Page 80 of Darkness

He sits in the seat beside my bed and leans back, his hand still holding mine. “We need to talk about something serious,” he says.

Dread fills my chest, making my already labored breathing even harder. “Okay…”

“Do you want Cuban sandwiches for your first meal back at the clubhouse or something more extravagant?” I let out a small laugh, then wince from the pain.

He grimaces. “Fuck. Sorry.”

“No, this is good. You cracking jokes means we must be okay.”

His eyes darken as something flickers through his mind, but he doesn’t elaborate. “Yeah. You’re gonna be just fine, chiquita.”

Nycto

Six Weeks Later

Eva has been home for a few weeks, and she’s healing perfectly. Getting shot in the chest takes its toll, so her healing time has been longer than I’d hoped.

When Void finally convinced me to come home and shower, I was shocked at what Hawk and the boys had accomplished. The framework for the front of the bunker was almost complete. By the sixth week, the bunker refurbishment was completely finished, with a few technological improvements—reinforced steel, concrete twice the previous thickness, and we put in a skylight above the bar. This place will never come down so easily again.

I thought with times changing around here, maybe I could change a little too. The clubhouse feels bigger, happier, and most definitely brighter. It’s hard to explain. It’s like a dark cloud was hanging over us, and the sisters’ arrival has changed us all.

Eva is strong enough to walk around without straining now, so I’m taking her and Ivy downstairs so we can deal with Andrés. He’s been holed up in Ivy’s room for six weeks. Ivy’s been staying in a room upstairs, but she’s desperate to get back to the Cell. For some reason, she feels more at home down there.

She likes the dark.

I see a lot of myself in her.

I dip my head to Void. I want him with me in case Andrés tries to make a run for it. We’ve tourniqueted his leg and been giving him basic rations, enough to keep him alive but not enough to regain his strength. Judging by the smell, I also suspect his gunshot wound has a nasty infection.

Void and I make our way over to Ivy and Eva. “You ready, ladies?” I ask.

“As we’ll ever be,” Eva replies.

I take Eva’s hand, and Void and Ivy follow as we walk down to the lower bunker. Eva is stern-faced, like she’s ready to take this on, while Ivy and Void keep eyeing each other. I have no idea what’s going through their minds. That’s a problem for Void. He’ll figure his shit out.

As we reach the Cell, I pull open the door. Andrés is sitting on the floor by the toilet, dirty and pale as fuck. I walk in and yank Andrés up by his collar.

“It’s been a while,” he groans. “Does this mean you’re finally going to kill me?”

I don’t reply. He doesn’t deserve my words. After grabbing the key to the cuffs, I uncuff him. His eyes widen, and a flicker of hope crosses his features as his gaze darts to the stairs, but as quickly as it comes, it’s gone. He knows he won’t make it. I drag him out and over to a spare gap in the wall.

“Void, the supplies,” I call out.

Void steps over to the mortar bucket, grabbing it and a trowel.

Eva tilts her head in curiosity. “I thought you said it was just the wind?” she says to Ivy. Ivy’s only response is a wry smile. She’s fucking perfect for Void.

“I’m showing you the way we handle cunts who have wronged us,” I say to the girls. “If at any time you want to leave, say so, and Void will take you out. But you must understand the club and the people you’re getting involved with, and to do that, you have to know how we work.”

“I need to see who you really are,” Eva clarifies.

Andrés clears his throat. “While this is lovely and all… is anyone going to fill me in on what the hell you’re going to do to me?”

I pull out the cable ties from my back pocket while Void grabs Andrés’s hands and yanks them behind him. His eyes bug out of his head as I tie them so tightly they cut into his flesh. By no means is this meant to be a comfortable experience.

“Fuck, that hurts.”

I snort out a laugh. “It’s meant to.”

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