“Devi, you seen Boss? She’s been gone for a bit.”
She narrows her eyes in on me, “No. She went up the street, right?”
“Yep, the Cuban joint on the corner.”
Devi furrows her brows together and I know she’s thinking the same thing I am. “Wanna go check it out? Boss isn’t the kind to mull around.”
“I know she isn’t, and yeah, let’s go.” I tell her.
“I’ll come with,” Venom speaks up.
“Cool.” I reply back to her, walking alongside Venom and Devi as we go to the Cuban restaurant. I know Tala has made this trip hundreds of times without anyone going with her, but still this doesn’t feel right. She would’ve texted someone if she was gonna be a while. It’s not like her to go radio silent. Hell, even if she ran into someone, she would’ve told us.
“That’s weird. The sign says closed,” Devi speaks up as we turn the corner.
“What time is it?” Venom questions Devi.
“Twenty past one,” Devi responds, and both of the girls share a concerned gaze.
I walk ahead of them both and go in front of the doorway, instantly seeing blood. “Blood,” I comment, placing a hand on my gun, I move forward slowly, surveying every inch of this place.
“Jesus, that’s a fucking lot of blood.” Venom comments as she comes through the door with Devi.
“Be alert, ladies. There’s no telling who’s in here with us.” I say, moving to the right, I make my way around the corner of the counter and see a man’s body. “Body,” I tell them while I move past it. I’m sure one of them is going to kneel down and check for any sign of life, but there’s no use. He’s gone.
I continue on, heading a few more feet and spot another body on the ground. But this time, my eyes settle on a familiar emblem. “Fuck,” I lose all sense of control, drop to the ground and pray to whatever god there is that she’s okay.
“Tala, Tala,” I repeat her name over and over again while I turn her over. I even shake her, looking for a sign of life, and she flutters her eyelids. Her normally picture-perfect skin looking like an abstract painting. Dried blood below her nose and lip. Bruises already turning purple, blue, and black on her face.
“Oh my god,” Devi makes her shock obvious.
“Is she dead?!” Venom asks, her tone full of concern and worry.
“No, no. She . . . she’s alive. Barely. We need to get her back to the club. Now. Call Ricochet. Get one of the cars out here. I don’t wanna carry her out on the street like this.” I’m dishing out orders and Devi’s already on her phone doing as I tell her.
“Cowboy,” Tala whispers my name.
I look back down to her torn apart face and she presses her lips together, almost like a tremble as if she’s about to break down crying. “Sssh, baby. Relax. That’s all you need to worry about.”
She tries to move her head to the left and the right, to tell me no I assume, but she grimaces in pain. “Stoney . . . we need to call S-stoney.”
“No, we need to focus on getting you back to the club.” I tell her, brushing my hand against her hair. I do my best to soothe her. She doesn’t need to worry about anything right now. Not a damn thing.
I didn’t miss the way her jeans were cut . . . so I know what happened to her.
“Dragons F-fire, Spark . . . threaten . . . Destiny.” She rasps out, her eyes pleading with me. She wants me to get this message to Stoney as soon as possible and there’s no doubt about it.
The front door comes open and Venom clears her throat, “Relax, it’s Ricochet.”
“Call Emerson, I need you to get a message to Stoney right now.” I tell him before he’s even turned the corner. He pulls his phone out and presses it to his ear. “Em’, I need you to call Stoney for me. You need to tell him,” Ricochet pauses and waits for me.
“A guy named Spark threatened Destiny. Boss’ beaten up really bad. We just found her. That’s all I have for now.” I say, and Ricochet nods, repeating pretty much everything I just said.
Glancing back down to Tala, tears are streaming down her face. She’s fucking terrified, but she’s trying so damn hard to be strong through this. I pull her closer to my chest and press a kiss to her forehead, “Don’t you worry about a thing, baby. I got you. Everything is going to be okay.”
Epilogue
As long as you feel pain, you’re still alive.
~ Unknown
Boss
Three Days Later . . .
“What are you doing here?” Cowboy questions someone at our apartment door, but I have no idea who he’s talking to. Everyone at the club has been giving me space, some time to rest after my attack.
“I came ‘cause I damn well needed to, now get outta my fuckin’ way. How is she?” Stoney practically pushes past Cowboy to get to me, but I see he isn’t alone.
There’s a woman with him, and oddly enough . . . she looks an awful lot like me. My skin tone is a bit more tan, but we both have dark hair and dark eyes. She keeps her eyes trained on me while Stoney rushes over to me, taking a seat beside me on the couch he grabs my hand, which is weird as fuck. “Are you okay?”
“I’m alive, Stoney. I’m fine.” I tell him.
“Yeah, well you look like fuckin’ shit.”
I cock a brow, “Well, aren’t you a real peach.”
“Fuck. I’m sorry. I . . . I just couldn’t stay down in Virginia knowin’ how bad you were messed up. It didn’t feel right to be down there, to just sit
