I open my eyes, remembering everything that happened: the blue truck, the dodgy guy asking if I wanted his help. Taking in my surrounding, I find I’m in a bathroom. A small, not too clean bathroom. My wrists are bound with fraying rope, and my ankles are tied together with a plastic zip tie. With my head aching, it takes a minute for the fear to sink in. I don’t recognise where I am, and I don’t know how long I was out for. I could be far away from Willow’s Peak for all I know.
“Oh my God!” I cry. No one’s going to notice I’m not around. My father will just think I’m out again for the night. And Tal… well, he probably won’t think anything of me not being at the club.
A groan comes from the bathtub, and the shower curtain moves.
Shuffling across the floor, I wince from the pain shooting across the side of my head as I peek around the edge of the curtain. My eyes widen, trying to process what I’m seeing.
A man is sitting with his hands and ankles bound, his face a bloody mess. I can’t understand what he’s saying, as there’s a rag stuffed into his mouth. Is he asking me for help? Is he warning me that what happened to him will happen to me? I have no idea, and I don’t think I want to know.
Who the hell are these people keeping us like this? A tear falls from his left eye, smudging the dried blood crusted on his cheek, and I scream.
I scream from fear.
I scream for anyone to hear me.
I scream because I don’t know any other way to deal with the situation I’ve found myself in.
The door slams open so hard, it leaves a small hole in the drywall. I don’t know what’s worse: being tied up, not knowing why I’m here or where here is, or seeing the man darkening the doorway, glaring down at me. The fact that he looks old enough to be my grandfather doesn’t fill me with hope of gaining an advantage over him and escaping. His beard, long enough to braid, is grey, along with the hair on his head. His eyes, cold and violent, are surrounded by deep lines, as is his forehead and around his mouth. He doesn’t wear leather like the Lost Souls, but violence doesn’t lie only with bikers. Bad people are everywhere, in all shapes and sizes, old and young.
The scream dying on the tip of my tongue, my body starts to shake. Shuffling away, I only make it as far as the cupboard under the basin. I can smell the musky sweat dampening his shirt from here. On a normal day, I’d gag from it, it’s so strong.
“Keep that mouth of yours shut, or I’ll shut it for you.”
Stepping into the bathroom, he kneels down in front of me—too close for my liking. Running the backs of his fingers over my cheekbone, a dull pain radiates from the bruise that’s no doubt there, and I shy away from him.
“You have no reason to trust me, I get that, but you will leave here alive. So, if you want to live, be fucking quiet.”
Leaning to the side, I see we’re in a motel room and someone is opening the door to the outside world.
He’s right, I don’t trust him. Inhaling deeply, I scream like I’ve never screamed before, like I want to save my life and have someone hear me and it burns my throat.
The old man sighs, shaking his head as he rises to his full height. “Why can’t you bitches ever do as you’re fucking told?” he growls, lifting his foot.
The last image I see before the darkness returns is the sole of his black leather boot.
Chapter Nine
Tal
Cas finishes telling the brothers what Kyle told us down in the basement this morning, and how we saw Bert going into Kyle’s aunt’s house.
“How can we believe Kyle only fed him bullshit?” Ricky asks.
Pope rubs his hands down his face. “We can’t. People put in situations with loved ones used as leverage make stupid decisions.”
I nod for the sake of appearances.
“I agree. We’ll keep Kyle down in the basement until we’re satisfied he has or hasn’t betrayed us. As for the aunt, it shouldn’t be too hard to take out a couple of guys staying at the house.”
“I’ll take JJ and Leo, and we’ll get her out tonight,” Sparky offers.
Cas agrees. “That’ll work.”
Staring at the two empty chairs across from me, I ask, “Where are Slade and Zach?”
“They’re both taking some time away from the club. They’ll be back soon enough.”
I don’t believe a word of it. For one, Zach has always been about when needed since losing his sister, and Slade just returned after being gone for months before.
Cas moves on. “I got a call this morning, Jamie Boy and the fourth brother we’ve yet to meet, Austin, will be here the day after tomorrow, and then we’ll be heading out on our next run.”
“Let’s hope we get shit sorted before we leave town,” Ricky mutters.
“Let’s.” Sighing, Cas bangs the gavel down. “Sparky, let me know when you have the aunt safe.”
With a nod, Sparky leaves the back room with JJ and Leo in tow, and I head out into the bar to look for Holly, but she’s nowhere in sight.
A prospect walks in, scans the bar, and calls out, “Yo, Tal! There’s someone at the gate asking for you.”
Stepping outside the bar, I’m expecting to see Holly, but my heart nearly stops when I see my dad standing at the gate.
Dammit.
The world shrinks around me as I walk toward him. From the set of his jaw and the narrowing of his eyes, I know I have to play this right or I’ll run the risk of being noticed by the brothers.
Picking up my pace, I reach him before anyone can talk to him.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I snap, trying to keep my voice low.
Grabbing his shirt, I try to pull him farther out of sight when he yanks his arm back.
“I find out my son is playing undercover cop in a fucking motorcycle club, so of course I’m going to fly out here.”
“Is Mom here too?”
“Do you see her?” dropping his arms to his side, he adds, “Come home.”
“I can’t. I’m so close.”
“Close to what?”
“To ending the Lost Souls. I just need something concrete.”
Sucking in a harsh breath, his eyes pinch together. “There are trained agents who do this. You’ve never even shown an interest in becoming one.”
“That’s the best part, Dad. Not being an agent gives them nothing to find on me.”
He sighs so hard, his cheeks balloon. As if this can’t get any worse, Slade and Zach ride up and slow down as they pass through the gates. Turning to watch them, I see Cas lingering by the bar door, staring straight at me.
“You need to go.”
I don’t stick around so he can argue some more. I jog across the lot, wanting to catch up with Slade and Zach. They’ve been away from the club for a reason, and I need to know that reason and why they’ve shown up now.
Dad bellows, “This isn’t over!”
Stopping, I turn back to him and mouth, “Go home.”
Slade, Zach, and Cas have disappeared into the back room by the time I make it inside, and no one seems interested as to why they’ve locked themselves away.
“I thought Slade and Zach were taking time out?” I say to Sparky.
“Now they’re back,” he replies as a crash comes from the back room.
Brothers fall quiet, but nothing else happens. Slade and Zach are the club’s go-to guys when you want to find something out. I’ve been careful to cover my tracks, but paranoia is setting in. They’ve obviously told him something, but what?
I hang back when the door to the back room opens and Sparky goes to join them. Zach heads to the bar, leaving Cas pissed about whatever he’s been told. I stay mindful of my surroundings, noting there are two brothers between me and the door. I think I could take them down if I need to run. Looking back to Cas, I wait for the first sign he’s going to come for me. The pounding of my heart is drowning out the noise in the bar.
His phone goes off and I exhale, knowing I’ll get to live a little longer. That’s even if he
heard something about me. I was warned paranoia would set in, but something big is going down—I can feel it.
With a confused look on his face, he stares down at the screen. “What the fuck?”
“What now?” Sparky groans.
“I’m not sure. That asshole sent me this message… you know her?”
He passes his phone over to Sparky, who jerks his head away from whatever he’s seen before passing it on, letting the brothers take turns looking, each of them shaking their heads. As soon as JJ takes the phone, his brows nearly hit his hairline as he tosses the phone to me. My stomach drops. Holly’s face fills the screen, her face bruised and dirty, her wrists tied together.
My voice cracks when I acknowledge, “I know her.”
“Who is she?”
“Her name’s Holly. She’s Tal’s girl,” JJ offers up to Cas before I can.
“Why would he go after her? She isn’t your old lady.” It’s so fucking clear his suspicions are growing, but I shrug it off.
“I have no idea.”
He takes the phone from my hand and questions, “Who were you talking to at the gate?”
Fuck! As far as the club’s concerned, I have no family.
“Why do you have to think about it, brother?” Sparky asks, moving closer to Cas.
Thinking fast, I reply with, “I was just wondering why you care. It was just a guy from town.”
Cas snorts. “A guy from town?”
My mouth goes dry. “Yeah. Seriously, what the fuck?”
When his mouth opens, I brace myself for what’s about to come out next when his phone rings again, distracting him.
“It’s Bert,” he announces, putting the phone on speaker.
“Give me Danny’s killer, and I’ll hand over the girl.” Before Cas can respond, Bert hangs up.
“Motherfucker!” Turning to Slade, he barks out, “I want to know everything there is to know about this girl. Let’s hope she has no family in town who’ll miss her if this goes south.”
I keep my mouth shut.
“Yeah, it’ll be nice to know who we’re saving,” JJ mutters, digging out his smokes when Harper slips onto his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck to whisper something into his ear.
Sighing, Leo rolls his eyes. “How are we going to save her?”
“Fuck knows,” Cas grunts, kicking at the nearest chair.
“I know.” Everyone looks to Dex, who makes his way into the middle of the bar. “One of us will have to give ourselves up, and I volunteer.”
The brothers go silent, digesting what he’s put forward.
“It wasn’t you who killed him—it was me,” Cas finally says.
Hearing Cas say it was him is an admission to add in my notebook. Stories about the club back in the day float around all the time, but it’s another thing to actually hear it from Cas himself.
“We’re not going to allow another woman to be killed because of our actions, and I don’t see anyone else stepping forward to help her. We know it wasn’t me who killed him, but Bert doesn’t.”
Dex looks to me, and I swear I can hear what he’s thinking: You should’ve put yourself forward to help her before me. I have every intention of helping to get her back, but he didn’t exactly give me the chance.
“You do realise what you’re saying, don’t you, brother?” Cas says.
“Yeah, you’ll be killed before we’d even get the girl back, and for what? Guilt you still have over Melissa?” Sparky urges. If I remember hearing correctly, Melissa was Danny’s sister.
Dex inhales a deep breath and blows it out. “I couldn’t do anything for her, but this girl doesn’t have to pay the price for our actions.”
Leo moves closer. “You got a death wish we don’t know about, Dex?”
Casting his eyes down at the floor, he blinks slowly. “Not anymore. But Danny was club business, and we dealt with him. This girl Bert has isn’t the club.”
“He’s going to have plans for you, thinking you killed his son.”
Dex takes another deep breath and responds with, “Then we best make a plan of our own to stop that from happening.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. Call the prick and set up an exchange.”
Cas stalls, staring down at the phone, then places the call. Bert answers on the first ring.
“We’re prepared to hand over the brother who killed Danny for the girl.”
Cas’s jaw is set tight. It literally pains him to follow through with this unhatched plan. When Bert laughs down the line, I would swear he chips a tooth.
“I knew you’d see sense. Like I told you, I’m only here for my son’s killer. There’s an old abandoned factory out by Bush Creek. Be there in an hour.”
The line goes dead, and Cas has to force himself not to throw his phone across the room. Bracing his hands on his hips, he casts his eyes around at the brothers.
“Let’s make a fucking plan.”
Chapter Ten
Holly
Something’s different. I can sense it, even before I manage to open my eyes. The first thing I notice is I’m not in the bathroom anymore. I’m now in the room, lying on the bed. My feet and wrists are still tied together, and—oh my God! Why do my hands feel like they’re burning? Once I feel it, I can’t not feel it, and it only intensifies. Are they on fire? I try twisting to see what’s going on, but the more I move, the more it hurts. I feel sick.
“What do you see in Tal?”
Jumping, I roll over to find the old guy sitting on a chair at the end of the bed. He’s been watching me sleep, as if my life couldn’t get anymore creepier.
I manage to stammer out, “I—I don’t really know him.”
“I’m sure you’re well acquainted with his dick, though, am I right?”
When his gaze begins to roam up my body, I try to move as far away from him as I can, which isn’t far.
“You don’t even know his real name, do you?”
The throbbing in my hands is consuming my every thought. I try to get a look at them and sob when I can’t see the cause. The old guy only laughs and stands from his chair, only to sit down next to me.
“It’s Ethan, and you can ask him about your hands.”
Grabbing my arm, a wave of dizziness hits me as he drags me to the edge of the bed where someone I didn’t notice before stands at the end.
This guy’s younger—much younger—but no less scary looking. Pulling out a knife, he slices it through the tie around my ankles, then digs his knee into the mattress as he leans over me and frees my hands.
Thank God, I can finally see what’s wrong. Shaking the numbness from my arms, I’m not prepared for what I find.
I struggle to breathe at the mess I’m seeing. What am I looking at?
At first, I think I have pizza stuck to my palms and fingers, but with the smell and throbbing pain, I know that’s wrong. My fucking hands have been burnt to a crisp!
My heavy breathing becomes a full-out scream until I’m slapped across the face, the force of it sending me backward and off the bed. Getting over the shock, I go to raise up, placing my palms on the floor, when an agonizing pain shoots from my hands to my shoulders, causing me to cry out.
“Now, now. Remember, if you want to go home alive, you have to shut the fuck up.”
“M–My hands—”
Gripping my chin, he gets in my face. “Like I said, ask Ethan.” Turning to the guy who cut me loose, he instructs, “Put her in the van. We’ll leave after I’ve had a piss.”
I don’t bother thinking about where they’re taking me now, as I’m in so much pain, I can barely breathe. The sun hits me for just a moment when I’m hauled out the door, then quickly shoved into the back of a black van.
I can’t take my eyes off my hands. “Where are you taking me?” I ask when the old guy joins us. In my peripheral vision, I can see him watching me, but I don’t look up. I’m too busy trying to process what the hell happened.
“Why? Why did you do this
?” I sob as the van starts to move.
“Points have to be made.”
I’m a point? He disfigured me to make a point? What’s that supposed to mean? Nausea hits me, and I start to gag, but nothing comes up. There’s not a bit of skin that hasn’t been charred and mottled. When I woke up yesterday, I had two smooth, capable hands, and now they’re gone. I can’t bend my fingers without pain so excruciating, it could almost render me unconscious.
Hitting a pothole, I’m thrown to the left where I hit my elbow on a metal box, all because I can’t use my hands to protect myself. When the van comes to a stop, the old guy climbs out, leaving the door open. I can’t see anything but rough terrain and nothingness.
“Move, and this deal won’t go ahead, because I’ll kill you,” the guy who cut me loose orders.
Like I’m going to move. I can barely think straight, let alone run away, knowing I’d be caught.
A rumble I’ve come to recognise suddenly surrounds us, and I can finally hear my heart thumping over the blood rushing through my hands.
The rumbles fade, and the old guy pops his head inside the van. “Showtime.”
It’s meant to be a good thing, but with this guy, it can’t be anything but bad. He walks out of sight again, and I listen to him yelling at someone, like they’re far away.
The guy still seated in the van with me smirks while cracking his knuckles.
“Jimmy!” the old guy yells. “Bring the girl.”
I’m yanked out of the van and shoved toward the old guy, stumbling over my own feet, the jerk doing nothing to help keep me up.
The Lost Souls are standing across the top of a hill, and a fleeting flicker of hope surges through me that I might survive this after all.
One of the bikers steps away from the others, and then another comes to stand beside him. They talk between themselves, and then one of them walks into the middle of the “two sides” and stops. He lifts his shirt and slowly turns around, showing he has nothing on him. The old guy shoves me forward.
“Walk to that guy. Go no farther until he comes to me. If you take one step before he does, my man will shoot you dead. You hear me?”
The Club Betrayal : Sons of Lost Souls MC - Book Eight Page 5