Melancholy

“No time to fuckin’ wait,” he barks, lifting me and hurling me over as if I weigh nothing.

I land on the other side with a thump; my arms go out, finding Pippa. She clutches me and we watch as Mack hauls himself over the massive fence, dropping on his feet. He reaches down, scoops Pippa up, and runs towards the car sitting over the other side of the road. We reach it, flinging the door open just as a few of the men appear, aiming their guns at us.

“Fuckin’ go!” Mack roars.

He’s just barely in when the shots ring out, smashing the windows. Tyke doesn’t hesitate; he plants his foot to the floor and skids off onto the road so fast my body is launched backwards into the seat. I cry out, clutching my leg. My jeans are soaked in so much blood it’s alarming. Pippa shakes, her eyes wide as she stares around. She’s in shock.

“It’s okay,” I soothe, pulling her close. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

“What happened?” Tyke roars over the screaming of the engine.

“Set up,” Mack grinds out. “Tinmen set us up, they didn’t want the girl at all. They wanted to fuckin’ take Maddox down and they succeeded.”

“Fuck, no,” Tyke rasps.

“They ain’t dead, at least, I don’t think they are. We got out, but I don’t know how shit is goin’ to go down. We’ve gotta get a fuck load of men, and we gotta do it fast.”

“Makin’ the calls as soon as we stop.”

“We need a hospital, but it’s the first place they’ll look.”

Tyke nods as I stroke my fingers over Pippa’s hair. My relief is smothered and drowning with my fear for Maddox and the guys. Tears leak out of my eyes and I begin to shake, too. Mack notices and his arm goes around me, pulling both Pippa and I closer to him, until we’re all bundled together.

“There’s another town around about four or five hours from here – I checked it out before we came. We’ll go to the hospital there.”

Mack nods, I can feel it against my head. “Just hurry.”

~*~*~*~

My leg burns in a way I’ve never felt before. I’ve tried, tried to hold it back, but I can’t. I begin sobbing about an hour into the trip, biting my lip to stop it from becoming wailing screams. My mind is spinning, my body aches, and it feels like my leg is on fire. My vision is starting to waver, and my heart is pounding so hard it’s starting to scare me.

“You’re going to be okay,” Mack soothes. “You’re going to be okay.”

“It...hurts...” I wail.

“I know, darlin’. I know.”

He strokes my hair; it’s all he can do. Pippa is dead still in my arms, but she’s breathing and that’s the main thing. I can’t focus enough to move my mouth anymore. I close my eyes and let darkness take me; the pain goes away there.

CHAPTER THIRTY

2014 - Maddox

The dried blood on my face makes every movement painful, even blinking feels like running a God damned marathon. My cheek bone is broken, my nose is broken, and I wouldn’t know, but I could guess I’ve got a fuck load of slashes on my face. My ribs, collarbone, and arm have also been snapped.

They didn’t go easy on us.

The moment they put us down in this cramped little cell, they beat the fuck out of us. I got it the worst, because I was the one who threw myself in front of every punch. I’d do it again, over and fuckin’ over, if it meant protecting my boys. Krypt got it hard when I fell to the floor. He’s nearly as beaten as me. His face a mass of puffy, red welts and slices.

The other guys are all sitting on the floor, staring at their hands. They’ve been like that for hours now. We’re too hurt to be hungry, but that will come soon if they don’t feed us. We’ve already had to resort to pissing in the corner, causing the musky, dark room to smell even worse. Austin is pissing serious blood, and that bothers me, but there’s fuck all I can do about it right now.

I have to hold onto hope that Mack and Santana got away. The very idea that something might have happened to her makes me feel so fuckin’ sick my insides twist angrily. That girl is the first thing that’s made me smile in a long, long time. If I lose her now...fuck...I just can’t. I can’t lose the one thing I’ve fought so hard for.

Loud voices force my head up. I blink through the haze that seems permanently covering my eyes. Krypt lifts his head, too. His black eyes are so swollen I’m almost sure he can’t see clearly, but he turns his face in my direction, anyway. He raises a hand, winces in pain, and drops it. This isn’t how it’s meant to be, bikers that are some fuckin’ sicko’s slaves.

We fucked up.

No, I fucked up.

I put them in this position; I was the asshole who kept this for so long. If I’d come out and opened up from the beginning, Howard and his goons might not have found out about Santana’s sister, and we wouldn’t be here. This is my fuckin’ fault, and I’m takin’ full responsibility for it. I’ll lay my life down to get my boy’s outta here, and I will get them out.

“What the fuck do you mean she’s fuckin’ gone?”

I tilt my head, listening to the voices drifting in.

“Chain blown clean off, they fuckin’ took her.”

“Well, did you fuckin’ find them?”

“No, by the time we got to a car, they were far outta sight. The guys are still lookin’.”

“Use your fuckin’ brains and think about it, you fuckin’ fools. Where would they go with a severely underweight girl and another with a fuckin’ bullet in her leg?”