“Just this,” I say. Once she has the gun loaded, she stands up and tucks it in the back of her pants, then pulls her shirt down to cover it up. I guess we’re going for stealth mode.
Dani takes the knife from me and turns it over, examining it. “This is actually perfect,” she says, then looks around the bedroom again for something. Whatever she was looking for, she must have found it because she comes up to me and tells me to sit down on the bed. I follow her instructions, not understanding what she’s doing, but just going with it.
Once I’m sitting down, she moves to push up my dress. “Whoa, what the hell,” I say, but she holds up her hand to stop me.
“Look, when the only weapon you have is a knife and you’re a woman, you need to hide it in a place that is easily accessible, but not seen. Since you’re wearing a dress, this is actually perfect. I’m going to make a holster for the knife out of the elastic I cut out of a pair of sweatpants. We’ll tie it to the inside of your thigh. Your dress will cover it, but if you need it, you’ll be able to make a grab for it.” I just nod my head, even though I’m reeling inside from what she just said. I can’t even imagine having to use a knife to protect myself. I almost want to ask her for the gun, but since I wouldn’t even know how to use it, I’m kind of shit out of luck and stuck with what I’ve got.
She takes the elastic and starts wrapping it around my thigh. I feel weird having her up my dress, but if this is what it takes to make sure we are both safe, then I’ll deal with it.
When she’s done, she sits back on her heels. “Okay, so it’s already in a sheath so you won’t have to worry about it cutting you. I’ve placed it upside down on the inside of your right leg. You’re right handed, right?” I’m so confused, but when I nod, she continues. “Good. So, the way it’s placed, it will be hidden, but easier for you to grab if you need it. Whether you’re sitting or standing, if you need it, just reach your right hand under your dress and pull down. The Velcro holds the knife in place, but when you pull down, the knife will come out.”
I shake my head, trying to digest everything she just said. “Wait, wouldn’t it be better to have it on my other leg if I’m right handed?” I ask. This is so new to me, but I would think that if I was going to grab a weapon, I’d want to grab across my body, right?
“No. It will be easier to grab it from the same side of the hand that you’ll be using. Just think of it this way; if you were grabbing a gun from a hip holster, you’d have it on the same side of the hand you’re going to shoot with, right?” Oh, I guess she has a point. Oh my God, I don’t think I can do this! She must see the doubt on my face. “Sara, look at me. We are going to be fine. This is just precaution. Just remember, if something happens, look to me. I’ll help you through this.” I nod, but don’t feel so confident.
“How are you so calm? And where the hell did you learn how to hide a knife like that?” I always knew Dani was a badass, but now I know for sure. She’s got the looks, the attitude, and the knowledge and skills that make up a total badass. I’m glad she’s on my side.
She gives me a shy smile. “Well, after what happened to me, I made sure that I knew how to take care of myself and make whoever tried to hurt me again pay with their life. I know that sounds wrong, but sometimes that’s what it takes.” I look at her in shock. She almost seems like she’s talking from experience.
“Have you ever had to use these skills?” I’m not sure if I really want to know, but I think right now I need to. Maybe knowing if she’s been in a similar situation, it will make me feel better.
At first, she seems unsure if she should answer me, but she must come to the same conclusion I just did. I need to know. “Yes. A couple of months ago, just after Zane came back into my life, I was taken by a guy that had gotten a little handsy with me one night we were at a bar down the street from the shop. That night, I beat his ass, but when he came back for me, he was prepared.” She says quietly.
“What happened when he took you? Was Blaze able to find you in time before something happened?” This time, she looks directly in my eyes when she answers.
“He got there before anything bad could happen, yes, but I had to do it myself. You have to understand, Sara, I was raped years ago, before I came here.” I gasp at her confession, but don’t have a chance to say anything before she’s talking again. “I felt like I was back there for a minute and I wanted him to pay. I knew that he could just do it to someone else and I wasn’t going to let him do that. He had to pay.”
“Did you hurt him?” Surprisingly, I’m angry for her. I hope she did something that would teach him a lesson. I never knew that she was raped before she came to California, but I think I always knew from the way she talked that it happened, or something just as bad. Hearing that someone else took her and tried to do the same thing, I would do the same thing, I think.
“I didn’t just hurt him, Sara. I killed him.” I’m shocked, but it makes me happy and I feel so much better knowing that she was able to make him pay for what he wanted to do, what someone else did do to her.
I pull her towards me and give her a hug, even though she doesn’t seem upset. Shit, maybe I’m the one who needed the hug. “I’m glad you were able to protect yourself, Dani, and I’m proud of you too.” She seems surprised by that statement, but then she smiles.
“Thanks, Sara. I was a little worried you would look at me differently if you knew about my past,” she says almost sadly.
“I could never think badly about you. You are a fighter, Dani. You went through something that I don’t think if it happened to me, I would have been able to come back from. You fought and you survived. I’m honored to call you my friend.”
She almost looks like she’s going to cry, but then we hear a knock on the door. We look at each other, not sure of what we should do.
“Dani? Sara? Open up, it’s me.” Trixie says through the door. Dani looks at me with confusion, but she walks to the door anyway. “Where’s Louie?” she asks Trixie, still not opening the door.
“He’s tying up the guy who tried to break in. He told me to tell you that it’s safe, but that he wanted us all to stay in Mack’s room until he can get the others back here.” Dani reluctantly opens the door for her.
Trixie walks past Dani, visibly shaking.
“What happened?” Dani says as she closes the door behind her and locks it again, then looks to where Trixie is standing in the middle of the room. I’m still sitting on the bed. We almost look like we’re playing a bad game of pickle or keep away, except we aren’t trying to keep anything away from her.
I see Trixie wrap her arms around herself, trying to stop the shaking, but I don’t move to get closer. I guess I’m still having a hard time being nice to her, even in a situation like this. Dani seems to be thinking the same thing, but knowing her, she’ll take point since she seems to have a better understanding of bad things going down around her.
“I was so scared. Louie had me stay behind him, but I couldn’t stop shaking. I wanted to ask if I could just come back here with you guys, but I knew if there was anything I could do to help him, I needed to do it. It was the right thing to do,” Trixie says, looking down at the ground, acting almost shy or something about what she just revealed. “We could hear the guy in the kitchen. It sounded like he was searching for something, maybe a weapon, I don’t know. Louie told me to be ready and handed me a gun. I tried to relay through my eyes that I had no idea what to do with a gun, but I don’t think he understood, because the next thing I knew, he was barging into the kitchen.” She pauses for a second and I can tell when she continues that she’s crying, though she’s looking at Dani and completely ignoring me. Fine by me. “Louie sprang into action, but the guy was fast. He was able to knock the gun out of Louie’s hand and knock him to the ground. That’s when he spotted me. I just froze. I was holding the gun out but I couldn’t move,” she’s crying harder now. Dani moves a little closer to her and puts her hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, it’s okay.
It’s over now,” she says soothingly to Trixie.
Trixie nods her head, but can’t seem to stop the tears. “I know, I know. I just can’t get the look in that guys eyes out of my head. He was going to kill me, I just knew it, and I couldn’t do anything about it.” She’s almost hysterical now, so Dani takes another step before pulling Trixie in to hug her tightly. Before I know it, Trixie pushes Dani away. I’m stunned. Why would she do that? But I don’t have to question it for long. Dani suddenly holds her hands up in surrender and that’s when I see that Trixie has a gun and is pointing it at Dani. What the fuck? Did she take that from her?
“Don’t fucking move, bitch,” Trixie snarls at Dani. I stand up out of shock, but that only causes Trixie to turn so she can see Dani and me at the same time. I look to Dani, not sure what is going on and what we should do. What the fuck is Trixie doing?
Dani gives me a look and shakes her head slightly, but it’s enough that I see it. She doesn’t want me to do anything. Fuck! I completely forgot I had that knife! Why didn’t I do something when I had the chance, when Trixie was facing Dani with her back to me? Stupid, Sara.
“Move,” Trixie says as she waves the gun between Dani and me.
Dani laughs, “But you just told me not to move. Make up your mind, would ya?” She slowly moves towards me, but when she gets close enough, Trixie lashes out by hitting Dani on the head with the gun.
“NO!” I yell, moving forward to catch Dani as she falls forward, but Trixie points the gun at me.
“Uh uh,” she says.
I look on in horror as Dani falls to the ground, unconscious.
Trixie just stands there, smiling evilly down at Dani’s unconscious body on the floor, then looks at me. “Bitch had it coming.”
I hear a knock at the door and watch Trixie stiffen. Louie! Thank God, but then I see Trixie relax as she goes to answer it. Why would she open the door after what she just did to Dani? Louie is going to kill her. It’s not like I’m not happy about that, but is she fucking stupid?
When the door opens, the small bit of hope I had dies a quick death. “Miss me, sweetheart?” Rick says.
I can’t fucking believe this. I look from him to Trixie. “You were working with him this whole time?” I ask, scared of what is going to happen now. Dani’s passed out, Toby is gone and Louie… God, Louie! I don’t even know if he’s okay. Did Rick kill him or just hurt him enough that he wouldn’t be able to stop him?
“For someone who thinks she’s smart, you are pretty fucking stupid,” Trixie sneers at me. Is this bitch for real? Does she even hear herself right now?
Rick walks further into the room, closer to me, so I back up as far as I can. When I feel the bed behind me, I fall back. “What’s the matter, Sara? Surprised that I was able to get past your new boy toy?” Rick asks with a sickly sweet smile on his face. I look from him to Trixie, then to Dani. What the fuck am I supposed to do?
“What? Now that you don’t have that bitch to fight your battles for you, you got nothing to say?” he says as he walks closer to me. I stay quiet. I can’t afford to say anything right now. In the past, whenever he was like this, if I said anything at all, he’d lash out. I need to be conscious if I’m going to get Dani and myself out of this mess.
Then a thought comes to me. Maybe if I can stall him for long enough, either Louie will wake up and be able to come to our rescue, or the rest of the guys will know that it was just a ruse and come back to make sure everything is all right, but before I can try to put this plan in action, Rick takes my chance away.
“That’s okay, I like you better quiet anyway,” he says, then he takes the gun I didn’t even see him holding and brings it hard across my face. I feel a sharp pain in my eye socket, then everything goes black.
CHAPTER 19
Toby
When we pull up outside the club, I know something’s not right. No one is waiting for us outside, and that’s not unusual, but for some reason, I thought for sure with Ryan, the prospect, inside holding a hostage, there would be someone outside. There aren’t even any cars in the parking lot. The only thing that stood out was not one motorcycle, but two, parked around the club; one by the side door, and one in a lone parking spot within the parking lot.
Killing the engines, we all get off our bikes and cautiously head towards the front door. I pull out my gun, not wanting to be surprised by anything, when suddenly the front door to the club opens.
I point my gun at the guy. At first, I don’t recognize him. I only know that it’s not Ryan. Then, when we got closer, I realize it’s a brother who is a nomad that must have come in to help us out with the situation. “Tyke, what the hell are you doing here?” Mack asks, recognizing him as well.
When we get right in front of him, Mack extends his hand for a handshake, then engulfs him in a one shoulder hug. “Mack, good to see ya, brother. I was just getting ready to call you. Seems we have a situation here,” Tyke says before motioning us inside.
“Yeah, that’s why we’re here. One of our prospects called to inform us that the guy we’ve been looking for was here. He’s supposed to be holding him for us inside.” It takes me a while for my eyes to adjust to the low lighting inside, but once I do, I see a man tied to a chair in the middle of the empty room.
Thinking it’s Rick in the chair, I move to step forward, but Tyke puts his hand on my shoulder, stopping me. “That’s not who you think it is.” I look at him, trying to figure out what’s going on.
“Why don’t we go sit down and I’ll explain,” he says, then leads us to a table off to the side. We are at a better angle now and can see clearly that the man tied to the chair is indeed not Rick, but instead, our prospect, Ryan.
“What the fuck is going on,” Mack growls out, obviously seeing our own prospect tied up.
Tyke lets out a long sigh before telling us what happened. “I just got into town, thought I’d stop in for a beer before making my way to the clubhouse. I was coming out of the bathroom when I noticed your prospect walking down the hall looking nervous as shit. I was going to ask what was going on and offer my help, but I could tell there was something going on that wasn’t right, so I followed him. I stayed in the shadows so he couldn’t see me, but I had a clear view of him and could hear him. He kept looking at his phone, almost like he was waiting for something. It wasn’t long before his phone went off. After looking at his phone for a couple seconds, I assume looking at a message, he put his phone to his ear, making a call to who I now assume was to one of your men. I heard him say that the guy you were looking for was here and that he’d hold him until you got here. Since I didn’t see him with anyone and was pretty sure he was lying, I decided to approach him once he was off the phone.” I look over to Lyle, who’s glaring at Ryan like he’s going to kill him with just his eyes. Well, he’ll have to wait till I’m done with him first.
“What happened when you approached him? I assume since he’s gagged and tied up that you were able to detain him for us, but did you figure anything out about that prick he was supposed to be holding?” Mack asks Tyke.
“I followed him outside where he went directly to his bike, like he was going to bail, so I called out to him. He saw my cut and by that point, I think he was scared shitless that he was caught. I played it cool like I hadn’t heard him on the phone and I asked what he was doing and he told me that he just got a call from you, Mack,” Tyke says as he looks to Mack, “and that he had to get back to the clubhouse. Right then I knew he was up to something, so I jumped him, knocked his ass out, and dragged him inside. I told the manager to get everyone out of the club, then tied your man to the chair. I was just getting ready to call you when you showed up.”
I stand up quickly and charge toward Ryan. “You motherfucking son-of-a-bitch!” I yell right before I hit him square in the nose. Blood instantly gushes out and down his face.
I hit him again and again, wanting to kill the fucker, but Mack pulls me back. “Toby, back the fuck off.” He’s able to pull me back, but j
ust barely. “You’ll have your chance, but for now, we need him alive to tell us who put him up to this and what the plan was.” I know Mack’s right, but I can’t stop myself from hitting him once more. Fucker deserves it and so much more.
Stepping back, I take deep breaths to calm myself. Lyle is beside Mack and I can hear them discussing the best way to go about getting the information. Ryan isn’t knocked out, but he looks close to passing out any minute.
Lyle steps in front of Ryan and slaps his cheeks to keep him awake. “Wakey, wakey.” It’s almost funny hearing Lyle say those words, but I don’t have it in me to laugh, not until I know what game he’s playing and what the plan was.
Tyke walks up to Ryan and pulls the gag out of his mouth. “Care to share why you fucked over the club you pledged your life to?” He grits out through clenched teeth. One of the worst things a brother, or prospect, could do, is move against their club. It’s the ultimate betrayal and is punishable by death. What type of death and how quick it will be depends on the crime, but I’m thinking this prick deserves a lot of pain and a slow death.
When Ryan doesn’t answer right away, I push forward to have another shot at him, but Mack holds me back. “If you don’t start talking soon, I’m just gonna start cutting digits off, one by one, until you find the words I want to hear,” I seethe at him. I don’t have time to fuck around. My woman is sitting at the club barely protected, so if shit is going to go down, I need to fucking know what it is. I’m half tempted to let my brothers deal with this traitor and speed back to the clubhouse, but I know Louie can handle himself if anything happens. It’s more important right now that I know what their plan was and who’s involved so I can come up with a plan of my own. Heads are going to fucking roll and people are going to be put to ground tonight, that I’m fucking sure of.
Fighting Destiny (Forsaken Sinners MC; Book 2) (Forsaken Sinners MC Series) Page 20