“So, this thing you do, where you walk home to a cheap motel, where you wander around downtown all day and night? That’s gotta stop,” he said. “We’re prepared to protect you, but I’m not getting my guys mixed up if you put yourself in danger being stupid.”
Allie nodded, slowly.
“I guess I need someplace else to stay,” she said.
Merle reached out and tapped the shoulder of a man walking by.
“Get me Carlos,” he said.
The man nodded and disappeared into the busy room.
He apparently didn’t have far to go, Carlos appeared at the booth a few moments later.
“What can I do for you, boss?” he asked.
“Let her crash on your couch,” Merle said, jerking a thumb at Allie. “Are you comfortable with that?” he asked the girl.
“I mean, yeah, as long as I’m not too in the way,” she said.”
“In the way?” he asked. “In the way? You don’t kill your golden goose. You don’t let some fucking creep fuck up your golden goose. You give your golden goose your spare bedroom until she feels safe getting her own apartment.”
“I’m your golden goose?” she asked.
“Last few people who had your space were dudes, gruff, old-school assholes who didn’t feel like catering to the whims of posers,” he said.
Allie snorted.
“Exactly,” he said. “You know that their money’s as good as anybody else’s, and you make them feel good and sexy and fun. I’m pretty happy taking sixty percent of the business you bring in.”
“Anyways,” Merle said. “Glad that’s settled, because it doesn’t look like Daniel is going away. I need you to tell us exactly how you met him, and what he said.”
Carlos slid into the booth next to the still-silent Jesse, who was sitting bolt upright with his arms crossed over his chest.
Allie related that whole terrible night, how exhausted she was, how miserable, how frightening it was. Merle asked a few pointed questions about what the two men looked like. When she finished her story, Merle sighed.
“Sounds like one of Daniel’s favorite bullies,” he said. “Hired muscle to keep the girls in line. I’d bet a thousand dollars that the whole thing was a setup to make you feel scared and grateful.”
Allie shivered.
“I’m glad your mother was there,” she told Jesse frankly. “I was so tired, I probably would have gone with him, even though I knew it was a really bad idea.”
“That’s why assholes like him keep an eye on bus stops,” Merle said. “Now, I won’t say that we’ve never pimped for a girl, but the girls come to us, and we take a cut of what they make, not all of it. We make sure they have condoms, and we protect them.”
Jesse blushed a little, Allie noticed.
Merle looked Allie in the eyes.
“I don’t want you to find out weeks or months from now that the Night Horses have whores, and feel like we lied to you. I’m not gonna tell you that the women who do that are all super happy to do it, but we’ve never once tried to force anyone into it. Yeah, some of them use it for drug money, but they could steal or sell for it instead.”
Allie nodded.
“As long as you don’t want me to do anything like… anything like that, I can’t really complain about where you make some of your money,” she said. “I’m so grateful that you’re helping me out.”
Merle sighed. “I’d rather we made more money from tattooing suburban moms, and less from illegal crap, worrying about that all day is gonna make me go grey.”
He nodded, once, decisively.
“Okay, we’ve got this. You stay with Carlos and Jesse, okay? Daniel should lose interest in you soon enough.”
“I will,” Allie promised. “Thank you.”
Merle stood up and walked away, joining a few other men at the bar.
Allie, Jesse, and Carlos watched him go.
“Those guys are the ones he trusts to get shit done,” Carlos said. “Any time you can’t find me or Jesse, go to one of them and they’ll take care of you. They’re good guys. The one with the ponytail is Jackson, the other is Alex.”
“Jackson and Alex,” Allie said. “Ask for Jackson or Alex. I can do that.”
“Good girl,” Carlos said. “Now, I’m gonna go get a drink of my own and then I’ll take you home. Jesse, you stay with our girl here. I don’t think that that would be too much of a hardship for you.
Jesse nodded, once, sharply, in an unconscious imitation of Merle.
His eyes were hard, and she realized that she’d never heard him be quiet for this long. She felt a little warm and tingly that he was this protective of her, but… she missed the silly, goofy Jesse.
“So, what were you going to ask me? Before Merle showed up?” she asked.
“Oh,” he said. “Um.”
Almost instantly, he was blushing and rubbing the back of his neck.
“I was wondering if you’d like to go to the movies with me. I mean, I’d pay. Because it would be a date. We don’t have to go to the movies. I just… I like movies. Do you like movies? Would you like to maybe go out with me?” he stammered.
Allie grinned at him.
“I’d love to go to the movies with you,” she said. “Or anywhere else, really. As a date.”
“Great!” he exclaimed. He checked the time on his phone quickly. “They always play something at 6:50 at the place near here, we have plenty of time to go get some candy and watch something. I don’t really care what’s playing.”
She found herself relaxing enough to giggle a little.
“Sure, suits me fine, you wanna head out?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah. I do. I really do.”
The date was wonderful. The best Allie had ever been on. It was… sweet. They held hands in line, they held hands during the movie, they leaned on each other and enjoyed being close to each other.
He didn’t try to grope her or grab her, he didn’t even try and kiss her.
The movie was fun, a silly action flick with plenty of explosions, but she barely paid attention to it.
She was focused on the feel of his skin against hers, how warm and strong and present he was.
They left the theater and walked together back to the motel to gather Allie’s things. It took ages to walk the mile or so, because they stopped so often to simply hold each other.
“Can I kiss you?” Jesse finally asked.
“Damn straight,” Allie said, tilting her face up to his.
His kiss was soft, gentle, questing. She yielded to him and he held her tightly in his arms. It felt to Allie like she was coming home, finally, like she’d found her rightful place in the world.
“Come on,” he said, leaning his forehead against hers after a few more long moments of intimacy. “Let’s get you moved outta that motel.”
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DANIEL
He had a plan.
They might have moved the bitch in with the spic, but she couldn’t always be with one of them.
She’d found herself a nice little protector, too. Too good to spread her legs and get Daniel’s help, but not too good to go running to the first guy she met after him, not too good to fuck the bikers.
It was all the same, what she was doing now, what Daniel wanted her to do.
All women fucked for protection and profit.
It was all they could do, usually, but even when they had choices, they chose to make the easy money - because they were weak, all of them.
Every woman was a whore when you got down to it.
Every woman needed a deep dicking, craved cock, craved mastery and leadership.
Why shouldn’t he be the one to give it to them?
That girl, that fiery redhead, that Allie was going to be his. He knew it. In the end, he always got what he wanted.
She had to work, and that’s how he’d take her. She was so popular, so proud of it, so snobbish now that she had a job that
kept her away from Daniel, she wasn’t careful enough.
He had someone watching her every night.
The first time she tried to walk somewhere alone, he’d have her.
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ALLIE
Carlos had a nice place.
He lived alone, had a spare bedroom, and made her a space for it with no fuss. She had the most comfortable bed of her life, half a closet, and use of a kitchen that actually had a dishwasher and a stove with burners that worked.
If she wanted to hang out with him and watch TV after work, he made space on the couch.
If she wanted to hole up in her room and read a novel or draw, he didn’t chase her down.
If he wanted time by himself, he said so, politely and promptly.
In short, he was a fantastic roommate.
She found herself singing in the shower, actually singing. She didn’t know that people really did that. She’d always thought that it was a silly thing people did in movies.
Her workdays left her tired, but not exhausted. She was actually putting money away, even though she was paying Carlos rent.
Jesse was over half the time, and taking her out when he wasn’t at her place.
Life was… life was good.
She let herself out of the apartment and locked the door behind her. Carlos was in the shower after work, and she wanted to surprise him with his favorite tacos for dinner - she’d looked out the window and seen a food truck parked outside the complex.
She was never sure exactly what happened, but when she walked past a dark doorway, she blinked - and was gone.
Someone grabbed her arm and yanked her off her feet, and before she could scream she felt something pressed over her mouth, hot, sweet, damp.
----------------------------------------------------------
Allie felt ropes digging into her wrists. She tried to shift to get comfortable. She couldn't sleep like that.
Wait.
Why would there be ropes in her bed?
She wasn't in her bed.
Her eyes flew open and she found herself in a trashy bedroom. She was on a king-sized bed with satin sheets, there was a mirror on the ceiling above her, posters of naked or half-naked women on the wall.
She tried to shake her head a little to clear it. Her thoughts were coming slowly, she felt groggy and stupid, like each thought was swimming through molasses to get to her.
She wasn't at home.
She was in a strange place.
She was tied up.
She was in danger.
The terror started to cut through the fog that she was feeling, and she looked around as much as she could.
Someone stood up in the shadows of the corner of the room.
"Ah, sweetheart, you're awake," he said.
Of course.
Of course it was Daniel.
She'd known that it had to be him, that she had been stupid to leave the apartment without someone to protect her.
He was wearing a satin robe, his hair was mussed. He looked debauched.
He would have looked handsome if she hadn't known him.
"I'm ready for your apology," he said. His voice seemed calm, serene, but it filled Allie with horror. Was he insane? Was he actually crazy?
The redhead said nothing.
"Are you ready to accept me?" he asked.
Allie shook her head.
He took another step closer to her, and then another.
"Oh, I think you are," he said. "Or, you will be soon."
She tried to squirm away when he sat on the bed next to her, but she was tied too tightly, too well.
“You have such beautiful hair,” he said, reaching out and stroking her head as though it were made of silk.
“No,” she muttered, jerking her head out of his grasp.
He grabbed her by the hair, holding her so tightly that she thought his fingernails were going to leave bloody gouges in her scalp.
“Listen to me,” he said. His voice was still calm, he was still smiling, even though his hands were clenched and shaking with rage.
He is definitely crazy, she thought. I’ve got to get the fuck out of here.
“Listen to me,” he repeated. “You do what I want. I shouldn’t even need to tell you what I want. Right now, I want to pet your beautiful hair. You need to hold still and let me, or I’ll dump you on the floor of my bar, tell everyone you’re drunk and horny, and let every man there fuck you for free.”
She believed him.
He would do it.
Every muscle in her body screamed a protest, but she managed to hold herself still and allow the man to stroke her hair.
After a few strokes, he started to hum happily.
Allie couldn’t imagine, at that moment, anything creepier.
She sat there, forcing her body to hold still and allow him to stroke her hair. The longer he did that, the better chance she’d have that she could get free before he really, really hurt her.
Her eyes were squeezed so tightly shut that the tears almost couldn’t escape.
----------------------------------------------------------
JESSE
It had been a long fucking day.
All Jesse wanted in the world was a drink, a smoke, and his girl.
He trudged up the stairs to Carlos’s apartment, trying not to yawn. He was hauling a few bags of groceries.
She’ll fuss, but she doesn’t need to walk two miles carrying all this crap, not when I can pick it up for her, he thought. Carlos’ll back me up.
He grinned at the thought of Allie’s indignation. She was adorable when she was trying to tell him off when she thought she should be pissed, but wasn’t really.
Hell, she was always adorable.
Two knocks on the door brought Carlos, looking worried and grumpy.
“Oh, good, chica’s with you,” he said.
Jesse froze.
“No, she’s not,” he said.
“Shit,” Carlos said, opening the door further and turning away. “Shit, shit, shit. I got out of the shower and she was gone.”
“Fuck,” Jesse agreed. “Does she have her phone?”
Carlos shrugged.
A brief search turned up the cell phone in the key basket by the door.
“He has her, doesn’t he?” Jesse asked the older man.
Carlos hesitated, then nodded.
“Well, we’d best get started,” the young biker said.
He’ll regret this, Jesse thought. I will make him regret this.
----------------------------------------------------------
ALLIE
Too soon, he got bored with stroking her hair.
His hand slid down her chest under her shirt to grope her breast.
“Relax,” he whispered. “You’ve gotta get used to this. Just relax and be a good girl.”
Allie tried not to shake her head.
She squirmed experimentally, to see if Daniel would allow her to get away with it if he thought she was trying to relax.
“Ah, ah, ah,” he said, pinning her to the bed with one strong hand. “Be a good girl and hold still.”
Knowing that Jesse or Carlos would come for her when they realized that she was gone, all Allie wanted to do was buy time. If she could keep him satisfied with stroking and groping her, that would put off the moment when he tried to take her.
So she held still.
She held still as he gently trailed his fingertips over her breasts.
She held still as he took out a knife and sliced her shirt off of her, exposing her bare and vulnerable.
She held still as he worshiped her nipples, blowing on them, licking them, nibbling them, caressing them.
“Stop shivering,” he said.
Allie tried, but the harder she forced her muscles to still, the more they shook and trembled.
Justice: Night Horses MC Page 4