Tortured Souls: An MC Romance (Savage Kings MC Book 8) Read online

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  Savage Redemption

  "My life was all about revenge until I met her."

  I want them destroyed.

  The Anarchists killed my father, haunt me and my brother, and seek to destroy my club, the Savage Kings.

  For years, I have stopped at nothing to annihilate them.

  But for years, I also never forgot her.

  She was everything to me.

  She brought joy to my life.

  And I had to leave her without explanation.

  But a chance encounter has brought her back to me.

  And now, everything has changed.

  My life is now all about having her--and nothing can stop me.

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  Tortured souls

  Carter Steele

  Contents

  1. Petey

  2. Anna

  3. Petey

  4. Anna

  5. Petey

  6. Anna

  Epilogue

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  1

  Petey

  A gun shot.

  It was a sound I had heard many times in my life. It was a sound that I had caused, that had come at me, and that I had heard in the distance. A gun shot had stirred my ears from the time I was eight years old to the present day.

  And now, that sound had killed Anna.

  "No!" I roared as I thrusted the bike over the sidewalk and toward the fitness studio. Rage blinded me as the Anarchist, with his back to me, had moved forward. Behind him, I could see Anna falling to the ground.

  And then, as if to add insult to injury, he had punched her in the face. I had the rage of a thousand devils in me, hungry for this Anarchists' face. How could he...

  He was still... struggling?

  Another woman appeared out of nowhere, a middle-aged woman with graying hair, who tackled him to the ground. The Anarchist bucked her over easily, but he quickly stood up and stomped his foot down a few feet away, as if someone was trying to grab a weapon. He raised his gun.

  All thought and confusion went out of my mind. I had to save the older woman, even if I was far too late for Anna. I raised my rifle, even though at this range, I didn't trust my accuracy. I had no choice.

  It all happened so quickly. The targeting. The lining up. The shot.

  BAM!

  The bullet zipped through the air and found the bald skull of the Anarchist. The man fell to the side, his rifle following him, not a shot more fired. I barely got the kickstand down as I sprinted over, both needing to see Anna and not wanting to see her deceased body at all.

  "Anna, Anna, Anna," I said, trying to fight the tears.

  And then, just as I got in the door, she sat up and smiled.

  She was alive.

  She was alive! Holy shit, she was alive!

  "Hey, Petey," she said, visibly shaken but obviously very happy to be alive.

  "Oh my God, Anna," I said, getting to my knees and pulling her in tight. "I'm sorry I let this happen to you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm--"

  "Petey, Petey, Petey!" she said, finally getting me to snap out of my funk. "It's my fault. I let my guard down. I had a chance to shoot him. But I missed."

  The first gun shot. It didn't kill her. It was her trying to kill him.

  "You have nothing to apologize for," I said. "I knew you'd be at risk. It was my fault for thinking that if I gave you a gun, that would be enough. But I should have... I don't know, I know you don't want to see me again, that it's not going to work, but I knew you'd be a target for a bit. I just, I just--"

  Anna cut me off by pulling me back into her, her hand grabbing for my head. I realized in that moment what it meant that I had become all but hysterical and a nervous mess around Anna. I knew then that we were far from done--and she knew it too.

  The sounds of more motorcycles approaching filled my ears. I quickly stood up, raised my rifle, and peered outside. I had nothing to worry about, though, because it was just Brock and about half-a-dozen other Savage Kings coming in for assistance. I met Brock outside, the weary smile on my face putting him at ease.

  "So no one's dead?"

  "Thank God, no," I said, my heartbeat still will above average. "There's Anna and one other woman. I haven't spoken to the woman yet. Honestly, I've just been focused on Anna."

  "Understandable. Let's go in."

  Brock and I walked back inside, the six Kings providing protection before Sheriff Jones or anyone else tried to show up. Brock took a seat by the older woman, while I sat by Anna, leaning into her.

  "How did this happen?" I said. "And who is she?"

  "If I knew, I wouldn't have needed to call you," she said. "Which, funny enough, was Ray's idea."

  "Ray?"

  She pointed to the corpse of the Anarchist on the ground. I didn't much care for his name, frankly. He was an enemy that had tried to kill Anna Adams. He was not someone who deserved a name. He was vile scum.

  "Nancy signed up to take a private yoga class with me. But Nancy was in an abusive relationship with Ray. He waited until I had gotten into the lesson with Nancy a bit and wasn't paying attention, at which point he came in and took me hostage. He wanted me to call you so that he could drag you and the rest of the Kings in."

  She shook her head, looking at Nancy. It seemed like a look of pity, like she didn't fault Nancy. I found it a little hard to believe, considering Nancy had been complicit, but maybe when I had a little more stability and an even head, I would see her side. Not for now, though.

  "So I did. I called and said I needed your help, but I hoped that it was obvious enough from my tone and that I didn't hang up immediately that I needed your help."

  "I did notice that, clever girl," I said, leaning over and kissing her forehead.

  I wanted to kiss her lips, but aside from it being an especially tense moment, we had last left off saying we wouldn't date. It just didn't feel right, even though it felt wanted.

  "Well, after that, he went out and stood watch from the door. He intended to use me as bait to lure you in unsuspecting, and the moment you let your guard down..."

  "The Anarchist would try and kill me and then kill the two of you."

  "That would have been the best case scenario."

  I shuddered, fully aware of what the worst case scenario for Anna was.

  "But I had that gun you gave me in my purse. So I crept forward, trying to get a clear shot. I hadn't used a gun before, though, and I didn't trust myself to be accurate from far away. I also got a little scared..."

  I wanted to comfort her, but she seemed surprisingly at ease with everything. Frankly, though she was the more expressive of the two of us in most situations, here, she seemed to be the one trying to set the example for being collected.

  "About three, four steps before I would have shot him, I guess you appeared. He turned around and saw me with the gun. I hesitated a split second in surprise, which gave him enough time to get out of the line of fire. He tackled and punched me, Nancy tackled him, I tried to get the gun, he put his foot down on me, was about to shoot me... and then you got to be the hero."

  She laughed. I couldn't believe she laughed! Here I was, self-conscious about kissing her, and she was making mild jokes that she could laugh at. How she was this way, I had no idea. Maybe she's just doing it as a sort of protection for herself.

  "Well, I thought he had shot you, I heard the first gunshot," I said. "I'm just glad you're safe, though."

  She looked up at me. Her ch
eek was swollen and starting to turn red and purple from the Anarchist's punch. Her hair was a mess, discombobulated and out of order. She had all sorts of other marks on her face.

  But her eyes remained the same soulful, beautiful, youthful eyes that I had seen when I first met her. No amount of trauma and danger could remove that from her. Maybe that was why she looked so young--not because she acted young, but because she had the resilience and fight to stand up to tough moments and remain as she was.

  Those eyes... they made me...

  "Petey," Brock said, dragging me away from making a poor decision. "Nancy is in a bit of a hysterical mess. I've gotten out of her that she knows some things about the Anarchists, but she just keeps talking about how she feels so stupid. Can Anna help?"

  "Yes," she said before I could interject.

  "Later," I said. "Give us... give us a couple hours, OK?"

  "We don't have--"

  "Brock," I snapped, but I took a second to collect myself. "The last time this happened, we immediately retaliated. We need to take a moment to decompress. Then we can go after the Anarchists in full force. But right now, let's just all go home. OK?"

  Brock bit his lip. He knew, as usual, that I was right, even if I didn't flaunt it as such. Experience beat a job title every single time.

  "OK," Brock finally said. "I assume you'll take care of her?"

  "Yes," I said, turning to Anna. "Sorry, but after this, I'm taking you home myself. I don't want to risk you getting hurt out there."

  "I understand."

  "We'll take care of Nancy," Brock said.

  That was all I needed to hear. I stood up and offered my hand to Anna. She took it, sending a warm pleasure through my hand as we made contact, this time without any doubt between us.

  We weren't necessarily a relationship, but we had a relationship of survivor and protector.

  For now, that was more than enough.

  2

  Anna

  I sat with my legs curled up on the couch, a glass of wine on the table to the side, content to try and calm myself into a relaxed state.

  Unfortunately, despite how surprisingly at ease I had felt in the moments after when Petey had arrived, leaving the shop and coming home and taken away the fog and shown me the stark reality of tonight--that I had almost died.

  If Petey had been half a second later, the last thing this life would have ever seen was a bullet through the skull from a bald, evil man standing over me, his foot on my wrist. It would have been a good life, but to have ended it in such a violent and savage manner... it shook me. It hadn't right after, just because of the euphoria of surviving, but the reality of my luck was now settling in rather harshly.

  If I had just not been so stupid with Nancy...

  If I had just lined up my shot before a little better...

  If I had just pulled the trigger...

  If I had just moved faster toward the gun...

  To my right, Petey lay on the couch, his legs pulled toward his butt, as if trying to avoid touching me at all cost. He was on his phone, presumably aimlessly scrolling through the Internet. I appreciated his presence and his gentleman approach, but I really just wanted to fall over and have him cuddle me from now until morning.

  I had done so much to survive, but when the narrative got lifted in favor of the reality, it was hard to feel like I had done anything at all. In fact, what I had done hadn't worked. I wasn't a survivor; I was just lucky.

  "I failed," I murmured.

  "What?" Petey said, sitting right up.

  Shit. He wasn't supposed to hear that. Feeling a little embarrassed, I kept my gaze downward, avoiding Petey's eye contact. I didn't feel like I had earned the right to stare a hero in the eyes once I had realized the truth of the evening.

  "I failed," I said. "I... didn't do anything right."

  "No, not true," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder before quickly removing it. "You and Nancy survived. The bad guy is dead. Everything worked out how it should have."

  "Yeah, but just because the outcome was good didn't mean the process was great," I said, biting my lip. "If two people live to a hundred and one ate fast food every day and the other didn't, that doesn't mean that they were smart to eat fast food daily."

  "I--"

  "I'm sorry for dragging myself into this, Petey. I know you have to take care of this. You have to kill the people who sent Ray. I'll stay here, cancel classes for the next week or so, and stay out of harm's way. You can go do what you need to do. I won't be a burden on you anymore."

  "No."

  The response was swift and immediate.

  "With all respect, Anna, you were the one that almost got killed tonight. You are the one that needs my protection the most. I'm not leaving your side until the entire club decides we need to move out as one. Until then, I guess you'll just have to deal with me being annoying."

  A faint smile formed on my lips, but I wasn't going to let Petey play the heroic shining knight in armor so easily. He had to gather with the rest of his knights.

  "But wouldn't it be better to the protect Romara as a whole? Wouldn't it be better to be out in the town?"

  "Protecting Romara starts with protecting the individual," Petey said with a smile, this time, laying his hand on me with much more comfort. "And frankly, Anna, if I'm being totally honest, there's no one more worth protecting than you."

  A warm rush spread through my body at those words. It was less erotic and more romantic.

  "Look, I know after our discussion, you think I put the club too much. Absolutely fair. But right now? Right now, sitting here by you, the only thing I care about is making sure you're OK. Yes, I'll go back to the club at some point so we can, as you say, protect Romara. But Romara isn't worth protecting without you, and maybe I'm crazy for saying this, but I still think we can work."

  Petey...

  I feel the same way.

  "I don't think this is the night to have such an in-depth conversation, but I also want to believe that we have a chance to be something at some point. I won't go any further into it, I just wanted to say it."

  I finally found the strength to turn to Petey, not quite feeling so guilty anymore.

  "Well, I suppose if I have to have protection from a man, I'll take it from the best and most handsome man in town."

  I leaned forward and kissed him. Though I kissed him on the lips, it felt almost like a grateful kiss more than a romantic kiss. That wasn't to say I didn't have feelings back. I certainly did and certainly would tomorrow, especially with what we'd gone through together.

  I just had to make it known that I really cared about him. Even if something happened in the near future that prevented us from being a real couple, I needed him to know how happy I was to have him in my life. A kiss seemed like the only way.

  "And you know, just for the record, I can protect this town too."

  "Oh yeah? How?"

  I'd meant it as a joke back, a sort of "anything you can do, I can do better," but then I remembered that Brock had wanted to talk to me. I actually could protect the town.

  "I can help in the fight against the Anarchists."

  "OK, let me nip this in the bud right now, no, no, no, no. Heather tried to help and nearly got herself killed, and I'm not letting you go into battle with a gun. You're not, you're not--"

  "Petey!" I said with a short laugh. "I don't mean literally go into the fight. That would be absolutely crazy. But I do have knowledge that can help. And maybe I can get Nancy to calm down enough to explain what she knows. Trust me, I have knowledge."

  I laid out everything that I knew to Petey right then, who seemed most surprised that I had the wherewithal to get that information from Nancy in the middle of a life-or-death situation.

  "Damn," he said, not bothering to hide his surprise. "Well, then, at any point we can go talk to the crew about what you know."

  "Now," I said.

  Petey recoiled. I would have too if he had made me do this about ten minutes ag
o.

  But I'd found the confidence. I'd found the place to forgive myself. I guess it just took a little bit of emotional honesty with Petey to reach that point.

  "You sure?" he said. "We don't have to."

  "Yes, we do," I said. "Look, I don't know much about your war with the Anarchists other than what you've told me. I just try and run my studio, make little old ladies a little more flexible, and take care of what I have to. But I know enough now that you did not, and from what you seem to be suggesting, it's only going to get worse. So, yes, we do need to go now."

  Petey beamed with pride and leaned forward to give me a quick kiss. We sure seemed to like kissing each other quite a bit.

  "Now you're talking our language," he said.

  He stole a glance at his phone.

  "It's after midnight, you won't mind--"

  "As long as the club will be awake."

  "We're an MC, not a senior citizens club. We keep worse sleeping hours than college students. So yeah, let's go."

  We both stood at the same time. I didn't bother to change out of my pajamas. We didn't have the time.

  It sure seemed like the fate of Romara depended on how swiftly we acted.

  3

  Petey

  I couldn't remember if we'd ever had guests in the meeting room once Brock took over the presidency of the club.

  But unique times called for unique measures, and that was why at one in the morning, while almost everyone else in Romara slept, I sat in my chair to his right with Nancy and Anna standing right behind me. Even I had to admit that the scene felt surreal--we only had women over for parties, maybe on the very rare occasion when a wife or girlfriend needed a club member's presence immediately. And now we had them in the most sacred of Savage Kings locations?