Page 14 of Ruckus

“Drew.” Freya quickly rushes past me and shimmies herself between us. “He’s my brother, it’s just Aaron.” There's a tremble in her voice that suggests she’s scared of this little prick, and when her hand reaches out to touch his forearm and that shakes too, I look the fucker right in his eyes and let him know I’m on to him.

“You need to tell your brother and his friend they have to leave, we got a show to prep for.” He stares back at me, and I wonder if he remembers me from that night I turned him away from the club.

“Drew, he came here to…”

“I don’t care why they came here. It’s time for them to leave. Bikers are bad for business, especially the ones in this town.” He looks me up and down like I’m a piece of shit. I’m about to push Freya out my way so I can teach this cunt some respect, but Wrath is already on it.

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talkin’ to like that?” Wrath gets in his face, while his stunt buddies surround him.

“Aaron, you need to leave.” Freya grabs hold of her brother and drags him back. “Please,” she begs.

“I ain’t leaving, we still have things to talk abo?—”

“There’s nothing I want to discuss with you, Aaron. Get out of here,” she tells him firmly, shoving him in the shoulder and refusing to make eye contact with either of us.

“Frey—”

“You don’t get to turn up here and act like you suddenly care!” she yells, shocking us both. “You left, Aaron, you fucked off into the night without so much as a goodbye. It’s too late to show up here and start trying to be my brother.”

“Freya, c’mon, we’re family. We’re all eac?—”

“All my family are dead.” She looks at him coldly, before taking hold of Drew’s hand and marching back inside her trailer. The smug prick glances over his shoulder at us both and when Wrath goes to go after them, I hold him back.

“Leave it, she needs time to process.” I watch the stunt prick close the door behind them, then look at the crowd that’s formed around us. All of ‘em are lookin’ at us as if we outstayed our welcome. “C’mon, let's go home.” I tap my best friend's shoulder and lead him back toward our bikes, and when I take a look back toward her trailer, I see her staring out of its window. Her eyes are fixed on mine and I swear they're screaming at me to save her.

Sometimes, if you want something badly enough, you’ll believe anything.

Wrath doesn’t say anything as we get back on our bikes, just revs his throttle and kicks up dust as he takes off. I follow after him, hating that we’ve left her hurting, and not only from what she heard today. Something was really wrong. I saw the way she flinched when Wrath hugged her. I heard the way that son of a bitch spoke to her, and she seemed scared of him, not happy, not in love, but fearful.

The whole ride back to the clubhouse I try to convince myself that I’m wrong, but I keep seeing that look in her eyes again.

We pull through the compound gates and Wrath gets off his bike.

“I need a fucking drink,” he tells me, breathing himself calm, and knowing that Eden will want to know how things went. “Ruckus…” He stares at me, confused when he notices that my engine’s still running. That niggle inside of me ain’t going away, and it won’t, not until I’ve seen her again and checked that she’s okay.

“I got somewhere I need to be,” I tell him, gripping my bars as I back up my bike.

“Somewhere ya need—where?” Wrath shakes his head.

“I’ll be back,” I shout over the sound of my engine as I pull back the throttle and head back to her.

“What the fuck was that shit about?” Drew grips me under my chin and slams the back of my head against the bathroom door. “Did you call your brother, tell him you were scared?” He laughs at me cruelly.

“I didn’t call anyone, I swear.” Trying to push him away only makes him hold me tighter.

“Then what the fuck was he doing here, Freya? Him, and that jumped up friend.” I’d like to know why Ruckus was here too.

“Aaron came to tell me something… Something awful,” I try to explain, feeling the rage rattling in his fingertips. “Please don’t be mad, not tonight. I need…”

His fist slamming into my jaw, silences and shocks me all at once, and I know he’s hit me hard when I taste my own blood.

“Don’t tell me how to fucking feel. I run this fucking show. Everyone here depends onmyperformance. If I wanna be mad, I’ll be mad. Now pull yourself together. And, Freya, if I ever see your brother and his friend here again. I’ll kill ‘em both.” He backhands the other side of my face to ensure I get the message, before checking himself in the mirror, smoothing back his hair and heading back out to join his friends.

I wait for the door to slam before I fall to pieces, dropping on the floor and hugging my knees tight to my chest. My faceis throbbing but it’s nothing compared to the pain I feel when I think about Willow.

Sweet, innocent little Willow. There was a time when her momma, Amber, took care of us all, she nurtured us the way a mother should. Made sure we ate right and never got in trouble. But Dad screwed it all up for us by treating her the same way he did every woman in his life.

Amber left when Willow was eight. Or at least that's what we were told. Aaron and I both knew that Amber would never have left her daughter behind willingly.

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