Page 104 of Wicked Deceit
Staring into the abyss of the unoccupied ambulance ties my stomach in knots, and my arm tightens around my brother. My emotions well up again, and I clamp my eyes shut, trying to force the horrific memories away. Memories of Kaycee secured in my arms and then of the paramedics taking off with her flow through my mind. Anything could happen to her right now. She could be…
“Fuck,” I heave again, leaning my forehead on Zepp when we stop. “Is Kaycee going to be okay?” I whisper with desperation, clutching onto his shirt and pulling him closer. We rest our foreheads against each other, blocking out everything. It’s just me and him, standing together, and there’s no one else around us.
My heart bounces against my ribs in a frantic beat, awaiting his answer. But he fucking pauses, closing his eyes, deep in thought. I don’t know whether it’s from the pain he’s undergoing or if he’s thinking about Kaycee and the others, too. His teeth sink into his bottom lip, and a ragged breath blows from his nose. His head shakes against mine, and his shoulders lift. No—fucking no. He can’t say what I think he’s about to say.
“I—don’t know,” he breathes, brushing my cheek with his warm breath. “I don’t know if she’ll…” he swallows hard, and I engulf him in a hug, clinging to him as tears pour from our eyes in mutual grief.
“Don’t say that,” I croak, pulling back and tapping his cheek. “Don’t even fucking think it, okay? They’ll all survive, or I’ll go after them and drag them back. Got it?” He rolls his eyes in irritation but gives me a firm nod.
“Whatever you say, asshole,” he mutters, stiffening when a paramedic comes into view, and spots the blood staining his arm. I swear he pales more and prepares to bolt in the other direction.
She rushes toward us, throwing gloves over her hands.“Got another one!” she shouts over her shoulders, getting two more men at her side. Their gloved hands inspect his bullet wound, and they wince. “Looks like you need to take a trip to the hospital with your friends.” Zepp’s worried eyes meet mine. I cup one cheek, putting my forehead on his. We rest like that for a split second as the paramedic urges Zepp to get a move on. He stalls, and his muscles tense.
“You got this,” I whisper, bumping him. He swallows hard, wincing from the pain in his arm. “I’ll come with you,” I say, reassuring him. If there’s one thing Zeppelin West doesn’t like, it’s hospitals.
Zepp clings to my hand when they work him over, putting an IV in his arm and an oxygen mask over his face. His frantic eyes tell me he’s about to lose his shit until the paramedic smiles and informs us she’s giving him some pain medicine. Zepp’s body slumps when the drug hits his veins, and I sigh in relief. I know he’s in pain, but the anxiety was riding him hard.
I sit back in the seat as they prepare to shut the doors and take us both to the hospital where Zepp will get better, and I’ll pace around.
“Hold on!” Shouts a familiar out-of-breath voice from outside the ambulance. I gape when a familiar head pokes in, giving me a tight smile, and lifts a badge in the air. “Mr. West, I’m so sorry, but you need to come with me,” Espie, the newest fucking student, says regretfully, motioning me to climb out.
I scowl, narrowing my eyes at the woman who is silently pleading with me to cooperate. But I don’t want to fucking cooperate.
“The fuck?” I growl, cracking my knuckles and shaking my head. “Ain’t no fucking way I’m leaving my brother,” I snarl, taking a step forward to give her a piece of my damn mind.
“I’m sorry, Mr. West, but I must insist you come with me,” she pleads again, gesturing for me to hop down.
I march toward her with a snarl on my lips and point a finger directly in her face because there’s no fucking way I’m hopping out of here. “Fuck no. My girlfriend is fucking dying. Both of my brothers have been shot. My other brother is burned. Fuck that. I’m going with him.” Rage storms inside of me, threatening to boil over. Where’s Grumpy when you need to pound his face in? Oh, right. He’s in the fucking hospital with gunshot wounds.
Desperation rushes through me, and I’m not above begging. I’ll drop to my knees, plead my case, and fucking go to the hospital with my brother. There’s no goddamn way they’re going to drag me out of here and get their way. My family fucking needs me right now. I need to be at the hospital for all of them. Several deep breaths pass through my nose and out of my mouth to calm me the fuck down. I’m two seconds away from tearing someone into two pieces and going to jail myself. And I can’t fucking afford that. If I don’t calm my racing heart and the need to hurt someone, I’ll do something I regret. And If I do that, I won’t be able to be with everyone.
She nods in understanding. “I’m so sorry, Seger.” When my eyes meet hers, she swallows hard. She almost shuts up—almost—but opens her fucking mouth again. “We need to talk to you, though. Get your side of things. My superior needs to speak to someone who was in the mix out here. He needs your story ASAP, and no, it can’t wait.” Her lips thin into a straight line, and she shakes her head when I open my mouth to protest. At this point, I don’t think there’s anything I could say to make her back the fuck up and leave me alone so I can see my family.
“And you, what? Were you there the whole fucking time to observe and not do shit?” I growl, hopping out of the ambulance with anger rushing through me at the thought of her being in the mix of everything and not stopping it. Proving to me, once again, Veritas is an incapable secret agency that needs to know their flaws. “Where were you when she was stabbed or bullied or beaten within an inch of her life? You see her fucking face?” I growl through clenched teeth, stepping up to her. Much to my surprise, Espie lifts her chin and tilts her head in acknowledgment. “Where the fuck was your organization? You failed us! You failed us all!” I heave a breath, tears leaking down my face. “You fucking failed the people you vowed to protect.” I shake my head, wiping my nose with my fingers.
I dart my eyes to my brother, who rests on the gurney with a blissed-out smile taking over his face. The paramedics have tears on their rosy cheeks when they look at me, nodding to acknowledge the pain spearing through me.
Zepp sighs loudly and waves a hand. “Go,” he barks out in a high-pitched voice. “I’ll be fine. I’ll be perfectly fine.” He smiles at me, the best one he can muster behind the oxygen mask over his mouth and nose.
“Fucking fine,” I growl, staring back at the girl I want to tear limb from limb. “I’ll fucking come to talk to them, but then your ass is taking me to the hospital ASAP. I will not be away from them any longer than I have to.” My heart shudders when the doors of the ambulance close, closing off the view of my brother.
“He’s in excellent hands, son.” the woman paramedic says, slapping me on the shoulder as she rounds the vehicle and hops in. They’re off the property in the blink of an eye, with their lights flashing and sirens blaring. Leaving me in the dark with two organizations I want to fucking murder with an ax.
Espie looks sheepish about it all as I scowl back at her. “I really am sorry. I know they all mean a lot to you, but he wants to speak to you before you leave.” She waves me on, and I reluctantly follow behind her, shoving my hands into my pockets. The crisp night air blows across my chest, reminding me I’m standing around without a shirt. Which also reminds me every piece of my fucking heart is lying in a hospital bed. Everyone except me.
How the fuck did all this go so wrong? We were so careful. First, our house gets blown up with Chase inside, and then Kaycee gets taken right from under us. The only plus about this situation are the bodies lining the body bags. Crowe and Cushing lie side-by-side on the grass, deposited into black body bags, as people take pictures of their wounds and bodies. Fuckers deserved that. Rot in Hell, motherfuckers. I hope Satan fucks you up good.
Shaw sits handcuffed on the ground as a few Veritas agents repeatedly ask him questions. He scowls, tightening his lips, and shakes his head, refusing to talk. Let me fucking at him; I’ll make him squeal like a damn pig and give up everything they want to know. He catches my eye as I walk behind Espie and grins at me like the psychopath he is.
“Mother fucker,” I hiss, taking a step toward him, but Espie wraps her small hand around my bicep, stopping me. I huff a breath, looking back at her, and she motions for me to continue to follow her. “What will you do with Shaw?” I grit out, looking back at all the black robes lined up outside the hedge maze. Agents stand before them, writing their names and asking them questions.
I smirk at Oscar, who scowls at my freedom. His beady eyes follow me as I walk behind Espie. I grin at his bloodied and bruised face, knowing that I fucking did that to him. He growls at me, baring his teeth when I walk past, and I can’t help the laugh that slips out. The agent behind him holds him down, hollering at him to stop. I wink at him, throwing him over the edge of his rage. He tries to get to his knees, and I mean, he tries hard. But the agent behind him throws out the F-bomb and fucking tases his ass.
“He’ll go to prison and never get out,” she murmurs with a sharp nod. “And so will all the other members online who were viewing. We’re in the process of tracking them down. It could take months, but we’ll get them.” Something like reassurance settles within my rolling gut, and I crack a smile, imagining his ass in prison. All their asses are going to jail for the foreseeable future, and it’s nice to finally have the fucking trash out of the way.
“Ah, Mr. West,” A deep voice says in a grim greeting, gaining my attention. Turning away from Oscar’s still body, I face the man in charge. He stands tall, posture straight, with graying hair mixed in with a deep brow, blowing in the wind. He holds out his hand, forcing me to shake his.
“And you are?” I grumble with urgency, trying to get the fucking show on the road.
