Page 74 of Wrath

“I hope so. Why?” I move closer toward her and her friends when the bikes leaving the yard make it difficult for me to hear her answer.

“No reason.” Trinity looks me up and down as if I’m a piece of shit.

“Can you believe this is what Wrath made a claim on?” One of the girls talks under breath as she goes to head inside and Trinity stares me in the face and laughs at her friend’s comment.

“You know, you girls should try making something out of your lives rather than trying to bring others down, there’s a big world beyond those gates.”

“If that's the case then why are you here?” Trinity smirks at the girl who remains close beside her.

“I’m here because I’m not scared of my past anymore. There are people here who love and care about me, and I won’t deny myself that.”

Trinity chuckles to herself as she steps closer to me.

“You and your little friends are just a phase the club is going through. You haven’t got what it takes to keep men like Wrath and Raze.” She lowers her eyes down my body and sniggers.

“I guess we’ll just have to?—”

I get interrupted by the screeching of wheels as one of the black vans comes skidding through the gates and when Raze jumps out of the passenger seat and drags out a limp-bodied girl, I wonder what the hell is going on.

“Raze?” I chase after him as he carries the girl through the yard and barges through the clubhouse door.

“What the hell happened?” Peyton stands up, while Polly quickly grabs a chair for Raze to place her in.

“She’s a witness, the murderer had her.” Raze steps back from her and lights himself a smoke while Polly checks the girl over. She’s shivering and looks completely overwhelmed.

“It’s the drugs the docs gave her, they’re makin’ her drowsy,” he explains.

“Raze, this girl should be at a hospital.” I step closer and get a better look at her, the poor thing is covered in cuts and open wounds.

“Well, she didn’t feel safe at the hospital, and I need to know everythin’ about what happened to her. So she’s here.”

“What is it with you men kidnapping women from hospitals?” Polly looks as disturbed as I am.

“It’s not fuckin’ kidnap when they come willingly!” my brother snaps.

“The hospital is gonna find out you took her and it’s gonna make the club look guilty.” Peyton is clearly panicked, but she manages to stay calm as she steps in front of my brother and tries to make him see sense.

“Nah, we got it covered. Quinn’s handlin’ the CCTV and her friend made sure the ER hadn’t called the police. Quinn says she’ll handle any paper trail. She wants this guy off the streets just as bad as we do.” His eyes seem vacant, and I can tell he’s getting overwhelmed by everything that’s happening.

“Raze, this girl needs medical treatment. Her wounds are bad, she’s weak, not to mention the fact that she’s going to need professional help.” Polly looks down at the girl and sighs.

“It’s Cliff that’s doin’ this, she ran from him, she got away, which means she can tell us where he is.” My brother takes a seat at the table and I can feel the rage coming off him.

“And you agree with this?” I look up to Dev who was driving the cage, the only response I get out of him is a pout and a shrug.

“Babe.” Peyton moves cautiously to sit beside Raze, she can see how wound up he is, his eyes are focused and hisknee is jerking up and down because, right now, he doesn’t feel in control of the situation. “We can’t just keep bringing everyone here, this girl is better off at the hospital. Anita needs professional help, too,” she talks to him softly.

“I’m just tryin’ to keep everyone safe.” He shakes his head as if he’s in some kind of trance.

“I get that, but we don’t know for sure that the murderer is Cliff, we’re gonna end up running out of rooms in the motel.” Peyton nudges his shoulder doing her best to make light of things, and my brother turns his head and looks at her.

“Do you realize how fuckin’ serious this is?” he snaps at her.

“Raze, I–”

“The next person he takes could be you or Eden… This is real, Peyton, whether it’s Cliff or not. I won’t have the women who live around here livin’ in fear. That girl asked me to take her, Anita was scared. I’m doin’ what I think is right.” My brother stands his ground and when Peyton takes in what he says, she nods her head.

“Come on, let’s go get this girl a room made up.” Alicia takes my arm and leads me out the door, and when I look back over to my brother, I can’t help worrying that he’s taking on too much.

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