Page 20 of His Flawed Ride (Sons of Lost Souls MC #16)

Chapter Eighteen

Shane

W e’ve been waiting for days to catch a sighting of Lily and when we finally had her, she flipped the damn script. It was all for nothing.

“I still don’t get why you let her go back. We should’ve just grabbed her, we could’ve been out of this shit hole and on our way home,” Zach rants.

Slade doesn’t mutter a single word. My phone rings and Annie’s name covers the screen. I send her to voicemail and focus on the here and now.

“We should just grab her and when Hopper comes for her, we wipe him out,” I tell them all like it’s the simplest plan ever created.

“Why are you so desperate to get her back?” Slade questions accusingly. “You’re acting like she’s your old lady.”

I step back as he steps closer to me. I can’t answer fast enough before he’s in my face.

“Tell me what’s going on between you and my sister.”

Taking a deep breath, I take my chances and tell him, “I spent the night with her when she first got to town. I fuckin’ swear it to you, brother, I didn’t know she was your sister!”

I see his fist hurtling toward my face and though my instincts are screaming to move, I take the hit on my chin. I fucked the man’s sister, more than once not that he knows that. What shocks me is what next comes out of his mouth.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have hit you.”

What shocks me more is the words out of my mouth, “It’s fine. I get it.”

“Nah, it’s not fine. It weren’t your fault. My sister would sleep with the devil if it meant not being alone.”

No one says anything in Lily’s defence because they all agree with him. Slade paces the motel room and I fall onto the bed and kick back. It’s obvious that whatever happens next is Slade’s decision. Myles switches on the TV, and Zach watches his father.

Slade’s pacing keeps an edge in the room and as the minutes roll by, he doesn’t stop. Not until he’s came to a decision.

“Fuck it. I’m just gonna call him.”

“Who? Hopper?” Zach asks for conformation.

“Yeah.”

Frowning, son asks father, “Do you honestly expect him to just give her over? It didn’t work out well the last time.”

“We’ll find out,” Slade mutters.

He calls Lily’s phone until his call is picked up. I sit up as if it means I’ll be able to hear any better.

My phone rings, Annie again, I send her to voicemail and switch my phone onto silent.

Slade puts the call on speaker and the room falls silent.

“No call before you got here?” a gruff voice fills the line.

“No worse than what you offered,” Slade retorts.

“Fair enough. I take it you’re here for your sister? And don’t tell me, you’re not leaving until I hand her over.”

The sarcasm oozes from him.

Slade flexes his hands into fists, but he keeps his calm, somehow.

“What’s it gonna take? Name your price, everyone’s got one.”

The line goes quiet while the fucker thinks it over.

“Luckily for you, I’ve grown tired of her. I’ll tell you what, you bring me thirty grand and you can have her.”

Slade doesn’t hesitate. “Let me know where and when.”

The call ends.

“Where are we getting thirty thousand from?” Zach enquires.

“Give me a minute.”

Slade makes another call. “Leo, Hopper’s gonna give Lily back for thirty thousand.”

“Can you cover it? Cause the club ain’t gonna pay it. Sorry, brother.”

“Fine.”

Slade hangs up and returns to pacing. It drives me crazy, but I keep my mouth shut.

The sound of tires peeling away from the motel has us going to the window. I catch the taillights of a dark van leaving before my gaze drops to a crumbled heap on the parking lot ground.

Myles casually opens the door and steps outside. The rest of us follow suit and then Slade and Zach are running toward the heap.

It’s Lily and in a state I’ve never seen a woman in before. Both of her eyes have swollen shut, discolored with bruising. Her entire face is unrecognisable through the blood and bruises.

Slade goes to scoop her up into his arms, but she cries out and it takes all of us to carry her in and place her on the bed.

“Call an ambulance!” Slade roars.

“No! No hospital!” Lily shrieks. “I just need to get cleaned up.”

“Talk to me, Lil, tell me what I can’t see. Where are you hurt?”

She can barely see through the bruised swelling, but Slade must see something in her eyes.

“No,” he chokes out.

“What?” I ask, not catching what’s transpiring between brother and sister.

“Nothing. Someone get me some water and towels.”

Zach fetches what his dad needs and Myles steps outside.

Lily passes out and Slade’s quick to check her pulse. The relief on Slade’s face hits me hard.

“Turn around. I want to take a look at what she’s not telling me while she’s out for the count.”

I do as he orders but I have a clear view in the mirror. Just from the sound of her rattling breaths, I’m certain she has a broken rib or two. More bruises cover her ribs and stomach.

“I should never have thrown her out of my life. I should’ve known something like this would happen to her.”

“You couldn’t have known that, Slade,” I try to soothe him.

He laughs sadly. “Yes, brother, I knew it as well as I do my own name. I can’t begin to count the amount of times I thought she’d be in this state when she’d call me in the middle of the night for help getting away from this asshole or that.”

Her thighs are also covered in bruises. I think I catch a boot print and it turns my stomach.

Zach returns with bottles of water and an armful of towels. Slade covers his sister and I take the towels to help.

“I’ll take care of her, you two go wait outside.”

Neither of us argue with Slade. I hold the door open for Zach and close it gently once we’re outside.

“She still alive?” Myles asks.

“Of course she is,” Zach snaps, then sighs. “Dad’s cleaning her up.”

I light a cigarette and lean against the wall. It always amazes me how a man can hurt a woman. It would’ve taken a sadistic rage to inflict such violence like that on Lily. I don’t know Hopper well but from what I’ve heard, he is capable of anything and most likely enjoyed it.

“We shouldn’t hang around here long. He knew where we were to drop her off,” Myles says.

“She won’t be able to drive. We’ll need a van so one of us can drive her and store our bike in the back.”

Myles nods to Zach and stands. “I’ll go acquire one.”

They don’t hang around and it’s not until Zach and I are alone that I feel tension.

“That time we arrived back from Dog City, you wanted to know who the woman was talking with my dad, you had a strange look on your face. That was when you… stayed the night with her, wasn’t it?”

I nod, then take the longest pull on a cigarette I’ve ever inhaled.

“I fuckin’ swear it, I didn’t know she was related to half the fuckin’ club.”

“I believe you. Shit, I’m not surprised she’s ended up like this, but it still makes me sick someone could do that to a woman.

It’s like I know my aunt, but she’s always had this vulnerable trap about her.

Like, you know she’s trouble, but you can’t still help feel sorry her. I don’t know, my head is scrambled.”

It’s a while before Slade appears and informs us, “She’s sleeping.”

Neither Zach or I say a word. He takes Zach’s blunt with a shaking hand and digs out his phone.

He calls Leo and puts the call on speaker.

“Have you sorted out the cash to get your sister back yet?”

“Don’t need to. He dumped her outside the motel, beaten to a pulp. I want your permission to kill the fuckin’ lot of them.”

“I get you’d want to escalate the war for your sister, but I can’t allow it.”

“Leo, you haven’t seen what they’ve done to her. Beaten… raped…”

Leo hisses over the line. “Slade. Listen to me, brother, I will not give you permission to go on a suicide mission with only three brothers in a city flooded with Hades Hogs. It’s not a risk, over Lily, I’m willing to let you take.”

“You’re my president and I…”

“And you’ll listen to me. Do not retaliate, Slade.” The warning is clear in his tone. It leaves no room for a misunderstanding on Slade’s part.

“She’s my sister,” Slade sobs then quickly gets himself together.

Leo softens when he says, “I know, but the club is bigger than a woman who knew exactly what she was getting into. Come home…”

“Is Lily allowed to return?”

“For now. When she’s healed, we’ll reevaluate.”

The call ends and Slade goes to throw his phone when Zach grabs his wrist and stops him.

“Mom will be pissed if she can’t get a hold of you. It’s not worth the few seconds of release.”

Slade nods then punches the wall. “Where’s Myles?”

I answer him, “He’s gone to find a van. He wants leave when he gets back.”

“And we will. One of you find a store and buy bottles of water and painkillers. She’s gonna need relief when she wakes for longer than a few seconds.”

I stroll down the street to the local store and grab everything Slade needs. I pick up another pack of smokes and make my way back to the motel to see Myles is back with a van.

Slade’s bike is missing from where it was parked before I left and by the time I join my brothers, Myles and Zach are heaving one of the motel matrasses into the back of the van.

Glancing into the back of the van, Slade’s bike is strapped down tight and so is Zach’s.

There’s little room left for the mattress but enough to see her home, more comfortable than sitting up front. Father and son carry out a broken Lily and lay her down on the mattress, her whimpering in her dazed state.

“Let’s get the fuck home,” Slade barks.