Stryker’s Fight by Erin Osborne
Chapter Twenty
Stryker
WHEN THEY TOOK Sally down to have her images done, it was the perfect time for me to leave. There is unfinished business waiting for us at the clubhouse. Chrome is tied up in the basement of the clubhouse and I’m itching to get my hands on that sick and twisted fuck. Not only did he kidnap my woman and have her beaten severely, but he also almost had his men kill our unborn son. If she weren’t as far along as she was and our son wasn’t already a fucking fighter, he wouldn’t be here with us right now. For that, I’m going to take my time with him and make sure he feels every single thing Sally felt as she was chained up in a cold basement with little to nothing on her body to shield her from infection or allowing her to protect our son.
We all head out of the hospital leaving our ol’ ladies, kids, and the Prospects there with Sally, Rich, and my son. Rich, thankfully, is going to pull through. He had to have his spleen removed and the damage had to be repaired from the bullet hitting him. He’s alert and awake, pissed as fuck he let someone get to Sally when he was supposed to be watching over her. It’s going to be a long time before he forgives himself. I’ve already tried talking to him and let him know not a single one of us blames him for Sally being kidnapped. Still, he feels as if he let all of us down and will not let that shit go. We’ve all been in his place a time or two and know what’s going through his mind and how he feels.
I let my mind think of my son lying in an incubator in the NICU. So many wires and tubes are attached to him. More than what Sally had until they let her wake up on her own from the coma they had her in. His body is so small I’ll never be comfortable holding him, but I’ll get over it because that’s my son and I’ll always be there for him. Natalia has been up to see him more than once. She already loves her brother and can’t wait for him to come home. Hell, she can’t wait to be able to go in and hold him. When she goes up to see him, she peers in the window and presses her little scrunched up face against the glass to get as close as possible to him. Natty even cries when he does. Sally and I really have to come up with a name for the little guy. We can’t keep calling him baby or little guy. I’m not doing it on my own though.
The entire time Sally was out, I talked to her and let her know we needed her to come back to us so she could help me pick a name for our son. I threw out so man horrendous names, whoever happened to be in the room with me at the time would laugh their asses off. It didn’t do anything to bring her back to us though. Sally needed to let her mind and body begin to heal before she was ready to come back to me. It was time I lost with her and that’s something I can’t get back. Just one more thing Chrome took from us. He cost us nine fucking weeks of being together and letting our son grow even more before he came to us. Chrome will fucking pay for it.
We all pull up to the deserted clubhouse and back our bikes in line. Shutting our engines off one by one, we take a second to breathe the clean, fresh air before we head inside. Once I step through the door, I’m not coming out until I know Chrome has suffered and taken his last breath at my hands. I’m not sure how I’ll do it just yet; we have an entire arsenal of things to torture him with. I’ll also be using something new on him because there is no way in hell I’m not going to inflict as much pain as humanly possible. My new torture thing will be the last thing I do though because I’ve never done it before, and I don’t want him to die too soon.
Getting off my bike, I pull my helmet off and rest it on the handle bars. Each man surrounding me copies my actions before we all head inside. Walking straight through the common room, we make our way toward the door that will lead us down to where Chrome is waiting for us. He has no choice in waiting for us. The only thing we’ve honestly done in the last three weeks is someone has paid him a visit each day to ensure he’s still breathing and hasn’t managed to off himself. For the most part a Prospect has been down here watching over him because most of us have been at the hospital. We didn’t need them there while we were all there. Now that we’re all here, they’re needed to watch over our family as they remain behind.
Stopping just outside the door, we all take off our cuts and hang them on the hooks. We’ll never let them get covered in blood because we respect the leather we wear. Chrome’s cut has also been removed, but we’re the ones who removed it for him. Not only did we take it from his body, he also watched on as we tore the fucker to shreds. Not once did a single sound escape his mouth as we desecrated his leather and tore the patches from it. Frozen Bastards is not a club we recognize; they were a bunch of pussies who don’t know how to respect anything in their lives.
I’m the first one through the door of the small, dark room we’ve been holding Chrome in. He barely lifts his head to look at me as I step right up to him. Killer hands me a pair of gloves to slip on before I even think about touching this twatwaffle. Once they’re firmly in place, I tilt his head up so he can see me.
“How’s it feel to know you didn’t succeed in accomplishin’ a fuckin’ thing you wanted to?” I ask him, my voice filled with determination. “Not only did my woman not break and give you a single piece of information you wanted, but her and my son are both alive. I’ll go on livin’ the rest of my life with a family I love and cherish while you’re rottin’ in hell. Where you belong.”
Chrome finds something funny in my statement since he begins laughing uncontrollably.
“You think this is over?” he asks, his voice letting us know just how weak he is. “This is just beginning.”
“No, it’s endin’,” I growl out. “See, Dagger and a few other men have been spillin’ all of your secrets to my men while I’ve been sittin’ with my woman and son. We’ve taken out all the fuckers who believed in you and wanted to reap the benefits you were desperate to fuckin’ gain. They’re all dead. No other clubs or organizations will work with you because of the fact you double cross everyone you try to do business with. We have power, money, and friends in all kinds of places. Includin’ your buddy Jose. Do you remember him? He was all too willin’ to fill us in on how you screwed him over. Which benefited us because we began workin’ with him and are now makin’ even more money. It doesn’t take a smart man to know you don’t fuckin’ shit where you eat. That’s simple common sense. You had to try and fuck him over and sell one of his family members. Didn’t work out too well for ya. Not to mention, we’re gettin’ paid to take your ass out, so Jose doesn’t have to deal with your pathetic ass.”
“Dagger will always follow through with the plans I’ve set in motion,” Chrome tries again.
“Really? How the fuck do you think we found you?” Slim questions him, still not stepping forward. “He called Stryker to let him know where his woman was and how bad you had fucked with her. Your men blew up in the fuckin’ buildin’ you were hidin’ in and you’re all that’s left. Dagger and those of the guys who chose not to follow your loser ass have disbanded and are now in remote locations in an attempt to try to rebuild their lives.”
“That lowlife traitor,” Chrome growls out, spitting on the floor just missing my boots.
“No, you’re the lowlife,” I tell him, grabbing the brass knuckles Killer hands me.
Sliding them on my hand, I begin laying into Chrome. He grunts and groans while I don’t stop hitting him. When I’m done with the knuckles, I walk over to grab the bat leaning against the wall. Striding back over to him, I bust each of his knees before slamming it against his wrist. His screams of pain echo off the walls and are music to my ears.
“Stop!” Chrome screams out in pain while bending over to throw up.
“Did Sally beg for you to stop hurtin’ her? To leave her alone and let her be while you had her? I’m sure she did. Not a single one of you assholes stopped and I’m not about to either. You’re gonna feel every single ounce of pain she felt at your hands and those of the other men you made go down to torture her.”
Tossing the bat to the side, I take a knife and slide off his shirt to bare his chest and torso. I don’t hesitate to place several cuts on his body. Some of them are deeper than others as blood fills his skin. I don’t stop until his head begins to loll back as his eyes flutter closed. Pausing long enough to grab a bucket of freezing cold water, I toss it on him, letting him sputter out as he wakes back up. Unlike Sally, I’m not going to give this scumbag a break from the pain he’ll be feeling. Setting down the knife, I grab the pliers and begin to rip out his finger nails. I don’t want to see anything having to do with his lower half with how dirty he is. The body odor wafting from him is enough to make your eyes water.
When I’m done with his nails and ripping each tooth from his mouth, I pull out the metal ring hanging from his nipple. More screams pierce the air, blood flying from his mouth. This is the exact reason we don’t wear our cuts in here. My shirt is now covered in blood from this fucker. Still, I don’t stop as I walk away from him only to grab the salt. I’m going to make sure it’s covered in each of his wounds before we get to the last part of his torture.
Making sure my gloves are firmly in place, I dump a generous amount of salt in my hand before rubbing it across his chest and stomach. Chrome yells and screams but doesn’t pass out again. This time, he remains alert as I let the extra salt fall to his lap. I’m done wasting my time on this fool. Looking at Slim, he nods his head at me as I grab the two small containers filled with water. Playboy and Wood remove his boots and socks while I finish grabbing what I need. This includes a set of jumper cables. I’m going to attach one end of the jumper cables to a charger we have here and the other end to his body. We’ll crank it up while his feet are sitting in the water. If this doesn’t kill him, I have no problem putting a bullet in his head.
After making sure his feet are in the water and the cables are attached to everything properly, I stand back and give Killer the signal to turn it on. He does as we watch Chrome. At first nothing happens. Killer slowly turns it up. Chrome’s face turns a deep red and the veins begin to pop out in his neck and forehead. I turn my back when he begins to move in the chair. This is the first time I’m doing this, so I really had no clue what was going to happen to him. There are more than enough guys watching on as I gather the tools I’ve used and put them in a pile to be cleaned.
Killer stops the juice flowing to the jumper cables and I turn around to face Chrome once again. He’s still fucking breathing. Pulling out my gun, I point it at his head.
“Rot in hell mother fucker,” I tell him, not giving him a chance to say a single word as my bullet hits him square between his eyes.
Without saying a word, I leave the room stopping long enough to grab my cut from the hook on the wall. Walking upstairs, I make my way through the silent clubhouse. There are a few house bunnies sitting in the common room. They look up at me and instantly begin to push their chests out and bat their eyes. Ignoring them, I don’t stop until I’m at my room and unlocking the door. When I walk in my bathroom, I immediately turn on the water, so the water heats up. Stripping down to nothing, I put my clothes in a bag after emptying the pockets of my jeans onto the counter.
Stepping in under the scalding hot water, I wash my beard before moving on to my body. Scrubbing my skin until it’s red from the brush I use and the temperature of the water, I don’t stop until I’m sure the blood is off of me completely. I will not bring this shit back to Sally and our children. They deserve better than this and I’m going to make sure nothing ever touches them again. It’s not realistic, I know this. But I’ll do everything in my power to ensure they are safe and protected for the rest of my life.
Sally is sleeping when I walk back into her hospital room. I’ve got some flowers I picked up in the gift store for her along with a small teddy bear to keep in her room. It’s for our boy, but I know he can’t have anything in with him yet. I also make sure Natalia has some snacks and a few other things to keep her occupied in the hospital when she gets back here. Setting everything on one of the counters in her room, I resume my position in her chair. Not a single person will interrupt me and take me from where I belong now that the business with Chrome is done. We can all finally take a breath and relax. I’ll be making sure Sally knows as soon as she wakes up and can understand what I’m saying without being in a medicine fog.
Laying my head down on the bed next to Sally’s arm, I close my eyes. Sleep claims me, though it’s not a deep sleep. Since we brought her in here and I’ve been sleeping next to her every single night, I don’t let myself fall into a deep sleep. Every change in noise or someone entering the room wakes me up to make sure no one is trying to hurt my girl. I won’t be able to rest until my family is home under the same roof. Sally will definitely be released before our son is.
At the thought of our son, my eyes fly open. I get out of the chair and leave Sally’s room. One of the Prospects are sitting just outside her door, and I stop right in front of him.
“I’m headin’ upstairs for a few minutes. Don’t let anythin’ happen to my girl,” I warn him.
Walking to the elevator, I press the button waiting for the doors to slide open to let me in. When they slide open, Gwen, Killer, Slim, Shy, and Natalia are standing there.
“Dada Stryker!” Natalia calls out, her little voice filling me with happiness.
She has never called me dada, dad, or anything else remotely close to it. My heart races as the other adults look at me with varying emotions filling their faces. Slim and Killer are shocked as hell while Gwen is smiling in happiness, and Shy has a few unshed tears in her eyes as she looks between the two of us.
“Hey Princess,” I say, pulling her into my arms for a minute. “Mama is sleepin’ so I’m goin’ up to see your brother. Do you want to come with me?”
“Yay!” she cheers, wrapping her arms around me as everyone remains in the elevator with us.
We ride up in silence. Getting to the NICU, Boy Scout is standing in the hall close to the window so he can keep an eye on our son. He doesn’t bother turning around to look at us as Natalia chatters a mile a minute; her excitement over seeing the baby outweigh her need to be quiet. Stepping up to the glass, one of the nurses smiles at us before moving out of the way so we can see my boy. Today he doesn’t seem to have as many wires attached to him. Getting her attention, I crook my finger toward her so I can find out what’s going on with him. The nurse immediately walks from the room and heads for me.
“Why does he look like there aren’t as many things attached to him today?” I question her as she keeps her smile on her face.
“Your son is doing really good. We’ve taken him off the ventilator and he’s been breathing just fine on his own. We’re still monitoring his heart, but nothing has shown up. The one tube is for his feeding. I’m hoping your fiancé will be up soon so we can try to see if he’ll breastfeed,” she answers me.
“She’s on heavy pain medications. I don’t know it’s good for her to be breastfeeding him,” I tell her, sure she won’t know that because she’s not on Sally’s floor.
“Oh, I wasn’t aware of that. We can try bottle feeding him then. We’ve been noticing he is sucking a little bit and he’s also gained a little weight. He’s up to five pounds three ounces. The formula will help him,” she tells me, walking back toward the door to go back inside.
Walking back over to my family, I let them know what the nurse just told me. If we can get good news back on Sally, my day will be fucking complete. Our son is doing better and I’m hoping my woman is doing good too. Other than being extremely tired, she doesn’t seem to be in as much pain and she’s moving around a little bit more. I think her main battle is going to be the memories of what Chrome and the other men did to her. I’ll do whatever she needs to help her through it. Including taking her to counseling and sitting with her. If she needs me to get up every night and sit with her, that’s what I’ll do. Sally will get every single thing she needs from me and the rest of the men and women of the Phantom Bastards and the Wild Kings.
