“Coo… per…” I called out to him, trying to reach him, but my body wouldn’t listen to me. The pain in my head and shoulder taking over. Cooper came barreling towards me and just as he was about to reach me, Mel scooped him up. “No…”

Mel kicked me hard in the face, which normally wouldn’t affect me, but with everything else it made me see stars. I wanted to get up to my knees, but I couldn’t. I was stuck where I was. Lying flat on the shop floor, my eyes were going in and out of focus. The last thing I saw was Mel carrying Cooper off, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

Chapter 13—Cruz

As we sat back in the trees waiting for this asshole to show up, I replayed last night in my head. If Butch had tried fucking her, I would’ve killed him. Whether she was wearing the rag or not, she fucking told him she was my ol’ lady. Sure, bitches lie, but my girl wasn’t. I was just damn happy that it didn’t come to that point.

This waiting shit was for the birds. Becs was inside the office like he always was. He’s sending texts every so often, but nothing has happened. Dagger was hidden in the dressing room with Stella close by. Rhys, Diamond, G.T, Pops, and I were scattered outside. We needed to get the outside threat gone first, then move in.

The sound of bikes in the distance had us getting our pieces ready. The plan was to do this cleanly and just capture the fuckers. Hopefully it goes as we planned.

Three bikes pulled up wearing the Bobcat Demon patch, none of whom I recognized. One of the men stayed outside as their watch, while the other two went inside. Nodding at each other, we snuck up behind the fucker watching the bikes. I pointed my gun directly at his head; he immediately grabbed for his piece. “Don’t,” I ordered, his arm instantly stopping.

“What the fuck do you want?” he said as I ripped his pieces off his body, handing them to Rhys. After he was secure, I handed the man off to Rhys.

“You’ll find out soon enough fucker.” Nodding, Rhys, took the asshole to the waiting cage we had parked on the side of the building.

“Let’s go.” Placing our pieces back in our jeans, we slowly made our way through the building. Women were dancing, their tits bouncing everywhere, oblivious to what was about to go down in back.

Weaving through to the dressing room, Stella was on her knees with one of the assholes dicks sliding in and out of her throat. “Hurry up, Bitch. We don’t got much time, and I need mine,” the other asshole said as he smacked her ass, hard, making gagging noises come out of Stella. Seeing Dagger out of the corner of my eye, I nodded. With G.T. and Pops on my sides, we moved in quickly. G.T.’s gun at one of the fuckers and mine at the one getting head, they immediately reached for their pieces as Dagger stepped out of the shadows.

“Don’t fucking move pricks,” his low voice grumbled as he stepped into the light, pointing his gun at them.

Stella fell back to the floor as the guy whose dick was just in her mouth kicked her hard in the stomach. “You fucking bitch. You’re dead,” he growled. The butt of my gun slammed into the fucker’s skull with a loud crack as he fell to his knees.

“Don’t move,” I growled, aiming at his skull as we swept for their guns quickly. “Stella, get out of here, now.”

“Guys,” G.T. said from the side. “Drugs and cash.”

“Grab it,” Diamond cut in from behind us. “Get these two fuckers in the cage, and get ‘em up to the barn. Meet there in fifteen.”

The barn was an old building the Ravage MC acquired about ten years ago. It was located in the center of a hundred acre farm where no one could hear anything. The road into the barn was rough, making us unable to take our bikes down the path. Parking them in a small shed at the edge of the property, we hopped on the four-wheelers while the cage followed between us.

The barn was very stark. We stored supplies there and used it for the occasional informational gathering. The floor was dirt, and the wooden beams had seen better days, but it served its purpose.

Rhys and Dagger unloaded our special guests and brought them to the center of the dirt floor. “Give us your rags,” G.T. ordered.

“Fuck you!” they barked in unison. I smiled. This was gonna be fun.

Each of us took turns pounding their faces leaving them utterly bloody, but still able to talk. Diamond grabbed the discarded rags as the men groaned. “Looks like you had to take them off, anyway. At least you did it with honor,” Diamond said laughing.

“Why you guys targeting girls at X?” Pops barked. None of the men said anything, causing us to give a few hits. “Tell us!”

“Rabbit told us to.” No shit there.

“Why?” Pops was obviously leading this interrogation. When no words were spoken, a few hits to the skull changed their minds.

“She’s going after Babs,” the one on the far right said. We then knew he was the weak link.

“Tie those two up Rhys,” Diamond said as Rhys got to work. “So, what has Babs said?”

His eyes widened as we stood around him, just itching to start fighting. When he hesitated, Diamond ordered, “Tie his hands and attach them to the beam up top.” G.T. and I did as instructed, leaving the man hanging with his feet about a foot off the ground. He moved and shook, trying to loosen the rope, but we knew it wasn’t any use. Hitting him in the stomach detoured his movements. “Now try this again. What has Babs said?”

“Princess is after her. We gotta take her out.” Shit we already knew.

“What happens if Princess takes her out?” When he didn’t respond, Diamond nodded at Dagger who reached for his knife. He began twirling it in his hand back and forth through his fingers like a well-oiled machine. He placed the knife on the man’s t-shirt slowly and meticulously cut it cleanly away from his body. Taking the blade, Dagger began running it up and down his sternum never cutting the flesh. The man trembled beneath the blade. “You either tell us, or he’s gonna gut you and we’ll watch you bleed out.”

The asshole didn’t hesitate. “Then there’s a bounty on Princess’s head for 50k.” I stood there for a moment. Didn’t the Intel say that it was a million?

“You sure that’s the amount?”

“Y… es” I didn’t believe him. I could tell that Diamond didn’t either by the scowl on his face.

Diamond growled, “Dagger.”

Dagger began carving into the man’s chest and stomach, deep enough to cut, but not deep enough to release any internal organs. With each cut, the man’s screams became louder. The other two men sat on their knees watching, but with the gags in their mouths, all that could be heard were weird grumbles.

“What’s the fucking amount?” Diamond grumbled loud.

“50k I swear… please…” The asshole cried.

“Who’s putting out the hit?”

“Rabbit…” he moaned.

“Is he the only one that can put it out?”

“Ye… s”

I still thought Babs was working with someone. “How did you guys know the girls were having a hard time and needed the drugs?”

“Don’t know… never told us.” Dagger put a few more blows to his ribs as he grunted. “Don’t know… assumed Babs.”

When my cell rang, I pulled it out quickly going to push ignore, but when I saw Ma’s number, I looked up at Pops, who nodded at me.

Walking outside, I answered. “Hey Ma, how’s it going?”

“Cruz, get to the hospital. Mel… she shot Princess and knocked her in the head, pretty hard. She’s hurt really bad, and Mel took Cooper.” My entire world was frozen by the words she just spoke. I couldn’t form a single word. “Cruz!” she yelled, snapping out.

“Mel has Cooper.” I repeated back to her. “Is he hurt?”

“No. He was fine when she took him.” That was a relief, but didn’t mean it would last.

“Princess, is she okay?”

“I don’t know. The docs have her in surgery. She took a shot to the shoulder, but it’s her head that’s the worst. God, Cruz… it’s not good, Cruz. It’s not good.” Hearing Ma’s sobs, I kicked into high gear.