“So you’re a prisoner too,” she says, more a statement than a question.
“Yeah, I guess I am. Look, I’m not going to be down here for long, he will come and get me. I’ll try and figure out a way to get you out of here.”
“You’re not going to leave us,” she cries, panic again in her voice. Her arms reach out to hold me still.
“It’s okay, I promise I’ll come back for you. Somehow, I’ll get you help. Now, Sam, I’m just going to check on the other girl to see how she is.” I can just make out a nod, and I say, “Okay, I’ll be right back.”
I crawl over to the corner to find that Amy’s now lying on the floor. I reach my hand out to touch her face. “Amy, can you hear me?”
She doesn’t reply, and I begin to panic, wondering if she’s still alive.
“Amy, wake up,” I say, tapping her cheek gently with my hand. I hear a moan, and then she’s throwing up all over the floor. “Oh crap.”
I turn her on her side so she doesn’t choke on her own vomit, but then realize she’s dry heaving. Her stomach must be empty. “Oh my God, what have they done to you?” I whisper, moving her hair out of her face. Once her stomach settles, I turn her face to me. “Amy, can you hear me?”
A mumbling sound comes out of her mouth, and relief fills me that she’s alive. “It’s okay, Amy. My name’s Tess, and I’m going to try and get you out of here.” I stand and look around at the dungeon-like room. There really is only one window, which is too high for me to reach.
I walk around the room using the small amount of light shining in from the window, and I can make out a door on the other side. I rush over to it, and disappointment fills me when I try to turn the handle and find out it’s locked. I don’t know why I thought it would be open. I pull on the handle but it’s no use. I bang on the door a few times but get no response. The door feels solid, and I doubt they can hear me from the other side.
There must be a way out of here.
Blaze
I make my way to the main room of the clubhouse where my brothers are waiting. I see Prez and some guy leave the room we call church. He has long blond hair that’s tied back and is wearing a plaid shirt. He stares at me when he passes, and I can make out right away that he’s high on something.
Prez stops in front of me, smirking. “We have our cocaine.” He must sense that something’s not right, because he asks, “What’s up?”
“We need to talk.”
He stares at me for a moment then nods. He leads me into our church room and shuts the door after me. “What’s going on?” He turns to face me with his arms crossed.
“I need to be the one to go in there tonight.”
Prez shakes his head. “Blaze, we’ve already spoken about this. Tracker is going in. Don’t worry, we will have eyes on him.” He drops his arms to his side and steps closer.
“This is not about Tracker, it’s about Tess!” I shout out, turning around and kicking one of the chairs.
“Hey! Listen, Blaze, I know this is hard on you. I get that. Your woman is married to Viper and grew up in that club. Fuck! I know if that was Jasmine, I would want to tear shit up.”
“Exactly!” I yell. ”I need to be the one to go in there, I need to look that fucker in the face and—”
“And what?” Quill interrupts. “You need to remember, Blaze, this all started because we’re helping out Luke’s sister, Amy. We need to get her out of there if they’re the ones that have her. I say if, but my gut tells me she’s there. We owe this to Tate, to help him.”
“I get that, Prez, I do.”
“Don’t you think Viper will take one look at you and know who you are? Come on, Blaze, be smart about this.” He taps his finger to his temple. “You know you’re not the right man for this.”
Turning away from Prez in frustration, I sigh, knowing he’s right. “She’s gone back to him,” I mumble.
“She? You mean Tess?”
I turn around. “Yeah, Tess. She’s gone back to Viper.”
Quill rubs the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, man. To be honest, the situation of Tess and Viper still doesn’t make sense to me. She was here for two years—she was our family. What was her reason for coming here?”
“I can’t give too much detail because I’m still trying to get my head around it, but since today, I’ve found out that Tess ran from Viper because he… he….” I stutter, a lump forming in my throat. “He… he abused her,” I spit out, my hand reaching out to the table, squeezing the hell out of the edge. Tears burn my eyes as I try to hold back my emptions. Fuck! This is not me. I don’t cry and shit.
“Say what?” Prez chokes out, and I look up at him.
“Shit, man. She ran away from him because he was beatin’ her and shit. Even raped her.” I look down at the floor and pull at the ends of my hair. “And all I did was yell at her to leave.”
“Fuck, man. I’m sorry,” Quill says, squeezing my shoulder with his hand. “Why would she not tell you from the start.”
“I don’t know. Maybe she didn’t want to relive it, or maybe she thought I wouldn’t love her—I have no fuckin’ clue. All I know is, I’ve driven her back to the man who beat her, and I can only imagine what he’s doin’ to her as we speak.” Fisting my hand, I slam it down on the table a few times, trying to rid any images of Viper touching her out of my head. I turn to Prez. “I need to get her out of there. I can’t let her think that I’ve given up on her and forced her back to him. I can’t,” I repeat.
Prez sighs and drops his head, his hands on his hips. He then looks up at me. “You have my word that we’ll do what we can to get her out of there. I promise,” he states, the look in his eyes proving to me that he means every word. “But… you need to let me do it my way. Let Tracker be the one to go in, and the rest will be up to us.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
He smirks then walks to the door and opens it up. “Boys, get your asses in here.”
The guys all make their way into church and take their seats. Prez walks to his chair and sits down, then eyes me, gesturing for me to take a seat. So I do.
“Boys, in an hour we’re going to be heading down to the warehouse. Jimmy was good enough to give up some coke.” Laughter breaks out around the room, because it wasn’t really a gift—let’s just say, Jimmy was forced to give it up.
“There’s been a slight change to our plans tonight.”
I link my hands in front of me, wondering what changes Prez has in mind. “We’re all goin’ into the warehouse tonight.” Prez eyes me, and I nod.
Noise erupts around the room, some of the boys asking what’s changed, but most have smiles on their faces—they’re very much up for the action.
Prez slams down the gavel. “Don’t get too excited for now, boys. We’re sticking to the plan of Tracker going in. Tracker, make sure you keep your eyes open for any women, and anything else out of the ordinary.”
“Like what?” Tracker asks.
“Like Tess,” I state.
Trackers turns toward me. “She’s gone back to him?”
I don’t answer, and all eyes turn to me.
“She’s what? Who’s Tess gone back to?” Trigger asks, looking confused.
I sigh. “I guess you all should know. Tess is married to Viper.”
“No. Fuckin’. Way!” Gunner yells, getting up off his seat. “You’ve gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.” Gunner wasn’t around when shit went down with Tess this afternoon, it was only a handful of the boys there, but they still don’t know why Tess and I had a fight, and why I asked her to get the fuck out. I guess now they know.
A lot of questions are thrown at me, and I hold my palms up to settle them down. “It is true, Tess is married to Viper, and her old man is the president of the Forseekers.”
“This is some fucked-up shit,” Rhyder says.
“You haven’t heard the half of it yet,” I mumble. I take a deep breath before I continue. “It seems that Tess’s real name is Teresa, and s
he grew up with an asshole of a dad, and then a crazy husband. Till this day I have no idea why she came into my life, but from what I’ve heard, she left LA to hide and get away from the club.” I stop for a minute and clear my throat. “Viper was violent toward Tess, and that’s all I’m willing to say for now. But, brothers, as much as she lied to me and you, and I know that was a shit thing to do, I also know that she must have been scared for her life to take the risk to run from Viper. So, brothers, I’m asking you for help. When I found out about her being married, well, I went mad and told her to get the fuck out. Jeff from Ink Me called to let me know that she’s gone back to Viper. She’s gone back to that maniac who’s been abusing her, mentally and physically.” My voice breaks at that last word.
“We’re in,” Tracker states loudly, pulling my focus to him.
“Me too,” Trigger pipes up.
“Me too.”
“Me too.”
I eye my brothers individually as they speak up, knowing they truly do always have my back, no matter what.
“We’re all in,” Prez announces. “She’s one of us, and we look after our own. Let’s get her back.”
The noise through the room is loud as fists are thumped on the table, and some of the guys are whistling, some calling out “Yeah!”
I smile at them all. “Thank you, boys. I will never forget this.”
Tess
I sit back against the cold concrete wall and move Amy’s head so it’s lying in my lap. I don’t know this girl, but I feel an urge to protect her. She’s so young and tiny, and I’m worried about her. Who knows what drugs they’ve given her to shut her up, and who knows the last time she’s eaten anything.
“Do they want to sell you too?” Sam asks from next to me. She’s huddled in close to keep warm, and I place my arm around her.
“No. I’m here because of the man who hit you.”
“I think his name is Viper,” Sam whispers.
“Yeah, that’s him.”
Sam looks up at me. “So why are you here because of him?”
“It’s a long story.”
“We have time. I doubt we’re going anywhere.”
I sigh, then go with the truth. “I’m just not up to talking about it right now, I’m sorry. How about you tell me what led you here?”
I hear Sam’s intake of breath and rub her arm to soothe her. “I… I was out with friends. We managed to get into this club with fake IDs. My parents thought I was going over to my friend’s house, Nicky’s, to study.” She giggles then, obviously remembering something.
“What is it?”
“Nothing, just remembering what my mother said before I left.”
“What was that?”
I can hear the smile in Sam’s voice when she answers, “She said to make sure I cover my dress properly before I leave.”
I smile as well. “She knew you were going out.”
“Yeah. You see, my mom is cool, it’s my dad that’s strict. I guess having four girls does that to you.”
“You have three sisters?” I ask.
“Yeah, Natasha, Ivy, and Janine.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of girls under one roof.”
I feel her body shake as she laughs. “Yeah, that’s what my dad used to say. He was always going on and on about never being able to use the bathroom because us girls would always take our time doing our hair and makeup. He used to say, ‘why can’t I have just one boy.’”
I laugh along; I can kind of see where he’s coming from. “Your father sounds like he was just trying to protect you all.”
“Yeah, I know. Now I wish that I just stayed home that night and studied. God knows I need to.”
“So what happened next?” I ask, wanting to know how the Forseekers are getting away with pinching girls.
“It was horrible. Me and Nicky got asked for ID at the door, and when they saw our ID, they knew it was fake. They wouldn’t let us in, and we’d caught a cab there, so we decided to head down a few blocks to a diner to have a late dinner. We’d only walked a few feet when a black van pulled up alongside us and men with masks covered our mouths and dragged us into the back. I tried to scream, but it was no use. They’d covered my face with some kind of cloth soaked in something, and it put me to sleep right away. When I woke up, I was here.”
Sam begins to cry, and I hug her to me. “I’m so sorry you went through that, Sam. But where is your friend? Nicky?”
“I don’t know,” she says, panic entering her voice. “When I woke up, she wasn’t here, just Amy over there. I asked them where she was, but they wouldn’t answer me. What if she’s dead?”
Sam begins to cry hysterically, and I try to calm her down. “Shush, it will be okay, don’t worry.”
She looks up at me, I can just make out her eyes, tears glistening in them. “How can you say that? We’re locked up in here, and there are other men, too.”
“Very soon, they’ll be coming for me, and once I’m out, I will try and find a way out for you. That’s a promise,” I say, pushing her hair out of her face.
I hear a moan from my lap, and Amy turns over and looks up at me. “Where… where am I?”
I cup her cheek gently. “Amy, I’m Tess. Did they give you something to drug you up?”
She nods, then says,” It hurts, it hurts so much.”
“What does, hon?”
“My stomach, it’s cramping up.”
I swallow around the lump in my throat. “Amy, have you eaten since you’ve been here?”
“No,” she says quietly. “Well, I don’t think I have. I can’t remember.” She then begins to cry. “Oh God, they’re going to kill us.”
“Shush, it’s going to be okay, I’m going to get you out of here.”
“But—”
Amy’s words are cut off when the door is unlocked, then Viper comes walking in with a flashlight, shining it directly at our faces.
“I see you’ve met the others, Teresa. These girls are going to bring us in some good money.”
Sam wraps her arms around me and shudders. “Please don’t let him take me, please.”
I lean in and whisper in her ear, “Trust me, okay?”
She looks up at me, and with the light coming from Viper’s direction, I get a good glimpse at her face. She has dark smudges under her eyes and mascara trails down her cheeks. Her bruise stands out starkly and is turning an alarming shade of purple. Her lip has a cut on it, blood crusted around the edges, but underneath all that damage, Sam really is a pretty girl.
I glance quickly down at Amy, who is now in a fetal position on the ground and crying.
I look up at Viper. “You need to let these girls go.”
His laugh is loud and echoes around the bare room. “You’ve been back for two seconds, and already you’re giving orders. It seems to me you need reminding of where your place is here. Get up!” he shouts, startling us all. Amy shuffles over and puts her head back in my lap.
“Don’t leave us, please.”
“Remember, trust me,” I say quietly to Sam, and she looks up at me and finally nods. I lift Amy’s head off my lap and place it gently on the floor, then remove the jacket I’m wearing and tuck it under her head to support it.
“Thank you,” she whispers.
“Hurry up, Teresa, I don’t have all fuckin’ day.”
I get up slowly and make my way to Viper. As soon as I’m close enough, he grabs me by my waist and pulls me up against him. I cringe when I feel his hard cock pressing against my stomach. “Give me a kiss, Teresa.”
I do as he says, not wanting to anger him, and slowly kiss him. He pinches my cheeks together with one hand, causing my mouth to stay open, and then he does something that almost makes me puke on his boots—he spits into my mouth. I gag violently, but he doesn’t loosen his hold. Then he covers my lips with his, sucking mine into his mouth. I don’t move, I don’t kiss him back. I can’t. His mere touch makes my skin crawl.
Finally, he pulls back and slaps my ass.
“Let’s get out of here.”
“But… what about them?” I say, pulling on his hand.
He looks behind me to where the girls are huddled together against a wall. “Don’t worry about them, they won’t be here for much longer. I’ve already got a buyer for them.”
“You need to let them go, Viper.”
He turns fully to face me, and then with no warning, he slaps me hard with the back of his hand. I fall to the floor and cup my cheek, tasting copper in my mouth, and my eyes tear up with the sting of the slap. “You’ve been gone too long, wifey, it seems you need reminding of who’s in charge here. Now get the fuck up.”
I slowly get up off my knees and stand facing him. I can hear the cries of Sam behind me, and vow right there and then that I will do whatever it takes to get them free.
Tess
Squeezing my wrist tightly, Viper leads me out of the room. My heart sinks when I hear Sam yell, “Don’t leave us!”
“You’re hurting me,” I cry as he pulls me around a corner and we pass some men. I recognize some of them, but there are also new faces around. Obviously the standard of their appearance is the same, though—there are no standards.
We make our way down another corridor, and when we reach a door, Viper opens it and shoves me inside a room, causing me to almost fall once again. I rub my arms, feeling the coolness of the room. Viper turns on a gas light that’s on the floor, and fear hits me when I realize I’m now alone with him. Trying to distract myself from those thoughts, I glance around the room, rubbing my wrist where Viper had gripped my hand tightly. There’s nothing but concrete walls and a mattress on the floor, one that’s soiled and looks like it’s been picked up from the back alleyway.
A click echoes throughout the bare room, and I turn around to discover Viper has locked the door. My stomach falls when he turns to face me with a sickening smile—one that takes me back to a time I’d seen that exact same smile. A twist of his lips that lets me know exactly what he’s going to do to me—and how—and unfortunately I haven’t forgotten what that feels like.
Tess Property of Blaze: Book #5 in the Blood Brothers MC Series Page 13