Page 3 of Complete Me
“Ready?” I ask him after everything’s been drawn on and prepared for me to make permanent.
“Get it over with, Rogue.”
I swipe some Vaseline over the area and get started, focusing on my task and losing myself to the steady vibrations that hum through my hand, and the resistance as I press the needle into his skin. I fall into a hypersensitive trance as I work my way through the project. I’m attuned to his every movement and the quiet grinding of his molars as I work over the sensitive area on the inside of his wrist.
I lose track of time, progressing further and further, checking in with Sin periodically as he scrolls his phone and fights for his life.
Just as I’m about to wipe Sin down, the door to the room slams open, the force bouncing it off the wall. Sin and I both jerk up, wondering what the hell is going on. Chaos stands in the doorway, his face void of the stony features he typically wears, and I’m immediately on guard.
“Reid,” he gasps in a hurry. My body is on high alert at his use of my legal name. It’s rare and reserved for situations that call for it. “It’s Lena. I’m so fucking sorry, I didn’t know.”
My blood turns to ice in my veins as I quickly stand,dropping my machine to the table, a feeling deep in the pit of my stomach that almost brings me down to my knees. A whoosh of lightheadedness passes through me. His tone is all wrong. His typical, stoic calmness is missing, and putting me on edge. The anger and fear in his voice are palpable.
“What do you mean it’s Lena? Where is she?”
“Reid . . .” he says my name like he’s delivering a death announcement, but that’s impossible. My heart stops as the breath is stolen from my lungs, and Sin grips my bicep.
“No. No, you’re wrong. She’s at home. Camden, tell me you’re fucking wrong.”
“She was with Lucas. They’ve been sneaking around. I didn’t know.”
Was.
My thoughts race with explanations. Lena and I don’t hide things from each other, and she’s been seeing Lucas? For how long? I knew I should never have brought her here to begin with. What the fuck was I thinking? She’s twenty, for fuck’s sake; she doesn’t need to be around a motorcycle club with a bunch of testosterone-fueled men, no matter how well-behaved they are or how deep their loyalty runs.
“Where’s your brother then? Where the fuck are they?”
My president’s face falls further, and I know it’s worse than I could have imagined.
“The Iron Wolves have them. We need to go. Now.”
Fear like I’ve never felt before clutches me. There’s no love lost between Hell’s Heathens and the Iron Wolves, and hurting one of our females is a line none of us will allow to be crossed. The fact that they just did means war.
“I want wheels on the pavement in less than ten minutes!” Chaos yells into the open room, sobering everyone quickly. Everything else happens in a blur. My gun is strapped in its holster behind my back, and we’re all on our bikes, a massiveshow of force as we head to the last place the Iron Wolves have been known to hide out.
We don’t have the element of surprise; we don’t have a plan or coordinated attack. Just going in guns blazing on a hope and a prayer that we can get Lena and Lucas out of their clutches. We ride in formation, only the loud rumble of our bikes to be heard. Anxiety and fear roll through me in equal measure, my hands shaking as I grip my handlebars. My brain wars with itself, unable to comprehend that my sister could be anywhere but home right now.
She has to be okay.
She’s okay.
What feels like hours later, but in reality was under thirty minutes, we roll up to a shitty neighborhood on the outskirts of a town I’ve never been to. At the end of a long cul-de-sac sits a rundown, decrepit house with fire erupting from the first-floor windows. I skid my bike to a hard stop at the front of the house as Camden is jumping off his and racing inside with other members hot on his tail. I pull my gun and move to rush in when Malice and Wrath grab my shoulders, hauling me backward.
“Let me fucking go! I need to get to her!” I do my best to fight them off, but they hold strong.
“Nope, not happening, brother. Prez’ order. We’re to keep you back. We don’t know what awaits inside, and it looks like their crew is long gone.”
I know he’s not wrong; the lack of bikes out front was the biggest clue. Whatever happened inside, they’ve left it and tried to torch the evidence. But that doesn’t mean Lena is in there. She could have been taken by them as a hostage, or something worse.
Minutes go by but it feels like fucking hours as I stand by my bike and fucking wait. Wrath and Malice each hold meback by an arm, like they don’t trust that I won’t book it inside the moment they release me. They aren’t wrong.
I should have been with her. I should have fucking taken her with me. She would have been safer if I had just given in and kept her by my side. She fucking begged me to bring her with me tonight. I put my own selfish wants above hers, and now I’ll live with that. Regret pulls me under, suffocating and debilitating me.
She has to be okay.
She’s okay.
I repeat the words out loud, unintentionally. A mantra, a prayer.
