Chapter 16 - Vince
I’m not sure what woke me this time, but I’m only grateful that whatever it was, did. A figure is hunched over Sara ready to place a pillow over her sleeping face, Adrenalin pumps it’s way through my body like I haven’t only slept three hours.
Coming up swinging I catch the trespasser off guard. A pained grunt comes out in a whoosh, and from the sound I know whoever is in here with us is male. When he stumbles back and drops the pillow, I maneuver myself from under Sara. She groans, and curls in. She doesn’t wake to my relief.
By the time I get around the bed he is standing. His outline intimidating against the limited light coming through the curtains. Once we get in reaching distance we each take handfuls of each other's clothing and I attempted to wrestle him to the ground. He released me in favor of a hand-hold at the base of my neck, pitching me forward and used my instincts against me to start jabbing me in the ribs. Fuck it hurts, and I twist to try and get out of his grasp. When I have no luck getting out of his fists path I grab hold of his hair. Moving my head just enough to use his balance against him and bring his face down sharply onto my bent knee. Something wet, blood flows from his broken nose and he staggers backwards. Taking advantage of his distress I put him into a headlock. I drag him out of Sara’s room. Thankful again that she was able to sleep through the scuffle that we had mere feet from her. Once out in the bright unflattering lights of the hallway, I notice who it is I’ve been fighting, my arms come from around his neck in shock.
“Mac?” I say bewildered.
He rubs a hand across his upper lip to wipe some of the blood from his face in frustration.
“What the fuck were you doing?!” I snarl.
“Giving her what she deserved,” drops of blood spews with the use of his mouth as he spits out his reply.
My fists clench, “She doesn’t deserve to die!”
“The club is going to kill my uncle over her!” he shouts back.
“Uncle?” I ask confused.
“My father's brother, Lucas!”
My anger boils, and everything comes into focus, “His nephew is your kid. Grant…,” I run my fingers through my hair pissed at myself for not seeing it sooner. Why hadn’t I noticed! Why hadn’t Ric told me, does he even know? Some members don’t even give over their real names. Shit!
“That’s right, this was personal, with you and Bear out of the picture this whole thing could go away,” he growls, “But then Lucas got greedy and stole your girl, now she knows too much.”
“What did you do to Bear?”
“Nothing...yet,” his smile is calculating.
“You’re out of your mind. The original report wouldn’t go away,” I try and reason.
“Took care of that. Ric is very organized,” he says. His smile grotesk with the blood still flowing from his nose, “Taking it and the extra copy was too easy.”
“Ric was the one to give the orders, were you going to get rid of him too?” I question.
“Eventually, then take over the club, I am second after all,” his eyes shine, “It’s the only reason my pops sent me over here. Get cozy, and eventually take control of the club. Trafficking can get tight if the surrounding clubs can't see eye to eye.”
“What about Tracy and your kids?”
He snorts again, “That bitch may be the mother of my kids, but she is dumber than a box of rocks. I got her pregnant by accident, and decided to do the right thing since she is so easily manipulated. Once I take over the club she won’t know the difference from what’s going on right now with how I keep her in the dark.”
A young woman coming down the hall spots us, “Oh my gosh! Are you alright!” she comes running up to Mac and coos.
“I am now that you’ve found me,” he says sweetly. He looks over at me and gives me a wicked smile.
“We should call a nurse, or a doctor, or something,” she exclaims. She hadn’t seen his intent, and I’m too late to do anything when she is suddenly wrapped in his arms. One arm under her breasts, his opposite hand at her neck with a sharp looking knife.
She squeaks and her purse clunks to the floor. I narrow my eyes at Mac, “Mac, let the girl go,” I try and reason once again, but I’m finding quickly that he is beyond it, “She’s got nothing to do with this.”
“Only if you step aside Vince. I need to do this, my boy needs his future,” not a fucking chance. This crazy fuck will never get even this close again to Sara for the rest of my life. I hate to admit it but I’d sacrifice this girl without a thought if it means saving Sara, but I hope that I can find a different solution before it gets that far.
I really look at the girl for the first time. She’s attractive in a chaotic way. She’s a little too skinny for my tastes, her white blonde hair wild even in a ponytail, startling blue eyes not unlike my own that I notice now aren’t the least bit afraid. In fact she looks aggravated, edging right over to pissed off. Her next actions are smooth. She leans forward, the blade pressing into her throat, but her elbow now has the room to slam into his gut. He loosens his hold just enough that she can swing the opposite elbow into his nose, and before I can blink uses a fist to plant her knuckles into his groin. Holding his privates parts with a hand he falls in a heap on the ground. The pointy end of her high heeled shoe grinds into his forearm that holds the knife. He jerks and gasps letting the weapon go. She easily picks it up and comes to stand next to me.
She rolls her eyes, “I always get the attention of the crazy ones,” she rubs at her neck, and she isn’t even fazed when it comes away red with her blood.
“You should probably call the police now,” she says smoothly looking at me.
“Uh, yeah I’ll do that,” I respond a little dazed.
She points to Sara’s door, “Sara awake?”
That gets my attention, “No, but wait...who are you?”
“Stacy.”
“Don’t you live in Tennessee?” I inquire.
She clears her throat and points down at Mac, who at the moment is attempting to stand, “Your interrogation can wait until a more important one can start don’t you think?”
“Tisk, tisk, tisk little boy,” she moves the blade in front of her face, “I have the only weapon you had, and if you try anything I’ll show you how much better I know how to use it.”
He slumps against the wall with a deep scowl, still holding his junk, and with another hand stanching the flow from his nose. Bringing out my phone I call the hospital informing them of the situation. They arrive rather quickly. He puts up minimal fight, but he shouts that “This isn’t over!” over and over again. I let the hospital handle the protocol from there. Hoping that he will end up in jail far from this place. Though I do call Ric and let him know, and the word irate doesn’t even cover it. He insures someone from the club will be at the hospital outside her door until things settle down or we go home. He'll also have someone check on Bear.
Stacy waited patiently, arms crossed under her chest leaning against the wall, her big bag on the floor besides her, till I was done with all my phone calls. She looked prepared for my questions.
“Who told you?” I ask thinking that’s where I should start.
“What? That she was in the hospital?” when I nod she seems irritated.
“No one, but it should have been you. She hadn’t called in a few days, and I was getting worried. I have no idea what’s going on here, or who that guy was, but from the way he just man handled me to get to Sara I would say it’s anything but good. Want to fill me in?”
“How do I know you are who you say you are?”
She takes a slow appraisal of me, and looks me straight in the eye, “Honey, Sara sold you out, I don’t need x-ray glasses to know what you look like naked. You’ve got a birthmark on your left butt cheek that looks like the state of West Virginia. Your tattoos...you have eight of them. One of a script from shoulder to shoulder, two on each thigh one of a gun and the other of a rose, one that's small over by your left testie that says “hey there” in a girly script that you were forced to get because of a dare...shall I go on?”
My mouth gapes a bit trying to find the right words to say next.
“Don’t feel bad sweetcheeks, I made her tell me every juicy detail of your liaisons together,” she shrugs as if that should negate the gravity of the information she knows about my naked body. It seems I would have to have another serious talk with Sara as soon as she woke in the morning.
“Keep those memories tucked somewhere safe, because she won’t be telling you anything from now on about our sex life,” I say.
She giggles, but quickly sobers, “Oh you’re being serious…,” that makes her laugh even harder, “Not going to happen sweetcheeks.”
“Stop calling me that,” I bark.
“Never,” a gleam of humor lights up in her features, “So are you going to tell me what happened to my girl or not?”
“She’s my girl,” I snap.
“She was mine first,” she shrugs a shoulder nonchalantly.
Fuck she’s got a point. Which story should I give her? I’m not even sure why I even asked myself. It was obvious which Sara would tell her. So I told her the truth, almost word for word what Sara relayed to me. I wish I could have felt smug when her face loses all humor, and her pallor grows white. There’s a far away look in her eyes, and tears start to gather in the corners. They look over at Sara’s door.
“My poor baby girl,” she looks over to me, “How bad is it?”
“Overall pretty bad. She took quite a beating. She also isn’t acting like the spitfire she was. But I think both with time will get better. I’m going to be here to make sure it does,” I say with all the conviction I feel.
An actual genuine smile graces her lips, “She was right about you.”
“What?”
“You are different. I think you might actually be good for her,” her eyes shift again, and a murderous gleam replaces the admiration, “But if you hurt her in any way I will have your fucking balls, you got me?” Jesus this woman was a hurricane spinning out of control without direction.
“I’d never hurt her,” I say to placate her, but it’s no lie. I was determined for it to be true. Sure, I’m going to fuck up at times, but shit no one is perfect.
Hearing a whimper coming from Sara’s room jolts me out of my thoughts. When a shout follows behind, I’m barreling in. She’s thrashing again trapped in her terror filled memories. Going to her I place my hand on either side of her face and speak softly to her. I don’t even notice the low light that comes on at the side of the bed since I am so focused on her. When she finally opens her eyes it takes her some time to take in her surroundings. Her hands cover my forearms as she stares into my eyes finally coming back to me.
“I’m okay,” she breaths. She tilts her head slightly to kiss my arm before I release her. With my arms out of the way she spots Stacy, and starts to cry almost as hard when I first held her after all of this happened.
“What-are-you-doing-here?” her words are mumbled sobs that I can barely understand.
“Because-you-never-called-me-back-you-skank-I-got-worried!” Stacy cries back in the same manner.
Jesus christ. I think this is my queue to leave. I kiss Sara on the top of the head, and it gets her attention, “I’m going to grab something to eat. You want anything?”
I swear she turns green when she shakes her head. I look at Stacy, “How about you?”
“No, I have everything I need right here,” she takes my place where I had laid only an hour ago, wrapping Sara in an embrace. They talk in hushed whispers as I leave.
I lean against the door and let out a heavy breath, “Hey,” Echo says beside me. I didn’t even notice him, which hints at my exhaustion now that the adrenaline is wearing thin.
“Anything about Bear? I asked Ric to make sure he was good,” I ask.
“Yeah, he’s fine. He’s home,” Echo says.
“Hey, thanks for coming.”
“No big thing,” he replies.
“I’m going to grab something real quick you want anything?”
“Coffee, black.”
“You got it,” I say as I walk towards the cafe. When I return, Echo has drug a chair besides the door, and Stacy is fast asleep cuddled into my Sara.
“Hey,” She whispers, “Stacy told me about Mac. It took hearing his name to realize he was the one that took me from my house. I remember his eyes, not unlike the guy that held me captive.”
“Hey, yourself. I’m glad you could sleep through the whole thing. Speaking of sleeping. What are you still doing up?”
“I’m afraid to fall asleep again knowing what will happen,” she looks away as if she is ashamed.
I take a seat in the chair beside the bed and hold onto her hand, “You can’t stay awake forever, but I promise that I will always try and be there when you wake to bring you back. We will get through this,” I kiss her hand, “I promise.”