Betrayal of Cupids (16 page)

Ryan

“Wake up, lover boy.”

It had to have been a dream.  There was no way I was hearing that voice.  I was safe; no one knew we were here.

“Ryan, it’s time to wake up.”

Why was I hearing Sean?  What could it mean?  And if he was here, where was Grace?  Grace.  My eyes sprung open, prepared for the worst.

“There he is!  How are you feeling, buddy?”  Sean stood over me, pointing his revolver at my forehead.

“Where is Grace?”

“Oh my God, do you have any other thoughts in that head of yours?”

“Sean, where is she?”

“She’s fine.  I didn’t hurt her.  But seriously, Ryan, you got to get a new hobby.  Aren’t you over this one yet?”

“Don’t talk about her like that.”

“I’m fucking holding a gun to your head.  You do see that, right?  Is there any other question you would like to ask me?”

There really wasn’t any other question that I had for him.  I knew what he wanted.  He was going to hand me over to the Shadows so they would patch him over.  That was a given.  I wasn’t planning on giving myself up easily, but the only thing I needed to be certain of was Grace’s safety.  Then, I’d improvise.

“What do you want me to do?”

“He can be taught!  Stand up.”

I carefully sat up, swinging my feet over the side of the bed.  The pain of my ribs made standing a difficult task, but I managed to get to my feet on my own.

“You done?”  Sean asked.

“Well, maybe if someone hadn’t used my ribs as a speed bag, this wouldn’t take so long.”

“Maybe if your fucking piece of work girlfriend hadn’t attacked me with a knife, this whole thing would be over.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, even if it hurt my ribcage.  Grace was certainly a piece of work; she was pretty spectacular. 

“Speaking of knives, you’re not hiding a weapon from me, are you?”

Sean patted me down carefully, assuring himself that I was defenseless.  In my condition, I would have no way to fight back.

I followed Sean out to the living room where Aunt Kathryn was seated on the couch. 

“Where is she, Sean?”

“One track mind.”

“Don’t fuck with me.”

“Gracie, dear, could you come in here?”

From the doorway to the kitchen, Grace was pushed forward, followed closely by that meathead that had tried to kiss her.  I should’ve figured he was a part of this.  He was probably just trying to get close to Grace to deceive her about his involvement.

“You bastard!”  I took a step forward, intent on beating him within an inch of his life.

“Ryan, no,” Grace stopped me, putting her palm up to my chest.  “Not now.  Not here.” 

The touch of her hand melted my anger.  She was right.  I was in no condition to fight Sean.  I needed to keep my calm until the Cupids made their presence known.  Grace squinted her eyes and allowed her hand to drop, tugging at my belt loop before her touch was gone.  I prayed it wasn’t her way of saying goodbye.

Still being held at her elbow by the meathead, Grace cleared her throat.

“So where are we heading?” She asked.

Sean placed his hand on the back of my neck, holding me in place.  “You’re not heading anywhere, sweetheart.  We’re taking Ryan, and you’re staying here.”

“No,” She pleaded.

“Yes.” I put my foot down.  “Leave the two women here, and I’ll come peacefully.”

“Ryan, please.”

She continued to argue with me, but I was adamant that there was no need to involve her any further.  Rocky wasn’t among the small group in the living room, which meant he must have snuck out a side door and headed to meet up with the rest of the Cupids.
 
They would have my back, even if this fight turned bloody; I was sure of that.

Grace

I raced out of the kitchen and to the door.  Without another thought, I swung it open.

Sean was standing on the front porch, and Mr. Muscles was holding a knife to Aunt Kathryn’s throat.  She lowered her eyes to me.

“Grace, I’m so sorry.”

“Aunt Kathryn! No!”

“I didn’t realize…”

“When did you call him?”

I really did love the woman, but sometimes she could be an idiot.

“I just called Muscles, when you went to check in on Ryan.  I thought he would help us.”

“I should’ve known.”  I looked to Mr. Muscles, shaking my head.  “Okay, what happens now?”

“Well now,” Sean took a step forward, pushing his way into the house, “I take Ryan.”

I could only imagine what would happen when Mr. Muscles and Sean brought Ryan back to the clubhouse and told the rest of the Shadows I was hiding out with him.  I could practically hear their thoughts.

She betrayed our family with that Cupid
boy.

She’s the reason her father is dead.

She deserves what’s coming to her.

This is what Bowie would want.

I knew what they would be thinking was because I was thinking the same things.  How had I gotten myself in such a mess?  It was unfair to blame anyone else but us for this disaster.  Ryan and I deserved what was coming.

Nevertheless, we wouldn’t give up without a fight.

Deserving or not, I loved that man with every fiber of my being, and if the possibility of a life together remained, I would do anything to seize it. 

Aunt Kathryn nervously sat down and Sean disappeared down the hall, no doubt to wake Ryan.  I scoffed and turned toward the kitchen, hoping Muscles would follow me.  He was quite predictable.

“Grace, I’m sorry.  This was the only way,” he whispered.

“You know what doesn’t quite add up?  I never saw you as evil.  I think you’re stupid.  But not evil.”

“I’m not stupid,” he fired back.

“Then tell me, why is Sean here right now?”

He paused, searching the past for the order of events.

“It’s because you’re stupid, right?”  I wanted him to get angry.  I wanted to see the extent of his loyalty.

“No.”

“Nothing else makes sense.”

“He promised…”

I cut him off.  “What could he possibly promise you that you didn’t already have with the Shadows?”

“He promised me he wouldn’t kill you.” He spat out the words.

That was what I needed to hear.  It was what I had assumed all along.  Muscles always had a weird big brother obsession with me.  It was because of that constant ‘big brother’ attitude that it had shocked me when he actually kissed me, but I still felt his same protective instinct.  He had always had my best interests at heart.  This time, he was just being stupid.

I sat down at the table and looked at him. “So, Muscles, what’s your name?”

“Leopard.  See?” He flashed his leopard tattoo in my direction.

“Not your road name, I know that,” I lied, but it seemed like the civil thing to do in the moment. “What’s your real name?”

“It’s Leo,” he mumbled softly.

Leo… Leopard… that made sense.  I don’t know why it took me so long to learn his name.  I had tried to distance myself from the club so much over the past few years that I actually stopped caring about the people in it.  Or at least I tried to stop caring.  But this man, Leo, truly cared for me.  Everything he did was with the best intentions, even if his actions were questionable.

“Well, Leo, I appreciate your intentions.  It can’t be easy dealing with me, especially lately.”

“Ha,” he chortled, “you’ve definitely kept me on my toes.”

It was time to get serious.  “You know he’s going to kill me anyway, right?”

“I had a feeling, but at least I thought this gave me some time come up with another option.”

“So, let’s keep doing that.”

“What do you mean?”

An idea was coming to me; I just needed to work out the details.

“We can use your relationship with him to our advantage, to throw him off.”

“He’s quick, he’ll catch on.”

“I’m sure he will, but we’ll just have to be quicker.”

“I’m listening.” He narrowed his eyes at me.

“Sean is going to take Ryan from here,” I said.

“Yes, but he promised to leave you.  Do you think he won’t keep that promise?”

“No, he will.  He’s going to hold up his end of the bargain until he gets exactly what he wants.  That’s when he’ll change the rules.”

“Okay, that gives us more time,” Leo said.

“Exactly.  Now, I’ll fight, because that’s something I’d do.  I’ll say something along the lines of ‘where are we heading?’  Then Ryan will fight with me, as he always does, but I’ll let him win.  If this is going to work, I’ll need to stay behind.”

“If what’s going to work?”

“I’m going to have to round up the Cupids.”

“We don’t have time for that.  They’re too far away.”

“Actually, they’re not.  They’re all waiting at a rest stop off the highway.”

“What the fuck, Grace?”

“I didn’t tell them to come,” I said. “But now we can use them to our advantage.  They know Sean.”  I played out the scenarios in my head; how I could use both sides to my benefit.  There was still a slight hole, though.  What if they didn’t leave us enough time to save Ryan?  The Shadows were angry.  There was no telling how they’d handle this specific hostage.  “But just in case something goes wrong, I don’t want to leave Ryan defenseless.”

I pulled out my trusty bowie knife from my sports bra.  Now I just needed to find a way to get this to Ryan.

“Where is she, Sean?”  I heard Ryan’s voice booming from the living room.  I took a deep breath, readying myself for what was about to happen.

“One track mind.”

“Don’t fuck with me.”

“Gracie dear, could you come in here?”

I looked at Mr. Muscles.  “Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Great.”  I stood, about to move toward their voices.  “Wait, push me in.  It’ll look more believable.”

“Grace, no.”

“Trust me.”

I hid the knife up my sleeve, and accentuated the slight push Leo gave me by tripping into the living room.

“You bastard!”  Ryan immediately took a step forward, reacting as I figured he would.

“Ryan, no,” I stopped him, putting my palm up to his chest. “Not now. Not here.”

In that moment, I really wished he could read my mind.  How would I hand him the knife?  The way we had positioned ourselves, only Leo would be able to see the pass off.  That was both lucky and convenient, but Ryan wasn’t holding out his hand; I would need to find another way.

I squinted my eyes, hoping he would sense some change in me, and allowed my hand to drop.  I tugged at his belt loop, pulling his pants slightly away from his body, and slid the knife in path I had made.

I waited for a reaction, but saw nothing.  Did he not feel the knife against his skin?

I cleared my throat.

“So where are we heading?”

Sean held Ryan back.  “You’re not heading anywhere, sweetheart.  We’re taking Ryan, and you’re staying here.”  Exactly as we had planned, perfect.

“No,” I argued.

“Yes,” Ryan jumped in.  “Leave the two women here, and I’ll come peacefully.”

“Ryan, please.”  I tried to make it seem believable.

Sean rolled his eyes.  “Fuck you and your arguing.”  He reached behind him and pulled out his pistol.

I saw it all happen in slow motion.  “NO!” I screamed, but it was too late.  The bullet had left the barrel.  I watched his hand flick from the kick back and then I watched the bullet hit its target.

Aunt Kathryn was dead.  Sean’s bullet had landed right between her open eyes.

Ryan

I didn’t know what had happened until Grace rushed to the couch.  She was trying desperately to wake her aunt, but it was obvious there was no waking her.

“You fucker!” She rushed at Sean.

“Grace, no!” I needed to stop her: he had a gun, she didn’t.

The muscular meathead beat me to Grace, dodging her flying fists and pulling her off of Sean.

Sean buckled over in laughter.  “I warned you, Grace.  You were the one who never took me seriously.  You pushed me to this.”

Her face was beat red.  I could see the hatred spilling from her pores.  Sean grabbed me by the arm and pulled me toward the front door.  “Follow us, and I’m sure you can guess what will happen.”

I looked at Grace.  “I love you,” I mouthed.

“I love you too.” She was about to explode; I was sure of it.

“Very sweet, you two.  Leopard, make sure she stays here.”

“Will do.”

After Sean, that meathead was next.  Did he really think he could play Grace and live to tell the tale?  No.  He had just been added to my list.

Sean shoved me into the back seat of a beat up car and made his way to the front.  I felt a twinge in my side.  What could that be?  Being careful not to make any sudden movements that he might notice, I slipped my hand to my belt and pulled my pants from my hips.

Grace’s knife.  She really was something.

Now, I just needed to find the perfect time to use it.  As if I had said it out loud to the heavens, that perfect time came only moments later, while we were still seated in the driveway.  That perfect time was when I heard the bikes.  I turned my head to the window; we were surrounded by the Cupids
.

I whipped out the knife, holding it to Sean’s throat.

“Didn’t see this one coming, did you?”

He didn’t answer.  Still keeping the knife at his throat, I booted open the car door, and was welcomed by Rocky and the rest of my club.  Grace ran out of the front door, wrapping me in her arms.

I released my hold on him.  “I wouldn’t move if I were you.”

Predictably, he ignored my threat.  He slammed on the gas, kicking the stones of the driveway behind him as he sped away.

“Everyone on your bikes.  Stop him.  Grace and I will follow in the truck.”

The guys all jerked their bikes forward at my command; all except Rocky.  He threw his arm over my shoulder.  “Ryan, remember the night your Pops died and you said you would spend the rest of your life trying to make him proud?  I have to assume this isn’t it.  And you know that.”  In the mess of the last few days, I had forgotten that promise.  But Rocky was right.  Had my Pops been given the opportunity to run away with the love of his life, he would’ve done anything in his power to take it.  And he tried; he was just too late.  I couldn’t allow my own fate to follow his.  “You and Grace can get out of here.  For good.  We have this.”  Rocky opened up his jacket, revealing three
grenades.  I knew them like the back of my hand; they were from our stock.

It would be hard to walk away from the final fight, but it might be our only chance.  I had wanted to be the one who took down Sean, but if this was the opportunity I had been waiting for to start a new life with Grace, I’d be silly to turn it down.

“Grace?”

She looked at me in shock.  “What he did to my parents, my aunt, you, me… we can’t just let him walk away.”

“We’re not.  He’ll get what’s coming to him.  Rocky will see to that.”

“This is our fight, Ryan.”

“It is.  And if you want to see it through, however long that may take, I will be more than happy to do that with you.  But…” I brought her in close to my body and whispered into her ear.  “We could run away.  Right now.  We could never look back.  Grace, this fight has changed us, and I can’t say for certain that it was for the better.  If we leave now, we can still walk away with a piece of our humanity.”

She held onto me, letting my words sink in.  After the anticipation had reached its height, she looked up at me.  “Let’s get out of here.”

I wasn’t sure what her answer would be or even how I’d feel about either option, but hearing her say that made my heart soar.  Ignoring my pain, I lifted her up and kissed her.  Nothing could have made me happier.

“Just… just give me one second.”  She ran up to the house, opening the front door.  That meathead stepped to the doorway.

“Grace, what are you doing?”  I asked.

“No, Ryan, Leo’s okay,” she assured me.

I watched her hug him as she asked him to take care of her aunt’s body.  He nodded and hugged her back.  They separated quickly and with a small smile, Grace turned back to me.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

We hopped in the car and pulled out of the driveway.  The chase had gone to the left, so we decided to turn right.  We had really done it.  We had walked away from our last fight.

As we hit the first stop sign, we heard a small explosion in the distance behind us.  Then another, followed by another.  The grenades had gone off.  Sean was dead.