“And so the psycho returns!”
I glanced toward a commotion at the entrance of our property. AK and Viking had just pulled into our yard in their truck. Flame jumped out of the back door, his brothers walking over to welcome him back. Flame had been in the hospital recovering from his neck injury this whole time. AK and Viking had been sent to retrieve him, so when he came around from the calming drugs, he was not in the hospital and would not hurt anyone in his path.
Hush and Cowboy jumped to their feet and each slapped him on the back, greeting him home, and the two men made me smile. They were officially staying here with us and had “patched in” with Austin, as Ky had explained. As I glanced to Sia watching them with a blush upon her face, I wondered if we might be seeing more of Sia too.
Tanner, Tank’s friend, had also moved into the compound. He was generally quiet and kept to himself. I always got the sense he was carrying a huge amount of sadness in his heart. Ky told me he had not been fond of the man at first, but after Tanner risked his life to help get me back, he now had his respect.
Flame’s head was twitching from side to side and his black eyes roved the yard like an animal seeking prey. A bottle of beer was thrust into his hand by Viking, but Flame threw it to the ground and continued his search.
Seeing us sitting on the porch, Flame stormed over, his arms and chest muscles bulging under his full body of tattoos. He wore a cut but no shirt with leather pants and heavy black boots. The side of his neck was stitched, red and scarred where my bullet had grazed his neck. Seeing that wound filled me with guilt.
“Where is she?” Flame snapped at Styx before I had a chance to apologize for what I had done to him.
Styx’s eyes narrowed, yet he stayed silent.
Flame next looked to Ky. This time his voice was like broken glass. “Where. Is. She?”
Ky shuffled below me, adjusting my position on his lap, and said, “Calm the fuck down, brother. You only just got back, and it’s my motherfuckin’ wedding day in case you haven’t noticed!”
Flame radiated rage and, face turning red, he screamed, “WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE!”
“Our Savior,” I said quickly. Flame’s tormented eyes bored holes into mine. Sitting forward, I said, “Firstly, Flame, I want to apologize for hurting you. It was never my intent. I was… I was not in a good place.”
Flame tensed at my apology, but curtly nodded his head, and I knew that it was as far as the conversation would be going.
“Maddie?” he pushed, his intense black eyes completely unnerving me.
“Maddie is at Our Savior Church,” I revealed. “She has been going there for a while now. We all have.”
Flame stumbled back like he had been punched in his stomach and his face contorted with pain. “No…” he hissed, looking from Styx to Ky, seeking confirmation. They both nodded, their expressions stern.
Flame fisted his hands and his body physically shook with anger. “NO!” he roared, causing me to jump and grip onto Ky. Flame began picking up chairs scattered around the yard, smashing them on the ground.
“She can’t be there! Why the fuck did you take her there?” he screamed out. All the brothers gave him space, watching him with confused and worried eyes.
Whipping out his blade from his cut, Flame began slicing at the skin of his arm, blood pooling from the cuts. He was shaking his head profusely and mumbling to himself. “They can’t. She can’t be there. Hurt. She’ll be hurt. They’ll hurt her. She’ll scream. I can’t hear her scream. Maddie. My Maddie. Maddie. FUCK. MY MADDIE!”
Throwing back his head, Flame let out a deafening, blood-curdling scream then, burying his blade into a nearby tree, turned and sprinted down the hill.
“Fuck!” Ky spat. AK and Viking glanced to him and Styx. Ky stood with me in his arms and ordered, “Get the fuck after him and don’t let him kill no one in that fuckin’ church!”
AK and Viking ran after him, the “psycho trio” once again hitting the road as Ky had ordered.
Ky looked at Styx and said, “More fuckin’ drama, prez. And what the fuck issue does Flame have with a motherfuckin’ church?”
Styx signed something response and they both huffed out a humorless laugh.
“Will Maddie be okay?” Mae asked Styx.
“Vike and AK will get to him first and calm him down,” Ky said and Mae warily nodded her heard.
Strangely, I was not worried for Maddie. For as ill in the head as Flame seemed, he was completely infatuated with my sister, and if I had it judged right, Maddie viewed Flame differently to the rest of the male population of whom she was so intensely terrified.