by Jadyn Chase
I got lost in the pool. The coy reappeared. It cocked its tail, hesitated, and then drifted under the nearest lily pad. It sidled in casual dreamy slowness down the length of the pond and eventually disappeared under the….
I stared. That fish swam under the wall and didn’t come out. Did I make a mistake? No, it really did swim under the wall. The water’s surface extended beneath the wall. The sun glistened on the surface and revealed a subtle pattern of current that left the garden for the outside world.
I maintained the same position. If that water could go under the wall, I could do the same thing. I closed my eyes. I didn’t need to see anymore. I knew now what I had to do.
6
Brayden
My eyes popped open and I stared into the darkness. Something didn’t feel right, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I listened. What I didn’t hear set my nerves on end.
I jerked upright and fell back when cold steel bit into my wrists. I wrenched around roaring in fury, but the cuffs stopped me. I gave them an extra hard yank, but they held just the same. That fucking little bitch cuffed me while I slept!
I made another dive to sit up and wound up pitching over onto my back. God damn fucking piece of shit! She cuffed my wrists above my head. The other set shackled my ankle to the chair leg. No matter how I fought, I couldn’t break free.
The kitchen light played over the couch where she no longer lay. Did she ever go to sleep? Did she just pretend until I fell asleep?
God damn you, Brayden! How could I be so stupid as to leave those cuffs lying around? I should have seen this coming. Going over everything I did wrong wouldn’t bring her back, though. I had to find her before Carlos found out.
First I had to get these fucking cuffs off. I could yank them until doomsday. That got me nowhere.
I forced myself to calm down and think. I had to get out of this room and fast. Every second carried her farther away where I wouldn’t be able to catch her. How could I do that?
If only…..Without sitting up, I dove deep into my soul and unleashed the dragon. It boiled out of my skin and erupted to gargantuan proportions. My human self went to sleep and the monstrous wild demon exploded to fill the whole room.
My limbs swelled to five times their size. The flimsy steel warped and buckled. The cuffs clattered to the floor and left me free, but I didn’t think twice.
The living room barely contained my huge body. I would have to break the roof off the building to get out of here and that would never do.
I shifted back in a flash. My rational mind reasserted itself and I thought fast. I rushed to the glass door and pulled it back. Of course it was unlocked. I showed her the fucking combination. I could never let Carlos know I made so many consecutive blunders. I let that little cunt get under my skin. She made me feel sorry for her and now I got to pay the consequences.
I stopped on the deck and listened. The fountain whispered to one side. She spent a lot of time sitting over there today. Then I heard it, an ever so faint glug of water burping in on itself. Of course. She must have noticed the drainage channel under the wall.
I made a few mistakes, but I wouldn’t make them again. She wasn’t in the garden, but that meant nothing. I didn’t need to stand around here thinking about it. I leaped into the air and took wing. I soared across the yard in seconds and landed on the wall. I perched there and trained my ears to hear her.
The defense system covered the expanse of shrubbery sloping down the hill to the road. She wouldn’t be there. She would have tripped the alarm by now if she was, and after what I told her about the machine guns, she would stay away from them. She was too smart to get caught.
That left the channel. She must have followed it all the way to the pump station behind the building. Shit! The water would lead her beyond the defense system where I couldn’t catch her.
I vaulted into the air and scanned my night vision across the ground. The channel glowed silver-black in the moonlight. I hovered over the pump station just in time to see her haul her soaking body out of the drink.
You foul little witch. I’ll teach you to fuck with me. I retracted my wings and stooped. She straightened up on the bank and wrung the extra liquid out of her hair. She glanced both ways and started to set off into the night when I plummeted out of the sky. I struck her hard and knocked her to the ground.
She screamed and wriggled over under my foot. I didn’t bother to shift. What the hell did I care if I scared the ever-loving piss out of her? I wanted to scare her. I wanted to put the fear of God into her so she understood once and for all who and what she was dealing with.
I closed my talons around her squirming body and levitated off the ground. I flew back to the house and landed on the deck. I couldn’t get through the door like this so I flung her inside and shifted again double-quick.
She staggered into the living room, pivoted, and made a headlong dash to break away. She bolted for the door and I caught her coming the other way. I strapped my arms around her, but she fought like a banshee. She kicked and bit and scratched and clawed trying to get around me and through me. “Let me go, Brayden! You can’t do this to me! You bastard! I swear I’ll kill you. Let me go! Get off me! You can’t hold me like this!”
I bent my head and gritted my teeth. “Get in there, you! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
I dug in my boots and slammed my hands against her to shove her inside. She stumbled and I slid the door closed behind me. She barreled back at me spitting and snarling, but I straight-armed her away while I got out my phone.
“Fuck you, Brayden!” she screeched. “You son of a bitch! Let me go!”
She stood off a few paces howling and baring her teeth. I held out my arm ready for another rush while I hastily tapped a code into my phone. The door lock clicked. She couldn’t get out now.
Her wide, staring eyes took in the whole scene. She hesitated before she made another blind charge. “Let me out of here, Brayden! You cocksucker!”
“Get off, you bitch!” I thundered. “Settle down! What the fuck are you trying to do—get yourself killed?”
“You can’t do this to me!” she hollered. “You kidnapped me! You’re holding me prisoner.”
“No one kidnapped you, you stupid fucking bitch!” I picked her up and bodily carried her to the couch. I slammed her down on the cushions with all my strength and loomed over her. I jabbed my forefinger in her face and let loose all the rage and frustration she incited in me. “What the fuck do you think is going to happen to you out there? Where do you think you’re going to go? Huh?”
She glared up at me and snarled through her teeth. “You piece of shit!”
I wound back my hand and stopped myself just in time. Christ, she made me so flaming mad I could tear her in half right now. “Will you stop and use the fucking brain in your head for once? If you go out there, The Desperados will track you down. You’d be dead within hours. This is the safest place for you. When are you gonna realize that?”
She narrowed her eyes, but she didn’t try to get up. She gritted her teeth and seethed in silent resentment. I threw up my hands and whirled away. What the fuck! If she wanted to play good cop, bad cop, we could do this little dance all fucking night.
I stormed across the room to the kitchen before the adrenaline caught up with me. The pure blank fear of losing her like that hit me like a freight train. I doubled over and propped my hands on the counter. I hung my head and willed my pulse to slow down.
My blood screamed in my veins. That was too close. I couldn’t let her get away from me again. Carlos would have my nuts on a platter if I lost her.
I couldn’t calm down. Here I thought I was making some progress getting through to her. She told me about her dad having that tattoo and now she pulled a stunt like this.
I went into the kitchen and leaned against the sink. My hands shook getting out my phone. The screen clock read, 3:30 AM. Just fucking great. Carlos would tear me a new one, but I had to report this. I nav
igated to FaceTime and pushed the button.
He appeared on the screen scratching his head and squinting in a darkened bedroom. “This better be fucking good. Do you know what time it is?”
“Sorry, Sir,” I began. “The bitch just tried to escape.”
“Did you get her? Is she all right?”
“She’s fine.” I had to take a deep breath to compose myself. “She’s here, but she compromised the security system. Can you send Logan out?”
“Yeah. I’ll send him out at eight o’clock tomorrow morning and we’ll be there at eleven to interrogate her about her father. We can deal with this then.” He gave a great yawn that split his head in half. “If you’ve got the situation under control, I’ll go back to sleep now.”
“Sure, man. Sorry to bother you.”
“It’s no bother. Thanks for telling me. Have a good night.”
He hung up. My chin sank onto my chest until I calmed down enough to face her. I marched into the living room to find her glowering at me. “Did you hear that?”
She didn’t answer. She scowled and hunched on the couch like a trapped animal. Her saturated hair dripped onto her shirt. The cotton revealed her bra through the drenched fabric. She made a puddle on the couch and her jaw trembled trying not to let her teeth chatter.
Christ, what a disaster! I stomped into the bathroom and got out two towels. I picked some clothes at random from the drawer and barged back to the living room. I held back from throwing them at her. “Here. Change your clothes. You’re making a mess.”
I tossed myself into my armchair and locked my eyes on her. I didn’t give a rat’s ass if I had to watch her strip naked. She wasn’t leaving the room to take a shit if I had anything to say about it.
She didn’t seem to care, either—not anymore. She ripped off her wet clothes and pitched them into a sodden heap on the carpet. She peeled off her jeans and panties, her tank top and bra and stood before me stark naked. She dried off and set to work tugging on the dry clothes.
I got a good eyeful of her in the meantime. She wasn’t half bad. Besides the bruises around her ribs and arms and back, I couldn’t see a single flaw. Her rosy round breasts bobbed when she moved and a trim little triangle of golden hair hid the secret cleft between her velvet thighs.
You ain’t never getting in there, Brayden, so don’t even think about it. I didn’t want to get in there. I hated her for what she did to me tonight. She threw all my efforts to make her comfortable back in my face. I wouldn’t bother in the future.
She got dressed and dumped the towels with the wet clothes. I took them to the laundry, put them in the machine, and went back to my chair. I got into position and fixed my eyes on her. I didn’t fuck around on my phone now. I just watched her with unflinching intent. Carlos told me not to let her out of my sight, and by God, I wouldn’t.
She flumped down on the couch and scowled right back at me. That’s right, girl. Sit in your own wet puddle ‘cuz you and me ain’t going anywhere for a good long while.
We were still sitting there when my phone chirped. I took it out and smiled at the screen. “Wonderful.”
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Logan waved to me through the basement camera. “My homeboy is downstairs reprogramming the keycode.”
A notification came up on the screen. I read the code, did a little mental gymnastics to commit it to memory, and deleted the message. End of story. She would never break out of here again.
After that, I relaxed some. I went to the kitchen and made breakfast. When I put the plate in front of her, she glared at me with a look that would freeze molten lava. “Don’t think I’ll forget this.”
“Don’t you worry,” I told her. “I sure won’t forget it. Now eat your breakfast. Carlos will be here in a few hours.”
Her gaze darted to the plate. “What does he want?”
“You heard him on the phone. He wants to ask you a few questions about your father.”
“I told you I don’t remember anything,” she growled.
“You remember what he looked like, right?”
She didn’t answer. I got my own plate from the kitchen, but I ate standing at the counter. I didn’t want to look at her rotten face. She screwed me over. She almost got me in hot water with Carlos. As far as I was concerned, she was my enemy. From the way she acted, she certainly considered me hers, too.
About ten o’clock, I got busy cleaning up the place ready for the big confrontation. I folded Morgan’s blanket and ignored her sulky expression. No more Mr. Nice Guy. We played it soft and that didn’t work. Now she got what she deserved.
The door buzzed open and Carlos entered, along with Kane, Cisco, and another man I didn’t know. That was odd because he wore a patched vest like the others and I knew all our members all over LA. He looked old—a lot older even than Carlos.
They filed into the living room. Carlos raised his eyebrows when he saw Morgan. “Good morning, young lady. You’re looking considerably better than the last time I saw you. I can see Brayden is good medicine for you.”
She humphed and her eyes flashed. “You can fuck him yourself, then.”
He only smiled. I shrank into the background and made myself scarce near the kitchen. This was his show, not mine.
He angled around next to the coffee table. “Brayden tells me you regained some memories of your father and that he had that tattoo on his forearm. Is that right?”
She bowed her head and inspected her fingernails. “Yeah. That’s right.”
“That’s wonderful,” he murmured. “I’m truly glad to hear it.”
Her head shot up. “Why is it wonderful? It’s terrible if you ask me.”
“It’s wonderful because it means you’re Los Diablos. You’re one of us. That means we can place you under our protection from The Desperados and anyone else who tries to harm you.”
“Why the fuck would I want that?” she fired back. “You say you’re putting me under your protection, but that’s just a nice way of saying I’m your prisoner. You’re holding me here against my will and that fucker over there is your jailor.”
She nodded toward me. My rage seethed out of my soul, but I bit it down. Carlos would handle this. He gazed down at her with fatherly affection. “Can you tell me what happened to your father?”
“No,” she mumbled. “I don’t remember.”
“In that case, maybe you could tell us who he was.” He took out a file folder and laid out six glossy photographs on the coffee table. Each one portrayed a man’s head, each with long black hair and piercing, chiseled features. “Was one of these men your father?”
The room fell silent. Everyone held their breath while she scanned the pictures. In half a second, she pointed to one in the top row. “That’s him.”
Carlos nodded and gathered up the pictures. “His name was Josiah Hunter and he was murdered twenty years ago. He was the only Diablo in California to wear that brand.”
“That doesn’t explain why she has it,” Kane put in.
“That’s true,” Carlos conceded.
The old man stepped forward. He leaned in and extended his hand to Morgan. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Cole. My name is Logan Melia. I belonged to our father’s old chapter in Albuquerque. I handled all the chapter’s finances. About two years before your father died, he contacted me and put all his property in trust. He named me his only trustee. When he died, he left no will, so the First New Mexico Bank still holds all his assets in trust. We never knew he had an heir, but now that we’ve found you, we can begin proceedings to transfer all his property to you. I do congratulate you, my dear. This is a great day for Los Diablos. Welcome home!”
She tried her best to glare at him, but his sparkly old eyes radiated such kindness and cheerful warmth that she ended up shaking his hand anyway. “Thank you. I don’t know what to say. I didn’t know he had any property at all.”
“None of us did,” Carlos told her. “We contacted his old chapter to say we’d
found his daughter. That was the first we knew that he left anything behind.”
“That still doesn’t explain her wearing his brand,” Kane interjected. “He served as Boss for twenty years and as a member for thirty. No one ever questioned his loyalty. He never would have branded his own child or anyone else that didn’t earn their place by right, and he sure as hell wouldn’t brand her on the shoulder like that. He held the patch sacred the same way we all do.”
Logan raised both hands. “That is all by the by. We will work out those details in time. For now, we can confirm her identity. We will go ahead with the legalities of transferring his property while you continue to unravel this mystery. Good morning, Ms. Cole.”
“Thank you,” she called after him.
Logan moved toward the door. Cisco drifted after him. Kane scowled down at her and I couldn’t blame him. She left way too many questions unanswered for my taste.
Carlos smiled that benevolent smile. She didn’t threaten him in the slightest. “Don’t worry, Morgan. We’ll get to the bottom of this, and as soon as we determine it’s safe for you to leave, you’ll be free to go. None of us has any desire to hold you here any longer than absolutely necessary.”
He rotated away. When he did, he caught my eye and gave me a significant nod. I sure as fuck had no desire to hold her here any longer than absolutely necessary. He said those words as much to me as to her.
7
Morgan
As soon as the Big Boss left, a crushing coldness seized me. I cowered in a ball and huddled my knees against my chest. I couldn’t get warm to save my life even though I wasn’t wet anymore.
I tried to escape and I failed. Brayden came after me in all his dragon badness. If I ever tried to break out of here again, the same thing would happen. I couldn’t defeat him. I couldn’t defeat any of them.