His (Hers #5) (4 page)

“No. No one has been here since the girl’s got home from school. River took them to the motel. God, stop asking questions and just fucking do something before he wakes up and takes me out!” If this man wakes up, I can say goodbye to my life because he wouldn’t hesitate to retaliate for what I just did to him. Beat me to a blood pulp like he did to Paisley without any regard for my life.

My anxiety flies as I think of the danger I have put myself in. Put my daughter in. And this is exactly why Levi wants nothing to do with me. I’m not a fit mother at all. I never will be either, because I am hardwired for shit like this. Not being a mother.

Zane is tied to a chair, courtesy of the bikers who have been trying to track him down since Chrome learned about what he did to Paisley. All of them grateful for my impromptu attack that kept him in one place till they were done with him. I can’t let that happen though. I want a piece of him. I want to handle him.

I have on a pair of Star’s black stretch pants and a white tank top, which fits way to snuggly over my belly. My hair is pulled back and I have a red bandana wrapped around, holding my bangs in place. I continue to pace in front of him as he stares at me, mouthing off occasionally. I wish he would push me a little further because I would end him right now like I should have done hours ago. I wish that baseball bat would have taken him out right then and there. Like a fuckin’ animal.

Instead, I torture him. Bit-by-bit and shot-by-shot, I torture him. I didn’t think I had it in me to treat another human being like this and honestly, it frightens me. His legs are riddled with bullet holes, while his face is streaked with blood. The men watch from afar in disbelief that I could do this to a man of his caliber. A man two times my size, while I am swollen, and carrying a child. Never underestimate a mother who has discovered one of her own has been harmed. That is exactly what he did. He took something from my Paisley. The little girl I watched grow up. The child I went out of my way to protect just so he could hurt her once she was finally on her own in the world. He stole her light, just as Blue stole Star’s. In exchange, I will steal his entire existence.

Paisley’s voice shrieks from the first floor of the house and I hear the door open. Diesel is following closely behind and his deep voice booms through the darkness of my dungeon.

“Paisley, please. Don’t go down there.” But she doesn’t stop. Her pace quickens. My eyes dart between the stairwell and Zane smiling in front of me. He will hurt her again. Tied to a chair or not, he is poison and I know exactly what he plans the minute she lays eyes on him.

Fuck! I should have taken him someplace else. I should have taken him far away where I know she would never have to lay eyes on him ever again. I should have never believed that I could get away with this right under her nose.

I raise the gun I have been taunting him with and pull the trigger again. He whimpers as the bullet grazes him. I wish it was a direct hit, but I haven’t fired a gun in damn near a decade.

The loud shot echoes through the dark night and I hear a loud gasp behind me.

“Paisley. What the fuck?!” I run toward her, gun still in hand. Not even thinking about my actions. My only motive is protecting her from the scene down here. I don’t want her to see this. It won’t do any good to her.

Her eyes dart over my body, the tight white tank top is splattered with Zane’s blood. I can tell she is about to pass out, or freak out. I wish I could tell her I’m in the same boat. My sanity is long gone. I am torturing a man and I have no remorse. I would do it again and again. I try and rationalize with myself, repeatedly telling myself he’s a bad man who did bad shit. He hurt people. He raped women. He had no regard for life. Neither do I, apparently.

“Paisley. Honey. Turn around and go upstairs now. Please.” I’m stern and I use the last bit of calm I have left in me. I know as soon as I’m alone again, washing off this man’s blood, I’m going to lose it.

I almost have her convinced to go back up the stairs when that little bitch starts making noise. Muffled cries echo through the basement and Paisley’s eyes dart around.

I wish she would go. I beg her to turn and walk up those stairs and leave before it’s too late. I wish I could finish him off and be done with this all. Make Paisley safe for once without this scumbag nosing around for her. I’m not going to be able to hold it together much longer. I’m slipping.

“Seven, I’m not going anywhere. What’s going on?”

The bikers in the room don’t say a word. The men Diesel called in for back up have done nothing but watch as I tortured him. A man they considered their brother for so long tortured by one of their own. But clearly, once you cross a certain line, you are as good as dead to their kind.

Paisley blinks back tears as she gags. She recognizes Zane and the horror of the realization is written all over her face. I don’t know what to say or do so I just try and justify my own actions. I pull at excuses as to why I have this man as my prisoner. Why I am torturing him.

“Paisley, men like him don’t deserve to live. They don’t deserve to walk among us. Think of our children. What if someone like that got ahold of my daughter? Could either of us live with that?” I try and rationalize what I’m doing. My words come out loud and hysterical. My arms are flailing all over the place and I think this is when I realize that I have officially checked onto the crazy train. The sad thing is: I believe everything I am saying like it is the gospel of Jesus Christ himself.

“This isn’t your battle, Seven. It’s mine.” Paisley counters. She’s trying to get me to walk away and that just isn’t going to happen. Not now. Diesel interjects himself into the conversation, helping me to get Paisley far away from this scene.

“He came here for you when he heard Chrome and Star left town for the weekend. What he wasn’t expecting was Seven in the house. Big mistake on his part.” He nods in my direction but I’m lost in my own thoughts, pacing back and forth in front of the barely conscious Zane.

Paisley takes a few steps towards him and pulls at the blindfold one of the bikers used to cover his eyes. Masking his view of Paisley. I try to ignore their exchange. I don’t want to be involved in the emotions. I want to remain cold. Cold like I’ve always been until Levi ruined me. I could have done this so much easier a year ago before he waltzed into my life with his love and his emotion. Something I worked so hard to turn off for so fucking long after James.

I want her to go. I want her to save herself.

“Paisley, remember whatever you do is something you have to live with for the rest of your life. You’re safe in this room, but this is something you can never forget.” I warn her because I know her so well. This will eat her alive. This will be something she sees every time she closes her eyes and tries to sleep. It will haunt her, just as he has haunted her for so long. He doesn’t deserve any more space in her precious mind.

She runs the cool metal of the gun along his various body parts, before she hands it back to me.

“Zane. I am going to spare you. Why? I can’t answer that because I don’t know. You’re a monster. And you have to live with everything you’ve done in your lifetime. But I can’t be like you. I can’t hurt another. I’m a good person. I have enough blood on my hands because of you. I cannot have more.” The poor girl was referring to the baby she killed because of its monster for a father. I don’t blame her, not one bit, because I would have done the same.

Then I would have had a fucking party.

As Paisley begins to climb the basement stairs, I snap. My last bit of sanity is completely gone and I know there is no coming back from this. Any of it.

I raise the gun up, taking aim one last time.

“She’s a good person. But I’m not. See you in hell motherfucker.”

Like that, I pull the trigger, and witness the most disgusting execution of my life. And I am the only one left with blood on my hands this time.

Levi

Past

I have given her three days. Three whole days and I haven’t heard a single word from her. Texts were opened yesterday with no reply. The least she could do was fucking let me know she read them. Maybe even call and let me know she is alive and healthy. That the baby is okay at the fucking least. But no. She isn’t fucking considerate enough.

I should have known this was a bad idea from the get go, but I’ve tried everything. Fuckin’ everything to get through to her. I just didn’t know what else to do. Seven James is not your typical female. She is strong and stubborn. She is beautiful and rugged in the sexiest way possible. She is everything any man should want out of a woman, and I was lucky enough to call her mine until I pushed her away.

Now she continues to push me and I have no idea what else to do. I’ve contemplated getting in the car and driving upstate to Woodstock. Chasing her like she always wants, but for once in Seven’s life, she isn’t going to get what she wants from me. I am going to do my own thing. Just like she is doing. I am going to be selfish.

The pit in my stomach continues to grow, but I push the thoughts of it away. I can’t let her do this to me. I can’t let her fuck me up more than I already am. I can’t play this back and forth with her anymore because every battle she wins gives her more power. More power to use over me in our constant battle for dominance. The alcohol sloshes around in my stomach and I make shitty choice after shitty choice.

I grab my keys and head to Sinners & Swingers for the night. I need to let out some steam. Have a couple more drinks. Just get out of the fucking house and try and get Seven off my mind. Shit. Is our marriage really coming to an end? Or am I just finally accepting that we may really never come back from this?

My phone rings, and Star’s phone number pops up on the display. She is the last person I expected to hear from, especially considering she protects Seven more than anyone else in this world. She is Seven’s gatekeeper. She is Seven’s person. Shit, I could really use a
person
to air all my dirty laundry to. I am sure I would feel a hell of a lot better about all this bullshit going on.

“Hello?” I answer the call to the booming voice of Chrome on the other end. It makes sense though, because Star wouldn’t pick up the phone and call me for any damn reason. Seven would never allow it.

“Levi, we have a problem.” His tone is clipped and annoyed. Of course Seven went up to his home and started shit. I wouldn’t expect anything less from her. She seems even more reckless now than ever. I long for the Seven I met a year ago. Even if she led me on a while goose chase. She was more… put together.

“How much do you know about Paisley’s attack?” His words send a chill through my body because I know everything about it. Seven and I walked the poor girl through everything. Her healing, her abortion, her recovery until we brought her to Woodstock to finally get on with her life at Thanksgiving. I treated her as if she was my own sister.

“Everything, Chrome.” I’m sure he will be pissed that we knew. But, I respected the fact that she didn’t want anyone to know. If I was her, I wouldn’t want anyone to know what happened to me. That is private shit, and just like my wife, I am a loyal person.

“Zane showed up at my house while Star and I were away. The only person who was in the house was Seven.” My world comes crashing in on me. My legs give out and I fall to the floor with the phone still up to my ear. I pushed her so far that she ended up hurt. This is all my fucking fault.

The words fall from my mouth with no thought, “No… no no no no.” and just trail off as my chest tightens and it becomes hard to breathe.

“Seven is alright, Levi. As okay as she can be. Zane on the other hand…” His words trail off and I wonder what exactly he is trying to tell me. My body relaxes but not much. My heart and my mind continue to race because I have no idea what happened. I don't like being in the dark, but I won’t pay attention long enough to find out.

“Chrome, just tell me.” I demand. I need to know what happened.

“Not over the phone, Levi. We are driving back to Woodstock. We should be there in about three hours. I suggest you get in your car and start driving up from Manhattan. Now.” and the line goes dead. The only thing I can do is toss armfuls of clothes into a bag and heed his instructions. I am on the highway in no time flat, speeding towards Woodstock. Praying my wife and daughter are unharmed.