Vengeful Soul by Emma Creed
Why does she have to look so fucking insane? Her hair plaited around her head and neatly pinned up at the back. That dress showing her long legs and making me want to rip the cocks off all the brothers who think they can eye fuck her. After being apart from her last night, I’m finding it impossible to do it today, especially while she looks the way she does.
When all the civilized shit is over, the barn is transformed into a bar and dance floor, and I watch from the bar as Gracie dances with a kid that belongs to one of the guys from the Denver Charter. He looks up at her adoringly, and she giggles when the music stops and he insists they carry on for the next track.
Gracie must like dancing because that’s what she does for most of the evening with Ella, Maddy, and some of the other old ladies that have traveled out here.
And as the night goes on, watching her seems to get harder and harder.
Nyx makes his way over and smacks me hard on the back. “Thanks for last night, and for not being too much of an asshole today,” he says sarcastically, taking the shot that’s passed to him over the bar. “She’s a good girl,” he gestures his head at Gracie, who has Dylan in her arms now, moving his little arms in time to the beat. She looks so fucking happy, and I can’t figure out why that physically hurts me.
“Too fucking good,” I tell him, knocking a drink back myself.
He takes a look around us and lowers his voice.
“You thought anymore about what you’re gonna do about Chop?”
“Nothing changes.”
Nyx looks a little disappointed in me, guess it’s something he’ll have to get used to.
“I ain’t gonna waste no more time talking about that fucker today. I just hope this shit don’t ruin what you could have here, brother. This club will always be loyal to Skid.”
“Speak of the devil,” I point my head in the direction of the door, and my brother’s head follows to where Skid is looking around the room confused.
“What the fuck happened to this place while I was gone?” he says as I approach him, taking his hand and pulling him into my chest.
“Club wedding, I thought they all went down like this,” I shrug, and then feel like an asshole when his head drops.
“How's hunting down Chop goin’?” I ask, trying to tame down my curiosity.
“More empty leads, nothing solid,” Skid sounds irritated. And I’m equally as pissed, knowing he’s still out there breathing.
“We’ll find him.” I tap Skid on the shoulder and lead him over to the bar. He gets a good response from the other brothers. He’s been missed around here since he decided to take some time out. Prez is convinced it’s part of his grief and that he’ll be back at the Charter where he belongs, soon as he’s ready.
“So what brings ya back here?” I ask when his welcome mob has calmed down.
“Just passin’ through, thought I’d check in on Tommy and Rogue,” he explains. “And I thought I’d offer my congratulations at the same time. I hear you're gonna be road captain.”
“Only until you’re ready to be back, brother.” I clink my bottle against his and although his lips stretch, they don’t quite manage a smile.
“Take care of these for me,” Gracie interrupts us, giggling as she presses her stilettos into my chest. The little boy whose hand she’s holding drags her back on the dance floor and she throws herself back into the song, knees together and twisting her body.
“Who’s the girl?” Skid asks, pointing his bottle at Gracie.
“It don’t matter, she ain’t sticking around,” I tell him, really not wanting to get into it.
Skid huffs a laugh at me. “Bitch got you holding her damn shoes. You really expect me to believe that?” He looks back at me unconvinced.
“It’s complicated.” I place the heels on the bar and turn my back to the room so I don’t have to watch her.
“Yeah, but is it worth it?” he asks, and without waiting for my reply, he grabs his drink and heads over to join Jessie and Troj.
I give into temptation and watch Gracie a little more, she seems so carefree and when she comes over to me a little while later, it’s obvious she’s drunk.
“You okay, darlin’?” I check.
“I’m not talking to you,” she informs me, looking at me over her shoulder while she waits to get the attention of the person serving.
“And why might that be?” I humor her.
“Because I’m mad at you and if I talk to you, we’ll end up fucking,” she says brashly, turning her back to me again.
I slide behind her and press her body into the bar, my lips almost touching her ear. “You’re being a brat,” I whisper.
Nothing with her is ever thought out, always natural and instinctive. I couldn’t even keep my hands off her for that stupid club photo. “You know what that does to me.” I nip at her flesh and feel her shudder.
When she spins her body around, the look on her face has me wondering if she’s gonna kiss me or slap me.
“And yet you still haven’t figured out what to do with me,” she says wickedly, the bitch got me on that one.
Troj comes and stands at the bar beside us, and I notice how her eyes flit over him the way every other bitch does. Like he’s some kind of mother fuckin’ messiah. It pisses me off.
“Gracie,” I raise my voice over the music, pulling her attention back onto me.
“Sorry, got distracted.” Her smile is sarcastic as she ducks under my arm and makes her way back to the dance floor, leaving me with a knot of frustration building up inside me.
I watch her for the rest of the night from my same spot at the bar. Tac and Squealer both eventually get drunk enough to join the girls on the dance floor, the rest of the brothers lining up beside me and jeering them on. And I remain silent, just waiting for one of them to touch Gracie up in the wrong way.
Squealer spins both Ella and Maddy in his arms and then trades Maddy for Gracie. She giggles as he spins her round and his uncoordinated feet step to the music. Nyx has his phone out recording him so he can use it to embarrass him tomorrow.
Eventually, a breathless Gracie heads back toward the bar and perches on the first stool she gets to, her hand rubbing her bare feet. No wonder they hurt, she’s been dancing all night.
One of the brothers from the Utah Charter makes his way over and starts trying to make conversation with her. I can’t hear from over here what he’s saying but I see how she’s laughing back at him, and I’ve taken about as much as I can when his hand touches at her arm and she does nothing to shrug him off.
Gracie doesn’t see me coming, and she looks shocked when I grip the guy’s arm and wrench it away from hers.
“Woah.” Jessie steps in out of nowhere and puts himself in between me and the guy they call Skinner.
“The girl came with me,” I warn him over Jessie’s shoulder, and for a second it looks like he might be brave enough to try a swing at me.
“That’s not true,” Gracie tells him, then shakes her head at me as if I’ve gone crazy.
“What’s your problem, man?” Skinner asks.
“Thing is…” Gracie starts to answer for me. “He doesn’t want me, but he doesn’t want anyone else to have me either.” She crosses her legs and picks up her wine, taking a carefree sip while I struggle against Jessie… not knowing who I want to throttle first, her or the guy who is making no secret of the fact he wants in her panties.
“Chill, Brax,” Jessie warns, and it’s not long before Troj is pulling me back too. I manage to shove them both off and straighten myself out.
“So, is the girl claimed or not?” Skinner asks, looking confused.
“She’s off fucking limits,” Troj answers tactfully.
“Says who?” Gracie pipes up again, and I swear this bitch is out to start a fucking war.
“Says fucking me,” I point my thumb in to my chest. And Gracie gets up from the stool she’s perched on, weaving her way around Jessie to stand in front of me.
“And are you claiming me, Brax?” she taunts, in that bratty voice that drives me fucking crazy.
I have to take a few deep breaths to calm myself when she folds her arms and rolls her eyes impatiently. Doing this here, in front of my brothers, she really is leaving me with no choice.
I snatch at her hand and drag her barefoot outside, wiping the cocky smirk right off her face when I pull her around the side of the barn and slam her frontwards into the wood cladding. Then hitch her dress up over the curve of her ass.
“That what you want, Gracie?” I ask. “For me to claim you?”
“Where were you last night?” she asks, all the fucking confidence gone from her voice now she hasn’t got her audience.
“I had something to deal with.”
“Something or someone?” she snaps back, like it matters to her. But it shouldn’t matter. It can’t matter because this isn’t what we are.
I rip her panties apart in my hands and hear the satisfied moan she makes when I release my cock from the front of my suit pants, letting it rest between her ass cheeks.
“Why do you feel the need to punish me? Do you not think I suffer enough?” I spit between us, my saliva trickling between the crack of her ass and the tip of my cock.
“Brax, I just want—”
“What?” I interrupt, pressing myself against her tightly shut entrance. “What do you want from me? That shit that’s going on in there?” I slam the barn wall hard with my palm. “The fucking fairytale ending? ‘Cause I can’t give you that,” I tell her, my frustration and the need to be inside her forming a lethal combination.
“I never said I wanted that. I’d take what you could give me.” Her palms splay out against the barn wall, and I place mine on top of hers before pushing a little of myself inside her. She cries out, and not knowing if it’s out of pain or pleasure, I place my hands over hers and grip between her fingers.
“You want more, princess?” I whisper cruelly into her ear, knowing that she’s never taken a cock in her ass before.
“Yes,” her reply is a breathless whisper, and I slide another inch into her virgin tight hole. She’s so tight it’s almost painful, and I bite into her neck and suck at her skin as I slowly ensure her pretty little ass is full of me.
“You feel better now?” I’m surprised when she nods, her ass grinding needily into my hips.
I take her slowly to start with, my hand moving down her body to play with her clit while her ass stretches to fit my cock. She throws her head back against my shoulder, and I use my other hand to wrap around her throat as her pussy soaks my finger and her ass squeezes my cock.
When Gracie comes for me, it sounds like she’s in agony and I clench my fingers tighter around her throat when I feel my own release coming. I pump inside her, filling her ass with my cum, and letting the satisfaction of owning that part of her settle.
“Now you can get back into that party, and tell your new friend that you’re claimed!” I somehow manage to tear myself out of her, leaving her legs shaking and pressed against the wall.
When I storm back into the barn the party has died down, people have already left, including the bride and groom, and Jessie has a very drunk Maddy hauled over his shoulder, carrying her toward the door. The only ones left are Squealer, with some woman he’s obviously trying to talk back to his cabin, his brother, and Troj and Grimm who are blowing smoke rings together in the corner.
I reach over the bar and help myself to a bottle of Jack, unscrewing the lid and pouring it down my neck.
The longer I wait for her to come back to the party, the worse I feel. Guilt ain’t an emotion I’m all too familiar with and I hate the way it burns at my chest and feels heavy in my stomach. The Jack does fuck all to make it go away. So I do what I have to do, and I leave, heading back to my cabin.
I find her on the couch, still dressed in her pretty dress and staring at the floor. She looks broken, and I hate that it’s all my fault.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, hiding any emotion from my tone, despite the fact that I mean it. I really fucking mean it.
“I shouldn’t have tried riling you.” She shrugs her shoulders.
“I was with another woman last night,” I confess, watching her face grow even sadder. “But not in the way you're thinking.”
“Then how?” She sits herself up straighter and wipes away her tears.
“Ella’s friend got dropped off at the club last night in a bad way. She was jacked up on some shit and Nyx didn’t wanna ruin the day for Ella. So I watched her,” I explain.
“You sat with her all night?” Gracie looks confused.
“All night,” I confirm. “Ella doesn’t know about it yet. Prez is gonna try getting the girl better while they’re away on their honeymoon. Apparently, the girl’s family have bailed on her so she had no one.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I could have helped. She must have been so scared.” Gracie stands up and starts moving toward the bedroom.
“Did you want him?” I can’t help asking as I grab her arm and stop her.
“Want who, Brax?” I don’t know if it’s confusion, sadness or exhaustion that she looks back at me with.
“The guy at the party.”
“I want you, Brax, and I’ve always been used to getting my way,” she shrugs sadly, slipping her arm out of my grasp and disappearing into my room.
“Gracie,” I call after her and she pops her head back around the door.
“For as long as you're here, you got me,” I promise. I don’t know why it’s me she wants but I like the idea of giving her what makes her happy.
Her lips pick up into an irresistible smile and she comes toward me.
“Then we better take a shower and go check that your new friend is okay.”
They say time goes fast when you’re having fun, and with nine names on a hit list and Gracie in my bed every night, the last two weeks have sped by.
Me and Gracie have picked up a routine, both of us pretending like what’s happening between us isn’t getting closer and closer to ending with every name that gets struck off.
Jessie seems a lot more at ease since Clunk’s death, though he isn’t adjusting to Maddy’s new found freedom as well as she is. I swear I’ve heard more arguments come from their cabin in the last two weeks than I have since I arrived at the club
“I’m just asking you to take someone with you,” I hear Jessie yell as he storms out of his cabin after her.
“Jessie, I’m a grown woman, I can go to the store and pick up milk by myself,” Maddy argues back. I feel a warm hand curl around my waist, and me and Gracie both watch on together, laughing quietly while Jessie slowly loses his shit.
“You infuriate me sometimes Maddy Summers,” he calls out at her as she gets in the car and starts the engine.
“And I love you with all my heart,” she blows him a kiss, leaving a dust cloud behind her as she pulls out the yard. Jessie storms toward me and Gracie, frustration turning his skin flame red.
“Brax, get your cut, we’re going to work,” he cracks his knuckles, and heads inside his cabin, slamming the door.
“Looks like I’m going to work, princess.” I stub out my cigarette on the porch step, stand up and dust off my jeans. Gracie goes back inside and comes out with my cut in her hands, she helps pull it over my shoulders. Then flicks something imaginary off my chest once it’s on.
“I know, be careful,” I repeat the same thing she always says when I leave the cabin, even if I’m just going to church or to hang out at the club.
“It’s the last name, isn’t it?” she looks down at the ground not wanting me to see the sadness in her eyes.
“Yeah,” I tell her as blankly as I can. With Gracie I keep my emotions on a short rein. I’ve already let her in far more than I’m comfortable with. One more name on a list is how close I am to having everything back to how it should be, my life will soon be back to normal.
But I have to wonder how anything can ever be normal again, after meeting someone who’s allowed me to feel something other than hatred.
The last two weeks I’ve spent with her, I’ve known this wasn’t good for me, that it will only make me miss her more when she’s gone, but it’s too damn hard to resist her.
I’ve tried staying detached from her but it doesn’t work, she spends most of her days around Maddy and Ella, the evenings too. But I always come back to her. I fuck her in all the ways I bet her boyfriend never did, then I hold her tight to me when she falls asleep, pretending to myself that we might work it out. Wondering if I could keep this shit up, and maybe make her happy.
“Back to Woodland Park for me then.” She slides her hands over the lapels of my cut.
“Yeah,” I smile sadly, it’s all I have. I'm not gonna admit that the thought almost makes me want to let the sick fucker that makes money out of innocent kids live another day.
“You better get going then.” Watching her lips move, I don’t care who fucking sees when I grip at her hair and force her onto my mouth. I kiss her the same way Jessie kisses his old lady before he leaves her, and it feels so fucking right that my chest clamps.
“Brax, you coming?” Jessie calls from the truck, and I pull myself away from her, offering her another fake smile as I back away, heading toward a very riled up Jessie.
“I just don’t fucking get it with these women, Brax. If she knows it pisses me off, why would she do it?” Jessie’s still moaning when we pull up outside Thomas Blakeman’s house. The guy is an outstanding citizen in his community. His son’s running for Mayor and has an endless pit of money behind his campaign. It makes my stomach churn thinking about where that money might have come from.
“I mean, she knows how I worry about her. It’s like she does it on purpose.”
“She’s just enjoying being able to get out, the novelty will wear off soon,” I assure him, flicking my cigarette out the window.
“This fucker’s got grandkids,” Jessie tells me, finally changing the subject. There’s a reason this guy has been left for last. Of everyone on the list he has the most money, the best connections. He was an ex-CIA agent, so that explains the involvement of the fuckers I’d taken out.
We believe he’s high up in the organization, maybe even the brains of it. And he must be anticipating that something is coming for him. All eight of his accomplices have vanished from the face of the earth. Me and Jessie have done a good job of making most of them look like suicides, with a lot of help from Grimm. There have been times when we got a little carried away. Me, being mostly to blame for the mishaps, especially in Dr Rodgers’s instance. I’d be interested to read the coroner’s view on why he removed his own testicles and rammed them in the back of his throat, before slitting his wrists and bleeding out in the office of his private practice.
“Maddy says the wife does voluntary in a Children’s ward down at central, she won’t be back till gone seven.”
“We have time to play then,” I nod, thinking the options over in my head.
“This has to look clean, Brax, the only games we play are head games,” Jessie warns.
“My favorite kind.” I smile back at him darkly, getting out of the car and pulling on my leather gloves. Jessie pulls his own gloves on, heading around the back of the property while I make straight for the front door, checking over my shoulder for any witnesses. I knock twice, and smile when a confused looking man answers.
“Mr. Blakeman,” I grin wide.
“Yes,” the older man responds, looking pissed at the disturbance.
“Good,” I nod my head and step in over the threshold, taking his neck in the arch of my hand and forcing him back as I kick the door shut behind me. “Me and my friend would like a word with you.”
“What friend?” he chokes against my grip, and I try not to squeeze too tight for Grimm’s sake, wrinkled skin bruises like a bitch, and bruises are evidence.
“That friend,” I tell him, nodding my head over his shoulder. Slowly, I turn him around so he can see Jessie, who let himself in through the back and is leaning against the wall looking at a framed photo of the old man’s wife and grandkids.
“I don’t know what this is about but I can tell you you’re messing with the wrong man.”
“I don’t think so, do you, Jess?” I ask a now calm and collected Jessie, who steps closer to the man and studies his face.
“Thomas Blakeman? Ex-CIA, devoted husband to Mary. Made senator four years ago,” Jessie reels off his credentials. “Oh yeah, and also likes to do nasty shit to kids.” Jessie tips his head to the side, admiring how the man’s skin turns grey.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” his head shakes, as if he’s appalled by the allegation.
“Sshh,” Jessie’s gloved hand slides over his mouth to silence him, and he presses the tip of his knife under the man’s chin.
“So, tell me Mr. Blakeman, how do you think your wife should find you?”
I have to admit to feeling a little sorry for Mary Blakeman as we leave her perfect, white picket fence home. The vision of her husband swinging from their veranda by his neck when she gets home will probably be one that stays with her for the rest of her life.
Still, it’s better than her and her family knowing the truth. In my eyes, we've done her a favor. It still don’t make me feel any better though.
As soon as the sick bastard's legs stopped kicking, and his eyes lost their panic, pain rushed straight to my chest. The list is done with, Gracie is no longer in danger, she can leave the club and return home, and I can go back to being me again.
But that isn’t what I want at all.
“You okay, man?” Jessie asks as we pull back up at the compound. The first person I see just happens to be Gracie, she’s bouncing Dylan up and down on her knee while Maddy and Ella are unloading groceries for Marilyn. She looks so happy, so fucking perfect that the pain in my chest crushes a little more.
Jessie parks up next to them and heads straight for Maddy. Spinning her around and kissing her hard on the mouth.
“I’m a jerk, forgive me,” he says, clearly not giving a shit how much of a pussy he sounds in front of me and a stunned looking Troj.
“Depends,” Maddy shrugs. “How you planning on making it up?”
“Oh, darlin’ I’m gonna make it up,” he says, lifting her up off her feet and carrying her to the truck.
“She’ll be back down later,” he calls out to Ella, sitting Maddy in the passenger seat before he speeds off toward the cabins.
Gracie looks up at me awkwardly, before managing to muster a smile.
“How’d it go?” she asks.
“It’s done,” I tell her, and watch her face drop with disappointment.
“Thank you, I’m sure my mom would be pleased they were brought to justice, however it was dealt with.”
“Brax, help me shift some of this stuff. Marilyn’s gone over kill on vegetables. She’s making smoothies for Abby,” Ella interrupts looking stressed.
It turns out Officer Dan wasn’t as good on his word as he said he was. It’s been two weeks and none of us have heard from him, despite us trying to get in contact.
Ella took the news about her friend surprisingly well when her and Nyx got back from Florida, and although Abby’s still struggling, she got upgraded from the basement to a rutting room within a few days of being here.
The club ain’t an ideal place for anyone to get themselves sorted. But Abby insists it will make her stronger to have temptation, nothing goes in your veins around here anyway. That’s a hard fucking rule.
I nod back, pulling myself away from Gracie and grateful for the distraction, because I was about one breath away from asking her to stay.
And even I ain’t that selfish.