by Lila Rose
Like my parents had.
I’d trusted him when he said he would support me.
He’d lied.
Like all my family seemed to do.
My money was gone. Colton’s money was gone, and his fear was what brought my own fear on. Even though he looked smug, I could see the terror in his wide, twitching eyes. The people he’d played with were bad people.
“S-so, I’ll, um, I’ll just work harder and get some money back in.” Like hell I would. I was out of there as soon as I could.
He sighed and shook his head. “My money and yours wasn’t enough. I had to give them something else.”
God. I closed my eyes and my head dipped forward. I was too scared to ask.
It seemed I didn’t need to though because Colton supplied it. “You.”
I was going to be sick. I was going to throw up all over the carpet. My body shook with shock. Had I heard him right?
Lifting my head, opening my eyes, I asked in a quiet voice, “Me?”
“Yeah, cuz. Found a good buyer through some mates. They deal in slavery themselves, but when I showed them a picture of you, the biker wanted you for himself. Said he needed a good black bitch in his house taking care of shit.” The sick shine in Coltonâs eyes when he explained he’d sold me was enough to know my owner would bring new, darker times with him. “He’ll be coming by in a couple of hours. You just have to be a good girl ‘til then.”
He gestured with the gun for me to walk down the hall. I started and he followed, still talking, “There ain’t no use running and going to the cops. He’s in with them. Pays them off. I didnât want to do it. I was happy to help you out after your ârents died, but I have to look out for myself over anything. You just happened to be staying here when things went down for me.”
He reached out, grabbed the back of my hair and yanked it. I screamed in surprise and stumbled back before he shoved me sideways into his bedroom. I gripped his wrist, digging my fingernails in as he kept pushing me forward with force. I then stumbled into his en suite. He slammed the door behind me. A lock was snapped into place before I heard Colton say through the door, “Don’t worry, cuz, it’ll all work out.” He laughed. “Though, even if it don’t, I’ll be a happy rich guy once again. Iâd do fucking anything to have money under my belt, always.”
I banged and kicked the door, screaming, âLet me out, Colton!â
“Now, stay quiet and I’ll keep you breathin’ until he gets here. Oh, and in case you get a hair-brained idea, there’s no escaping through that window. Your fat arse wouldn’t fit.” I listened as he walked off chuckling.
My life, my pitiful life, would no longer be my own.
I refused to let that happen. I just didn’t know how to make it possible.
I wanted to live, to be free and be who I was inside and out. No one had the right to own me.
For a little while, I sat on the cold floor and cried. Never once had I cried when my parents passed or when my uncle died. Never until then. Sobs racked my body. They came hard and I shook from the force. My head thumped painfully at my temples.
My life seemed doomed and I let myself wallow in self-pity, let the turmoil in my stomach take over and fill me with dread. How could it happen? How could my cousin be involved with people who sold women? Had I been a trusting fool from the start? Regardless, I never saw the signs. How could I when we hardly kept each otherâs company.
I wasn’t sure how long I sat on the cold floor, but it was long enough to shake my stupid self and do something about my life once again.
I had to take the control back.
I had to try something, anything.
Fighting for my life was worth it. Iâd done it many times. It was time to do it again.
With renewed energy, I stood from the floor and looked around and through cabinets but found nothing; heâd cleared everything out except for towels. I wasn’t strong enough to take my cousin down forcibly when he would come for me, and no doubt, my owner would be there to back him up.
Instead, I looked to the small window again, and decided I had to try it at least. Turning on the shower to cover some noise, I quickly picked up the bath towel, wrapped it around my fist and punched the window. At first, I thought Colton would rush back in once he’d heard the glass shatter. However, my cousin, being the stupid fool he was, was probably sitting in front of the TV, drinking a beer with the surround sound up loud.
Moving quickly, so I could get as far away as I could before he noticed, I first placed my arms through the small window and wiggled my body against each corner, grazing it against the sides and shards that remained. Still, I didn’t care. I needed out.
Standing on the toilet, I forced my body forward until my top half was out. Panic seized me as my hips got stuck. I prayed Colton wasn’t right, that my arse wasnât too big.
I couldn’t give up, though. Shifting around, slicing more grooves into my skin, I managed to wiggle free. My body sank quickly to the rocky garden below the window, and I bit my lip to stop myself from crying out. I didn’t have the time to take in the pain. I sprung up with determination and ran.
Chapter Two
Dodge
Eight hours later
Three months I’d been at the Hawksâ Caroline Springs charter and shit had hit the fan. Not only were the Venom MC fuckers causin’ hell, but we had our own problem within our own club. Nothing we could prove, but we had our suspicions of someone within the club working against us and helping out the Venom MC instead. If that was the case and we found the dickhead in our own goddamn club backstabbin’ us and telling the Venom our every move, then whoever it was had better disappear before Dallas or I found them.
We were sick of our boss’s nightclubs being ransacked, and wished to fuck Warden had already installed the cameras in the compound and garage. Then we could catch the bastards. But he was stuck in Ballarat dealing with his own shit. The Venom knew when one of Talon’s nightclubs was unprotected. Or they’d draw brothers out from one club to another with false shit like the women being threatened, hold-ups or bomb threats.
Plans had to change. Brothers from the mechanical business were being over-worked while working backup at night at the clubs around our territory.
Things were in chaos. It was time to change it and take the control back.
It had been early when I walked into the compound. The mechanical business on the side of the building wasn’t even open yet, which was good. Tired of fuckin’ waitin’ on Warden, I was doing my own little installing. We needed to catch the snitch before the Venom cunts ruined everything.
Memphis had given me the go-ahead and those we trustedâDallas, Saxon, Pick, Billy and Diveâknew I was setting up cameras that morning in the compound and then the garage.
It sucked that it’d come to not trusting a brother of Hawks, but we needed to weasel out the prick running his mouth off to someone in the Venom club.
At least things had settled down for Pick and Billy. They’d been back in Melbourne for a month. They’d moved into their own place with Josie. She was back at uni and they were enjoyin’ each other. Fuckin’ strange to me, the three of them together, but each to their own. I guessed it was whatever floated their boat and, if the three of them together was it, then so be it.
How in the fuck did it work, though?
My imagination would provide me enough pictures to go through if they only starred Josie. She was fuckin’ hot. But shit, I’d shut my brain down if it tried to get me to picture shit with her and my brothers. That crap was just not happenin’.
Switching on the last camera in the compound, I jumped down from the chair and placed it back where it belonged. It’d been a fucked-up day when Richard passed. It hurt people deep, and still so many were grieving for him. What made it worse was Talon had enough crap on his plate with his family’s sorrow, and now he had all the shit in Melbourne on top of it. Which was why I was takin’ some slack off him and Memphis.
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Memphis was a great president for the charter. He was a mean motherfucker when he had to be.
But I was ruthless.
If I wanted something, I saw to it and, if anyone got in my way, they’d better look the fuck out.
First on my agenda was to find the dick who thought he was man enough to play with the big boys and stab his brotherhood in the back.
Then I’d be dealing with some members of Venom. They needed to get the message that Hawks weren’t to be fucked with. I’d relay that message any way I couldâfists, knives or guns, I wasn’t picky.
Dallas was keen to have my back and I was glad to have him there. He was just as merciless as I was. Together, with the help of our brothers who moved from Ballarat to Melbourne, we’d have the shit sorted and things would finally fuckin’ calm down.
At least, I goddamn hoped.
After looking up at the hidden camera, I moved into the business side. Unlocking the door from inside of the compound to the mechanical area, I swung it open wide. It hit the wall with a bang.
That was when I heard it.
A small whimper.
“Hello?” I barked gruffly. Nothing but silence greeted me back. Hell, had I heard it? Shrugging, I moved over to the long metal table and dropped my shit down. Opening the bag, I took out the camera and turned, only to kick over a fuckin’ stool and have it crash to the ground.
Another whimper.
“All right, who’s there?” I called and quickly turned back to the table to put the camera away in the bag. Then I scanned the area.
Nothing looked out of place. Had a cat or some damned animal got in somehow before a brother had locked up?
A scuffle came from the left, and my eyes landed on a dark bare foot being dragged backward. Someone was hiding in the fuckin’ corner of the room. The spot was small. It was between two benches, so whoever was in there was small in frame. Couldn’t be a large motherfucker about to get his arse handed to him.
Slowly, I started forward. “You better come the fuck out,” I demanded before peering around the corner of the bench. My eyes widened and I took a step back when scared, mossy-coloured eyes blinked up at me through a thick veil of curly black, scruffy hair.
“What the fuck?” I whispered.
The small woman pedalled her feet back on the ground, her hands holding her frame up as she tried to push herself against the wall more.
If she didn’t have the look of some dirty, homeless woman, she’d be a stunner. Her skin looked silky smooth. It was the colour of milk chocolate and caused my eyes to stay glued to her. My gaze flicked to her legs, her body and her face. Never had I had an urge for a taste of chocolate until that moment. Well, except for the woman at the store I’d seen the previous day. My eyes widened again. Holy motherfuckin’ shit, it was her. The cowering woman on the floor was the same woman as the one at the bloody store. Iâd had an urge to go up and talk to her in the shop, but sheâd quickly disappeared, embarrassed from what Iâd caught her saying. Even when her words, soulful eyes and body intrigued me to want to know her more.
Composing my shock, I stepped forward. She squealed and closed her eyes tightly.
“Hey, hey. I won’t hurt you,” I said calmly with my hands out in front of me. She stopped moving and glanced up at me quickly, only to avert her eyes back to the floor in the next second.
Christ, how was I supposed to deal with this? Why was she here?
“What’re you doing here?” I asked as my eyes raked over her body. That was when I saw the blood. Her arms and legs were scraped to shit. The material of her tee and jean shorts didn’t cover much of her body. How in the fuck did she get scraped up like that?
She must have felt me shift as I reached for my phone in the back pocket of my jeans because she shifted around restlessly and panic flashed across her features.
“I’m just gettin’ my phone,” I said and waved it out in front of myself. “I’ll call the cops andâ”
“No!” she screamed. She tried to stand, but her bare feet wouldn’t support her. She cried out in pain and fell to her arse.
“S’okay, it’s all right. Calm, little bird.”
Little bird?
Maybe because she reminded me of an injured bird, all flighty and scared.
“Look,” I reassured and sat on the ground in front of her, placing my phone on the filthy, concrete ground. “I won’t call the cops, okay.” She eyed the phone then gave me a small nod, her body sagging in relief. Did she recognise me, as well? “Is there anyone I can call for you?” I asked.
She shook her head once.
“Little bird, you can’tâ”
The door to the garage burst open and laughter reached our ears. The woman squealed, her arms winding around her knees. She buried her head in her arms, muttering and whimpering to herself about something I couldn’t catch.
Jumping up, I started for the door as Slit, Muff and Handle stepped through. They were brothers to the Caroline Springs charter, brothers I was just gettin’ to know, so I wasn’t sure if I could trust them.
“Get the fuck out,” I growled. They paused and eyed me.
“We’ve got work to do, arsehole,” Muff said with a glare.
“Yeah, just because you think your shit don’t stink and the boss man has a hard-on for you, it don’t mean you can tell us what to do,” Slit barked.
“Slit,” Handle was kind enough to warn.
Too late, though.
I was up in his face, pushing the dick backward and outta the room before he registered to fight back. The other brothers followed. “I don’t give a fuck what you think ‘bout me, but I have enough say to order you fuckers around. You do as I fuckin’ well say. If you don’t, I’ll come see you in your dreams, and it won’t be pretty.” Glaring at the wanker in front of me, I finished with, “The shop is closed until I say further.”
“Fuck off,” Slit spat and stupidly added, “I could have you knocked out in seconds.”
“Slit,” Muff snarled. “Watch who you say shit to. Your brain ain’t registering who your mouth is running off to, dickhead.” He shook his head at his friend. “That’s Dodge.”
Still close, with our chests touching, Slit stiffened. Now he knew the deep shit he just dug for himself. I had the highest kill count in Hawks. All charters included.
No one fucked with me.
I protected all.
“You get me now, pencil dick?” I asked with a smirk.
He nodded. I stepped back and ordered, “Shop is closed. You need to tell Memphis? Do it. Have him ring me, or when he gets here, he can come see me. For now, you two,”âI pointed to Muff and Handleâ“guard the doors, inside and out. No one comes in there except brothers who came from Ballarat.” I thumbed towards the garage and then turned to Slit. “And you, get the fuck outta my sight.”
“What’s going on in there?” Handle asked.
“Not your business until I know I can trust you,” I stated and then walked back into the garage, slamming the door behind me.
Thinking of the scared woman caused me to sigh, my head falling forward, and I shook it.
Fuck. I’d just gone against brothers for a woman.
What in the hell was I thinkin’?
Even though I hardly knew the guys, they were still brothers. Slit, I couldn’t give a fuck about, but I’d just admitted I wasn’t trusting anyone around there. Which meant no fucker would think to open up to me and share shit.
And all for a fuckin’ woman.
I swore, after seeing the shit boss man and my brothers in Ballarat went through for their women, I wouldn’t get pussy-whipped like them.
Fuck it. I won’t let it happen.
No woman comes between me and my brothers.
Tilting my head to the side, I glared down at the little bird who cringed and shivered on the ground. No woman was worth any trouble.
But Christ.
Maybe I’d been around the Ballarat brothers and their misses to
o long and had gotten soft-hearted, because something deep inside me knew I couldn’t leave the woman like she was on the floor. I couldn’t turn my back on her. She needed help, and I had to give it.
Didn’t mean I had to give her anything else.
I was too hard for that shit.
I didn’t feel.
All I liked was to fuck a tight, wet pussy and do it hard.
What I needed to do was get her the fuck outta there and let someone else deal with her before my heart got caught in the trap like all the other bastards.
I strode over towards her. She whimpered when I bent down for my phone. “I won’t fuckin’ hurt you,” I barked. “I’m not callin’ the pigs, okay. Just someone who can help you. Someone I trust.” After pressing a couple of buttons, I held my phone to my ear.
“Brother?” Pick answered.
“Bring Josie to the garage. I’m gonna need some help with a little bird.”
“What the fuck you talkin’ about?” he growled.
“Just do it,” I snapped and hung up.
Chapter Three
Willow
Seven hours earlier
Run, run, run, run. It was all I could do. The thought burned inside of me. Run so I could get to safety. Run so he couldn’t catch me and I would be safe. Run to live. Run to survive.
Looking behind me for the millionth time, there was no shadow following me. My heart lurched in relief, even though my chest ached from the panting and exhaustion. Sweat trickled down my back from the heat of the night, and I cried in pain as my bare feet took to the road, the street and grass, rubbing themselves raw.
My arms and legs were finally numb, and tears brimmed in my eyes in appreciation. The way my limbs had been damaged after I crawled out the small bathroom window, cutting my arms and legs with the shards of glass leftover and then scraping them when I fell to the sharp stones below, was horrendous.
It was hard to see, but it was as if the night knew it had to be darker to cover my tracks. Was God looking down on me, wanting me to escape?
Whatever the reason, gratitude filled my heavy heart.