Heinous (10 page)

Twisted

“This is fucking bad. He’s a goddamn cop, you jackass.” Torch looks at me as if I didn’t already know this.

“Yeah, well he’s a dead cop now, and we need to get rid of him. Call Whip, have him bring the truck once it gets dark. We need to take him to the dumping grounds before someone starts to look for him. Get one of the prospects over here to do something with his car. I don’t give a shit what. Have him send it into the river. We need to erase every trace of this asshole ever being here. Also get Tracie or Lucy over here.” Torch nods at me as he takes his phone out of his pocket. Looking down at the piece of shit I can’t control my anger. I kick his lifeless body. Stomping my boot down on him again and again. When my phone rang I almost didn’t answer it because I was talking to the guys about the fighting ring protocol. We are beefing up security and I’m in charge of keeping everyone in their place. When I did answer it my whole world stopped. I could hear Nikki screaming and him threatening her. I told Torch to follow me and broke my damn speeding record getting here.

Shooting him wasn’t my best decision but when I walked in to see him about to rape her I lost all rational thought. All I knew was that he needed to die and I needed to be the one to kill him. I hear a sniffle come from behind me and turn to see Nikki dressed in my sweatpants and a t-shirt. It completely swallows her small frame. She is staring at the floor and I know right now she needs me, but unfortunately I need to handle this before too much time passes.

Her gaze lands on the cop. I can see her body shake as she takes in the sight in front of her. This will be the defining moment. Can she handle this life? Handle knowing that sometimes people need to die and I’m the one to dole out the punishment, that she has to learn to accept it willingly and keep quiet about it.

I walk toward her, taking the bloody clothes and tossing them over his stiff form. She hasn’t looked away from him this whole time. I grasp her chin lifting her gaze up to me. “I’m handling it, but to do that I need to go once the guys get here.” She blinks, a few tears falling down her cheeks. “One of the girls is on their way.” A small nod is her only response to me.

I grab her hand leading her away from the bedroom and into the living room. There are things all over the floor from what I can only guess was her fighting him. Leading Nikki to the couch, I sit down and pull her down on top of me so she is straddling my lap. “Look at me.” I wait, needing her to do this on her own. After a minute her eyes find mine. “Do not let this asshole break you. Be upset. Be fucking pissed off. Be whatever you need to, just don’t break. Don’t give anyone the power to make you into someone you don’t choose to be. Then he wins, dead or not.”

She closes her eyes and when they open I see a strength that I hadn’t noticed before. Her ever-present fight that pisses me off and keeps me coming back all at the same time. “I didn’t think you would get here in time.” Her words are almost a whisper cracking at the end of the sentence.

My hands brace the sides of her face. “I told you before. You’re mine, and I protect what’s mine. I’ll always get there in time. It’s my job.”

Her lips press down onto mine and I deepen the kiss knowing she needs this sense of assurance. She needs the comfort that only I can give her. The sound of the door opening causes us to break apart.

Tracie walks in with Torch, Whip, Wrench, and one of the prospects. I stand up greeting my brothers with a nod. “Trace, can you get Nikki out of here while we get this taken care of? Take her to the clubhouse, it should be empty for the most part, but take her to your room. Stay out of the commons.”

She nods and looks around me to where Nikki is sitting on the couch. I’m glad Tracie was the one to show up. A few years ago she had a similar experience with one of our ex-brothers, except none of us were around to save her. She will be the best person to help Nikki work through this shit.

I turn toward my girl sitting on the couch looking like she is being held together with a string. I want to be the one to take care of her right now, but I can't.

Grabbing her hand I lift her up so she is standing in front of me. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Placing a kiss on her lips I walk her over to the front door and hand her off to Tracie.

The door shuts and I turn to face the boys. “You shot a cop.” Whip is shaking his head at me.

“Watch it, brother. I remember a time not too long ago we were cleaning up shit for you after what happened to Lucy. If it were her, would you have let the fucker keep breathing?” He doesn’t respond but he doesn’t need to. We all know the answer. “Alright, Torch and I will take care of the fucker. Prospect, you need to get rid of the car, make sure you take the tracker out of it first. Ditch it in a dumpster somewhere. Whip, you’re on cleanup. We know the cops will come sniffing around here. Rearrange the furniture so the bloodstains aren’t visible until I can get new carpet. And make sure to wipe the place so there aren’t any fingerprints. Torch, go grab the truck and bring it around back, we can’t take him out the front door.” I don’t wait for their replies. This isn’t the first time we needed to make a trip to the dump and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I head into the bedroom grabbing the comforter and wrapping him up in it.

I pull out my phone to text Lucy.

I need a bedding set, sheets and a comforter. I don’t care what they look like but I need it for tonight. You good?

She replies letting me know that she’ll grab it and drop it off here for me.

“You ready?” Torch is standing in the doorway.

“Yeah, let’s take out the trash.”  I grab the head as Torch lifts up his feet. We load him into the back of the truck and make our way toward the dump. We throw the owner some money every month and in turn he lets us throw out whatever we decide is trash.

“We lighting the asshole up?” I look over at Torch. He’s flipping his zippo lighter open and closed like always. The boy has a serious obsession with burning shit, hence his name.

“Yeah, you can have at it, brother.” He smiles as he looks toward the back of the truck. “There a reason you enjoy that shit so much?”

“We all have our secrets, brother.” He looks at me knowingly.

Ain’t that the truth.

Nikki

I’m sitting on Tracie’s bed at the clubhouse. She tried to talk to me a few times in the car but I don’t know what to say. Every time I close my eyes I see him. The way his eyes studied me, the feel of him over top of me. My chest gets heavy and I have to remind myself that he’s gone. I cover my face with my hands as my eyes start to well again. I hate being like this, feeling like I do.

Vulnerable.

Weak.

Helpless.

“Alright, I can’t just sit here quiet anymore.” Tracie’s voice breaks the deafening silence. The bed dips next to me and her hands pull mine away from my face. “Stop all that bullshit in your head. Being affected by this doesn’t make you weak. No one expects you to act like nothing happened. Having emotions doesn’t make you less of a person. I know that T probably gave you the inner strength talk and while all that shit is good, you need to understand that there is a time and place for that. This shit is fresh, so feel it and be unapologetic for doing it. If you try to bury it, it will only sneak back up on you eventually. Take it from someone who knows.”

I look at her in confusion. Tracie and I are a lot alike in many ways and all I have ever seen her be is strong. “What happened to you?”

She runs her hand through her long blonde hair. “We had a brother who was going away for a few years. After his going away party, I was cleaning the main room up when he found me behind the bar. I’ll save you the gory details, but long story short he took something from me that night. Something that for the longest time I hid from everyone, until the night he came back. Well, he got out and all of a sudden I couldn’t run from it anymore, because he came back. Lucy gave me the courage to tell the brothers, especially because he had gone after her that night. I knew the bastard would just hurt more people and I couldn’t stand it. He was the VP before Twisted, when they were going to strip him of his rank he stormed out saying he was done with the club.” She takes a deep breath as if she is trying to digest her own story. “I suffered in silence for years and trust when I say it does no good. You need to cry, scream, throw shit… just do it. If not, you only cause yourself more pain. Let it loose, then you can try to move on from it.”

Her words hit me hard. I know that she’s right, but I never had someone care enough to let me lean on them. My mom loved me but she loved them more. Leaning on someone is a foreign concept to me. I’ve been burying my shit for so long I don’t know how to let it out.

I look down trying to convince myself I’m in a space where that type of thing is okay. Where I can let myself go. That’s when a sharp pain shoots through my arm. Tracie’s nails dig into my arm as she twists my skin. “Stop! What the hell!” Tears spring to my eyes from the pain. Once they start to fall I can’t stop them. I’m not crying about my arm anymore. I’m letting the pain and the fear from today flow out of me.

Tracie’s arms wrap around me in an embrace. “Let it out girl. I knew once I got you started the floodgates would open up.”

I lean my head on her shoulder and we sit there for what feels like forever until I have nothing left in me. I sit up and look over at Tracie. “Thanks for being here.”

“No problem, girl. We are a family and when he claimed you, so did we. We all have pasts and reasons why we are jaded. Hell, sometimes I think it's a requirement to be here. The difference is whether you let your past destroy you or you learn from it.”  She gives me a quick smile before the door opens and Twisted walks in.

He’s changed his clothes from before. “Thanks for everything, Trace. Can you give us a minute?”

“No problem. You need me just give me a call, girl.” She winks at me before getting up and leaving.

Twisted walks over to where I am but he doesn’t sit down on the bed. He leans against the dresser behind him with his arms crossed over his chest. Neither of us says anything. I’m sure it’s obvious that I’ve been crying. “How are you?”

It’s a fair question but one I really don’t know how to answer. “I’m dealing with it.”

The awkward silence is suffocating. I don’t know what he is looking for from me. His eyes are studying me but I don’t know why.

“Alright, I need to settle some stuff with a few of the guys. Then we can go.” He stands up straight and for a minute he seems like he is unsure of what to do. His palm brushes against my cheek and I close my eyes relaxing into it. Then he leaves.

I am completely confused as to what just happened. Things have never been like that between us. I’ve never known him to hold back and not say what’s on his mind. Then again, I’m doing the same thing.

The door opens and Tracie comes back in. “Hey.” She looks at me, probably reading my utter confusion. “What happened?”

“Nothing really, most of the time he was in here we were both completely quiet. He asked me how I was and I told him I was dealing. It was really weird. I could tell there was something on his mind but I couldn’t get a read on him.” I shake my head.

“He’s trying to figure out if you’re gonna run.” She says matter of factly as she sits down next to me.

“What?”

“You were attacked today. He killed the guy in front of you, and then sent you away with me. You were also not blind to the fact that they were going to get rid of the body. He is trying to get a feel for whether or not you can handle this life. If you are gonna run for the hills, or stick by him.” Tracie shrugs her shoulders as if all that was totally obvious.

He thinks I’m gonna run? Was today hell? Yes, but that doesn’t mean I blame him for it. The fact that he killed the cop shocked me and scared me all at once, but he did it in an effort to protect me. I would never hold that against him and leave him for it.

“Well, you runnin’ or you going to act like an old lady and stand by your man?” Tracie’s eyes look straight at me.

“I— ”

The door swings open and Torch is standing there. “Cops are here. She got her story straight?”

Tracie stands up. “No. None of you told me that was my job.”

“Then what the hell have you two been in here talkin’ about? Fuck, never mind.” He points at me. “You left the apartment around noon and came here. Tracie was with you all day. Y’all were baking cookies or some girly shit.”

“Yeah, ’cause I’m goddamn Martha Stewart.” Tracie yells at him.

His eyes narrow at her. “I don’t give a shit what you are. Get the story straight and get the hell out here.” The door shuts.

“C’mon. I’m gonna guess you never had to do this shit before.” She gives me a hand and helps me up from the bed. “You have your story. Stick to it. Nothing more. Give them too much, you seem nervous and they’ll know you’re lying. Don’t say enough, they assume you’re hiding shit.”

As we walk toward the main room I’m full of nerves. Contrary to what people may think, the only time I’ve dealt with the cops were the night my mom died and that first night with Twisted. Neither of those times involved me hiding the truth. Once we’re in the room I see two cops standing and talking to Twisted. As we approach them their eyes focus in on me.

Torch is there too. “What the hell is this about?”

“One of our squad cars’ GPS pinged around here. The car and the officer are now missing.” He notices me and he refocuses his attention. “Miss Taylor?” I nod. “We need to ask you a few questions. Where were you between to hours of ten and three today?” I recognize him. It’s the cop’s partner from that night.

“I-uh I was at our apartment until noon, then I came here.” I stumble over my words.

“The apartment you share with Mr. Pearce?”

“Yes.” I try to insert confidence in my voice but it doesn’t work very well.

“And you were here since noon?” I nod. “Did you have any contact with an Officer Winston today?”

A flash of him standing between my legs comes into my head and I fight the emotion. I can't let them see how even his name affects me. “No, I didn’t.”

The cop's eyes study me. “Is there anyone that can confirm your alibi?”

“I can.” Tracie speaks up from behind me. “She was here with me helping me get the place ready for the barbecue this weekend.”

Thank God for Tracie.

They ask us a few more questions, most of which I don’t even answer before someone else speaks up.

“Officers, I think we answered all of your questions. We have someplace we need to be.” Twisted speaks up basically telling them to get out.

“I think I’ll be the judge of that.” His eyes seem to bore right into me. The older cop knows something is going on. I don’t know how but he does.

“Well, then I have to ask you to direct any questions you have to my lawyer. I’m sure you all have his number on speed dial by now. At this time I would like you to leave the property.” His voice is hard and I can tell he is trying to hold onto his cool.

The cops have a look of disdain painted on their faces. “Expect to hear from us soon.” They walk away leaving us all standing there as I breathe a sigh of relief.

“You did good.” I look over at Twisted standing beside me. Tracie’s words from earlier come back to me. I can see the way he is studying my eyes and I know she was right. He is trying to read me.

“Can we talk?”

His face hardens as he gives me a nod. “Let me say bye to the guys and I’ll get you out of here.”

He says a few whispered words to Torch before turning back to me and taking my hand. We walk out to his bike and I climb on behind him. He drives, but I notice that he isn’t taking me to the apartment. I relax and lean my head against his back trying to provide him reassurance since I can’t talk to him right now.

The bike pulls to a stop and when I look up I see that we are at the beach from the first night we met. I get off the bike looking at him in confusion. “Figured we could talk here.” He shrugs and I can see the way he has readied himself for my rejection. A pain hits my chest knowing that this may be exactly how he’ll look when I’m ripped away.

I slip off my flats and walk onto the sand, looking back to make sure he is following me. It’s chilly today so there aren’t many people here. I sit down and look over at him as he sits next to me. I want to be close to him, to feel the comfort that I’ve only ever experienced with him. I move so that I’m sitting between his open legs, my back against his chest as I breathe in the scent of him. I lie my head back, letting it rest against his shoulder. His body is tense under mine.

“I’m not gonna run.” It isn’t really a lie, I would never run from him. I will be taken away.

He doesn’t respond and for a minute I wonder if he heard me over the breeze and the ocean. When I look back at him he is staring at me. “Why not?”

I lift my hand stroking the stubble on his cheek. “Because after everything today, here in your arms, I feel safe. I’m not saying today didn’t affect me, or that I don’t have questions. What I’m saying is that this, us, it feels right. I’m not just gonna throw that away.”

His mouth dips down pressing against mine and I open myself to him. His tongue slowly strokes mine as I turn my body toward him. His teeth drag against my bottom lip pulling it as he breaks our kiss.

“I was sure all this shit, my life, was going to scare you away.” His deep voice whispers into my ear.

Little does he know that I’m falling hard for him.

I don’t know that there is anything that could scare me away.

There is something that will rip me away.

And it’s coming soon.