Crusher

I somehow convince Frog to leave me in charge of the fucker we captured. I realize I’ve gone way too far to come back, but in truth, I don’t care. I will do whatever it takes to save my woman. I know I was stupid and made her doubt that, but I have never thought of Dani as Melly. Melissa and I were kids, and it was a different lifetime. It was young love and it ended heartbreakingly. I mourn the loss of her life every fucking single day, but I don’t mourn it out of some great love.

Dani and my love for her are all consuming. Honestly, it just hit me this last freaking month. Before she was an obsession, but the last month that we’ve been messing around back and forth…I’ve come to realize that she is everything I could ever want. When she smiles, or laughs, I get a feeling of peace that I have never had in my entire life. She flipped her lid over the fact that I had sex with Nikki and Lips. It didn’t even matter that it happened before the two of us got together. That’s when I realized that she was feeling the same way. When she began whispering that she loved me? I drank that in, and I drank it in deep. If she dies, I won’t mourn her. Hell no. I’ll make sure I join her. It’s just that fucking simple.

When I get into the room where the fucker is being held, I get pissed all over again. He’s barely been worked over. I’ve seen Drag in action, so I know when he’s gone easy on a motherfucker, and the fact that he did this time, pisses me off. I know he blames Dani for what happened to Nicole, but Jesus this is just fucking wrong. It also cements my decision. I’m essentially going rogue here. I’m ignoring a direct order from my president, and I’m putting the good of one over my club. I feel betrayed too, though. I don’t think they left me with any other choice.

I stir up fear in him for a little while and then sit down. I reach in my shirt pocket, under my vest and pull out my smokes. I put them on a table and then light one, inhaling deep. I let the nicotine calm me and center me. I don’t smoke often, but then again, it’s not every day your woman is in the hands of some sick fucker and you can’t find her.

I’ve got this ass-wipe thinking I’m going to burn his balls off. He’s not really talking, so I guess the possibility is still on the table. I got my name because I used to be able to crush just about anything with my bare hands. Right now, if I didn’t have to keep him alive, I’d crush his head off his neck, it would stop all the whining he’s doing. Instead, I pick up my knife. I’ll cut his skin in small strips until he gives me the information I need. If that doesn’t work then, and only then, will I touch his fucking balls. I’m sure those fuckers stink. Plus, he looks like the kind of coward that’s going to piss himself.

It takes me about an hour to get some information I can use. Still, it’s a long shot. While I was burning off fingerprints and pulling his teeth, anything that might be used for identification purposes, the fucker finally let it slip who hired him. It wasn’t Kavanagh, but the guy set up a meeting area out at the old tobacco barn on Route 11. It’s not much, but it’s the first glimmer of hope I have. I quickly ended the mother fucker and buried him on an old hiking trail. It’s not far away from Savage MC land, and if Dragon finds out he’s going to be all kinds of fucking pissed at me, but I don’t have the time to be neat. Every minute that Dani is gone is another one that Kavanagh might find her and fuck….to be honest, I think he already has her. I can’t even think about what might happen to her.

I decide to head back to the club. I can give them the information I have and get some back-up. I’m going to need help. I don’t know what kind of fire power Kavanagh has, and I’m not about to fuck up what might be my only chance to save Dani. When I get there, Nicole is crying and everyone is gathered around, and for a minute I think Dani has already been killed. I can’t breathe. It’s like someone has my heart in their hand and they’re squeezing it so tight that the pain is debilitating.

“They have Dani, Dragon. He’s demanding I…he was torturing her. He has Dani, Dragon,” Nicole says, her words disjointed and full of pain. My world stops.

“Where Nicole?” Dragon questions.

“The old abandoned Laurel Elementary School. Dragon, we have to save her. She’s in bad shape.”

“What kind of fucking shape?” I ask, because I can’t stop myself. I see the look Dragon gives me and the pity in his eyes, but I don’t give a fuck.

“He…they beat her. She, oh God, I’ve never seen someone hurt that bad before. He’ll kill her if we don’t get her.”

I’ve heard enough. They can all stand around and talk if they want to. I tear out of there heading straight for the old school.

I make it in record time and way ahead of my brothers, but the place is empty. There’s no sign of the fucker anywhere and worse, there’s no sign of Dani. I comb through the place, and I find a corner covered in blood about the time the rest of the crew show up.

“Son of a bitch!” I growl, when I see the huge amount of blood. She’s so small. How can she withstand so much blood loss? I close my eyes and remember that day on the beach when she smiled and kissed me. I hear her whisper, I love you Zander, and it’s all I can do to keep standing. I turn on my brother. “I knew by you fucking around it would end up screwing us in the ass. Now we have no idea where the hell Dani is!”

Dragon doesn’t react with words, he swings and uppercuts me under the chin. I wasn’t expecting it, so I fall back on the ground. I want to get up and go a few rounds with him. Dragon is a mean motherfucker, but then so am I, and it just might make me feel better to pound him. I don’t though. I know I’m in the wrong here, but goddamn it, I need him to help me get my woman back.

“Motherfucker! That is not what screwed us in the ass!” Dragon yells, and squats down to look at me. He’s vibrating with anger. He can join the club. “What screwed us in the ass, dick-weed, was you overruling my fucking orders. Tell me, where the fuck is my prisoner today, Crush? What the fuck did you do with him?” When I don’t answer him, he grabs me by the hair on my head, and pulls me up to stand with him. “Where the fuck is my prisoner, Crush?”

I think about not answering, but in the end, I’m honest with him—or at least mostly honest. “I did what you wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, and what was that, brother?”

“I interrogated the ass-wipe,” I say easily, half hoping Dragon will start whaling on me and give me an excuse to hit back.

“Gee, wonder why I didn’t think of that. Tell me Crush, did you find out one more damn piece of information?”

I should be honest here, I need his help, but I’m tired of Dragon being a sanctimonious asshole. If this was Nicole missing he’d be going fucking crazier than I am. So, I don’t tell him shit. I’ll do it on my own.

“Do you know why that is dick-head? It’s because he didn’t fucking know anything!” he growls. “Did you set him free, at least, and have someone follow him?”

Here is where guilt hits, because I really should have done better with this part, if nothing else. Still, it is what it is. “There wasn’t anything left to set free,” I tell him.

As lies go, this one is the least of my worries.