Chapter 26 – Tank
As I cross the border into Illinois on I-55, I look at the fuel gage and know that I will need to fill up before reaching home, which should take about four and half hours from here. I drive for three hours before pulling over to fill up the bike and grab a coffee to warm up a little. Late March is touch and go in the Midwest and although it could be colder, I am glad as fuck I am only a short drive away from home.
As I finish filling the tank I slowly walk inside the station and pour myself a cup of coffee. Taking my riding gloves off to warm my hands on the cup I reach into my pocket and take out my cell turning it on for the first time in four plus months. The screen fires up and I notice the number of missed text messages and calls, not taking time to run through any of them I pull up my dad’s number and dial.
“Tank, Abraham? Is that you son?”
“Yeah, it’s me dad. Sorry it’s so late, I have been riding through the last few days and am about three hours into Illinois, I’m headed home. I was just calling to let you and mom know so that you wouldn’t be surprised when I show up in a few hours. I am not sure how Blaze will handle the situation so I will stop over at the house first before heading into the Clubhouse to check in with him.”
“No, Abraham you can’t come here. You need to go to Pearl. The girls have been taken and most of brothers are heading up to go get them back from Layla.”
“Why the fuck would I do that, Dad? Pearl is the one who choose to fuck those fucking pieces of shit; I am done with that slut.”
Running a hand over my outgrown hair and beard I add, “Wait, and why the fuck would Layla do anything to Rose and Iris? What the fuck has been going on up there, Dad?”
“Abraham, it wasn’t like that at all that night. You did not walk in on Pearl fucking those guys for some kind of retribution towards you. She had been drugged and was getting raped by those two mother fuckers. You walked in on her getting fucking tortured and raped, Son.”
The phone drops to the ground along with the coffee cup in my hands as the words my father has just spoken register with me. As I scurry to pick up the phone off the ground I can hear my dad asking where I went.
“Dad, what do you mean, Pearl was raped that night? I thought that she was just getting even with me for Layla. I don’t fucking understand, she sent me text messages saying as much.”
“That was all Layla, boy. She had drugged Pearl’s drink earlier and then when her brother took Pearl, she took the phone and decided to text you a few messages to help with her plot to rid you of Pearl.”
Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out I continue to listen to my father explain the worst night of my life back to me in a totally new light. “I knew that you could not have done that to Pearl, Boy. From what I heard she had to have stitches in a few places and it took almost two weeks for her face to heal enough for her to go back to work. It even took a few days for Blaze to sort through the videos and figure out what the fuck had happened, because Pearl wasn’t talking much at that point.”
“So, Blaze thought that I did that to Pearl? He thought I could beat and rape her because I was what? A fucking monster? I was going to ask her to fucking marry me Dad, I loved her, I couldn’t do that to her.” Inhaling yet another deep breath to try and steady myself, I go on “Pearl thinks that I left her to be raped and beaten by those men? She thinks that I was cruel enough to walk in on that and just walk away without doing anything to stop it. Is that what she fucking thinks, Dad?”
“Son, I don’t really know what Pearl is thinking. I have only seen her a few times at the Clubhouse over the past few months, but she shies away from your mother and myself as much as she can. Mostly choosing to stay at Blaze’s side most of the time, if not there then with Trip or Doc mainly.”
“Why has she been at the Clubhouse at all? What the fuck has been going on up there since I have been gone? Fuck, never mind I’m heading there now. I will be at her house in about two and a half hours. Call the brothers and tell them I am coming.”
“Tank, there is something else that you should know,” is all I hear before I hang up on him. Bending over to pick up the dropped coffee cup and towel up the spilled coffee I make quick work of it before I head back out to my bike. Slipping my riding gloves and helmet back on I kick the bike into gear and peal out of there wanting nothing more than to reach Pearl.
Chapter 27 –Blaze
The brothers have made it up here in record time. We have the location of the girls and believe that Layla, her brother, Tick, and that other little fuck are all held up in the house together. It has only been four short hours since the girls have been taken so I am praying and hoping to all fuck that they are not injured. I will not be able to look Pearl in the eye if this plan to get these fuckwits backfires.
I am not sure what the fuck Tick was thinking but putting him in the ground will be one of my greatest pleasures in a long while. Not to mention Layla and the joy I will get out of gutting that fucking bitch and her brother as well.
Doc is going to bring the girls back to Pearl as soon as we get them and then head over to the house and help with the preparations. The two prospects, Country and Bull will watch Pearl, Iris, and Rose while we deal with these fuckers.
We would normally deal with this sort of situation in Chicago, but I refuse to take extra time getting to the retaliation that needs to occur. Bull and Country are staying with Pearl while we go to get the girls. I sent Trip and another brother to our house on the Drive to get the basement ready to host our visitors.
As I walk towards Pearl before we leave I notice that she has not returned my collar to her neck. Turning sharply to go into the kitchen and retrieve the collar I grab it and again approach Pearl.
“Pearl, put this back on, NOW.”
“Markus, I just “
“No, Pearl. Turn around and put it on then say goodbye to me.”
As she turns and I reach around her to put the necklace on her I go on, “I am not sure how long this will take, but Doc will bring our girls to you as soon as we get them back. It might take us some time for us to work out the issues we need to with Tick, Layla, and the other fucks so I am not sure when I will be able to be back. Country and Bull will sit with you until I can come back to you.”
Sliding my hands down her shoulders I spin her slowly around and take her mouth with mine. Pulling away I look down into her eyes “I love you Pearl, and there is nothing that I would not do to keep you and our family safe. Please know that I don’t want you to question this thing that we have or me. I will get our girls back and then we will talk, I really don’t fucking know how you could so quickly throw away what we share.”
Looking through her I see shame and guilt over her quick dismissal of us, “I love you for fucks sake, and I know that you love me in return. I cannot help who I am and how I deal with the fucking situations that come up, it is just the way it is, and you will learn to deal with it over time. Now, sit tight as we go and deal with these fuckers.”
As we are making our way out of Pearl’s house my phone starts ringing. Pulling it out of my pocket I glance down to see that it is Quake calling. I answer quickly “What’s up old man we are headed out right now, I don’t have much time to talk.”
“Prez, I am just calling to let you know that Tank is on his way back. He just called me to let me know he is close to home. He knew nothing about the rape or attack on Pearl all those months ago. After I told him what the current situation with Pearl is, he is heading straight to her instead of home. He will be there in about two and a half hours. I told him that I would call and let you know that he was on his way.”
“Great, just what I need to fucking deal with right now.” Hanging up the phone I stop in my tracks, holding my finger up to let the brothers know that I was just going to be a few seconds longer. Turning around I head back into the house to warn both Pearl and the prospects about this new development in my fucking shit of a day.
Reaching the prospects first I let them know that Tank is on his way up here and that Pearl will not want to see him. Telling them that she is emotional enough with the kidnapping of her daughters, she should not have with the added stress of seeing and dealing with that fucker Tank.
Quickly moving to find Pearl, I walk up to her stretched out on our bed.
“Pearl,” sitting down next to her I go on, “Quake called and let me know that Tank is on his way home. After finding out what happened to the girls he is on his way up here. I told you that I would never lie to you so I am telling you right now that you are stressed out enough right now, I don’t think you should see him when and if he gets here.”
“Why is he coming here? I don’t want to see him Markus. I will just call Quake and tell him to get a hold of Tank. I don’t want him here, Markus, please don’t let him come here,” pleading at me with those huge brown eyes I just nod my head at her. Kissing her on the head again and then taking her mouth in a quick kiss I get up and stride towards the prospects again.
“Keep Tank out of here and away from Pearl. She doesn’t want to see him and I will hold both of you responsible if she is upset by him today.”
“Okay Prez” I hear in unison as I walk out the front door. Getting into the van I pull out my 9mm and check to make sure that everything is in order with it.
I hope that we can take these pieces of shit alive so that we can bring them over to the house to show them our superior hosting skills. It has been a while since I have needed to use that particular skill set and it is something that I have been thinking about since the night that they brutalized and raped my Pearl. Payback for taking something so precious from my Pet is something that I will take tenfold from them for her. She will not fear those fuckwits coming after her ever again.
Chapter 28 – Pearl
Picking up my phone I hit the button to dial the one man I thought I would never call, talk to, or see again. Taking a deep breath in, I raise the phone to my ear, expecting to hear the voicemail pick up, after four short rings I hear something else entirely.
“Little One?” is all I hear above the sound of traffic and the hmm of a bike.
Freezing with the term he uses, I am unable to speak for short seconds and he fills the void. “Pearl, what is it? I’m on my way, we need to talk. I spoke with my dad and he told me about what really happened that night of the party. I just want to be able to talk to you and”
I cut him off quickly, “No! Now, is not the time! There will never be a right fucking time for you and me to talk. Any time for us to talk is long past due. I don’t want to see you, and I need for you to stay the fuck away from me. So just turn that bike around and head back to wherever the fuck you were or wherever the fuck you want to go. I am not going to allow you to fucking walk back into my life in any way, shape, or form after what you let happen to me that night.” Taking a deep breath to hold off the tears that are forcing their way to the surface I finish, “Just fucking turn around and don’t think about me ever again, Tank.”
Hanging up the phone I glance over at the prospect, Bull, who has made his way to my door after hearing my yelling.
“Everything okay in here Pearl? You sounded really upset, I was just coming to check on you.”
“I’m fine Bull, thanks for coming to check on me, I am just going to head outside to cool my head for a few minutes. You and Country make yourself at home grab something out of the fridge or whatever you would like.”
“Pearl, I will go with you outside, Prez would have my nuts if anything happened to you on our watch.”
“Don’t bother Bull; it is past 2am in the morning and cold as hell outside. No one is out there waiting for me, for fuck’s sake! They just left to go after the fuckers that are after me so don’t bother.”
“You are one hell of a negotiator, Pearl. I’ll just watch you out the window.”
Country chimes in from the kitchen “Grab your coat on the way out; I don’t want to have Prez climbing up my ass if you catch a cold or some other shit.”
“Fuck, you guys are treating me like I am a fucking baby or some shit. I am a grown ass fucking woman with two, no, three kids; actually old enough to probably be at least one of your mothers, so you can cut the over protective shit out and just let me be.”
“No, Pearl, we won’t do that.” Country utters, “Prez wants you safe and we are here to see to that, so don’t ask us to break our word to him. That is just something that we would never do. We are prospecting with the Devil’s Iron because we want to be part of the brotherhood. We would not do anything to go against what any of the brothers want, that is the reason for the brotherhood.”
Bull continues were Country leaves off saying, “I agree with Country. That is one reason that what Tick did is so fucked up. He put his hands on you, Pearl, that is something he should not ever have done, then plotting with Layla and actually following through with this fucking scheme to take the girls. If Prez didn’t have those bugs and trackers in both yours and Ticks vehicles we would have had no fucking idea where the girls are, so thank fuck he was being over protective with you.”
“Don’t even get us started on what that fucker Tank did to you those months back.” Country quickly gets out as I turn to again look at him. Cracking his knuckles he goes on, “that shit was fucked up and when I see him I have a few things I need to fucking say to him before letting Prez get a hold of him.”
With that I walk over to grab my coat and head out the back door to cool off and calm down a bit. Seeing that it hasn’t snowed in about a week, I pull out one of the lawn chairs from the garage and sit in a patch of moon light looking up to the sky. After a few moments I hear a car pull down the alley. Thinking little about it I continue looking towards the sky until I hear the cock of a gun and look towards the sound.
Layla is staring at me on the outside of the fence pointing a large gun at me.
“Don’t make a sound, get the fuck up and walk over here to me.”
Standing up and moving towards her slowly I quickly reach down to my belly and start stroking protectively.
“Fucking Tick was right huh? You are fucking knocked up. Fucking hilarious that the man you loved, that fathered that bastard baby, left you to be raped and beaten.” Laughing she finishes, “What a fucking hand you have been dealt from that night forward.”
As I reach the gate I notice that Layla has lowered her weapon slightly and is waiting for me to open the gate for her. Layla definitely does not know about the trackers and bugs that were in the vehicles. She must think that the brothers were headed out to the house down on the lakeshore to plan or that they were just searching blindly for my daughters.
Layla must not realize that Markus has left two prospects here to watch over me. She points the gun down and grounds out, “Open the fucking gate and let’s go inside to chat shall we?”
This fucking cunt has the nerve to come at me after she had someone take my fucking children. She is about to get a rude fucking awakening about what a momma will do to protect her babies.
As I slowly open the gate I step back and leave a small gap for Layla to walk through, dropping the gun down to her side as she moves, I quickly decide to do something to change the path of this situation.
Balling up my fist I connect with her jaw as she barely makes it through gate. She lets out a howl and drops the gun to the ground right before her body follows the weapon down. With the noise of the confrontation, and the screaming I did not realize I was doing, the back light of the house comes on quickly. Country and Bull are outside within a few short moments. By the time that they reach us, I have had my fair share of time on top of Layla, striking her repeatedly with my fists. Looking down as I hear their voices, I am taken aback seeing that there is blood covering both my hands and most of Layla’s face. Just by looking at her in the light I see that her nose is definitely broken and maybe even her jaw. Good!
I am suddenly lifted by each arm off of Layla and placed on my feet near her. Bull lifts Layla’s limp body off of the cement slab and takes her into the garage quickly. Country ushers me into the house quickly directing me towards the bathroom to clean up as he makes his way back outside to assist Bull in the garage.
Washing up and changing clothes that are covered in blood I absently think about the girls and if Markus has reached them and if they are safe. Thinking again about the girls and remembering that the woman responsible for their kidnapping is in the garage, I quickly grab a different coat and head for the garage. Walking in past the two men who are standing over Layla, whom they have restrained to a chair, I grab a bat as I tell the two men that they need to leave and go check on the house and see if Blaze has tried to reach out to them.
“Pearl, I don’t think that Prez would want you to do that, especially in your current condition.” Country gets out before I cut him off.
“I am just going to talk with her, County. Go in the house and check to see if he has contacted you or if Doc is on his way back with the girls.” I say to them slowly walking around to the front of Layla, who looks up at me with fear in her eyes.
“Ok, but hand me the bat before I go. I don’t want you to do something that Blaze would be pissed about.” Country says walking up to me with his hand extended waiting for the bat.
As I slowly place the bat in his hand I grind out, “This bitch is the reason that I was raped and beaten. She is also the reason that my children were taken tonight, and I still haven’t heard if they have been found or if they are hurt.” Not addressing his concerns over what Blaze would not want me to do, but knowing that Blaze would never let me handle this myself. I will just circumvent his decision and take care of her myself right now before he can stop me.
As the two men turn to leave they shut the garage door behind them. I look down at Layla and a grin comes to her bruised and battered face.
We both let out long held in breaths before I begin. “What did I ever fucking do to you Layla? It wasn’t bad enough that you set me up to be raped and brutalized; you felt the fucking need to have my daughters taken from me as well. What the fuck is going on in that mind of yours that you would think that any of that shit was going to fly?”
“You think that you are so much better than me don’t you fucking Pearl? First you had Tank and now you have Blaze. You really must have some magical fucking pussy to keep those two wrapped around you so.”
Nodding slightly towards me she quickly goes on, “I don’t give one little fuck about you or those fucking bitch daughters of yours. All I care about is that Tank will not be with you! He should have been mine and you and your fucking little act had him from the very beginning. All I wanted to do was to make sure that you two were no longer together, and I accomplished that easily enough. I really have to give it to myself though, I never thought that he would walk in on the rape and just let it fucking happen.” A smile coming to her face and a laugh coming out of her lips again had me seeing red.
The anger that is now coursing through me is too much and I glance around the garage looking for anything. Seeing a piece of rebar that Markus had brought into the garage when building some shelves a few weeks back, I grab for it before walking back over to her.
“Anything else you would like to tell me about how fucking great your plan to ruin my life was Layla? I am intently listening to you and I am sure that is always what you wanted anyways, a fucking audience, to listen to you rant.”
“Pearl, you are so fucking dumb. I know that I am fucking done for, there is no way Markus is going to let me out of this, I am not as dumb as you think that I am. I only came here to try and give my brother and the boys some time to get out before the Devil’s tracked them down. Seeing that Markus only has two fucking prospects guarding you, I am guessing that he already knows where the house is and is on his way. Too bad for them, I guess.” Laughing creepily I start to turn and walk towards the door, before walking all the way through, Layla speaks.
“That was fucking beautiful, seeing Tank just leave you there to be fucking raped and beaten, fucking perfect, and not even part of my plan, but so fucking beautiful. It must have really broken your heart to have him just walk out like that, leaving you.” The laughing starts again and I am done for.
I fucking lose it as she says that and swing the rebar back connecting it with her face. The sound that it makes is something that I will never forget as long as I live. As I am standing there looking into the empty eyes that now look back at me, I hear the door and see Country. He growls at the scene before him and raises his voice slightly, “Pearl, what the fuck have you been doing in here? You said you were just going to talk to her. Fucking hell, here take the phone; Prez wants to talk to you.”