I’m storming off the elevator down in the basement. I can hear voices behind me, but I ignore them. I’m on a mission.
My wife and brother were taken. And now one of them is dead. Someone has to pay for that. It’ll be the three pieces of shit who brought her back. Because those three make the most sense to me. If they’re innocent? Then it sucks to be them. Talk about wrong place wrong time.
“Saint?” I’m grabbed and yanked back.
I spin around and come face-to-face with Tyson. I fist my hand, and he steps back, placing his out wide while Sin and Ryat stand on either side of him. “I’m sorry about Haidyn,” he says softly.
I block him out. I refuse to believe that my brother is upstairs, under a sheet as if he never existed. The sour taste in my mouth makes me want to vomit. But I swallow it down. “Where did you put them?” I demand. “Where are the three guys you all brought in?”
“We separated them.” Ryat is the one who answers. “Kashton didn’t want them anywhere near one another because they would be able to talk.”
I give them my back. “And Luke?” I snap.
“Same place he’s been,” Sin responds.
Making my way down the hallway, I shove the plastic dividers out of the way and storm through the pits. Then hit the hallway with the cells on either side. I dig the key out of my pocket and open Luke’s cell.
He flinches at the loud squeak of the door being yanked open. “Get the fuck up,” I bark, rushing over to him. His dead wife still lies on his floor, well what’s left of her. The skeleton of her body is all that remains. It takes two to three hours for a body to burn. She’s been lying there for four days now.
“N-o,” he says hoarsely, pushing his body into the back corner.
I step on part of Whitney’s body, feeling the bones crush under my weight stomping over to him. I grab his hair and yank him to his knees. “Who the fuck killed Haidyn?” I scream in his tear-streaked face.
He cries harder. His frail and bony body trembles.
I yank him over to Whitney and place my boot out in front of his bare feet, tripping him. He falls to his knees next to what’s left of her, and I shove his face into the ashes sprawled out on the floor. He coughs and sputters as I rub his face in what was once his wife.
Yanking his head back, he screams, his hands coming up to his face and wiping her off while crying. “Who the fuck did this?” I shout, my hand tightening in his hair. I’m shaking as much as he is, but for different reasons.
“I—”
It feels like a hammer hits me in the face, knocking us both back into the far wall. The sound of a blaring alarm begins to go off and the floodlights come on throughout the basement. I cough, waving my hand in front of my face to clear the dust and probably Whitney’s ashes that now swirl around the small room. “What the fuck?” I bark out, grabbing ahold of Luke that tries to get up beside me.
“A bomb.” I hear Tyson cough, and I look up to see him and the others out in the hall through the wall that’s been knocked down. All three of them getting to their knees, brushing debris off of themselves.
“Who the fuck set off a bomb?” I ask, shaking my head and trying to get the ringing to stop. Maybe it’s the blaring of the alarm. Either way, it’s given me a headache. Or it could be the fact that I was just slammed into a concrete wall.
Luke begins to laugh, and I shove him to his back, straddling his naked chest. I wrap my hand around his throat, lowering my face to his. It’s still covered in Whitney’s ashes. “Who the fuck set off a bomb in here?”
His eyes grow hard, and he stiffens underneath me. “You did exactly what they wanted.”
“Who?” I shout. What the fuck is he talking about? He could be lying. Or he could believe every word he says—men have been known to go delirious while caged.
“Them.” He gives me a wicked smile, and I see the dirt and ash in his gums and on his tongue. He has no teeth. Tyson ripped them out one by one. “You brought them into Carnage. Just like they wanted you to.”
“The guys who delivered Ashtyn.” Ryat is the one who speaks.
I look up at him. “Where did you put them?” The alarm stops, but the ringing in my ears continues.
“We spread them out…I put my guy down the hall.” Sin states, pointing down the now rubble-filled hallway.
“How the fuck did they plant bombs?” I wonder. “Didn’t you guys pat them down?” Jesus Christ, who the fuck are these men?
All three of them nod. “We did.” Sin dusts off his jeans.
“We stripped them down to nothing,” Tyson adds.
I frown and look down at Luke. “You’re lying.” Stripping those who come into Carnage has been something our fathers taught us to do. It serves a purpose. Gives them no defense. There’s something very vulnerable about a man being stripped by another, hosed off and thrown into a cage like an animal. It’s humiliating.
“It was a suicide mission,” Luke speaks.
“Are you saying that they willingly swallowed bombs?” I question with a snort.
He gives a rough laugh, and I narrow my eyes on him.
“Are they shoved up their asses or something?” Sin asks, making Ryat laugh.
Luke doesn’t find it as funny.
“They each have bombs?” I look at him. They brought three men in, that means two more are still to go off. Are they on timers? Triggers? How long until the next goes off?
“Four of them have bombs.” His wicked laughter fills the room.
“But there were only three men.” Tyson frowns.
“Who is the fourth?” I yank Luke’s head off the floor only to knock it back into the concrete. “Who the fuck has the fourth bomb?”
His laughter grows, and I’ve had enough of his shit. “Sin, there’s a box of gloves right by the door. Hand me two.”
“What?” Luke’s laughter stops, and he starts to thrash under me to get away. “What are you going to do?” he demands.
Sin enters with a pair of gloves, and I get up off Luke to turn him over. “Put your knee into his back. Hold him still.”
Sin does as I say, placing his weight onto Luke’s back, making him cry out, and I yank his arms behind his back, holding his forearms parallel, and I nod at Sin to take them. He pins them down for me.
“What the fuck?” Luke cries.
“He’s about to be elbow deep in your ass, man,” Sin informs him.
“It’s not me!” he shouts, squirming. “I swear to God—”
“There is no God.” I interrupt him. “Just you and me. Now be a good boy, spread your legs, and relax.” I place my legs between his, shoving them apart and forcing his ass up in the air.
“Saint?” I look up as Ryat tosses me the tube of lube sitting next to the gloves. Honestly, I was going to use spit, but this will help speed up the process.
“You can’t do this!” Luke screams, thrashing on the floor. “You can’t do this to me, you motherfucker!”
“You kidnapped, raped, and murdered innocent women with barbed wire. I’d say an arm up your ass is getting off easy,” Ryat tells him.
I pour it all over the black glove covering my fingers and hand before pouring it over his ass and legs, just dousing him with most of the bottle before tossing it to the side. Placing my hands on his ass cheeks, I shove them open as he screams louder than the ringing of the alarm that still echoes in my pounding head.
“Ash-tyn,” he cries.
“What about her?” I growl, getting tired of this game.
He’s sobbing and mumbles unintelligible things into the concrete floor while Sin has him pinned down.
“Ashtyn.” Sin is the one who speaks, and my eyes snap to his. He swallows nervously and drops his eyes to Luke. He doesn’t think he had one, either, but I had to check. His eyes meet mine once again before he speaks. “They brought her in. You don’t think…”
“Is that true?” I shout at Luke. “Is that the fucking truth?” I’m screaming, my throat burns, and I shove Sin off Luke so I can toss him onto his back. He’s still a sobbing mess. I wrap my hand around his throat and yank him to his feet with my lube-covered glove hand and slam his back into the wall that’s partially missing. “Fucking answer me, you son of a bitch, or I will…”
“I don’t know.” Spit flies from his mouth as tears and snot run down his face through his wife’s ashes that cover his dirty skin. “They just said there were four…”
I slam Luke’s head into the concrete and step back, letting him fall to his violated ass. Think, Saint…It can’t be her. Devin and Gavin ran every test there was. They would have seen a bomb. It would have shown up on x-rays, right? The CT scan? Ultrasound? There would have been some kind of red flags to make them dig deeper if they found something odd.
It’s Luke. He’s trying to distract me by using my wife. I’m not going to fall for it. I grab Luke and shove him to the floor once more. “Tyson, go find Kashton. Fill him in on everything.”
“Done,” Tyson states and takes off.
Sin walks out of the cell only to come back with a set of gloves of his own. I shake my head, pointing at the hallway. “Get out. Both of you go. I’m not going to be responsible for killing you guys if he’s lying.” I’m not that knowledgeable when it comes to bombs. So I have no clue what might set it off.
“I’m staying.” Sin smiles with excitement, and I growl. I don’t have time to fight him on this, and he knows it.
“Ryat, alert the hospital staff. Have people moved to the morgue.” It’s the safest place that I can think of right now.
Sin’s face pales, and he too looks at Ryat. “Will you make sure Gavin moves Laura, please? The last thing I want to do today is explain to my wife that a bomb killed our child.”
“On it.” Ryat sprints off.
Sin removes his belt and kneels down by Luke, who is losing his shit once more now that he realizes this is happening. I hold his arms down his back while Sin fastens his belt around his wrists. Then he flips Luke onto his back. I undo my belt and wrap it around his thighs.
Sin places his knee into his neck and shoulder, pinning him down, he then reaches underneath Luke’s tied legs, and pulls his knees to Luke’s chest. The position lifts his ass and lower back off the concrete floor, giving me better access.
“Okay, Luke. Let’s see if you were telling the truth.” Sin laughs. “I never thought death by anal cavity search would be an option for me.” Shaking his head, he adds, “I like my odds.”
ASHTYN
I’m sitting up in my hospital bed and Devin stands next to me, handing me a cup of ice. “Try this first. If you can keep it down, then we’ll move onto liquids.”
Nodding, I take a piece of cubed ice, but I just let it melt in my mouth.
“That’s good.” He smiles at me when I swallow.
My throat is sore, but my body feels good. Of course it’s numb from the pain pills, but I’ll take it after the four days of being strung up outside while being starved and deprived of survival essentials. My head is a little foggy, but he told me it’s the sedation wearing off from earlier.
The sound of an alarm goes off, and I flinch. “One second.” He pats my thigh over the blanket and walks over to the door. He pokes his head out and looks both ways down the hall and then shuts the door, returning to me.
“What’s going on?” I ask over the blaring alarm.
“I’m not sure.” He removes his cell from his pocket and then places it to his ear as he calls someone. They don’t answer because he puts it away after a second.
“Where’s Saint?” I ask worried. I woke up about thirty minutes ago, and Devin was in here with me. He explained what happened and that he and Gavin removed the piece of glass, and I’ve got stitches. My right arm is in a sling because they had to relocate it. Sounds painful, but I feel nothing at the moment. When he started to talk about the test results of my rape kit, I shut down. He wanted to bring in someone to talk to me, and I refused. It won’t change what happened. I want to forget, not let that motherfucker win by having to talk about it.
The hardest part will be Saint. How he’ll feel about me now. How he’ll treat me.
“Don’t worry, Ashtyn. I’m sure he’s fine.” His cell rings, and he digs it out again, answering it. “What the fuck is going on?” he tries to whisper, but I hear him clear as day over the blaring alarm. “What?” he barks.
I pop another piece of ice into my cracked lips. I’m so thirsty, it’s just not enough. So I pop two in this time.
The door swings open, hitting the interior wall, and a male nurse pops his head in. “We’re moving everyone to the morgue,” he rushes out, and then he’s gone.
“What?” I look at Devin. “Why?”
He doesn’t answer me, but the way his phone call just went, I think he knows and doesn’t want to tell me.
The door opens again and this time I get nervous when Saint rushes in. Afraid to have the conversation about how another man used me—made me a whore. But my nervousness turns to concern when I see how dirty he is. He’s got blood on his shirt; I’m guessing that’s mine. But he’s also got dirt on his face, neck, and arms.
“May I speak to you for a moment?” he asks Devin tightly.
“What’s going on, Saint?” I try to adjust myself of the bed.
“Nothing, sweetheart.” He leans down and kisses my forehead, and I get butterflies. I was so terrified he’d be mad at me. Hate me or no longer want me. “We’ll be right outside for a second.”
Before I can say anything, they both rush out and into the hall, letting the door close behind them. I lean my head back, trying to ignore the damn alarm and close my heavy eyes. I’m so tired. I’m sure it’s a combination of the drugs and the past four days of my life.
I hear the door open but keep my eyes shut, knowing it’s Saint and Devin returning. “Everything checked out, Saint,” Devin says softly. “She’s in no danger.”
“Saint?” I hear a man speaking. “We’ve got to move Haidyn’s body…”
“What do you mean Haidyn’s body?” I ask, my eyes springing open.
Saint’s jaw hardens, but he doesn’t say anything to the guy.
“Saint?” I start to sit up but a sharp pain shoots up my side, and I roll onto it. Fuck, what happened to the pain meds? Are they wearing off?
“Lie down, Ash, for fuck’s sake,” he growls, coming over to me.
“What’s going on?” I ask, and tears sting my eyes. Why isn’t he telling me anything? “Where is Haidyn?” My throat closes, knowing what he’s going to say. Why would they move us all to the morgue? And why did he say body? Does that mean he’s dead?
The alarm continues to blare, but their refusal to answer my question is deafening silence. “Saint?” I demand, my voice rising. “What the fuck does he mean?” My eyes shoot to the male nurse, and he stares at the floor. “Saint, please…”
“He’s gone, Ash,” Saint answers softly.
Haidyn’s dead? I feel my chest tighten. They killed him? “Nooo.” I choke out, sucking in air that makes my throat burn. I grab at my neck, my skin all of a sudden hot as if being branded all over.
“Calm down, sweetheart.”
I’m gasping, my stomach knotting, and a weight sits on top of me.
“Give her something.” He barks at Devin.
“No.” I grab Saint’s shirt. “I need to see Haidyn.” I try to use him to pull myself off the bed.
“No, Ash.” He pries my hands from his shirt and holds them in place in front of me. “You need to rest…”
“Where is he?” I cry. “I’ve got to see him.”
“Devin!” he shouts. The head of my bed is lowered and Saint gets up to stand over me as he holds my wrists in his. I thrash in the bed trying to get up and ignore the pain in my chest.
Then I feel something warm in my arm, and my eyes grow heavy.
“That’s it, sweetheart.” He places my hands on my stomach and brushes my hair off my sweaty forehead. “You’re okay.”
I blink and fresh tears run down my face, and I let the darkness suck me under, trying to think how I’ll live a life without Haidyn in it.
