Page 12 of Holland
“Oh, come on man, I barely touched her. It was just a little groping. What, you can touch her cheek, but I can’t grab a little boob. What the fuck man?” Marcel took another step back, his hands out in a placating manner. In a flash, Victor pulled out his gun and shot Marcel in the chest. Marcel never stood a chance as he crumpled to the ground in a heap as I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming. These fuckers were all psychos, and I was trapped with them.
Chapter Nine
Holland
Getting to the cabin Crimson told us about felt like it was taking forever. What if Bella was already gone? What if Lorenzo’s goons found her first? Too many fucking “what ifs” playing in my head. At least I had my crew backing me up, I didn’t even have to ask for their help. Bart just called Pops and filled him before telling everyone to grab their gear and head out.
That’s what brotherhood should be, dropping everything to help your brother in need. This was what I’d been searching for all along. I thought I needed to be a cop to get this kind of loyalty, but the truth was the club was there for me the whole time. They never turned their backs on me, even though for years we were on opposite sides of the law.
Family, brotherhood, loyalty, and devotion things I thought I’d get by joining the police force. Instead, I got rules, red tape, and regulations that kept my hands tied from doing what was right. I don’t hate them anymore, I can’t, they do a job within the rules of the game. They have a code they have to live by, but that’s just not the life for me anymore. I’m a Reject now, it’s probably where I belonged long ago, but I fought against this life.
I was like any rebellious teenager; I didn’t want to be my father. Even though he’s one of the best men I’ve ever known. He stepped up when my mom stepped out, dropping everything to take care of me and my sisters. But the Rejects were his life, and I rebelled against being a part of that life. Like the old saying goes though, the more things change the more they stay the same. Here I am riding up to a cabin, not in a patrol car, but instead cruising up on my Superglide behind Bart and Matt.
As soon as we cut the engines, I know something isn’t right. It’s too quiet, like that eerie quiet that happens in scary movies when something is about to happen quiet. Without a word, Matt motions for us to fan out. Our weapons are drawn, ready for anything, that’s when the smell hits me. I knew that smell, being on the force I’ve had the unpleasant reality of smelling it more than once. Something or someone’s body was near and decomposing.
When the body finally came into view, I let out a relieved breath of air, it wasn’t Bella. It looked like the guy, whoever he was, had been dead for about a day at least. This meant if Lorenzo’s goons had Bella, they weren’t that far ahead of us. Just as I was coming around to the front of the cabin, Matt was exiting the cabin shaking his head.
“What’s in there?” I started to make my way towards the door, but Matt stopped me.
“Nothing is in there man, just one destroyed cabin. It looks like she was hiding in a root cellar under the floorboards.” I shove past him and take in the door barely hanging onto its hinges as the rest of the cabin comes into view. It looks like something out of a tornado movie, everything was upside down, broken, or in pieces. The hatch that led down to the root cellar was flung open, but there was no indication that there had been a struggle anywhere. That was either a good sign or a bad one.
“Holland!” Bart hollered from outside and I rushed to his side. He was close to the wooded area looking down at the ground.
“What did you find?” When Bart looked at me, it was with concern in his eyes. I remember giving him a similar look when Bliss was found but didn’t want to see him. He knew I felt something for this woman, even though we’d only met once. There was something about her that made me want to protect her and take care of her. Not that she needed it, because she was kind of a badass all on her own.
“It looks like there was a struggle of some kind over here. There isn’t any blood, so they must have taken her alive. What about the body you found? Anything we can get from that?” Bart looked at me expectantly, hoping I had some good news.
“He’s been dead about a day, maybe more maybe less. I’m not a coroner or medical examiner but based off of what I’ve seen before that’s what it looks like. Which means they aren’t that far ahead of us, but it also means our time is running out.” Running my hand through my hair, I want to scream and rail with frustration. This reminded me too much of my sister's recent kidnapping and I didn’t like it one bit. If what Crimson said was true, the guy who had Bella was much worse than the guys who had my sisters. This guy had power, money, and ruled with fear. If we went after her, it could cause problems for the Rejects. It could bring down the wrath of someone too big for them to handle.
“Stop. Just stop that thought whatever it was. We are doing this together. Even if you weren’t a part of our club now, I’d still owe you for what you did for Bliss and Matt still owes you for what you did for Jesse. So we’re in this, regardless of where it takes us.” Bart pulled me in for a back slapping hug.
“Now call her sister and find out where the fuck they would take her, because I’m ready to fuck someone up already.” Matt’s “hell yeah” came from somewhere near the cabin followed by the rest of the guys. This is what it meant for someone to have your back no matter what and fuck me if it didn’t feel pretty damn good.
Pulling out my cell, I dialed the clubhouse’s number, that’s where Crimson was staying. It was the safest place for her while we were out trying to find Bella. She wasn’t happy about being left behind, but Bella sent her to me for a reason, to keep her safe, which was exactly what I was trying to do. Only thing was Crimson did not see things that way at all. I still had my doubts about whether she would stay put or not.
“Yo, this is Brick.” It was Brickhouse, one of the newly patched members. Guy was built like a brick shithouse, hence the name.
“It’s Holland, let me speak to Crimson.” I can hear Brickhouse talking to someone with his hand over the receiver.
“She ain’t here man.” My heart stutters in my chest. She swore she’d stay put and of course she lied. I was going to throttle her. I can hear Brickhouse arguing with someone, but my mind is wrapping itself around the fact that Crimson is not where she’s supposed to be.
“Chill out Holly, I’m here.” It’s Crimson and she’s fucking laughing, I’m going to kill her.
“Thanks for the help Brick.” If I could reach through the phone, I would.
“Don’t ever do that again.” I seethe through my teeth. Bart looks over at me like I’ve lost my mind and I shake my head in response.
“What the fuck was that shit Crimson? You know I’m out here looking for your sister and you want to pull fucking pranks.” I hear her gasp on the other end; I’ve never spoken to her like this. Maybe it’s because I’m wound like a fucking top, or maybe I thought we’d lost her like we lost Bella, I didn’t fucking know.
“What the fuck man? She’s crying. Crim, come on Crim I’m sure he didn’t mean to yell at you. Seriously dude what the actual fuck!” Brickhouse is yelling at me through the phone while simultaneously trying to comfort Crimson.
“Come on babe, it’s alright.”Did he seriously just call her babe? I’m going to have to kill one of my own brothers at the rate this is going.
“Tell me you don’t have your hands on her right now.” I grit out, because she is too fucking young still to be messing around with bikers. Way to be a hypocrite Holland, my inner voice sneered.
“Never mind, I need to talk to her about her sister, put her back on.” I’m at my breaking point with these two women.
“Not until you chill the fuck out dude.” Brickhouse sounds pissed, but at this point, I give zero fucks if he’s pissed or not. Taking a deep calming breath, I try to reason with him. We’re wasting time that we could use to find Bella.
