All For You (Snakes Henchmen MC 3)

When I was eleven, my mother and Shepard began their relationship. My mother had fallen for Shepard long before he fell for her, but she never said anything, she waited for him to realize how much he wanted her.

It wasn't long before he finally branded her as his old lady. They were soon married and we were a family. Wasn't long before he told me that he loved me as though I was his real daughter, and how I could call him daddy if I wanted to. I did, and I have every day since. It's been fourteen years and they're still together.

That's how I met Hammer, through my dad. My parents were best friend's with his, right up until his were killed, murdered by a rival gang. Like I said, he and his brother came to live with us for a while. Twelve years ago and I'm still wondering if my childhood fantasies about him claiming me could ever come true, even though I know they won't.

It's wrong for me to even think like that when I'm engaged to someone else. But it's hard to let go of the childish fantasies.

Pathetic, right?

He'll never be mine. Hell, I don't think he'll ever be anybody's again. Not after losing the woman he loved the way he did. My best friend.

I sometimes wonder what was going through his mind when he saved me that day. What the hell must he have been thinking when he saw me in that room? When those monsters kidnapped me, not only did they beat me almost to a pulp, they cut my throat. How did I survive that?

Hold up, I'll get to that part.

Satan's Barbers. The MC who took me, whom the Snakes Henchmen had trouble with in the past, wanted Shepard to admit killing their Prez. Shepard wouldn't admit to it because it wasn't true. That fucked up MC just wanted to make a name for themselves. Just like other MC's before them.

The Snakes Henchmen are the biggest MC in Tennessee, the mother charter for Snakes everywhere. And the assholes from the Satan's Barbers wanted some of the glory and respect that would never belong to them. But causing a war with an MC like the Snakes is like signing your own death warrant with a fate worse than the grim reaper.

Those assholes kept me in a dark, dank room with a camera set up to record every vile thing they did to me. Each time they hurt me, they'd scream how I needed to tell my father that he needed to come to their clubhouse and admit in person what he'd done, maybe then they'd let me live, but my daddy was a dead man.

The idiot in charge, Crack, wouldn't listen to me when I told him and his enforcer again and again that Shepard wasn't my biological father. I thought if they knew, they'd let me go. I stupidly thought they'd have no use for me. Crack told me they didn't give two shits if I was his actual daughter, stepdaughter, even adopted, a daughter is a daughter, and even they knew Shepard would kill or die for anyone of us, me, Nova, or even Sophie, our baby sister.

I couldn't even argue with that because I knew it was the truth. In all honesty, I'd been calling Shepard dad for so long, he didn't feel like a stepfather to me. In my heart, he'd been the only father I'd ever known, the only one I ever wanted.

Anyway, I'd been in that place for days when Crack walked in with Baker, his VP, and half of their club members, around six or seven of them. The camera was rolling and Crack told me that my daddy could see and hear everything and how he was going to watch me die right then and there.

I was past the point of fear.

They'd hurt me in so many ways that I let go of fear a while before. I knew from the first moment they threw me in that place that I was going to die. I was terrified at first, who the hell wouldn't be? I may have grown up around bikers but that didn't mean all bikers were like the Snakes. In fact, Satan's Barbers were the opposite. They were vile pigs who didn't care what they did to anyone.

Crack screamed orders into the camera, telling Shepard that this was his last chance. I had no idea what was going on with my dad and the guys back there, but no one came for me, I heard not one thing from any of them. But I knew if he came they'd kill him. I screamed as loud as I could, telling Shepard not to give in to those monsters. That they were going to kill me regardless. I only hoped he'd hear me.

It wasn't but a few seconds before Crack smacked me across the face so hard it knocked me out.

When I came around, I was disorientated. I couldn't focus on anything, but I could hear Shepard's voice. It sounded like it was coming through some kind of speaker. I heard him telling those assholes that if they laid one more hand on me, he'd tear them and their club limb from limb. I couldn't make sense of anything inside my head. It all seemed like a dream.

Then Crack grabbed the front of my hair and pulled my head back. He gave Shepard one more chance to do as he was told before they killed me. Crack whispered in my ear, “Looks like daddy doesn't care what happens to your sorry ass, after all, bitch.” He cut the ropes that bound me to the chair. Then I felt it, his knife against my throat as he dragged me from my seat.

Everything happened so fast. A blasting sound, wood, and brick falling, dust kicking up, people running, shouting, guns firing. Yet still, the only thing I really remember is the feeling of that cold hard blade against the soft skin of my throat.

My eyes locked with Hammer's. He was right there with the rest of his crew. How they'd found me, I have no clue. But I watched in slow motion as he ran toward me. I remember the way his face contorted in anger, the furious determination in his eyes to get to me before Crack pulled that blade across my throat, ending my life for good.

I remember the way Hammer's body moved as he ran, the way his cut shifted slightly with his body. I remember suddenly feeling very calm. I blinked and smiled slowly at Hammer. His spoke, but I could hear nothing. Not even the noise of all those men fighting to the death for their clubs and the brothers within them.

I saw the very second the bullet left Hammer's gun. I saw it whizzing through the air, twisting, and curving. Then it hit Crack right between the eyes.

I'm safe now, I thought.

Little did I know, at that moment, on his way down, Crack's knife cut me right across the throat as his hand slipped away from me. His knife was beyond sharp and I felt everything. Then Hammer's hand was wrapped around my throat, holding tightly, while his other hand clasped the back of my head as I fell to the ground choking.

“Keep your eyes on me, baby. Don't you dare fuckin' close them.” There was urgency in his voice, a fear I'd never known. The way he looked at me, it was more than just a scared friend, more than a brother.

“Jesus fucking Christ! Jett!” He screamed for my brother, his VP. I was losing consciousness. No matter how hard I fought the darkness, it seemed to be enveloping me, taking me under.

Hammer wouldn't allow me to close my eyes. Even when Jett came rushing over, yelling about how they needed to get me to their doctor – a man who patches them up after a battle – Hammer never let go of my throat, even though I knew my blood must have been gushing between his fingers. He was trying to slow the bleeding enough to give me a slim chance at living.

“Stay awake, baby. Please.” He kissed my head, but I couldn't breathe, I was choking on my own blood.

“Let... Me. Go.” I gasped out.

I just wanted to go to sleep. I needed to sleep. My eyes were so heavy. I was growing colder and I couldn't hang on as much as I tried. I hoped Crack hadn't torn my jugular when he cut my throat. If he had, I imagined I would have died instantly the way Cindy did. But he must have done something that caused me enough damage to kill me slowly, even if I was bleeding fast. I could feel it seeping through the gap in my neck and from my mouth.

“I will never let go.” Hammer hissed with conviction. “I won't lose you as well!”

In my mind, right then, I took that as he needed me to survive. He didn't want to watch me die the way Cindy had almost two years ago. Her throat had been cut. Ironic huh? She died instantly. I guess she was lucky. That she died instantly, not that she had her throat cut.

I could feel the tears falling around my temples, tears of pain, sadness, fear. I didn't want to die, but I didn't see how I could live.

?

??I can't lose you too, Will. Fight, baby. Please fight.” His words faded. I just couldn't stay awake.

Three days later, I woke up in bed, machines all around me, tubes in my chest, and stitches in my neck. I was told I was extremely lucky that I hadn't needed a tracheostomy. I was even luckier to be alive.

My mom and dad were there when I woke up. I couldn't speak, I was advised not to even try for at least a week for fear of damaging my throat, but I listened as my dad told me how proud he was of me. How proud everybody was of me.

I couldn't understand how I was alive. I tried to speak to ask them how, my mother told me not to, that I'd been warned it could damage my throat. But I was frustrated.

That's when I noticed Jett standing at the bottom of my bed. He told me how Crack had slit my throat, but because he was dead before he hit the ground there wasn't enough pressure in his hand to cut deep enough to kill me instantly, he'd torn a couple nerves, veins, and muscles in my throat, but he'd missed the jugular. Luckily, the doctor said that I would heal in time.

Jett also told me that if it wasn't for Hammer and the way he held my throat to stem the flow of blood, I would most definitely have bled out slowly and died. He didn't let go of my throat until they got me to their safe house infirmary where Dr. Davis managed to save my life.

I don't know what God has planned for me, but there must be a reason he saved me that day. A reason he gave Hammer the strength to keep me alive.

I will forever bear the scars of that day, both inside and out. I will forever love the man who saved me from death. I just wish he would stop blaming himself for what happened. He took the shot and killed the man who would have no doubt killed me. Yes, I got hurt, but I survived thanks to him.

He's spoken to me once since that day four months ago. He came to my house where I was taken right after I was stable enough to leave the infirmary and told me how sorry he was for what happened. I still couldn't speak at the time, so I just listened. Then he told me how he'd never let anything happen to me ever again, but he won't come anywhere near me either.

He thought I was asleep when he told me that part. I wasn't. My eyes might have been closed, but I could hear every word. I just didn't have the strength to even try and make him stay with me.

He hasn't come near me since that day. Not once. With his brother and my sister's wedding coming up in the next couple weeks, him avoiding me is making things very awkward.

I said he was a friend, I didn't say he wanted anything to do with me.

Take right now for instance. We're all at the clubhouse. Bikers, old ladies, and whores alike. All here on Shepard's orders. He's throwing a huge party for his daughter and her soon-to-be husband. An early celebration for their up and coming wedding next week.

The party is crazy as always. People getting drunk, dancing, having fun. No fighting is allowed among friends and family, not tonight. This is Nova and Tank's night, no one can it.

A lot of the guys without old ladies are groping the club whores, as usual, grinding against them like horny teenagers. Not that any of them mind, half of them would do anything to be someone's old lady.