Sinfully Devoted by Amber Torney
Chapter Three - Logan
“Hold on, Tiny Dancer,” I whispered, cradling Phee to my chest; I ran her out of the prison she had been trapped in for the last week. Her beautiful face had begun to swell after the beating she had received, thanks to my fucking cousin. Her body was a mural of blacks and blues. The icy baby blues I longed to see staring up at me were now swollen shut. Kyle well and truly created a pure slice of hell for her.
The room I found her in was all kinds of fucked up. Dimly lit, it resembled some sort of playroom that you would find in those dirty girly books my Tiny Dancer always reads. The smell is what threw you for a loop. It smelt like sin - heavily smelling of a musky sweat. The bed was in the middle of the room and had chains and ropes hanging from the corners. Along one side of the room were cabinets fucking filled with sex toys. Cringing, I didn’t want to think about the shit he had done to her using any of that crap . . . I had to hand it to Kyle, even after the shit I put her through; never in my wildest imagination could I have ever come up with this.
It made me want to turn around, and fucking make that scum bag pay. I wanted to inflict the same damage to Kyle that he had made her endure. Every scrape, cut, and bruise I wanted him to wear. Once my Tiny Dancer was getting the help she needed and was safe, that is precisely what I would be doing. Kyle wasn’t going to know what hit him once I got through with his fucking shady ass.
My feet pounded on the black tiles of the corridor. Kyle really did go all out to hide the two of them. The light from outside streamed through the heavy steel door, casting shadow on a tall figure running down the corridor towards me.
“Firecracker,” Stryker’s strangled voice came like a shrill screech, as he snapped out of his daze. Stepping in front of me, he tries to wrench her from my arms. Not having any of it, I held her tighter. Gesturing towards the bunker door I had just exited, he asked, “What the fuck happened in there? Where is Damon?”
“Stryker, not now,” I snapped. I tried to take back control. I should have known that he wouldn’t have listened. When it came to Phee, he was the ‘pull the trigger first, ask questions later’ type. I doubt he waited too long before following us in; I’m only glad he wasn’t with us when we entered that fucking room. We don’t have time to stand around talking. I need them to drive to the hospital before we all start falling apart. “I told you to wait at the car.”
“Oh, that’s cute. You thought I’d actually listen when my fucking girlfriend has been missing for a week?” Stryker really pulled off the angry sarcasm. I could see the fire in his eyes, debating whether he should continue in and see for himself or follow after me as I got Phee to safety. “Where the fuck are her clothes?” I think if the situation in front of him was different, and if Phee was coherent, then he’d more than likely go running down to where I’d just left Damon and Madden. Guns blazing and all. Once we got my Tiny Dancer the help she desperately needed, we could revisit the burning need for vengeance. But as it stood now, Phoenix needed us more.
“We don’t have time for this Stryker,” I didn’t mean to snap at him, as I looked down at my Tiny Dancer. Every minute we stood here was time wasted. “Are you coming or not?”
Sizing me up, something about me must have sung louder than words, nodding; he turned around and started for the car. Looking over his shoulder and at her one more time. “This isn’t over Logan, not by a long shot.”
I knew what he meant, but that would have to wait. Phee was our main priority; she was all that mattered.
“Fuck. I’m so fucking sorry, Phee.” I tell her again, ignoring Stryker for the moment. Bursting through the exit door, I’m hit by the crisp chill in the air. Wrapping her tighter into my body, I try to shield her from the cool air. Winter wasn’t that far away, and I internally kicked myself for not grabbing something to cover her up. Hopefully, Jonah had heated up the car for her. “Just a little further, okay? You hold on there. Keep fighting, you hear me? We will get you to the hospital.”
Just as I reached the jet-black Escalade, Jonah was on us in seconds, only to stagger back as his eyes fell on our girl. Shock and utter devastation fall over his features. Jonah cursed, he looked as though his whole world had come crumbling down.
“Jonah,” Stryker yells out as he runs around to the trunk. “We need to go, now.”
Handing me a blanket he just grabbed from the boot of the car, Stryker opens the back door. Carefully, I lay her broken and battered body across the back seat and cover her in the blanket.
“What the fuck happened to her, Logan?” Jonah’s pained whisper comes from behind me. He looked like he was going to be sick. Not wanting to cause her any more injury, I carefully slide in next to her, pulling her back into my arms. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for this girl. “Logan, answer me. What happened in there? Where is D’?”
“Get in the car Jonah,” I commanded, annoyance leaching away from me. I wanted to get out of here. No, I needed to get out of here; we all did. Right now, the only thing keeping me from going back in there was my Tiny Dancer and the need to get her as far away from this shithole as possible. “I’ll explain what I can on the way to the hospital.”
The tension within the confines of the SUV was stifling. I was grateful that Stryker had cranked the heat when he jumped in. The leather seats were cool on my skin, god only knew what it felt like to her. Tucking the blanket further around her, thankfully, it was one of those thick furry ones, I hoped the extra fluff would help to keep her warm.
I was dreading the conversation that was to come, and I didn’t relish telling either of them what Damon and I had walked in on. Fuck knows where to begin with it, either. I was still trying to wrap my head around it. But there was one thing I knew for sure— my parents had more explaining to do. Who knows what else they’ve kept from me, and then there would be my fucking aunt and uncle. Lord knows those two mother fuckers had a shit load to answer for.
After everything settled down, I had no doubt my family would be wishing for a quick death. Because if I didn’t get to them, I could almost guarantee that Stryker and Damon would be climbing over each other to ensure they never saw the light of day ever again.
One thing I knew for sure was that until I had some definitive fucking answers, no one outside Jonah, Stryker, Damon, and I were getting anywhere near Phee. As much as she hated feeling caged, she’d have to get used to it.
“Logan, did you find the fucker that took her?” Stryker’s voice was hard as he clenched his jaw. From where I was sitting, I could see Stryker’s knuckles, white as stone, as he gripped the steering wheel so tightly I’m amazed it hadn’t broken. He was trying so hard not to lose control. I can’t say I would blame him if he did. The Lennox family is one family that I wouldn’t ever want to mess with. Nope, Stryker’s family could fuck you up six ways from Sunday, and no one would be none the wiser.
I had no problem telling them; I just needed to convince him to leave the fucker alive so that our girl here could deal out some fucking justice of her own. I couldn’t know what she has endured, but if the way I found her is any indication, she would need to deliver her own swift form of justice, and if she wasn’t up to it, then it would be me. What he did to her years ago caused both of us a lot of heartache. I needed it just as much as she did.
“It was Kyle,” the words burnt like acid eating away my skin. Even as I said his name, the numbness I felt started to fade as the raging anger crept back. Looking Stryker straight in the eyes through the rear-view mirror, I saw the exact moment he’d decided the fate of my so-called fucking cousin. “I see what you’re thinking, but you can’t do that. Not to her.”
His eyes flick to the fragile woman in my lap. Her dirty blonde hair was matted with blood. Shaking his head, slamming the accelerator, Stryker punches the dash, leaving a huge dent in it.
“What the fuck, man?” I hold my Tiny Dancer tight; she isn’t wearing a seatbelt. If he crashed, I didn’t want her to fly into the seat in front. I get he’s angry but fuck me; he needed to get himself together for the sake of her. Once she was safe, we could all lose our shit.
“Wait a minute?” Shaking his head, Jonah shifts in the front seat, turning to look at me, the confusion marring his face evident as he starts comprehending what I just said. “How could it be, Kyle? Isn’t that asshole dead?”
Shaking my head, I answer him silently as I watch Stryker. You could hear his brain ticking over as he started planning. “Clearly, he isn’t dead, and this fuckwit has spent the last few months taunting Phee and making her life a living hell.”
I didn’t miss the anger my former best friend was barely keeping contained; I just didn’t have it in me to fight back right now. Plus, it wouldn’t do me any good in the long run anyway, especially since I was going to need to fix things with him as well.
“Turns out he has been resurrected,” bitterness clouds my voice as I try to simmer the rage. I cannot go off half-cocked, not right now. I need to bottle this shit up. She is all I should be focusing on right now. Because when she comes to, who fucking knows how much damage he had caused her. Choosing to let it go, I turn back to Jonah.
“I get that, but how does a dead man reappear without anyone fucking knowing?” Shaking his head, Jonah looks back at Phee. I could only imagine what he was thinking right now because I was feeling the same thing.
“I don’t know, but it was Kyle. I thought he was dead. I can’t explain how because I don’t know, but I give you my word— I will find out.” I really hoped they believed me because I intend to turn every fucking thing upside down until I find out every last piece of this fucking puzzle. “I know you don’t trust me, but swear, I will get answers.”
A string of muttered curses comes from Stryker as he puts his foot through the floor. “You know your parents had something to do with the cover-up, right?” Stryker said pointedly, putting into words what has slowly been creeping into my thoughts since we started to head to the hospital. “And that means they helped send an innocent man to jail.”
“I know, and I will confront them.”
My mother and father had severely fucked up by not telling me about Kyle raping Phee, but this? No, this was a whole different kettle of fish. There was no coming back from this.
“You won’t be confronting them alone,” Stryker’s voice was cool and calm, as he pulled into the emergency bay at Southport Memorial. Shoving the Escalade into the park, he turns, the sinister look in his eyes telling me everything I needed to know. My parents were dead-men walking. “I’ll be coming with you.”