“I’ll fucking kill them all,” he bellowed from the other side of the door. “They want war, I’ll give them a fucking war!”
The big, bald man in front of the door didn’t even flinch as the sound of another crash practically made the building shake. “Who left to get her?” he demanded when Raven stopped in front of him.
“Does it matter?”
“If you or Willa left, yes, it fucking matters. Has this shit not shown you how dangerous it is right now? They’re out for blood, Rave.”
“Well, they got it, didn’t they?” she snapped, then quickly sucked in a harsh breath. “He needs her right now, Spider.”
The door behind Spider opened so suddenly, I nearly stumbled backward. Bash Reid, Matt’s cousin and the MC’s president, stuck his head out of the room. His electric-blue eyes zeroed straight in on his wife. “Did you fucking leave when I told you to stay put? Fuck, Raven! I have too much shit going on right now to add worrying about you and the kids to that plate.”
“Matt needs her,” she told him, not confirming one way or the other if it had been her or Willa who had left the clubhouse to get me.
“I ran here,” I rushed to intercede.
Both men finally took a longer look at me, their eyes widening when they saw the condition of my socked feet. There were holes in the thin, white material, with bloodstains from where I had cut my feet open on rocks and any number of other things that had littered the side of the road. Now that some of the numbness that had invaded my body when I thought something had happened to Matt was starting to fade, I was beginning to feel the pain in my feet. But my discomfort could wait. Matt couldn’t.
Bash muttered something under his breath and stepped back. “Come in, but stay close to me,” he commanded.
I moved forward and Raven started to follow, but Spider put a hand on her arm, stopping her.
“It’s dangerous enough just her coming in, Rave,” Bash growled at her. “Please, for once, just listen and stay out there.”
She clenched her jaw but stayed beside Spider. I didn’t hesitate, though, and walked into the room, not caring what Bash had said. Matt wouldn’t hurt me—ever. I didn’t need his cousin to protect me from him.
“Rory, be careful,” Bash snapped behind me. “He’s not himself right now. He could hurt you without realizing what he’s doing.”
As soon as I saw him, my eyes filled with tears again. His face and clothes were streaked with ash. His blue eyes looked wild, feral, as if he were a caged panther who only wanted to be set free so he could reap vengeance for his brother. His body shook with his rage as he punched the wall with his casted hand, cracking the drywall and splitting the skin across his knuckles. He did it again, and I heard a different kind of cracking sound as his cast splintered and peeled back from the bones it was meant to stabilize and protect.
“Matt,” I breathed and ran across the room, throwing myself against him.
Even with his hand bleeding, he caught me. The rage didn’t leave him, but at least some of the shaking stopped as his injured hand grabbed the back of my shirt and clenched into a tight fist, holding me prisoner against him. I pressed my face into his chest, inhaling the scents of smoke and other chemicals. But underneath it all, I caught a hint of him, and my heart slowly began to ease its torturous pounding now that I had him against me.
Matt didn’t speak, but words weren’t necessary. I could feel the agony rolling off him in waves, and I tried to absorb it, wanting to take on his pain so he didn’t have to feel it.
Chapter Six
MATT
MY MIND FELT LIKE IT was being shredded. I couldn’t focus on anything but the fact that my brother, my best fucking friend in the world, was gone.
Tanner had always had my back, no matter what. Even when I had completely lost it when Rory was taken from me three years ago, he had been right there, helping me fight the madness that invaded my mind and threatened to destroy me. Now, he was gone, and I had a new madness that was infecting not just my brain but my fucking soul.
Everything that happened earlier was on replay. Waking up to my brother crashing my bedroom door open and stealing the keys to my truck. Throwing my pillow at his back as he laughed and called me a pussy, which had made me chase after him. But then I’d heard Raven asking if he was leaving yet and not to forget Max’s favorite bath toy. I hadn’t wanted her to send me with Tanner, so I’d gone back to my room before she could see me.
I had known in my gut when the clubhouse shook from the force of the explosion outside that my brother was gone, but I hadn’t wanted to admit it to myself. I’d raced outside, fighting my way through the chaos to see Tanner’s burning body in the driver’s seat of my truck with Warden right beside him…
“Matt!”
My name came in a whisper, but I heard it even over the pounding of blood in my ears. I turned just as Rory threw herself against me, and instinct took over as I pulled her close and held on, needing to feel her warmth. My hand tightened into a fist at the back of her shirt, refusing to let her leave me.
Her beautiful face pressed against my chest, getting soot and fuck knew what else on her. I felt her tremble against me, heard the soft little gasps she breathed in. My mind was still in tatters, but my body was very much aware of who I was holding.
“Rory,” Bash’s deep voice called out, and I tightened my hold on her shirt. No way in hell was I going to let him take her from me. Not when she was the only person who could save me.
She lifted her head and glanced over at my cousin, the last blood relative I had left. “It’s fine, Bash. I’ve got this.”
“Someone will be outside this door. If you need anything, just call out.”