Sex & Mayhem 02 The Devil's Ride (22 page)

People swarmed around the sofa she lay on. Dolly
brought Suzy water, and Astaroth kneeled on the floor with a tray
of food. Ghost, a man Luci had seen around the club before, scooted
by her, speaking softly. Something bad had to be happening, because
Ghost was always called over at times like this. He was Don’s son,
in his first year of residency at a hospital, on his way to
becoming a surgeon. Which meant that despite Don’s wife hating the
club, Ghost would always get called over for medical emergencies.
Luci didn’t have to ask anyone to know how Ghost got his nickname.
The guy was so fair-skinned and blond, at first Luci thought he was
an albino.

But as Luci wondered about what could have
happened to Suzy, it was someone else
who caught Luci’s attention. Rick stood behind the
sofa. His large frame and bald head were easy to notice. Luci had
never gotten his cell phone back, so this was the first time he’d
seen Rick in almost a month.

“Lucifer!” Rick raised his voice and was already
heading his way like he had a purpose.

The name hung in the air like dust that just
wouldn’t fall, and a few people went quiet.

It was like being in a slow-mo movie. Behind Rick’s
back, Dolly stared daggers at Luci, her eyes going so dark he was
afraid she’d curse him with her witch powers. Priest turned toward
her, all tense, veins bulging on his neck. Bell dragged his hands
down his face.

It was only when Rick took hold of Luci’s arm that
time returned to normal.

“Is this where you’ve been the whole time?” hissed
Rick. “How could you not call me? I was worried.”

“I-I know. I don’t have my phone anymore.” Luci
tried to focus on answering Rick, but the tense atmosphere around
them was growing by the second, Suzy no longer the center of
attention.

Dolly got up and was hissing something to Priest
while giving Luci the evil eye. He couldn’t hear much from where he
stood, but he could bet it was something awful.

All of a sudden there was a naked chest to Luci’s
left, and his senses were flooded by the strong scent of sweat and
cologne. “Stop grabbing him,” said Tooth.

Rick’s hand twitched on Luci’s arm, but he quickly
stepped back with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Luci. I sometimes
forget my own strength.”

“Oh, that’s fine, it didn’t hurt or anything.” Luci
stood between them, ready to act if needed. Tooth had always been
nasty about Luci meeting up with Rick. “You came with Suzy?”

Rick cleared his throat. “She came to my apartment
and demanded I bring her here. I have no idea what’s going on.”

Tooth frowned. “Did she say who took her?”

“She said she didn’t see their faces. She’ll tell
you all about it,” Rick said and stepped aside to let Tooth
through, but Tooth’s eyes strayed to Luci, dark and intense.

Luci swallowed, unsure what to make of it. “Um, I’ll
be fine if you need to go…”

“I don’t care. For fuck’s sake someone take Dolly
and Asty out of here. This is club business,” Priest roared all of
a sudden.

“Oh, yeah, and he’s club business as well?” Dolly
yelled back and pointed at Luci.

Asty was clearly confused but seemed to quietly
plead with her mother as Blitz and one of the other guys gently
nudged them toward the door.

Rick cleared his throat and leaned in to look
straight into Luci’s eyes. “You sure?”

It felt weird. As if Rick really wanted him to
leave. “What’s up with everyone treating me like some flower? I’m
fine.”

“Of course you’re fine!” screamed Dolly. She made a
move toward him, and it took two grown men to stop her halfway.
“Sucking my man’s dick like your slut of a mother!”

Bell rushed over, his face tense. “Mom, what the
fuck?”

Tooth pinched the bridge of his nose, watching the
scene, while Rick shrugged. “You don’t seem all that welcome.
That’s all I’m saying.”

Luci’s eyes went wide, and he took a few steps back,
ignoring Rick. His eyes focused on Dolly’s scowling face as anger
and sorrow erupted out of his mouth. “You know nothing about my
mother! Ask Priest if he wants me here! I can go anytime!”

“Jesus Christ. Why?” Bell groaned.

Asty stared at Luci from across the room with her
eyes wide. He’d never seen her look so vulnerable.

It was Priest who broke the strange balance of
people not moving by an inch. He yanked his wife by the arm and
pulled her to the door. “Enough. Stop making a scene!”

“I have another brother?” Astaroth uttered, but
Priest cut her off.

“Not now, Asty. We’ll talk about it later. Tooth!
Don’t just stand there. Talk to Suzy.” He walked out with Dolly,
and Astaroth followed without a word.

Bell ran his fingers through his hair. “What a
cock-up.”

Before Lucifer knew it, a big strong arm wrapped
around his shoulders, but it wasn’t Tooth’s cologne that enveloped
him.

“I could take you away for now,” Rick said
quietly.

“Shut the fuck up,” growled Tooth, his eyes shooting
daggers. “You’re not taking him anywhere. Besides, now that Suzy’s
here, there’s no reason for you to stay,” he said, breaking Rick’s
personal space.

Rick groaned and looked back to Luci who was more
confused than anything else. He wasn’t an item someone could just
take or keep.

“Okay, but why would you take Luci’s phone. Is he
not free to do what he wants?” Rick gave Tooth a hard stare but
backed off.

“Club business,” growled Tooth, and his hand rested
on Luci’s arm with the gentlest of squeezes. “I think you should
go.”

Luci took a deep breath. “I’m fine, really. Maybe we
could meet up when the situation gets less tense. I could come
round to the Vanilla Lounge.” He wasn’t sure if Tooth would allow
it, but he wanted to resolve this situation somehow.

Rick stared at him for the longest moment, as if
searching for signs of a lie, but he eventually nodded and moved
toward the door. “Stay safe, Suzy,” he said before disappearing
from sight.

Suzy stared after him, cuddled against the armrest
while her eyes searched for Luci. “What are you doing here?” she
asked, as Ghost pulled up her hoodie to reveal a cut on her side
that looked like it
had
been stitched up on the backseat of a moving car. At least it
didn’t seem infected.

Luci sat next to her with a deep sigh. He hated
letting Rick down like that. The guy had always been there to help
him out. “I’ve been living here for a while. It doesn’t matter.
What happened to you?”

Bell pulled a chair closer and was all ears, while
Tooth stood behind him, menacing like
the mad pirate Luci had compared him to when they
first met. It seemed that Ghost was done with the examination for
now as he backed away and sat in a chair by the wall, watching
Suzy.

Only from up close, Luci noticed Suzy trembling.
“I... They broke into my house and knocked me out. And when I woke
up, I was in a hospital bed, but restrained so I thought that maybe
I took something without remembering and they had me sectioned, but
the room was more like a dark cell than a hospital,” she uttered,
completely shaken.

Tooth sighed. “We went to your house, and found
blood. We did alert the police.”

Suzy groaned and hid her face in her hands. “Fuck,
they’ll kill me.”

Luci reached out to hold her hand. Suzy was always
so confident, he could hardly believe what he was seeing.
“Who?”

Bell leaned even closer.

She suddenly burst into tears, curling her shoulders
and hiding her hands in the sleeves of her hoodie. “They took my
kidney,” she sobbed, and the room went quiet before Tooth grabbed
the backrest of the couch, filling the air with his presence.

“What? Are you sure?”

“Oh, my God, Suzy…” Lucifer’s eyes went wide, and he
stroked her arm. He couldn’t believe this monstrosity.

“
Yes,” she uttered. “They were masked, and they
told me so I wouldn’t end up with the hospital and could manage on
my own. They knew I was dealing big time, and if I go to the police
they
’ll set me up for
jail. I don’t know what to do. My money’s gone, my stash is gone.
But I needed to come clean with you guys. I don’t need any more
enemies,” she broke into a sob again.

Tooth walked around the couch and stood in front of
her, veins bulging on his forearms. “Were there any other victims?
Or something you remember? Like, smells and shit?” He growled,
bending over to look into her eyes.

Bell frowned. “Relax, man.”

Luci was only sitting next to Suzy, yet he still
felt the impact of Tooth’s imposing presence. It was beyond
inappropriate that he found that cold, green gaze exciting. “Yeah,
I’m sure she’ll tell us everything.”

“
No… I just
… I think the hospital was somewhere underground. It was
very quiet, and there were no windows anywhere.”

Tooth hissed, tugging on his beard like a villain
from a children’s storybook. “You must know
something
! Weren’t you gone for the last two
weeks?” he asked, making sharp gestures with his hands.

“She’s telling you,” shouted Ghost from his seat. He
seemed ready to intervene at any time.

Luci watched Tooth, unsure what to make of his
attitude. “She’s probably very exhausted.”

“Don’t you think we should work on it right away?”
Tooth bit his lip, restlessly pacing in front of the couch. “Maybe
we could get someone to look at her, maybe there’s traces of those
people?”

Suzy curled up, squeezing Luci’s hand as tight as
she could. “No, they cleaned me before leaving me at my doorstep.
With some brown spirit.”

“Iodine?” growled Tooth, pushing his thick fingers
into his hair.

Luci
had known him long enough to know that something was off.
Tooth never freaked out like this. He was just as cool and
collected when he stepped in to stop a brawl, as he was brushing
his teeth. Lucifer was actually afraid Tooth was about to grab Suzy
and shake her, which could be devastating in her state.

“We can talk to Priest when he comes back, get
someone on it,” Bell said.

“I really don’t know anything. They kept me
drugged,” Suzy muttered, hiding her face in her arm. “I have no
idea what they did. What if they took something else as well?”

Tooth swore and turned around. He pushed a beer
bottle off the table, and it smashed on the nearest wall. He gave
it a blank faced glare before walking off through the door and
disappearing outside.

Luci stared at the door, unsure what to say. “I…
I’ll come back, Suz. Will you look after her?” he asked Bell,
already getting up.

Bell
raised his eyebrows at the crying woman and slowly nodded,
slouching in the chair. “I’ll take her to one of the guest
rooms.”

Luci gave them both a shaky smile and sped up,
worried Tooth would drive away on his bike if he didn’t hurry.

But the only people he saw next to the bikes were
Priest and Dolly, engaged in a brutal shouting match. Tooth was
rushing in the other direction, still only in his jogging bottoms,
with hair tangled by the cold wind.

“Hey! Tooth! Where are you going?” yelled Luci and
ran to catch up with him.

Tooth either ignored him or honestly couldn’t hear
Luci’s shouting because he disappeared behind the building, rushing
as if he were late to a party in hell. The coffin tattoo on his
back only prompted those images in Luci’s mind.

“Tooth! Don’t go!” Luci sped up and finally caught
up with him, grabbing Tooth’s wrist.

That finally got Tooth to stop, but for the
longest moment he just stood there, and Luci watched
goose bumps break out all over
the bare skin. “What is it?” he muttered.

“You don’t seem all right…” Luci tried to catch his
gaze, completely confused by Tooth’s outburst. Even his thick wrist
pulsed furiously underneath Luci’s fingers.

Tooth stared at the concrete fence. “I’m
fine...”

Luci gently pulled him toward Beast’s shed. At least
there was a bench they could sit on there. “Is there anything I can
do?”

Tooth followed him like a pig to the slaughter, his
hand burning in Luci’s grip. “No.”

The goat looked at them from behind the fence,
moving back and forth, as if excited with the visit.

“Are you angry about Dolly finding out about me?”
Luci tried, at loss.

Tooth sat down on the small bench, hunching his
upper body in a futile attempt not to lose too much heat. His eyes
were burning, but they seemed strangely empty as well. “No. Priest
should have dealt with it already. He couldn’t have hidden you in
plain sight forever.”

“So it’s about Suzy. Am I missing something?” He sat
down next to Tooth and gently stroked his wrist with his thumb.

Tooth groaned. “Fuck... yeah, it is about her.”
Slowly, he looked up at Luci, for once seeming lost in the game he
was so good at.

Luci didn’t even think when he slid under Tooth’s
arm and hugged him. The surface of his skin was so cold now, but it
still smelled of the gym and familiarity. “I know I’m not part of
the club, but you can tell me, I wouldn’t betray you.”

Tooth sighed and slowly, very slowly returned the
embrace, resting his chin on top of Luci’s head. Only now, looking
down, Luci realized Tooth was barefoot on the asphalt. “Organ
snatchers. I’ve been looking for them for a long time, and that’s
how I first got in touch with the Nails. The police couldn’t do
shit so I offered all the money I had to Priest. As you can see, he
wouldn’t let me go,” chuckled Tooth, but he didn’t seem cheered
up.

“But you’re intact, right?” Luci gasped and put one
of his palms over Tooth’s stomach in a search for scars. His heart
stopped beating for a moment at the thought that Tooth had been
hurt that way.