by Eve R. Hart
The door let out that fucking jingle as I pulled it open.
The place was silent and empty.
What the fuck?!
I ran to the back, checking the bathroom and office.
Empty.
I ran up the stairs to Cami and Brand’s apartment. The door was locked. I searched for the spare key that I had in case of an emergency. Guess this was pretty much one of those situations. It took me way too long to find the damn thing.
Only a minute later, I found out they weren’t up there either.
Oh, shit!
I fucked up.
So damn bad.
My heart raced as I sprinted back down the stairs, skipping over the last few steps.
The back door blew open with a force as I pushed it hard and hit the wall with a loud bang as I stepped outside.
“Don’t move,” Monty said and I fucking froze. The box, which I’d still been holding onto— hey, those sweets were worth keeping safe— fell to the ground instantly.
Vass stood at the back of some car I sure as hell didn’t recognize. The trunk was popped open like it was just waiting.
And Vass held a knife to Cami’s throat.
“I’m sorry,” Cami mouthed to me and I shook my head like I was telling her this wasn’t her fault.
“You fuckin’ played me.” The words came out so dark and raw that I was worried I’d scare Cami even more than she already was.
I held Vass’ gaze and it didn’t take her no kinda time to cower away from my glare.
“You fell so easily for it,” Monty said in a tone that made him sound like he was full of himself. “Hadn’t expected a two for one though. So Vass did even better. Plus now I don’t have to knock you out and wait until you wake back up to get my payback.”
“Fuck you.”
I might have been pissed, but there was no denying that he was right.
“Toss your gun and strip,” Monty said to me.
I had no damn choice here.
So I tossed my piece, which he went for immediately, never taking his eyes off of me. Everything came off as fast as I could manage until I was in my boxers.
“Get in the trunk,” Monty instructed.
“You gotta let her go if I get in there,” I told him.
“Fuck no. So she can go off and tell your club? I’m not taking the chance.” His lip turned up in disgust.
My teeth ground together and I knew I was stuck.
“Fine,” I spat out. With fire in my eyes, I moved to the back of the car, noticing Cami’s cellphone broken into pieces on the ground under the bumper right before I crawled into the trunk. Monty kept the gun trained on me the entire time. I bet he didn’t even know how to use the damn thing, but I couldn’t take the chance with Cami here.
Once I was in, Vass tossed Cami in after me. I tried my hardest to catch her, but it was tight as fuck in there. I made as much room as I could so she could get settled before they closed the trunk on us.
And then it was dark.
Her face was right in mine and her knees were bent, pushing hard into my gut.
The car started up, then we were moving.
“Sketch,” Cami said and her voice was on the verge of breaking.
“Shhh, I’ll get us out of this,” I said.
I shifted as much as possible to give her some more room, but there wasn’t much I could really do.
“Do you think now is the best time to try and feel me up?” Cami asked and though I knew she was trying to joke, it came out with too much wobble behind it to be believable.
“Look,” I said in my easygoing tone as I continued to feel around behind her. “I ain’t gonna lie, first time I saw you, I wanted to bang you. You are hot as fuck, girl.” She let out a small, sad laugh, and I was glad for it. “But you know, bro got to you first and claimed that shit right away.”
I could still remember that first day I’d walked into the shop and saw her. She was there all proper looking, not a single dot of color on her skin. She was cute. Not really my type, but that wasn’t the point. Brand laid down dibs, but he didn’t really know what he was doing then.
Fuck, if anything happened to her, he’d be broken.
“I love him,” she whispered. I knew this. Hell, everyone did. But the way she was saying it to me now about made me lose my mind. I couldn’t let her think those kinds of things.
“I know you do, C-money. You’ll be able to tell him again soon, alright? You just let Sketch do his thing and I’ll get us outta this.”
“Sketch…” There was so much said in the way she said my name.
“I know, Cami. I know.” I wrapped my arm around her since it was already there. It was the best I could do in the way of a hug right now.
Then I went back to searching.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Don’t cars got that kidnapped latch thing? Pull it and you’re free, right?”
“Oh, yeah.” She held a hint of surprise in her voice. Probably didn’t think about that shit ‘cause her car was old as fuck and didn’t have one. “Do you feel it?”
I felt something, but it wasn’t a pull handle.
“Think it’s been cut,” I told her. Damn, who would have thought that Monty was smart enough to think of that shit.
She said nothing else and for once, I couldn’t think of anything either.
We were so fucked.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Sketch
The bright light burned my eyes as the trunk lid lifted.
I blinked to see a gun pointed right at Cami’s head.
“Out,” Monty barked. “Nice and slow. Don’t try nothin’.”
Getting out wasn’t smooth at all. Cami went first, and when she didn’t move fast enough, Monty grabbed her arm and yanked her. I saw red. Saw motherfuckin’ red. If he didn’t have that gun aimed at her, I would have ripped his throat out.
I crawled out behind her.
It only took one look around to know where the fuck we were. Except, I had no damn clue if that was a good thing or a bad one. Sure as fuck left me standing there with a shit-load of questions going through my brain.
Buncha kids I didn’t recognize stood around with their own pieces and looking ready to shoot just for the fuck of it.
Seemed like Monty had gotten himself a little army but I had no clue how he’d been able to hand out the hardware.
What the hell was going on?
The metal door opened with a groan right before we were shoved inside.
“What is this, Sketch?” Cami whispered, her voice all shaky and it sliced straight through my heart. I wouldn’t doubt that she knew about the container yard, probably seen it from the outside when she spent time at Lake’s house hanging out with Bridget, but I bet she never imagined it held something like inside that fence.
She was a part of the club but she always had this way of avoiding the darker things. She didn’t know nothing about what we did. She was smart enough to suspect but she never wanted to actually know what went on. Unlike her sister. Damn, Laurel was all up in the club business. Bitch had a backbone of steel to stand up to Iron the way she did sometimes. Kinda loved it though. Tough bitches were awesome.
But so were ones that came out a little softer.
Cami wasn’t spineless. She knew herself and she knew what she could handle. Wasn’t her fault she fell in love with an outlaw. Though, if you asked me, Brand was a bit on the softer side too.
Well, he did have his moments where he would get a little scary.
I’d never want to be on his bad side for sure.
However, if I didn’t get Cami out of this situation unscratched, that would be exactly where I’d end up.
There was no way I could shield her from what she was about to walk in on.
Or how the club’s hands were all over it.
“Is this like some kind of torture box?” she asked, sounding a little like she was breathing too much.
“Sometimes the club has
shit to take care of. Sometimes that shit ends up in here.” It was the best non-answer I could give her.
I was sure the chains hanging down from the ceiling and the metal table in the middle gave enough away about what went on in here. If that didn’t, the lingering scent of blood and bleach sure did.
My question, how the fuck did Monty and his little shits get in here? And where the fuck was the rest of the club? We had cameras all over the container yard. Even if there weren’t many in this area, they had to have passed a few on the drive in here.
“Tie her up!” Monty barked at some punk.
He jumped and grabbed Cami’s arm. I jerked, ready to lunge and take that fucker out, but Monty was quick to remind me that they all had guns and I had nothing.
I didn’t take my eyes off of Cami as he tied her hands behind her back and shoved her down in the back corner.
She let out a gasp and I followed her gaze as she scooted back from whatever it was that had that horrified look freezing her face.
Two bodies.
Two cuts.
Piled together there on the floor like they didn’t mean shit.
The amount of blood I saw pooled around them led me to thinking that at least one of them wouldn’t ever get back up.
One was a Prospect. Not to sound callous, but I didn’t know him all that well, so I was pretty much whatever about it.
But the other… fuckin’ Tripp.
“Walk,” Monty barked as he dug the gun into my back.
“To where, motherfucker? It’s a box, can’t go but a few feet.”
“The chains.”
Of course. Shoulda seen it coming. He was all pissed off and wanting revenge. Guess I didn’t have a choice here.
He waited while some other asshole chained my arms up above my head. At least I could stand. One good thing about these containers, they weren’t all that tall.
“Happy now? What you gonna do now that you got me all helpless?” I didn’t give a fuck about making him madder. Let him come at me. If he used all his energy up fucking with me, then he wouldn’t have any for Cami. That was my plan, anyway. “Feel all badass now? Gonna beat me? Make me pay! Go ahead! Do it!”
His fist flew at my face.
It landed on my jaw and yeah, it hurt like a bitch.
But no way in fuck was I gonna let it show.
I laughed, my head going back just to make sure the sound echoed off the metal walls.
“Pussy ass bitch!” I taunted. “You know I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t of gone after my girl back there.”
“That means I’m a lot smarter than you. I got to you.”
“If you say so.” I did my best to shrug but it didn’t go so well with my arms up like they were. He might have had me there, but I sure as hell wouldn’t admit it. “I’ll get out of here. And when I do…”
I stared him down with a look I knew was deadly.
He tucked the gun into the back of his pants and sauntered over to the wall. He picked up the bat that was resting there.
Then he made a real big show of slapping it down against his palm as he walked back over to me.
“I wouldn’t hold out hope on that one,” he told me as he swung the bat at my stomach.
I braced for impact even knowing I wouldn’t be able to stop the pain.
Yep, that one didn’t feel too good either.
Neither did the next hit.
Or the third that caught my side right under my armpit.
I growled out in pain, my teeth clenched tight. Spit flew from my lips as I blew out a quick breath.
“That all you got?” I asked him with a smile.
Guessed it wasn’t, because I received a couple of good whacks to the face after that. Wouldn’t have doubted my nose was broken, but at least I could still move my jaw.
He was running out of energy but not before I was running out of consciousness.
At some point, I heard the bat hit the floor, the sound was like someone was sticking nails in my brain. Now he was using his fists again.
Then he stopped and looked into my eyes.
I did my best to stare him down.
Kinda hard to do with swollen eyes, but I think he got it.
Wouldn’t doubt his knuckles looked like they’d spent time getting it on with a cheese grater. My body probably didn’t look much better, but that wasn’t the point.
“You’re a dead man. Might not be me that gets to kill you, but my brothers will. Mark my fucking words, asshole.” It was a promise I knew they’d make good on.
He turned on his heels and walked out and I smiled knowing I’d got the last word.
I craned my neck in an attempt to get eyes on Cami. That shit didn’t feel too good but I had to check on her. My gaze landed on Tripp and I just stared at his body for a long fucking second.
If he was dead…
Fuck!
Melissa would never get over it.
She’d probably hate me. She’d no doubt blame me. Fuck, I blamed myself. I couldn’t even be mad if she walked away from me then. I mean, if I made it out of here. Guess she could still walk away if I was dead, just wouldn’t hurt me as much.
Then I got to thinking about how I couldn’t leave her. I’d just found her. I finally felt like the last empty hole in my heart had been filled. Maybe that was all I got in this life, one moment to feel whole before the end. Should have been grateful for it, but all it did was make me want to fight harder. I’d been fighting all my life, so why should I give up now? This was nothing. Bruises would fade, bones would mend, and cuts would heal. Right?
Then I saw this little spark of hope.
If my eyes hadn’t been staring so hard, I might have missed it.
Only, I couldn’t say anything to Cami ‘cause I didn’t want anyone else to notice.
So I looked at Cami and winked like everything was all good.
She looked terrified and I hated it. I had done this and now I was chained up and unable to show her it would be alright.
“Out!” Monty barked and I knew he wasn’t talking to me.
His little minions scurried out, and then he shut us up, leaving us in a blanket of darkness.
Cami stayed quiet and I tried to think of some way to keep her calm.
The minutes ticked on and silence surrounded us.
“Sketch.” She said my name with a load of distress in her tone.
That had me fighting against the chains to get to her. But I must have left my strength back at the shop because those bitches weren’t budging.
“What’s up?” I asked casually though I didn’t feel that way inside.
“It’s hot. It’s hard to breathe.”
“Just keep taking in slow breaths. We’re gonna get out of this and be alright. You and that baby are gonna be just fine.”
I wasn’t sure of that but I hoped she couldn’t tell.
I was having a hard time seeing a way out of this shit. I told myself that didn’t matter, Cami had to make it out of this, there was no other fuckin’ option.
Yeah, these boxes got hot real quick. Was good in the winter when it was fucking cold. But not in the late summer weather. It was basically like an oven. And with the door closed, it only made it worse.
My head felt fuzzy.
I opened my mouth to say something else, but all I got was some vomit that came out of nowhere.
My head shook, but I couldn’t seem to get the dizziness to go away.
I had to fight it. I couldn’t leave her unprotected. Even if I wasn’t good and couldn’t do much, I still had my mouth. I could keep Monty’s attention with it.
But I couldn’t fight the darkness that overtook my mind.
Then shit started flashing in my head as if to remind me of all the good shit I had in my life.
It wasn’t much, but it was everything to me.
I tried to hold onto them but they just kept flying away.
My body felt so heavy and it was weird as fuck because my head felt like it was
floating up to the sky.
All the ways I saw my end before, this had never been in the mix.
Sure as fuck didn’t see it coming.
Damn, life, you got me.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Melissa
I thought it would be nice to bring Sketch some lunch while he was working.
I’d been nervous about it because I didn’t know if I was overstepping. But after going back and forth about it for an embarrassing amount of time, I decided to just go. At this point, it was closer to dinner. I figured he loved food and so it didn’t matter what time it was, he’d be hungry and eat it.
I hadn’t been to the tattoo shop where he worked yet, but I found it easily enough thanks to my phone.
But when I got there, the door was unlocked and the place was empty. I checked everywhere, calling out his name as I went. There wasn’t a single person in the building.
Which felt extremely wrong to me.
And I couldn’t ignore the sense of panic that hit me right away.
So I called Tripp because I wasn’t sure what else to do.
Only he never answered.
I went into panic mom mode. I called and called and called. No answer. Nothing.
I’d never gotten Sketch’s number and I was regretting that now. I hadn’t really seen the point since he was with me more than he wasn’t. And most of those times when he wasn’t around, he was working. The last thing he needed was me distracting him while he worked.
Then I drove over to where the clubhouse was located.
That seemed like the next logical step.
I really hoped I didn’t look like a crazy person frantically searching out Sketch and Tripp like this. But I had good reasons, I was sure of it.
“Hello?” I called out as I walked into the front door to clubhouse. Or what I hoped was the front door. “Anyone here?”
“Hi,” a young woman said as she came walking in from somewhere in the back. She had a dishtowel in her hand and what I assumed was flour all over her shirt. God, I hoped it wasn’t drugs. What if the club was into… No time to think about that now. “Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for someone in charge.”
She studied me with unsure eyes.