Chapter 25
Beast
I see Jules run towards us without Bella, I know something bad transpired. My mind goes right to Bella’s health and our babies. I am definitely not prepared for the words that come spewing out of her mouth. She screams his name and red blinds my vision. I clench my fists and control my breathing so the fury I’m feeling doesn’t consume me. I have to keep a clear head and get to Bella. I not only have my Bella to protect, but I also have our babies, and I won’t let him touch them.
After Gator settles my brother-in-law’s, we all take off running to her. I’m the first through the door. She’s in the middle of yelling at him, causing my hackles to rise. She’s strong and brave when she needs to be. But he will hurt her, I’m sure of it. If he already hasn’t, so help him, God.
I don’t waste any time waiting, I bust right through the door, immediately zeroing in on him and the 20 men that are surrounding him and my girl.
I don’t think twice Gator, Maddox and I take the lead and muscle our way through the crowd of men and head straight to Bella. She’s screaming at Anton with a knife to his neck. “I’m going to dance on your fucking grave, you fucking worthless piece of shit!”
Ace, Blaze, Bull, Ryder and a few other men move in closer to Anton’s men and some stay behind blocking the door and hallway.
The first thing I notice is Bella’s red and swollen face. He hit her more than once, and now I want to wring the bastard’s neck for touching my girl. I take the knife out of her hand before gathering her up into my arms. I want to finish him with my knife, but she’s shaking uncontrollably and needs me. I rock her in my arms, keeping her close to my chest. I want to touch her face, but I won’t right now, I’m sure it hurts like hell. Her eyes and cheeks are an angry red. I want her as close as possible for her sanity and for my own. Keeping us both calm helps our babies and the situation. I can’t let her hurt herself anymore by raising her blood pressure any higher.
Gator addresses Anton and gives him a choice. A choice he doesn’t take either of, yet. He turns to me first. He looks like the devil, not the boy I grew up with all those years ago. What the hell has possessed him and turned him into... Satan.
“What happened to you, man? You could have had all this with me. Instead, you choose to become this... biker trash,” he yells at me with his hands flying around.
“What the fuck happened to me? I could say the same for you, man,” I state before addressing the other issue or letting him answer.
“You think I’m trash because I decided to trade in my suit for a leather kutte.” I laugh nastily with hate and malice in my tone. I want to get my hands on him and tear him up right now, but I know I will have to let him walk out of here. I hate it, and it will take everything in me to let it happen the way Gator ordered.
I hand Bella off to Maddox and get in Anton’s face. Staring him directly in his eyes, in front of Gator, and go off half-cocked on his sorry ass.
“I’m not trash, man. You’re the only trash in this room. Your man card should be pulled over what you’ve done to my Bella. Ya, asshole, she’s mine, been only mine since the day she was born. You laid your filthy hands on what’s mine! She’s my woman, my wife and you will never touch her again, do you hear me! You are the fuckin’ scum of the earth, you are trash, and the trash needs to finally be taken out for fuckin’ good. Do you hear me, you slimy bastard!? When I finally get my fuckin’ hands on you, Antonio, I’m going to do to you what you did to my woman, just worse, you fuckin’ got me, you bastard. Now, leave, or I will gut you like a fish right here in this goddamn bathroom in front of your men.”
“I’m not leaving without Izzy and my baby. Now, take your hands off her, fuckface,” he says, looking over at Maddox before turning back to me.
He thinks my babies are his, I can see why he thinks that. If he had gotten Bella pregnant, she would be about six months along and be this size. Fortunately, that’s not the case. His seed is probably too weak and too stupid to do its job.
“You may have married her, but you will not raise my child. Now, hand over my bitch, biker trash,” Anton yells. I’ve had it, I’m going to gut him like the trash he is.
I lunge at him with the knife in my left hand, the one I took from Bella, and place it back on his neck, taking him off guard. He’s not going to talk about my woman that way or claim my babies. Bastard may just go down this minute after all in front of his men and mine. My beast is out, and he wants to play with this fucker.
“Never call my woman that name again. She’s not yours, never was and never will be, so get those thoughts out of your capo dost (hard head). As for those babies, they are mine! They are all fuckin’ MINE, not yours, you fuckin’ bastard!” I spit in his face and withdraw my gun too from the inside pocket of my kutte and point it between his eyes. I can’t help it, I don’t know which way to go at the moment, slit his throat or a bullet in the head. Either one is too good for him, but one of them will have to do if it gets him to shut the fuck up. I still want to cut him up, but with Bella in the room, I would go for the latter and shoot him first.
“Izzy sure as hell was mine that night when I fucked the shit out of her. Bitch screamed my name as I rammed my cock, balls deep, into her tight cunt. Really fucking her good from behind,” he spews, staring me in the eyes with a wicked gleam in his devilish looking eyes. His men all laugh under their breaths at his crude words.
I’m done, and my guys can see it in my murderous eyes. They withdraw their guns and point them at Anton’s men.
Now, I have two guns on me from his men, and the rest are on my brothers.
“I’m going to fuckin’ kill you nice and slow for touching her. She screamed, begging for you to STOP. I’m going to have you sing the same tone, you fuckin’ bastard when I fuck you with your own puny dick!”
I don’t even think twice as I say the words, it’s all done on reflex. Instead of pulling the trigger like I want to, I pistol whip the bastard across the temples, a couple of times, knocking him off his axel.
One of his men grabs hold of him to steady him on his feet. Gator grabs me by my forearms from behind, hurling me back a little, stopping me from going any further.
I can hear Bella behind me screaming for me through her hyperventilating in Maddox’s arms.
“What happened to you, did the devil really possessed you or something? You're evil, not the boy I knew growing up. I feel sorry for you.” My girl sobs behind me trying to stay strong in front of him. She’s holding back her tears, and I know the second he leaves they are going to spill.
I need to end this now! I can’t let him spew any more of this bullshit about my girl in front of all these men. She doesn’t need to relive this shit again.
The music in the bar is off, and all you can hear are the shuffling of feet from all my brothers coming to our aid.
I’m so furious with this bastard and seeing red, bright fuckin’ red again because of him. He seems to have that effect on me lately.
It’s like seeing heaven and hell, and I’m staring directly at hell.
How did I not see this coming? How did I not know he would turn to the dark side?
Too late now to go back, I can only go forward, and that means protecting my girl and our baby boys growing inside her.
Which also means as bad as I want to kill Anton right now, it will have to wait. We need to get him out of here, straightaway.
“Are you walking out of my state with your men or mine? This is your last chance to make a decision on your own. Or I’ll make it for you and let my man have at your ass, Antonio,” Gator roars murderously from next to me.
After a minute of Anton and me staring one another down, he speaks or shall I say snarls at Gator and me.
“I’ll leave with my men, but this isn’t over. I will be back for her and the other two little bitches and that fag boy of hers. I will own all of their asses,” Anton spews laughing and goes to turn. When he turns, Ace is in his face with a hostile look on his face.
“You will never touch any of them, and if I have too, I will kill you myself before Gio gets his hands on you. The girls and Cesare are off limits to you now and forever. They are under all the men in this state’s protection, so you had better abide by our demands. You are outnumbered here tonight, and any other time you try, 10 to 1 if not more. So leave Florida and never show your ugly fuckin’ face here again. Go crawl under a fuckin’ rock and stay there. You got me, asshole!” Ace yells in his face spitting his words all over Anton. |
I stand frozen and watch Antonio and his men finally file out of the bathroom and out the side door, which they apparently came through.
I hated to see him leave. It’s like the old saying “so close, but yet so far.” I had that motherfucker in my grasp and had to let him go. It kills me that he gets another day, let alone another breath. He should have been six feet under by now.
Goddamnit, I need to get my itchy hands on the bastard.
Once they are all gone, my brothers follow suit and leave, heading back into the bar, I take a deep breath and send the beast back for now. Then I turn back to Bella, and I take my angel from Maddox and into my arms to calm her. She so frazzled after this incident, she can’t stop crying to catch her breath. I think it’s time to call it a night and get her and Ces back to Maddox’s Clubhouse.
I pick Bella up, cradling her in my arms and look at Gator and Maddox, who are as infuriated by the situation as I am. We are the only ones left in the bathroom.
I know Ace ran right back to Jules to soothe her and let her know my girl is safe.
“God, Gio, I was so scared, I’ve never been that scared in my whole life.” She sobs into my neck, I raise her chin with my hand and stare into her eyes.
“You never have to be scared when I’m around, baby. I got you, Gigi and our boys forever.” I place a soft kiss on her wet lips. Then she rests her head on my shoulder and stares in my eyes.
“Baby, he’s never going to touch you ever again. He will have his judgment day by my hands, soon, baby, very fuckin’ soon. I promise you. You will never fear that bastard again! I will always protect what’s MINE!!”
We all stay in silence a minute longer, and I stare into Bella’s eyes. She’s telling me to do my worst on him and soon. She wants this nightmare to end.
“I hate to ask this, but I need a dozen men to escort us back to your Clubhouse. I’m taking Bella and Ces back. I’m sure Ace will probably want to get Jules out of here as well.” I stare straight at Maddox as I address him.
“You got it, Beast,” Maddox says.
“I think I’ll head out with you and take Sam back, it’s safer there than here tonight. I don’t want her anywhere near this until we know what that asshole’s next move is. All the women and children need to be on protection duty. I’ll send a mass text out, if their men aren’t with them, then a prospect or a patched member needs to be with them. No single riders either, we ride in groups until further notice,” Gator orders taking out his cell phone.
This is the first day of the Rally and being that it’s Thursday night, nothing is really going on. The real party will start tomorrow and end Sunday night.
“Sugar, how are you and those babies’ feeling?” Maddox asks in a calm, soothing tone. He places his hand on her back, rubbing calming circles.
“We’re fine now and ready to get out of here. Thank you guys for protecting us.”
“No thanks, needed, I’m just glad we got here when we did. Let’s get you back,” Maddox says.
“I texted Joker, he’s around here somewhere, and I’m gonna have two of his prospects, that he left stuck at his club, on alert for him and his men,” Gator says to us, then we all disperse out the room.
Once we get into the hallway Bella’s brothers, run up to us. Val growls at the sight of her face and tries to take her from my arms. “No! Don’t touch me!” Bella yells at him, and he takes a step back with his hands up in the air. Then Jules and Ces come running over with Ace, Blaze, and Ryder on their heels.
They all see her face, as they get closer. She has red streaks on both her cheeks and they are starting to swell and bruise. Her right eye was swelling as well and red. Val gives me a look, but stays quiet, for now. We’ll get our answers from her once I get her back and calm.
“Lovey, you good, we got you.” Ces coos, taking her hand in his, up to his lips for a kiss and she nods.
Then he turns to me. “I know you're taking our girl back. I want to go with you. I don’t want to leave her side after this?” he asks, and Bella turns in my arms and take Ces in hers, while I keep her in mine and I nod to him.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way. She needs you as much as me right now.”
“I’m taking Jules back too. I think a quiet night together will be good for the girls,” Ace says to me. “You good with that, sweetheart, or do you want to be alone with your man?”
“That sounds good to me. I need to be in my man’s arms and hold my baby sister while keeping these babies calm. They are going wild in my belly. Feel,” Bella says to me. I want to feel them, but she’s kinda occupying my arms, so her brothers, Lorenzo, Ace, Blaze, Ces, Jules, Ryder, Gator, Sam and Maddox all get to feel them.
“Il mio amore, sentire il tuo bambino ragazzi,” Bella says to me with tears still stinging her eyes. She wants me to feel our boys move and I want to more than anything, but I don’t want to let her go.
“Give her to me, so you can feel your babies, man,” Val says, and Bella nods for me to do as he says. I reluctantly pass her over to her brother and place my hands on her belly. My boys are going wild inside the small space. I can feel them moving all over the tiny bubble in her belly. They are so strong; their kicks are making my hand jump up from her belly.
I lean my forehead against Bella’s and gaze into her beautiful teary eyes that seem to be light gold tonight.
“I nostri ragazzi. Ti amo, mio angelo,” I whisper to her. Wow, those are our boys. Our baby boys are active from all the excitement.
“Ti amo, amore mio.” She leans forward, placing her lips on mine and wrapping her arms around my neck. I can’t help myself, I need her closer to me, so I tug her to me and deepen our kiss.
She’s safe and thank God, he didn’t hurt her too bad. It’s nothing she can’t heal from and fast.
My heart hurts for her because of what she just had to endure, but she stayed strong in the eyes of fear and the monster.
I’m so proud of her, more than she will ever realize.
If I had to guess, I would say she did it for our babies. She’s going to be an excellent momma just like I always knew she would. Now, I just have to get her to believe it.
“Okay, enough! Time to get her out of here,” Val says.
I release Bella’s lips from mine and take her back in my arms.
I need to get ice on her face soon. As if he heard my thoughts, Bash comes next to us holding a bag of ice.
“Take this for your face, Princess.” Bash hands her the bag, and she places it on her cheek.
Then I turn to Maddox and Gator. “We all set?”
“Yeah, I got more than a dozen men wanting to follow you back. The guys are ready to call it a night and just hang out at the clubhouse,” Maddox says with a half-smile. I’m not sure I believe him fully, my brothers never give up a chance to party. So, either Maddox asked them to leave, or they are doing it to keep the girls and Ces safe. Either way, I’m indebted to them for their support.
“They’re all waiting out front by your cage. Let’s get her back before she ends up in the hospital from all this excitement.” I nod to Maddox, and they all follow me out and mount their bikes to trail us back.
I place Bella in the passenger seat, lock her seat belt securely around her, place a kiss on her lips, and then shut the door rushing over to my side. I get in, take her hand in mine, once the guys are in with us and take off.
When I am stuck at the first light, I look over at my girl. She’s holding my hand so tight, it has to be hurting her more than it’s hurting me.
“Baby, you need to take deep breaths for me. You did great back there, I’m so proud of you. Just ignore everything he said, you hear me. Nothing he said is true or worth rehashing in your mind,” I say to compose her, but I can see it’s not working.
She releases my hand, pulls her legs up under her body angling her feet to the side of the door. Then grabs my arm with both hers, wrapping her arms around mine, over the center console, and buries her face behind my arm.
Shit, I can’t do this with her now. I need to get us back to the Clubhouse, and then I can take all her fears away. Five more minutes and we should be there.
“Gio, he said some horrible things in front of your brothers. Now, they all know what he did to me. Now, they’re all going to pity me. I don’t want their pity or sympathy. None of it, please!” she pleads through her sobs. Before I can answer her, Romeo speaks.
“He not only hit her, he told everyone what he did to her. Gio, I know you said you would be taking him out, but I get five minutes at least with that bastard,” he growls. “Me too,” Bash and Lorenzo say in unison.
“You and I are having words, once you get her settled. I want some fucking answers Gio, and I’m sure Val will too,” Romeo growls at me, and I ignore him and concentrate on my girl.
“Baby, none of my brothers are going to treat you any different. Well...” I say, looking down at her, quickly before looking back at the road. Her face is still buried behind my arm and saturating my shirt with her tears. Not like I care.
“They may, but not in the way you’re thinking. When they look at my girl now, they’re going to see a hero, a survivor, the strongest woman that they will ever have the chance to know.
“Baby, you faced down your real life monster tonight. You faced him on your own. For Christ sakes, baby, you held a goddam knife to his neck with a steady hand. You stood up to your fears, and I know why you did it too.” I wait for her to answer. I know why she faced her fears, and it wasn’t just for herself, no it was to protect our sons. That’s why I’m so proud of my girl.
She removes her face, wipes her tears away furiously, and looks up at me. “I had to protect our babies until you came for us. He could hit my face, all he wanted, but I would never let him hurt them. Ever!” she bellows as she wipes more of her tears off her gorgeous face. I kiss the top of her head, while still looking at the road.
“Sissy,” Bash says with a huge smile full of pride for his older sister on his face. “You are not just my older sister, you are my hero, you have faced so much in a short time, and here you are standing on your own two feet. Yeah, you have Gio when you fall, but from what I have seen since we’ve been here, you don’t need him.” He emphasizes the word need for her benefit, and she lets his words register.
He’s right, though, she doesn’t need me, and she can handle herself. That doesn’t mean I’m going to allow her to handle things on her own. I will always be there to take care of her and protect her whether she needs me to or not.
“Baby, any reservations you may have about being a good momma, get rid of them now. Tonight you proved to the world how good of a momma you’re going to be. Between the way you are with Gigi and the way you protected our sons, you should have no doubts in that pretty little head of yours now.” I place another kiss on the top of her head as I park the cage in front of the Clubhouse.
I run around to her, taking her into my arms, carrying her into the Clubhouse and we go straight to the media room with the guys. We find mom and Gigi in there watching a movie. We all join them. I sit on the couch with her on my lap, and she takes Gigi in her arms next to us. The rest of our troops join us, and we find a movie.
I give Gigi the censored version of what happened, and she holds onto her big sister tight. Their brothers stay close to them, sitting next to us and comforting my girl the way she needs. Ces sits on the floor in front of us with Ryder keeping a hand on Bella’s leg.
Val, the guys and I will be having a talk later, once I get my girls settled in bed, and I will tell them everything that went down tonight.
Mom and I can talk in the morning, she’s not satisfied with the version we gave Gigi, she wants the uncensored version.
No such luck, it will have to wait until morning.
We all end up falling asleep in the media room, and for the rest of the night, I hold both my girls in my arms.