Page 9 of Fall of Hellfire (Hellfire Society #3)

seven

RIOT

“ T his way,” Shane states, stepping out of the darkness of the gym and into the moonlit parking lot. Dark red stains cover his shirt, and I grind my teeth knowing exactly what or who they are from. My eyes snap to Ali as she lets out a pained moan.

“Careful with her!” I snap. I know it’s not his fault she is in pain, and I shouldn’t be taking it out on him as he cradles my wife to his chest. I take her in for a second as Arsen steps past me to follow Shane to the side of the building.

Ali’s normally creamy pale skin is nowhere to be seen.

The clothes she left in now lay in strips of fabric barely hanging on to her form.

She looks so fragile and broken. I want nothing more than to scoop her up in my arms and protect her with my last breath, but I fear I may hurt her more right now.

The adrenaline was still coursing through my veins from the fight only a few minutes prior.

I have to hand it to whoever sent these men; they put up a decent fight.

Sadly, it wasn’t enough for the raging beast inside my chest that had a point to prove.

Fuck with mine, and you won’t live to see another day.

I found it funny that Cash had even given them a chance to leave, not that I would have let them.

I would have hunted every single one of them down for simply showing up.

Luckily they thought they had an upper hand because they had a few extra guns and a number of men.

Little did they know I had something to fight for, to kill for, and even die for, but now I needed to protect her.

Shane leads us to an old black pickup truck.

It’s a front row seat only, so Arsen climbs into the cab with Ali as Cash and I climb into the bed.

Shane doesn’t waste any time, starting her up and peeling away into the night.

“What the fuck happened to her?” I ask Cash, not expecting an answer, but the part of me that would be calm after we shed so much blood is nowhere in sight.

I’m still on edge, like my skin is crawling, and the urge to kill someone is still there.

From the corner of my eye, I can see Cash shake his head before turning and looking into the cab.

The night air is cool against my overheated skin.

The blood starts to dry and flake as we pull up to an old garage type building.

The moment the truck is parked, I’m jumping out of the bed and rushing to Arsen’s door as Cash heads inside.

Opening his door, he shifts to step out, and I open my arms before yanking them back, still afraid of my emotions and hurting our woman more.

“She will be alright, Ri, but we need to clean her up and see how bad her injuries are.” I nod my head as I step back, letting Arsen slip by as I follow everyone else in before shutting and locking the door.

The garage is empty, stripped bare other than the SUV that Cash has parked here.

Cash walks to the trunk of the SUV, grabs a duffel bag, and sets it on a counter.

Arsen heads for the same counter, placing Ali down gently as Cash begins to pull out a few lanterns and a first aid kit.

“It’s not much, but at least we can see what we are working with and what we might need to get.

” He hands Arsen a washcloth and water bottle next.

“We need a new place to lay low. Somewhere that can’t be traced back to us.

The gym was good, but I think we were still too close to the city.

Once Ali is up, she can tell us what the fuck happened.

” Cash glares at the floor as he begins to pace, his thoughts no doubt spiraling.

“Someone came looking for her today while she was grabbing supplies. Claimed to be her family. When I told him I hadn’t seen her in weeks, he gave me a number to call in case she showed up.

” All of our heads snap to Shane, standing to the side staring at Ali with so much pain in his expression.

“When she got back, I told her about him. She called the number and they spoke before she said she had another errand to run.” He finally looks in my direction like he felt my eyes staring daggers at him.

“I told her she was stupid. That she needed to think whatever she was going to do through, but Ali listens to no man.” I narrow my eyes, but he looks back towards Ali.

“A couple hours later, I was getting ready to close up when a car pulled up and tossed her out the back. That’s when I brought her to you. ”

Arsen glances over his shoulder at Cash and me.

“If he was claiming to be concerned family, it was Ethan. I feel like the carved MINE…” he grinds out the word mine, pausing to take a deep breath before continuing.

“…is a message to us. With what I’ve learned from the club girls, the sick fuck has some type of twisted fantasy that Ali belongs to him.

” I snarl at the asshole’s name as Arsen goes about delicately wiping at Ali’s skin, trying to wash away as much of the blood and grime as he can, but it doesn’t seem to be doing much. There is just so much.

“Then let’s hunt the fucker down,” I state all matter-of-fact-like because I’m also very serious.

“No.” is all Cash says before he turns to Shane again. “Do you remember anything else?” Shane takes a second to think before he shakes his head no.

“Once I saw it was Ali, I didn’t think, I just rushed to her.

I know it was a dark sedan, but that’s all I really noticed.

” Cash nods before he continues to pace.

Arsen continues to clean off Ali’s pale skin while Shane and I just sort of stand there, not sure what to do.

I want to help Arsen take care of our woman, but she needs a gentle touch, not mine. Not while I’m like this.

It’s silent for a few minutes, all of us lost in our thoughts, when Shane suddenly clears his throat.

We all turn to face him and he winces at our combined stares.

When he stays quiet I cock a brow in question.

“Oh. I umm- I know a place that you all can stay where no one will find you. My dad and I have a cabin that we built when I was younger. We used to go hunting a lot. It’s nothing fancy and probably needs a good cleaning, and you’ll need supplies and-“ He shakes his head when he realizes he’s rambling.

“No one knows about it but me and him. It’s a few hours out of town, but it would be a good spot to…

” He glances over towards Ali. “To recover and figure out your next step.” Cash starts to nod.

“Can you take us tonight?” Cash asks, but Shane is already shaking his head.

“I can’t go with you. I have too much going on here, plus I should stay in case that asshole comes back around. But I can get you a map and supplies you might need. There’s a small town not too far from the cabin if you need additional supplies as well, so you can stay as long as you all need.”

“Thank you, Shane. I know this isn’t your fight, but we will repay you tenfold,” Cash tells him, pulling out his phone and doing whatever he does to get shit done. I, on the other hand, glare at him. What does he get out of helping us? His eyes shift to mine before he lets out a deep sigh.

“Ali has come to be like a sister to me. All I ask is that you take care of her. She doesn’t deserve what she’s been through.

But I will ask for one thing.” My glare narrows at his request for something.

“When you finally go after the guy who did this to her, make it hurt.” My glare transforms into a wicked grin as I nod.

“Now that I can promise.”

I t takes Shane and Cash a bit of time to get everything together, but a few hours later we are ready to hit the road.

Shane had made a list of everything we might need, letting us know the cabin would have extra blankets, toiletries, and a bit of pre-cut firewood.

He gave us the address of a shop in the closest town as a GPS point for our phones, but then he handed over a paper map with a highlighted route to where his cabin is.

After loading up everything, we were off.

Cash was in the driver’s seat, I sat shotgun, while Arsen held a still passed-out Ali in the back seat.

Shane was able to get his hands on some strong pain meds and a bottle of antibiotics, which is great since we can't risk going to a doctor.

Before we left, Arsen was able to clean Ali off enough that we could take in the extent of her injuries.

While we knew she would have quite a few cuts, due to all the blood that had dried to her skin and the carved word on her thigh, I wasn't prepared for the sight that greeted us.

When Ali left earlier in the day, her skin was a smooth, creamy, art-filled masterpiece.

Once the blood was wiped away, what was left was a dozen slice marks cutting across her skin in little crisscross patterns.

Many crossing out her artwork. Among the cuts, black and blue skin replaced her creamy pale flesh.

Her eyes were swollen shut, she had a split lip, and busted skin across her left cheek.

Ali looked like she went through a meat grinder, maybe even through it a few times.

It was hard to keep my eyes off her before all this, but now it’s even harder, but not for the same reason.

Every time I glance at my wife, I want to kill someone.

Mainly the person who thought they could touch her, hurt her like this, and get away with it.

For someone who was apparently obsessed with my girl, Ethan had a funny way of showing it.

But we've come to realize the man is sick in the head.

Ali is his half-sister, for crying out loud, but he still has some sick fantasy of being with her.