The Butcher of the Bay Part II - J. Bree Page 0,23
he was leaving a trail of bodies in his wake as I planned my own escape and I did, but to see it… I am the luckiest woman alive, to have the love and loyalty of mon Monstre.
After he has my seatbelt buckled around me, Illi crouches next to me and strokes my face. “I’ll get you home, baby. Are you okay to make it there?”
I smile at him and murmur, “I have you. Everything is perfect.”
Le Loup gets into the car behind me and shuts the door gently, murmuring apologies to me as the movement pains me. Less than a minute later we’re back on the road, leaving behind the other men. I feel like I should ask about them but everything is hazy and swollen and painful. Everything except my hand in mon Monstre’s as he drives us away, back to the most dangerous city in the country. Our home.
My heart squeezes in my chest at the thought.
Our home.
I lose sense of time but it can’t be too long before I find out why the men stayed behind. I feel the explosion before I hear it, the ground rumbling and the car swerving on the road just a little as mon Monstre corrects it on instinct.
I startle forward in my seat, panicked and disoriented. Illi squeezes my hand and then drops it to rub my leg.
“Fuck, we should have warned you but I didn’t think they’d blow it up like that. It’s okay, baby girl. It's all part of the plan."
I glance back over my shoulder and find Lips staring out of the back window as well, the mushroom cloud of smoke and flames billowing into the sky.
The entire mansion has been blown up.
"Better to just destroy the evidence than attempt a clean up in another state. Luckily the buyer lived on land and there weren't any witnesses to have to deal with." Lips says, a little frown on her face as she looks at me.
"You need to either call Doc or take Odie in, that's definitely a concussion, Illi."
He grunts and threads his fingers through mine. "Don't go to sleep yet, baby. I know you're tired but just stay awake for me."
I let my eyes drift shut again but I nod. "It's okay, I don't want to sleep yet. I don't want to sleep until I'm back home and clean."
His fingers tighten in mine and then he brings my hand up to his mouth to kiss my palm. "Good girl. Do you want the radio on? Or silence? Tell me what you need."
I smile up at him and murmur, “I have everything I need right here, mon Monstre.”
Chapter Seven
Illi
The drive back to the Bay is the worst sort of torture.
I want to get my girl home as fast as fucking possible but the thought of getting into a wreck right now with how fucking precious my cargo is, no fucking way.
So I slow down a little and grit my teeth through the whole fucking drive instead. It’s basically fucking torture.
My girl has taken too many hits to that pretty little head of hers and I’m fucking worried about the concussion.
Her eyes are shut as we drive but every time I squeeze her hand, she squeezes mine back so I know she’s awake. She’s fucking covered in blood, every inch of her stained red with spatters streaked across her face and her hair is matted with it.
She’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.
“I’m calling Doc to meet you back at the warehouse,” the kid murmurs from the backseat, and when I glance back at her she’s on her phone already.
She’s too fucking smart.
Odie smiles slowly. “Merci, le Loup.”
I frown. She doesn’t usually speak French around me but she knows the kid speaks it. Fuck. Is it a sign of something else being wrong or is she fine and just switching over for Lips?
I want to break something.
I sweep the tacky tendrils of hair away from her face and check her pulse, not that I’d fucking know if something was wrong but I feel like I have to do something.
Fuck that traitorous fuck D’Ardo for selling her across state lines so we still have another two hours left before we get back to the Bay.
Odie’s big blue eyes crack open a little and she murmurs soothingly under her breath at me. "Trying to fix me again, mon Monstre? I'm okay. I'm alive and everyone who matters to me is here."