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Chapter Twenty-Eight

Summerville Dax

“ C an't you go any faster?” Dax asks, his leg bouncing in the passenger seat in the pickup Colt drives to his house.

“I could, but you guys never souped up the fucking engine. I have the pedal pressed to the floor.”

When they pull up outside, Dax doesn't even wait for Colt to shift into park before he jumps out of the pickup and runs into the house through the kicked-down front door. Hearing Lex tell Colt the Kingsmen tried to get Dani has him feeling as though he's on the edge of cliff and ready to jump. He hears Lex and Dani talking, and he stops as Colt joins him while they stare at the sight of the two dead men with bullet holes between their eyes in the opening of the kitchen.

“Dani, you must know something. They wouldn't have wanted to take you back if you didn't,” Lex says.

They can't see the women, but they can hear them. And Colt gives him a strange look, but Dax just holds a hand up. He doesn't want to interrupt them and make Dani clam up before she can share what she may not even know she knows.

“I don't know what you want me to say,” Dani says, and Dax can hear the shake in her voice from the unshed tears.

“You need to share what you know. I know you don't want to remember or relive anything, but there's something they think you know that will keep them coming for you. Until we know what it is to get a leg up, you're at risk. We may as well have just left you in the basement.”

Dax's anger flares up at this, but he remembers what Tripp said. Tough love mixed with fierce protectiveness. Dani has to know Lex will do whatever she needs to in order to protect her, considering there are two men lying dead right now.

“I don't know how.”

Sniffling, Lex sighs. “I was kidnapped by the Slashers. Three other old ladies and I were held captive for three days.”

“What?”

“Yeah, and I was the one they really wanted. They shocked us with old battery chargers. Mel was burned with cigarettes and cigars. Heidi was choked with a belt until she passed out and woken up to do it all over again. And again and again.”

Dani gasps, and Dax looks at Colt, who just nods as he looks at the ground. The man really does have an idea of what Dax feels.

“What about the third one?” Dani asks.

“We don't talk about Autumn. She's fine. And a coward bitch,” she says. “When they took me, I was outside the Black Valley clubhouse. They beat me after I got a few solid hits in and knocked me out. After shocking me, they stripped me down to my underwear, shackled me to a giant steel table, and they waterboarded me for information on our supplier. The water was disgusting. So disgusting that I thought I had a parasite or something because I got so sick.”

A small gasp comes from his wife. “They waterboarded you?”

“When that didn't work, they strapped me to a chair. Scarface cut along my collarbone and splashed me with cheap alcohol. Whiskey, I think. Then he and Red beat the shit out of me, trying to get me to answer their questions. Oh, at one point, Red whipped it out and threatened to shut me up with his pathetic dick, but I threatened to bite it off. Melanie was able to get out of a window and get help. She saved me from anything worse that would have likely happened. Got me out of that place barely alive.”

There's a pause. “He threatened to shut you up with his...?”

“Yep. But the worst was when I got out. I thought I'd gotten something from the disgusting well water they used, but, long story short, I had been pregnant before I was taken and didn't know it. And when I went to the doctor, I wasn't so pregnant anymore. I don't know the exact cause of how it happened, but if I was going to bet money, I'd say it was from the beatings I took.”

Looking at Colt, Dax feels his heart break for the man as he just hangs his head and wipes his eyes with his index finger and thumb. No wonder Lex said she could relate to Dani. It was shorter lived, but she lost something big at the hands of a rival. A rival of the club, not her. God, they lost a baby.

“How do you get through it?” Dani asks, pulling Dax from his thoughts.

“For starters, I keep guns in the house and shoot bad men who want to hurt people. Or I bash in the faces of club bunnies telling me they're fucking my husband. I think that one helps more than shooting, actually, but they both seem really effective.”

“Wait, you called him Scarface?”

Colt and Dax make their presence known, and Dani jumps at the sight of them. “Nice aim, baby,” Colt says, kissing Lex's temple.

“Thanks, hun,” Lex says and looks back at Dani. “His real name was O'Malley. I have no idea what his first name was, which I assume he had one, but he had scars on half of his face because Psycho shot him. The fucker refused to die, and he really liked me. A lot. Severely creepy.”

“Really fucking creepy,” Colt says and rubs her shoulders. “He'd watch us having sex and send her his version of love notes. Which really just detailed everything he wanted to do to her when he got her.”

Dani's eyes stare hard at Lex. “And he was the President of the Savage Slashers? Were their kuttes a shamrock and a dagger or something like that?”

“Yeah,” Lex says and reaches out to take her hand. “What is it, Dani?”

She swallows and glances at Dax but refuses to keep eye contact. The look on her face makes Dax want to vomit. “I know him. Knew him. The scarred guy. All I know is that the Kingsmen and the Slashers worked together. The scarred one would come with a man in a suit to the basement. They... they'd hurt me. Together. Once, when they thought I was passed out, the one in the suit asked Scarface why the President of the Kingsmen wanted me, and why he demanded I stay alive. I never heard who he was, and if I asked anyone, they'd beat me.”

Rage he's never felt before makes Dax shake as he stares at the two dead men, his fists clenched at his sides. All he wants is blood. Lots and lots of blood.

“The man in the suit... do you remember anything about him?” Lex asks.

She looks up at the ceiling. “He was Russian. Some organization that dealt with guns, I think. His accent was really thick, and I tried to disappear when I heard him upstairs.”

“Was his name Dimitri?” Colt asks.

Dani shakes her head. “No, I never heard anyone by that name. I know his name. Ian? No, that was the guy Kara was trying to get in with.”

Lex gasps and stands, backing away until she hits the counter, her face pale. Dax looks at Colt, who looks as concerned as Dax feels.

“Ivan?”

“Yeah, that’s the guy’s name.”

“ I thought Ivan said she would break. ”

Tensing, Colt keeps his voice under control. “Lex, what did you just say?”

“That's... that's the name from the basement,” she says, her eyes wide as she looks at her husband. “The man who told Scarface I was the one who had the information they wanted. Red told Scarface that Ivan said I'd break when they were beating me. He's... he's RIO, isn't he?”

Her breathing picks up, and Dax is surprised by the tears in her eyes. He's not quite understanding what's happening, and Dani rushes to Lex. “Lex, what's going on? What's wrong? Who’s Ivan?”

Colt's teeth are clenched, and his nostrils flare. “Motherfucker.”

“What?” Dax asks.

“He's the one who delayed giving us resources to take out the Slashers. Which all makes fucking sense now if he's the one who was working with them and told them to take my fucking wife.”

The scared woman Dax has known since getting Dani back disappears as she rubs Lex's arms. “Lex, are you okay? You're scaring me. Say something.”

“We were betrayed by the club's supplier,” Lex says. “And it went further than just me. No... I'm not okay. I'm the furthest thing from okay.”

Colt moves quickly and pulls Lex into his arms, holding her tightly. She clings to him, and Dax can see her mind turning and every emotion she feels washing over her face. He gets it now. She knows more about the club than most women. More than Dani ever did, and he never really hid much from her. Dani knew not to ask, but Lex grew up in the club. There's no way she wouldn't have picked up anything.

“It still doesn't make sense,” Lex says and pulls away from Colt. “Dani was taken before me. That means that the RIO, or at least Ivan, was working with the Kingsmen, but we weren't affiliated with the Hellraisers at that time. It was completely unrelated to us. There is something with the President of the Kingsmen and Dani. The Slashers and Ivan seem opportunistic, not plan-forward.”

“They weren't in on the whole fucking the Drifters over from the beginning?” Colt asks.

She shakes her head. “No, I don't think so. Not for the same reasons as the Slashers. And I don't think they'd give a shit if Ivan was trying to take over the RIO. There's something with the President of the Kingsmen. That ties it all together, but what did they want with Dani? And why would they bother fucking with the Drifters?”

Dax admires her. She should be sick and running away, but she's looking at this entire situation like a puzzle. No wonder Griffin's Beach relied on her. She's fucking smart.

“We'll figure it out,” Dax assures, and Dani moves over to stand by him.

It's the closest she's been to him aside from his motorcycle, and he wants to melt when she reaches out and takes his hand. It's a small gesture, but it's one he hasn't had since he got her back.

“We can't stay here,” Lex says and looks at Colt. “They're going to keep coming for her.”

“Everyone needs to get to Griffin's Beach,” Colt says. “I'll give Dad a heads up to work with Jennings and VP. We've got safe houses for the family, but we need to move now . No packing. The Kingsmen may escalate, especially when they realize they lost two of their guys. They've been laying low, so they're probably just waiting to pounce.”

“Let's start making calls,” Dax says, reluctantly pulling his hand from Dani's. Before he releases it completely, he kisses her knuckles gently to let her know how much this means to him.