Page 24

Chapter

Twenty-Four

Scarlett

I vaguely remember JB looking down at me, begging me to wake up and telling me he loves me. I’m still unsure if it was real or just my wishful thinking while still semi-conscious.

Then my dad was there, and in true Young Outlaw style, everything went crazy.

Smoke fussing by my side, but with what minimal energy I still had, I’d pushed up onto my elbows, and skimmed the room to find JB but with all the brothers in the room hustling around, pulling open cabinets, arms flaying as they showed their anger, I didn’t catch sight of him at all. I want him so badly. I needed to know he was okay, and I had unashamedly screeched at them, demanding to know. They gave me nothing in return, other than the odd sympathetic glare. No one was saying anything. My efforts zapped my last bit of energy, and I felt myself drifting off again to the sound of my dad shouting orders to his club brothers.

My dreams while unconscious were vivid, of Dunne, his hands around my neck, violating me as I choked. Gasping, desperate to get air in my lungs so I could fight back. My mouth was wide with the fear of what was about to play out, but the sound of my screams were silent. JB’s watchful eyes, steeped with pain, begging me to stay, but all I wanted to do was die. The pressure of the gun barrel pushing against my skull. Pull the trigger, pull the trigger. I love you JB, but I can’t survive this. Everything is behind a red haze. As it clears, all I see is JB, holding his blood-soaked arms out to me, smiling, and I fall into them, knowing in my heart that Dunne is dead and it’s all over.

Smoke

We were in the midst of discussing how we were going to handle Dunne and the DVI at church when my phone had pinged. Normally, I’d ignore it, but my phone was set up to give out a specific notification sound for only two people in my life. Tenley, I knew, was up at the cabin with Oriana, and as both of them were under strict instructions to let Stone or I know if they wished to leave the compound, that only left Scarlett.

Instantly, the hairs stood up at the back of my neck. Scarlett is a stubborn and independent woman, so there’s only one reason why she would ping my phone. She was in trouble.

“Church, suspended.” I growled when I checked my phone to find that it was indeed an SOS signal from Scarlett, but the tracker I’d installed, showed that she was at home. Still, I needed to check on her, make sure that everything was okay, that she wasn’t hurt. “Stone, Edge, Mayhem, we’re riding out now,” I’d barked at them.

“What’s going on Prez?” Stone quickly asked, already up on his feet and ready to move.

“Scarlett might be in trouble. We need to get over to her place, see what the fuck is going on.”

“Fuck,” Mammoth’s loud outburst quickly grabbed our attention. “JB’s just sent me these.” He’d handed me the phone, and as I flicked through the pictures, as soon as I got to one of Scarlett, my heart shot up into my throat.

“Rex, I need you to get to the cabin now, check on the girls, make sure they stay put. The prospects on the gate have orders to shoot to kill if anyone tries to get into the compound without my direct permission.” I’d shouted out the orders fast and furiously. “The rest of you, arm up, be outside in five and ready to ride out.”

We had ridden at a ludicrous speed, that would have made it hard for the Sherrif to turn a blind eye, to only take us fifteen minutes or the abouts, to get to Scarlett’s apartment. When I found the door still ajar, and the sight of Violet’s pot broken on the floor, I’d lost my shit. Stone quickly reasoned with me, shaking me out of my rage and grasping for my phone to check the tracking. It showed that she was on the move, not far from where JB had reported the DVI’s were hanging. It was quickly confirmed when my phone rang.

Ghost, who had been watching the place in case we needed to go in and grab JB out of there in a rush, was telling me that after seeing a woman being pulled from the trunk of a car, he’d moved in for a closer look, only then had he realized that it was Scarlett. He’d wanted to go in there and then to get her out of there, but the numbers were against him, however good the fucker is, so I told him to wait, that we were on our way but would need his input as soon as we got there.

We’d all scrambled back onto our rides and taken off like the devil, in seek of the guilty who would be destined for hell for this.

Breaching the premises was easy, especially as Ghost had a clear layout of the building. The two guards that they had circling the perimeter were easy targets. Ghost seeing to one, Mayhem the other, while the rest of us made our way inside. Their job done both followed behind, covering our backs when the shit started; fist fights, gunshots, breaking down doors. The tracker showed Scarlett was here, but it wasn’t clear exactly where. It didn’t take long for us to deduce that she must be on an upper level.

Three guys had come bursting out of a door at the top of the stairs, firing shots off erratically. We took cover, but it soon was clear that Dunne’s men were amateurs with zero weapon skills. They couldn’t hit a cow’s ass with a banjo, so it wasn’t hard for us to pick them off, one by one quickly.

At first, I thought of nothing other than getting to Scarlett. Although, finding JB laying with his head against her chest, pleading with her, his devastation almost choking him while he blurted out his love, had me stumbling for a moment. But my need to get to her was strong, so I pulled him away and took his spot. When she pushed herself to the limit, searching for just a glance of him, I was no longer blind to what I had desperately tried to ignore.

What we saw in that room had even my stomach rolling. The air had a metallic smell, and blood and brain fragments splattered the floor. Paddy (Jimmy) Dunne, was now barely recognizable after JB had pulverized his face with the Shamrock-encased paperweight. Talk about the luck of the Irish. Dunne had found his lucky charm in a rather unconventional way.

Dunne was fucking dead. JB had made sure of that. Although I hate to admit it, JB had done good, but I can’t deny that I’m also as pissed as fuck with him for robbing me of the chance to make Dunne suffer by my own hand.

It wasn’t until I’d shouted out orders, moving a foot or two away from Scarlett after realizing that she needed medical attention urgently, that I became aware JB was down too, and being hauled off the floor by Mammoth and Edge.

I’d grabbed Stone to find out what the fuck happened, but he’d just shrugged. Fortunately, Ghost had shot Doc a message once things started going down, so he’d been pulling up outside. After checking them both over, Doc concluded that nothing was life threatening, and neither were in need of hospitalization.

Scarlett had a slight concussion, emotional trauma and exhaustion, and required observation and pain meds. She was up and stubbornly wanting to see JB within a few hours. It was clear that she was bottling up her emotional pain at what she’d been through, the need to see him taking precedence.

JB’s diagnosis was somewhat of a surprise to us all, and not something we had heard of or would have guessed at either.

The strong adrenaline surge had caused his body’s ‘fight or flight’ response to overreact to an emotional trigger, causing a condition called vasovagal syncope. I think that’s what Doc called it. That, as well as the puncture wound on his side from a chunk of wood where Dunne had hit him, had put him into a state of unconsciousness. Although normally only for a short time, in his case, his brain had put his body into a temporary shutdown, to rest and recharge, and it was more than forty-eight hours before he’d started to come around and then only momentarily before he’d slip back into a deep sleep.

Scarlett had stayed by his bed as much as I’d allowed because she was still recovering, so I’d begged her to let Mammoth take up some of the vigil.

I checked in too occasionally, but only Mammoth was privy to that, and sworn to keep his trap shut.

Now JB is up and moving around, I’m giving him another twenty-four hours, but after that, we need to talk.