Size matters, p.24
Size Matters, page 24
“What about any recent home purchases?” he asked.
“None. The last piece of land to be sold was the old field, and that’s coming up as a private contract.”
Bull slammed the file closed and handed it to Dylan.
“How bad are we looking for this to blowback on the people?”
“I don’t know,” Bull said. “They’re being smart, which is new.”
“I hate to say this, but when my old man was in charge, he would say that people didn’t need to be living for them to be moved in.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Vito Crew are mean sons of bitches, right?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s to say they haven’t killed someone and decided to move in?” Dylan sighed.
“That would require house calls,” Bull said.
They needed to do this on the down low.
“There’s a property about ten miles back. An old rundown ranch. No one has been in it for years. The place is practically condemned. Have you checked that out?”
“No,” Bull said, getting to his feet. “Do you want to take a little trip?”
“Only if you agree to do this my way,” Dylan said.
“Not a fucking chance. Let’s go.” Bull moved toward his bike and straddled his machine.
“Don’t you want to drive with me?” Dylan asked.
“I’d rather suck my own dick than ride in that thing.” He pulled out of his garage parking lot and took to the roads that led to the old rundown ranch. He knew the place. Even as a kid, the place had been a crumbling mess of ruin.
He’d been playing there when he was a teenager when one of the walls had fallen down. A couple of kids had gotten hurt, which was why the place had been locked up tight. This was just one of the barns.
Some kids used to break into the house at night, make out, have sex, smoke pot, do some drugs. It was a death trap of the highest order.
Bull slowed his bike down as he pulled up to the main gate and saw the bolts were on the floor, and the gate partially open.
Dylan was a few minutes behind him.
“It could be kids,” Dylan said.
“Yeah, I don’t think kids would leave the gate looking shut for any onlooker.” There was too much overgrown brush for him to see clearly. “Fuck.”
Dylan pulled his gun out of his back pocket.
Bull rolled his eyes.
“Don’t give me that shit. We both know you’re packing,” Dylan said.
Pulling his own gun out, he made sure it was loaded and ready. Together, they entered the gate. Bull didn’t wait for instructions because he was tired of always fucking waiting.
Dylan wasn’t too far behind him as they sped toward the house. When they were close, he slowed down to a stop, the good sheriff out of breath.
“You good?” Bull asked.
“Super.” The pants came in hard.
He glanced around the tree, and sure enough, he saw the evidence of a car.
“Someone’s here,” he said.
“You sure?”
“The car is in pristine condition.” He moved from his position and got close to the ranch.
It looked worse than the last time he saw it. One of the walls beneath the window had fallen down. The place was a mess, and that was putting it mildly.
“I’m going to check the back,” Bull said.
He didn’t wait for Dylan to answer. He wasn’t here for the cop.
Rounding the house, he came to a stop at the sound of voices and dogs.
“We need more dogs. They’re piling up, man.”
Bull stayed still and slowly looked around the side of the building. Two men stood facing each other. One was small, the other particularly large. He didn’t recognize either man.
“Julio wants this shit dealt with.”
“Look, we can’t get to the girl. She’s useless. We told you that. There’s no good way to get to Bull.”
“Julio needs to come up with another plan.”
This was all kinds of interesting, but for Bull, he’d heard enough.
“Well, why doesn’t Julio come and talk to me?” Bull asked, making his presence known.
The two men drew their weapons, but he fired, sending one man crashing to the floor and grabbing his leg, and with the other, the perfect shot right through the hands.
Dylan came around the corner, red-faced and pissed off. “Bull, this isn’t your operation.”
“Actually, Sheriff, do you remember our little agreement?” Bull asked. “The one where we agreed not to get into each other’s business so we could have a long and happy life together?”
“Yes,” Dylan said through gritted teeth.
“I’d like you to meet cartel member number one, and cartel member number two. That makes this club business. I suggest, for your own sake, you head back to the car and forget about what you saw today. I will come to you to get the dogs.”
Dylan looked like he wanted to argue.
“They were talking about hurting Maddie,” Bull said.
The sheriff put his gun away. “Fine, but … damn it, Bull.”
“I’ve got this, Sheriff. Don’t worry about me.”
“You’re making a big mistake,” Cartel Member Number One said.
Bull tutted. “I’m making a big mistake. I’ve been the Vito Crew Cartel’s errand boy for the last time. You’re going to tell me exactly what I need to know.”
“We talk to you, we’re already dead. Julio will see to it.” This came from Cartel Member Number Two.
“Yes, yes, I keep hearing how big and bad Julio is. I’ve never met him, but seeing as you two are here, I think I can get my answers out of you.”
The first cartel member laughed.
Bull was rather amused. Bleeding from a gunshot wound, and he was laughing. The guy had balls.
“We will never talk. You will never get anything out of us.”
Bull looked between one and two, then two and one. Both of them looked pretty sure about that.
“Okay, fine. I was hoping you’d guys would pick the hard way, and I’m guessing it is my lucky day.”
Some of the dogs had simmered down a little bit.
He spotted two chairs that had seen better days. Within minutes, he had both men in chairs and went hunting for some make-do torturing tools. When the guy with the bleeding hands tried to escape, he shot him in the leg, stopping him from going anywhere.
Once Bull had rope and the necessary house tools that could easily be used for implements of torture, he returned. He’d also put a call through to the club. They were on their way.
It was time to gather the information he needed, to kill Julio and the Vito Crew, and to take back his woman.
Bull was bored with waiting. He was tired of being a man’s whipping boy. Staring between each man, wondering where to start, he grabbed his cell phone and called William.
“What?” William asked when he picked up.
“Now is that any way to talk to the man who is going to help you get revenge on your brother?”
“The only way I’m going to get revenge for my brother is if you have Julio.”
“I don’t quite have Julio, but it won’t be long now. I’ve got two of his minions. They set up another dogfighting ring. Do these things make that much money?”
“They’re a start,” William said.
“Yeah, well, I’m shutting that shit down.” He loved dogs. Always had.
“Give me your location,” William said.
Bull gave it, and the next call he did was to Grant, giving him an update, and telling him not to let Maddie anywhere near them. To keep her at the animal shelter for as long as possible.
He wasn’t going to stop until he had all the answers.
“I’m so very sorry about all of that,” he said. “I do hate to keep the pain waiting.” He looked through the rusty tool kit and found what he was looking for. A nice big pair of pliers.
Holding them up, he looked between the two men, trying to figure out who he should hurt first. “One or two. Two or one.”
Both men looked nervous.
He wondered which one would talk. In his experience of torture, especially with two people, make one of them feel the pain, advance to the other who’d witnessed it all, and tada, you have your blabber.
He decided to go for the biggest of the two, the more muscular. If he suffered the pain, the weaker of the two always caved. This was just the way things worked.
Smiling at the asshole, he brought out his knife and slammed it through the guy’s palm. The screaming started, and Bull wasn’t done. He wanted answers and these men were going to give them to him.
By the time his club and William arrived, the smaller guy was starting to blab, giving up Julio’s location.
It was his lucky day because Julio had a plan to grab Maddie. It would seem his little trip on Thanksgiving didn’t go without notice.
The two men ended up with a bullet in their heads.
As he tried to call Grant, no one answered. Panic filled Bull. Nothing could happen to his woman or his brother.
He had to go save them.
Chapter Twenty
“You are a pretty thing, I’ll give Bull that. The pictures of you never did you justice,” the man with the scars down his face said as he ran a blade across her cheek.
Fear had already come, and the feeling wouldn’t stop.
She couldn’t even pretend to put a brave face on because she was so scared. Grant was passed out in the corner after being hit over the head with a crowbar. They’d been out walking the dogs when this large black van had come to a stop.
Grant had fought hard, but one hit with that thing, and he’d gone down as if he was nothing.
Tears filled her eyes as the point of the blade was pressed against her cheek.
“Yes, that’s it, cry for me. I have to say, Bull is a surprise to me. He’s usually a man who doesn’t have any weakness, but when it comes to you, you’re his weakness.”
She turned to him and shook her head. “I’m not his anything. Bull will not come for anyone but his brother.”
“Ah, that’s where you’re mistaken. I’ve seen the way he is with you.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Oh, I’m wrong? So I’m wrong about Bull visiting you on Thanksgiving?”
Maddie thought about the kiss and denied it. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He brought the back of his hand across her face. “You be careful how you speak to me.”
Pain rushed through her head as Grant’s cell phone went off in the background. She groaned, feeling a little sick from the pain.
Julio tutted. The men had called him by that name.
She wanted to know if Grant was okay.
Julio moved toward Grant.
“Leave him alone,” she said.
He began to pat down his body, and Maddie attempted to wriggle out of the ropes that bound her.
Grant didn’t deserve to be hurt. He was an asshole and part of her still hated him, but he’d tried to protect her. He was the one who had told her to run. One of Julio’s men had captured her and dragged her back to the van by her hair.
She’d screamed at the pain, but it hadn’t stopped her captor. He’d been the one to throw her into the van, tie her up, and now she was at the mercy of Julio. It didn’t take a genius to work out that Julio wasn’t friends with Bull.
Julio slammed his boot into Grant’s back just before he moved away.
Maddie yelled for him to stop.
“Ah, look at this, it’s the besotted brother now.” Julio pressed the cell phone’s button. Bull’s voice filled the room.
“Grant, are you there? I need you to get Maddie the hell away from the shelter. Unleash the fucking dogs if you have to.”
“Aw, this sounds like such true love,” Julio said.
Silent static filled the air.
“Julio.”
“That son of a bitch is there. I’m going to fucking kill him.”
Maddie didn’t recognize that voice.
Julio did. “Ah, Mr. William Ranford. Enjoying the little drug investigation going down in your area? It didn’t take much for the cops to pick up your scent.”
“I’m going to fucking kill you.”
“Oh, enough. We both know that isn’t possible right now. I’ve got two little treasures in my possession.” Julio advanced toward her. “One of them is unconscious, but I’ve got another right here.”
She screamed as he grabbed a fist full of her hair, tugging it back.
“Maddie, why don’t you say hello.”
He pulled even harder on her hair to the point she knew some was going to be yanked out if he didn’t stop.
“Hello,” she said.
“Maddie, fuck! If you fucking touch her, I’m going—”
It was the wrong thing for Bull to say because Julio let go of her hair, brought back his knife, and slashed her across the face.
She screamed. With no way to defend herself, she was at this crazy man’s mercy.
“That is your first strike, Bull. The next one might be her throat. Tell them what I just did, Maddie.”
She swallowed around the lump in her throat. The blood from her cheek seeped down her neck to her shirt. “He slashed my cheek.”
“Fuck, Maddie, I am so sorry.”
“Yeah, you’re always so sorry, aren’t you, Bull?” Julio crouched down before her, smiling. “But why don’t you tell Maddie how you really feel? She seems to be under the impression you don’t want her.”
Silence.
“How about this? For every second you don’t talk, I imbed the knife into a part of her body,” Julio said.
He pressed the tip of the blade toward her knee, and she couldn’t stop the scream from filling the air.
Panic rose.
He tutted. “So easy to hurt.”
“Please, stop!” She yelled the words, hoping he’d listen.
“There’s only one way for this to stop.”
He pressed even deeper. The bastard was enjoying it as he went slowly, hurting her on purpose. He was actually getting a kick out of it.
She couldn’t contain her pain.
“I’m in love with her,” Bull said.
Maddie jerked her head up as Julio immediately stopped hurting her.
“That’s right, you do love her, don’t you?”
She couldn’t believe it.
“Yes.”
No. There was no way this was real. Bull didn’t love her. He had said he didn’t. He never loved her.
“Tell me more, Bull,” Julio said, laughing.
“I … spending any time away from her is the worst feeling in the world. I’ve been in love with Maddie for a very long time, but she has always avoided me. When I saw my chance, I took it.”
“I don’t think she quite believes you, Bull,” Julio said.
“I never stopped loving you. I always loved you, Maddie. I only said the shit I said so you wouldn’t argue with me. So you’d accept the lie. I knew your weight upset you, but I don’t believe it. I hate seeing you lose those curves. I want them back.”
“How am I supposed to believe you?” Maddie asked.
Julio tutted. “This is a loving reunion.”
“You’re right,” Bull said.
The door to the warehouse slammed open, and there, in the flesh, was Bull, with a man she assumed was William Ranford, and most of the Chaos and Carnage MC at their back. “It’s an annihilation of the Vito Crew.
Out of nowhere, Grant was there with a crowbar, taking down the guy who had a gun pointed at her.
Maddie didn’t know what happened next as all hell broke loose.
Gunshots were fired, and Grant pushed her to the floor. She squeezed her eyes shut, terrified. She knew she should be focusing on not getting shot, but all she could think about was Bull. About the words he’d said.
Was it possible?
She wasn’t sure.
He’d been telling her the truth.
Amongst the chaos, silence finally reigned, and with all the commotion, Grant had helped to remove the ropes that bound her to the chair.
In the distance, she heard the sound of police sirens, and Bull released a curse.
His arms around her didn’t offer immediate comfort. She wasn’t sure how she felt being this close to him.
Bull helped her to her feet and stared into her eyes. His gaze went to her cheek, and it was a little struggle to stand with the pain in her knee from where Julio had started to stab her.
“I’ve got you, Maddie,” he said.
They were heading outside the warehouse, and she noticed Bull covered her face as they passed dead bodies.
She didn’t know what the hell had happened, but something had. There were men lying on the ground. She saw a couple of them as Bull didn’t cover her eyes in time.
As they made it outside, she saw a large van waiting for them.
They were stopped by Dylan, who put his hand on Bull’s chest.
“You’re going to have to do with that cleanup,” Bull said. “But believe me, you’ve just been the one responsible for finding the Vito Crew in a drug dispute.”
“For fuck’s sake, Bull. You think that is going to work?”
“It has to. I’ve got to get her to the hospital.”
Dylan looked at her and she saw he was fighting with wanting to order Bull to stay behind. “Fine. We’re still going to talk.”
Bull kissed the top of her head as Grant moved into the back of the van with them. Pat and Rusty climbed into the front of the car, and then, they were moving.
“I don’t know what happened,” Maddie said.
“Bull had a tracker in my cell phone,” Grant said. “The moment they took us, he could track our cells. It was something our paranoid dad did to the club, but Bull took the idea to take care of me, his baby brother.”
“I sent Grant to keep an eye on you. I knew something bad was going to go down, and the only person I had was Grant.”
“I don’t have the best reputation for making good decisions, but this one, oh, yeah, I did good.” Grant winced. “Maybe not so great. I gave them a good target for my head.”
“Are you okay?” Bull asked.
