Chapter 2

Freebyrd rolled the guy out onto the ground, giving him a few good kicks before he stepped away. “You ever show your f**king ugly face around Jilly again, and I’ll be digging your grave out here you son-of-a-bitch!” War was right behind him and stepped around to deliver his own punishment. With the tip of his blade he sliced down man’s face, just deep enough to hurt like a mother but not so much that he’d need stitches or bleed out and die.

“I won’t, but I am telling you Lane will not give up,” he growled with blood splattering from his lips. The guys just laughed.

“Right, well he will get as much as you are, give him our message,” War taunted. “Come on. Let’s leave this piece of sh*t to rot.” He jumped back in the truck with the others and sped off, slinging dirt and rocks on the man’s battered body. They were halfway home when Freebyrd broke the silence.

“Think he will deliver the message?”

“Yep, but Lane is going to come anyway,” War answered matter of factly.

“Good. I want to be the one who exterminates that motherf**ker.”

“You got it,” War said, laughing. He wanted to do the honors, but there was no way in hell he was gonna argue. As long as the f**k died, that’s all that mattered. “We need to up security until he shows his face. I figure it will take him a few days to come up with a plan before we will catch wind of him lurking around.”

“Yeah. I want three men at the hospital at all times. The girls may not want to ask for help, but they don’t have a f**king choice. Up security at the clubhouse, and keep a guy on each of the girls until this sh*t’s over.” Freebyrd punched the accelerator, showing his aggravation in his driving. They were used to riding balls to the wall, but this was reckless even for him.

“Got it. You wanna slow down, so we live long enough to kill the stupid f**k?”

“Shut the f**k up,” Freebyrd growled, but he did slow down some. They both were in the same state of mind and wanted to turn around and finish him now. It was almost too tempting.

“We could—” War started, but Freebyrd cut him off.

“No. Not yet,” he said.

“I’m just sayin’; it’d cut down on a lot of time and effort if we just kill the son-of-a-bitch now. Just hunt his ass down, and take him before Treat’s sister makes a statement.”

“No. If he comes up missing now, the cops will be all over our ass. He’ll get what’s coming to him in due time,” Freebyrd growled. He wanted to slaughter the motherf**ker as bad as War did, but at least he had common sense to wait. War, on the other hand, held true to his name. Rationality went out the window when something like this came about. He wanted war, and he wanted justice now and not later. Freebyrd was right though. They didn’t need the P.D. riding up their ass. Not with everything that was going on. They still had to get funding for the last safe house for the women who were saved from human trafficking, and if the police started sticking their nose in, they might not get it. Those women needed them and needed Treat to work her magic. Since they were affiliated with the Ladies, one mistake on their end could cost them all.

“Not your business,” Treat’s father yelled yet again when Treat was checking the desk to see when the doctor would come out and tell them what was going on.

“Listen here you f**k,” Bob snapped.

“Not yours either, bitch,” her father snapped.

Yes, it had been a joyous reunion with her family, Treat thought as she turned around getting a sympathetic look from the nurse who before had been a bitch. Apparently, when your long lost loser parents show up and are complete assholes, you get sympathy and a free pass for being a lunatic. Thank goodness there was no one else in the waiting room right now to witness this embarrassingly funny reunion.

“Shut up, Dad,” Treat snapped again as she turned. It had been the fourth time since they had arrived he tried to push Treat and the Lady Riders out of the waiting room, telling them they weren’t needed. Hadn’t worked then, and wasn’t going to work now.

“Don’t talk to me like that,” he bellowed.

Treat had had enough; she walked right up to the man who had previously in her nightmare of a life scared the ever-loving sh*t out of her. No more, she wasn’t living in fear of him anymore, mostly because at this point, thinking of all the crap she had going on, she didn’t care if he took a swing at her like he had when she was a child. She would love it if he did, it would give her a reason to swing back and take out all of the frustration she had building inside her and let it explode.

Only her friends knew how close to the edge she was sitting, and she was close. “Sit down and shut the f**k up. You are the reason she is here, you and your friend. I should have taken her with me when I left instead of leaving her with you f**kers. Now look, she is beaten within an inch of her life three doors down from you, and you had no clue? Right, pretty sure you knew this was going on,” Treat snapped and then glared at her mother who was looking pathetic as usual. “I know you did, how could you miss it? But none of you cared; well I am here now and taking care of this sh*t. Why don’t you go back to your sorry life and leave us the hell alone. Jilly will be coming home with me,” Treat hissed to her parents.

It took a second, one tiny second for her father to respond with all the fury and rage she had known as a child. Treat had dealt with enough sh*t, she didn’t even flinch when he moved to her quickly and grabbed her arm and shook her.

“Listen here you little slut. I don’t know where you have been and I don’t care. But you don’t walk in here acting like you’re better than us, and think you have any say in this at all. Your sister has a husband; he will take care of this. Not you. Get your ass outta here before I remind you of what f**king happens when you cross me,” her father screamed.

The nurse from behind the counter moved, she heard her, probably to call security, which was a good thing, and a bad thing because Treat wasn’t going to take his sh*t anymore, and the Lady Riders would not allow it.

She saw Bob and Nike move, but she yelled at them fast. “This is my problem, stay back. She isn’t married to that assf**k, and you know it.”

The years of abuse, the years of neglect, and the years of freedom surged up and through her as she let all of the emotion carry her. Finally, she was going to face her past and damned if she would ever let it win. She had watched Shady, Freedom, Harmony, Rain, all of them face their sh*t. Now it was her turn.

Treat slipped her free arm to the front and chopped her father’s arm to make him lose his grip, with that done, she placed her booted heel down hard on his foot. Then waited for him to lean over, and with her whole weight, she grabbed his neck, turned, leaned over, and threw him, a man who weighed twice, if not three times as much as her. Damn, it felt good, and it may not have been pretty, ‘cause the large man didn’t go that far if truth be told. However, he did slam on the ground, and it gave her the opportunity to place her booted foot down heavily on his neck, pushing in slightly, cutting off his breath while Bob, Nike, Bic, and the other girls immobilized his limbs. Yeah, now they could help.

Her mother screeched loudly, “Brooke!”

Treat looked up at her with a blank expression and said, “Yeah, Ma, Brooke is not here anymore. She died the day you let me walk out the door with no clothes, no food, and no money and covered with bruises because this asshole didn’t like the f**king mac and cheese I made for dinner. Name is Treat now, and I would appreciate if you got that, but even if you don’t. Call me Brooke again, and I’ll find a way to make sure you never forget my real name now. I am much more creative nowadays.”

Her mother gasped and put a hand to her throat but didn’t say a word.

“The f**k?” a woman said behind her, Treat turned, and Shady was there, alone, wearing her normal biker gear with her arms crossed across her chest looking pissed off. “Everyone else went on, told them I would be back later if everything was good here. Bob called, told me what happened. Now, wanna explain why you are getting in a brawl in the hospital waiting room?”

“Not right this second, but I will.” Treat grinned and turned back to her father and leaned down, putting more pressure on his throat, his face turned redder if possible. “Now, I told you to get the f**k outta here, and I meant it. I don’t want to see your sorry ass face in here again. Jilly is dead to you now too, deal with it.”

Her mom finally said, “But what about our grandson?”

Treat looked at her in horror, she knew she did, because that is exactly what she felt, horror that a child would be subject to any of the people ever again.

“Honest to God did you just actually say that? You think you deserve to have any contact with a precious baby when all you are is evil? What f**king world do you live in? You didn’t care when you left him in a trailer with his mom, knowing that she was going to be beaten, and no don’t tell me you didn’t know, because I saw the older bruises on her, you had to know. You just let it happen, you didn’t give a sh*t, so guess what, you have no say in anything about that child or my sister any-f**king-more. Like I said, get the f**k gone, and forget we ever existed because I am going to make damn sure that Jilly and her son forget about you,” Treat said, snapped, and then took her foot off her father and nodded to the girls.

They all released him and stepped back, making sure they were still on guard though in case he made another move. He coughed and gasped, playing up his pathetic self, to look like he was wounded but Treat shook her head.

“Get your ass up and get the f**k out,” she said with a dead voice.

She heard the nurse finally come back and yell loudly while dragging a security man behind her and pointing at her father on the ground. “It was him, he attacked the redhead, grabbed her arm, and shook her like she was a doll, I thought he was going to hit her.”

The security guard stepped forward, and her father held up his hand, glared at Treat, and said, “Misunderstanding, we are leaving.”

The guard nodded and followed her parents out the door. Treat almost felt bad when her father grabbed her mother’s arm hard. But she had chosen to keep herself in this life and made her children suffer as well. It was too late for Treat to give two sh*ts about the woman.

“Well then,” Shady drawled as she stood back still. “I guess I wasn’t needed like Bob thought.”

Treat blushed pink and shook her head then walked to her leader, and her friend, and allowed the woman to give her a hug, and sighed. “Nah. Shay, I will always need you, ‘cause you and the Lady Riders are the only family I need.”