by Kay Maree
Movement in the corner of the room took her attention, she glanced over to see a large guy, not much older than her, standing and watching her. Lyric scooted back against the wall. He didn’t make any attempt to get closer to her, he just watched her with big eyes. The more she looked at the guy, she realized that he wasn’t the same as everyone else.
“Please let me go home. My father, he will give you whatever you need. Please just let me go home,” she begged.
The boy cocked his head to the side and took a step towards her. She bit her lip to stop herself from screaming. Her breathing quickened, he continued to step towards her in a lumbering walk. He crouched in front of her and reached out to touch her face. Lyric flinched back and closed her eyes. He stopped before touching her face. When she opened her eyes, she noticed the look of hurt he wore. It was then that she realized that the boy before her, had down syndrome.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Pitt,” he answered.
“How old are you Pitt?”
“I’m seventeen. Are you my girlfriend?” he asked.
Lyric shook her head and sighed, he was a boy. She wondered if he had been taken as well. She didn’t even know where she was, or who these people were. Lyric wanted to curl up in a ball and cry, but she couldn’t give up. She just hoped that her brother’s and father was looking for her.
“I’m not your girlfriend, but I’d like to be your friend, Pitt. My name is Lyric. I’m seventeen as well.”
Pitt smiled at her and took one of her hands in his. His hand was huge and enveloped her small hand.
“Friends,” he said with a big goofy smile that she couldn’t help but return.
The days blended into one another and Lyric soon couldn’t remember how long she had been held in that dark concrete box. Pitt was her one constant companion. The man who had taken her, she found out was named Gable, he was the president of a bike club called the Iron Horsemen and according to him, her father had taken something from him. Lyric tried to explain to Gable that her father wasn’t a thief, that he was just a simple mechanic trying to make ends meet. But her words fell on deaf ears.
Gable liked to dole out beatings along with one of his sons, Ace. Ace had been the guy who was with Gable when she was taken, and he was even more evil than his father. The way that he watched her, with lust, he terrified her. There was no rhyme nor reason for the beatings that she was inflicted. Some days they wouldn’t touch her, and then other days Gable or Ace would come in with their fists flying. The only thing she could be grateful for, was that neither man had attempted to rape her, she always wondered how long it would be before they did rape her, especially Ace.
CHAPTER FIVE
X
It had been three days since the girl had been dumped out the front of the club house. X called her the girl, because despite their research, they had no idea who she was. Nobody recognized her, she was a complete mystery. Her bruising had started to yellow and the swelling around her eyes eased. X didn’t know what was going on with him, but he found he couldn’t leave her side. The Doc tended to her during the day but left her in X’s care of a nighttime. He would lie on the floor and watch her until sleep stole him. Every morning when he woke, he found himself hoping for something, that she would open her eyes, murmur anything. But three days and still nothing.
Doc said that she was healing well, and being unconscious was the best thing for her, but the seed of worry continued to grow in X’s gut. Not knowing who she was, or where she came from unsettled him. X liked control, he liked to have all his i’s dotted and all his t’s crossed. He didn’t have room for chaos, because in his experience, chaos brought trouble. He knew that this girl was going to bring trouble down on him, but he just hoped he could get ahead of it first, so he was the offense rather than the defense. So far all they knew was that at some time she had been with the Iron Horsemen, and it was Pitt and possibly Hawk who dumped her at the Kingsmen’s club house.
That was a mystery. From everything that Hadley and Johnny, the two eldest members of the club told them, the fact that Pitt was even allowed out wasn’t normal. Pitt was born with down syndrome, Hadley believed it was because of inbreeding. However, Gable, his father, kept him locked up in the club house, the only time he was allowed out was under the supervision of Hawk and then it was only very short outings, to the grocery store for a food run. He was never given free reign. According to Hadley, Pitt was very trusting and talked to everyone, which is why Gable didn’t want him to be in public. There was a fear that their secrets would get told if Pitt wasn’t controlled.
X tried to think of a way that he could get in contact with Pitt. He had answers about the girl, he must have known her, in a sense he saved her. And it was that, that confused X even more. Why would he save her? Why protect her? There were so many unanswered questions that they made X start to feel physically ill.
“How is she this morning?” Doc asked as he came into the room.
X had not long woken and was sitting watching the girl. She was breathing as normal, her chest rising and falling under the blanket, her eye lids were still closed, and her lips slightly parted with every inhale.
“No changes,” he said rubbing his hand over his face, “Doc, what do we do if she doesn’t wake up? I mean how long can we expect her to be unconscious for, and what will she be like once she does wake up?”
Doc shook his head and sighed, as he reached over and gave X’s shoulder a small squeeze. “Ideally, she would be in a hospital, she would have scans of her brain to tell us the extent of her injuries, but I don’t have access to those things here. So, I can’t tell you what she is going to be like when she wakes up or when she will wake up. All her vital signs are good, her heart rate is strong, her blood pressure is stable, and she is breathing on her own well. She is hydrated now, and once she wakes, she will start to put on weight. But it’s going to be just a waiting game.”
“X, maybe we need to take her to the hospital,” Hadley said from the door.
She was holding a tub, with soap and a washcloth, Hadley had been washing the girl down every day, keeping her clean and making sure her wounds didn’t get infected.
“We can’t guarantee she will be safe there, if it was Pitt who dumped her, I can only assume that Gable doesn’t know. And for whatever reason, Hawk and Pitt took the opportunity to bring her here, where they knew she would be safe from their father,” X said watching as Hadley started to wipe down the girl’s hands and arms.
“Is that our problem though? If we take her to the hospital, tell the police what happened, let them keep her safe,” Hadley pleaded.
X frowned and shook his head angrily, “No,” he growled, “she stays here, for however long it takes, I refuse to take the chance that Gable or any of those other cunts will find her and take her back. I believe the reason Pitt dumped her here was to save her, and if that’s the case, then I’m going to save her.”
Hadley sighed and nodded her head, resigning to the fact that she wouldn’t be able to get X to budge on his opinion. The girl was now under his care, if he had to claim her to do so, then that’s what he would do. He wasn’t going to take the chance that what happened to Bree would happen to her as well.
CHAPTER SIX
Lyric
Her head felt like she was floating as the darkness around her began to get brighter. The voices that Lyric had been hearing while she was in the darkness, started to get louder.
“Why the hell would Pitt dump her here? Gable mustn’t know, he’d never allow that to happen,” a deep voice spoke.
Pitt? She remembered Pitt, she remembered Gable. Lyric shuddered at the thought of the damage that Gable did to her. He was cruel beyond anything she could imagine. He had taken her from her father, from her brothers, he insisted that they had something of his, he insisted that she was taken from them to pay for their sins. He beat her senselessly. He said he was training her; she was to become a brood mare. He really
did refer to her as animal stock. Lyric wouldn’t submit though, she couldn’t submit, she knew the minute she did he would rape her, and she be forced to carry the child of this cruel and horrible man.
Pitt though, such a beautiful soul, in a world that was too dark for him. He was treated just as harshly. Gable didn’t beat him like he did Lyric. It was almost like Gable was somewhat afraid of Pitt, afraid to push him too hard. So instead he locked him away for days on end, with no food and only a dirty bucket of used water that she had been washed with to drink. Lyric spent hours singing and talking with Pitt. He told her about his dreams, that one day he was going to be a doctor, he was going to help the sick and make people better again. His childlike quality warmed her heart and kept her fighting.
But where was she? Where had Pitt taken her? The darkness began to sink around her again as she thought back to the day before the darkness took over.
“Wake up girl,” Gable growled in her ear.
Lyric’s eyes shot open and she scuttled back against the wall, Gable sneered down at her in the darkness, his yellow teeth bared in a wolf like snarl. Slowly he shook his head and sighed.
“You are never going to submit, are you?” he growled.
“No,” Lyric answered, her voice strong as she snapped the one-word answer.
There were days that she thought it would be better if she did just submit, if she just gave him what he wanted, but she couldn’t do it. The beatings were bad enough, but she couldn’t imagine how much worse it would be to have to let him have sex with her. She involuntarily shuddered at the thought of it. She was still a virgin, even at seventeen she felt like she was behind the other girls her age. A lot of her friends had already lost their virginity, but she was pleased to hold onto it. Lyric wasn’t waiting until marriage, but she didn’t want to just throw it away for some boy who would dump her after their first time. So, the thought of Gable taking that piece of her body, filled her with horror.
Gable growled and snagged his fist in her hair, pulling Lyric’s face close to his. “Listen bitch, I’m tired of you, I’m tired of your attitude and the way you think you’re fucking princess. But I’m here to tell you, that you are fucking nothing, where is your father hmm?”
Lyric frowned and shook her head. She had wondered that. Where was her father or her brothers, surely if they knew where she was, they wouldn’t have left her here to rot? Gable seemed to like the look on her face as he chuckled and clicked his tongue.
“Your father gave you to me. I bet you didn’t think that was going to happen. I bet you thought he was going to come in here on a shining white horse like some knight and save you from the big bad ogre,” Gable laughed, “instead, he said I could keep you as payment.”
Lyric shook her head, her eyes widening. Her father would never do that, he called her his little girl, no matter how big she got. He loved her, he always said he would protect her. Gable had to be lying.
“No, that’s not true,” she growled.
Gable laughed a bellowing laugh as he threw his head back. “Stupid princess bitch,” he growled before curling his hand into a fist and slamming it into her cheek bone.
Pain spread through her face and she saw stars begin to float behind her eyes, before the darkness had a chance to fully claim her, Gable took her by the shoulders and slammed her into the wall. Lyric’s head ricocheted off the wall, her knees grew weak and she started to lose balance. Darkness crept into the corners of her vision as her eyesight blurred. The last thing she remembered was Gable’s fist slamming down into her face again.
Lyric tried to call out to the man’s voice that she heard speak. Who was he? And how did he know Pitt and Gable? The floaty feeling in her head started again, it felt like her whole body was starting to drift, her arms and legs became light, as the darkness began to ebb away.
Lyric blinked open her eyes, everything was blurry, and she could hear movement around her. Her breathing began to come out in sharp pants as panic started to take over, she blinked her eyes rapidly, trying to focus on anything to let her know where she was.
“Hey, hey now, come on, you’re alright,” a gentle woman’s voice cooed.
Lyric hadn’t seen another woman in her whole time with Gable, maybe she hadn’t been hearing things when she heard that Pitt had dumped her somewhere. Lyric blinked again and concentrated on slowing her breathing. Inhaling and exhaling slowly. Her vision started to clear, and she looked up at a weathered red head staring back down at her. The woman’s green eyes were filled with compassion and her face was kind. A sob escaped Lyric’s lips. She hadn’t seen a friendly person other than Pitt in god knows how long. She didn’t have any idea of how long she had been held captive by Gable, she knew it would have to have been weeks if not months.
“Come now, sweetheart, you are safe here, no one will touch you,” the woman spoke gently, “you just let it all out.”
Lyric nodded her head, as forceful sobs spilled from her body, tears trickled down over her face. Could she believe that she was safe? If she was no longer with Gable, then she had to be safe right?
“Where am I?” Lyric asked.
The woman took Lyric’s hand in hers and patted it gently, much like a grandmother might, “you are in the club rooms of the Kingsmen. A man named Pitt and we believe his brother Hawk, dumped your body out the front of the club rooms four days ago, do you remember your name?”
She’d been in the darkness for four days, and she was no longer with Gable. Pitt had saved her, but how she didn’t know. Lyric knew that he was close to his brother Hawk, he talked about him all the time. Pitt said he hated all his other brothers because they were mean to him, she never saw any of the others, apart from the day that they had taken her from her father’s house. However, Pitt loved Hawk and it seemed Hawk was just as fond of Pitt. He would often join them and sneak in a packet of cards. He begged Lyric to give in to Gable, but she couldn’t do it.
“My name is Lyric, I’m seventeen years old, I think, I don’t know how long I’ve been gone for,” she said.
The lady gave her a warm smile and nodded her head, “my name is Hadley, I’ve been washing you and caring for you along with Doc, who really is a doctor,” she chuckled, “and Maverick, or X as he is known.”
Lyric’s eyes widened she didn’t like the idea that she had been unconscious and vulnerable while a man helped care for her. Hadley seemed to sense her panic and shook her head, squeezing Lyric’s hand.
“Only I cleaned you and cared for your hygiene, Doc made sure your wounds were healing and X only made sure no one came after you. I promise you were safe here; no one took advantage of you and no one will while you are here. Can you tell me how you came to be in Pitt’s care?”
Lyric sighed and nodded her head, “Gable, and one of his son’s, Ace, took me from my home. Gable said that my father had something of his, so took me as ransom. But then he told me that my father sold me to Gable. He was going to use me as a brood mare he said, because he needed new blood to make the family stronger,” she explained shuddering at the thought.
Hadley frowned but nodded her head, “did anyone touch you, I mean, inappropriately, you know, sexually?”
“No,” Lyric answered, “he said I had to submit to him before he would bring his sons in, because I wasn’t trusted, but I refused to submit. On the day that he knocked me out, he was going to rape me whether I submitted or not, but he punched me, and I fell unconscious.”
Hadley hummed in the back of her throat and frowned, “are you a virgin?”
Lyric’s eyes widened and panic began to creep into her mind again as she nodded her head. Had something happened to her while she was unconscious, had he raped her after he knocked her out? Suddenly Hadley stood and went to the door, swinging it wide open. On the other side she saw two men standing. One was enormous, he filled almost the entire doorway. He had black hair that hung down over his shoulders, his eyes were the darkest brown she had ever seen, almost black. Hi
s muscles showcased the tattoos that ran up and down his arms and creeped out the top of his shirt along his neck. The other man was an older man, with greying hair, he was tall but not as tall as the other, and he was quite slim. He wore dark framed glasses and smiled down at Hadley.
“Doc, can you come in here for a minute please?” Hadley asked.
The older man gave a nod and turned to the other before clearing his throat, “sure thing, just me?”
Hadley nodded, “X can come in soon.”
Doc nodded his head and followed Hadley back into the room, while she shut the door, with the man named X on the other side.
“Hi there, you’ve been through a right rough time, haven’t you? I’m glad to see you awake though,” Doc said, “I’m Jacob, but everyone calls me Doc. I’m a doctor. I’ve stitched up the few wounds you had on your face and head, and gave you some fluids, you were very dehydrated.”
“Yes, I wasn’t allowed to have food or water very often,” Lyric explained.
Doc frowned but nodded his head, “I heard what you told Hadley, about where you had been,” he said as he turned to Hadley, “what did you need me to check?”
“I want to see if she was raped while she was unconscious. We don’t know what happened once Gable knocked her out, so I just want to make sure he didn’t assault her that way as well,” Hadley explained.
Doc nodded again and sighed, “I’m sorry Lyric, I know that this will be very uncomfortable and awkward for you. I heard you tell Hadley that you were a virgin, which means if you were raped your hymen will no longer be intact. I didn’t notice any evidence of sexual assault however, I must admit I wasn’t looking for it, as your body was in such damage, that I wanted to get the worst fixed up first.”
“What do you need to do?” she asked licking at her dry lips, that were cracked and still a little bit swollen, from obviously being punched.