My stomach twists and my eyes flare. I can’t stop my feet from moving as bile crawls up my throat.

“Who’s that?”

“Someone who was in my fucking way.”

I step back right into the barrel of Sin’s gun.

“Get on the mattress,” he orders.

I shake my head. “I’m not getting on that.”

He slams the gun handle down again, this time catching my cheek. I feel the skin split like an overripe peach and the warm gush of blood.

Ty’s voice echoes in my head.

Play along until the men get to you…

I move to stand over the mattress, wrapping my arms around my waist.

“Lie down.”

“No.”

I can’t do it. Not again.

“Lie down, Sash.”

My face contorts into a mask of rage. “You’ll have to kill me before I let you touch me like that again.”

He reaches out and I flinch back, but he just tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. It’s a strangely intimate gesture that has my senses on full alert. What the hell is he doing?

A strange look flickers in his eyes, almost like regret as he takes in the marks he’s caused. His crazed eyes soften as his demons die down and he looks so much like the little boy he used to be.

“I always loved you,” he surprises the fuck out of me by saying.

The blood all over my face suggests otherwise, but for once I keep my mouth shut.

“Why did Tyler get to have everything? The president’s patch, the girl… What did I have?”

I narrow my eyes at him and pull away from his fingers.

“This is what this is all about? You’re fucking jealous of your brother? You raped me because you wanted what you couldn’t have? Like a fucking prize?”

His brows draw together. “You should have been mine. I saw you first.” He doesn’t deny what he did.

I get in his face, not caring about the gun pointing at me and hiss, “I was never yours. I love Tyler. I’ll always love him. You were my friend. That’s all.” My voice catches and I hate that it does.

I know I’m pushing him, but my anger is blowing. He destroyed my life because of some jealous notion he should have had what his brother had. He thinks because he saw me first that gave him some stupid claim to me? The thing is, Tyler would have given him anything in his power to give. He just couldn’t give him what Sin desired most—me. I belonged to Ty the moment I first laid eyes on him. Even if he didn’t want me, my heart would always have been his. I would always have been his.

Sin twitches, using the gun to scratch at his forehead as he closes his eyes. His motions are jerky and frantic. I can see he’s losing control.

“Don’t fucking say that, you bitch!”

His hand lashes out, catching my jaw. I stagger back, nearly losing my footing, but I manage to stay upright using the wall to steady myself.

“Why did you tell Rav we slept together? If you didn’t want me, why tell him our secret?”

That’s when reality hits me. He’s beyond help. He’s fucked up, his reality so messed up he doesn’t know the truth.

“I’ve lost everything! I’ll never be able to go home, I’m going to lose my kutte, probably my life.”

My face burns, the skin feeling hot and tight. I peer up at him and let my mouth pull into a snarl.

“You fucking raped me!”

His brows draw together and he laughs, a low guttural sound that has my stomach flipping.

“I never raped you, you crazy bitch. You enjoyed it. Don’t fucking lie and say you didn’t.”

Sickness crawls through me and my skin feels inked with dirt that no soap could ever remove.

“Enjoyed it? Was I enjoying it as I begged you to stop? As I screamed? As I pleaded with you not to fucking do it?” My chest heaves in harsh pants as I stare my demon, the monster of my nightmares, in the eyes. “You took what you wanted.” I roll to my toes and get in his face, snapping, “No matter what you do to me, I’ll never be yours. I’ll never let you take anything from me again, you sick, disgusting bastard.” I might not have a weapon, but I know the power of my words. “I will never, ever love you.” Each word is low and wrapped in disgust.

Rage clouds his expression and fear rolls through me as his eyes glaze over. I see the demons resurface. I yelp as he manhandles me down onto the mattress. Clawing at his face, kicking at him, hitting him in the chest as hard as I can, I try to get him off me.

That last one seems to hurt him, because he snarls, “You fucking bitch. I’ll make you mine,” at me before he slams his fist into my face.

Dazed, I try to fight him, but he’s stronger than I am, and I can do nothing as he gets me on my back.

The mattress springs stab into my spine as his weight comes down on top of me and my breath tears out of me in ragged pants.

“No!” I beat my hands against him as he tugs my borrowed joggers down past my knees. The oversized pants come down too easily, allowing him to spread my now bare legs with his knee between them. “Stop! Sin, stop!” I thrash, trying everything to stop from being sucked back into that place three years ago, but from the look in his eyes this just seems to excite him more. “James, please!” I sob out his real name, but it doesn’t penetrate through the darkness swirling around him.

He holds my wrists over my head in one hand while the other moves to my breast. I taste vomit in my mouth as he squeezes it.

I fight with everything I have, but he’s sitting on my hips, stopping me from moving.

Then I hear it. A sound that is like a fanfare of relief. The sound of pipes rumbling and the unmistakable roar of multiple Harley engines.

A single tear falls down my cheek as his name falls from my lips in a soft whisper. “Tyler.”

29

Ravage

I honestly thought he wouldn’t be here, that I’d be wrong. When I storm into the warehouse, my brothers at my back, the last thing I expect to see in that filthy blood-soaked room is my woman underneath my brother, a pair of my joggers around her ankles, a gun pressed to her temple, and her face covered in blood.

I can see the fear in her eyes as they dart back and forth, the tension in every line of her body.

My only thought is am I too late. Did he rape her again? I can’t see any sign of obvious trauma, apart from the mess of her face. I do notice her eyes are a little heavy, as if she’s struggling to keep focused, but there’s also relief in them and love. That cuts me open.

I’m aware of my brothers at my back, and hear their guns cocking as I step closer to Sin. Fire scorches a path through my gut. He has no right to touch her. He never did.

My gaze slides to Sin and I curl my mouth up into a snarl. I watch his eyes widen. He’s never had this look focused on him. It’s one I usually reserve for our enemies. He drags her up, pulling her in front of him like a shield and my heart goes wild.

“Take your fucking hands off her.”

Sin cocks his head at me. He doesn’t look great either. His face is a mass of darkly yellowing bruises. My heart starts to canter in my chest as I stare at my little brother, a man who is now threatening to take everything important from me. His time is up, but looking at him now, it’s hard not to see the little boy I protected from our mother, from Johns looking to climb into his bed. All I see now is blood, pain, betrayal and an enemy.