I’ll never forget the smell, it was a smell that could stain clothes, one that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

Axel wouldn’t let me walk into the room, but after a few minutes of talking to him I was able to convince him to let me come inside. Even though it could be argued that the smell told the whole story, that all I would need was that stench to confirm what happened to Edgar, I just had to see. I had to see what happened to the man that held me captive, I had to know that he would never look at me with lust in his eyes ever again.

We walked into the room and the smell hit us like a sack of bricks. Edgar was hanging right where he was before, except this time he had 2 bullet holes in his chest. Laying next to him was the body of the Desert Vulture they left to guard him.

I looked at Edgar, how he stared blankly at the ground, part of me couldn’t believe that someone actually did this. I had dreamt about it for so long but I knew that I would never have the courage, strength, or stomach to ever actually kill another human, even if it was that sick bastard. I thought it would fill me with more relief but all I could feel was a knot in my stomach.

“What the hell happened here?” Axel asked as he handed me a cloth so I could cover my nose and breathe a little easier.

“We were hoping you’d know, we came here to interrogate him about Donnelly and find any connections with the Satans but we just found him like this. All we can tell was that it happened sometime within a few hours of the shootout” Mason said looking at Axel before glancing at me. “You both know this guy better than we do, can’t think of anyone that’s against us that would kill our guy but wouldn’t let Edgar go. There was no reason to kill him…”

“The cops did this” Axel said confidently, walking around and examining the scene that was laid out before him.

“Why would the cops kill our guys and Edgar though? They would free him wouldn’t they? As far as they know he’s an innocent man” Wyatt said.

“It’s not that simple” I replied, thinking back to how Donnelly had wanted to use me, making no attempt to ever free me from Edgar’s basement. Who knows how many of Edgar’s “friends” were also cops.

“She’s right” Axel said, backing me up. “Edgar told both of us that this shit we’re involved in is deeper than we think, and we know for a fact he has ties to Donnelly. I came here a few nights ago to find out more from Edgar but he refused to talk, all I could get out of him was some shit about how if he blabbed to me then people would find him and kill him. When I confronted Donnelly he told me that he had gotten everything he needed from Edgar, and how he had to clean up part of the mess that Edgar made. I don’t know how he would have found out about this place but it’s the only explanation I can think of that makes sense. I’d bet you Edgar knew something about the police, so they found were we were keeping him and put a bullet in him before skipping town.”

“If that’s true then we got a brother feeding them information” Mason said. “Someone who knows we were keeping Edgar here, somebody squealed.”

“When I was out last night I did see Donnelly and another officer driving around. I thought they were looking for Desert Vulture brothers to arrest but maybe they were trying to find this place?” I said.

Wyatt looked down at the dead Vulture member and sighed.

“I fucked up.”

“The hell do you mean you fucked up?” Axel asked.

“This guy laying dead right here, he wasn’t a brother he was just a mechanic I hired 3 months ago. He’s the only new guy in the whole building, I was so short staffed that I wasn’t thorough in my background check.”

“If he was just a mechanic then why was he looking after Edgar?” I asked.

“Who knows, I told someone else to watch after Edgar for the night, guess the new guy convinced the original guy to let him take his shift.”

Axel walked over to the mechanic’s dead body and kneeled down next to hit. He grabbed a handful of the guy’s right sleeve and ripped it clean off down his arm, revealing two horns on his bicep.

“God FUCKING dammit!” Axel yelled out as he kicked the dead body hard. “My whole fucking club is falling apart and now we have fucking tattooed Scorched Satans walking around like they’re our brothers.”

“There’s no fucking way...” Mason replied.

“Look, here’s what we know” Axel said still fuming. “We know that Edgar had some information and was afraid of being killed by a group of people he didn’t specify, we know the cops are walking around with Scorched Satan tattoos, the same fucking tattoo that this mechanic has. We know that Donnelly said he had to clean up Edgar’s mess and we know that these guys aren’t afraid to kill their own, I mean they shot their own chief for fuck’s sake. There’s ties between Edgar, the Satans, and the police that scared them enough to bust in here and kill Edgar before he could tell us anything.”

Axel looked at me and I could see him begin to calm down. He wanted to get things under control to prove to me that I could have a normal life with him, I couldn’t imagine how he felt to be losing control of this club. I didn’t want to think I was against him, I didn’t want him to think that I wanted him to fail so I had an excuse to get out of there.

I walked up to him and took his hand in mine, putting my other hand on his chest.

“It’ll be ok, you can do this, I know you can do this.”

He looked down at me and gave a little reassuring nod as he calmed down.

“Axel, I’m sorry, I fucked up” Wyatt said staring at the dead body of the mechanic.

“It’s fine brother, in the end none of our guys got hurt because of what you did… but we need to figure something out before we do get people hurt.”

“Where the hell do we even go from here though?” Mason asked. “The only guys with any info that we know are dead in front of us.”

Axel looked down at me for a few seconds before looking back up at his brothers.

“Vagas, Hannah and I gotta go to Vegas. I remember Edgar mentioned it when I interrogated him personally, it isn’t much but it’s the only lead we have. Maybe there’s somebody there that can connect all of this, somebody that can give us the dirt we need to get these cops off of our backs and finally get a chance to fight back against the Satans.”

I immediately had flashbacks to when I was sold off, seeing the bright lights through the small peepholes in the hood they kept over my head, the purple glow of a neon sign in the distance right before they stuffed me into a van to be driven to Edgar’s.

“Vegas? Why do we have to go to Vegas?” I said gripping my hand into a tight fist as those neon lights flashed through my memory.

Axel motioned for Wyatt and Mason to leave us alone, they seemed annoyed at first but respected their president’s orders. They left the room and closed the door behind them, leaving Axel and I alone with these two dead men.

“I haven’t told the guys about your past, I don’t want them to know until you’re ready, when they find out they might treat you differently. If you want a real normal life with me then I want people to treat you like you’re a normal person.”

Stuff like this just furthered my belief that he really did care about me.

“Vegas is the only lead I have” he continued. “Edgar told me that was where he bought you, I know that’s the last place you want to go back to but it could lead to something big. Edgar, Donnelly, the Scorched Satan mechanic, their tattoos… they all have to connect somehow. If we can find the location where they had your auction we might be able to rough someone up for some answers, maybe even start connecting the dots.”

I looked down at my feet for a few seconds before staring at Edgar’s body in disgust. I just wanted all of this to be over.

He lifted my head up and looked into my eyes. “I already hate knowing how much you’ve been through, not to mention all the shit you’ve seen solely because of me. I’ve already asked you for so much, but you’re the only person that can lead me to that auction location. It’s not just me that needs you, the club needs you.”

I looked up at him and saw the sincerity in his eyes, if I had him with me maybe I could stomach going back there if it meant we could end this.

“If it helps you fulfill that promise you made me in your apartment, then I’ll do it, I’ll come with you to Vegas.”

A few hours ago I was trying to find a ride out of this town knowing I that I might have been leaving Axel behind forever.

Now him and I were about to go Vegas in his last effort to show me that he can give me the life he thinks I deserve.

All I could do was fight the voices in my head that told me him and I weren’t meant to be together.