Sharing Freedom

Chapter Nine

The scream that tore through the morning sun was enough to send shivers down anyone spine. Freedom sat straight up in bed, a little disoriented, and fell to the floor.

She heard men yelling and she jumped up and ran, what the hell was going on? She entered the main living area on the top floor to see all the men struggling to get their pants on. Shady was sitting up in bed naked with Raven and Numbers dressing in her room. Freedom blushed and turned her head.

Creed, Poke, and Easy were running down the stairs. She followed them hurriedly as the woman still screamed hysterically. As she descended, she heard more women’s voices join into the terrified chorus and as she hit the bottom floor and saw the front door wide open, she followed the people rushing to find out what was going on.

The parking in the front of the mansion was much like last night with more vehicles; two rows of bikes and cars were in the front. Her eyes went to the group of women who were screaming, and she frowned. They were pointing at something in the drive, behind one of the large trees that lined the driveway. Funny, she hadn’t noticed them last night.

As she neared, she saw men trying to calm the women down, she could hear them telling them to go back inside, they would take care of the situation. But she saw the men’s pallor as they looked over their shoulder. Freedom kept walking, wondering what could be so bad.

She finally got to the end of the sidewalk, turned and looked. There at the end of the driveway, blocking the entrance, was a steel pole driven into the ground. But it wasn’t the pole that was so horrific, it was the head that sat on the pole that completely shocked her.

She stepped forward and looked, unable to take her eyes away from the grotesque sight before her. As she stepped closer, she felt the blood draining from her face and before she knew it, she was running and screaming. Not away from the sight either, but toward it.

“Daaaadddyyyy!” she screamed loudly and sobbed.

She felt hands grabbing her as she tried to make it to where her father’s head was posted, screaming and crying the entire time. Freedom couldn’t take her eyes off her father. The face etched in a bloody scream that would live with her for the rest of her life.

She felt large strong arms surround her, voices talking to her, but she couldn’t stop. Her father, the man who raised her, took her to the ocean, took her to see her dying mother in the hospital, was dead. She had no one.

She fought and struggled to get to him, for no other reason than to take him off display, but they held her. Freedom fell to the ground, and they followed her, into a heap, wrestling her fighting body as she clawed to run. They wouldn’t let her.

The last thing she remembered was the sight of her father’s head, dripping blood and frozen in a terrified expression in front of her, before she allowed the darkness to take over, soothe her tortured heart.

Freedom heard murmuring and she burrowed into the thick heavy covers. It was too early, she thought. She sighed and moved a little, frowning at the nice soft bed she was laying on, wait, her bed was lumpy and hard. She didn’t have thick soft covers; hers were cheap and rough.

She opened one eye, and then another. Where was she? Moving a little, she grimaced, she hurt all over. What the hell had she done to make her this sore? She moved to the side of the bed and looked around.

A strangled whimper escaped her lips as she recognized where she was. The memories began to flood back. Her father was dead. Tears flooded her eyes and the first sob escaped.

“Freedom,” she heard a man say and she turned her head to see Creed and Poke standing in the doorway.

“Tell me it was a dream,” Freedom cried, and she saw the look of pity come across both of their faces. “Noooo,” she screamed and fell back onto the bed.

She sobbed into the pillow, only seeing what her father’s face looked like the last time she saw him. Her fault, this was her fault, she thought. Maybe if she had stuck around and helped instead of running. Maybe he would still be alive.

“Freedom,” she heard again. This time the man’s voice was harder. It was Poke, she could tell.

Twisting and turning her head, not listening as Poke tried to calm her down. She had no idea she was talking her thoughts aloud. Blaming herself and making herself increasingly hysterical.

“Damn it, Creed,” Poke yelled as he fought Freedom, she was twisting and turning, sobbing.

“Here,” his leader yelled and handed him a syringe. “Valium.”

Poke nodded and stuck her in the ass and grabbed her and held on. It took only a few minutes for her sobs and cries to fade and turn into quiet whimpers. Thank God, he thought as he looked at the woman.

“The cops want to talk to her,” Creed said.

“They are gonna f^cking have to wait,” Poke said grimly.

“Yeah,” Creed laughed dryly. “Tell them that.”

Poke turned and glared at his friend and then said, “No problem, I will f^cking shove it up their asses too.”

“Brother, you can’t piss off the local cops,” Creed warned.

“f^ck this,” Poke said. “They are gonna die.”

Creed looked at his friend and brother and nodded. He felt the same way. The message was loud and clear, and even if Freedom didn’t understand it right now, she would. Their lives had become tangled in this mess the moment she stepped foot into their club.

Leaving her father’s head had been a message for all of them. For Freedom, because it was her father and he had not paid them the money. For the Warriors, because the pike was left on their land, they had somehow gotten through their security and placed the pike in their driveway. Their message was very clear—they could get to them if they wanted.

Right now, Easy, Fork, Raven, and Magnum were working on how they got in. The place was on lockdown until all this s**t got sorted. No one in and no one out. The police had come and been allowed on the property, but after they left, they locked it down.

Men put closed signs on the businesses, and let the locals know it was because of a death in their family. They would reopen when they were safe. The mine was closed to their workers, same reason.

The only thing that was actually running was the Shop, which was running full force with Shady at the head. They were gathering their weapons, seeing what they needed to get. They were going to war. All of them knew it.

“You are right, Poke,” Creed said and pointed back to Freedom. “Your job is to watch her right now though.”

“Why the f^ck am I on babysitting duty?” Poke scoffed.

“Because someone has to be.” Creed laughed.

“Come on, I can’t deal with all this emotion and s**t,” Poke said, looking at Freedom.

“I thought you were the prince of p***y,” Creed said.

“If you want me to f^ck her, sure, if you want me to console her, no way. I suck at that feeling s**t. Her father was a dumbass, borrowed money from the wrong people and tried to give his daughter to a bunch of limpless d***s. Then he turns up dead, oh so sad,” Poke growled.

“Try not to say that to her when she wakes up,” Creed said grimly. “Just watch her, make sure she doesn’t freak out anymore. We will have a meeting of the leadership in a couple hours, I will send Shady up to sit with while you attend.”

“Fine, whatever,” Poke growled, watched his leader walk down the stairs, looked at the woman in the bed again, and sighed. f^ck, he hated s**t like this.

One more time she woke up, but this time she remembered right away. Before she even opened her eyes, she saw her father’s face. With a sob, she sat up.

“Freedom,” Poke said grimly.

“Yeah,” she replied.

“You gonna spaz on me?” Poke asked.

She blinked a few times and let the tears flow down her face and she looked at him. “My dad is dead.”

“Yep, he is,” Poke agreed firmly.

“Who?” Freedom asked.

“Gang bangers,” Poke said with no emotion in his voice. “They wanted to send a message.”

“What message was that supposed to send?” Freedom cried.

“Who the f^ck cares?” Poke shrugged.

“I do,” Freedom whispered. “I care, why did they have to kill him?”

“Because that is what bastards like them do,” Poke said. “Listen, I am sorry about your dad and all but let’s be real. He owed them money, they didn’t just pick him off the street and say, ‘hey let's kill this dude’.”

Freedom jerked at the callousness in the man’s voice. “People make mistakes.”

“Most time none that would get you killed,” Poke said.

Her breath hitched, and she yelled, “f^ck you, Poke.” She became angry and forgot her grief. “You don’t get to f^cking say a word about my father, you didn’t know him, you didn’t meet him. You know nothing.”

“I know he tried to give you to them for f^cking collateral. Do you know what they would have done to you? He sure the f^ck did,” Poke said coldly.

“I hate you,” Freedom screamed and threw her arm out slapping him across the face. He didn’t even flinch when she continued to hit him, over and over. On his chest, his arms anywhere she could reach until she was exhausted.

“I get you hate me, and that is cool. But, darlin’, don’t put him on a pedestal, the man knew what he was doing when he borrowed the money. Little f^ckwads would have told him. Just remember that, he left you long before they took his life. You need to think about what you are going to do now,” Poke said coldly.

“I have nothing,” Freedom cried.

“Bullshit,” Poke said. “Creed gave you a chance before all this, it is up to you to take it. I’m not gonna tell you what to do, but this is not over. The police want to talk to you, get yourself together so we can call them.”

Freedom cried for a few minutes, and then looked up at him and nodded.

“I’ll be ready,” she whispered and stood shakily.

“They are dead men,” Easy said in frustration as he looked at Shady who was glaring at him.

They were in a meeting, but Shady had been allowed to attend because they needed weapons and fast. But having a woman here was just a f^cking pain in the ass, Easy thought as he watched the girl grimly nod.

“You should be with her,” Shady said slowly.

“f^ck, Shade, give it a rest. Poke has her,” Easy yelled.

“So, what, he is gonna f^ck her for ya too?” Shady snorted.

“Let’s get on with it,” Creed said. “We need solid info and we need it now. Not gonna f^ck around anymore. Find me their house and find out how they got on our property.”

The men nodded and stood, no one f^cked with them and lived to brag about it.