there’s a big drain in the middle of the room—to wash away blood and any
bodily fluids. We all took our turns knocking them around, so they’re already
in pretty bad shape.

“Did you really think you were going to get away with this?”
I ask. “Then again, you made a dumb bitch convince you to do it, so you’re
obviously dumber bitches.”

“Just call our prez. He’ll tell you it wasn’t us, man.” This
comes from the one with the gold teeth. I think Ace called him Ram.

“Ram? That’s your name, right? I already know you were out
of town.
But
I hear you had plans for my girl tonight. I told you I’d
put a bullet in you if you even thought about touching her. You were warned, so
now you’ve forced me to be more creative than a bullet.”

I motion to Razor and Venom with a nod and they loosen the
ropes, lowering the Snakes closer to the spikes.

“You won’t get away with this!” the skinny one, Leather,
yells.

“Who’s going to stop me?”

I signal to Venom, and with a nefarious grin, he moves to
one of his boxes in the corner. He wrangles a snake out of the box and moves
toward Leather. The man starts to squirm then probably remembers the spike
beneath him and goes still.

“Black snake. Appropriate, right?” Venom says as he stands
before the fucker. “Got him all the way from Australia.”

He handles the snake expertly, keeping the fangs in check
while the body coils around his arm. I never understood his fascination with
the reptiles, but it’s come in handy on many occasions.

“They eat frogs, birds, lizards… other snakes,” he
continues. “Again, quite appropriate.”

As he places the snake on the trembling man’s leg, I nod to
Razor. He and Motor lower the other bastard closer to the spike. Venom’s snake
slithers up Leather’s leg, his forked tongue flicking out. It stops at the hip
and heads straight for the man’s dick. Shit. Even I couldn’t have planned this
better.

Laughing, I turn to Venom. “Looks like he thinks it’s
another snake.”

“A tiny one.” Venom joins me, our laughter mixing with the
Snake’s screams.

He begins to jerk around and his head falls forward.
One
down, two to go.
I watch the blood running down his neck from where the
knife pierced him. Venom retrieves the snake and places him back in the box. I
stand in front of Ram, wondering if I should make this quick or not.

“Lower.”

They drop him until the point of the spike is touching his
ass.

“Please. Don’t do this,” he begs.

“Yeah. That’s probably what Raven would have said.”

I imagine her lying on that bed as Super Head violated her.
I snap my finger and Venom moves to the other box. This time, he comes back
with a huge Boa constrictor. Ram starts to squirm, begging us to stop. With a
nod, I seal his fate. Venom allows the snake to wrap himself around the terrified
man. It slithers up, going straight for the neck. As it coils and starts to
squeeze, blood begins to drip down. That’s the knife being forced into his
throat. I grab one of the axes leaning on the wall and move toward the ropes. E
does the same, taking the other side.
I did not come to bring peace, but a
sword
. The words tatted on my left arm—that I strangely got from the
Bible—echo in my mind. The sound is intensified by the call from the letters on
my knuckles. Raven. This is all for her. I signal E and we slash the ropes at
the same time. Ram’s scream is short-lived as he’s dead before I can even turn
around. The sound of the spike running through his body calms me. It’s almost
over.

“New name?” E chuckles. “Gage the Impaler?”

I walk out without a word, heading upstairs to find my
woman. She’s riding around in a slow circle on one of the Ninja bikes while Ron
gives her instructions. I should have known she wouldn’t be sitting around
waiting for me. Spotting me, she stops, kicks down the stand, and shuts off the
bike. She hops off, giving me an expectant look.

“Come with me.”

I lead her downstairs to the room I have Super Head in.

“Where are the Snakes?” she asks.

“Not an issue anymore.”

She steps into the room and her manner immediately changes.
She’s on the offense, ready to strike. Super Head is watching cautiously. She
must have heard the screaming next door and I can see all the scenarios running
through her mind. I release the ropes on her wrists and ankles then pull the
chair from under her. She falls to the floor but scrambles to her feet and
scurries to the back wall.

“She’s all yours, babe.”