“UnderYourScars”—Godsmack
December…
Without flinching, I pulled the trigger, and the scumbag dropped to the dirty floor of the gas station bathroom. Blood immediately began to pool around his crumpled form. I wanted to empty my clip into his worthless body, but I needed to leave.
“Fuck you,” I muttered over him. If I didn’t care about leaving DNA behind, I would’ve spat on his corpse. Maybe even shit on his crappy ass scorpion patch.
Not a soul saw me walk out of the bathroom, get on my bike, light a cigarette, and pull out of the isolated lot. The attendant had been too busy watching porn on his phone, cameras were non-functioning, and there hadn’t been a car for miles.
If I’d been in a cage, I might’ve run over the asshole’s bike too.
The winter wind whipped at my leather jacket and bit at the exposed skin of my head, but I barely noticed it. There wasn’t much I cared about anymore. The one person I cared about more than anything was broken and wanted nothing to do with me.
After we found out some of the shitbags responsible for kidnapping Trace, Jasmine, and Lynda were still alive, I made it my personal mission to take them all out. It was the least I could do for her.
The two-hour ride home was black and cold—like my heart. When I parked my bike, I could barely feel my fingers.
I went to my room through the back door so I didn’t need to socialize. Then I dropped to my bed and stared at the white ceiling.
There was a knock, and I sighed.
“Yeah?” I said with absolutely no emotion.
The door opened enough for Raptor to stick his head in. “Venom wants to know if there were any issues.”
“Nope.”
“Cool.” He moved to leave, then paused. “Bro, you okay?”
“Peachy.”
If I couldn’t hear his breathing, I might’ve thought he left. Finally, he sighed. “If you need to talk, you know I’m here.”
“Yep.”
“Venom has the prospect taking the ol’ ladies to the mall to go shopping tomorrow morning. He wants one of us to go along. You available?”
“Who all’s going?”
“Loralei, Korrie, Kira, and Jasmine, far as I know,” he replied. At her name, I inwardly flinched.
“Can’t. Sorry.”
He studied me for a moment. When I gave him nothing, he nodded. “No problem. Jigsaw is here, and he said he’d go.”
I grunted, and he left.
Did I want to go? Yeah, because everything in me screamed to protect Jasmine from the world. If only I had demanded she go to the hospital with me on my bike. Maybe if I’d risked more, she wouldn’t have been taken. Except I couldn’t live by “if only.”
Being in close proximity with Jasmine had been torture. Now it was worse. More than I could handle, because I wanted to hold her, and that was dangerous. She didn’t want anything to do with me, and I told myself that was for the best.
“Here you go,” the prospect said as he placed the third beer in front of me. Not in a mood to talk, I gave him a lift of my chin in thanks. Catching on quickly, he moved down the bar to wipe it off and inventory the booze.
“What the fuck has been up your ass?” Angel asked as he took the seat next to me. He signaled the prospect to bring him what I was drinking.
No way could I tell anyone what was going on with me. Especially not him, though I suspected he had an idea. He’d cornered me after the rescue, but I remained tight-lipped.
He had initially brought Jasmine to stay at the clubhouse when we found out she was in danger due to their father’s gambling problem. Their father was dying of cancer, and his bookies told him dying wouldn’t forgive his debt, that they’d take Jasmine as payment. We figured they thought it would be incentive for him to pay the money. Except they underestimated the cold stone he had for a heart.