Vicious Cycle

by Katie Ashley

  After easing into the garage, I put the car in park. When I reached to grab my purse, I caught a glimpse of myself in the rearview mirror. A nervous giggle escaped my lips at the sight of my mussed-up sex hair, rosy cheeks, and swollen lips. I looked exactly like I had almost been had. Immediately, I was thankful that it had been dark outside on the drive home and no one had taken a glance at me when I was stopped at red lights.

  Grabbing my purse, I got out of the car. After stepping inside the house, I couldn’t help leaning back against the door as I continued to cling to my sex haze. Pinching my eyes shut, I could almost feel Deacon’s hands on my body, his mouth and tongue on my nipples, his hard erection digging into my core.

  Suddenly, I was snatched out of my fantasy world as a sense of dread prickled over my skin. Swiveling my head over to the alarm pad, I realized it wasn’t going off even though I had yet to enter the code. I peered at the screen, and my chest clenched when SYSTEM DISABLED flashed on and off.

  Waves of fear crashed over my body at the further realization that Atticus had yet to greet me. Normally, his pink tongue would be slurping over every available part of me as he went through his welcome-home wiggle dance. In a shaky voice, I called, “Atticus?” When no bark of acknowledgment came, I took a few tentative steps farther into the kitchen. “Atticus?” I repeated. Silence reverberated back at me.

  Realizing I needed to get out of the house, I whirled around to flee. My feet slipped in something slick on the floor, and I crashed down onto my knees. As I tried to regain my footing, my hands slid through something warm and sticky. Staring down, I realized I was in a puddle of blood. A scream tore from my throat. Fumbling and flailing, I pushed my way out of it. When my feet bumped into the door, I started trying desperately to get up, but each time I pushed on my hands, my knees slid further in the blood.

  Then the kitchen light flicked on above me. I once again screamed when I caught sight of a hulking man in the doorway. He wore a sinister smile as he stared down at me with one eye. A black patch covered his other eye, and beneath it a jagged scar cut across his cheek and down over his neck.

  “Hmm. Just how I like my women—on their knees and screaming,” the man said.

  Repulsed and horrified both by his words and his appearance, I ducked my head. A sob choked off in my throat at the sight of Atticus’s lifeless body at the man’s feet; a large gash at his throat had sent his blood across the floor, causing me to fall. “No, no, no!” I cried, hot tears streaking down my face. Concern for my own fate momentarily took a backseat to the horror of the loss of Atticus.

  When I glanced up again, the man stood right in front of me. Holding my hands in surrender, I pleaded, “Don’t hurt me. I have money here. You can have all of it—you can take my car. Anything. Just don’t hurt me.”

  Grabbing me by the shoulders, he yanked me up off the floor. I dangled from his hands like a puppet on a string while my legs tried to find steady ground. With a sneer, he replied, “Oh, I’m going to take from you all right. But it’s not going to be any money or your car. For this to matter, it has to be physical.”

  His threat caused my knees to weaken, and if he hadn’t been gripping me so tightly, I would have collapsed down onto the floor. “Please, no,” I begged. He released one of my shoulders to send a stinging slap across my cheek.

  “Don’t say another fucking word, or I will end you—no matter what the boss man said.”

  Pressing my lips together, I nodded in agreement. My mind whirled with out-of-control thoughts. Who was the boss man? Why had he given this thug orders about me?

  He set me on my feet and then shoved me into the kitchen table. He pressed against me, his massive body keeping me from getting away. From the inside of his cut, the man produced a long knife—one that looked like it belonged in the military. The blade gleamed in the kitchen light. After admiring it for a moment, he brought it to my throat. At the feel of the blade pressed against my skin, I began to hyperventilate. My chest heaved as I gasped for breath.

  Lowering the knife, he brought it to the buttons on my shirt. Slowly, one by one, the blade popped the buttons off until the shirt gaped open. Grabbing me by the collar, he ripped the shirt off my arms. As I brought my hands up in front of my bra, he began to shred the fabric of my shirt. He slid the knife back into his cut and took one of the strips, holding it taut between his hands.

  “This should keep you quiet.” Before I could protest, he had the strip over my mouth, gagging me. Now no one could hear me scream. The thought sent delirious desperation rocketing through me.

  This isn’t happening. It’s all just a dream … a nightmare. You’ll wake up in a few seconds.

  With another one of the strips of cloth, he bound my hands. The fabric cut into my skin, and I cried out against the gag. Then he gripped my hips and hoisted me onto the kitchen table. He brought my hands up over my head and looped the binding to the chandelier. “On your knees,” he commanded. I flailed around until I was kneeling on the kitchen table.

  “Now, that should keep you quiet and still for what I have to do.” When his hand went to his belt, I began to thrash against my bindings. I tugged as hard as I could, hoping to bring down the chandelier if I had to. Once his belt was off, he gave me an evil smile before bringing it over his head. A loud crack echoed through the room before the leather bit into the flesh on my abdomen. Tears stung my eyes as I screamed behind my gag. The next blow of the belt hit me across the breasts. I didn’t even have the chance to recover before another lash broke against my back and then my thighs.

  The man’s harsh voice cut through my painful fog. “Rumor is you’re Deacon’s old lady.” When I didn’t acknowledge his words, he brought the belt across my cheek. After I finished screaming from the pain, his eye locked on mine. “Answer me, bitch. Are you Deacon’s old lady?”

  I shook my head furiously back and forth. My response was rewarded with another lashing from the belt. “He had you on the back of his bike. You spent the night at the Raiders compound, and he has a prospect follow you home. That is fucking old-lady territory.”

  “N-no, I—I’m n-not,” I stammered from behind the gag. “I s-swear.”

  The man eyed me curiously before his lips curled in a sneer. “You lie. You lie to try to save yourself and to save that piece of shit you spread your legs for.”

  “No!” I cried.

  “I’ll go easier on you if you tell the truth. You see, we need to draw him out. Since he keeps that brat under lock and key, you were the next choice. He’ll want revenge for us hurting you, and that’s when we’ll strike. So I’ll ask you again, are you Deacon’s old lady?”

  Fearing for my life, I finally nodded my head. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

  When he licked his lips, fear prickled over my body like tiny knives. “Now comes the best part of the job.”

  While the beating had been horrible, the insinuation of what he was about to do was more than I could bear. He pushed me back farther on the table. Shoving my legs apart, he came to stand between them. His fingers grabbed at the button on my skirt, and I closed my eyes, praying for strength. Then, with everything I had left in me, I shoved him with one foot and then kicked him in the face with the other. The force sent him flying backward against the kitchen counter. Once again, I pulled and tugged against my bindings with all my strength.

  When the man pulled himself up off the floor, blood pooled from his busted lip. “You fucking cunt!” he screamed. I tried scrambling away on the table, but I had nowhere to go. His fist pounded into the side of my head. The world around me spun in a dizzying flurry before the dark curtain of my nightmare came crashing down.

  As Alexandra’s taillights faded in the distance, I pounded my shitkickers down the porch steps. Flicking my cigarette butt into the bushes, I made my way down to the clubhouse. Just like her, I couldn’t manage to sit down at a table full of my family right now. More than anything, I needed something to block her from my mind. Her scent clung to my body and fingers while h
er taste still resided on my tongue. I found myself completely fixated on her. Considering the half-mast erection I still sported, my body was still thinking of her, too. Taking an emotional and sexual stroll down memory lane wasn’t something I was used to doing, and it was freaking me the fuck out. The very fact Alexandra had this much effect on me when we hadn’t fully fucked was even more mystifying.

  The sound of Archer’s pipes roaring to life brought me out of my thoughts. Every night I had the prospect follow Alexandra home and make sure she was safe. I had instructed him to always hang back a little because I didn’t want to spook her that her life might be in danger because of her association with me. Because she was also way too smart for her own good, I didn’t want to arouse any more suspicion about how dark my dealings were.

  I gave a nod at Bubba and Ollie as I headed in the back door. Since it was a Friday night, the clubhouse was filled with members from in and out of town. From the looks of it, all the rooms would be used.

  I slid across one of the worn barstools. I didn’t even have to flag Cheyenne down. Like she possessed some kind of “Deacon radar,” she had been alerted to my presence the moment I’d walked in. I had felt the heat of her eyes seeking me out as I walked through the crowd, stopping to say hello to some of the out-of-town members.

  With her palms planted on the bar, she leaned in, cocking her brows at me. I shook my head at her behavior. She always knew what I wanted and usually hauled ass to get it for me. “What crawled up your ass tonight? Get me the usual. Now.”

  Shooting me an “eat shit and die look,” Cheyenne shoved her hands off the bar in a huff and then went to snatch me a beer out of the fridge. After popping the top on it, she thrust it across the bar to me. But when I reached for it, she jerked it away from me. I narrowed my eyes at her. “Seriously, bitch, what the fuck is your problem tonight?”

  She slammed the beer bottle down in front of me. “I think I’m the one who should be asking that question.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Cheyenne crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you fucking her?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be an asshole, Deacon. You know exactly who I’m talking about. The little white-bread bitch who has been making doe eyes at you since the day she walked in here.”

  I took a pull of my longneck. “Alexandra. Her name is Alexandra,” I replied.

  At the mention of her name, Cheyenne’s nostrils flared in rage. “I don’t give a fuck what her name is. I do give a fuck about the fact that you’ve just waltzed in here with her scent all over you, not to mention the fact you got fucked-up hair and your lips are colored from her lipstick.”

  “Last time I checked, you ain’t my old lady, and there ain’t no ‘Property of Deacon’ patch on your back. So you best not be sticking your nose in my business.”

  My declaration caused the angry expression carved into her face to recede, and in its place, there was one of extreme hurt. “Deacon, you know how I feel about you—” she began in a shaky voice. My phone buzzing in my pocket interrupted her. I dug it out and glanced at the ID. Unease washed over me as I accepted the call.

  “What’s wrong, Archer?”

  “Fuck, man. Some asshole shot out my back tire as I was tailing Alexandra. I skidded out. My bike is a fucking mess. Someone called the cops because I’m bleeding and shit, and then—”

  “I’ve got it from here. Call Rev. Give him the lowdown and have him and the boys meet me there.” Before Archer could say another word, I cut off the call. In a flash, I was off the stool and sprinting for the door.

  “Deacon?” Cheyenne called after me.

  I ignored her. As I threw open the clubhouse door, I eyed one of the older members leaning against the hood of his car, talking to one of the club whores. Pointing to the car, I said, “I need to borrow that. Now.”

  Without a word, he tossed me the keys. After jerking open the car door, I slid across the leather seat and cranked up the engine. There was no way I was taking my bike. I would be too vulnerable and too suspect. A car could ease up to the house without notice, while the unmistakable sound of a cycle’s pipes would give me away.

  I spun out of the parking lot, kicking up a cloud of dust and gravel. My hands gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white. As I shifted in the seat, I felt like a caged animal. I knew in my gut that if Archer’s tire had been shot out, then Alex was in serious trouble. Sigel and his thugs had somehow worked out her connection to me. Fuck. I couldn’t focus on the extent of the danger Alexandra was in or I would completely lose my shit. I had to stay calm. I was no good to her or myself if I went off the deep end.

  Instead, I focused my rage on who I suspected was responsible. Sigel. He’d been lying low, searching for a way to draw me out. When it hadn’t worked with Willow, he’d moved on to someone else—someone he thought was very important to me.

  In that moment, as my mind spun with out-of-control thoughts, I realized how much Alex did mean to me. She was more than just Willow’s teacher. In the small, stolen moments we had spent together, I’d come to care about her more than I’d ever expected. While I wanted her physically so fucking bad, it was deeper than that. I’d wanted her body all along, and this afternoon was just an example of how much. But there was more. I wanted to end Sigel for trying to take something from me I hadn’t yet gotten to claim.

  When I reached Alex’s street, I parked three houses down from hers. I didn’t know how many of Sigel’s men had her. After I killed the engine, I escaped off the driveway and started sprinting through the heavily tree-lined yards. At the corner of her yard, I ducked behind a bush to survey the scene. The streetlamp overhead gave enough light that I could see there was no car parked in Alex’s driveway. However, just down the street, a dark car sat outside a house with a FOR SALE sign in the yard.

  Keeping low to the ground, I hustled across the driveway. With the garage door down, I made my way around the side of the house, searching for another way into the garage or the house. I found a side door to the garage that was locked. Taking my wallet out of the back of my pants, I used one of the oldest tricks in the book to shimmy the lock open.

  I slipped inside the darkened garage, stepping lightly to avoid making any noise. I was halfway around the side of Alex’s car when the sound of struggling caused my chest to constrict. “You fucking cunt!” a man’s gruff voice shouted. When I got to the door, I peered inside. Rage burned within me at the sight of Alex bound, gagged, and unconscious. It took everything within me not to rush forward. But I had to keep my head and use reason in the situation. I’d come armed with only a gun, and anything that loud was going to alert a neighbor and the police. That was the last thing I wanted. I was going to take care of this fucker with my own hands.

  But all reasoning went out the window when the man pushed up Alex’s skirt, revealing her thighs. Before his hand could go any farther, I stormed through the door. The man whirled around. Before he had the chance to raise his knife to me, I landed two hard punches in his jaw and gut. The knife clattered to the floor. When he reached for it, the heel of my boot smashed down on his wrist, grinding the heel into the back of his hand. As he cried out in pain, I brought my leg up to kick him hard in the chin. He went spiraling back.

  I nailed him with two hard punches to the gut and then to the jaw. Blood spattered over my knuckles and onto my hands. I grabbed him by the hair and began slamming his face into the stove. When he finally slumped over, signaling I had beaten him unconscious, I released his hair and shoved him onto the floor.

  At the sound of a whimper, I whirled around. Alex must’ve woken up sometime while I was beating the scum who had dared to attack her. When I met her eyes, they were wide with fear. I took a few steps toward her and held up my hands. “Alex, it’s okay. It’s just me. No one is going to hurt you anymore.”

  When I reached for her, she shrieked and shifted away from me. I didn’t know what kind of
fucking shock she was in. I had expected her to fall into my arms. At that moment, Rev and Bishop, along with Case and Mac, came busting into the house from different entrances.

  “House and perimeter are clear,” Case informed me.

  “Good.”

  “So it was just that one fucker?” Mac asking, motioning to the man crumpled on the kitchen floor.

  “Yeah. Hopefully the piece of shit is down for a while.” Glancing back at Alex, I said, “But I don’t know about her.”

  “She in shock?” Mac asked.

  I nodded. “Won’t let me near her. I think it’s something about seeing me beating the hell out of the man.”

  Case nodded. “She’s spooked about you.”

  “Wash your hands and face,” Rev ordered. I almost told him to go fuck himself until I caught a glance at my reflection in the stainless-steel refrigerator. I realized then how I frightening I must look to her with blood spattered on my shirt and face, not to mention that my hands, all the way up to my elbows, were coated in it.

  With a nod, I stepped past him and made my way over to the sink. My feet slid in something, and I glanced down. “Son of a bitch! That fucker killed her dog.”

  At the mention of the departed dog, Alex whimpered. “I’m sorry, babe. I’m so fucking sorry,” I muttered over my shoulder. When she didn’t respond, I went on to the sink. I ripped my shirt over my head, wiping some of the blood off my arms. As I turned on the hot water, I craned my neck to watch what Rev was doing.

  Taking a knife from his pocket, he slowly approached Alex. “Alexandra, it’s Rev. Will you let me cut you down?”

  She stared at him with eyes like a wild animal that had been caged. But Rev didn’t back down. He kept inching closer and closer to her. “None of us are going to hurt you. I want to cut you down, so we can get you out of here and back to the compound. You’ll be safe there, and we’ll take good care of you.” Rev spoke evenly and in a soothing tone. Finally, it seemed to be getting through to Alex.