“She’s in the Cellar. Don’t worry, she’s not going anywhere. The two guys have been disposed of. Go see your girl. I think you two need each other. I just wanted to tell you before you saw her.” I said my thanks as I ran out the door. The whole way over to his house, all I could think about was what if I’d lost her? Bull must have called Jocelyn, because she was waiting on the porch with the door open. She greeted me and told me Madisen was in the first room on the left at the top of the stairs. I took the steps two at a time. Taking a moment to calm myself, I quietly opened the door. She was curled up, asleep on the bed. I crept inside and took off my boots before crawling in bed with her. She came awake when I pulled her into my arms.
“Oh, my God, Ronan, I’m so happy you’re back. Let me look at you. Are you okay?” she asked in a rush. Her hands were wildly running all over my chest and arms. I grabbed them.
“Baby, I’m fine. Not a scratch. You’re the one I’m worried about. Bull told me what happened. Are you okay? Maybe we should have you go see the doctor.”
She shook her head. “I’m fine.”
I wrapped her in my arms. “Tell me what happened.” She ran me through it. I almost had a heart attack when she told me she’d attacked CeeCee to get the gun and then went after the two guys waiting in the back. “Madisen, you could have been killed!”
“Maybe. But I knew at least this way I had a chance. They could have out right killed me as soon as she gave me to them. I had to try. I’m sorry. I know you’re not happy, but I would do it again if I were in the same situation.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “I know, babe. I just can’t stand you being in any kind of danger. I’m proud as hell of you even though I want to spank your ass!” She giggled. We spent the next hour holding each other, talking, and kissing. I filled her in on what happened with the three groups. I knew we still needed to meet and have church, but I wanted to hold her as long as I could. Luckily, Bull gave me that hour. It was his soft knock that broke us apart.
After speaking to him, we left to go to church. Madisen stayed with Jocelyn and Devyn to rest. Back at the clubhouse, we filed into church. I sat down to see what Bull had to say.
“Okay, settle down. I know everyone is pumped. I want each team to run through how your mission went.”
“It went so damn smooth. I was scared we missed something. We waited for them and bam, took them down with almost no fight. Susan was a great help. Nerves of steel, that woman. She left with the rest of the Patriots, or I’d get her in here to thank them again,” I told them.
“Ours went like his. It was like paint by numbers. They were shocked as hell when we came busting in on them. Not a shot or scratch,” Payne added. Tank’s report was almost verbatim as Payne’s.
Once all of us were done, Bull told everyone what went down at the compound while we’d been gone. Guys were whistling all over the room.
“You have one helluva woman there, Rebel,” Deuce called out to me. The guys laughed. I grinned.
“Well, she got her road name, Firecracker, for a reason.” Bull let the guys laugh and comment a few more minutes then he got back to business.
“We have two more things to discuss. One, is the Diaz Cartel. I recommend we stay on alert for a while longer, just to be sure they don’t seek retaliation. Sean’s group is going to keep an eye and ear on them. Secondly, we need to decide what to do about CeeCee.” This had grumbles coming from the whole room. He held up his hand. “I know. We don’t usually touch women. But something more than a wrist slap and a warning needs to happen. She’ll never learn her lesson otherwise, and I don’t want her coming back around here when we least expect it. Thoughts?”
“If Firecracker wasn’t pregnant, I’d say let her beat CeeCee’s ass. She already shot her. That should do the trick,” Joker wisecracked.
His thought had merit. Though I wouldn’t want her to do anything to harm the baby, she’d love to get a piece of CeeCee’s ass. I looked at Bull. “Why not? We can make it so she doesn’t touch Madisen. Let Madisen talk to her and if she wants, she can beat her ass. I think she’s earned the right to settle this once and for all. When she’s done, we make sure CeeCee moves to the other side of the country.” This idea had all the guys’ approval.
Bull looked thoughtful. “Fine. We’ll ask Madisen what she wants to do, but not tonight. Tonight, let her rest. Tomorrow is soon enough for her to decide.”
With our plan in place, Bull dismissed us. I hurried back to Madisen. We had dinner with Bull, Jocelyn, Ace, and Devyn before going back to our room at the clubhouse. When I got her there, I stripped her and made love to her until we both were too exhausted to move.
??????
It wasn’t until a week later that Madisen and CeeCee’s confrontation happened. I wanted Madisen to be well rested. It didn’t hurt to let CeeCee stew on what we were going to do to her. Her wounds were through and through shots, so all we could do was bandage them and give her antibiotics. Every day, one of the guys would take her a meal and water. She had cried and begged to be let go. When that didn’t happen, she asked them what we were going to do with her. They never said a word.
As we headed out to the Cellar, I pulled Madisen aside. “You don’t need to do this. If you want, we’ll just scare her and send her away. She knows a lot, but I think she’s going to be too scared to ever tell anyone. She knows what’ll happen if she does. We’ll make that very clear to her. It’s up to you.”
She shook her head. “Oh no, she deserves more than that. I know you guys don’t touch women. She didn’t actually turn me over to those guys, so I don’t think she deserves to die. But she needs to know if she comes back here, we’ll kill her. I’m ready.”
I held her hand as we entered the Cellar. Most of the guys were waiting on us. They had CeeCee tied to a chair in the common area. When she saw me and Madisen, she turned even paler and shrank away. I stood back and let Madisen take the lead. She sashayed up to CeeCee with a hard look on her face. CeeCee tried to look away, but Madisen wouldn’t let her.
“Look at me, bitch. I want you to look into my eyes when I talk to you because I don’t want there to ever be a single doubt in your mind that I mean what I say. Your life is going to be spared, only due to my mercy. Believe me, if I wanted, we’d kill you now. But I hope you’ll take this as a hard lesson and learn from it. Learn not to covet what isn’t yours. Don’t try to take what isn’t yours, and suffer the consequences if you do. I’d love to beat the hell out of you, but I’m not willing to put my baby in jeopardy. So, I thought long and hard about what would be a good reminder.” CeeCee looked at her in confusion.
“Then I thought of it. Bruises, gunshot wounds, and even broken bones heal and fade. You need a visual reminder of what you shouldn’t covet and the consequences of it. Something you see every day. I’m going to leave you with a reminder. It’ll hurt for a while, but I hope it lasts as a warning. Never come back around here or any other Warriors’ compound. If you do, you will be considered a threat to the club and you will be put in the ground. No discussion, no warning. Do I make myself understood?” She hissed out the last. CeeCee shook her head vigorously in agreement.
Madisen looked at Payne and he went to the cabinet. I had no idea what she planned to do. She had told me it was a surprise, though it looked like Payne knew. He pulled out a long piece of iron with something on the end. He took it over to the small wood burner we had in the corner and stuck it inside. That’s when I noticed it had a fire going in it. It didn’t take long for the iron to heat up. When Payne pulled it out, the end was red hot. He handed it to Madisen.
CeeCee started to jerk and tried to move. She cried out, begging for Madisen not to do it. Madisen ignored her. She stepped up and looked down at her. CeeCee was wearing the tank and shorts she’d worn the day she tried to kidnap Madisen. Madisen pressed the hot poker to her upper left thigh. CeeCee screamed and the smell of burned flesh once again wafted through the Cellar. When she pulled it away from her skin, I could see what the symbol had been. It was the letter “M”. I didn’t ask Payne where he got it. Knowing him, he probably had one for every damn letter of the alphabet. CeeCee sobbed as she looked down at it. When she finally looked back up at Madisen, my woman gave her a cold smile.
“Remember what I said, CeeCee. Come back or cause any other trouble for the Warriors, and this is the least of your worries. I’ll make sure to end you next time.” She turned her back on CeeCee and handed the branding iron to Payne. Then she walked out with her back straight and her head high. The room was silent except for CeeCee’s sobs. I followed my woman outside.
I found her slumped up against the side of the Cellar with her head hanging down. I pulled her tight into my chest. “Are you okay, baby?”
She nodded. “I hated to do that, but I didn’t know how else to make her see we’re serious. I talked to Payne and he suggested a visual reminder. God, can we just go back to our room? I want to forget all about CeeCee and just get on with our lives.” I swung her up in my arms and sat her in the SUV we’d driven. She was right. It was time to get on with the rest of our lives.