by Kayley Shaye
“I’m finally home,” I said and then cursed to myself as I felt tears start to fall from my eyes. I almost never cried and the looks on the guys’ faces expressed horror, which was funny considering every single one of them could look down the barrel of a gun without so much as a blink.
“Guys, chill. I’m fine.”
Ryder reached for me again and I smirked, wrapping my arms around him. I’d have to say, he was my favorite out of the twenty something men in the club, not that I’d admit it to him or anyone else. I just had a soft spot for him. “We missed you. This place wasn’t the same,” he quietly told me.
“I can tell,” I said although it was muffled by his shirt. I pulled back, wiping the tears. No more crying, Sage! Stop freaking the poor people out.
Ryder’s face changed to one of concern and I frowned. “Did they . . . d-did he?” he stuttered, unable to find the words.
I immediately caught on what he was asking about as the room went silent again. What perfect timing. “No, they barely touched me. But Steve—”
“I’ll kill him,” Ryder interrupted.
“Calm down and listen. I think you’re going to be proud of me,” I said. “Steve—he tried to make a move, but he didn’t get the chance. You see, I kicked his sorry ass in the balls, and he fell to the floor like a little bitch.”
The room erupted with laughter, not without a few groans from the guys. I’m sure imagining what I told them wasn’t too pleasant for them.
“That’s our girl,” Damien and Ryder said in unison. I couldn’t help but smile.
“Alright, so, I’d love to catch up and all, but I really need a shower. Could one of you call my parents and let them know I’m okay? I think I’ll just crash here for the night.”
“Sure, I’ll call them,” Liam spoke up. His blond hair was wrecked as usual.
“Thanks.” I headed towards the hallway and turned to look over my shoulder. “Oh, and for crying out loud, turn up the music and grab yourselves a beer. This place is depressing.”
“Anything for you.” Ryder chuckled just as the music was turned on full blast. Just how I liked it. I scurried away towards an empty bedroom and slammed and locked the door behind me. I tossed my leather jacket to the bed and proceeded towards the bathroom to turn the water on.
I stripped from my clothes, letting them fall to the ground. I looked at my reflection in the dirty mirror and ran my fingers over my tattoos. I looked absolutely disgusting, but to be fair, anyone would after the ordeal.
I stepped into the steaming water as it ran down my body. Honestly, I could cry over how good it felt. It just goes to show how much I took it for granted. I wasn’t going to let that happen again.
Chapter Six
I was awoken by a loud piercing scream that echoed throughout the clubhouse. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. That’s how it worked around the place. I bolted upright, nerves boiling up in me. I cursed, feeling a wave of dizziness wash over me. That’s why you don’t sit up like your ass is on fire, idiot!
I stood up and grabbed a gun from the dresser, which Ryder had left for me last night. Mine was still at my house, and he was paranoid that something was going to happen to me. Honestly, so was I. I checked to make sure it was loaded, which it was, and I flicked the safety off.
Opening the door, I kept the gun down by my side. Confusion swept over me, however, when I heard the guys laughing and talking amongst themselves. I stepped into the main dining and entertainment area and scanned over everyone. The good news was no one was dying. Thank God!
The attention was drawn to me as I flicked the safety back on, cursing lightly again. “Who the hell just screamed?” I asked.
Ryder turned towards me, a large smirk on his face. “That was just Liam giving it to a chick in the next room.”
“I thought someone was getting killed, dammit!” I muttered, shaking my head. It was disgusting to imagine one of your best friends having sex, not to mention being able to hear it. It really wasn’t anything unusual around here though. I mean if one would look around, the place was filled with hot, tattooed guys, not that I’d admit it to them. I wasn’t going to inflate their egos even more. They were cocky enough as they were.
I seemed to be the only one around that could go longer than a week without sex, and that was pretty scary considering the amount of men with me. They were lucky they hadn’t knocked anyone up yet.
“You know, you look like you’re under a lot of stress. I say you need to go get laid.” Damien ran his fingers through his tangled long hair and smiled at me.
“Oh, shut up, Damien. I don’t need this right now! That scared the hell out of me! That bitch woke me up. Do you know how pissed I get when I don’t get enough sleep?” I asked.
“Trust me, we do,” Ryder muttered.
“I need a drink already.” I shoved the gun into the band of my jeans, the same ones I had on for days. It wasn’t like I had a spare pair of clothes lying around. “Move,” I told Ryder as I swiped his beer. I didn’t care that it was barely 9 o’clock, I needed it.
“Well, aren’t you just a ray of sunshine,” Liam interrupted as he stood in the doorway, shirtless and sweaty. Gross.
“Your skank woke me up.” I downed part of the beer just as Ryder snatched it back from me. “I’m not really up to talking to the man who caused that loud ass scream.”
A low chuckle erupted across the room. I flipped them off, grabbed an unopened beer, and headed back into my room. I slammed the door hard, no doubt.
I popped the cap off the beer and tossed the gun on the bed. I was more shaken up than usual and had to get over it. I wasn’t going to get taken away from these guys again, hopefully, so I needed to stop worrying about it and live my life.
All night, I had been thinking about a certain brown-haired, blue-eyed, tattooed criminal. That could describe almost every guy in the club, but I wasn’t talking about any of them. No, I was talking about Jesse Miller. The cold-blooded killer who could and would gut a man without any sort of regret or guilt.
Why was I thinking about him? I honestly couldn’t say. I didn’t even look at him with hate like I had the first three days I was captured, which was pretty messed up. I should hate him for taking me away from my family, but for some reason, I didn’t.
***
Damien dropped me off at my house, and I rushed inside. “Mom, Dad, I’m home!” I slammed the front door. No less than five seconds later, I heard what sounded like elephants barreling through the house.
“Oh, sweetie, I missed you!” my mom shouted, pulling me into an extremely tight hug. Her graying hair smelt like roses.
“I can’t breathe!” I groaned.
“Sorry, honey,” she said, stepping back with a grin on her face. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
Dad stepped up and hugged me, much softer than Mom had. “I’m fine, Mom. Really. I got slapped around a bit, but I’m still breathing, right?” I asked, plopping down on the couch. Damn, it felt good!
“I’m so glad you’re home. We were worried,” Mom said, taking a seat by me. Dad, on the other hand, was distant and stood in front of us.
“I’ll be more careful next time. I left my gun here. That’s why the guy was able to get ahold of me. Otherwise, he would be dead.” Okay, well . . . maybe not.
“Language!” my dad yelled.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “Point is, I’m fine. Okay? Relax. I’m going to change and head back to the clubhouse for a little while. I’ll be back before dinner, I promise.”
Deep frowns plastered their faces, and I knew I shouldn’t have mentioned the clubhouse. They didn’t approve one bit, but they couldn’t stop me. Those were my people, the men I’d take a bullet for. There was no way in hell I was backing away just because my parents didn’t like it. I get it, I do, but I just couldn’t back off.
“Just be safe, that’s all we ask.”
“I will be, Mom.” I hugged her quickly and bound off into the direction of my room.
<
br /> The walls were a simple light gray color with a couple picture frames hanging on the walls. A laptop was thrown onto my light green comforter, though I barely used it. I was at the clubhouse more than I was at home, and the women that the guys brought around couldn’t be trusted.
There wasn’t anything special about the room. All of my time went to the club and school. As I mentioned, I wasn’t in there much. I came home on a Sunday, which means I had to try to show up to school the next day, and I sure wasn’t looking forward to it. I wondered what everyone had thought when I disappeared, not that it really mattered. I couldn’t stand any of those people except my best friend, Avery. We weren’t as close as we were before due to the fact she had a boyfriend, but I’d still kill for that chick if it came down to it.
I dug through my closet, coming out with a wavy plain blue tank top and matched it with a pair of ripped skinny jeans, my favorite.
I threw my leather jacket over it despite it being a little dirty. The back of the jacket had ‘Warriors’ written in big red letters. We were almost never seen without our cuts. It kept us protected—such as, if someone pulled a knife on us. They’d have a harder time stabbing us through the leather.
“Alright, now gun . . . ,” I whispered to myself, searching the room until my eyes finally landed on it on my nightstand. Picking it up, I stuffed it into my jeans waistband and then dropped a couple extra bullets into my jacket pocket just in case.
Sighing, I ran a hairbrush through my long brown hair and put on a bit of makeup, so I didn’t look like I was knocking on death’s door. Lastly, I stuffed my white bikini into a bag and threw it over my shoulder.
“I’ll see you guys later,” I announced to my parents. I would’ve liked to catch up with them and see how things were going around the house, but I had better things to do right then.
“Be safe!” they called back.
“I told you I would be.” I shut the front door and walked over to my motorcycle. “God, I missed you,” I said and chuckled lightly as I talked to it, running my fingers over the slick black paint. The bike was my baby.
Why I had chosen to walk the night of my kidnapping, I would never know. I probably could’ve avoided the whole thing if I had been on my bike. But ya know, sometimes it’s hard to explain why you did what you did, and it was one of those times.
I swung my leg over it with a smile on my face. I missed it so much. It was only a week, but it felt like eternity. I pulled the helmet over my head and pulled out of the driveway.
What I didn’t tell my parents was that the guys were throwing a party that night at the beach, which is why I brought along a swimsuit. What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them, right? It was time for some fun.
***
Music was blasting, everyone was drinking, and people were grinding on one another as the night went on. We were in swimsuits, of course, and things were getting even crazier by the second. There was a load of people, and I even spotted a few from my school. I guess anyone was invited, which really wasn’t a smart move on Ryder’s part. I couldn’t even find him!
I grabbed another beer from the cooler and sucked down half of it the second the cap popped off. I could feel the effects of the alcohol taking over my body. I’d had a few too many, but at least I could still walk properly. I held my liquor pretty well for my age because I drank it so much.
I made my way through the crowd, and just when I thought I was in the safe zone from getting trampled, I bumped into the last person I wanted to see—Steve! What on earth was he doing there?
“Hey, sweet cheeks.” Steve’s grin widened as he looked me up and down. “I thought I’d see you here.”
“You’re lucky no one from the club has spotted you. I’m sure you would’ve been dead by now,” I spat, my words hardly slurred. My eyes glanced over his ugly grim reaper tattoo. It was horrid.
“Why’s that, sweet cheeks? Did you tattle on me?” He chuckled darkly. Apparently, this was amusing. Maybe because he was just drunk.
“Something like that.” I rolled my eyes. “So, where’s your president? I figure you’ll be following him around like a lost puppy, but I don’t see him.” I pretended to look around.
“Why does it matter?” he asked. I guess he wasn’t bothered by my words.
“No reason, just wondering. Won’t want you to get lost out here without his direction.” I chuckled as I finished off my beer. He just glared at me, not a word being said. “I guess you don’t have a comeback for that, huh?”
“Watch your mouth, bitch,” he spat.
“Or what?” I don’t know where this confidence came from, but I guess the alcohol helped me out a bit. “What are you going to do? Kidnap me in front of all these witnesses?” I laughed.
“Hey!” I heard someone shout. I turned to look over my shoulder, relieved to see Damien. “What’s going on here?”
“Nothing. We were just talking,” Steve said innocently. He could’ve fooled anyone with the voice he was using.
“Psh.” I shook my head. “I’m fine, Damien.” I let it go.
Damien narrowed his eyes at me, and I knew he wasn’t falling for it. I was thankful, though, when he told Steve to screw off and go back to wherever he came from. Hopefully, that meant home, because I didn’t want to run into him again.
“Thanks, buddy.” I patted Damien on his broad big shoulder and slipped away. My favorite song, Afraid by The Neighbourhood, blasted through the speakers. It’s the same song I sang while tied to the damned chair.
I started dancing next to a crowd of people, the alcohol helping me loosen up and forget about what happened over the past few days. I laughed as Ryder approached me and started dancing beside me.
“You’re so drunk!” I shouted over the music.
“Nah, I’m not drunk,” he shouted back, smirking.
He was so lying. One, Ryder didn’t dance and two, I could see it in his eyes. He was hammered whether he wanted to admit it or not.
I screamed out in shock when he scooped me up in his arms and headed towards the ocean. I knew what he was about to do. “Don’t you dare!”
“Come on, let’s go for a little swim,” Ryder slurred, chuckling as he walked further in the water.
Luckily for me, he wasn’t stumbling. I swear the man was like a machine. Alcohol might make him a little crazy, but it didn’t affect his step. “No! It’s dark, Ry—” My words were cut off as he threw me into the freezing water.
I resurfaced almost immediately, not without taking in a whole mouthful of water. I coughed like a chain smoker for a solid five minutes at least. The water wasn’t that deep, so I reached Ryder easily. “You’re so dead.”
He wiggled his eyebrows like he was challenging me to come after him. “Come at me, bro.”
I laughed and tried to run towards him, splashing water at him. He was so strong, sober or not, and I knew I had no chance of dunking him in the water. So, I did the next best thing instead.
I ran and jumped on his back, knocking him off balance. I wrapped my arms around his neck so I didn’t fall.
“Damn, how much do you eat?” Ryder said, chuckling and holding onto my legs.
I smacked him hard in the head for his comment. “I’m not fat!” I yelled. When will men ever learn? I think never.
“I was only kidding,” he muttered, walking us out of the water. “I was expecting you to do more than jump on my back though.”
“It’s not like I could shove you under the water and drown you. You’re too strong for that, unfortunately.” Well, that didn’t exactly come out as planned, but it was funny as hell nonetheless.
“So, you’re saying you would’ve liked to drown me?” Ryder cocked an eyebrow, looking over his shoulder at me. I could smell the whiskey on him.
“Hell yeah. Imagine the newspaper headline, ‘Warriors Club President Drowned by Another Member.’ Wouldn’t that be awesome?” I asked.
“Oh yeah, fabulous!”
Chapter Seven
I
sat upright, rubbing my eyes. Damn, I had a bad headache! I knew immediately that something was off when I realized I wasn’t in my room. I was at the clubhouse. I cursed when I noticed that I had no clothes on. What happened last night?
I almost fell off the bed in pure terror when I felt movement beside me. There laid Ryder, shirtless. Oh no, this couldn’t be happening! “Ryder!”
“What?” he groaned, rolling over on his back.
“Am I just seeing things or are we naked in bed together?” I asked. I better be dreaming! I thought to myself then.
Ryder looked around at our surroundings like he had just dropped back into reality. He yanked the blankets back quickly. Thank God he had his swimsuit on! “What did we do?” he asked.
“I was hoping you’d know the answer to that,” I replied. Beer cans were scattered on the ground. I didn’t even remember getting back to the clubhouse, let alone drinking even more than I had at the beach party.
“Oh, now I remember . . .” Ryder said. His short brown hair was sticking straight up.
“Well, spit it out. The damage has already been done, I suppose.”
“We didn’t have sex. We stripped, or you did . . . I don’t remember why, but you did. I guess we passed out after that.” He ran his hand over his hair and sighed. “Oh, and we kissed.”
“We what?!” I shouted, holding the blankets tightly to my chest. I guess we didn’t hold our liquor as well as I thought we could. I cringed at the fact that he saw me naked the previous night. Could the day get any worse?
“Yeah, well, we were hammered,” Ryder explained. “What can I say.”
“We better not have done anything other than kiss. I swear,” I spat, furious. I knew it wasn’t his fault; it was mine, for drinking so much. I was the one who was supposed to be home for dinner . . . Oh man! I totally forgot about that! My parents were going to have my ass when I got back home.