Ivy

I’ve been falling in and out of consciousness, but have managed to stay semi-alert for the last few minutes since the car stopped. I woke in the back seat of a car, with the biker in the driver seat, tapping his hands on the steering wheel nervously. I’ve never felt this weak and sleepy before; nevertheless I refuse to let myself fall under again, not when a little girl’s life is at stake. 

As time passes, I notice the biker lie down now and again when cars pass, but not every car. Tears build and fall when I realize it’s probably Kelso and his brothers driving past, not knowing I’m dying in the back of this random car on the side of the road.

More time passes, but I’m not sure how much as darkness dances around my vision and nausea swirls in my stomach. 

“Kid, wanna earn a hundred bucks?” the biker yells out the car window. A child no older than ten comes into view. The biker flashes the hundred-dollar note and says, “See the woman in the back of the car?” 

The little boy peers into the car and then his eyes widen and his face pales. He attempts to step back but the biker grabs his arm and pulls him closer to the car. “Don’t be afraid, kid. You will save her life. You know where the Kings live?” 

“Yes,” the boy replies in a shaky voice. 

“I want you to tell them where they can find this woman, they’re looking for her. No shortcuts though, go by the streets.” 

The boy nods and the biker shoves the hundred-dollar bill in the kid’s shirt pocket and lets him go. Within seconds the child is gone. 

The driver seat creaks as the burly man turns around to look at me. Tilting his head, he smirks. “You’re awake. I didn’t expect you to make it this long. You’re as pale as a fucking ghost, though. If you stay put, keep the bleeding to a minimum, you might live.” 

Narrowing my eyes, I throw as much hate at him as I possibly can. 

He laughs and jumps out of the car. Noticing that he goes in the opposite direction to the boy, I pull myself up the door and peek through the window. Ice seeps through my weak body. I know this street and the route Krazy is running down. Kelso takes me behind the houses near his street as a shortcut when we walk home late from TK’s. 

Wiping sweat from my brow, I clench my eyes closed with confusion. He said he was after a little girl. Why would he be heading for Kelso’s house? 

My eyes snap open when I realize if the boy brings Kelso and his brothers to me via the road, then the asshole will have free reign of their house without them knowing, and if the little girl’s at the house, she’ll be defenseless. Piper, Lana, and Della, all of them will assume the threat is here, when really he’ll be at their back door. 

Oh God. I need to move. I have to get to Kelso before he leaves his house, or meet him as close to it as I possibly can.  

* * *

Kelso

I’m stuck in a state of panic. Each time I grasp the moment and reiterate what I found at Ivy’s house to my family, I come up with an idea to find her, but instantly it’s shot down by my own mind because I have nothing to fucking go on. Nothing. It’s paralyzing, knowing someone has hurt Ivy and I can’t get to her, and the same person still has her, doing God knows what to her. 

Slater’s calling around to some of our contacts, describing Krazy and also trying to find the Dirty Deeds MC, so we can get in contact with them. I left them not even an hour ago hoping I’d never have to see them again, and now I need them more than I need air.  They might know what kind of car Krazy is driving or where he’d go. I don’t have a fucking clue and it’s killing me; I’m drowning from the inside out. 

I’m standing in the hallway, staying to the middle of the house. I need to see the front door, be able to see the exit if we get news so I can get out as soon as possible, but I also need to hear my family in the kitchen as they race around on their phones, muttering to each other. They’re blurs to me as they pass by me, going into the living room and upstairs, all of them telling me it will be all right. I can’t lift my head or nod. I don’t care for their words; I want answers and I need them right fucking now. 

Sinking to my most desperate, I called the sheriff, using Ivy’s phone, which I found on the living room floor, covered in blood. However, the bastard didn’t pick up. I left a message, though, telling him what I’d walked into and begging for his help. I’m not beyond pleading for Ivy’s safe return, not even to her asshole of a father. 

There’s a knock on the door and I’m instantly alert, until I see it’s a random kid. “Get lost, kid, come back later.” Annoyance coats my voice. I’m unable to think about anything else; any disturbance puts me more on edge.  

Mack walks to the door and talks with the kid. From the corner of my eye, I notice Mack’s body tense. He spins around to me. “Ivy’s around the corner. The fucker has her around the corner in his car.” 

Pushing off the wall, I race to the kid at the door. “What?” I breathe. 

“On the corner of Rudd Avenue in a silver Nissan, a man told me to tell you there’s a woman you’re looking for in the back. I saw her myself and she’s bleeding real bad.” 

I shove the boy and Mack aside. A distant thought in my mind tells me I shoved them both too hard, but it’s not something I can worry about right now. Ivy is close, and fuck, she’s dying.  

I race down the walkway, leap over our front fence, and sprint. My feet pound the rocky ground. I can hear my brothers racing behind me, Slater yelling at me to stop, shouting this must be a trap. Nevertheless, I’m not stopping. I’m going to get my Red back and then I’m going to kill Krazy with my bare hands, trap or not. I’ll save Ivy, I don’t give a damn what happens to me. 

Turning right, I stay on the left side of the road. A hundred yards in front of me I see the silver car on the corner, but a whimper at the opposite side of the road gets my attention. Bright wavy red hair hangs down Ivy’s pale face as she kneels on the grass, her body swaying. She stares at me, but I don’t see relief flash in her eyes; exhaustion turns to terror. Ivy’s eyes shift behind me and she starts shaking her head, tears flowing down her white complexion. When I finally reach her, I sink to my knees and grasp her waist, searching Ivy’s body for her wounds. 

“No, Kelso, you have to go.” Ivy’s voice is weak and pained. “He’s at your house. He’s after the little girl. I’m a decoy.” 

A soft gasp sounds beside me, and I glance over my shoulder at Della, who’s standing beside Pacer. His face turns ashen as he spins around and races back toward our home, his arms and legs pumping hard as he disappears around the corner with Slater and Mack close behind him. 

“Where are you hurt, Ivy?” I demand.

“My leg,” she slurs, her eyes closing. “I can sleep now.” 

“No, Ivy, stay awake,” Dom orders.

Falling to my ass, I take Ivy into my arms and tap her cheeks. “Fuck. Why didn’t I call an ambulance? Shit, Della, call them.” 

“It’s okay, Kel, I did. They’re on their way.” 

“She will be okay, Kelso,” Dom adds. “I’ve seen plenty of stab wounds like this one. She’s lost a lot of blood, but Ivy’s going to be okay.” 

Scanning the road left and right while holding Ivy in my arms, I can’t help but remember Ivy’s accident, seeing her lifeless body in a wrecked car. I struggle to wrap my mind around the events since, how no matter what we’ve done to overcome it all we’ve come full circle to this road and this moment. 

Looking down at Ivy, I see the innocent girl who first approached me the night at the party as I stared across the Ohio River wishing for peace. As if God answered my plea, he gave me Red.

Ivy’s lids flutter open and we stare into each other's eyes. She gifts me with a small smile, and I run my thumb over her warm cheek. “I missed your smile, baby.” 

Blaring sirens approach, and suddenly a male paramedic’s calming voice is asking me to lay Ivy down on the grass so they can look her over. I do as he asks, and a female paramedic requests I stand back. 

“Ivy, do you know what happened to you?”

“Yes,” Ivy replies in a soft, dreamy voice. “Stabbed in the leg.” 

“Ivy, how many fingers am I holding up?”

“Four.”

“Great. Ivy, we’re going to cut through your jeans and bandage up your leg. Then we’ll lift you onto the stretcher. This may hurt, okay?” 

Ivy’s safe. She’s going to be okay. My feet move, walking backward as my eyes stay glued to Ivy’s tortured body. The stark white of her skin and the red smearing across her thigh screams through me like a thunderstorm. Revenge. Krazy must pay. 

Della turns around and calls to me, “Kelso?”  

Using all my strength, I pull my eyes away from Ivy to look at Della, and my heart cracks all over again. A shadow of anguish sits on my little sister’s face. “I’m going to kill the bastard.” And with those last words I’m racing back to my home, gunning for the man who almost took everything from me. Biker club or not, Krazy will pay for his evil deeds, and I will be his judge, jury, and executioner. 

Jumping the fence, I pound up the porch steps, swing the screen door open, and enter my house. I still for a moment, listening for any movement, then whip my head to the right and see Sophie sitting on the couch holding a shaking Ava in her arms. Pacer sits across from them, his head bowed with his clasped hands resting against his forehead and a gun resting on the seat beside him.

I run through the hall and into the kitchen. Lana and Piper are staring out the window at Slater and Mack, who are standing in the backyard. Stalking past the women, I exit the house, and my eyes land on Krazy’s body, which is lying in the middle of our backyard with blood seeping from one small bullet hole in his head. 

“No,” I breathe. He deserved so much worse, he should have suffered, screamed in his last few hours of life. “No!” I yell, and race to the limp body. Punching and kicking, I crave to offer him pain anywhere he may somehow still feel anything. If there’s any air left in his body, I want to snuff it out. Blood sprays across my face but I don’t care, I keep going like a machine with no off button. 

Hit.

Kick.

Hit

Hit.

Hands are pulling me, but I struggle and get out of their grasp and punch the coward again. With a strong grip, someone turns me around and I'm dragged away. “Kel,” Slater growls. “He’s dead.” 

Raw and hurting, I pin Slater with a desperate stare. “We have to win death race. I can’t do this anymore. I can't see another of my loved ones bleeding out on the ground. I don’t have it in me anymore, brother.” My sight blurs as my eyes glass over. 

Slater’s weary expression blanches, and his features turn anguished. He grabs hold of my shoulders and pulls me to face him as he cups my cheeks. “I promise you, Kel, we’re getting out of this life. One way or another, I vow to you this will end. We will have better, we'll find peace.” Pulling my body to his, my eldest brother holds me tight, digging his fingers into my skin. “I promise. I'll get us out.” Slater’s voice is hoarse, and it breaks on his last words.