by Naomi West
That wasn’t supposed to happen
They hauled me up and off the floor, each man clutching one of my arms while I flailed about. They were tying a gag around my neck as I screamed and struggled to break free but I was making it as difficult as I could for them. Only when they began tying me up, binding my hands and feet together, did I start to feel the panic set in. They were so much bigger and stronger than me, how could I ever escape?
All I wanted to know was what they wanted from me, but I couldn’t even speak anymore, just grunted and made some incoherent noises through the gag.
I was lifted up into a pair of arms and kicked my legs out in vain, trying to get loose even though I knew there was no point. The man smacked me mildly on the side, not as hard as the other guy, but enough for me to understand and stop my squirming. I’d save my energy for escape later.
“Got a little fight in her, aye Dex?” One of the men leered.
“Wonder if we have time to teach this one a lesson?” another man responded.
I froze solid in the man’s arm, going limp so quickly that he almost dropped me.
“Look at that, I think she likes that idea,” he taunted.
“Hurry up, boys! We’re late!” The third man shouted and I thanked whatever god was up above for saving me just in time.
The doors to the back of the van were opened and I was thrown carelessly inside where I rolled once before hitting the inner wall with a thud. Just before they shut the doors in on me, I caught sight of the logo on one of the men’s jacket.
Nightmare MC.
My heart immediately sank and I tried to slow my panting despite how restricting the gag was. If the Nightmares were here, then that meant taking me was revenge. Revenge against Rocky.
Something had gone wrong with the hit on Steele, there was no mistaking it now. Maybe they’d made a mess of it and word got back to the club. Maybe Rocky wasn’t even alive anymore. Maybe he was tied up somewhere just like I was, struggling to get free. If the latter were true, then maybe I was going off to meet him now.
There was no use in panicking I reminded myself. Everything would be just fine. Think happy thoughts. My self pep talk was slowly starting to fail, leaving me cold and shaking on the cold metal as the van sped through turns and knocked me from side to side.
I couldn’t hold back the sob that emerged from my chest at that moment. I was tied up and alone in the back of the van, heading off to god knows where with nobody coming to rescue me.
It was going to be a long ride.
Chapter Twenty
Rocky
I made it back to the shop in record time, flinging the front door wide open as I raced in.
“Daria?”
Something put me immediately on guard though I couldn’t identify it straight away. Maybe she’s have gone home to the hotel, but I seriously doubted it.
“Daria, are you here?”
Surely things weren’t usually so chaotic in the shop. It looked like there had been some kind of scuffle, things knocked over and not in the right place, tools seemingly thrown aside. I was usually pretty messy around the shop but Daria wasn’t, and this wasn’t the usual kind of mess I was accustomed to.
Panicking would do no good, I reminded myself and thought about where next to look. The clubhouse seemed the next logical place though most of me was begging not to go there. Cameron would be there, and I was still grappling with the idea that he was not the man I thought he was. It couldn’t have all been a lie though. Surely some part of him was still my uncle.
He’d promised not too long ago to protect Daria with everything he had and I could only hope that he’d kept at least one of his promises. It took me minutes to reach the clubhouse, not wanting to waste any valuable time if there was any trouble.
I had to admit that I stood outside for several moments before I worked up the courage to go in.
“This is about Daria,” I said to myself. “Just do it.”
I stiffened my shoulders and marched in. “Cameron?” I called out.
“Rocky. How was the meet?” I looked over at Cameron, standing there as confident as ever and almost burst right then and there.
“We were completely ambushed. Michael snitched on us, we were no match for them. Garcia is dead.”
The lack of emotion on his face caused the rage I had tried so hard to supress to rise up within me in a tidal wave and threaten to choke me.
Daria first. She’s more important. I would get my revenge on Cameron soon enough, but only after I found out what had happened to Daria.
“Garcia is dead? No shit,” he said.
“Yeah. Have you seen Daria?” I asked suddenly. I didn’t have time for any bullshit.
One look at his face told me it wasn’t good news.
I ran through a mental list of possibilities of what was wrong. Was she hurt? Did she get into an accident? Why hadn’t Cameron told me as soon as I’d arrived?
The last question could be answered with a simple ‘it’s Cameron’ but I was still concerned over Daria and where she could’ve gotten disappeared.
“Now don’t you go getting crazy about this, okay?”
Christ. Now I knew something was the matter.
“About what? What happened? Is she okay?” I fired off my questions one after the other, my rage building up as I advanced on Cameron.
“Tell me!” I roared. There was nothing more infuriating than being in a situation that was dire and having someone like Cameron try to stop you or slow you down just to prove his point.
“Take a breath and step back,” Cameron said calmly. “You shouldn’t get worked up over this.”
There was very little that could convince me at that point to stop my hands from going to his neck and squeezing the life from him. If it weren’t the fact that only he knew about what had happened to Daria, he’d already be dead. Instead of choking him like I’d prefer, I lifted my hands to clutch the collar of his shirt, pulling him up towards me.
“Tell. Me. Now.” I enunciated in a carefully controlled voice.
Cameron sighed but complied.
“They took her.”
“What do you mean?” I was a hairsbreadth away from exploding.
“The Nightmares took her.”
All the anger immediately drained from me and was replaced with a freezing shot of fear. I let go of Cameron immediately, and he righted his shirt with a huff. How could this have happened? How could I have let her be taken? I should’ve anticipated an attack and sent her somewhere safe. Instead, I’d knowingly left her in the shop, unprotected and alone. She was the perfect target for a kidnapping so I wasn’t sure why I was as shocked as I was.
“We have to get her back,” I said with determination. “We don’t know what they’ll do to her.”
Scenes of Daria beaten up and bloodied, lying motionless on a cold floor flashed before my eyes and immediately strengthened my resolve.
“Let’s head out now.”
I was grouping Cameron with me. As far as I was concerned, there was no way he would get out of this without helping. The only thing keeping him alive was the fact that Daria was gone and I knew I might need his help.
“We can’t just storm the clubhouse. That’ll be a disaster. Our men won’t get one foot inside the door before we get blown to pieces. They’ve got more firepower than us, and the advantage of being in the clubhouse. Is Jason still alive?”
“Shot in the arm, but alive.”
“We can’t have a full out war with them with Jason still alive. If he wasn’t then we’d have a chance while they’re still scrambling to work without him.”
Of course, it would all come back to Jason. I could see now how eager Cameron was to get rid of him, no matter what the reason, but I had to admit he was right. I grudgingly agreed with Cameron, feeling more helpless than I’d ever been.
“Are you going to call Corinne?”
“Yeah,” I sighed. That was one conversation I wished I could put off forever. “I’l
l call her.”
Dialling Corinne’s number, a strong pulse of fear went through me, one that almost overpowered the guilt that had been riding me ever since I woke up this morning.
Corinne would kill me.
There was no way this phone conversation would end in anything else. I made a promise to Corinne that I would protect her baby girl and I didn’t. Not even close. In fact, I may as well have served her up to the Nightmares on a silver platter.
It wasn’t supposed to go this way. None of this was supposed to go this way. How was I supposed to tell Daria’s mom that her daughter was taken and may or may not be alive at this very moment. Especially after we’d spent so long trying to convince her that there was no place safer than the protection of the club.
Cameron coughed loudly and stared pointedly at the phone in my hands. “Having trouble, son?”
“I’m not your son,” I ground out, turning on my heel and going to a quieter location in one of the other rooms. I couldn’t deal with him right now.
I held my breath waiting for Corinne to pick up.
Come on. Please pick up. Please pick up.
“Hello?” Corinne said.
My mouth was open and ready to form words but no sound was coming out. I felt like a goldfish opening and closing my mouth to no avail.
“Hello?” she repeated, a little impatiently this time.
“Corinne.” My voice was low and guttural, as if I’d been swallowing glass my entire life.
“Rocky? Is that you?”
“Yeah it’s me. Corinne, I—”
“Rocky Weston,” she interrupted. “You better not be calling to tell me Daria is hurt!”
My silence spoke volumes, as did her deep gasp of breath and the hitch in her voice when she spoke next.
“What happened?”
“She was at the workshop. I wasn’t there, she was waiting for me. The Nightmares took her.”
I kept it as short as I could, knowing Corinne wouldn’t stand for anything else.
“They took her?” she said in disbelief.
“Yes.”
“I’ll be over in ten.”
The line went dead and I had a strong urge to throw the phone at the wall. Not now, I reminded myself. Later, when Daria was back, alive and well.
###
Corinne stormed into the clubhouse like a raging bull less than ten minutes later.
“Cameron!” she shrieked.
“Listen Corinne,” he began but was interrupted by a crack as Corinne smacked him in the face. His head went flying with the force of her hand, but he didn’t make a noise, turning back to her as he worked out his Jaw.
He held up his hands in a placating gesture but she was having none of that.
“What did you tell me?”
He didn’t answer and Corinne grew visibly enraged.
“What did you tell me?” she demanded again.
“That she’d be safe. That we’d protect her.”
“Oh, so we’re clear that you lied? You swore she’d be okay.”
“Corinne, I didn’t think that—”
“Your brother would be ashamed,” she said in a low voice. I was beyond disappointed when Cameron didn’t even flinch.
“We all know there’s only one way out of this,” she continued. “No, it’s true. They’ll torture her and then kill her just to teach you a lesson.”
“You can’t be suggesting what I think you are,” Cameron said.
“There’s no other choice. And you won’t be stopping me. I think you’ve done enough.”
“I don’t understand,” I interrupted. “What are you planning?”
“I’m going after her.”
“No!” I shouted. Daria would never forgive me if anything happened to her mother. They didn’t have the world’s best relationship but I refused to let happen to her what had happened to me.
“I won’t let you.” I took a step towards her even as she took two steps back.
“It’s the only way.”
###
Corinne
I snagged a set of keys from the rack by the door and headed to the club garage. Considering what I was doing, I doubted they’d fret over a stolen bike.
I sped off into the night, racing against time in an effort to save Daria. She was exactly like me, getting herself into trouble at every turn, involving herself with the wrong people, never listening to her mother. I scoffed. It was like I had been reincarnated into her.
I’d only ever wanted one thing for my daughter, only one thing. And that was to be safe and happy and away from the harm that the club would inflict. I’d been through this too many times and it killed me to know that I didn’t even fear death anymore. I was too scarred, too tainted, and too used to this life.
Daria deserved better. Daria deserved everything anyone could ever give her.
I knew she loved Rocky, I really did. And I knew he loved her too, more than anything. Ever since they were kids I’d known they had a deeper connection than anyone would ever understand. I didn’t mind. I knew he would keep her safe. And as much as I hated it, I knew I couldn’t place the blame on him. He’d do everything to protect her if he could.
No, it was Cameron that I blamed. Only him. I’d known my whole life that I could never trust him but Billy Weston had always had a soft spot for his younger brother. “he’s just a kid,” he’d say to me when I told him how worried I was. “Just a kid trying to find his way.”
But now it was years later and he hadn’t found his way. He’d let my daughter be taken into the hands of the enemy and he’d let Rocky get so caught up in his own head that he didn’t even realize what he was missing in the world around him.
Daria would never forgive me for doing this; I wasn’t stupid. But I hoped in time she’d understand and maybe realize that the club would never be worth it. I knew that was a pipedream though. She would stay with Rocky for life. I’d accepted it but it didn’t mean I liked it. Rocky would give her everything and he’d never let her get hurt again. If only he discovered his uncle wasn’t the man everyone thought him to be.
I pulled up at the Nightmare clubhouse and took a deep breath to calm myself down. This was it. This was the time. Nothing mattered now except getting Daria out alive and well and back to Rocky.
A prospect met me at the entrance to the club but I didn’t even spare him a glance.
“Move. I’m speaking with Jason.”
He sputtered a little but let me in regardless. If I was in a better mood, I’d give Jason some free advice to get rid of this useless one.
He pointed me in the right direction and I followed a long corridor down until I came to a door that I assumed had Jason behind it.
Not giving myself a moment to debate, I flung the door open and strode in like I owned the place.
There were three men in the room. Jason in the middle on an armchair, a bloody bandage wrapped around his bicep, and two other men I didn’t recognize. Probably his enforcers.
“Jason!” I greeted in a sickly-sweet voice. I’d met him a few times, and though he was ruthless, he was also fair. I knew he’d go for what I had planned.
“Corinne Barrett? Is it really you?” he smiled back, just as fake as mine had been.
“You have my daughter. I want her back.” I cut right to the chase, not wanting to waste any time with pleasantries.
Jason chuckled deeply and exchanged a look with the other two men with him.
“And why would we want to do that?” he asked.
“Please, Jason. I’m begging you. Spare Daria and take me instead.”
Jason looked reflective. “You would be willing to exchange your life for hers?”
I was appalled. “I’m her mother, of course I would.”
“Not every parent would, I assure you.”
I would do anything for Daria, he would soon understand that.
“I’m offering my own life in exchange. An eye for an eye, it’s the biker way. You know it is. Daria has no part in
any of this. Let her go and take my life instead. Please.”
Jason lifted his eyebrows in contemplation, looking to his men again.
After a pause, he turned back to me. “I respect your courage, Daria. I always have. You would’ve done well with the Nightmares, I don’t know why you got caught up with the Satan’s Wings.”