by S. Nelson
Or should I say when, since it was inevitable?
As I stared at them, needing to think about something other than my own misery, I couldn’t get over how much Zander resembled his father, although it was the only similarity. Their personalities were quite the opposite, Stone being hotheaded while his youngest son was calm and laid-back. Luke had much of the same temperament as Zander, and while he took after Reece in the looks department, he was tall like Tripp, although not quite matching head to head, standing around six foot two, a couple of inches shorter than his father. He was broad, big even, and if he hit the gym religiously, I had no doubt he’d be as big as his dad.
I glanced from them to Tag and my cousin, who sat near the corner of the bar, leaning into each other, and talking, Morgan smiling right along with the prospect. I wasn’t gonna work myself up at the sight of them so close, as long as they were in plain view.
As my eyes traveled the room, I saw Riley, Chelsea, Kena, Sully, and Addy gathered outside the door to the kitchen, Roman tucked under Kena’s arm, his aunt leaning down to kiss the top of his head now and again. Their expressions were more solemn, closely matching mine. The last time I saw Harrison and Evan, they’d been standing next to their mom but Kena must’ve shooed them off into the kitchen.
Across the wide space, Stone, Kaden, and Tripp hung out outside Chambers, our VP speaking while the other two nodded in either agreement or understanding. I couldn’t be sure as I wasn’t privy to exactly what their conversation consisted of. It was nice to see the interactions between Stone and Kaden shift from one where Stone wanted to kill him, to tolerance. Kaden was a good guy. Stone knew it, too. It was simply taking him time to wrap his head around what happened between the son of his best friend and Riley.
I had no doubt Addy kicking her husband out of their house until he stopped acting like an ass over the situation helped nudge his attitude in the other direction.
Several minutes after Marek stalked off in search of Linc and Maddie, all three appeared in the hallway, Prez leading the other two across the clubhouse. Maddie clutched onto Linc’s hand, sharing worried glances with him with every step.
I decided to follow them.
If Prez didn’t want me around for whatever conversation they were gonna have, he’d certainly let me know. They stopped just inside the doorway to Chambers, which was odd given women weren’t typically allowed inside the meeting room. But I supposed there was to be an exception for extenuating circumstances, this time being one of them.
Ryder had stayed behind in this room after everyone else filed out, continually pacing, but when he saw us crowd the entrance, he made a beeline straight for us. Several hard lines etched into his forehead, as well as around his eyes and if I wasn’t mistaken, I thought I saw a few more gray hairs sprout out around his temples.
“What’s goin’ on?” he asked, standing so close to Marek, our leader had to step to the side. His question caught the attention of Stone, Tripp, and Kaden, who’d been not five feet away from the door, filing into the room with us, just as curious to find out more information.
Prez didn’t answer; instead, he turned his full attention to Maddie. God love her, she shrunk under his focus, and although he’d been nothing but accommodating and kind to her, she continued to fold into herself, especially now that she was surrounded by all of us. We could be rather intimidating in our own right, but side by side was another thing altogether. I smiled at her when she looked my way, her eyes springing between her man, me, Ryder, then finally landing back on Marek.
“Maddie,” he started. “I need to ask you a few things about your time with the Reapers, okay?” His question wasn’t a question at all but more of a formality.
“Okay.” Her timid voice made me want to wrap her in my arms to comfort her, but I didn’t think Linc would take too kindly to that, his expression already one of apprehension.
“Did they ever take you anywhere outside their club? Any place you can remember?”
“Sometimes they took me with them to the fights.” She looked up at Linc and they shared a coded look between them. “But other than that, they kept me at the club. I don’t remember where it is, though. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about that. We know exactly where their clubhouse is.” Marek briefly looked upward toward the ceiling. Then he snapped his eyes back to Linc’s woman. “Did any of them ever mention going to a specific place?” Maddie began shaking her head. “Like a meeting place or someone’s house or anything like that?”
Mid headshake, she stopped to chew on her bottom lip, the cogs of her mind seeming to work overtime. And when we all thought she didn’t have anything else to say, her mouth opened, a thin line of concentration appearing on her face.
“I remember Pike telling me one time that he had to go with one of the other guys to the farm. He didn’t want to go that day because Griller…” Maddie looked at Linc before focusing her eyes on the ground. “Pike wanted to be there with me to help, if he could.”
Linc looked like he was ready to blow, I believed at the reminder of her being with them, but also at the mention of their prospect.
“The farm?” Ryder asked. “What is that? Where was it?”
“I don’t know. He never said. But I remember he left right around noon and was back before the sun went down.” Maddie’s shoulders met her ears, a strained smile curving the corners of her mouth. “If that helps any.”
“It might,” Marek responded, looking at Ryder as he mumbled something to himself before walking away from the group. “You can take her back to the room if you want.”
Linc nodded, steering Maddie away from us. I was tempted to comfort him because of the conversation, but I needed to preserve all my emotional strength for myself.
My gut told me I was gonna need it.
35
A bottle of water and a half-eaten sandwich were tossed inside the door before it was closed again. I didn’t have an appetite, but I did need the drink. My throat was raw, and even though the thought crossed my mind the water might be laced with something, I crawled across the room, the hard floor digging into my knees, and took several gulps from it anyway. I passed the bottle to Braylen afterward and she took a few tentative sips.
I couldn’t imagine being pregnant, worried about the state of my unborn child, and not knowing what our fate was going to be from one moment to the next. So far, the only bit of abuse she’d endured at their hands was when she fought back against being taken from her SUV. The man she struggled against hit her in the temple with his gun, knocking her out right before the man on my side shoved the smelly rag over my face.
Bits and pieces came back to me, but the one recollection I held on to was the sound of Brick’s voice on the other end of the phone. He warned me not to leave the house. My dad called Braylen, telling her the same, but neither of us chose to listen. Hindsight was always twenty-twenty, of course, and if I could go back, I would’ve convinced Braylen to wait for them to come and get us. But that’s the thing about not being able to predict the future. You only have your instincts to go on sometimes, and the weird pains Braylen was having kicked her momma bear intuition into high gear. I only hoped everything was all right with the little one. Every now and again I’d see a grimace flash over her features, but thankfully there were no outward signs of distress.
Shifting my position until I rested my back against the wall, I reached for her hand, clasping it tightly. Her touch was cold, as was mine. The room we were in was damp, the slight chill in the air burrowing into our bones. Braylen’s shorts and tank top didn’t offer much more coverage than my dress, although her bottoms weren’t the easy access the hem of my skirt was. Odd, what sorts of thoughts plagued a person when shoved into a terrifying situation.
I couldn’t help but chastise myself for being stubborn, pushing back at Brick’s comment, which was the reason I changed into this damn thing in the first place. I could beat myself up for the decision, but the truth of the matter was there wasn�
��t a piece of clothing I could’ve worn that would’ve deterred these bastards from getting their hands on me.
As I sat there in the dark, my mind racing, my heart spiking with every small sound, my body defeated, all I could hope for was a reprieve from their attentions.
I thought my life before was sometimes complicated, from the pressures of my job, to navigating a friendship after Andy and I broke up, to becoming consumed by a man I’d met at my little brother’s tenth birthday party.
But I was a different person now. I’d been irrevocably changed, and everything that weighed heavy on me before didn’t matter anymore. Everything except for the numbness curling its ugly fingers around every cell inside me had paled to nothingness.
I was now a woman scarred—in every possibly way a person could be. Tracing the raised welts on my inner thighs with my free hand, I shivered, remembering the look in his eyes when he ran the blade over my flesh. My fingers drifted upward to my cheek, the mark he left there thicker, his words repeated over and over inside my head. “He’s not gonna want you now.” The man with the jagged Z-shaped mark tormented me, his emotional abuse almost as bad as the physical.
The last time I was dragged from this room, it had been dark outside, but I had no concept of time. Had we been here a single day, or had it been longer? Were we fated to remain with these men for the foreseeable future or would we be rescued? Not knowing was one of the worst parts, because lack of knowledge gave way to all sorts of possibilities, and any trace of hope that remained locked tightly away inside was chipped at every time that door opened and one of those despicable men stepped inside.
The creak of the hinge pricked my ears. Braylen clutched my hand tighter and her soft cries echoed all around me. I didn’t know how many times they invaded my body, but any remnant of fight I had left was gone.
Until the person who walked in headed straight for Braylen. Then I kicked and clawed at him like a feral animal. I’d managed to surprise him, but all I received in exchange was the air knocked from my lungs when he punched me in the stomach. I fell back to the ground, but instead of gripping up my stepmother, he snatched me by the back of the hair. “Oh yeah, that’s right. You’re offerin’ up yourself instead.” It was the first time Braylen found out I’d been telling them to take me instead of her, and the scream that tore from her throat as he dragged me away sliced deep, but her distress also gave me an odd sense of purpose.
I did for her what no one was able to do for me.
36
When Cutter, Hawke, and his two cousins finally arrived back at the clubhouse, all of us hustled outside toward the van, eager to see what types of supplies they’d come back with. We all had our own guns, some of the guys having more than a few, but what we saw was nothing in comparison. Semi-automatic weapons, hand grenades, sawed-off shotguns, and smoke bombs were just some of the items littering the back. I believed I even saw a grenade launcher.
“Good work, cuz,” Tripp said, slapping Ford on the back before jerking his chin toward Owen. “This shit is gonna come in handy for sure.” His lighthearted tone made me want to smash his face in, but I realized my reaction was ill-placed. I switched from wanting to explode at everyone and everything in sight to wanting to be alone. But all the solitude did was heighten my fears. I needed my brothers during this time. I also found solace in being near Ryder, knowing he was experiencing the same level of terror I was. We didn’t speak much, but we didn’t need to either.
Marek’s phone rang and he walked away from the group as he answered the call. I only heard a few words before he hung up. Then he headed toward the gate, looking from side to side, his fingers curled around the bars and for some reason I had a vision of him in a jail cell. Weird thought but I was thankful for any other image to occupy my mind right now.
I turned my head to look at Stone, only to follow his line of vision back to Marek, watching as a man walked up and stood in front of him, on the other side of the metal gates. He passed something to Prez, then disappeared. I barely got a chance to look at the stranger, only seeing that he wore a baseball cap, shades, a black T-shirt, and jeans, before Marek made his way back inside, calling for the rest of us to follow.
His hurried steps filled my heart with an ounce of hope he’d received viable information we could use.
As I entered the clubhouse, I looked around to find Morgan, and of course, she was sitting next to Tag. Every step I took toward them was heavy and rushed. But I made a small detour, asking Maddie if she could occupy my cousin while I snatched Tag up for the meeting.
I figured I’d kill two birds, taking Maddie’s mind off being reminded the situation we were now engrossed in was because of her, all without being her fault, and Morgan would have someone to talk to other than being glued to the prospect’s side.
Once seated inside Chambers, Marek didn’t waste any time, slapping the file down on the table. “Based on what Maddie told me, I had my guy dig around, looking for—”
“Is that who that guy was?” Kaden interrupted, scrunching his face when Marek shot him an annoyed glance.
“Yeah. He’s a PI I have on retainer.”
“He’s the one who found the info on Erin, Pike’s sister?”
“Yeah.” Our leader looked around the room and threw his hands out to his sides. “Any other questions before I get back to it?” Silence greeted his question. “As I was sayin’, he looked into any clubs or bars that were associated with the word farm. Nothing. So on a whim, I gave him a radius, given the timeframe Maddie mentioned about when their prospect left, then returned, and had him investigate who owned farmland properties. Long story short,” he said, flipping open the file and rummaging through several of the papers tucked inside, moving some photos out of the way and onto the table, “he found an old farmhouse on twelve acres of land, three and a half hours south of here in San Fernando owned by Betty Holter.”
“Who’s that?” I asked, my patience wearing thin.
“Griller’s mother,” he answered nonchalantly, as if that information should be common knowledge. “Griller’s real name is Adam Holter. He put the place in her name.”
“You think that’s where he’s holding Braylen and Zoe? Where his mom lives?” Ace asked.
“She died five months after he bought the place, so the only way she’s there is if he buried her somewhere on that land.”
“Or under the house,” Linc added.
“Either way, I think it’s a perfect place to hold two women hostage.” His statement was met with a growl from Ryder. “Besides, it’s the only info we have to work with. I doubt they’re being held at one of the clubhouses. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“What’s the plan, then?” I leaned forward, ready to leap into action as soon as he gave the go-ahead.
“We scope out their charter here, in Hilmar, and the one in Santa Clara, as well as the farm. Then tomorrow night, when Linc goes to the fight, we hit all three places at once.”
“He’s still gonna fight?” our VP asked, his voice raised in concern. “What if they ambush him?”
“We have to stick to the plan; otherwise, I have no doubt they’ll kill them both. And they’re not gonna ambush Linc, at least not before the fight.” Stone opened his mouth, his eyes darkening and his hands clenching into fists, but Prez kept talking. “We’ll have people with him. We’re not gonna send him alone.” Everyone was on edge, this new information doing nothing but heighten the anxiety swirling through the room. At least, that’s how I was affected, and I felt I could speak for Ryder as well. “Ford and Owen, I need you to check out the farm. No one knows who you are, so if anyone sees you, they won’t associate you with us.” Marek held out several of the pictures as well as the info on the place. “The first one’s Griller and the rest are other members of the Reapers. And there’s the address. I’m gonna need you to leave right away. By the time you get there it’ll be getting dark. If you see—”
“I’m goin’, too,” I blurted.
; “Yeah, so am I.” Ryder glanced from me to Marek, resting his stare on our leader, as if his fierce expression wasn’t enough to relay his seriousness.
“No way. Neither of you are goin’ anywhere. You’re not a hundred percent yet and I don’t need somethin’ happening to you in the middle of whatever we have to do, pulling focus.”
As if on cue, Ryder and I exploded at the same time. I hopped up from my seat, pounding my fist on the edge of the table. “I’m goin’.” I wanted to rant and rave, spew so much more, but there wasn’t anything more to say other than those two words. Besides, my injuries were well on their way to fully healing, and I barely had any pain, just a jolt now and then.
“Me too.” Ryder’s nostrils flared and his clenched jaw looked ready to shatter. “They have my fuckin’ family. There’s no way I’m hangin’ back.” Marek shook his head. “What would you say if they had Sully?” Prez’s expression switched on a dime, his irritation at our protest morphing into anger. “Exactly,” Ryder spit, even though Marek never verbally answered his question.
The entire reason Tripp contacted his cousins in the first place was to help us if anything happened, which it unfortunately did. But instead of them replacing me and Ryder, they were simply two additional bodies, which we obviously needed. And the fact no one knew who they were only served to work toward our advantage. They could hide in plain sight. No one would think they had anything to do with our club.
“Fine, but you’re not goin’ with them tonight, though. They’re only scoping things out.” It looked like Marek wanted to say more, casting his eyes from me to Ryder, but he didn’t.
“Who’s goin’ with me to the fight tomorrow?” Linc scratched the back of his head, switching the conversation. Sort of. “Other than Jagger.” Jagger was Linc’s trainer, so it was assumed he’d be going along with him.