Everyone was silent, obviously this wasn’t the type of ceremony that needed words. Everyone knew what this meant.It meant he was gone.But as Optimus held the cut above the fire, my head and my heart told me that it needed something more. This was Caleb. His sendoff needed to be special.
“Wait!” Everyone turned to look at me, startled by my outburst. I searched the crowd. “Mix, pass me the guitar. If it’s okay with you, I want to play, just one more.”
I watched as Optimus eyed each of the men surrounding us. It was obviously unorthodox and not part of the norm, so he needed to check with his Brothers before allowing me to insert myself in and change a long time tradition. When he caught my eyes again, he nodded and Mix quickly handed me my instrument. I sat down on the arm of the sofa with it laid across my lap.
My fingers knew the song my heart wanted to play – ‘I See Fire’by Ed Sheeran. It was about Brotherhood and standing strong even in the depths of despair. Even in the eye of danger these men would stand up for their family and the people that they cared about, and no Brother lost would be forgotten. The song seemed so fitting as we watched Optimus throw the leather cut into the fire. The flames quickly consumed it – like it was completely insignificant. But it wasn’t.
I stormed down the hallway from my bedroom. I’d sobbed. I’d moped. I’d felt sorry for myself. And now, I was done.
“Where is he?” I demanded, finding Kit, Optimus, Blizzard and Tally at the large table we used for meals, drinking coffee.
“Good morning to you too, babe.” Kit smirked.
I jabbed a finger at him. “Don’t babe me, Kit. I want to know where you have him.”
“Not quite sure who you’re talking about there, Harmz,” Blizzard said, smiling from ear to ear.
I leaned on the table, both palms flat, eying each of the Brothers. “Target isn’t around. I told you what happened. Now I want to know where you have him held because I’m passed the upset,whoa-is-mestage of grieving. I’m now in full blown angry at the world stage. If you guys want to deal with that, then be prepared. Or, you let me take it out on the bastard who deserves every little bit of anger and venom I can throw at him and let me move on.”
They all just continued to stare at me. Not even shocked at my outburst, but strangely smug about it.
“Thank fuck. We thought you’d never ask,” Tally said, throwing his hands in the air.
I frowned over at Kit and he grinned. “We’ve been waiting for you to be ready. Usually, we don’t bring women into club business, but we all voted that this time you needed to have your piece of him.”
“And why didn’t you just tell me this in the first place?”
“We weren’t in a hurry. Bastard ain’t going nowhere. The longer, the better. Gives him time to freak out about all the ways we’re gonna hurt him.”
“I need to see him,” I said, my body sagging.
Kit stood and came around to wrap me in his arms. “Then let’s get this done, so we can get outta here and head home.”
The boys all pushed their chairs back and Kit took my hand as we followed them through the hallway and out the back of the building. I thought I knew every inch of this clubhouse, every piece there was to explore. Turns out I was wrong.
“After the club took over the hotel, the boys found this underground room. We guess it was meant to be like a bomb or tornado shelter. It was massive. Could have nearly housed everyone who was staying at the place for a short amount of time,” Optimus explained. He opened the door to a small concrete shed which I always assumed was maybe a caretaker’s shed.
But no, inside there were dirty shelves lining the walls, but in the center there were stairs which looked like they could be covered or hidden if need be. Before we walked down them, Kit pulled me to a stop.
“This goes no further, Harmony. This is a place meant for members only. Never women.”
I nodded and gave his hand a squeeze.
When we reached the bottom, I was surprised by how large the room actually was. Easily the size of the room we had inside that housed the bar and all our parties. It was lit up brightly and I actually had to squint before my eyes adjusted to the bright lights.
There was a small room off to the side which I could see had a steel door. Something I knew wasn’t a part of the original design, and inside was a toilet and a bed. The perfect housing for a prisoner.
But it was the person who was shackled to the wall on the other side of the room that drew my attention and caused my body to seethe in anger.
“You bastard,” I stormed toward him. His hands were cuffed out wide with thick chains and his legs were bound together and held to the wall, his body making a large Y-shape. He was stripped down to a pair of boxer shorts and his body was covered in bruises. As he lifted his head up, he caught sight of me and his lips formed a cocky smirk.
Two strong arms wrapped around my waist, halting my advances. Kit held me as I screamed obscenities at a smug looking Target.
“You asshole! I hope you fucking die! I’m gonna rip your balls off and force feed them to you if I get my hands on you!”
Tally, Blizzard and Optimus chuckled.
“Let her go, man. I’m not usually one to see another man’s junk, but that sounds like something I want to watch,” Blizzard laughed.
“Unfortunately we have plans for our boy here, Harm. So let’s do this quick,” Optimus said as he walked forward. “You got anything to say asshole?”
“You guys have no idea of the shit-storm you’re bringing on. My family know if I don’t check in with them that something’s gone wrong. They will hunt you down. I’m just disappointed I don’t get to see you all scream and beg for your lives,” his voice was calm. Like he had come to peace with what was going to happen to him. I hated that. I wanted him to be scared. I wanted him to be afraid and beg for forgiveness.
“That right? Your rich parents going to come down with their Ferraris and try run me down?” Blizzard smirked.
Target returned the look. “The Mafia don’t drive Ferrari’s,Brother.”