Zorro (Reapers MC Book 16)

by Elizabeth Knox

  This is why Ian is such a good friend of mine. “I never thought of it like that. Thank you.”

  Just as I go in for a hug, a strong burning sensation hits me in the ass. Instantly I jolt further against Ian, horrified at the fact someone just slapped my ass. “What the fuck, man!?” Ian growls while my heart pumps hastily in my chest, so fast in fact I can hear my pulse in my head. Even my mouth begins to dry up before I even have the courage to turn my head.

  “What, dude? She’s dressed up as a sexy little devil. Her fuckin’ ass is practically out anyway.” The guy comes up with the most idiotic excuse I’ve ever heard of.

  Ian takes a step forward, ready to lunge at this guy for putting his hand on me, but I go frozen. “Please, just leave him alone . . . just don’t let him touch me again, please,” I mutter, not even sure if Ian can hear me.

  “If you touch her again, I will fuck you up. You got me?”

  “Damn, dude, sorry. Didn’t realize she was your girl.”

  I burrow my face against Ian’s chest and close my eyes, breathing deeply. God, I just want to get out of here. Before I even realize what I’m doing, I tear myself away from Ian and run through the front door of the frat house. I run as fast as I can until I turn down a side street and head into the park.

  Moving onward I keep my eyes focused on the stone path before me, needing to get as far away from the party as possible. Even now, knowing I’m a few streets away from the party I still feel unnerved. Nausea courses through my stomach, making me feel like I’m about to go on the scariest roller coaster of my life. But that isn’t all. My head pounds, still hearing my pulse beat. It feels like I’m in one of those thriller movies with the dramatic music. Then again, I suppose it isn’t the greatest idea to be strolling through the park in the dark.

  Stonewall University is a nice place and all, but it isn’t the place I want to be. Nestled on the western side of Albany, New York, it’s closer to the forest than the city. Come to think of it, I think we’re barely in city limits.

  God. What was that dude’s problem? I mean seriously. He’s in college. He should know about something called consent.

  Bringing my hand up I cover my face, not even realizing a few tears have slipped by. I head over to where there’s a light and a bench, sit down and breathe in and out slowly. Continually reminding myself everything is going to be okay; I try my best to relax.

  This isn’t something that I could’ve controlled. It was just some man who . . .

  I lose track of what I’m thinking as anger rushes through me in a blazing inferno. I know this wasn’t my fault, but the way I feel violated is horrific. God dammit. I should’ve stayed back in the dorm room, snuggled under my covers with my snacks, watching The Office. Dwight Schrute has always been the man after my heart and he’s never once disappointed me.

  Wiping the wetness away from my cheeks, I take a glance at my hands and see a soot like residue covering my fingertips. Fuck, this only means one thing. My mascara is running. Of fucking course it is. What else could go wrong after today? Huh? What fucking else?

  The crack of a branch being snapped causes me to look to the left and I don’t see anything at first. The light beside me is only enough to illuminate the first five or ten feet around me, but I know something’s there. Carefully scanning my eyes around me, they step out of the shadows like a cultist group. Dressed in all black wearing Ghostface’s mask from the Scream movies, they circle in around me.

  “What’s a sweet lady like you doing out here all alone?” one asks in a thick southern voice. He walks ahead of the others, growing gravely close.

  “I’m getting a breather,” I tell him, trying to not let my uneasiness be visible. Though, I’m sure it is. I’ve always been horrible at hiding how I’m feeling. My own brothers picked on me about it so much growing up.

  “Well, what do ya know? Us too.” He snickers, coming right up to me he wraps a hand around my throat and tightens his grip. I can’t see his eyes through the black mesh, but I’m certain he’s staring down at me.

  “Dude, what the fuck are you doing?!” One of his friends makes it clear he didn’t sign up for this.

  “Back off, Leo. It’s Halloween and I’m having a bit of fun. If you’re going to be a sourpuss you can get the fuck out and kiss getting into the fraternity goodbye.” The man before me loosens his grip on my neck, enough for me to scoot over and start running.

  It all happens so fast as I pick up my legs and move with the speed of a cheetah, but in heels it isn’t so easy. I run, and I run, and I run until I think I’m making some headway. But pressure wraps around the back of my hips and I go tumbling to the ground with a thud.

  “You’re going to regret that, bitch. Just you wait.” He pushes his hand against the back of my head and forces my mouth into the dirt to muffle my cries.

  This can’t be real.

  I keep telling myself that in my mind, but it is real, and it’s happening to me right now.

  Chapter One

  “And here you are living despite it all.”

  ~ Rupi Kuar

  Ruby

  Mid-November . . .

  “You bleach your hair or somethin’?” Grim asks as he comes up to me.

  Inhaling sharply, I immediately answer him and close the book in my hand. “Yeah. I needed a change. What’s it to you?”

  He shrugs. “Just noticed a change and wanted to tell you it looks real nice. I did wanna have a chat with you. Mind if we head somewhere private?” The second he asks me the question my heart drops into the pit of my stomach. He knows something is wrong and I can’t keep hiding it anymore.

  Stiffening my back a bit, I try to remain strong and act like everything is perfectly fine. Opening my book, I glance back down at it and speak. “If you’re trying to give me some sort of life lecture or something, I’ll pass. I’m not in the mood.” Hell, I pull out my phone and plop it between the pages in the book, scrolling endlessly so my dear brother might take the hint and leave me alone.

  But Grim, oh Grim, he can’t stand it. He rips the book and phone from my hand and cocks a brow. “If you want your precious communication device back, you’ll follow me,” he speaks clearly while he walks over to the TV room. It’s the next room over to the one where they hold all their club business meetings.

  Figuring I have no choice, I rise from where I sit on the couch and follow Grim. Walking in behind him, he shuts the door firmly behind us and makes it a point to walk around and make sure the room is clear. This has got to be good.

  It’s the first time I’ve been in here, but it reminds me so much of the college rooms. “This must be the place the guys come to romp around with the ladies,” I mutter and as my eyes wander, I find myself worrying about when the last time this room was cleaned.

  “Take a seat, sis. You and I need to have a chat.” The seriousness in his tone is deafening. Grim and I haven’t been speaking lately, but I know he knows. He has to. There isn’t any other way around it.

  “Why, Grim? What is it you need to discuss with me so badly?”

  He mutters off how I can obviously see he’s fine after his motorcycle accident, how I could’ve gone back to Albany to get back into my classes, but how I haven’t. All in all, he’s calling me out on my shit.

  As I debate what to tell him, I comb a hand through my long now-blonde hair. “School is school, Grim. It’s not this amazing, super fun thing you think it is.”

  “Yeah and while I get that, I’m gonna call you out on your bullshit. You used to love school, but all of a sudden, you’re not a fan? I’m not buying what you’re selling, kid. You’re so damn close to graduating. You should be all smiles, getting high on all that success, and enjoying your senior year. So, what am I missin’ here?”

  “I wish I was getting high on weed,” I mutter out in a groan.

  “Ruby!” Grim chastises me, but he shouldn’t. We all know what he does here with the club is far worse than some Mary Jane.

  “What, Grim!? You
hold me up on this pedestal that I never asked to be on in the first place. You have our entire life and maybe I’m tired of being thrown up in the air like I’m better than you and Axel. Have you ever thought for one minute maybe I’m not? That I’m just like the two of you?”

  He shakes his head while his cheeks flush cherry red. “I don’t fuckin’ understand this shit, Rub’. Halloween night you called me up and told me that a friend of yours, Portia, was pullin’ you out to go to a party. You mumbled about her being a pain in your ass but said how you loved her. Now it’s the middle of November and you act like you don’t wanna go back there at all. I don’t understand. How has so much changed in just a few short weeks? What the fuck happened, Rub’, and don’t you dare lie to me!”

  I take a deep breath and start to fidget with my hair as I lower myself onto the leather couch in this room. Hopefully it’s been cleaned lately and there isn’t any dried up cum on it, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. I’m only thinking about it right now to distract myself from what I’m about to tell Grim.

  He’s picking up on the fact I’m playing with my hair and I know it. It’s a nervous tick I’ve had since I was a little girl.

  “Stonewall University isn’t the marvelous place you think it is, Grim. Things go on there, things you think are only figments of your imagination. The type of fictional shit in books. You think it can’t possibly be real, but it is. It’s very real and depending who you associate with and if . . . if they want you . . . your life could belong to them.”

  “They? Who is they?!” he hisses, obviously frustrated I’m speaking in riddles.

  “The Scorpio Society,” I speak plainly, and he cracks out a laugh. “See, this is why I didn’t want to tell you. Because you’d think it’s some big freaking joke!” I throw my hands up in the air and realize quickly my shirt has shifted. His eyes expand and I know he’s seen my bruises, the ones on my back. But hopefully Grim doesn’t think those were done by Zorro, because they weren’t. They weren’t at all.

  “Tell me more.” His eyes are pleading with me, and I think maybe the sight of my bruises caused him to realize there’s something more going on. Whether it’s a blessing or a curse, I don’t know.

  “Look, my point is the school is different. Sure, you have some people who are innocent in it all. They just want to go off and be a corporate broker, or maybe get into the MLB or NFL. Then there are the others. The ones that’ll do whatever they have to do to feel powerful, to feel important. Those are the people who want to join the Society. Grim . . . I’m part of the Society. I didn’t have a choice. It was either accept what they were making me do, or I’d lose my scholarship there. I didn’t have the money to pay for college myself . . . so I didn’t put up a fight. I’m fine. I’m one of the lucky ones . . . but, the Society is so large. There is someone everywhere that has ties to them. I think they want to slowly take over the world and turn it into whatever suits their needs, turn it into a better place. I don’t have a problem being part of it, but I don’t want to lie to you and make you think I’m here for no reason. I’m supposed to be here in Montana. It’s what they want me to do when I graduate, run an online business and become one of those social media influencers. I just . . . there’s something I haven’t said and I want to—”

  “Where the fuck did those marks come from?” Grim completely cuts me off, raising his voice and it visibly shakes me. My lip trembles uncontrollably and I find it hard to breathe.

  I was just about to tell him. I was easing myself into it and he took it from me. “I was walking back to my dorm after the Halloween party and went through the park. This guy, at the party, he . . . he groped me and it set me off, so I thought it would be a good idea to cut through the park. To get fresh air and all. But it wasn’t. It all happened so quickly. I was surrounded and managed to get away and then . . . and then I was on the ground. My . . .” Tears slide down my cheeks in an effortless flow, but I’m certain this doesn’t look good.

  I clear my throat and continue on. “My face was shoved into the dirt so my cries were muffled, but I think they were worried I couldn’t breathe, so then they yanked me up by the back of the hair and wrapped their hands around my mouth. I was beaten and . . . other things happened but I don’t want to go into that. So, please, don’t make me.”

  “What the fuck?! You . . .” He stands up from where he’d sat down across from me and runs a hand over his head. “Didn’t you just fuck Zorro? Now you’re telling me you were attacked on campus a couple weeks ago?! What the fuck is this? Some sort of joke?”

  “Why would I joke about something like this?!” I scream out at him. “Do you think I want to tell you this? That I want to tell my brother what happened to me? Do you think it brings me joy, or makes me feel good? Because it doesn’t! It makes me feel horrible, Grim! And for one second if you think I want to be your helpless little sister, I don’t. I don’t want to be the woman who can’t do anything unless her big, tough brothers are around.” I too stand up from where I sit and throw my hands up in the air in outrage. “And for the record, I didn’t just meet Zorro you idiot. If you would’ve opened your eyes last Christmas you could’ve seen I was spending a lot of time with him.”

  He shakes his head before I even finish what I’ve said. “No you weren’t.”

  God. I want to choke him right now. “I slept in his bed every damn night and you didn’t even notice. How could you be so blind? Oh wait, I forgot. I’m talking to the man who didn’t even realize his best friend was in love with him! Obviously seeing things that’re right in front of your face isn’t your strong suit.” Rosa, the woman who’s always been around my brother. She’s in love with him and everyone could tell, but no one said a damn thing.

  “Little girl, it’s best you drop it down a few levels.”

  “Little girl. Little girl?!” I repeat his words while my chest swarms with heat. I could slap him right now. I could fucking slap him harder than I’ve slapped any man.

  “Ruby,” he says my name as a warning.

  “You’re not Dad! Stop acting like you’re my father, like you’re the fill in. You aren’t. Unless you’ve somehow forgotten that you’re my brother. Is that what’s going on!?” I snap, heading straight to the door. I need to get out of here before my head explodes.

  “I don’t understand any of this. You’re sitting down in this room, sobbing about how you were attacked, and I just found out Zorro took your virginity an hour ago. Which I might add is somethin’ I didn’t need to know about in the first place.”

  Stopping in my tracks, I turn around to face him. He looks confused, but of course he’d be. “You’re not the woman who got attacked in the safest place she thought she could’ve been in besides her home. You’re not the one who was held down while men threw rocks at her, beat her with their fists and—and you’re never going to understand what it feels like to have a foot on your neck, squeezing down on your throat while someone is defiling your ass. You won’t ever understand, Grim, and I don’t expect you to. I don’t expect you to understand that I wanted the one man who’s always treated me with respect to take something so special, especially when I had firsthand experience on how easily it could’ve been taken from me. So, yeah, I flew out here when Axel called me and told me you got in your accident. But I needed to get away from Stonewall University. And I needed to see Zorro. I won’t make apologies for it, but I wanted my first time to mean something to me, and I hope you can . . . understand it one day.”

  “Who attacked you?”

  “I don’t know for certain. They were in black cloaks and had Scream masks on. I do know that people talk on campus, that there are theories . . . but I’m in no rush to go back. I don’t even know if I want to go back. I’m sorry, I have to go. This has all been . . . it’s been too much for tonight.” I open the door and exit the room, head straight for the double doors that lead into the clubhouse, and walk outside. I need the crisp November air to hit my cheeks.

  I need to remind myself
that I’m in Montana, with the people who will protect me regardless of the obstacles in my way.

  I’m not alone here.

  I’m safe.

  Chapter Two

  “You don’t have to see the staircase to take the first step.”

  ~ Flint Rehab

  Ruby

  Christmas Day . . .

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Grim hollers out so loudly everyone sitting on the couch turns in his direction. Natalie is directly beside him while her three little girls are with some of the other kids, over by the tree.

  Natalie’s face flushes with a soft pink color and she nods while her eyes glisten.

  “We’re havin’ a baby, brothers! We’re havin’ a fuckin’ baby!” Grim scoops her up into the air and lands a slammer on her. His smile so big I bet anyone could see it from the moon. Joy fills my heart as he kisses her over and over again and Natalie’s three girls rush over. My brother might not be their biological father, but no one would ever be able to tell. He loves them like they’re his, and they’re the luckiest bunch of ladies to have a dad like him.

  “Here I thought it would be you who had a baby first,” I mutter to Axel with a smile.

  He cocks a brow. “Me? Really? Why?”

  “Because you’re the irresponsible one.” I cackle lightly and he shoves me, just the way he did when I was a little girl and he was tired of my smart mouth.

  “Rotten kid,” he grumbles with a smirk.

  “Axel, I’m gonna make a couple celebratory drinks. Wanna lend a hand?” Rosa asks him. He immediately gets up and crosses the distance between them. I watch from the couch as they disappear into the kitchen area, and a group of guys from the club head over to Grim and Natalie. Even Zane and Octavia are surrounding them, giving what I’m sure is their congratulations.