Page 57 of Freeing Souls

Sugar is being forced to step up and take his position as our President now, but he is reluctant—not that I blame him. He has large shoes to fill. Stone has been silently standing in the corner, watching everything, Axe is turning his pain into anger and determination to take care of everything, and Nerds…he hasn’t spoken a word, not even to Oakley who is back and struggling to put herself back together and stay sober.

And I don’t know how to handle this. Rage is–was–my father. He was more of a father than my piece of shit one. He helped me raise three teenagers and never once got upset when I wasn’t thebest with them, that he had to take on a lot to keep them in line because I was just a kid myself.

Rage saved me, just like he did most of us in this room. There will always be something missing now, and all I want to do is beat the shit out of the people who took him from us until the feeling in my chest goes away.

“Thank you. We saved a total of thirty victims. It was a much larger number than the warehouse, so we got most of ‘em to a hospital. A few refused to go and went off on their own. Sebastian is helpin’ to find places for some of them to go. As for Tabby– I checked in with Vance, and he was able to get ahold of her brother, Robert. He is coming to help because she won’t speak to us and is terrified of Vance and his men,” Sugar explains.

I didn’t fucking like the little brat, but fuck, being sold off by your own fucking parents is a new low. I hope her brother plans to step up and help her. She may be a shit, but she was raised by literal psychopaths, so we will be checking in if she stays with her brother to make sure everything is good. Maybe she’ll get a chance to turn shit around after everything.

They keep talking about Harley and other shit we are going to have to deal with, but as I twist a blade between my fingers, I let my mind wander. Our club has been flipped upside down.

I don’t know what the future is going to hold, but I do know holding back no longer exists for me. I fucking loved Rage, but maybe we did get to soft. Maybe we need to harden our shells a bit more.

Who says you can’t do right in the world while also showing no mercy?

Chapter Eighteen

Cayden

As Harley falls into a deep sleep, we all release a breath. She’s pretending to seem fine while also crumbling right in front of us—and she’s not the only one.

Glancing down at Ryker, who is laying with his chin resting on her stomach so he can stare at her, I say, “You need to talk to us.”

My brows drop as I think about how easy this has all become rage simmering under my skin, wanting revenge on Harley’s behalf and for Rage. There’s a tiny part of me that is jealous Ryker got to beat the shit out of the man who hurt her, but I don’t feel like I need to shut down anymore.

Talking sometimes still feels foreign to me, but at the same time, when it’s just the four of us, it feels natural and right. Ithought I was going to completely fall into hell again, but I didn’t because of her.

If we lost her… I don’t even want to fucking imagine how bad it would’ve been for all of us.

“Did you see the brand on her chest?” Ryker growls quietly.

I frown. “Yes, but that’s not what I was talking about right now.”

“I’ll be fine as long as she gets better. We need to find the fucker who branded her and kill him. Slowly.”

“Ry–” Grayson starts.

“I’m fucking fine. We don’t need to talk about what happened. It was a moment of weakness,” Ryker hisses.

Grayson looks taken aback before he says, “Aren’t you the one who told me feeling our emotions, even if it’s crying, is okay? It doesn’t make us any less?”

Huffing, Ryker glances over at Grayson. “Yeah, I did. And it’s not wrong. I just–how can I struggle to deal with what I saw when Harley is the one who suffered? When she is the one who had to go through the pain and clearly isn’t in any state of mind to talk about it yet? How is it just okay for me to be the one who is hurt?”

“Why can’t you both be affected?” Grayson asks him but doesn’t give him a chance to respond as he continues. “I think we all know by now that it isn’t as easy as just shoving it aside. It never works. We’ve been fighting battles for years, and we have all learned now that the only way to make it out on the other side is by depending on each other in all ways. So just tell us.”

Ryker stares into Grayson’s pleading eyes before nodding. “He was on top of her. When I yanked him off and saw his dick out, I lost control. I needed to see him suffer. At some point it registered in my head that the man I just ripped off of her was the man I looked up to, someone I thought was a mentor, who helped me through some rough patches. It doesn’t makeany sense to me how he could just–just buy someone and then fucking rape them. Why? Why would he teach us, mentor us, help kids every day, just to do this?”

“I’m not sure if we'll ever get those answers, Ryker. I don’t even think it’s worth trying to find out. He was a fucked up bastard, but he can’t hurt her or anyone else ever again now, and that is thanks to you,” I tell him, attempting to keep my own temper at bay. The thought of seeing someone taking something that wasn’t theirs from our girl… It threatens to send me spiraling down a hole I don’t want to find myself in. But– “I know how we can get past this.”

“How?” Grayson asks softly.

“We find this Tank person on the run with Killer. We give Killer to Harley and the guys here at the club, and the three of us handle Tank. We take our own revenge for our girl.” As much as I would love to seek out revenge for Rage too, the others need that win more than we do.

Not that Rage’s death doesn’t hurt. It stings more than I am willing to admit right now. So keeping my mind focused elsewhere is the best thing for me.

“Do you really think Harley would let us take revenge for her?” Ryker asks with furrowed brows, but I can see the dark gleam in his eyes. He wants this.

“Yes. I think she has had enough to deal with, and between Killer and when she finds out what Tammy did, she will want to be taking them on full force.”

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