Chapter 19

Home sweet home.

After spending another two days at the wings of the Diablo Nomad Chapter, I"m finally well enough to come back home. It"s absolutely bittersweet coming back to see Wyatt and the rest of the boys, only to find out that Million was killed the day I was kidnapped. He leaves behind a girlfriend and a son he never knew about.

The knowledge that his life was cut so short by Shade and the race of the Faceless only reinvigorates my drive to find those bastards and make sure they all pay. Of course, Wyatt and the boys already seem to have other plans in place. Plans they don"t want me to mess up by having a hot head.

"Are you going to eat something today?" Hestia knocks on my door with a plate of food in her hand. I know I need the food to get better, but I"m not hungry. I"ve been spending as much time as I can with April and Gabrielle. We might not be tortured every day, but that doesn"t mean they"re out of the woods. Hell, I"m not out of the woods myself.

"I promise you I"ll grab a bite later." I smile at Hestia, thinking she"s going to go away, but she stands at the door shifting from foot to foot. Something else is on her mind.

"What"s up?" I turn in my chair and face her.

"I know you just got back, but do you have time for a little chat?" She bites her lip, waiting for my response.

Back when things were normal, it was business as usual to have people seek me out for counsel. I"ve always managed to keep a level head and see things objectively. It helped that I had so much faith I could rely on, but I"m not really feeling too much like my old self nowadays. With a soft grunt, I wave her in. I can listen to what she has to say. Sometimes that"s all that"s needed.

"What"s wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong. I think that"s part of the problem." She sighs as she sits cross-legged on my bed with her shoulders slumped in.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Ever since I"ve known these boys, we"ve been in the middle of one fight or another. First with my own demons, then with the kidnapping by the Children of Gaia cult, then with the Faceless and Rupert Giles. It feels like there"s always been some big bad hovering over us."

"And now?" I ask, urging her to continue.

"And now everyone is home. The family is complete again. At least as complete as it"s going to be, and I can"t help but feel like something more, something much worse, is coming for us. It"s like I don"t want to let myself get too comfortable being happy. I know if I tell Spark any of this, he"ll freak or tell me to just be happy for the time that we have. My brain just doesn"t work that way."

I take a second to really think about what she"s telling me. She"s waiting for the impending doom. I"m pretty sure we all are. In the past, I might have told her that Spark was right or that we could never know what fate has in store for us. Today isn"t one of those days. I know exactly what fate has in store for us. It"ll be bloody and gruesome, and people will die.

"You can"t focus on what"s to come, Hestia. All you can do is prepare. You"re right, something big and bad is coming our way. I"m looking forward to it. It"ll just be so much easier to do what needs to be done, to end them all. Every day is a fight; the best we all can do is prepare and stand strong together."

Her eyes open wide. It"s clear it wasn"t the response she was hoping for. It"s the truth.

"Are you okay? I mean not physically. I know you still have a bit of healing to do, but I"m sure what you went through in that place with Shade and the rest of the Faceless was brutal." She cringes slightly, and I feel my fists squeeze tight.

"It was the Faceless and Shade, yes, but most of all it was Liam. While I was there, he was the one who did me the most damage. When it comes time for payback, he"ll be the first one I"ll go after. Without mercy."

Hestia gulps hard and stands on wobbly legs before walking over to the door. "I"m glad you"re back, Bishop. Just promise me you won"t let the anger take over. Revenge can be a hell of a drug."

I don"t respond. I can"t. Revenge is the only thing on my mind. It"s already taken over.

***

Sleep doesn"t come easy.

Walking out of my room, I notice that all is quiet in the Boys of Djinn compound. Maybe the boys have all gone back to their separate cabins for the night. I have one of my own, but I feel better in the main compound with other people around, just in case something goes down. It"s always good to have some backup.

Slowly, I push open the door to the small guestroom both April and Gabrielle are sharing and see them cuddled up next to each other, sleeping peacefully. April is getting on better than I would have assumed, but Gabrielle is still having some issues. She tries to put on a brave face, but I can see right through it.

After that night she asked me to hurt her during sex and I caught her cutting herself, I"ve tried to keep a close eye on her without seeming like I"m monitoring her. I want her to know I trust her. I do, but I also know how loud the terrors can scream after something like this. As far as I can tell, the cutting was a one-off, but I don"t want her to get to a place where she feels like she"s going to have to do it again.

I"m missing her though, not only physically but emotionally. She was just as much my support as I was hers. After that night, we"ve remained close, but I feel like she"s still closed off. I want her back. I want old Gabrielle back even though I know it"s impossible; she"ll never be the same Gabrielle she was before.

I grind my teeth together and close the door. She"ll never be the same because of what Shade and Liam did to us. I blame them wholeheartedly for trying to break that woman.

My woman.

Since we"ve been here, the club seems to be extremely happy that I"m back home, but people are still walking on eggshells around me. They"re still acting like I"m an invalid or something like that. I need that to stop immediately.

I don"t see anyone in the main room, but I see a light coming from the back where church is.

"We"ve already flushed out the members in the councilman"s office. The bureau has all the information, and most of them have already resigned from their stations." I hear Brendan speaking and wait at the door for a second to see if I can catch more of what"s going on. If they were calling church, why didn"t I have an invite? Last I checked, I was still a member of the Boys of Djinn.

"What about the crimes committed? Are they going to get any time for what they"ve done?" Wyatt asks, and I suck in a breath, shocked. They"re really waiting on the authorities to dole out appropriate punishments? I can"t fucking believe it.

I push open the door, not even bothering to knock, and make my presence known. "Is this a secret boys club or something I don"t know about?" I ask, trying to infuse a bit of humor into my deadly tone.

"Bishop? Hey man. No, it"s no secret, but we didn"t want to rush you into getting back to business. You can take your time to?—"

I cut Wyatt off before he can finish, "I"m fine. Let"s talk business." I walk over to the table and sit in my chair. I spread my fingers on top of the heavy wood table. It feels nice under my fingertips. This is one more of those sensations I thought I"d never get to feel again. Just a few days ago, I was at the whim of a madman, and now I"m in a position to seek vengeance.

"Uh, yeah, well, like I was saying, most of the congress members in the state that we know of who had ties to the Faceless have been outed. After Rupert went down, people started jumping ship and snitching just as soon as they could to cut a deal." Brendan continues. With every word out of his mouth, I can feel myself getting angrier and angrier.

"And what are we doing about them?" I swing my eyes back in Wyatt"s direction. As the President of the club, he has the final say on our plans.

"What do you mean, what are we going to do about it? The authorities are going to handle it."

"Authorities? Are you out of your mind? Do you realize how many of these Faceless bastards are in positions of authority? What makes you think they won"t take it easy on their buddies? We need to make sure those who had anything to do with this pay. Heavily."

"We don"t need to do anything but make sure the community is safe," Wyatt fires back.

I fist my hand against the table, leaning forward in my seat, and spit venom in his direction, "Safe? You think ratting out a few politicians is going to be enough to make sure the community is safe from the Faceless? If it were that simple, something like this would have never happened in the first place. No, what we need to do is go after the leaders. All of them, and deal with them ourselves."

Cody leans forward. It"s the first time I"m getting a good look at him. His once pretty face is now scarred with burns. I don"t know what happened, but I"d put money on it having something to do with the Faceless.

"We"ve already started a way to ensure those responsible are tried justly. That"s all we can do right now, Bishop."

His words infuriate me even more, and before I can stop myself, I"m up out of my chair, banging my hand on the table. "That"s not good enough!"

The entire room falls silent. All eyes are on me, their backs facing Wyatt, protecting him from me. I"m the danger in the room. That"s fine with me. I"ve spent way too long just going with the flow. This time, nothing is going to stop me from doing what I know needs to be done, even if that means I have to go against my President to do so. I just hope he understands that this is what needs to happen.

"Clear the room," Wyatt snaps out. "Everyone but Bishop, leave."

"Bro, I don"t think—" Brendan turns back to his brother, concern lacing his features.

"I"m fine, and so is Bishop." Wyatt leans over and glares at me. "Isn"t that right?"

"Jury"s still out on that," I spit back.

With lots of heavy sighs and grumbles, the room clears, leaving just Wyatt and me in the church. He gets up from his seat and walks over to where I am, only a chair standing between us. Both of us stare each other down. He"s demonstrating his authority while I"m showing off my will. I won"t be broken, not by him or anyone else in this club. I know what I have to do is the right thing.

"Bishop, I understand what you went through. I know how hard it can be to just sit back and wait for those who hurt you to get what"s coming to them."

"No, you don"t. You don"t know anything about what I was going through. Sure, Rupert beat you. Tortured you. Made you fight in bloody matches people only hear about in medieval novels, but he didn"t take the one part of you no one should ever be able to touch. He broke my woman. He made me fucking break her." My words crack at the end. I know it was Liam and Shade who held the gun to our heads, but it was my body that defiled Gabrielle over and over. It was me getting the most pleasure out of it. I"m the reason she tosses and turns at night, muttering for the pain to stop. It was me.

Wyatt looks down. There"s nothing he went through that can compare to my plight. We both know it to be true.

"What are you saying? You want to just find every Faceless member and cut their heads off, shove them on a pike for the world to see?" Wyatt crosses his arms over his chest, shaking his head at the insanity of it. Though it"s a good idea, I know it"s not possible. We"d be in jail before I got to the head of the snake, and that"s exactly who I want to get.

"Not everyone, just two people in particular. Shade and Liam." My words are crisp and clear. The sound bounces off Wyatt like a bullet, and I watch as he tries to hide his cringe.

"Oh? Is that why you don"t want me to handle things? Is that why you"re not doing things the way they need to be done? You don"t want to kill Liam?" I get closer to Wyatt"s face. He may be the leader, but right now he"s not the only alpha dog in the room.

"Bishop, we"re not going to do things that way. Liam will go back to jail to serve out the rest of his life sentence."

"Bullshit! He dies! I know that"s your brother. I grew up with him too. We may not share the same blood, but we rode the same dirt paths. We laughed at the same shit. None of that mattered to him when he hung me from a meat hook and whipped me until you could see bone. It didn"t matter when he turned those fucking cameras on and told me to choose between killing Gabrielle or raping her. That man is not the brother you knew. He"s my fucking enemy."

"You need some time to cool off, Bishop. You"re too invested in this right now." Wyatt reaches up and puts a hand on my shoulder as if he is going to push me out of the room. It"s the wrong move.

I slap his hand away, hard. Wyatt surges forward, ready to throw blows, and I fall right into my fighting stance, ready to take him on.

Wyatt blinks a few times clear the testosterone fueled fog I"m sure is surrounding him and takes a step back. "I"m going to let this slide Bishop. You"re a good man and an even better brother but I"m still the president of this club. My word is law and I"ve already spoken on the matter. If you want to stay in this club you"re going to do what I say."

I drop out of my stance, disappointed that it"s come down to this. "I guess for this situation, I"ll be riding alone."

With a shake of my head I turn on my heel and walk out of church.

Before my time is done, I"ll kill Liam. Wyatt is just going to have to get over it.