Page 75 of Vengeance

“She has to pee,” Grayson says, and Ty picks her up, carrying her outside.

Billy groans and tries to get up, but Grayson flips him onto his stomach, pulls his hands behind his back, and pulls zip ties from his back pocket to secure him.

“Fuck you, man! I don’t even know you. You ain’t a cop!”

“Yeah, fuck you. And I used to be. Now I help the Drifters,” he says and yanks him to his feet, forcing him down the stairs as deputies rush inside. “He’s the guy you want.”

“What happened?”

Billy spits on one’s face, and Grayson slams his body against a moldy wall. “He kidnapped the woman outside and tortured her upstairs. Whipped her with a cord.”

“That’s a Drifter with her,” one of the men says. “And this guy’s still alive?”

“I was a police officer. The only way he was dying today was if there was no other choice,” he says, but he knows he’d make a different decision knowing what he knows now. “I’d rather see him rot behind bars and become someone’s bitch than get put out of his misery too soon.”

He gives the men what information he has on Billy, and an ambulance pulls up. He sees the blood soak through the shirt he gave Tara, and he can only imagine how painful her wounds are. She doesn’t seem too upset or traumatized, and he has to admit that she reminds him of Lex. Brave face toughing it out.

“Where’s Matty?” Tara asks as the EMTs look her over.

“He’s at the clubhouse. He came to find me, and Lex had him the last time I saw him.”

Her eyes look up to his. “I’m not giving him back-”

“Never. We’ll find a house, and we’ll all live together. He loves you, and so do I. Hearing what he did and how he came to get me, I see it. And I never wanted you to think I didn’t want him. I’m not good with words and shit, but I love you. I’ve never been so scared.”

Grayson walks up to them. “Go with her. The cops may need her car for evidence, but if not, I’ll get it back home.”

Ty holds out a hand to Grayson. “Thanks, man.”

“No problem.”

“Pretty sure I’m gonna be stuck to her like fucking glue. I honestly thought we only had to truly worry about the Slashers. That this dickhead wouldn’t be stupid enough to do something like this.”

“Ty?” Tara calls as they load her into the ambulance.

He hurries to her. “I’m coming, baby.”

Grayson looks at the house and knows he can’t stand there any longer. He needs to get back to Griffin’s Beach. Now. There’s something he needs to do.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Griffin’s Beach

Grayson

Pulling into the driveway, Grayson sees two Drifters, but he has no idea who they are because his only focus is getting inside to Ashley. He runs past them, giving them no chance to ask for any information about Tara, and bursts through the door. “Ashley!”

“Is she okay?” Ashley asks and walks out of the bedroom. “Is Tara okay? And where’s your shirt?”

Looking down, he remembers he’s shirtless. “I... uh... I gave it to Tara.”

“What happened?” she asks and pulls him down onto the couch.

Holding out a finger, he says, “Hold that thought,” and he runs into the bedroom. He slips on a shirt and grabs the box with Ashley’s mom’s ring, shoving it into his pocket.

He comes back and sits down, and she cups his face. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. I understand a few things better now than I did before.”

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