She glanced up from her drink of amber liquid and smiled. “Figured I'd take the night off.”
I nudged her with my shoulder. “I see you changed back to being a dumb blonde.”
She punched my arm. “Fuck off asshole. Nothing dumb about me.” Her smirk told me she was kidding around.
I chuckled. “Well if it's any consolation I think you make a better blonde than a redhead. So does this mean you're letting go of the dream now?”
She turned to face me. “The Cain and Delilah dream?” Heaving a long sigh, she swirled the liquid around her glass. “There comes a point in your life, Six, when you just have to cut your losses. Cain won't be around much longer if Colt has anything to say about it. And I don't want to be someone's third best. First Melody...then Kelly... I guess I've just had enough.” She shrugged.
I grabbed the glass from her hands and took a large mouthful before handing it back. “Right there with you, Dee.”
She leaned on me. “Things didn't work out for you and Nina then, huh?”
“Nah. Nina's long gone. Turns out it was the Chloe underneath all the make-up that I wanted all along. Yeah I liked the sexy dancer but who knew I'd prefer her smart side? But like you, I want to come first for someone. So what do you say, baby?” I joked.
She sat up straight and regarded me with disgust. “Eeeeuw! Dude no way. Incest is so not my thing.”
I guffawed loudly at her reaction. “Hey we're not blood related.”
“Not technically but...eeeeuw.” She shivered and slapped my arm. “Don't give me images in my head that I can't lose. Shit, you really are sick you know that?” She joined in with my laughter.
“Seriously though. It's a good thing neither of us are remotely attracted to the other. Who the fuck would we bitch and moan about the opposite sex to?”
Her shoulders shuddered as she laughed. “I'll drink to that. And you never know, maybe in a parallel universe we're married with kids.”
“Ha! Maybe!” I slipped of the bar stool. “Anyway, dear, I'm off to retire to my bedroom.”
“Goodnight, daaahling. Scrambled heggs for breakfast before you leave for the hoffice tomorrow?” Her fake British accent rendered me a hysterical laughing mess as I walked away shaking my head.
I stopped on the stairs. “Oh, so in a parallel universe we're from a whole other country, huh? Well tatty bye, dearest!” I replied in my best English twang...failing miserably of course.
Seeing Delilah smile again was great. Knowing that our friendship was still strong after the dumb, desperate stunt she pulled with my best friend spoke volumes. The three of us went way back and there are some friendships that just stick around.
Another restless night plagued with erotic dreams about a certain chocolate haired dancer meant that I was grouchy as fuck when I went down stairs at eight in the morning.
“Awww, great Scot, I forgot your heggs, daaaahling.” Dee said as she handed me a mug of coffee.
I smiled but didn't reply and so she leaned on the bar in front of me. “You okay, Six? You seem...off this morning.”
“I ran my hands roughly through my shower damp hair. “Not great to be honest. All this letting go crap is getting me down.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Amen to that, bro.”
I gulped at the lukewarm coffee and nodded in agreement. “So, you coming to see Cain in hospital, Dee?”
She sheepishly chewed on her lip. “I don't think he'll want to see me. Not after the whole attempted seduction débâcle. When he wakes he'll want to see you and Rosa...and Kelly no doubt.”
“Yeah but Kelly isn't here. And you are. You and he go way back, Dee and he'll need his friends. You should go visit. You should clear the air.”
She shrugged. “I'll think about it.”
Rosa appeared to my right. “Hey big brother.” She leaned in to kiss my cheek. Her blue streaked hair was tied back neatly in a ponytail and her eyes had regained some of their sparkle.
I pulled her in for a bear hug. “Hey, angel. Sleep well?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I did once I'd figured out where I'd seen that guy before. It was driving me mad.”
I scrunched my brow as I swigged my coffee. “What guy?”
“Remember when we were on the way home from the hospital and we saw that guy with the short hair in the pale blue shirt, carrying groceries?”
My interest was suddenly piqued. “Yeah? I saw him. What of it?”
“Well I finally remembered where I know him from.”
Oookay... “Oh yeah? And where's that?”
“He's Zak.” Yeah, but how do you know him? The confusion must have been evident in my face as she rolled her eyes again, clearly exasperated with me. “Zak, you know? Tyler's big brother? He used to have this shaggy, greasy hair and a goatee. But I'd remember those piercing eyes anywhere. He looks so much better without the chin fuzz. No offense to you. Your chin fuzz is cool. But there are clearly guys who should just shave. You know?” She rambled on as I tried to process what she had just told me.
Zak is Tyler's older brother. Shit.
Tyler was the son of one of Loki's Legion and he kidnapped Rosa to get back at Cain.
My heart rate increased and my palms began to sweat. I closed my eyes briefly and in my head I scrambled around for the snippets of information I could remember from my brief conversation with Chloe.
I placed my cup down, turned to face Rosa and took her hands in mine. “Angel, remember when we came to get you from the old warehouse and that guy was there claiming to be Tyler's dad?”
She shivered and I felt bad for dragging up the traumatic experience again. But she nodded. “Yeah, he was Ty's dad. He was at a bar that Ty took me to one night. His brother, Zak, and his dad were getting drunk and having a huge argument about something. I have no clue what. But things got crazy and Zak punched his dad in the face and broke his nose.”
Rosa glanced down at our hands and then back up at me. The distinct look of fear in her eyes.
I too glanced down and noticed that my hands were shaking. “But...he's still alive? Tyler's dad”
Her face crumpled in confusion. “Zak and Ty's dad? Yeah. W-why do you ask?”
The pieces of a very unpleasant puzzle were fuzing together. Tyler was Rosa's ex. The ex who kidnapped her for Loki's Legion. Which meant that Zak had a) lied about the death of his father—one of the things he had in common with Chloe—and b) that he was connected to...
“Oh sweet mother of fuck.” I immediately jumped down from the bar stool I was perched on and began to frantically search for my bike helmet.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chloe
I tried in vain to open my eyes, but a wave of nausea washed over me to accompany the thumping in my head. Oh God...it's happened again... Why has it happened again? Flashbacks of waking to find Brett looming over me and the stale stench of alcohol and blood rampaged around my mind and I wondered how the hell I had wound up in the same position for a second time.
I groaned.
“Zak! Bro! She's coming around!” I didn't recognize the panicked voice, but I fought to open my eyes to find out who it was. Please let me be at the CoSMiC compound...please... I knew my silent prayer was futile simply because my hands and feet were restrained.
The sound of heavy boots stomped closer and whatever I was laying on moved as someone sat beside me. “Chloe, baby, open your eyes. Time to play.” Zak's familiar voice encouraged in an eerie sing-song tone.
I forced my heavy lids to lift and was greeted by the somewhat manic stare of someone I thought I knew.
I tried to turn my head but almost threw up. “W...where am I? What's happening?” I croaked.
I heard an evil chuckle coming from behind Zak and he swung his head around. “Shut the fuck up, Ty. Go get some water.”
As I watched over Zak's shoulder a shaven haired young man with the same eyes as Zak left the room, grinning at me all the while. A chill crawled up my spine as the dots bega
n to connect.
“Zak? Please don't do this. Please let me go.” My voice wavered and I inwardly cursed myself for showing weakness again.
He leaned in to kiss my mouth and I pressed my lips shut so he gripped my chin hard. “Awww, come on now. You gotta give it up to me sometime if we're going to make this relationship work, babe.”
“What relationship?” I snapped. “What the hell are you doing this for?”
The young man Zak referred to as Ty returned with a cracked glass filled with cloudy liquid.
Zak continued. “Well now. You see we gotta finish what my good buddy Brett started. You remember Brett don't you? He says he was your mom's boyfriend but that he wanted you more. Dirty bastard. Anyway, he was sent to...you know...deal with you. Take what he wanted and finish you off. But I couldn't allow that. You see I wanted you for me. Been watching you for a while. Ever since my guy Jagger met you in that cozy little booth at The Fox Hub.” Oh my God things were becoming scarily clear. “Anyways... I came around on the night Brett was supposed to kill you, but instead of finding you dead, I found him unconscious. You'd given him a good whack up the side of the head. I decided to finish the job and so I smashed his head in with your pretty vase.” He laughed and a combination of nausea and relief that I hadn't actually killed someone fought for supremacy inside of me. “But our little story didn't start there. Other shit went down. I won't bore you with the ins and outs, but let's just say that your boyfriend, the long haired bastard from the Sinners, and his chums, they kidnapped my little bro here and shaved his head. There's no need for them to do such evil stuff to my family. So we figured we'd get our own payback. So you and me are going to play a little game. It's called an eye for an eye. And even though you look mighty pretty with this long brown hair of yours, I think maybe you'd feel cooler without it. And then after that maybe you and I can get naked and finish what we started.”
He laughed heartily at his repulsive suggestion and I cringed as tears welled in my eyes. Zak knew Brett and Jagger. He was connected to Loki's Legion. How had I not figured this out sooner?
Somewhere in the house a phone rang and Tyler scuttled off. A few moments later he returned and nudged Zak who was feeding the lukewarm, cloudy water to me.
“Bro...it's dad. Says it's real important.”
“Can't you see I'm busy here tending to my lady?”
“Yeah, I see that but he says it's real important. It’s about Deak. His words.”
Zak turned to face me again. “Don't you go anywhere now sweet lips. I'll be right back.” He chuckled in that evil way once more and stood to leave the room. “You, stay here and watch her. No talking and no touching.”
Tyler nodded and Zak walked through the doorway over to the right. Tyler sat on the floor about three feet away from me. He was a handsome boy. Piercing blue eyes and perfect, straight teeth. He didn't seem too bright, but he was young. Around eighteen maybe. The shaved head was severe and there were black fading marks on his head that I couldn't make out but looked liked they were once text which I found strange.
“So, your dad's alive?” I asked, bemused.
He scrunched his brow. “Yeah, why wouldn't he be?”
A felt a tear of betrayal slip down my cheek. “Zak told me he'd died when he was a kid and that he'd helped bring you up. That your mom had to go out to work. It was something he and I supposedly had in common.”
Tyler scratched and shook his head. “Nah... Mom left us years ago. Dad has a drinking problem. That's why Zak looked after me. Huh, if you can call it that.”
So their relationship isn't that great. All the fondness was a lie. “I see. Do you have any idea what Zak is planning to do to me?” My lip trembled as I asked the question.
He shuffled closer. “Hey, don't cry. I think he really liked you in the end.”
“What do you mean in the end?”
“Well, he only asked you out on account of you being one of the Sinner's old ladies before. Said it was a good way to get back at them for all the shit they did to us. But he says you’re damn sexy and he can't wait to...you know...seal the deal.”
My stomach flipped and I retched. I'd simply been a pawn in the game to him. What an idiot. “Is he going to...kill me?”
I was relieved when he shook his head. “Oh no, I don't think so. I think he wants to have babies with you and stuff. Really likes you.”
“But, Tyler, you do know this is wrong don't you? He's holding me against my will. I don't want to be with him. Not anymore. Not after this. If you care about someone you don't drug them and take them away against their will. Do you understand that?”
Tyler looked nervously over his shoulder to the door and then back to me. “I said that to him. I said that drugging you and stuff wasn't right. But he said you loved him but you just didn't realize it yet. That getting you away from the Sinners would be a good thing for you... That they would hurt you if he didn't do something but then I got confused when he started talking about keeping you here. But...” He shook his head and scrunched his face in a mask of confusion. “So...you don't love him?”
I shook my head slowly so as not to cause the thumping to worsen but more tears escaped. “No, Tyler. I'm sorry, but he lied to you too. If you love someone you don't treat them this way. And the Company of Sinners weren't going to hurt me. They're my friends.” He nodded slowly, absorbing my words and I continued. “Tyler, have you ever loved a girl?”
A sadness settled into his eyes to replace the confusion. “Yeah. Zak and my dad pretty much ruined that for me.”
My plan to get Tyler talking was working and I had to remain calm. “How come?”
“The girl... She was the sister of one of the Sinners. Name's Rosa. Anyway... Zak is wanting to be VP of Loki's Legion and so he was trying to get on Deak's good side.”
“Deak?”
“The Prez. Anyhow, I was dating this Sinners girl, Rosa, she was so beautiful...” Cain...oh my God he's talking about Cain's sister. He drifted off into a trance like state for a few moments. “We were like Romeo and Juliet... You know the forbidden love thing? But well... It all went wrong.” He gritted his teeth evidently pained by the memory. “I didn't want to hurt her. Not physically or emotionally. But then...”
I needed to keep him talking. Make him realize that his brother had manipulated him again. “Then what?”
He snapped his focus back to me. “They made me take her. They said they were going to torture her to get answers or something. Or...or send her fingers back to the Sinners as a warning. Some such bullshit anyways. I was terrified. But... I didn't want them to hurt her. I really loved her. But because of them I lost her.” He swallowed hard and stared at the floor.
Just then Zak returned and he whacked Tyler around the head. “Thought I said no talking, pussy.”
I cringed for the poor kid and he glanced over at me with an apologetic look in his eyes. I smiled briefly while Zak's back was turned. I had to find a way to talk to him alone again. Maybe I could get him to help me.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Six
Without telling Colt, or any of the club what was going on, I ran out to the lot and climbed on my bike. I was all fingers and thumbs as I tried to secure the chin strap on my helmet and cursed aloud at myself. But Chloe's disappointed glare rattled around my mind, a repeat of the time I had ridden without a helmet and something inside of me insisted I put the damn thing on. I had to get to Chloe's place. I had to let her know that Zak was one of Loki's Legion. She was in danger and I needed to get to her.
Delilah followed me out repeatedly asking what the hell was wrong, but I ignored her pleas and shouted, “Dee, just open the goddamn gates! I need to get the fuck out of here. NOW!”
Thankfully she knew me well enough to just do it. Once they were open, I took off along the street changing up the gears as fast as the bike would let me.
“Come on, come on, come on.” Dodging in and out of traffic and flirting with death with every maneuver, I made my way
toward Chloe's apartment. Nothing else was more important than my desperate need to get to her. My heart was racing and I was so damned terrified of what I was going to find when I got there.
Please let her be okay, God, please. If you're up there and you haven't given up on me completely then please...just let her be okay. I can't make any promises of changes I'll make, but all I can say is that she doesn't deserve to be hurt. She's sweet and kind and beautiful. She never hurt anyone who didn't deserve it. Brett...well that was self-defense. Please God...I'm fucking begging you right now.
I screeched the bike to halt and threw it to the ground before I ran toward the building, ripping my helmet from my head as I stomped the pavement with my heavy boots. An old lady was exiting as I got the door.
“Hey, darlin'. You seen Chloe today, apartment four?” I asked as calmly as I could manage smiling sweetly but feeling anything but sweet on the inside. I was ready to commit murder.
“Oh...Chloe...lovely girl. Fed my cat when I went to my daughter's you know. But no dear, I haven't seen her since yesterday. She had a gentleman caller.” She smiled as she replied and held the door open for me. I was on the verge of telling her off for trusting me. I could've been anyone wanting to get in there.
Instead I bit my tongue and smiled. “Okay, thank you, ma'am. You have a nice day now.” Unwilling to continue the pleasantries, I dashed past her and took the steps two at time. The elevator would've been far too slow and time was a commodity I didn't have.
Once outside her door, I banged on it with my balled fist. “Chloe! Chloe, honey, are you in there? Open the door. It's me, Six. I'm...I'm not angry I'm just checking up on you is all. Don't be scared, baby, okay? Just...just open the door.”
Nothing.
Bang, bang, bang. “Chloe, baby. Come on. Open up, okay? I just wanna know that you're all right. I can explain why if you open up.”
Nothing.
Six: Company of Sinners MC #2 Page 21