I can feel him limp in my arms, but I still don’t stop until I feel someone behind me, trying to pull me off of him. I can hear someone faintly yelling at me, trying to get through to me, but I can’t hear any of it, the only sound in my ears is my beating heart as fast as a hummingbird’s wings.

  More arms grab at me, pulling me off of the man in front of me. I don’t know how many men it took to finally pry my hands off of his neck, but when he’s free of my grasp, he falls to the ground, and for the first time since I saw him on top of Angel, I see the damage I’ve done. His head is nothing but a mess of mush, and the wall and floor in front of me is painted a deep red with blood and brain matter.

  My eyes move around and land on the woman I’ve spent the last few months searching for. She’s still on her stomach, and the sound of her sobs breaks me out of the rage and crushes my soul.

  Moving over to her, I reach out to touch her, but stop myself when I see the man’s blood on my hands. I don’t want any part of him touching her again, even his blood, so I try my best to wipe my hands off on my shirt but find that is soiled as well.

  I tear my shirt off and someone hands me theirs to clean myself off as best I can. Then slowly and gently, I move toward Angel and touch her back.

  She screams, causing me to jump back for a moment. I can’t figure out if she thinks it’s the man who was hurting her or if she just hates me that much that she can’t even stand for me to touch her or be near her.

  Hoping it’s the former, I try again, but this time, I speak to her softly. “Angel, it’s me. Baby, I’m here to take you home.” Her head turns toward me slowly and when she sees me, a soft smile touches her lips. She breathes out my name, and then her eyes close and her body goes limp.

  My heart stops, thinking I’ve lost her, but then I notice she’s still breathing. “I think the stress of everything was too much for her, brother. It’s probably best she fell asleep,” one of my brothers says behind me, I’m not sure who.

  Breathing a sigh of relief, I reach out and wipe away a lone tear that has leaked out of my eye before I gather her in my arms, one of my brothers laying a shirt over her to cover her up, for which I’m grateful. Then, I carry her down the stairs and out of the house. I let my brothers take care of the rest and secure the other women. I can’t leave Angel. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to leave her side again.

  I make my way over to where we were hiding before in the shade and drop down to my knees, all the while keeping her in my arms. I can hear Bear calling out to someone to have them bring the vans around to pick us up.

  Not even a minute later, I hear a vehicle approaching, but it’s too soon for it to be ours. They were parked only a half mile away, but there’s no way they got here that quick.

  I lower myself down even more and cover Angel’s body with mine, all the while keeping an eye on the road. The truck we saw leave earlier this morning pulls up and four men get out. At first, they don’t notice what’s going on inside, but when they do, it’s too late. I already have my gun aimed at one of them, and when I pull the trigger, I immediately move to the next at the same time someone from inside opens fire at the other two.

  A few seconds later, I see our vans hauling ass down the road toward us, skidding to a stop behind the truck. Wheels and Leroy jump out and rush over to the bodies with their guns raised. Checking to make sure they are all dead, they relax when Bear comes out to greet them. He tells them the women are inside and to start helping the others bring them out. Then, he pulls out his phone, presses a button, and puts it to his ear.

  “Teto. I need you to get someone to meet us at the hotel to help these girls. Most of them are in pretty bad shape and need medical attention,” he says into the phone, then hangs up when he gets the reply he wants.

  Stepping over to me, he looks down at Angel in my arms and a look of sadness takes over his weathered face. I think I see a tear fall.

  “She’s safe now, son,” he says quietly. “All the men who did this to her are dead. No one will hurt her again.” But his words don’t give me complete relief.

  “Not all of them,” I say, thinking about the one I have yet to find. The one who is the reason she’s here right now and in the condition she’s in. Georgie.

  Bear understands immediately who I’m talking about and a dark look crosses his face. “We’ll get him. We won’t stop until he’s ten feet in the ground.”

  Nodding my head, I know he’s right. It may not be today, or even this week, but I will find Georgie and I will make him pay for his part in all of this.

  He helps me stand up and opens the back door of the first van. I crawl in, never letting my hold on Angel loosen. Then I sit back and wait for the rest of my brothers to bring the other girls out, never taking my eyes off of my girl, all the while cataloging all the bruises, cuts, and scars I see all over her body. Tallying them up in my head, I promise with each one when I find Georgie, I will give him one to match.

  It takes a half an hour before we are all loaded up, most of the men staying behind until someone comes back to pick them up since there isn’t any room for them. There were nineteen girls inside, and all of them need some sort of medical attention, and soon. They will get it, and then we will make sure they all get home where they belong.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Torq

  When we arrive back at the hotel, I see Teto and Amy standing outside with three men in doctors’ coats. I have no idea where he found them or what it’s going to cost us, but I don’t care. As long as they know what they’re doing and can help Angel and the other girls, that’s all that matters.

  Pulling into the parking space right in front of them, Amy rushes forward, her need to see her friend unstoppable. The door pulls open, and when she sees me with Angel in my arms, and the condition she’s in, Amy’s hand comes up to her mouth as she gasps, tears instantly forming and falling down her face. It’s like a tsunami raging, there are so many tears.

  “Oh my God. Angel,” she whispers, reaching out her hand before pulling it back to her chest.

  “She’s going to be fine,” I say, more to myself, because I think I may need the reassurance more than Amy. The whole way here, I couldn’t stop looking at her and all her injuries while she lay unconscious in my arms. I had to check her pulse every few seconds, worried that she would die in my arms.

  I know she’s in bad shape, and I have a feeling I haven’t even scratched the surface of all her ailments, but as far as I can tell, her left leg is in bad shape. I don’t know what happened, but it doesn’t look good. It’s bruised all over, the worst seeming to be on the bottom part of her leg—on her shin and calf. Then there are cuts and other nasty bruises on her other leg and on every other inch of skin I see exposed under the ratty t-shirt that looks like it’s ten times too large for her frail body.

  Her face is messed up too. Her lips are swollen and cracked, and on one corner, it’s split open with dried blood down her chin. Both eyes are black and blue, but they look like they’re on the healing end of getting better. She’s got a few scratches on her cheek and forehead and what looks like the beginning of a scar about an inch long on her jaw line.

  But the worst injury on her, I haven’t wanted to investigate much or spend too much time thinking about, is the blood that seems to be running down her leg. It’s not the amount of blood that has me worried, though. There isn’t enough of it to cause harm in itself, but the reason why she’s bleeding is the concern. It could be that she has a cut on her upper thigh where I can’t see it, but I have a feeling it’s far worse than that and coming from a place on her body no man aside from me should have been able to touch.

  I see Bear go over to the men in the white coats. He says something to them as they look my way. A few moments later, they’re walking over to where Amy is still standing with tears streaming down her face. Ice Man comes over and takes her in his arms, whispering something into her ear. She nods and allows him to pull her to the side just as the doctor steps up to the van.

  He reaches out his arms to try and take her from me. I growl and lock eyes with him, promising him a painful death if he doesn’t back the fuck off. He gets the message and waits for me to maneuver her in my arms before carefully getting out of the van.

  Leading the way to one of the rooms, I follow him inside with Ice Man, Bear, and Amy right behind me. I see that the whole room has been transformed into a makeshift hospital room. There are tables with medical tools and every type of bandage you could think of.

  “Lay her down over there, please,” the doctor instructs, which I follow. But I don’t leave her side. I keep one hand on her arm, not willing to let her go.

  The man gets right to work with checking her over, going from top to bottom. I stay quiet the whole time and watch him as he writes down everything he finds. When he goes to lift the shirt up her legs and body, I almost deck him. No fucking way am I going to allow him to see her like that, but Bear sees what’s happening and rushes over to me, grabbing my fisted arm and restraining me. The doctor looks up, scared, but when Bear nods at him to continue, he hesitates for only a second before pulling the shirt up to reveal her battered lower region. I look away, not able to see the damage those men did to her there.

  When the doctor is done, he looks up to me and motions with his head toward the other side of the room. At first, I don’t move, but I know I have to talk to him and figure out what needs to happen to make her better.

  Amy comes over and places her hand on my shoulder. “I’ll stay with her,” she says, giving me a small reassuring smile.

  Nodding my head, I begrudgingly move away from her to where the doctor is standing with Bear.

  “How bad is it?” Bear asks, worry etched on his face.

  “It’s pretty bad, I’m afraid. But it’s all treatable. I’ll clean up the cuts and put bandages on them. The bruises are already healing, but it’ll take a while for them to be completely gone.” Bear and I both nod, waiting for him to continue, because we know there’s more. “Her left shoulder is dislocated, but I can adjust it and put it back into its socket. I can give her something for the pain so it’s not as painful for her, but she’ll be uncomfortable for a few days after. And she’ll need to wear a sling.”

  I look to where she lays on the bed, eyes closed, her breathing slow. “Why isn’t she waking up?” I ask, my thoughts spilling out. She’s been through a lot, I know, but is there something more going on?

  “I don’t see anything to indicate that there’s any brain damage, so my guess is that everything just took a toll on her and her mind had to shut down for a while. She’ll wake up when she’s ready, but I think while I work on her, I should give her something to keep her sleeping comfortably. It’ll also help with the pain once she does wake up.”

  “Thank you, Doc,” Bear answers for me, and I’m glad. I’m having a hard time coming up with words right now, my mind solely on Angel and getting her better.

  “Uh, there’s more,” the doctor states hesitantly. “It seems her leg was broken. I’m not sure how long ago it happened, but it wasn’t taken care of which caused it to fuse together wrong. I’m afraid that in order to fix that, we’ll have to re-break the bone before setting it correctly, which will then allow it to heal the right way.”

  At first, I don’t understand what he’s saying. I knew her leg was in a bad way, but broken? And healing wrong? And that’s when his words sink in. “You want to break her leg again?” I yell, reaching out and grabbing the front of his shirt, twisting and hauling him up onto his toes, my face inches away from his. “You aren’t fucking touching her!”

  For the second time in a matter of hours, I have to be pulled off of a man and restrained. “Torq! Calm the fuck down,” Bear states as Ice Man comes over to help him hold me back.

  “He ain’t fuckin’ breaking her goddamn leg! Over my dead body,” I seethe.

  “Look, it’s not ideal, but it’s the only way to make it better! You want her to live her life with a fucked-up leg?” This comes from Ice Man.

  The fight leaves me after I let that statement sink in and defeat takes over. I know this will help make her better, but I hate the thought of putting her through more pain.

  Seeing that I’m calm, Bear lets me go before looking to the doctor. “Do it,” he says, but the doctor doesn’t move.

  “Is there a problem, Doc?” Ice Man asks.

  “Uh, well, I’m afraid that in order to do this correctly and not to cause more damage, we’ll have to move her to an actual hospital. I’ll need to x-ray the leg so I can see exactly what I’m doing. And depending on how bad the break is and how clean we can do the re-break, we may have to go in and put a pin in her leg. And I’ll need more equipment than what I have here to do that.”

  Bear and Ice Man share a look before saying, “We’ll make a call. But once you do what needs to be done, we’re outta there.”

  The doctor nods, and he addresses what I’ve been dreading since I found her. “There’s one more thing. It looks like she’s suffered from repeated sexual assault. From what I can see, there seems to be some tearing of the anal cavity. Those are minor and will heal on their own. But what concerns me is it looks like the inner walls of her vagina have separated. I’ll have to do a more thorough exam to be sure, but I think she may need a few stitches. I think we should also do an ultrasound to be sure there isn’t any other internal damage. And I’d suggest having a pregnancy and STD test done to be sure there isn’t anything else that we need to be aware of.”

  Thinking of what caused the damage to her pussy is enough to make me go crazy with bloodlust for men I know are already dead, but then with the possibility that one of them could have gotten her pregnant causes that anger to double. One of those fuckers could have implanted their dirty seed into my Angel. I want to go back and bring all those pieces of shit back to life, just so I can kill them all again, slowly and painfully.

  “Do whatever needs to be done,” Bear says, then the doctor nods and makes his way back over to Angel’s side. He gets to work on cleaning her cuts and bandaging them up, but I can’t be here and watch what’s coming next. I need air and I need it yesterday.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see that Amy is still by her side, holding her hand, so I feel better leaving the room knowing that someone is with Angel. I want it to be me, but I think it’s best for both of us if I walk away just now. Otherwise I may end up killing the good doctor for touching what’s mine and possibly hurting her further.

  Once outside, I lean against the wall and pull out my cigarettes. Lighting one up, I see I was followed out by Ice Man. He doesn’t say anything at first, he’s just there for support, and I make a note to myself to thank him for everything he’s done for me and Angel. I’ll be sad to see him leave to go back to his club. But I understand that he has to. He’s got brothers depending on him and need him.

  I don’t know how long we’re out there without saying a word, but I smoke three cigarettes while he just stands there next to me, leaning against the wall, looking out past the parking lot and into the wide expanse of fields. “How you holdin’ up?” he asks without moving his eyes from in front of him.

  At first, I don’t answer. I don’t know how I’m feeling in this moment, actually. I’m happy we found her and have her back, but I’m also really upset about the state she’s in. All the damage done to her, I know she’ll heal on the outside, but I have no idea what the damage is like on the inside, what’s going on in her head. And I’m enraged at the same time that it happened to her in the first place. I don’t know what emotion is more prominent. Each are fighting for the number one spot inside of me.

  “I honestly don’t know, brother,” I finally say, reaching inside my pocket for another cigarette. Fuck, I haven’t smoked this much since my mother was murdered. My throat is raw and each inhale burns, but I can’t stop. I need the nicotine to calm my nerves, or at least try to calm them.

  Taking a drag, I look over at him. “I don’t know how to fix all of this. What she’s been through, physically and emotionally, I’m not sure what I need to do to make it better, ya know?” It’s not often that I’m completely at a loss for words or what needs to be done, but I find myself confused on what my role needs to be now. I want to be there for her, be her protector, her rock, and her lover. But I’m not sure what is best for her. After everything that’s happened, will she even want me as either of those, or even in her life at all?

  “You’re just going to have to give it time. Let her set the pace and tell you what she needs. But most importantly, just be there for her. That’s all any of us can really do,” he says solemnly.

  I don’t say anything else. I just stand there and look out into the distance with him as I finish my cigarette. Once I’m done, Bear and the doctor come outside. “We’re ready to move her,” the doctor states. “I’ve reset her shoulder and bandaged her up. The only thing to do now is fix her leg and determine the damage to her insides.”

  He goes back into the room to pack up his stuff and prepare Angel for the move. While he’s inside, I hear Amy talking to him, asking him questions about her condition. He answers her in a quiet tone, giving her all the information she wants to know. I’m glad Amy came. I think she needed to be here just as much as I did. And it’ll be good for Angel to have her here once she wakes up. She’ll need her friend more than anything, I think.

  The door to the room right next to us opens, and another doctor comes out. Then the door a few rooms down from there opens to the other doctor. They both walk over to us and explain that the other girls are in stable condition. It seems like Angel had the worst of the injuries. I wonder what happened to her to put her in worse shape.

  Bear thanks the doctors and tells Teto to pay them. He then explains what’s going on with Angel and that we’ll be leaving to take her to a private hospital. He tells him to let the others know, and to start working on getting the other women back home.