Page 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Summerville Cannon

T he clubhouse has fewer and fewer people, and Cannon hangs up the phone after hearing from Hannah that Sutton's okay. It bothers him that she won't even answer his call. After all the space he's given her, she should know that if he's calling, it's important.

Venom walks in and grabs a beer from behind the bar. “Thought you and Colt went to check on Marnie at the bar,” Cannon says to him.

“She's fine. There were no Kingsmen there. An ass-grabbing motherfucker I broke the arm of, but that was about it,” Venom says, popping the top off the bottle of beer in his hand. “Colt went back to his house after we had a beer at mine. Didn’t want to stay home.”

Nelson walks in and moves to Cannon. “Did you get in touch with Sutton? Is she okay?”

“Hannah did,” Cannon says. “Didn't answer for you, either?”

“Nope. She's fucking done with my ass. Not that I don't deserve it. I'm a fucking moron.”

“Yeah, you are,” Venom says with a smirk. “Oh, calm down. When things settle with her, she'll talk to you. You can make it up to her. You know, if you really want to.”

He shakes his head. “No, Cannon's daughter is fucking stubborn.”

“And you're Mr. Flexible?” he asks. “Come on, man. You fucked up, and everyone knows it. There's no reason to pretend otherwise.”

“Why the fuck are you so insightful? You decide to come off your shadow-clad wall and join the rest of the living? If I didn't know any better, you could be a fucking vampire. All shadows and evil doings.”

Cannon laughs. “You watch too much TV, you know that?”

“Whatever-”

He's cut off by Cannon's phone ringing. Sutton's name appears on the screen, and his stomach drops. “Hey, kid-”

“Go away!” Sutton screams, and both Venom and Nelson step closer. She's crying, and she sounds scared. “Ryan, leave my apartment!”

“Sutton?”

“Dad?” she sobs. “Please... please help me. He says he'll kill you, but I think he might kill me.”

The fear in her voice has him already moving towards the door with Nelson and Venom both in tow. “I'm on my way, baby!”

“What the fuck?” Venom asks.

“Her dad... real dad...” Nelson says as he jumps on his bike.

“I'm gonna kill that motherfucker,” Cannon says as they drive the five blocks to Sutton's apartment building.

They hop off their bikes, and Cannon tries to figure out how to get to her apartment. He knows he can't just buzz her place and expect Ryan to let them in. And Sutton sounded locked in a room, so she can't do much. If she could do that, she'd have run out of there already rather than calling him.

“Fucking hell,” he growls. “There's always people walking out of this place to get inside.”

Venom walks around the ground level apartments and tries opening all of the sliding doors. He finds one open, and he waves them over. “Come on.”

“You're just walking into someone's place?” Nelson asks, his voice low but still walking over to them.

“You think you can scale the fucking building, Spiderman ?” Venom hisses at him.

The three of them make it through the place without running into the tenant, but Venom has his guard up and ready to handle it should someone come out of a room and surprise them. For the first time in a long time, Cannon's thankful for this man in the club. Scary as hell, but he does come in handy in times like this.

He lets Cannon and Nelson guide him up the three flights of stairs to her apartment. Cannon growls as he tries to open it. “Fuck, it's locked.”

“Well, that's easy,” Venom says as he slams his entire body weight into the front door, breaking it and knocking it down.

“For a smallish dude, you're fucking strong,” Nelson admits.

“Nothing small about me, motherfucker,” he says as they run inside.

The entire place has been trashed with everything that could be broken, shattered, torn, or ripped in half. The television has been ripped off the wall and slammed on the floor, the couch cushions are all cut up with the filling spilling out, and the coffee table looks like someone slammed into it.

Ryan sprints out of the bedroom with a kitchen knife in his hand, and he glares at Cannon. “I told her I'd fucking kill you if you ever came near me!”

Venom grabs his arm with the knife, twisting it behind his back, and taking the knife from him. “Now, now, if you're going to fight, you need to play fair.”

“Come at me, motherfucker,” Cannon growls. “You won't stand a chance without that fucking knife.”

“I've always wanted to kill a dirty biker,” Ryan says, sneering as Venom releases him.

Nelson stares at the man with disgust. “You ain't got shit, asshole.”

“Yeah, you have like four teeth and are clearly tripping on something. Besides, you're outnumbered. Any last words before you take your final breaths?” Venom asks.

“You don't know shit. That's my kid in there, and I'm going to do whatever the fuck I want. I was content with just taking her money, but then she sprayed me with mace. Fucking bitch. No doubt inherited that from her mama.”

In a split second, Nelson takes a swing and sends Ryan flying into the torn-up couch. “Fuck you. Don't you ever fucking say a word about her like that again.”

Ryan laughs and wipes his mouth. “Sutton or her mother? Into MILFs are you?”

“Don't entertain him,” Venom says. “He wants to piss you off because in his world, that puts you off your game. Don't let him.”

“And who the fuck are you?”

Laughing like a maniac, Venom steps closer to him. “I'm the type of man pathetic guys like you have nightmares about. If Cannon gives me the word, I'll make you cry out for your non-existent daddy. Let me guess, he left to go get milk and never came back? No... cigarettes. You seem more white trash than that. Actually, no, your mother never knew who your father was, did she?”

“Keep my mom out of your mouth!” he shouts.

“Why? No one else ever had to. Did you watch her while she whored herself out for drug money? That where you learned that drugs can make the bad times a little duller?”

He cracks his neck as he glares at Venom. “I'll fucking kill you.”

“No, you won't,” Venom says as he laughs. “If this wasn't Cannon's fight, I'd have you completely toothless with every fucking joint in your body broken. I'd watch you lying on the ground, flapping around like a fish out of water. All I need is the word, and you won't know what fucking happened to you.”

Cannon stares at Venom, and the look on his face tells him there's no exaggeration in his statement. The man really would do something that crazy.

“I vote we let Venom do what he does best,” Nelson says. “Make this asshole regret ever coming here to Sutton's home.”

“She doesn't deserve to walk out to see him still alive,” Cannon says. “Come at me, asshole.”

Without additional coaxing, Ryan rushes to Cannon. Cannon catches him, flips him around to face away from him, and puts him in a headlock. Moving into the kitchen, he holds out his hand for the knife Venom took, and he stabs Ryan repeatedly in the chest, conscious not to shove it deep enough to hit his own chest.

Venom grabs a towel from the oven and shoves it into his mouth as he screams out in pain. Cannon never stops stabbing until the asshole falls limp and becomes dead weight.

“Do me a favor and try and get the blood cleaned up, so it doesn’t stain.”

“Got it,” Venom says. “My way would have been more satisfying, but this was fun to watch, too.”

“Sutton!” Cannon calls and runs into the bedroom through a broken door. The bathroom door is still intact, but there are slits from the knife he used as a weapon. “Sutton! It's me, baby.”

“Dad?” Sutton cries and opens the door.

“It's okay. He can't hurt you. He'll never hurt you again,” he says as she falls into his arms.

Sobs take over, and he guides her to the bed to find the one spot that has minimal broken items on it. His hand rubs her back as she clings to him, and he loves the feeling of hearing her call him Dad .

“I'm so sorry, Dad. I'm sorry. So, so sorry.”

“For what?”

“For thinking you're not my dad. You're my dad. You'll always be my dad. I'm so sorry!”

He holds her as she sobs and rubs her back. “Sutton, how did all of this happen?”

Nelson and Venom appear in the doorway as she sobs. “He just showed up. He got in from someone leaving, and he forced his way in here. Started talking about how he and Mom were in love, how I was named after his grandma, and I knew he was lying. Everything he said was just a ruse, but he was already inside. Everything in me screamed he was here for a bad reason, but I couldn't do anything.”

“It's not your fault,” he says softly, his hand still rubbing her back.

He sees Nelson look almost sick as he watches Sutton, and she refuses to release Cannon's arm. It feels like he's an anchor keeping her from floating away, and he doesn't even care that her nails dig into his skin.

“He wanted money. Said he wanted to get to know me, but he needed money. That I could help him with that. I tried to get him out of the apartment, but he shut the door and locked it. I threw my cards at him, and I saw the pepper spray I had. When he was distracted, I sprayed him and locked myself away. He said he'd kill you if you tried to hurt him, but I needed you. I'm sorry!”

“Never be sorry for needing me, baby,” he says and kisses the top of her head. “Never, ever.”

“Is it all broken?” she asks and looks to Venom and Nelson. “I could hear him breaking everything. Is there anything... is there anything left?”

“Stuff can be replaced,” Venom says. “But you're not hurt? He didn't get to you?”

“He stabbed the fucking door,” she says and points at it with a hiccup. “I've been scared before, but this was... terrifying. Worse than clowns.”

Cannon smiles at her. “And we know you refused to ever go to the circus again when you learned they had clowns.”

“Is he gone?” she asks, a small smile on her face.

Nelson nods, a look on his face Cannon can't decipher. Pity? Empathy? “In the broad sense.”

“We'll take care of him,” Venom says, grabbing Nelson and pulling him from the bedroom.

Standing, Sutton walks to the doorway to see Ryan dead on the ground. “You killed him?”

“He was going to hurt you-”

“Thank you,” she says and wipes her tears. “I never should have doubted you. I'm so sorry. When I locked myself in the bathroom, there was only one person I wanted to call. I knew I could call you, even though I've been so horrible.”

“Sutton-”

“I have,” she says, fresh tears falling from her eyes. “I was so lost, but I'm not anymore. No more.”

He stands and moves to hug her against him. “I'm here. Always have been, and I always will be.”

“Ryan started talking about how he wanted to be the father I needed. The one I didn't have, and I wanted to hit him for it. Because he had no idea what kind of father I had, and I sure as hell didn't need anyone else. I have a father. A great one, and he would be nothing good. Nothing.”

“I'm always here, Sutton. No matter what. And I know you were dealing with everything. It was hard, but I never once thought of you as anything but my daughter. My little girl. And you can't get rid of me, kid. No matter how hard you try. You can tell me you hate me and want me to die, but if you called telling me you needed me, I'd be there in a heartbeat.”

“I love you, Dad.”

Holding back tears of his own, he hugs her tighter. “I love you more, kid.”