by Kasey Krane
Then I remembered how he’d said he would protect me, and that he was going to solve the problem with the MC by taking on as President. I wasn’t entirely sure what kind of duties and responsibilities that would entail; dad had never disclosed anything to me, but I felt proud of Spade. I knew he could handle it, he was capable of taking the place of my dad at the head of that MC.
Even though I’d never been involved in the group before, I was frantically excited and looking forward to being included. I hoped that Spade told the rest of the guys about our situation soon so that I could get involved in the workings quickly.
I slipped out of bed, dragging the sheets along with me as I wrapped them around my body. For some reason, it didn’t feel strange to be alone in Spade’s house. It felt normal and natural to be here. Like I had always belonged here anyway.
I went into the kitchen and found everything I needed to make myself a coffee. This was Spade’s home…Spade’s world…he’d welcomed me in with open arms. Then I remembered that he wanted me to make him a list!
I looked around in the kitchen for something to write on. The first thing I put on that list was a hairdryer of course, then I added toothbrush and some other knick-knacks I could think of. The list wasn’t long. There weren’t many things I needed to make me more comfortable in this house. I smiled when I thought about how I had everything I really needed.
After I drank my coffee, I returned to the bedroom again. I was feeling lazy but restless at the same time. I’d decided already—I was going to try and make a life in Vegas, I was going to try and build this relationship with Spade. The man I loved! So, what was I supposed to do next?
I needed to look for a job. Did I need to look for my own apartment too? There were so many logistical issues I still had to go through with Spade. I found my cellphone in the pocket of my discarded jacket. When I pulled it out, I found several missed calls from Marley. There were a few texts from her too. She sounded worried. She wanted to know if I was okay, where I was…she wanted me to call her when I got these messages.
I dialed her number with a smile on my face. I couldn’t wait to tell her about the progress Spade and I had made last night.
Marley’s phone barely rang for a second before she answered the call.
“You can call off the search party, hun! I’m safe and well,” I said cheerily. I was looking forward to this conversation. I knew how happy it was going to make Marley too.
“River, where are you?” Marley asked, and immediately I knew something was wrong. I could hear it in my friend’s voice. I sat up straight, gripping the phone tightly to my ear.
“I’m at Spade’s house. Is everything okay? What’s wrong?” I asked. I heard Marley take in a deep breath.
“Some men…these big burly thugs came to my apartment. They were looking for you.”
“Looking for me? Who were they? What did they want?” I asked. I was pacing around Spade’s bedroom now. Naked.
“They were looking for you. That’s what I’m saying, River!” she snapped. I could hear the panic in her voice, and that was sending me in a panic as well. What the Hell was going on?
“What did you tell them?”
“I couldn’t tell them anything because I didn’t know where you were. So, they beat me up.” At this point, I could hear the sniffing at the other end. Marley was breaking down and my breath caught in my throat.
“They beat you up? Are you serious? Is this for real? What did they do to you?” I was shrieking now. I couldn’t believe this was actually happening.
“Can you just come back here? Please?” Marley was begging through her tears.
“Yes. Oh my God! Of course! I’ll be there as soon as I can. Just hold tight, honey, I’m so sorry.”
I rushed to put on my clothes. Before I could add anything else, the line went off, Marley had ended the call already.
“Hello? Marley?” I tried but the line was dead. How much distress and shock did she have to be to talk this way? Marley was usually the calm one. The one with the good head on her shoulders. I was usually the one panicking.
I was so worried for her.
I had no idea who those men could have been or why they would have beaten her! And then I remembered the bike ride home last night. Spade was yet to fill me in on what exactly was going on, but he’d said something about us being followed. It could be possible that those people following us had turned up at Marley’s apartment?
I was trying to get my clothes on quickly and at the same time I dialed Spade’s number. His phone rang but he didn’t answer. I wasn’t surprised. He was probably busy. I would just have to handle this on my own.
I got dressed as quickly as I could, grabbed my stuff and my purse and I was running out of the house. Outside, I had to wait a few minutes for the cab to arrive. At the same time, I was checking my phone constantly. Checking to see if Marley had called again or Spade had seen the missed call and called back.
I knew I needed his help. I wished he was here when I called Marley so he could go to the apartment with me. But, I needed to focus on my friend and make sure she was doing okay. She didn’t sound like she was. I’d never heard her this distressed before. How badly had they hit her? Why had they hit her?
The cab arrived and I jumped in, giving the driver the address. I couldn’t sit still. I was shaking all over. Just the thought that I might have put Marley in danger…was suffocating. I should have known that I was entering dangerous territory now. I should have kept my distance from Marley when I decided to start associating myself with The High Rollers again.
This was exactly the kind of thing my dad and Spade were trying to keep me safe from, and I demanded to be included. I was determined to show them that I was capable of handling myself. I wanted Spade to trust me enough to tell me the MC’s secrets…but this was unacceptable. I could do whatever I wanted with my life, but I couldn’t get Marley involved!
She did not ask for this.
The cab seemed to be stuck in traffic longer than usual on the way back to her apartment now. I was getting restless, considering calling Marley to check on her. But I didn’t want her to panic. I just texted her to say I was in a cab and on my way. I waited for a reply but she didn’t send me one, even though I could see she’d seen the message.
I felt guilty the whole way to her apartment. I had decided I was going to tell Marley that I wanted to keep my distance from her. That we needed to lose all contact—at least till Spade and the MC solved the problem they were having with their competitors, until Spade could confirm it was safe for me to continue my friendship with her again.
I arrived at the apartment building and when I got out of the cab, I couldn’t see any bikes around or what I would have deemed to be suspicious activity. Either way, even if Marley’s apartment was being watched, I didn’t have a choice but to go up and make sure she was doing alright.
I checked my phone again and there was no word from Spade.
I rushed up to the apartment and used my key to unlock the door.
“Marley? Honey, it’s me!” I shouted for her. I looked around and there was no sign of her at first. I checked the kitchen and then the living room and they seemed to be empty. Neither was there a sign of struggle. That wave of fright was gripping me again. Did something else happen to her? Did they come back and kidnap her?
“Marley!” I shouted her name again as I walked down the corridor towards her bedroom. The door was shut tight and I turned the knob slowly.
“Marley?” I said her name softly this time. The door creaked open and there was no sound from the inside. Even though it was the middle of the day it seemed so dark in there. All the curtains were pulled and no lights were turned on.
On her double bed, Marley was sitting on the edge and she slowly looked up to stare at me. My hand rose up to my heart. This was so eerie.
“Marley…honey…didn’t you hear me call for you?”
I rushed towards her.
I could just about look int
o her eyes as I went to her, and for some reason, she seemed hostile towards me. Like she didn’t want me to come close to her. How could I blame her? If she was hurt or wounded, if those men had harmed her…it was all my fault.
I threw my arms around her and pulled her close to me.
“Are you alright?” I asked, trying to stroke her hair and then I heard her voice. It was barely a whisper.
“I’m sorry, River,” she said. I pulled away to look into her eyes.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Marley was searching my eyes and there was a new kind of terror in her gaze. I opened my mouth to speak but then I felt an arm snake up around my waist. A strong muscular man’s arm. I was about to shriek but a hand pressed up against my nose. It wasn’t just a hand, there was a rag and it smelled like nothing…but my eyes were drooping shut and the world was spinning and then going black.
I could feel my limbs sinking. I was falling. I was falling asleep, even though I tried not to. Everything was so wrong. I wanted to fight but nothing was working anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Spade
The guy in the suit, Mr. Money’s man, was holding his fort pretty well. I had to admit I was impressed by his ability to keep his mouth shut despite the blows. We were taking turns busting him. Ace, Rook, Edge and I were the ones trying to get him to talk. Bingo, Shark and Spinner were standing around the room, goading us on.
The guy had blood streaming down his chin now, one or two of his teeth were already knocked off. His hands and legs were still tied which meant he couldn’t struggle against us. This wasn’t something I enjoyed—it made me sick to even watch let alone participate in, but every time I nearly backed out of delivering another punch; I remembered what Mr. Money and his men had done to Asher, to my nephew and to Buck. What they were going to do if they happened to get their hands on River.
None of these men had a conscience, so I had no business having one when it came to them either.
My phone rang again in my pocket, and once again I ignored it. Ace had walked up to this guy and punched him square on the nose; knocking his head back. He growled in pain and his shoulders heaved.
“Talk!” Edge shouted, his voice thundering and bouncing off the walls of the room.
Ace came forward again and the man flinched, probably a reaction to his fist that was just on his face moments ago.
“Where is that motherfucker hiding?” he growled, but the man did nothing but stare back at him.
“Your boss is a fucking pussy, you know that? He gets his morons to come after us, while he hides away somewhere in the dark. He’s scared of the cops and he’s scared of what we’ll do to him if we get our hands on him,” Spinner said. Edge and Rook sniggered in agreement, and the man spat some blood out of his mouth on the floor.
“So, are you going to keep encouraging your boss to be a pussy, while you rot away here?” Ace asked, stepping up towards him again. I clenched my fists, walking up behind him too.
“He’s forgotten that his boss doesn’t give a shit about him. He wouldn’t if the roles were reversed. You think Mr. Money would keep his mouth shut if he was in your position right now?” I hissed, crouching down in front of him. I wanted the asshole to look me straight in the eye. He was trying to glare back at me with the last ounce of energy that he had left inside him. I wanted him to see that I wasn’t about to give up. None of us were.
We were going to stay here till he drew his last bloody breath if we had to. We were going to get something on Mr. Money or he was going to die. Too many of ours had died over this, and it was time for revenge.
“So, you either talk now or you die screaming and begging for your lousy life,” I continued, through clenched jaws. I was interrupted by my phone ringing again. This time I pulled it out of my pocket and saw that it was River calling. I could have answered the call, but I didn’t think much of it. Dealing with this motherfucker was more important, so I slipped the phone back in my pocket and stepped away from him.
“He’s all yours, Rook,” I said and he came forward to crash a blow in the guy’s stomach, driving all the air out of the man’s lungs, making him cough and struggle severely. By this stage, he was coughing blood.
I stood back, leaning against the wall with Edge beside me cracking his knuckles while Rook took his turn. The guy seemed like he could barely breathe.
“Tell us where that motherfucker is hiding! Tell us what he’s planning!” Rook barked, right up in the man’s face, making him whimper now.
I recognized that whimper. It was a cry for help when you are aware that your body is beginning to disintegrate. I could feel it in my bones now, this man was going to start giving up soon. It had just been a few hours and we were already close to breaking him.
From the way he was holding his ground, I thought it was going to take way longer than that!
My phone rang again and this time I cursed under my breath, pulling it out of my pocket. River again. Some of the other guys were looking at me.
“You wanna take that, brother?” Shark asked and I grunted a response. Now was not the time to talk to River!
Then I heard a snigger. We all looked up at the tied up guy in the middle of the room, bleeding and shaking as he sat there.
“Is that your girl blowing up your phone?” he hissed.
I glared at him with narrowed eyes. What the fuck? I knew the other guys were staring at me in surprise now too. None of them were aware there was even the hint of a woman in my life. I’d managed to keep River a secret for now.
“What the fuck did you say?” I growled at the guy, taking a few steps towards him.
“Your girl, with the blond curls and the juicy tits, is that her trying to get your attention?” he continued. This was the first time we were even hearing his voice properly.
I couldn’t stand to hear that kind of talk about River. I felt rage in my veins. It made me kick the guy’s chair and he went crashing to the floor. Instead of crying out in pain, he was laughing now.
“You better check in on her, amigo. Who knows what they’ve done to her by now,” he added.
Chapter Twenty-Three
River
When I woke up again I could feel a throbbing headache at the back of my skull. For the first few moments I thought I was in Texas. I didn’t recognize where I was when I first opened my eyes. Had someone hit me there, did I have a fall? What happened? I couldn’t remember a single thing. It felt like there was only darkness in front of my eyes, that I’d existed in a dark world all this while and now finally I could see again.
Everything was a haze, I was groggy and that ache at the back of my head wouldn’t go away. I tried to reach for it so I could feel the spot, and that was when I realized that my hands were tied together behind my back. I tried to tug at my hands but they wouldn’t budge.
My first reaction was to scream for help, but no sound came out. I could feel the scream rising up my throat but I couldn’t hear my own voice. My mouth was sealed shut. There was something clamping it. A piece of cloth. It was tied around my face. I tried screaming again and once again there was no sound.
I jerked my legs around and my foot hit against someone else’s. For the first time since I’d opened my eyes, I realized I wasn’t alone. I realized I was sitting on a couch. I looked up slowly and saw Marley. She was there beside me. I tried screaming again and this time I only heard my own muffled cry.
Her hands were tied behind her back, just like mine and there was a cloth tied around her face too—making it impossible for her to make a noise either. But she was trying to say something, she was shaking her head. I could see the misery in her eyes. Even though she couldn’t make a sound, I knew exactly what she was trying to communicate. She wanted me to know she was sorry.
I shook my head, and I could feel hot tears rolling down my cheeks.
I wanted her to know she had nothing to be sorry about. None of this was her fault. I was the one who had put her life in danger. I knew
this was all about me, even though I didn’t know what was going on.
I looked around the room, we were still in Marley’s apartment; but we were not in her bedroom anymore. Someone had transported us into the living room now. Deposited us, all tied up like this on her couch.
I heard Marley’s muffled voice again and looked at her to see her crying. Fat miserable tears were racing down her cheeks. She looked utterly helpless. She had no idea why any of this was happening to us…at least I knew that my dad and Spade and the rest of the MC were involved in something that could have led to this. We were being followed last night! Why hadn’t I thought of Marley? Why hadn’t I thought of the danger that we might have been putting her life in?
I was crying too. I tried to inch closer to her, but we couldn’t do anything to console each other. I couldn’t put my arms around her, or tell her I was going to do everything to get us out of this mess I got us into. All we could do was stare at each other and cry. Marley’s face had turned red with anguish. I could sense she was struggling to keep calm, but that was what we needed to do. We needed to keep calm and figure a way out of this.
It seemed like we were alone. Or was it just in the room or had those people left us alone in the apartment? That seemed unlikely. I had so many questions for Marley that I couldn’t ask. If only we could find a way to communicate with each other…
I wasn’t making a sound anymore, I wasn’t screaming—I’d realized that I needed to figure out a survival tactic, but Marley was still panicking. And her silent screams must have caught the attention of the men who were lurking around, waiting for me to recover my consciousness.
He appeared in the room, his eyes glimmering with excitement to see that I was awake again. He was a big bearded man, covered in tattoos and metal jewelry. He stank of cheap liquor and cigarettes, making my stomach turn from the moment he walked into the room.
“Well, look who is awake! I’m glad you could join us again,” he said, with a sleazy smile growing wide on his face. His muddy boots crunched on the carpet as he walked towards us. I glanced at Marley and I could see how visibly afraid she was of him. I hoped he hadn’t done something to her.