Page 25

25

MERCY

I rush into the clubhouse looking around for my little lamb. When I don’t find her right away, the monster tries to take hold. I fight him back so I can think clearly and not rain down pure havoc on the people of the club. I spot Charlie as she comes out of the kitchen caring a tray of clean glasses. Once again, I scan the great room, taking account of everyone there.

“Hey Charlie.” I start toward the bar. “Have you seen Little Lamb?”

Charlie looks up at me with pure sadness in her eyes. “Not since you stormed out of here and she walked away with Raider.”

“Fuck!” I slam a fist down on the bar before turning around to look for Raider.

I don’t see him in the great room. When I don’t find him, I holler for the man like a child screaming for their mother. “Raider.”

When he doesn’t answer, I call out for him again as I make my way across the room toward the hall that leads to his office. I make it about halfway down the hallway, still yelling for Raider, when he finally pulls the door to his office open.

“Goddamn it, why are you screaming my name like a little bitch?” he snaps, glaring at me.

“Where the hell is she?” I growl, fisting his shirt in my hand, pulling him so we are nose-to-nose.

The sound of a pistol being chambered doesn’t even register in with fury building inside of me. Raider cocks an eyebrow at me in warning.

“Mercy, let go of our VP,” Blitz grumbles from behind me.

“I’ll let him go when he tells me where in the fuck Ainsley is,” I tell him, shaking the man.

“No, you will let him go right the fuck now. We’ve got enough shit going down right now. You storming around the clubhouse like a rage fucking bear isn’t needed. Now let him the fuck go,” Blitz states.

Raider smirks. “Why don’t we step into my office?”

“I will step into your office when you tell me where I can find her,” I snap, unable to see or hear reason in this moment.

“She is safe,” Raider tells me.

“Unless you’re going to tell me she is in my room with a prospect on the door, then I need to fucking see her right the fuck now.” I’m vibrating with anger at this point and about to explode.

“Pull up the cameras. Let’s show him what he’s asking for so we can get this meeting underway. The faster it’s done, the faster the rot can be removed from within.” Raider calls over to Hermes, who is sitting in a chair across from Raider’s desk.

“Yes, sir,” Hermes calls, clicking a few things before turning the computer toward me.

Slowly I let go of Raider and step into the office toward the computer. What I see is Ainsley asleep on the little mattress. I watch it closely, and after a few heartbeats, I notice something strange. I watch it again and see the same thing.

“Someone set a stopwatch. Get ready to start it when I say.” I lean closer to the screen and watch intently.

“What are you seeing?” Blitz asks, leaning in close behind me.

“Now,” I call as I watch the shadow move across the floor.

“Stop,” I bark when the shadow changes.

When the shadow shifts in the exact same pattern, I shout, “Now!”

I see the same shift in the other direction and call for them to stop.

“That was the same exact time. Mercy, what are you seeing?” Hermes’s words are all that I need to confirm what I thought.

“Damn it, son,” Blitz exclaims, as I turn beating feet to get to the cell door.

I hear Blitz telling the others what we saw. The camera feed was on a loop. What they thought they were watching live wasn’t, and that means we have no damn idea of what is happening in that cell. When I arrive at the place in the wall that conceals the door that acts as a cell for those we don’t plan to necessarily cause physical harm to, I place my hand on the wall just over the palm reader and the door unlatches. The lock on the door hisses as it slides open. I slam through the door and the sight in front of me removes all reason.

Relic is sitting on Ainsley’s back, holding her in a choke hold. Her hair is wild, and her shirt is ripped and laying awkwardly over her body. Her face is red as his hold is meant to kill her.

“Mercy, she tried to fucking kill me. I was just protecting myself,” Relic’s panicked voice carries across the room.

The monster is in full control at this point. I march across the room without a word and punch the man in the temple. As soon as I make contact, he is out cold. He collapses on top of Ainsley, who is gasping for oxygen. A shadow falls over me as I reach out and pull the soon-to-be dead fuck off my little lamb. I drop him unceremoniously on the floor beside her. Reaching down, I scoop her up, holding her to my chest as I turn to leave the room, not looking back.

Raider, Blitz, Remedy, and Terro are standing in the hall when I get out there. They all give me a head nod as I make my way past them.

“Don’t touch him until I get there. He will pay for it all.” My tone is enough to make them all take a large step back from me.

“He’ll be there and waiting for you to arrive. Before we get started, there is something that I want you to see.” Raider’s two-tone eyes hold so much rage in them I know whatever it is he needs to talk about, I may not recover from.

“Does she need medical attention?” Remedy wonders, eyeing the still gasping woman in my arms.

“I’ll call you if we need you,” I tell him as I carry Ainsley through the great room to the hallway that leads to my room.

When we make it there, I push into my room, not bothering to turn on the lights as I make my way over to my bed. I sit on the edge, cradling her to my chest. I don’t say a word as she starts to breathe more normally.

“Mercy,” she whispers so low that I almost didn’t hear her.

“What is it, Little Lamb?” I ask her, running my still shaking hand up and down the outside of her thigh.

“Why didn’t you just let him kill me? You all want me dead, but you saved me.” Her words hurt worse than any blade Blender could throw at me.

How do I explain it to this woman? I continue my slow stroking of the outside of her leg as I think over how in the hell to tell her what is going on in my fucked-up head.

“Ainsley, to be honest, when I stormed out of this clubhouse earlier, all I wanted was for you to hurt the way I was hurting. To finally have someone feel even half of what Jenny felt before she died. When you showed up here, I was determined for that to be you.” Taking a deep breath, I turn her so we’re chest-to-chest and her legs are spread out over mine.

“I can understand that. I wish every day that I would have gone with her that night.” She drops her forehead on my shoulder. “That it would’ve been me they took. That I died instead of her.”

Hearing her say that is like a flash grenade going off in my head. Without a thought, I spin us so that she is pinned under me with her favorite accessory firmly in place. I don’t apply pressure, it’s more to make sure that I have her full attention. I reach over with my free hand and turn on the lamp beside us. The light casts a subtle glow over the room.

Ainsley eyes are wide, with a touch of fear and a touch of arousal, then turn bright with only trust. That look gives me pause because there has only been one person who has ever looked at me like that. The look that tells you they know you have them. That no matter what comes their way in the world, you’re going to be the one to take out any threat to them.

“Do not ever say something like that. Do I wish that someone else could take Jenny’s place in death? Yes. One thing that I will never recover from is if you were to be that one.” Taking a deep shuttering breath trying to erase that from my mind, I continue. “I am not like everyone else. I do not know what it is to be loved or to love someone. What I can give you is that with my every breath, I will protect you. Nothing and no one will ever cause you harm and go unpunished for it. If you are close to me, I will always watch to be sure that you are happy, healthy, and safe. I plan to teach and show you what your body can do when it’s wonderfully disrespected. Love is not an emotion I know, but if all those things equal that in your eyes, then okay.”

As I speak, Ainsley's eyes get wider and wider, but her body relaxes under my hold. As I get done talking, she reaches up, cupping my face with her small hand and a soft smile on her lips. My fingers flex around her throat, yet I still don’t apply any actual pressure. I know she’s going to be hurting from the choke hold Relic had on her.

“Mercy, I want that with my entire being. But I can’t do that to you.” Her words are so broken that the monster pushes forward.

My eyebrows draw down in confusion. “I don’t understand. I’m the fucking psychopath that kills people for nothing more than looking at me some days. The man that the club calls when they need someone morally black.”

“Which is another reason I can't. You have people who depend on you, and I could never take that away from them. Shit, who knows what would happen to Blender if you weren’t here.” Her voice has grown in strength the longer she speaks.

“Ainsley, you’re not making any sense,” I tell her, shaking my head.

Ainsley huffs in exasperation. “Mercy, everyone I love or care for ends up fucking dead. As much as I would truly love to see where this could go, I can’t take the risk of that happening to you.”

I try. I truly do, but I can’t stop the laughter that bubbles out of me. I roll off Ainsley, lying beside her, laughing for the first time since I was probably a child. She rolls up onto her elbow, smacking me on the chest, and glares at me.

“Why the fuck are you laughing at me?”

“Because Little Lamb. Many have tried to end me and I’m still breathing.” I cup her chin, pulling her to me so our lips are close together. “Do you want to know how many are still breathing?”

“That better not ever fucking change,” she whispers before crashing her mouth down on mine.

I run my hand up the side of her face, cupping the back of her head. She opens her mouth for me to explore her. She places her small hand on my chest, pushing me so I’m lying flat on my back, and she crawls over to straddle my waist. My free hand comes down, grabbing her hip to steady her. Ainsley grinds down on my hard cock.