Death of Cupids (The Blood of Cupids MC) (17 page)

Grace

I paced the room back and forth as I cradled my daughter in
my arms.  I was torn, to say the least.  One minute I was planning my
escape.  I was working out ways that I could run away from this place and
hide my daughter forever from the MC world, from Sean Cassidy.  I thought
of where I could go, how often I’d have to keep us moving around to ensure he’d
never be able to find us.

But then the other minute, the more intense and determined
minute, I was thinking how easy it all would be if I could find it in me just
to kill him myself.  We’d never have to fear him; we wouldn’t have to
constantly look over our shoulders.  And of course, if I killed Sean, if I
murdered him, Ryan could come back to me.  He’d have no reason not to, and
my daughter would know her father. 

But could I bring myself to do it?  I had almost once
before, in the warehouse just outside of Alexandria.  If I could just
harness those feelings again…

I watched as he punched Ryan over and over again. 
His face, his stomach, his ribs, his face again, then his stomach.  I
couldn’t watch the torture any more.  Ryan wasn’t fighting back.  His
body looked lifeless.  Was I too late?

I slowly walked over behind a swinging Sean and jabbed my
bowie knife into his thigh.  The trance-like state I was in both
intensified and disappeared at the same time.  I knew what I was doing,
and it felt great.  I felt powerful.  I was able to stop the
monster.  But was it I stopping the monster?  Why did my arms feel
like someone other than myself was controlling them?

Sean was on the floor, grasping at his thigh as I
continued to push the knife in and out of his leg.  I avoided his hand,
aiming for the spots between his bloody fingers.  I could’ve stopped, but
I didn’t want to.  He deserved to be tortured.  He deserved to die.

He did deserve to die.  And I deserved to be the one
to end his life.  I stood over him, straddling him between my legs. 
Nothing could stop me.  I raised the knife over my head as I aimed for his
chest… as I aimed for his heart.

“Grace!”  I heard my name, but I didn’t know the
meaning.  “Grace, no!”

It was Ryan.  I knew that for sure. 
Ryan?  He was calling me?  Still positioned with the knife above my
head, ready for gravity to give me power, I turned my head to the sound of the
voice. 

It was Ryan, and he was calling me.  Looking into
his eyes shook me from my stupor-like state.  Ryan was telling me to
stop.  Ryan didn’t want me to kill Sean.

“Grace, knock him out.” I watched his lips move as his
words pierced my ears.  But I had to listen to him.  Somewhere inside
of me, I knew he was right.  I found a PVC pipe against the wall and
grabbed it in my hands, leaving bloodstains on the white plastic.

Sean struggled to his knees, blood still pouring from the
holes in his leg, but my swing was faster than his stance.  The thick plastic
pipe curled down, knocking him flat on the head. 

Sean fell from the blow, landing in a pool of his own
blood.

He didn’t move.  What did that mean?  Although
I had fully planned on ending him right then and there, seeing him in an almost
comatose state truly shook me.  Did I do that?  Was I the reason he
wasn’t moving?  Did I take his life from him?

“Baby, you did it.  You did it.”  I did. 
Ryan told me I did.  I took his life.  I killed Sean.  I killed
Sean.  I killed Sean.  I couldn’t stop repeating that as I turned to
Ryan.

“Is he dead?”

“No he’s not so we have to move fast.  Where’s
Danny?”  So he wasn’t dead?  I didn’t kill him?  Why wasn’t he
moving?

Danny… Danny… I knew that name.  Oh right, before
Sean was Danny.  “He’s outside.  I kicked him a lot.”  The words
were just coming out of me.  I didn’t plan them, I didn’t pick them, they
just happened.

“Grace, can you get the keys from Sean’s back pocket?”

“Yes.”  I saw the key ring.  If I could do
that, we could get out of there. Ryan could get to a hospital.  This
nightmare would be over.  I knelt down and fished out a set of keys.

“Great.  Now untie me.”

I wanted to kill him then, but could I replicate those
emotions?  Now, as a mother, was I given an extra dose of that need, that
desire, to protect?  Would it be enough to follow through on an act I had
hoped I would never have to carry out myself?  Would the sacrifice of
taking another person’s life be worth the peace of mind I would have knowing my
child will forever be safe?

And if it were worth the psychological ramifications, all
that would only work if I were successful, if Sean didn’t kill me before I
killed him.  And what were the chances of that happening?  Wouldn’t
there be a far greater possibility of my child ending up an orphan in the
process?  Could I really risk that? 

I peered down at her as she wriggled in my arms.  I
couldn’t risk that.  I couldn’t leave her alone.  We would have to
run.  It was the only option.

But just as I had resigned myself to a lifetime of being on
the run, I heard a familiar voice sneak up behind me.

“Grace, I have to take you to him now.”

Ryan

No.  That single word took over my thoughts.  I
was stopped in my tracks, letting the facts sink in.  I didn’t get there
in time.  I didn’t deliver.  This was my fault; I let this
happen. 

The debris and dust from the explosion began to settle, and
we were able to see the full extent of the damage.  It looked as though it
was just one wall that was affected by the blast.  Whatever explosive they
had decided to use wasn’t meant to completely demolish the place. 
Hopefully that also meant no one was terribly hurt; I couldn’t have that on my
conscious as well. 

I started running again.  I needed to see what had
happened inside, and I needed to stop what was about to happen.  I could
hear Rocky close behind me.  His pace quickened with mine.  He was so
obviously just as worried about what had happened to his club, to his
members.  And I was sure he felt almost as guilty. 

As I closed in on the building that stood in the spot of the
one I had once called home, I saw Sean out of the corner of my eye.  Our paths
crossed at the door, where he made sure to stop me before I could enter.

“Sean, stop this now.”

He smugly smiled at me.  “This was your plan,
kid.  I just followed your orders.”

But he didn’t say it to me.  He said it directly to
Rocky, throwing it in his face that someone he once trusted, had so blatantly
betrayed him.

“Ryan, what’s he talking about?”  I could hear the
anger in his voice, but he only asked out of formality.  Rocky was
smart.  He was putting the pieces together.  He had heard the
rumors.  He knew what I had done. 

“It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.”  I cautioned.

“So when you said, and I quote, ‘take the guys into the
bunker under the clubhouse.  If Rocky agrees, I’ll bring him back to the
club.  If not, you have full reign for a sneak attack,’ you didn’t mean
that?  What, you were just teasing me?  You know I can’t resist a
good fight.”

I spun around to Rocky, ready to face the blow from my
misguided plan.  “Rock, please, you have to believe me.”

“I actually don’t have to believe anything you say,
Ryan.”  He shook his head out of disappointment.  “And right now, I
need to go see my guys.”  He tried to push past me, but Sean held up his
hand to stop him.

“I can’t let you go in there, not just yet.  See, my
guys, the guys Ryan so ruthlessly trained, are rounding up your guys. 
This is a takeover.”

“You fucker.”  Rocky jumped at him.

“Stop this now!”  I pushed my way between them,
hindering the violence that was about to take form.

“Ryan,” Sean placed his hand on my shoulder and looked me
square in the face, “something seems different about you.”

“Get off.”  I tried to push him off by rolling my
shoulder, but he locked eyes with mine as he dug his fingers in, letting me
know he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Oh, no, no, no.”  He shook his head at me before
yelling into the doorway.  “I need two guys and I need two guns, now!”

“Sean, don’t do anything stupid.”  I warned him.

Within seconds, two guys with two guns were standing in the
doorway.

“Each of you, take one.”  He pointed at Rocky and me.

“Uh, boss…” One of the guys obviously didn’t understand why
he was supposed to hold me, his superior, at gunpoint.

“Do not question me, just do it.”

I looked at the gunman, making eye contact.  “Just do
as he says.”

I was surrendering.  I didn’t need any more bloodshed
under my watch.

“See, Ryan,” Sean began to circle me, “if I didn’t know any
better, I’d say you went to see Grace sometime between last night and this
morning.”  I tried to keep my composure, to not let him see the change I
felt when he said her name.  “But see, I know that would be stupid,
because we had a deal.”

“What’s he talking about, Ryan?”  Rocky was now
genuinely concerned.  I could feel my posture wilting as Sean continued to
taunt me.  There was no doubt that they both could see that too.  I
wasn’t able to hide anything.

“Ha!”  Sean cackled.  “Maybe it’s you who doesn’t
know any better.  You saw her, and now you doubt everything that we’ve
been planning for six months.  Six whole months, Ryan!  You see now
why I was so adamant that you stay away from her, right?  You did this to
yourself.  You’re the reason Grace has to die.”

I didn’t understand.  How had I allowed myself to be
pulled under his spell for so long?  How had I let him control me? 
He really was a monster; there was no denying that. 

“No!”  I screamed in his face.

But he just started laughing.  “You can’t just say ‘no’
and expect me to listen to you.  These were the terms of our
agreement.  You broke your end of the deal, so now I get to break mine.”

“Kill me instead.”  I begged.  I wanted to knock
him out, to punch him square across the jaw, but Grace’s life was at
stake.  I needed to try a non-violent, non-provoking attack first.

“Ryan, it’s not like we’re trading a life for a life. 
You have value to me.  You have to see that.  Everything you’ve done
for my club so far… every plan you’ve set in motion… I couldn’t have done that
without you.  And I’ll be the first to admit that.  But Grace, she
makes you… this.”  He made a gagging face as he pointed his hands at
me.  “So, it’s time for her to go.”

“And what makes you think I’ll do anything for you if you
kill her.”

“Because, my dear Ryan,” he proudly put his hand to my
cheek, “you literally have no one else.  You are nothing without me.”

Those words hurt more than any punch he could throw, because
they were the God’s honest truth.  I had alienated myself from any life
that wasn’t Grace or the club.  With Grace gone, I would have no
one.  I would have nothing but my thoughts of vengeance, my thoughts of
vengeance toward Sean and toward my mother.  Unfortunately, those were the
only two people in my life who even pretended to care for me.

Sean had killed my Pops, and yet I still was drawn to
him.  Who was to say that him killing my one reason left for living
wouldn’t do the same thing?  What sick, twisted power did he have over me?

“So where is she, Ryan?”

“Why the fuck do you think I’d ever tell you.”

He rolled his eyes at my answer.  “Oh, come on, you
know I’m going to figure it out.  Just tell me so we can get this over
with already.”

“Over my dead body.”

“I already told you I’m not doing that.”

“Well, then you’re shit out of luck, I guess.”

“Danny!  Doorway, now!”  Sean yelled into the
clubhouse again.

While we waited for Danny to show his face, I quickly peeked
over at Rocky.  He was just staring at me, unsure of what he had walked
into.  Or, more accurately, what I had dragged him into.  “I’m so
sorry.”  I mouthed at him.

He pursed his lips and nodded his head.  I saw nothing
but pity.  He didn’t hate me; he felt bad for me.  He knew that I was
in too deep.  He was just then realizing that he had no idea what I had
been going through the past six months.

“What’s up, boss?”  Danny appeared in the doorway,
taking in the facts of the situation around him.

“I need you to find Grace.”  He said as he stared at
me.

“I can do that.” 

“Great.  Check all the usual places.  Then bring
her in.”

“Danny, no.  Please, no.”  I begged him, praying
that there was just a shred of humanity left within him.  “If you ever had
any decency, you would leave her out of this.  Just leave her be.”

My face recoiled from the slap I then felt pierce my
cheek.  “Danny listens to me, not to you.”  Sean shook his reddened
palm as he scolded me.

It was instinct really, but I lunged at him.  My hands
were around his throat in a split second.  Sean grasped at my wrists,
trying to release my grip, to no success.  The two guys with two guns,
though, were almost as quick as I, pulling me successfully from my attack.

“I’ll let you know what I find, boss.”  Danny lowered
his eyes to the ground as he began to walk away.

“Hold up a second.”  Sean eyed me as he placed his
hands yet again around my wrists.  “Interesting.”

“What?”  I barked.

Sean smiled as he lifted the sleeve of my thermal. 
“Danny, she’s at the hospital.”

“Sir?” He questioned.

“Ryan is wearing a hospital bracelet, which means my little
Gracie must have given birth to that sweet little baby.”

“Don’t call her that.”

“I’ll call her whatever I like… whenever I like… how ever I
like.”  He loved every second of his tease.

“Sean, if you so much as…” But I couldn’t finish my
sentence.  I couldn’t even say the words to what he might be thinking of
doing to my wife, or worse, to my helpless child.

“Oh relax, Son. I’m not heartless.”  He condescendingly
patted my head.  “And hey, if you’re good, I’ll let you keep your baby.”