Tracking Numbers: A Bad Boy Protector Romance (Lost Boys Book 1)

by Janice M. Whiteaker

  Nothing.

  “Fuck.” I keep the word under my breath but it makes me feel better to say it. I fumble around and pull the tie tighter, managing to cinch it a few more clicks, tight enough to cut off the circulation to my hands. I hurry to line the lock up again before I lose the feeling in my fingers.

  I pull back again and close my eyes, imagining the face of the man that hits my mom. The man that told me I was a waste of a pussy. The man that will hurt Evan if I fail.

  I bring my arms down as hard as I can.

  Snap.

  The relief is instant. Mentally and physically. I rub my wrists then shake my hands, trying to speed the blood back into my fingers because that tie was only half of my immediate problem.

  And that’s only the first problem on a long list.

  I’m fucked.

  It’s so hard to fight the feeling of hopelessness that wants to creep in and make me sit back on the floor and cry and wait for Tracker to find me. Again.

  I know he’s coming. I know he’s doing everything to find me.

  But what if he can’t?

  That’s why I can’t lose my grip on the anger I know can carry me through this. I have to remember the look on my dad’s face every time he raised a hand to my mother and me.

  He liked it.

  And he’ll like hurting Tracker too. That’s how he gets off. Control.

  Proving he’s stronger. Meaner. Crazier.

  And right now I have to be like him.

  I dig my fingernail into the locking mechanism of the thick zip tie around my ankles and shove it down. The tail slides free easily without the tab to click between the grooves.

  And now I’m free.

  Sort of.

  I stand up and walk to the closet with soft steps then gently ease the bi-fold doors open, saying a prayer there’s something in there I can use.

  Jackpot.

  I snag the only item in the closet just as the sound of voices in the hall drift under the door. I grip my weapon with shaky fingers. I’ve got one chance at this so I have to make it count. I can do this.

  Unless there’s more than two of them.

  Then I’m back to being fucked.

  I move to tuck against the line of wall behind the door and force myself to breathe slow. In...

  Out...

  In...

  The lock on the door clicks open. I watch as the knob twists.

  Out...

  “Hey, Princess. It’s showtime.” It’s the giant of a man. I remember his voice in my ear from the ride here when he detailed all the terrible things his president was going to let them do to me.

  In...

  The door opens. Skinny is with the giant. There’s only two of them and they don’t notice me. Their eyes are on the zip ties laying in the middle of the floor.

  I kick the door shut and swing my arm as hard and as fast as I can, catching the bigger guy in the temple with the helmet from the closet. He drops like a fly. Number two gapes at me. I swing again, knowing I only have a second before he does more than gape. The helmet cracks against his skull with a sickeningly satisfying thud. He staggers toward me, his eyes bulging.

  Oh shit. He didn’t go down as easy as the first guy, but he does finally go down, crashing into the wall and sliding down face first. I take a few steps back and watch the two crumpled bodies for any sign of consciousness. They are both out cold.

  Holy shit. I didn’t really think that would work.

  I look down at the helmet in my hand. It served me well but I need something better if I’m going to venture outside this room and that’s the next step in my straw house of a plan. I walk over to the big guy and roll him over to his stomach.

  The Gods of escape smile down on me for the second time. I slip the pistol out of his waistband and move to his skinny friend. No gun. I pull up his pants leg and my smile from earlier is back. I take off his boot knife sheath and wrap it around my ankle then stand up and suck in another slow breath as I walk to the door. I turn and look at them before I leave. I lean over the big man to whisper in his ear.

  “I don’t like being called Princess.”

  Then I see something that makes my blood run cold. Sticking out of the neckline of his shirt is a familiar looking emblem. I grab the collar and yank it down.

  No.

  I twist and reach for Skinny grabbing the neckline of his shirt. I pull it down and my blood goes from cold to ice.

  They’re Knights.

  The rage I worried wouldn’t appear burns like fire through my body as I stand up and stare at the door.

  I was wrong. I can never be like my father.

  I will be worse.

  I tip my head from side to side, stretching out the tension from hours on the fucking floor. The floor of The Knights’ clubhouse.

  Because it was my father who had me kidnapped.

  And now it’s time for him to be punished. I’ve done what it took to protect myself from King and I’m not fucking stopping now.

  I press my ear to the door. The hall is quiet outside. I crack it open and peer out. Now I can hear voices coming from downstairs. I slide into the dimly lit corridor and toe my way across the plywood covering the floor, catching one foot on a fire extinguisher as I go. I barely manage to grab it before it topples over. I slide it close to the wall and continue on. The voices get louder and I can see the space opens up into a vaulted ceiling ahead.

  “You are going to pay for what you’ve done to me.”

  It’s my piece of shit father and he can only be talking to one person.

  I press into the wall and ease toward the edge, crouching behind the banister to peek over the open great room where three men stand with their backs to me...

  And two men sit facing the stairs, strapped to chairs with the same zip ties that were used on me.

  Those men are the only two I’m worried about.

  The others can fucking rot as far as I’m concerned. One in particular.

  I ease back out of sight, pretending I didn’t see the blood running from Tracker’s beat up face.

  I have one gun and one knife and there are three of them, all definitely armed. I can’t just start shooting them. Then I’ll be dead along with Tracker and Butch. I have to get them to come to me. I look back down the long hallway. It’s lined with closed doors. I can’t imagine anyone is in the rooms when there’s a show to watch going on downstairs. But if there is someone in one I have a plan.

  I’ll shoot them. That’ll bring the guys running upstairs toward me that’s for sure.

  I’ll make that plan B.

  I open the first door, careful to be quiet. It’s someone’s living quarters. The room’s immaculate.A perfectly made bed with crisp sheets sits in the center of the room. My eyes zero in on the nightstand. I pad across the floor and slide open the drawer, pushing around the loose condoms and lube until I find what I was hoping for. I grab it and yank as many blankets off the bed as I can before creeping back into the hallway and laying them just below a smoke alarm with a green light glowing on the face. I snap the lighter I found in the drawer and lay it against the linens.

  “Burn baby burn.”

  I’m gonna burn King’s whole fucking world to the ground for what he did to me.

  The cotton catches immediately. I grab the fire extinguisher sitting on the floor and go back to the bedroom. While the smoke builds I check the tag on the extinguisher. It’s ten years old. Probably came with the damn building. It had to be one of the members that brought it here after they stuck the smoke alarm to the ceiling because I can’t imagine my father taking the time to make sure this place is up to code. It’s not like he sleeps here.

  Hopefully the thing still works.

  The smoke alarm starts to scream. I tuck the pistol in the back of my shorts then pull the pin from the extinguisher handle and wait.

  “What the fuck?” I hear my father’s roar over the sound of a couple more alarms that join the first as the smoke spreads down the hall.
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  Boots race up the stairs toward me. I can’t tell how many.

  The first man rushes past the door without looking in with the second man from downstairs close on his heels. This one looks in the open door. I can’t wait any longer to see if my father is with them. I have to act now.

  I squeeze the handle and spray number two square in the face with chemical-filled foam until he slams back into the wall. I step to the doorway and aim at his friend, nailing him before he can warn anyone. Now they can barely sputter, let alone scream a warning to their president.

  And I’m coming for him next.

  I set down the extinguisher and walk toward the stairs, pulling the pistol from my waistband and switching off the safety. Bet King’s going to regret trying to make me like him before he realized what a pain in the ass I was and started smacking me instead of teaching me how to run in his world.

  It looks like I learned enough to get by.

  He’s running up the stairs yelling for the two men struggling to breathe in the hall as I reach the landing, my pistol aimed between his eyes. He stops at the second-to-last step.

  “Hey there.” I’m proud of how cold I sound. “How’s your day going?” I step toward him and begin descending the stairs. For every step I take forward, he takes one backward. “Funny seeing you here.” I tip my head to one side. “What with me supposedly being kidnapped by some rival gang.”

  “Put the gun down, bitch.” He takes a step back.

  “You don’t tell me what to do anymore. Remember?” I step forward.

  He sneers at me. “That was always your problem. Didn’t know your place.”

  “Is that what this is about?” I step toward him. “Teaching me my place?”

  “Stupid cunt. Nothing’s ever been about you.”

  My finger twitches.

  “Don’t do it, Kerri.” I hear Evan’s voice over the ear piercing ring of the alarms screaming as the smoke spreads, creeping into the air around me.

  I relax my finger just a little and blink against the burning in my eyes.

  My father’s face twists into a sick sort of smile. “Lookie there. Maybe you can be taught after all.”

  And then he lunges at me.

  I don’t hear the shot but I know it happened. I felt it.

  I wish I could say it didn’t feel a little good.

  King’s eyes go wide as the blood starts to trickle down his shoulder.

  Maybe I didn’t want to kill him as much as I thought I did.

  I point the gun between his eyes again. “Turn around and start walking.” I tilt the gun sideways because I mean business and I figure that might be a good way to convey the sentiment. “Unless you want to die in here which I’m okay with too.”

  My father’s nostrils flare as he turns. I grab his piece from the back of his pants and tuck it into mine as we walk. The zip ties they used to secure Tracker and Butch to the chairs they sit in still lay on the table in the living area. I keep my gun pointed as I flip Skinny’s knife out of its sheath and cut Evan free. I nod to the ties then look at my father with a smirk. “Tie him up.”

  Guess who calls the shots now motherfucker?

  Tracker grabs the ties as I cut Butch free.

  I point to the stairs as Butch stands up. “There’s four guys upstairs. Two unconscious and two in the hallway. Let’s try to get them out of here before it’s too late.” Butch nods and takes off.

  Tracker double ties King and pushes him my way. “Take this outside while I help Butch.” He gives me a wink with his less swollen eye. This might be the best gift a man has ever given me. Getting to drag my father from the life he created with fear and manipulation.

  I smile sweetly at the man who has taken so much from me. Today I got to take everything from him. His club. His freedom. His power.

  I grab King by the arm I shot and drag him to the door, liking the wince of pain across his face.

  “Betcha didn’t see this coming did you?”

  Honestly, neither did I.

  15

  SHE BURNED DOWN the fucking clubhouse.

  I pull Kerri in tighter to my side and press a painful kiss against the top of her head. I wince as I pull away and wait for the sting to ease before I do it again.

  It’s worth the pain.

  “What happens now?” Kerri looks away from the burnt out pile of rubble left after the fire department finally managed to get the blaze under control.

  “I don’t know.” I look at Butch. “Any ideas?”

  He shifts the icepack he got at the station, sliding it along his bruised jaw. “I guess we wait and see what the cops do.”

  “What about all the members who still lived here?” Kerri chews her lip. She didn’t find out exactly what her father was doing until today. Hell I still don’t know what all King was doing. But I do know what he won’t be doing.

  Walking around a free man.

  “I think they’ll lay low. Wait and see how things shake out and who goes down.” Gypsy stands beside Kerri. He looks over her head at me. “I think his plan was to get us out of his way and continue business as usual with the new recruits.”

  “Until they started questioning his methods. Then he’d have to do the same thing all over again.” I step closer to the building and look down at Kerri. “Do you know whose name this place is in?”

  Kerri looked up at me and, for the first time since I found her after helping drag out the four traitors, the fire is back in her eyes. She looks around the group of men who just hours ago put everything on the line to find her and almost smiles. “I remember when I was a kid my dad sitting beside my mom with another man, making her sign papers.” She looks back at me, her eyes wide and hopeful. “I think everything might be in her name.”

  “You’re kidding.” I can’t believe it. Of all the times to be grateful King was only out for himself. “Not the club’s?” I turn and look at my brothers. “Did the club own anything?”

  “He was the club.” Hawk grinned at me as he repeated the words King used time and again with one change.

  King was the club. Not anymore.

  Kerri pulls the blanket wrapped around her body tight at her chest. “So my mom will finally be in charge of her own life.”

  “And your father’s. If she wants to be.” I pull her back against my chest and breathe through the pain as she presses against my ribs. I’m sure there’s a few cracks there but I wanted to go where Kerri went so I skipped the suggested trip to the hospital. She went to the police station to give a statement, so I did too. After almost losing her today she’ll be lucky if I let her pee alone. “Just remember your mom has never been on her own before. She’s going to have no clue what to do.”

  “I think she’ll be okay.” Kerri rests her head against my chest. “I bet she’s stronger than she knows.”

  I chuckle. “You have to get it from somewhere.”

  Her head tips back and she looks at me. “Is that really where you think it comes from?”

  I see the tears edging her eyes and it breaks my heart. “You aren’t like him. Not even a little bit.”

  “But what I did—”

  “What you did was fight your own fight and everyone else’s. You were brave and strong and did what had to be done.” I shook my head at her. “King would never do any of that. He is a coward who preys on broken boys. Pulling them in and using them for his own gain.”

  Her chin quivers. “But now they don’t have a place to live because of me.”

  I brush my thumb across her bottom lip. “You saved them from your father. Even if they don’t think so now, you did them a favor.”

  She looks at the line of men gathered in the industrial lot. “What about you guys? My dad employed all of you right? What happens to you?”

  “I won’t be surprised if we discover a certain Jill Wallace is the proud owner of more businesses than she knows what to do with.” I looked at my brothers then back at her. “Including the ones these men work at.”

 
Once again I’m happy King was out for himself. Moving all of us away from the inner workings of the club worked out in our favor in the long run.

  Kerri lifts her brows and stares at the ground. I can see her mind working behind her dark eyes. “We need an attorney.”

  I turn from the building. I’m tired of staring at it. “Tomorrow we will work on all of this.” I ease Kerri toward the car. “Tonight we’re going to check on your mother and then we’re going home.”

  She sniffs. I get her situated in the passenger seat of her car and shut the door before turning to my friends. “I can’t thank you guys enough for what you did today.”

  Gypsy wrinkles his brow at me. “We didn’t get to do shit.” He nods to the car where Kerri sits. “I’m gonna need to hear the full story of what happened here sometime.”

  I point to him. “Actually we need you to help get the full story on what happened here today. What’s been happening while we were all shuffled around.” I step in closer. “I don’t think this is over. I don’t think King’s Knights are going to just lie down and take what happened.”

  The way the men around me look, they don’t think it’s over either.

  Butch looks my way. “I think King will use whoever is left on his side to come back at us if he can. He might take some time to reorganize but I don’t think he will go down this easy.”

  I glance back at the car and the woman in the front seat. I promised to protect her from him.

  I failed.

  I won’t fail her again.

  I nod at Butch. “I’ll work on getting King’s wife set up with a lawyer and find out where we stand on the businesses and properties.” I look around the group. “See what you guys can find out about who he has left that could cause problems.” I look at Gypsy. “Find out if there was ever any issue with The Horsemen.”

  He squints at me in the low evening sun as it stretches across the lot. “You think he made it all up?”

  I blow out a breath. This has been the most fucked up day of my life. And I’ve had a fucked up life. “I don’t know what I think. I just know I wouldn’t put anything past him.”