Stain (King's Harlots MC Book 2) (36 page)

“We’ll end you,” Asher growled. “If I have to die doing so, I will fucking bring you down.”

Charles waved a hand in front of him. “Promises, promises.”

“Well, as fun as this is—” Tyler clapped his hands together “—we need to leave.”

“What?” Charles shouted. “You can’t just take them. It doesn’t work that way. I paid for her.”

“And I’m stealing her from you.” Tyler stepped into Charles face, their noses millimeters apart. “There are plenty of girls out there that you can have. You seem to have quite a collection yourself.”

“But they aren’t
her
.”

“And why do you want her?” Tyler stepped in front of me, blocking Charles’ view.

“Because she’s pure. Untouched.”

Tyler scoffed. “Her boyfriend is Asher. I don’t think she’s that pure.”

My cheeks heated.

“No, I’m saying she’s innocent. I saw it in her eyes when—”

“When you what?” Asher snarled, his voice coating with venom.

“He didn’t do anything to me, baby,” I promised him.

“You told me you would do anything as long as he was safe,” Charles reminded me. “Isn’t that what you told me?”

“Of course! I love him. I would do anything to save him and he would do the same for me. Get that through your thick skull, Charles. You will never own me. I will die first before I let you break me.” My chest rose and fell.

Tyler’s head snapped around. “Leave.
Now
.”

“You can’t make them leave.” Charles snapped his fingers. “None of you can leave.”

At that moment, the room filled with several men dressed in dark outfits. Leather jackets, shit kickers and ugly as hell expressions on their faces.

“Ah, Tyler. It looks like you’re stuck as well.” Charles smirked.

“Touché.” Tyler placed his cell phone up to his ear. “It’s time. Charles is getting impatient.”

“What’s going on?” Charles demanded. “Tell me.” He grabbed onto Tyler’s arm when he went to walk away. “Now, damn it.”

Tyler glared down at the hand touching him like it was offensive. “Get your hands off of me. I don’t care who you are or who the hell you
think
you are.”

A loud bang came from the hall way again.

“What the hell are you waiting for?” Charles snapped his fingers. “Grab her and kill them.”

But the guys wouldn’t move. Even the new ones who I hadn’t seen before. They stood stock still, waiting for further instruction from … Tyler?

Oh, dear God.
I understood a power play when I saw one.

“We can’t get out, Meeka,” Asher told me. “Move us to the corner. It’s safer.”

I nodded, tightening my hold on his waist and did as he suggested.

Charles continued shouting demands at the men but no one listened. His face turned red, his nostrils flaring. He was losing control. He wasn’t even paying attention to me.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on?” I asked him, making sure to keep my voice low.

“Something is going on, but I can’t say.” He grimaced, taking a deep breath. “All I can tell you is that I don’t like the guy but if Tyler gets us out of here, I’ll kiss his fucking ass.”

Nodding, I sat Asher down, keeping my hold on him. We couldn’t escape. We couldn’t do anything but wait.

“We’ll get out,” he grunted. “I promise you. Just please trust me.”

“Of course I trust you. I have no idea what’s going on, and I don’t like that but I trust you.”

He grunted. “Everything that I do, is for you. Know that.”

My heart started racing at his words. “What’s going on?”

He opened his mouth to speak when a loud crash sounded, swinging the door open abruptly.

My eyes widened when I saw who came barging into the room.

***

(Asher)

I knew my brothers would show up. Tyler had his own reasons for being part of the organization. He was a bastard but little girls weren’t his kink. He wanted to bring Charles down as much as the rest of us, maybe even more.

When I was locked in the other room, he had punched me, letting the security think he was standing with them. But after he kicked them out, he apologized to me. I must have been dreaming. Too many punches to the face, pain taking over and making me delusional.

As Meeka stared up at me, she had so many questions. I wanted to answer them but it would have to wait. We needed to get to safety first.

Tyler had told me the plan. He called Angel and my brothers showed up. As cliché as it sounded, hell had officially frozen over.

“What are they doing here?” Meeka asked, rising to her feet.

“They’re saving us.” I realized that as much as I didn’t like asking for help, this time it was warranted. Without Tyler calling them, Meeka would end up like the girls in the basement. Everything I did was to protect her. As much as it bothered me to work with Tyler, I knew when I needed that extra help.

“Well, well, well.” Charles folded his arms over his chest. “What do we have here?”

His men moved behind him.

“You think you’re safe?” Charles sneered at Meeka, taking a step in her direction. “You think because you have men at your beck and call, that nothing bad will happen to you? I will fuck your mind. I will make sure you think of me every time you close your eyes.”

I struggled to my full height, pulling Meeka behind me. “You touch one hair on her head, I’ll skin you alive.”

“Oh, Asher.” He laughed. “I don’t need to touch her.”

“What the actual fuck?” I growled, crouching to take him on full force. No matter how broken and bloody I was, there would be no way I would let some bastard threaten my girl.

“Brother.” Coby came toward me. His dark eyes held me captive. I was unable to look away. I had been a shitty friend. To him. To all of them.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered.

He shook his head. “Not now.” He cupped my nape, leaning his forehead against mine. “You love her.”

It wasn’t a question but I answered anyway. “Yes.”

“You want to keep her safe.”

“Yes.”

“Then trust us.”

“I trust you with all of me.” And I did.

Coby nodded once and turned back to the crowd filling out in the small room. “It’s going to get messy,” he muttered.

“You can’t kill me,” Charles grinned, feigning a yawn. “You want to know why?”

“We need you to bring down the organization,” Angel answered. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t hurt you a bit.”

Charles’ eyes widened and he took a step back. His men moved behind Angel. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.”

Dale rubbed his hands together. “Can we play? Can we? Can we?”

Angel met my gaze, waiting.

I nodded once.

He smirked. “Have at it.”

I WOULD
never be able to get the sound of Charles’ screams out of my mind. They pierced my ears, grating into my soul. As much as he deserved to be put away, instead, he was being tortured.

Asher and I stumbled down the hall, the sounds becoming quieter. His brothers and the men who worked for the organization were let loose on Charles. I didn’t know what they did. I didn’t want to know. The small smirk on Asher’s face bothered me. I understood. God, did I ever understand but I was human. I wouldn’t be who I was if it didn’t upset me at least a little bit.

This shit wasn’t done. Not by a long shot. So many questions were left unanswered. Tyler. Charles. The organization. The demand to know what the hell was going on was on the tip of my tongue but I held back. It wasn’t the right time.

“Hummingbird.” Asher gritted his teeth, taking deep shallow breaths. “Stop thinking about it.”

He knew me well. He knew I wanted the answers. He knew I wouldn’t be able to move on until I found out more.

“I’m trying,” I whispered.

The house was huge. It took almost ten minutes to get out into the fresh air. Much to my surprise, the building was surrounded. Men dressed in black circled the area.

A large man walked up to us, holding his hand out. “I’m Agent Smith.”

I returned the handshake.

“Is that your real name?” Asher ground out.

The man smirked, a twinkle hitting his dark gaze. “It is. For now.”

So many secrets. I was getting sick of the lies.

“What’s going on?” I asked, keeping a tight hold on Asher’s waist.

“Thanks to you two, we’re able to shut this part of the organization down,” Agent Smith explained. “I understand that the operation is nowhere near being brought to an end, but it’s definitely a good start.”

Asher grunted. “I need to sit down.”

I led him to the ambulance, sitting him on the back of the bus while Agent Smith followed behind us.

“You understand we will need to bring you in for questioning.”

My head whipped around. “Asher needs to go to the hospital.”

“And he will but after, we’re going to get the answers we’re looking for.”

“What if we can’t give you those answers?” I asked, sitting beside Asher while the EMS worked on him. Another ambulance pulled into the parking lot, the EMS leaving the bus abruptly to go into the house.

“You will.” Agent Smith narrowed his eyes, looking between us both. “We will have to separate you two.”

My heart jumped. It was inevitable. They needed to get the facts from each of us. If they questioned us together, we could feed off of everything the other said.

The EMS bandaged Asher up and took a step back. “Lay on the bed. You need to go to the hospital to get that arm taken care of and those ribs. Meeka, we will need to check you out as well.”

“I’m fine.” But even as those words left my mouth, my head swam. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I took a deep breath.

“Right.” The EMS shone a light into both of my eyes. “Were you drugged?”

I swallowed hard, remembering Jessa and Sara. “Yes.”

He nodded and looked at Agent Smith. “You can ask the questions later. These two need to go to the hospital.”

I thanked the EMS and together, we helped Asher onto the gurney. “I’m going with him. You can separate us later,” I told Agent Smith, not giving him a choice in the matter.

“Fine,” he grunted, glancing at his watch. “I’ll meet you there.”

As he walked away, the rest of Vice-One appeared. They headed our way, their heads down.

Angel nodded once, motioning to Dale and Stone. He muttered something and they followed suit, heading in the opposite direction. Coby walked along side Angel, stopping once they saw me.

Coby gave a curt nod, crossing his arms under his chest and stood off to the side. Watching. Waiting. For what I couldn’t be sure but I knew he was protecting his brothers.

“How are you feeling, brother?” Angel asked, rubbing his knuckles.

“Like shit,” Asher nodded toward his hand. “Is it done?”

“For now.” Angel frowned. “I don’t like working with that fucker.”

He was talking about Tyler. I couldn’t imagine working with my love’s ex. Especially one who destroyed a part of them and continued to cause shit.

Sliding off the back of the ambulance, I closed the distance between Angel and me. Standing a foot away from him, I had to tilt my head far back to meet his gaze.

He raised an eyebrow.

I took that as my cue and wrapped my arms around his waist, squeezing him. “Thank you. Thank you for everything. For saving us.” My voice wavered. “I can’t thank you enough, but please know that I appreciate everything you have done.”

Angel cleared his throat several times before he returned the embrace.

I smiled. “I don’t know what happened in there. I don’t want to know.” I released him. “I deal with enough of that darkness from Brogan.”

“Really?” Angel rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yeah.” I sighed, brushing it off. “That’s not important. I just wanted to thank you, all of you, for what you’ve done tonight. For what you do. For … for fighting for our Country.”

“It’s our job, Meeka,” Angel said, his back stiffening. His cheeks reddened.

Asher chuckled. “Come here, Hummingbird. I think you’re making him uncomfortable.”

“Thank you,” I told Angel again as I slipped into the ambulance.

His eyes beamed but he only walked away. He met up with Coby, and they both headed toward Agent Smith.