Chapter Eleven

Soul

WE DIDN'T WASTE any time in leaving the clubhouse once Nanny and Wheels got me calmed down. Knowing we didn't protect Brooklyn is tearing me the fuck up inside and there's nothing I can do until we find her. I'll spend the rest of my days making sure she's okay and knows how sorry I am for Bennett getting his hands on her again. Then thoughts of what he's doing to her creep into my mind and my deepest, darkest fears come to light as I realize how fucking sadistic and horrible he truly is. While she hasn't really told us everything she dealt with while with him, we both know she endured a lot. This could cause a major setback which is frightening. Anything could be happening to our girl right now and we have no clue. What's even more troubling is the thought of what state we'll find her in once we get her back. Because we will get her back and no one will ever take her from us again. Her mental state won't be good and I don't know what that will look like for her moving forward.

Wheels and I ride through all of Odin's Gap with everyone else. Anguish let us know that they found Theo. He's in the hospital and is in surgery right now. Hulk, Fetch, Country, and Nova are there waiting to hear what's going on with him. Scorch is out of his mind with worry, but his main priority is his son and pregnant wife. Fee can go into labor at any point in time and with everything that's happened today, he needs to be there with her even if he wants to be there for Theo since he's the one who brought him into the club. I want to be there for him, but my priority is Brooklyn, my Love, and finding her so we can bring her back home where she belongs.

When we get to the other side of Odin's Gap, Wheels motions for me to follow him. Hulk gave us the address a while ago for her parent's trailer, the place she grew up and lived until that fateful night she ran into Cricket's for help to get away from Bennett. We head there and make our way to the small, rundown trailer park. There are several people outside as we slowly maneuver through the park around the various potholes and other debris covering what's supposed to be the driveway throughout the park. Wheels and I park outside the trailer we know Brooklyn's parents still live in and shut our bikes off. Neither one of us speaks as we take in the place our girl grew up.

There are small flower beds in front of the trailer that are overgrown with weeds and I can't stop the smile from forming because I know this is something Brooklyn worked on. She told Nanny one morning about the flowers she planted at her trailer and how she loved taking care of them and watching them grow. She told Nanny it filled her with a sense of peace when her world was chaotic and filled with horrors. Watching those flowers every day of the spring and summer were the only times she truly felt happy because she was doing something on her own and nurturing something so precious when everything else was ripped from her.

We get off our bikes and carefully make our way to the rickety steps up to the front door. They appear as if a strong wind will blow them down and make them collapse as if they aren't nailed together at all. Wheels opens the screen door and knocks as if her parents will be coherent enough to answer if they're home at all. When no one answers and we don't hear any sounds coming from inside, Wheels opens the door, looking at me when he finds it unlocked. I guess when you have nothing, there's really no reason to lock the door when you leave or are so high you can't recall what's going on around you.

Together we walk into the trailer and both instantly cover our noses. The stench of garbage and something rotting fills the small area. I want to gag at the thought that our woman lived in this environment. For fuck's sake, how anyone can live like this is beyond my comprehension. I look around to find the place completely trashed. There's garbage filling every surface and overflowing the garbage can in the kitchen. Dirty dishes cover the stove and overflow the sink to the floor beneath it. What little furniture is in the living area of the trailer has been destroyed and is resting in pieces all over the room. We walk into the first bedroom and I know it's the parent's room. There's drug paraphernalia all over the place and empty liquor bottles covering the floor as if they've been dropped where her parents stood when they finished their drink of the day.

I leave Wheels and head for the other bedroom, passing by the world's smallest bathroom. This is where I almost lose the contents of my stomach. Someone has thrown up all over the room and left it there. Quickly moving past the room, I enter the second bedroom and know this is where our girl slept and hid from the monsters attacking her on a daily basis. There's a twin mattress shoved into the corner of the room that's made as if she slept in it last night. Clothing litters the floor and I can tell without moving a single piece of material that it's all been shredded to nothing more than tatters of what she once wore on her body. Her dresser has been busted and it has collapsed on the floor with the drawers either splintered into nothing or stuck in the crooked piece of wood. Glass shards glitter in the dim sunlight that enters the room as I take a deep breath in. I can barely smell the vanilla and cherry blossom scent that reminds me so much of her and I'm unsure how it still smells anything like her after all this time of her being gone.

"Soul, no one's here. I didn't find anythin' in the rest of the trailer," Wheels informs me as he enters Brooklyn's room and takes in the destruction that I've been looking at for the last several minutes now. "This is all from the night she left and came to Cricket's. Bennett completely destroyed everythin' she owns. I do know she's said that since bein' with us. No one's touched anythin' in here."

"I know. Ya know, she said somethin' about him stealin' any money she managed to hide here in her room. Why don't we take a quick look and make sure she doesn't have any more stashed in here that we can take her? I'm sure she wasn't even thinkin' about that when she left here that night," I suggest needing to know if we can find anything of hers that hasn't been completely ripped from her by the three largest monsters in her life.

"Yeah. Let's get this done so we can get the fuck out of here. I want to get back on the road so we can find her and bring her home where she belongs," Wheels replies, his voice full of anger as we start to slowly move through the mess Bennett left behind in his wake of destruction.

It doesn't take us very long to go through the small bedroom Brooklyn once called her own. We managed to find a few pictures of an older couple holding her in their arms when she was a baby and a little bit of money hidden in the very back of her closet. That's it. There was nothing else left that hasn't been destroyed by Bennett or her parents. It's not much, but it's better than nothing as far as I'm concerned. When we're done, we leave the trailer behind and forget all about the destruction Brooklyn's had to live with her entire life. At least she doesn't ever have to come back here ever again. Wheels and I will give her a home she deserves and it will never look like this.

We've been riding around for a while and dusk is settling over us. Wheels and I pull into a gas station outside of Odin's Gap to fill up our bikes and grab a bottle of water to drink before we get ready to head out searching once again. Since Bennett is from Dobber's Cove, we're making our way there, riding through each town to make sure he's not hiding out somewhere else with our girl to throw us off his trail. Before we take off once again, Wheels practically jumps off his bike and pulls out his phone from his pocket.

"What's wrong?" I ask him, not sure what the hell is going on right now.

"We fuckin' forgot! I can't believe we forgot about her earrings," he states as I try to figure out what the hell he's talking about before it suddenly hits me. Hulk gave us the earrings with tracking devices in them.

I listen patiently as Wheels talks to Hulk on the phone, trying to figure out what's being said since I'm only hearing my best friend's side of the conversation. When I'm about to lose my mind, Wheels hangs up the phone and shoves it back in his pocket after making sure it's connected to the Bluetooth in his helmet.

"What the fuck did Hulk say?" I finally question him, my voice raw and full of the rage and fear filling me.

"First of all, Theo is out of surgery. He's gonna have a long road of recovery ahead of him, but we'll all help him get through it and come out stronger than before. No one's been able to talk to him in detail yet. He's still pretty sedated from the anesthesia and pain medicine they have him on. Hulk is waitin' with him and will get answers as soon as he can," Wheels informs me, his voice a little softer than before as we think of Theo being alone in the hospital if Hulk leaves him. "Hulk pulled up Brooklyn's current location. These fuckers are so damn stupid and have no clue what the hell they're doin'. They've never had to cover their tracks before and it's fuckin' showin' right now. Bennett took Brooklyn back to his parent's house where he also lives. They haven't moved since she was taken today. We need to head there and find out what's goin' on before we bring the rest of the guys in. They're all gettin' ready to head out at the clubhouse now."

"Then let's fuckin' go. You got the address in your GPS?" I ask him, ready to get to our girl so we can figure out what we need to do to get her back.

"Yeah. It says we're about forty-five minutes from her right now. It's not gonna take us that long to get there though. Let's ride!" Wheels informs me as he straddles his bike again and we start our engines to roar out of the parking lot and head for our girl.

Wheels and I pull up down the road from Bennett's house. Or his parents' house I should say. We don't want them hearing our bikes pull up and no one else in this neighborhood would ever be caught dead on a bike for any reason. All the houses are miniature mansions and spaced just far enough apart that they won't hear what their neighbors are doing for any reason. Since night has all but fallen, we use the shadows to make our way to the Conklin mansion and my eyes bulge out of my head. This is the largest, most ridiculous looking house I've ever seen in my life. A huge fountain is in the center of the driveway with outlandish flowers that don't match sprouting out around it.

The windows of the house are huge and left open so everyone driving by can see inside the disgusting use of money. I can make out busts, paintings, and a ton of shit no one ever needs in their home. It reminds me of a museum instead of a damn house and I have no interest in seeing the inside of the place because it's fucking horrendous what little I can see through the windows in front of me.

Wheels taps me on the shoulder and points at the side of the house. I watch as a guard with a rifle in his hand patrols the outside of the house looking bored as fuck and not actually looking for any kind of threat as he pauses and lights a cigarette. Moving my eyes across the yard, I take in four more guards all acting the same. My gaze travels up to the top of the house where two more guards are stationed. They're talking and not looking at anything around the massive yard. Obviously these assholes don't respect their employers and have no desire to protect their household from anyone getting inside.

I tap Wheels on the shoulder when I notice headlights heading our way. We both duck down as a car pulls up to the gate and presses a button on the intercom. A quick discussion is had before the gates swing open soundlessly and the car slowly moves down the driveway. Wheels and I both get up higher so we can see who just showed up to the house.

"Fuck!" I whisper shout when I recognize a local minister get out of the back of the car and wait for his escort to take him up the gleaming steps of the house where the door opens automatically for him. "This fucker is gonna force Brooklyn to marry him. We gotta get the fuck in there, Wheels. This can't fuckin' happen."

"I know. I'm callin' this in. The guys should already be on the road. Hulk was gonna let them know where we were headin' so they could get a head start on the trip here. If you see anythin' create some kind of diversion," Wheels orders me as I nod my head in response.

It's not long before I hear someone yelling from inside the house. With all the doors and windows closed, and the distance Wheels and I are watching the house from, I shouldn't be able to hear a damn thing. While I hear the yelling and a few things crashing, Wheels' head snaps up as he hears the same shit. He lets whoever he's talking to know they need to fucking get here immediately because we won't wait for them if we feel the need to go inside and save our girl.

I keep my eyes locked on the windows of the house as Wheels finishes his conversation and hangs up. We sit in silence and don't move, hoping for any glimpse of our girl before we get inside the mansion. Wheels lets me know they'll be here in about fifteen minutes or less and then we'll surround the house, take out the guards on the ground, and make our way inside. Scorch and Nova will work together to take out the guards on top of the house just before we head inside the gate surrounding the perimeter. Hulk is the only one who won't be here. He'll stay with Theo at the hospital. Darren is also on his way here. He has no jurisdiction, but he's working with the local police to make sure the Conklin's are taken down for their crimes. Hulk has already sent over every piece of evidence he's found on the assholes. It looks like everything is set to go down. My only concern is Brooklyn and making sure she doesn't get hurt as we force our way in and take her away from this hell.