“Yeah. Got enough to last us at least a day. Prospect’s bringing the sedan out tomorrow. Then we can get some more if we need it.”
“Good. I guess I’ll go check on our hostage.”
Kara—
I need to pee. Badly.
When we finally stop, I hear boots coming down the hall. Reno appears in the doorway.
“You doin’ okay?”
“I need to use the bathroom.”
He slides open a pocket door next to the bedroom door, revealing a tiny toilet.
“Oh. I thought that was a closet.”
“Nope. It’s the john.” He bends to release me. When my hands are free I rub the pins and needles away as the blood rushes back in. “Too tight?”
“Yes, but you meant them to be, didn’t you?”
“No, Kara. I don’t want to hurt you or make this any worse than it’s gotta be. Just know how small your wrists are. Can’t have you slippin’ free.”
“Well, you were successful.”
The corner of his mouth pulls up. “I usually am.”
“Not funny.”
“Disagree.”
He’s standing there like a mountain, blocking my way. I look up. “Can I use the bathroom now?”
“Say please.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Nope. You need to learn, Kara, only way you’re gonna get anything is by bein’ nice and cooperative. That includes food, water, and bathroom breaks.”
“So, you’ll starve me?”
“No. You’ll just learn to ask nice.”
He stands there still, and I really have to pee. I huff out a breath. “May I please use the restroom?”
He grins and holds his arm out. “You may, m’lady.”
I roll my eyes and step inside, closing the door. The “john” as he put it, is tiny with a capital T. There’s a sink the size of a mixing bowl, a toilet crammed next to it, and a shower with a sliding curved door that looks like a tube that could blast me into space. I sit and glance up to see a skylight window. There’s a little red label. I tilt my head to the side to read it. Emergency exit – Slide latch.
I can’t hear if Dante is still in the bedroom, so I decide to make a comment and see if he replies. “Must you stand out there and listen?”
“Fine. I’ll give you some privacy.”
I hear him close the bedroom door, and his footsteps fade away.
I finish, but don’t flush the toilet in case the men can hear it. I lower the lid and carefully stand on it, then step up on the rim of the sink. I unfasten the skylight latch, and I’m able to push it up. It swings on a hinge. I stick my head out. We’re in a wooded area off a dirt road. I see the lights of a plane flying low in the distance like it’s coming in for a landing and know we can’t be too far from civilization. I pull myself up and through the opening, glad for the gymnastic classes I took in high school.
I wiggle my body through, trying to be as soundless as possible. Sitting on my ass, I pull my legs out of the way and close the cover back. Then I crawl to the back. It’s a long drop, but the RV is backed up to a patch of grass.
The cover behind me opens, and Dante’s head pops out.
“Goddamn you, Kara!”
I hear him yell to the other man to go after me. I don’t stop; I hang my feet over, push off and drop like a cat, landing on my feet and hands, and then I roll like a parachutist.
I jump to my feet and run. The door bangs open against the side of the RV behind me, and footsteps crunch against the gravel.
I get almost to the trees when I’m tackled to the ground. The body slamming me down knocks the wind out of me. Before he gets off me, I see a pair of boots come to stand in front of me. I don’t have to look up to know they’re Dante’s
A second later, the weight on me leaves, and I’m jerked to my feet, one man on each arm.
“I didn’t think you were this stupid, Kara.”
A half-moon hangs low in the sky, and by its light I can see how angry he looks—the black brows meeting in a frown, lips thinned and compressed with annoyance.
He jerks his head at the other man. “I got this.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
Then I’m alone with Dante.
“Please—“ I murmur, but even as I begin to plead with him I fall silent again, biting my lip, knowing that it’s no use.
Anger, panic, hope—everything evaporates, leaving me cold with utter despair. Silently I let him lead me, hardly feeling the painful grip of his fingers on my arm just above the elbow. I look up at the RV door, and my body stiffens. I can’t go back in there to be chained up again; I just can’t.
I yank out of his hold to make a last, mad-dash for the trees, but he tackles me into the grass not twenty feet past the RV.
I kick and scratch and claw at him.
“Damn it, you little hellcat. Stop fighting me. You know it’s no use.” He pins me to the ground, holding me that way until all the fight in me is spent.
“Enough, Kara, enough,” he snaps. “It didn’t have to be this way, you know.”
Hysteria bubbles up, and I laugh. “Of course it did, you stupid man.”
I immediately know I’ve picked the wrong word. The energy emanating from him quickly changes. He pulls his head back, and his jaw clenches tight.
Without another word, he yanks me to my feet, scoops me up, and carries me up into the RV to the bedroom; there’s no tenderness in the way he holds me in his arms.
He slings me onto the bed as if I’m a sack of potatoes and looks down at me with his thumbs hooked into his belt. His dark brows draw together menacingly and I see no pity.
“You want to do this the hard way, I’m more than willing to accommodate. But I’m thinkin’ maybe punishing you ain’t the way to get your attention. Maybe I need to punish your father for raising such a disobedient daughter. So, you tell me, Kara. You want me to send some horrible pictures to your sweet old father with the bad heart? Is that how you want to play this?”
I can’t stop the tears at the thought of putting my father through any more pain than he is already in. I lie sobbing, hearing Reno’s voice full of anger. I shake my head, giving in.
“Don’t ever try it again, Kara! I don’t intend to play games, and I don’t intend to let you get away from me until your father cooperates! You push my buttons, you’ll regret it.”
“I didn’t—I didn’t do anything!” I hear myself sobbing. “I only wanted to escape, that’s all…”
I rise on my elbows and look over my shoulder, my eyes still blurred with tears. He’s still standing there, looking down at me with a strange, withdrawn expression on his face.
Finally, he runs a hand over his jaw and lets out a long exhale. “Sorry, babe. I can’t blame you for trying to escape. I’d have done the same thing myself.”
“I hate you!” I cry, not believing his lies. “You’re not sorry. You’re not sorry at all. If you were, you’d let me go!”
“You almost tempt me to find out how much you really do hate me.”
“My father will find me. It’s only a matter of time. He’ll send someone.”
“They won’t find you and they won’t save you.”
He moves toward me, rolling me to my back and jerking my arm up. He cuffs my wrists, first one, and then the other. Then he grabs a bandana and gags me with it, tying it tight behind my head. I moan and scream behind it, but he pays no heed. I glare at him, but he only cocks a brow.
“Keep it up and I’ll blindfold you, too.”
My eyes widen, and he huffs out a laugh. “Thought that’d get your attention. Now, you just stay in here and prove to me what a good little girl you can be, and maybe, just maybe I’ll come ungag you in a few hours.”
Hours? God, I hate him!
He bends, bringing his face to mine and his green eyes blaze. “This is where we’re gonna have a little bit of a heart to heart, darlin’. You see, I make the rules now. You depend on me for everythin
g, baby doll, so if I were you, I’d be a little nicer to me.”
I scream, “I hate you,” behind the gag, but it’s just a muffled sound. I think he understands though, because he laughs and pats my head.
“I heard you the first time. But you didn’t hate me so much in that supply closet, did you?”
Oh, the beast! I try to kick him, and he jumps back, laughing. “Be careful, Kara, or I’ll tie your legs down, too. That what you want?”
I glare at him.
He folds his arms, smiling. “Asked you a question.”
I shake my head.
“Thought so. You continue acting like a brat; I’ll treat you like a brat. And if you’re trying to push my boundaries, you’ll find out real quick that I push back. I don’t think you get it, Kara. I’m a Devil King, and that’s the major league.” With that he turns and leaves.
I give a small, despairing sob as I wonder how I’ll ever contrive to escape from him.
Reno—
An hour later, Rusty is asleep on the couch. I stand up, grab a bottle of water, and move toward the back bedroom, figuring Kara’s had enough punishment and will have learned her lesson. I hate doing it to her, but I’ve got to put the fear of God in her. I can’t have her trying to escape.
I open the door. She’s awake and looks over at me.
“Had enough?”
She nods.
I undo the gag and wipe her mouth. “Wants some water?”
She nods again. I don’t know if she’s not verbally responding because she’s afraid of me or because she doesn’t trust herself not to snap some sassy-ass reply and get herself gagged again.
“Are you going to keep me tied?” Her voice is scratchy, and I’m sorry for gagging her, but I know if she pushes me again, I’ll have no trouble responding in the same way.
“Am I going to have to?”
She licks her dry lips. “No.”
I release her, and she rubs her wrists.
“You’ve got to know, somewhere deep inside you that this is wrong. Even a man like you must have some shred of regret.”
“I live with a lot of regret. You probably don’t believe this, Kara, but I didn’t want this. Any of it.” Those expressive eyes of hers meet mine.
“If that’s true, then how can you do this?”
I sit on the end of the bed and lean my elbows on my knees. I rub my palms slowly back and forth over each other. “Been askin’ myself that same question.”
“And?”
“I am who I am, babe. My loyalty is to my club. I do what I have to do.”
“That’s a bunch of bullshit.”
My brows lift. I can’t believe she just said that, and I really don’t think I want to hear her explain it. I’m pretty sure the expression I give her conveys that fact. It doesn’t stop her, though.
“So you just blindly follows orders without caring, without seeing the whole picture?”
“I do see the whole picture, babe, and it ain’t pretty, but I’m stuck.”
“You don’t have to be.”
“If you think I’m letting you go, so you can run home to Daddy and get me sent to death row, you’re right. I’m too smart for that.”
Her face falls, and she shakes her head. “That’s not how it has to be.”
“Isn’t it? I know what I did. I know how fucked I am.”
“I won’t tell. I promise.”
“I’d have to trust you to believe that. And I trust very few people, babe. And not a one is a woman.”
“So then what? As soon as my father does what you want, you kill me? Is that the only way this ends?”
“Like I said, he does what we want, we let you go.”
“I don’t think so. Like you just said, I can get you sent to death row.”
“That wouldn’t be smart, babe. You know anything about MCs? You rat on us, you don’t live long to tell about it.”
She’s quiet. I hope she’s thinking about what I said. I hope we do let her go, and she keeps her mouth shut, but I’m afraid it’s not the way this is gonna play out. I almost hate that she’s smart enough to know it, too. It makes it hard to look in her eyes and lie to her. And I’m afraid that’s exactly what I’m doing every time I tell her we’ll let her go when her father complies with our demands.
“You hungry?”
She shakes her head.
I lift my chin to the bed. “Scoot over.”
“Why?”
“I want to get some sleep. Rusty’s on the couch, and we got one bed.” Surprisingly she does what I ask. I restrain only one of her hands, just to make sure she doesn’t try to run if I do manage to pass out.
She rolls on her side, facing away from me.
I spoon her, putting my arm across her and pulling her tight against me. “Night, babe.” Amazingly, she doesn’t fight me.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Kara—
I’ve been here two days now. Yesterday a man came with a car. I heard the men refer to him as “the prospect” but I never got a good look at him. I’ve been kept in the bedroom. He and Rusty left for a while, and then Rusty returned alone in the car. I only know that because I was loosely chained to the bed and could reach the window to peer out.
For the first time I saw the men dressed in their club vests with the patches on the back that said Devil Kings MC, Georgia. It was eye opening seeing Dante dressed like that. He looked so different from the first night I met him. But I have to admit he looked badass. It’s a good look on him.
He’s lain with me each night since we’ve been here, and I can’t deny I’m getting used to having his big body curved around me. He’s not touched me sexually, but sometimes if he pulls me too tightly against him, I can feel his arousal. He holds me so tenderly at night. He’s a different man in those hours, and I have to remind myself he’s an outlaw biker. How could I have fallen for him that night in the bar, indulging in girlish fantasies about the bad boy vibe he put off?
I pull on my bonds. Today I’m not so lucky as to have the small freedom the dog chain allows. Nope, I pissed off Dante again, mouthing off how much I hate him, and so I’m restrained to the bed. Thankfully, he didn’t gag me this time.
I lean against the headboard in the center of the bed, my arms spread out, loosely tied to either side.
Rusty and Dante have been arguing, and I’ve heard Rusty refer to him as Reno. I wonder if that’s some biker nickname or maybe it’s his real last name. I’ve had a lot of time to think while locked in this room, and I’ve decided maybe I’ll have better luck if I pit them against each other. Maybe it’s time I try a new tactic. Maybe the key to winning my freedom is to play nice. After all, every good southern girl knows you catch more flies with honey.
I know if it were up to him, Dante—or maybe I should start calling him Reno—would abandon this plan of theirs, but not unless Rusty goes along with it. So, I just have to get Rusty to give this up. I bite my bottom lip. I’ve got to make him think I’m interested in him and get him to want me. Which means I’ve got to flirt, and do it in a way he believes. It won’t be a chore; the man is good looking, but he scares me. Not that Reno doesn’t, but I know he had some feelings for me—at least I hope he did. I hope it wasn’t all a lie.
Reno’s been almost angry with me, and I’m not sure why.
I think Rusty’s going to be my best bet.
I call out, “May I have some water, please?”
“I’ll do it,” I hear Rusty say. He walks in the room. He’s got his leather vest in one hand and the bottle in the other. He lays his vest on the foot of the bed. I wonder if perhaps he was on his way out the door again.
Reno follows him, standing in the doorway.
Rusty ignores him, moves next to me, and cracks the bottle open. Obviously with my hands tied, he’s got to hold it for me. He sits on the bed facing me, our hips touching, and brings the bottle to my lips.
It’s hot as hell in this RV, even with the rattling air conditioner system running none stop.
I drink half the bottle until it’s dribbling down my chin. He pulls it back.
“Had enough?”
I nod. “Yes, thank you.”
He starts to get up, but I stop him. “Could you… wipe me off, please?”
His eyes drop to the water dripping from my chin to fall in droplets on my cleavage. I breathe heavier, making sure my breasts rise and fall. I see his eyes darken with desire. Thank God, it’s working.
He grabs the sheet and wipes my face, throat, and chest. “Better?”
His eyes meet mine, and I let my gaze drop to his mouth. I tilt my chin up ever so slightly, and it works. I see the reaction in his face. He smiles and looks over his shoulder at Reno. “Take a walk, bro.”
I look past Rusty to Reno. His eyes are drilling into mine. He drops to the one and only chair in the room and slumps back, his elbows on the armrests, his hands steepled before him. “Think I’ll stay and watch.”
My eyes widen, but Rusty just grins and looks back at me. “He likes to watch.” He scoots closer. “Now was that an invitation I saw in your eyes?”
I twist my arms, tugging at my bindings. “Maybe you could untie me. I’d like to touch you.”
He arcs a brow. “Would you now? I’d like to touch you too, doll.”
He cups my face and brushes my lips with a thumb. Then he lowers his mouth to mine. I don’t fight him, and he’s a good kisser. I can’t help but open my eyes to see past him to Reno. He’s sitting there, stock-still, and our gaze locks.
Rusty pulls back and follows my eyes. Then he looks back at me. “He wants you. But then, I guess he’s already had you, hasn’t he?”
I hate that Reno obviously talked about it and lift my chin, glaring at him.
Rusty chuckles. “Don’t be pissed, doll. He only had good things to say.”
“Maybe he shouldn’t kiss and tell. But then, I guess he was only playing with me.” I stare up at Rusty. “Is that what you want to do?”
He strokes his hand down my throat to my breast and squeezes. “I’d love to play with you. Do you want to be played with, little girl?”
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