Page 6 of Wrath's Flame
Ignoring the piece of shit in the chair for the time being, I walk up to Flame and grab his face between my palms and whisper,“Come back to me."“You're safe,"and“You're not that kid anymore. You're my Flame now.”I keep repeating this to him for about five minutes until I see he's slowly coming back to himself.
Keeping his face firmly between my palms, I ask him quietly,“Are you back with me?”
Flame grabs onto my hands, but he doesn't say anything; he just squeezes my hands, holding on to me, while nodding his head. We stay like that for however long it takes for the rest of the Officers to arrive. Someone had obviously contacted the rest of them. Probably Eagle; he was there when Joker was talking. I know they’ve arrived because I can hear them stormingdownstairs. None of the other members would even think of coming down here after what just went down.
Shadow's the first one to enter. Seeing how we're standing, his eyes quickly flash with shock. I’ve never done this with Flame where anyone but he could see us before. He quickly turns and looks at the chair. I see when he realizes who the fucker is because his fists are clenching and unclenching and his jaw has gone tight. The guy tied to the chair is none other than Flame's older, half-fucking brother, who abused him and used him as a goddamn punch bag for years, unbeknownst to anyone. All because Flame was smaller and couldn't fight back. Shadow doesn't say a word as everyone else files in.
Behind him is Eagle, my SAA. He's six foot two with black hair, which is cut incredibly short. He also has one hell of a mean scowl, which isn’t surprising after what has happened tonight. Next is Piston, my Road Captain. He’s six foot one with black hair that is currently tied up in a ponytail as it’s quite long. When shit’s going down, he prefers it out of his face. Then there’s Ink, my Secretary, six foot one with pale blue hair, which makes his unique gray eyes stand out. He's covered from head to toe in tattoos if his road name didn’t give it away. Then there's Rock, my Treasurer, who’s by far the biggest of us all. He's six foot six and is just as wide as he is tall. He looks like he could crush you with one hand. His dark blonde hair is currently cut short. Finally, there's Blade, my other Enforcer. He's six foot with red hair and has a vicious-looking scar running from the top of his hairline straight down and through his left eyebrow, which he got when he was younger.
Shadow walks up to the asshole and lets his fists fly. Starting to beat the absolute shit out of him. I don’t blame him; we both saw the state a young Flame was in after the last time his brother got his hands on him.
No one says anything, just letting Shadow vent his fury until I calmly say one word,“Stop.”
Shadow stops taking a step back, but he still looks like he wants to carry on.
"Shadow, get over here now and stay with Flame. That fucker’s mine.”I order with a snarl.
I’ve wanted to get my hands on this fucker since I opened my bedroom window and a bruised and bleeding Flame appeared. Shadow quickly makes his way over, pushing Flame onto the sofa that's against the wall and sits down next to him. I step towards the chair while speaking to the room.
“I'm sure you're wondering what the hell is going on. So tonight there was an issue here at Inferno's. This asshole tried to attack one of the bar staff.”I start to say while pointing at the chair.“Flame came down to get answers as to why, but kicked everyone out and told them only Officers were allowed down here and that he needed me down here ASAP. Now that alone told me there was something seriously fucking wrong. When have any of you ever known Flame to act like that? When I got down here, I got a look at who was tied to that chair. He may be older than the last time I saw him, but I recognized him. As you just saw, Shadow recognized him too. Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to Craig Daniels, Flame's half-brother and his childhood tormentor.”
Snarls and growls echo around the room. Every person here knows what Flame went through as a child. He told them one day after they asked why he knew so much about hand-to-hand combat and why he was so freaking good.
Walking over to where Craig is tied up, I stop and pull the gag out of his mouth.
“What the fuck!”he shouts.
“Shut the fuck up, Craig, before I do it for you. You'll answer my questions, and then I'll decide what to do with you.”My voice is filled with hatred.
“I'm not going to tell you anything, Jackson; you don’t scare me,”he states cockily.
That won't last long. I'm not a child like the last time he saw me; I'm now the fucking Devil's Inferno President. He really should be worried about what I'm going to do to him. Both for his current and past sins. Chuckling, I hear the others do the same. I look behind me at the table that holds all the tools we use to get answers from people who don’t want to give them, trying to decide what to use first.
“Wrath!”I hear Shadow scream out.
Spinning around, I see Flame being triggered just by the sound of Craig's voice. Why didn’t I think about that? Fucking hell, getting my hands on Craig isn't worth it, not when Flame needs me.
“He's all yours, Blade,”I quickly say as I make my way to sit by Flame.
Getting my hands on Craig is not even as remotely important as making sure Flame's okay. He's more important than anything. Always has been, always will be. Sitting next to him, I pull him into my arms and hug him close. Offering him comfort and safety in the only way I can right now.
He breathes in deeply while tucking his head into my neck while I whisper in his ear,“You're safe,”and“I'm here.”
I don't care that everyone's seeing us like this; I know no one in this room will judge me for being this way with him. They may have an issue with me hiding my sexuality and feelings for Flame, but I'm pretty sure they'll understand my reasoning even if they don't agree. I'll deal with that later if I need to. Right now, all that matters is the man in my arms.
I have no idea how long we sit like that, but I'm brought back to the room by Shadow tapping my shoulder.
“What?”I ask, becoming aware of my surroundings again.
“He answered everything Blade asked,”Shadow tells me, looking a little worried. I'm guessing they tried to get my attention more than once.
I look over and see that Blade has certainly lived up to his name. Craig has been cut in some very excruciating places, but nowhere that would be critical. Oh, I missed all the fun.
“Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to the fucker. What's he saying?”I ask apologetically.
“Some woman he met a few towns over in Royal Creek paid him to grab one of our workers because she wanted to plant someone in one of our businesses as she needed information to help take us down and take over. She wasn’t getting enough information from who she’s got in place now.”Shadow informs me, his face showing how pissed off he is with what they've found out.
“Great, a new unknown enemy and, more than likely, a mole too. Just what I wanted. You think he knows anything else?”I ask, wanting their opinions; they all paid attention to him answering Blade’s questions and would have more of an idea than me.
