“I’m just telling you to prepare yourself. If you think because you’re a patched member now that Orion, or Halo for that matter, won’t kill you, you are severely mistaken,” I hear Gage tell Kibble as the gate screeches closed behind us.
“And yet you don’t seem too bothered,” he correctly points out.
“Yeah, well, she was pointing a gun at me and I’m not entirely convinced she wasn’t going to pull the trigger.”
Kibble laughs as the truck comes to a stop. “All this fuss for a piece of gash. I just don’t get it.” I feign unconsciousness again when the truck doors open.
“Grab the bikes out the back of the truck and park this piece of shit over there by the other one she left here,” Gage says as he carefully drags me out of the backseat and swings me up into his arms. His hands feel rough against my bare skin as he holds me tightly to his chest. The flurry of movement has me fighting back vomit but I keep my body loose and limp so as not to give myself away. Every step he takes sends a shard of pain through my head.
“What the fuck?” I recognize that voice. It’s Rebel.
“None of your business, man,” Gage tells him gruffly as we make our way farther inside the clubhouse.
“This is my fucking club too, Gage, so explain to me why she’s lying unconscious in your arms and bleeding everywhere?” I have never heard that tone from Rebel before. He sounds lethal.
“She pulled a gun on me, Rebel, what the fuck was I supposed to do?” Gage tells him.
Rebel snorts. “And what did you do, Gage, huh? Let me guess, you were waiting for her, right? So she was protecting herself. Seems like something she has had to do a lot around us.” He sighs and even I can hear the disgust in his tone over the throbbing in my head.
“Why is she here?” he asks something I would really like to know myself.
“She has to serve out her thirty days.”
“We both know that was a trumped-up, fake as fuck sentence handed out to save face. It was thanks to her stirring shit up that we figured out Weasel had been double-crossing us.”
“I’m just following orders, Rebel. If King wants her here, that’s the end of it. You know the score.”
“I want no part in this, Gage. I might be complicit in a lot of fucked-up shit but I won’t be a part of this.” He storms off. On one hand it’s nice to have someone point out how utterly fucked-up this shit is, but on the other hand, he still left me here.
Gage continues walking when his name is bellowed from across the room.
“What the fuck is she doing here?” Whoever it is, sounds furious but I doubt very much it has anything to do with the fact I’m hurt and more to do with the fact I’m back here to begin with.
“King’s orders, Joker. I thought you knew.”
“If I had fucking known, I wouldn’t have asked. Why is she unconscious?” He doesn’t sound upset, just curious. Asshole.
“King said by any means necessary. Kibble decided this was necessary.” You didn’t exactly stop him there, buddy, I think to myself, trying to keep my breathing even.
“And you couldn’t have just fucked her into submission?”
Gage laughs loudly, making me bite my lip in agony. “You have met, Luna, right? I’m pretty sure she hates my fucking guts. She would have sliced my cock off if I had tried anything. Not to mention, she had a gun pointed at my head.”
“Of course, she did. Stupid woman doesn’t know her place anymore, not that she did before,” Joker mutters. I would love to smack him upside the head, preferably with a tire iron.
“Orion and Halo are still out on a run and won’t be back until late tonight. Rebel and I have to leave before that to get to the meeting with the new potential suppliers in time. We can’t afford to miss it, what with Gemini cutting us out like that.”
Joker growls. “Orion and Halo are looking for answers as to why our biggest supplier would suddenly up and leave but Gemini is like a fucking ghost. He only ever sent his lackeys to do his bidding and even those are proving to be elusive.”
Joker takes a deep breath before blowing it out. “Strip her and stick her in the cells.”
“What? Joker, come on,” Gage protests.
“I’m the fucking president now, Gage, and you’d do well to remember that. Now strip her and stick her in the cells. If I have to repeat myself again, I’ll do it my fucking self and, word of warning, Gage, I’m pissed off enough not to care what King’s plans are for her.” Joker’s the president? What the hell?
“This is fucked-up, Joker. Orion and Halo are going to lose their minds.”
“So be it,” Joker answers before disappearing.
Fuck, this is so not good. I could try to fight now but I know I won’t get far, especially if it turns out I have a concussion. I could let Gage know I’m awake and try to reason with him but I know he won’t go against Joker’s orders. Plus, he might end up restraining me. If he thinks I’m still out of it, I stand a much better chance of protecting myself if I need to, as well as trying to find a way out of here.
The first thing I notice when we reach our destination is the smell. It takes every ounce of willpower I have not to throw up everywhere. This place stinks of blood, decay, and feces. The next thing I notice is the cold. It seeps through my thin shirt and jeans, straight into my bones. Fuck, I hope Orion and Halo don’t take too long to get back. They might not be my favorite people but I still have enough faith in them to know they wouldn’t want me dead.
I keep my eyes closed, fighting back the sting of tears over my humiliation as Gage carefully undresses me. His movements are thankfully clinical, robotic, almost as if he has shut off every emotion and for that I’m grateful. There’s no way I could just lie here and take someone’s unwanted advances.
Finally, I hear him move away and the sound of the cell opening and closing behind him. I swear for a second I thought I heard a whispered “sorry” but realize it must have been my imagination. I doubt Gage is ever sorry about anything.
I wait five minutes but when I don’t hear anything else, I open my eyes and look around. The room is dark and damp, some kind of sub-basement if I had to guess from the lack of windows. There are three cells including mine but I’m the only person down here. The floor is cold hard concrete and there’s a bucket in the corner. That’s it, the entire contents of my cell. There isn’t a bed or even a blanket for that matter. Something tells me it’s all a psychological move from the Kings of Carnage viewpoint but I never envisioned I would end up here.
I touch the back of my head gently and wince when my fingers come away damp with blood. It’s not bleeding much anymore but the fact it’s still bleeding at all is worrisome. The rest of me seems fine, which, given the circumstances, is a blessing. I’m so fucking mad at myself. I knew going to see Megan was risky but I’d been going stir-crazy out on the ranch and figured the MC would have lost interest in me by now. I never thought it would pan out like this. I manage to get myself up into a sitting position but I finally lose my battle at fighting back the vomit. I manage to lean forward and avoid getting any on myself. Fuck, this is not good. My head has a brass band playing inside it and my vision keeps fading in and out. I need to come up with a plan, something to get out of this fucking mess, but I can’t focus enough to concentrate. I crawl into the corner, needing the walls at my back and the protection they offer, and curl into a ball. I wrap my arms around myself and give in to the descending darkness.
I wake up with a still banging head but the sickness seems to have eased off a little. Every bone in my body aches from sleeping on the cold unforgiving floor. A glance at my watch, which Gage didn’t bother to take off, reveals it’s two o’clock in the morning. I hit SOS again, knowing it’s unnecessary but it feels like I’m doing something at least. I walk over to the corner farthest from the one I slept in and relieve myself in the bucket. As much as I feel like a fucking animal, this bucket is the only weapon I have at the moment. If someone tries getting handsy, they are going to seriously en
d up regretting it.
I walk the length and width of the cell, over and over, backward and forward, trying to keep myself warm even as my body wracks with shivers. Where the fuck is everyone? Did they seriously just bring me here to die? Because that’s what’s going to happen if it gets much colder down here.
Eventually, it becomes too much and my shaky legs threaten to give out. Not wanting to risk falling and banging my head again, I walk back to my corner and fold myself up as small as possible and wait. Wait to be saved, wait to die. At this point, I’m not sure which is going to be the lesser of two evils
Chapter Nine
The sound of gunshots wakes me. I back up as far into the corner as I can but it isn’t long before I can feel unwelcome hands on my body. I lash out with what little strength I have left but there just isn’t enough force behind it to do any damage.
“Shh… I’ve got you, Luna.” Gage. Shit, now what? I struggle as he wraps his arms around me and swings me up into his arms. I hold on as my body shakes so hard I’m sure he’s going to drop me. He runs to the bedrooms, every movement jarring me and making my head throb. He finally takes me into an unfamiliar room but I know straight away from the smell it belongs to him. He places me gently on his large bed and drags the thick comforter over me. I burrow down into it and squeeze my eyes tightly closed as I try to get my convulsing body under control.
I hear Gage moving around before the bed dips and he slides under the covers with me. As soon as I feel his naked flesh against mine, I freak out and try to throw myself off the side of the bed. He must have anticipated my move as he wraps his arms tightly around me and pulls my chest to his. His heat hits me instantly, making my body and mind war with each other as one fights to get closer to him and the other battles to get away.
“I know you don’t want me anywhere near you.” His deep voice fills the room. “You have every right to hate me, and you should, but we need to get you warm as quickly as possible. I swear to god, I won’t hurt you and I won’t let anything else happen to you while you’re here. My word might not mean anything to you right now but I will prove it to you.” I still my movements, angry at him, angry at me, angry at the whole fucking world.
“Wh…hh…y did y…you bring me… herrre,” I stutter out, struggling just to form the words. I can feel sleep threatening to drag me back under as his heat starts to soak into my skin but I fight it, not trusting him at all.
He sighs, pulling me closer and pressing my face up against his neck. I feel the vibrations when he starts to speak and find it strangely comforting.
“I told you King was sick but it’s bad, Luna. He has an inoperable tumor on his brain. He doesn’t have long left. Joker has stepped up as president, which makes Orion the new vice president. However, with everything going on, he’s been losing his shit and refuses to deal with it. I think King thinks you’ll give him something else to focus on.
“So I got thrown under the bus by King because Orion having his favorite chew toy back means less focus on him,” I manage to whisper without stuttering, even though my words still sound a little slurred.
“I don’t know, Luna, maybe. I think he saw how happy Orion was when you were here and he wanted to give that back to him before he was gone.”
“And having me kidnapped, knocked unconscious, stripped naked, and locked in a freezing cold cell is the key to Orion winning me back?” I ask, dumbfounded.
He tips my head back so I can see into his eerie black eyes.
“King just wanted you back here. He knew you would argue but he’s a stubborn asshole and insisted. He had a rough night, though, and spent it at home or he would have been here to see you. Fuck, Luna, I didn’t expect everything to turn to shit like that. Halo and Orion should have been back an hour after I left you there but they got stuck on a run. The meeting Rebel and I had ran a lot fucking longer than we thought it would but I honestly didn’t know you were still down there until I got back and King started barking like crazy near the door.
“Doesn’t really matter now, does it? I could have died.”
“Joker never meant for this. He probably thought it would stop you from running again, that’s all. It was only meant to be for an hour.” I don’t answer him because I have no idea what Joker is really like but leaving me so vulnerable has not endeared the man to me in the slightest.
“He lives offsite or he would have known everything had been fucked up and let you out himself. As soon as I realized why King was barking, I shot the fuck out of the lock, not bothering to waste time looking for the keys, and brought you up here.”
His face is so close to mine I can feel his warm breath blowing against my lips.
“You can’t just go around kidnapping people, Gage.”
“Of course I can. I’m a biker. It’s part of the job description.”
I fight the urge to smile at his ill-timed joke. I can accept they didn’t mean for me to come to harm—this time at least—but it’s always something with this place and it doesn’t change the fact that I have no intention of staying.
“Besides.” He slides his hand under my chin, tipping my head back gently. He’s lucky my head has stopped throbbing or I would have kneed him in the dick. “It wasn’t kidnapping,” he tells me, staring into my eyes with his onyx ones.
“Well, what the heck would you call it then?”
“Bringing my woman home.”
“I was never your wo—” Before I can protest further, his lips are on mine. His kiss is soft and sensual and completely at odds with the Gage I’m familiar with.
I don’t move for a minute, my body locking down as shock races through me. Every sensible neuron in my brain screams run away but I never was good at playing it safe.
When he licks the seam of my lips, demanding entrance, I pull away. There is zero chance of me kissing him open mouthed before I’ve had chance to brush my teeth. He doesn’t push for more, even though the evidence of how much he’s enjoyed the kiss so far, is pressed up against me. Finally, he pulls back and kisses me softly on the forehead.
“Get some sleep, Luna. I’ll watch over you.” I don’t know this version of Gage. All I know is the fucked-up one, but as sleep threatens to drag me under, something instinctual inside me tells me that for now, at least, I’m safe.
Maybe the bump on my head did more damage than I realized. This man never wanted me despite Orion and Halo trying to convince him otherwise. Would I have entertained the idea of the three of them? Maybe. There’s something about Gage’s darkness that calls to me but he made up his mind about me long before I left. Now he thinks of me as his woman? Maybe he hit his head too.
I guess I should be grateful he isn’t holding a grudge about me borrowing his bike. I’m sure he was surprised when I had a courier deliver it back to the compound the day after I left but I didn’t want to give them any more incentive to find me. And yet, here we are.
I must have drifted off again because the sound of arguing stirs me, ripping me from one of my favorite dreams. That and the tingling sensation in my feet and legs, like tiny ants crawling over my body. What the fuck happened to me? I crack my eyes open and see a very pissed off looking Orion glaring down at me. Ah, I must still be dreaming. Well, this is different than the usual X-rated shit that has been haunting me for the last two months. My stomach swirls, making me feel sick, so I snap my eyes closed again.
“What kind of fucked-up dream is this? We’re supposed to fuck against the wall,” I whine as the sickly feeling gets worse.
“What the fuck?” Orion’s voice grumbles. My mouth starts to water and not in a good way.
“I’m going to be sick,” I manage to get out as I try to untangle myself from the blanket.
“I’ve got you,” I hear Halo say from somewhere in the room before picking me up and carrying me to the bathroom. I just manage to grab hold of the sink before I start throwing up. Thankfully, I don’t have much to expel and after a few heaves, I’m done. I wash my face and accept the toothbrus
h Halo hands to me. I brush my teeth and check him out in the mirror. He looks tired and his hair, which is usually tied back in a sexy man bun, is down, framing his handsome face. I finish brushing my teeth and realize for the first time that I’m naked.
“Finally, we must be getting to the good bit of this dream,” I mutter as I walk toward Halo and slide my hand down the waistband of his jeans. He stops me by gently grabbing my wrist.
“Luna?” I look up at him, wondering why he’s stopping me.
“This is the part where you bend me over the sink, right?” I ask, confused. He groans like he’s in pain. I swear this dream is shit compared to some I’ve had. Fuck it, maybe I should just wake up instead.
I sigh and head back to the bedroom, feeling Halo following right behind me. I push the door open wider and freeze. This isn’t Orion’s room where my dreams always take place. I see him though, standing over by the window. He turns when I enter and drags his eyes over my naked body. I turn and see Gage on the bed wearing a pair of jeans and nothing else. He looks at me with apprehension in his eyes and it reminds me of how he looked at me after—
“Sonofabitch. I’m not dreaming, am I?” I ask him.
He stands and makes his way over to me with a T-shirt in his hand. He slips it over my head and snags my hand, pulling me into his arms like this is the last chance he’ll get.
“Well, isn’t this cozy?” Orion sneers, making me look up from Gage’s chest in confusion. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him use that tone before, even when he was angry.
“Finally figured out bikers do it better, huh? You weren’t interested in old lady status because you were more interested in becoming a club whore? Guess it all makes sense now.”
“Orion, that’s enough,” Halo snaps at him but Orion is on a tangent.
The Queen of Carnage Page 9