Page 20

Lynx

The fear in her eyes when Neo was in the room is one I never want to see again.

It was like she was reliving her worst nightmare at the hands of the man that put her in the hospital.

And, inadvertently, it was. If Neo had held his tongue and brought it to the table, then we could have looked at it and compared things to Sherlock’s search.

“Pres. I’m sorry. She looked so scared with just me standing in the room. How am I ever going to ask for forgiveness when my presence brings utter fear to her mind,” Neo mumbles, looking over his shoulders at the men standing in the waiting room.

“That’s your cross to bear, Neo. We told you Spun had been manipulating everyone in the clubhouse.

I also removed her from the property permanently.

Yet you still had her riding your dick like as if she didn’t fall on it, it would rot off.

” I wanted him to understand that with actions comes consequences.

“How am I going to get her to forgive me?” He doesn’t wait for me to answer the question. He turns and walks away. He doesn’t stop to go into the waiting room. He heads toward the exit and vanishes through the sliding doors.

“That boy is going to have demons racing through his head. Ones I don’t think we will be able to help him out with,” Sue states, slamming his hand down on my shoulder.

He isn’t wrong, and we won’t leave him out in the cold.

But for right now, the woman who captivated my heart is lying in a hospital bed after spending hours being raped, beaten and forced to watch who knows what.

So, right now my feelings toward him are like a black sheep brother that finger banged your first love under the table at Christmas dinner.

“Yeah, but brother right now he needs to learn the lesson that is in front of him. We were able to save her, but what happens if we didn’t get there in time.

We lost Tina’s husband to that psycho and nearly the two girls.

All because pussy was more important.” Sue nods, his cross to bear, but as a club we are going to have to help him heal.

***

Back at the clubhouse for the night. There is no party, no laughter, no sexual sounds.

The only thing that can be heard in the main room is silence.

The club girls are sitting in the last place Tina and Jessikah were.

They are glum but talking amongst each other.

The brothers are all lounging around, some watching the hockey game, some flipping through the magazines that are on the table and others sitting at the bar slowly drinking down a few beers. Neo is nowhere to be seen.

Neo to the Brothers chat: I am a fuck up. I’m sorry I set off this chain of events. Living with the thought that I hurt a good person is killing me.

All the brothers pull out their phones, reading the text message he just sent. I take out the app I have on my phone and ping his location.

Sue to the Brothers chat: Brother, it’s how you come back from a messy situation that shows your family how you’ve grown.

Neo to the Brothers chat: She can’t even stand to be in the same room as me. So, am I banned from all family functions?

Slick to the Brothers chat: Nah, brother, give her time to heal. Not just physically, but mentally.

When the ping comes up, I can see he is on the compound, but it looks like he is out in the garage.

Slowly leaving the brothers to talk him down I make my way to the garage.

All the bays are closed, but there is a light on at the end one.

Using my key to walk into the building, I make my way across the cement and to the old car.

Neo is in the car. The windows are all up, and there is a pipe running from the exhaust to the window. It’s piped into the window with duct tape preventing the exhaust from leaving the cab of the car.

Taping on the window, I watch as his head slowly turns before falling back against the headrest.

“I need to make her feel safe. I’m sorry, Lynx, that I didn’t protect her,” his voice trails off.

“Neo, unlock the doors, and let me get you out. We can work through this,” I demand, taping on the glass to force him to stay awake.

“I should have saved her. Not push her away.” Tears roll down his cheeks as his eyes begin to close.

“Neo, don’t do this. We can work through this together. Open the door.” I give one last attempt and watch in horror as his chest starts to slow, and his eyes droop closed.

“FUCK!” I reach the tool bench and grab the tire iron, swinging it multiple times to break the window.

I quickly pull Neo from the car and look at the broken man lying on the ground.

He has white powder on his nose, a sign that he used cocaine recently.

How much I won’t know until a tox screen is done.

His arms are torn up with blade marks running across and up and down, filleting the skin at his right wrist.

“No, no, no, Neo. You have too much life left.” I begin compressions as Skoden enters the area. He quickly calls nine-one-one, telling them the situation and having the ambulance roll out as soon as they can.

“Brother, is he breathing?” Skoden asks, kneeling beside me. I look up at him, tears running down my cheeks.

“I don’t know, I don’t know. He can’t go out, not like this. This is just a misstep on a path set for brightness,” I scream.

“Step back, let me take over.” He waits as I continue to pump on his chest. “Now, Paul. Move to the side and let me help you save him. We are a team and we will make sure all of us bands together, even when one is weak.” He pushes me off Neo and starts to check.

“His breathing is shallow, and his heart rate is weak. He is still with us. Now go and show the paramedics where we are.”

Nodding, I stand up and make my way to the door. Pressing the button to open it as the blue and reds flash on the compound. I make it my mission to make sure Spun meets Karma.