Chapter 28 My hobbies include long scrolls on my phone and eating until I hate myself. -Creole to Audric CREOLE We waited until he was finished feeding himself before we made the move. We waited in the shadows, Apollo having turned off all cameras in the immediate vicinity remotely as he rushed back home from Washington. He'd begged us to wait, but there was no stopping Audric. He wanted to take care of this now. Hence the reason we'd barged in just after he'd finished eating his dinner and took him by surprise. Getting into his house was child's play. It was almost as if Dr. Stoker had no clue that we'd retaliate in any way. What was he, naïve? I watched as Audric punched Dr. Stoker in the stomach. He kept hitting him, too, until he had gotten some of his anger out of his system. When he was done, Audric sat Stoker back in the computer chair that Stoker had fallen out of when Audric had hit him and strapped him to it with his robe's belt. Only when he was secure did he start to twist him around. "You know the problem with having your jaw wired shut?" he asked as he twisted him around and around. "When you throw up, you have nowhere for the vomit to go. So you end up needing to swallow it. Or even inhaling it sometimes. That's why they recommend you carry wire cutters with you, just in case." Without even hinting at what he was going to do, Audric stopped Stoker from spinning at the same time he reached for the small mini paddle that read 'Bass Pro Shops' on it and brought it down so hard on Dr. Stoker's arm that something cracked. Dr. Stoker made a sound in his throat, and then he was heaving. Except the vomit had nowhere to go. It was by far the most gruesome thing I'd ever seen. He was throwing up, and some of the liquid was getting out from between his teeth, but I was sure even more was stuck right there in his mouth with nowhere to go. He started choking and coughing, and soon he was convulsing in the chair, the only thing holding him up was the belt he had tied around his chest. I watched dispassionately, only slightly alarmed by the sight. Audric crossed his arms over his chest and watched with a dispassionate gaze. Dr. Stoker started making a gasping noise that was somewhere between a wounded elephant and dying rhino. "Man." Apollo came storming through the door at my back, startling me. "I had so many things in store for him! Why'd you kill him?" Audric turned a glare on his good friend. "Maybe if you weren't stuck up the president's ass, you might be able to live your life." Apollo grimaced. "I had no fuckin' clue I'd be rubbing balls with the president, okay? It was an accident that I was put on that committee." "Whatever," Cutter muttered. "Just tell us you like licking his balls and we won't keep asking." "Fuck off," Apollo said. "It's interesting, okay? You would be there, too, if you could win an election." "Did you win an election, though?" Cutter taunted. "Or did you rig it?" They said more, but I ignored them in favor of watching Dr. Stoker take his last breath. I thought I'd feel a little more messed up about it, but to be truthful, I felt nothing. I should probably get my head examined. Most people would feel at least a little bit of sympathy. Not me, though. And that was okay. At least, I thought it was. Once the breaths stopped rattling in the doctor's lungs, and his chest was still, I said, "Now what?" "Now we untie him and leave. They'll assume he did this himself," Apollo said. "Who wants to ride with me so I can fill them in?" "You rode in on your bike, you moron." Audric snorted. "How, exactly, do you think that's going to work?" "It's a joke." Apollo rolled his eyes. "I'll meet y'all back at the clubhouse." Everyone started to leave but us. "We'll be there in a minute," Audric said. "I need to look through his shit and see if he has anything else that might implicate us in any way." I fell into step beside him and we started going through the doctor's rooms. We didn't find anything that would implicate us. But what we did find was a room full of photos and printed maps and locations of women that he'd apparently stalked. "Who else do you think that he's targeting this way?" I asked as I moved closer to read the "doctor's notes" underneath the photos. "Mary, age twenty-five. Victim of sex trafficking. Gets upset easily when you ask her about her sister. Talks in her sleep. Has nightmares that are exacerbated by alcohol." "Sick fuck," Audric murmured as he read the woman's information that he was closest to. "This looks like all of his stalking victims were his patients. He also learned what they feared the most and exploited it." I left the room. "I can't be in here looking at this anymore." "Same," he murmured as he followed me out, placing his hand on my back to guide me out into the backyard where all the bikes had been left. "This place is about to be a swarm of cop cars once I call this in. Let's go." We wound up back at the clubhouse an hour later with dessert since mostly everyone was full, and sat around the huge table in the clubhouse to discuss what Apollo found. "First, let's discuss Goodwin." He looked at me. "He's dead, by the way. Let's celebrate." I tilted my head to see him laser focused on me. "Good," I said. "I figured, but it would've been nice to let him suffer." "Dima tried, but he had a weak constitution. He died of a heart attack before he could really get into the meat of it." I shook my head, disbelieving that I was smiling. Yet, there I was with a huge grin on my face. I was such a sicko. "In other news, the Combs have gone bankrupt," he continued. "They no longer have any money to pay a lawyer." "Thank Christ," Audric said. "Would've fuckin' hated to deal with them any longer. Gunner doesn't need their grief, either." "I'm sure they'll still try, but it's a lot harder to do anything like that without having money." Apollo nodded. "Second, sorry to tell you this, but your job is under review by the airline because Dr. Stoker was busy since yesterday. They're currently putting you on administrative leave pending an investigation. But I'm already working on that. Third, he also decided to move on to another stalking victim. A woman who lost her daughter a couple of weeks ago. Y'all killed him in time, though. He hadn't gotten too far into her stalking." I shook my head. "There's more, but I'll put a halt on it from my side and let this unfold organically since we all got a good look at that wall." He flicked up his fingers. "I will be calling in a wellness check, though. That way we can get the ball rolling a little faster. I'm not sure the sister won't clean up after her brother's mess if we wait for her to call it in." Agreed. "That's all I have." Apollo clapped. "Unless y'all want to hear about this bill I'm about to get passed." There were groans all around. But we did all listen as he explained everything that was going on in his life, ending with, "Okay, class dismissed." We all left shortly after that, and on the way home, I relished the way it felt to be pressed so close to Audric on our long ride home. But when we got there, Audric didn't take me into the house. Instead, he took me to the porch swing which he sat on and pulled me into his lap. "Today was one of the worst days of my life," he said. "When I'd heard they'd taken you...I can't say that I handled that all that well." I pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose. "Thanks for fighting for me, Audi." "I'd fight the whole goddamn world for you, baby. I'd keep fighting until there wasn't a single drop of blood left in my body." He cupped my face. "Kiss me." I kissed him. And kissed him. And kissed him. His hands started roaming, and before long, I was naked in his lap, and he was inside of me. "You're so hard," I breathed. "For you," he growled. "So hard for you." I lifted up onto my knees, then settled back down, groaning at the fullness. "God, I feel like I can taste you." I cupped my breasts as I slowly worked myself up and down on top of him. Not fast. If I went too fast, my knees would get splinters. But fast enough that I was getting there really damn quick. "You're so goddamn beautiful it's hard to breathe sometimes." He covered my belly with both hands, fingers spanning my ribcage. I let my breasts go and cupped his face in my hands. "How do you feel about a fall wedding?" "How do you feel about going to the courthouse tomorrow?" he asked, his green eyes intense. I snickered. "I want my dad to walk me down the aisle." "He can walk you down the aisle into the judge's chambers," he teased. I snickered. "Three months. That's not too long." He sighed and pulled me in for a kiss. "Three months isn't that bad, I guess." "Long enough for me to plan a wedding fit for a motorcycle club." He squeezed my ribs, then slammed me down hard, taking my breath from me. I let my head fall back as I chased the orgasm that was building. Lost in the feeling of Audric, I wasn't prepared for the explosion to rock me quite so completely. The breath left me as my orgasm took me over. My back bowed even more, and not even my knees digging uncomfortably into the wood at his hips was enough to deter me from moving faster. "Fuck, baby. You're so damn beautiful," he whispered on a strangled breath. I face-planted into his chest, and he groaned into my hair. "I just want forever with you. If you want it tomorrow or three months from now, I'll be happy to oblige," he murmured. I smiled against his chest. "I'll talk to my dad. You talk to yours. Then maybe we can just get married at the beach. Use this time off wisely," I offered. His hands squeezed on my ass. "Perfect."