Page 92 of Axe
One of his men, I’m assuming Sykes, walked off with his phone to his ear.
“Get your men up, take the ones that need medical attention to the county hospital. I’ll need a statement from the girl, but as far as I can tell, it looks like the leader of The Devil’s Kings—Savage, as he went by—went crazy and took out his own men. It looks like your men were in a bad car accident while you so happened to be here in town on an unscheduled club ride for charity.”
Oh, I got what was going on.
“I’m sure the local women’s shelter is about to get a big check,” Cal said understanding what the agent was saying.
“Yep. And this one here,” he pointed to me, “you found her running down the road when you drove past. You never saw this place or stepped foot here. And you,” he looked at me, “just happened to find a gas can and a box of matches.”
“Yes, sir,” I agreed feeling like I was in some weird alternate universe. Sure, stuff like this happened sometimes in the movies, but never in real life. Right?
“You happened to grab this before you ran from this place. Then you handed it over to Burke here, who just so happened to be here because he got information on a missing girl. Which, turned out to be you. He found you when they put your information into their system and he used one of hisunconventionalways to track that. Then Burke handed it over to me.” His eyes shifted to Burke as he said the last sentence.
And by unconventional I was sure he meant not quite legal. It seemed like this Agent knew more about Burke and the company he worked for than just in passing.
“Got it,” Burke said with a nod.
“Alright,” Agent Marks said. “We are going to clear out. I’ll meet you over at the hospital. Do what needs to be done so I don’t have to deal with this mess.”
With that, he turned on his fancy, polished shoes and walked off.
“You heard him, let’s get movin’.” Cal barked and everyone went in all different directions.
“So…” I said to Axe. I was still confused. My head was spinning and it almost seemed too easy how we’d gotten out of it.
“We’re good, baby. Nothing will come of this. The club is in the clear.” He spoke like he knew exactly what I was thinking. “Let’s get you in the car and get you taken care of.”
He carried me out of the building. I tucked my head into his neck and kept my eyes closed. I had seen enough for a lifetime, I didn’t care to see anymore as we walked out of the hellhole I’d been trapped in.
The blood had dried and started to crack and flake off every time I moved. It pulled at the hairs on my arms and made them tingle. My hair was a matted mess of knots, dirt, and clumps of the man that had terrorized my life for the last seven years.
It was over. I wanted him dead. But did that mean that I would automatically be okay with what I had done? It was all unclear at that moment. Too much had just happened and my brain was spinning trying to process it all.
I sucked in a lungful of cool night air as we stepped outside. I felt like I wouldn’t ever get the smell out of my nose.
It was over. I couldn’t let myself really believe it even if I had seen with my own two eyes that it was done. Hell, I had pretty much been the one to do so. I had no doubt that when I was finally done with him he wouldn’t have been hanging around much longer, even if Cal hadn’t shot him in the head.
Axe carried me over to a line of SUVs that were parked just on the other side of the gates. There were already men standing out there and by their cuts, I knew they were part of Axe’s club. Axe set me gently onto the seat and stood just outside the door watching me.
“I was so fucking scared,” he admitted to me. “I don’t know what I would do if…if he’d killed you.”
“I’m here,” I said as I slowly reached for his hand.
The door on the other side opened with a jerk. I jumped only because I had been so lost in the moment that I had forgotten what was around me or even where I was. My body screamed at me with every move I made. I was trying to be strong, but I had to admit that I was way past hurting. Every single part of me either ached or burned in some way, and those that didn’t just felt numb.
Next thing I knew, a very busted up Brand was plopped down in the seat beside me. I gasped at the sight of the state he was in. One of his eyes cracked open to look at me and he tried his best to smile. I wanted to shake my head at him and at the same time hug him.
“Aren’t we a pair,” he said with a choked cough.
Without thinking, I reached down and grabbed his hand, he gave me a tiny squeeze then his eye fell closed as his head went back against the seat. I could see that he was still breathing so I tried not to panic.
“Need to get these two to the hospital,” the guy that had helped Brand into the car said.
I didn’t recognize him but I could see he was part of the club. He shut the door and jogged around to the passenger’s side and slipped into the front seat. Another guy I didn’t recognize got behind the wheel and turned over the ignition. Axe carefully got in, lifted me up, and held me on his lap as we drove away.
My eyes watched out the back window as the building got smaller and smaller the further we drove on. I just barely saw the smoke and flames start to rise before it was out of view.
“It’s over,” I whispered finally letting it sink in.
