Madness Ends (14 page)

Kaiya panted as he bent to put her leg back into her jeans, not caring in the least that their combined juices ran down her thighs and dirtied her pants. He swept her up in his arms and marched back toward the house. He didn’t stop, didn’t look at anyone, just passed through the crowd of people still parting. He made a beeline for the house, up the stairs to their bedroom where he kicked the door closed soundly behind them.

* * * *

Stone Cold reclined in his comfortable chair as Lisa gave him a nice, fucking blow job. As she hollowed out her cheeks, sucking him down, he had to admire her technique. The young girl was certainly talented, which was the main reason he even had the remote thought of making her his old lady. Lisa was high maintenance but when she wrapped those pretty lips around his cock, his higher brain functions ceased to work properly and he was ready to walk down the fucking aisle.

His phone vibrated, and he was half inclined to ignore it, but he was the president of the club and if shit was going down somewhere he had to know. With a disgruntled sigh, he opened the cheap flip phone.

“What?” he growled.

Lisa tried to lift her head to stop, but he buried his fingers in her hair and pushed her firmly back down. She got the hint and deep throated him again.

“You fucking told me to do it,” came a slurring voice.

Stone Cold pulled the phone away from his ear quickly to check the number—unlisted. “Vicious?”

There was a scuffle of noise, then Vicious mumbled, “You told me to leave.”

“Jesus, are you drunk?”

Vicious snorted. “Fuck you. You’re equally as guilty of Bizerk being dead.”

“I never told you to attack another fucking club!”

“You told me I would never rise in the Knights.”

“Because you don’t have the temperament. Vicious… Fuck. Come home.”

“Read my lips, you asshole. Fffffuck off.” He laughed a little hysterically. “I’ve found the mother lode, you know. I’ve got me my own Man of Hell, and he’s got a lot of fucking money.”

Stone Cold remained silent, letting him ramble.

“And I’m going to destroy them, Stone Cold,” Vicious said, hiccupping. “Boone is going to burn.”

And with a maniacal laugh echoing through the connection, he abruptly ended the call. Stone Cold slowly sat the phone back on the table. He released Lisa’s head when he realized his dick had gone limp. She sat up and glared at him.

“You ass,” she snapped. She pointed to his crotch. “Now we’re both not going to get lucky tonight. Perhaps one of the drugs you should be peddling is Viagra—”

He gripped her around the throat. “Don’t sass me, girl. You might be talented in many ways, but I won’t hesitate to fuck you up if you disrespect me.”

He tossed her away, and she quickly rose and stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door closed. Stone Cold winced. Great. No blow job now and a pissy woman to deal with.

Fucking Vicious.

* * * *

Boone cursed under his breath as he shoved his chilled hands in his jean pockets. He should be sleeping next to his woman, warm and toasty, instead of searching in the dark for Gabby. It was pitch black and the woods surrounding the far were massive, making the task hard as fuck. Gabby knew how to hide so he wouldn’t be found if he didn’t want to be. But Boone hoped the alcohol would dull those abilities so he could find his brother. The party had mostly died down, although there were a few men still tending the bonfire and a few others drinking.

When Gabby had grabbed the bottle of whiskey, Boone knew exactly what he was going to find. What he was going to have to deal with. It wasn’t the first bender Gordon Dixon had gone on and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, not unless the man decided to get help from the demons that plagued him.

Boone’s foot connected with something heavy, and he stumbled. When he looked closer at what had snagged his balance, he saw a body in the dense dark underbrush of the surrounding forest. He sighed, grabbed hold of Gabby’s leg and pulled, grunting because his friend was one big motherfucker. An empty whiskey bottle rolled away as fumes wafted up from the dead-drunk man. Boone sighed as he bent to try to rouse him. No way could he carry Gabby fireman style unless he had some help, so he slapped Gabby’s face until the man moaned.

“Come on,” he muttered. “Help me get you up.”

Gabby tried to roll onto his side.

“On your feet, soldier!”

Gabby’s eyes opened a fraction. “Yessss, sirrrr,” he slurred.

Between the two of them, although Boone was doing a little more of the work, they got Gabby to his feet. He flung Gabby’s arm across his shoulder and Boone hooked his own around his friend’s waist. It was sheer dumb luck that he’d stumbled across the unconscious man, following the direction he’d last seen him go only a couple of hours before. He’d seen Gabby sneak back to get more alcohol and knew he needed space, that the fight had triggered memories that weren’t as deeply buried as Gabby thought. Gabby pretended that they were, that he could handle them by locking himself away, but Boone knew better. The man was a wreck. Had been for years. Life in the MC had helped him suppress that part of himself, but every once in a while something triggered the self-destruction that had him locking Gabby up for his own protection. Tonight would be one of those nights.

The farm was large and it took them a while, stumbling along in the dark, to make their way back to the house. Several Whiskey Knights looked at them, but they probably figured Gabby was just another drunk. Boone knew better. He was one more soldier who would’ve succumbed to suicide had Boone not made it his mission to nurse Gabby through the nightmares.

He stumbled into the house and slowly up the stairs, silently cursing the fact that Stone Cold had given them a place on the third goddamn floor. He burst into the room and Kaiya gasped, bounding to her feet. She’d been reclining on the bed, reading from her tablet, but laid the device aside to help him. Together they got Gabby on the bed and removed his boots and jeans, trying to make him as comfortable as possible.

“I’ve never seen him like this before,” she signed, looking down at Gabby.

“He was hoping you’d never see him this bad.”

“Does he drink like this often?”

Boone shook his head. “Only when the ghosts walk through his memory.”

“Ghosts?” she signed.

“There are many things you don’t know about him.”

He could tell she was curious and Boone knew it was a matter of time before they would have to tell her everything. Even though Kaiya had started this affair just wanting a good time, he had known she was something special. He wanted her in his life and he knew Gabby wanted her too. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Yes, that was one issue they were going to have to address soon because no way was he letting her go.

Gabby lay thrashing against the bed, sweating from the nightmare that gripped him in its greedy talons. She watched, confused at first, as Boone extracted something from his saddlebag and approached the bed. He brought Gabby’s hands over his head and snapped some type of fleece-lined cuff around one wrist before winding it through the wrought-iron headboard. Then he secured the other wrist and yanked on the metal binds to make sure they were tight.

“What are you doing?” she signed.

Boone ignored her and grabbed something else from the saddlebag. In shock, she watched as he brought out a leather cord and bound Gabby’s ankles. When he was done, Gabby looked like some trumped up Thanksgiving turkey, ready for carving.

Kaiya took a step toward him, but Boone prevented her from going closer. She shrugged off his hand and faced him.

“Take those cuffs off!” she signed angrily.

He shook his head. “No,” he signed back. “I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Can’t, Kaiya. He’s been drinking, and combined with the fight with Eagle, he wouldn’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt me?” She shook her head. “He’d never do that.”

“Of course not,” he said.

She could read the frustration etched in every line on his face.

“He never meant to hurt anyone. And he won’t as long as he’s tied up.”

That brought her up short. She blinked at him. “He’s hurt someone?”

Boone nodded. “Right after he became a prospect. I’d already been patched into the club. He… He had a flashback nightmare. Another prospect tried to help him, but Gabby beat him so badly he ended up in traction for months. Ever since that night, he’s had me handcuff him to the bed.”

Horrified, Kaiya stared at Gabby still tossing and turning on the bed, just now understanding the depth of how much this man had suffered. “He has PTSD,” she signed. “He needs help. Therapy.”

Boone touched her shoulder and when she looked at him, he nodded sadly. “He refuses.”

“That’s stupid,” she signed back, frowning. “A man can’t live his life chained up like an animal.”

“This is what he chose to do.”

“You say you’re his friend, but a friend would get him help.”

He frowned. “You are signing too fast.”

She took a deep breath. “I’m going to sit next to him tonight.”

“That’s not a good idea.”

“I do not care about what you think is a good idea.” Kaiya signed slow enough to make sure he understood every word. “Is this why he won’t spend the night with me?”

Boone nodded.

She couldn’t believe this was the reason why Gabby refused to sleep next to her. “I am going to take care of him tonight.”

She marched past him and sat on the edge of the bed. If he wouldn’t remove Gabby’s handcuffs, at least she could be with him to make sure he didn’t hurt himself. Boone touched her shoulder and she frowned at him, feeling more than a little perturbed at him.

“He’s my Brother, in more ways than one,” Boone said. “I’d do anything to take care of him. To help him. But I have to respect his wishes.”

She sighed. “He is stubborn.”

He gave a wry nod.

They sat for a long time, quietly, just watching Gabby as he slept off his drunken state. Every once in a while, he would moan and thrash, and Kaiya would settle a hand on his brow to calm him. As the night wore on and she watched Gabby sleep, her mind turned once more to Cipher’s enigma and the question of whether he’d deliberately used the locker numbers as a type of legend. If he did, perhaps it was a key to solving Cipher’s damn code.

“What was Cipher’s real name?” she asked with her hands.

“Brian.”

She grimaced. There went that theory.

“Why?”

“I thought maybe he used the lockers as a nod to his name. Or an anagram, and if so, they might be a way to unravel his code.”

“Good theory. That would be…” He started counting on his fingers. “JZF. Right?”

“Yes,” she signed.

“Any other ideas?”

She shook her head. Her conversation with Lisa drifted through her mind. Should she bring up the way the other woman seemed to be drilling for answers?

“When are we leaving the Whiskey Knights?” she asked in sign.

“As soon as we all get up and move around,” he said. “Why?”

“I don’t trust these people.”

“You aren’t alone in that regard.”

They lapsed back into silence, and the night stretched on. Every now and again, Gabby would twitch, and she’d soothe back his hair until he quieted. Seeing him so vulnerable hurt her heart. For so long, she’d silently screamed the question, “
Why me?
” Why had it been
her
hearing that had been taken away? Why had
she
been the one punished when she’d been such a good girl? How was going deaf at ten fair? Yet, as she stared at Gabby, she’d finally gotten her answers.

Because she was selfish.

She’d whined and cursed the fates that had taken away her hearing and had given her a family that had locked her away. Yet never once in her whole life, had she considered some people had it worse. Even knowing Chloe’s horrible background, all Kaiya had seen was the fact that her cousin was free to live her own life. To enjoy the intimate nature of sounds around her. Kaiya had been jealous of a woman who’d killed her own mother and had been sent to a psychiatric home as a teenager. It made Kaiya pathetic and ungrateful. So why not take away her hearing?

Gabby had suffered and suffered still, much like Chloe had. Shame sliced through Kaiya, making her stomach queasy. Her character revelation painted a horrible picture, and she resolved to find whatever help Gabby needed to heal him of his tormented past. To free him from the shackles that chained him to a bed every night in order to ensure he never hurt another innocent person.

Perhaps having her hearing taken away had been the only way for her to become a more compassionate human being. Coming to terms with that consumed her for the rest of the night.

Chapter Fifteen

Sunlight tickled her eyelids. Kaiya roused and a sharp crick in her neck had her wincing. She sat up from her slumped-over position on the bed and saw that Gabby watched her with flat, emotionless eyes. She rolled her shoulders as she smiled at him, but he didn’t return the gesture.

“Are you okay?” she signed.

He looked away from her and moved his arms. Boone walked in from the bathroom, a towel around his waist, and proceeded to unlock the cuffs. Gabby sat up and rubbed them before untying his ankles. He handed the paraphernalia back to Boone, who tucked it away in his saddlebag once more.

All of this done without one glance in her direction. Kaiya’s heart ached.

“You let her sleep next to me?”

Gabby addressed his question to Boone, but she read his lips and grabbed his hand. Finally, he looked at her with cold, hard eyes.

“I wanted to take care of you,” she signed.

“Don’t do it again,” he said, pulling away.

“Why?”

“Because I’m dangerous.”

She shook her head. “You should get some help.”

“I’m doing fine. I don’t
need
some shrink thinking they can get in my head to figure me out. No one can know what the fuck is going on in here.” He tapped his temple.