Ride Me Hard (Black Horsemen MC Book 2)

by Sophia Hampton

  “And if he doesn’t?”

  Vinny couldn’t answer her question. He knew Gloria was well aware of what was going to happen. “I have to go, Gloria. When it’s done, I’ll go back to my place. I’ll call you from there. In the meantime, you stay inside. Don’t try to go anywhere. Have Jordan wait around with you. If you find trouble, you stall as much as possible.” Vinny again took her head into her hands as he circled his arms around her. Kissing her on the forehead, he could feel a few tears stream down her face and rest in the cloth of his shirt. He broke away before he could say much more and walked out the door.

  Gloria watched from the living room window as he walked past the group of men and on to his bike. The rest of the gang watched him go, all talking about his departure. Gloria knew this was her chance. While they were distracted talking among themselves, she ran to where her car was parked and closed the door softly. She pulled a hat from her backseat and pulled her hair into a bun under the cap. She pulled the neck of her shirt up to her face and placed a pair of sunglasses on. It was a stupid idea, but she knew that sometimes even the most ridiculous ideas were the best.

  As she pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street, she didn’t dare glance back at the men. There was no sound of bikes starting, no peeling of wheels on the concrete streets. All she could see was the dark of the early morning roads and the sound of her own heavy breathing. She had managed to escape.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Gloria was speeding wildly down the open roads. Her beat up junker was pulling and pushing under the pressure of her breakneck speeds and sharp turns. She had only minutes to get there before Vinny had figured out the address she had given him was off by a couple of numbers.

  She couldn’t imagine he would dare break into every house on the block until he found Calvin Senior. That would be too cavalier, too risky. He would have to know better than to involve tons of unknowing witnesses. But, then again, how much did she truly know about Vinny and his personality? After all, he was an enforcer with a deadly motorcycle gang—a motorcycle gang that was totally okay with hiding away a murder in their own parking lot.

  All Gloria could do was trust that he would be smart about this…and hope she wouldn’t be the one winding up dead by the end of the night.

  As she approached Maple Street, she turned off her headlights and slowly pulled into the pristine block. Lined with flowerbeds, novelty mailboxes, and freshly painted window shutters, the neighborhood was practically out of a dream. How could a kid like Junior come from such a beautiful place and turn to a life of crime? Gloria had expected abandoned buildings and deserted streets. But 209 Maple was practically a castle, with its brick façade and second-story awnings.

  But one, very out of place thing caught her eye: two motorcycles resting up against the garage of Calvin’s garage. She scanned the home as she slowed to a stop. Only one light was on in the basement window. The clear, glass bricks made it hard for her to make out anything concrete, but she could clearly see the shadow of a towering body standing inside the basement. A pain of regret washed over her. She was too late. They were already here.

  Still, she soldiered on. Gloria left her car on the street about three homes down from where the Smith family resided. As she slipped out of her car and softly closed the door, she knew she had to be quick about it. If she lingered too long or made too much of a scene, she would put herself at risk of being caught by not only Vinny, but by a noisy neighbor or two. She slipped behind bushes, walked the parameters of the fence lines, and avoided motion cameras and lights as best as she was able.

  When she made it to the Smith’s home, she checked the front door first. It was still firmly closed tight and locked from the inside. Vinny could have picked it and then relocked it, she guessed, but she couldn’t see any signs of that. It was still so pristine.

  She slipped toward the side of the home, searching for a busted window or an open gate. Instead, she found the entrance to an underground cellar. It was padlocked shut, but Gloria’s wild high school years had taught her the best way to bust through one of those. Taking a metal pin out of her hair, she began twisting it inside the lock. When she could hear it click, she used a garden stone to hit it open. It only took two tries before the metal lock smashed to the ground and the cellar door swung open from the force.

  The cellar was dark and musty. It was clear that no one had been down there in months, let alone Vinny and whomever he rode with. Gloria felt her way through the jumble of gardening equipment and lawn supplies until she felt the end of the wall. Using her hands, she traced the corners of the space until she felt the handle of the door.

  Looking down at her feet, she could see a hint of light spilling through the cracks of the door. Sound, too, was passing through as she struggled to make out the voice. “Tell us where he is! You fucking know where he is! Do you think we’re joking! Show him we’re serious, Vin!”

  She heard a loud, unnatural crack and a thud. It was the sound of a man’s jaw breaking as his body fell to the floor. Gloria was all too familiar with the noise of bones shattering under another man’s hand. The thud, she guessed, was the beaten man falling to the ground.

  A screech of a chair being pulled over a tile floor followed and a new man spoke. She knew the voice in a second as Vinny shouted, “Calvin! Just tell us where that little fucker is, and we’ll let you go—you and your wife!”

  Through all the yelling, the threats, Gloria could tell it was not just Vinny trying to scare the shit out of him. He was genuinely trying to save the man. There was a pleading in his voice that made Gloria think he wanted to be there less than Calvin Senior. did.

  “L-look, fellas, I already told you, I don’t know. I ain’t seen Junior in a week.” The man was crying, sobbing. The injury to his body had made it a labor just to talk. But he had to do it to save his life and the ones that he loved. “Please, leave Jessica alone. She didn’t—she didn’t know.”

  “Whaddaya think’s keepin’ us from burnin’ this shithole to the ground with your wife tied up upstairs?” Vinny had lowered his voice almost to a whisper. “You got somethin’ we want. You tell us what we need to know, and we’ll move on like nothin’ ever happened.”

  The second man was less patient. There was a pause before he screamed, “TELL US, MOTHERFUCKER!” A pulsating scream rang out vibrating the walls and forcing Gloria to step back from the door. Whatever the two had just done to Calvin meant the end was near. His life was slowly slipping away, and Gloria’s time to save them all was dwindling fast.

  But getting to Calvin was impossible. If it were just Vinny in that basement, she would have taken the risk of him killing her and would have forced herself in. But the other man in the room certainly would not have shown her mercy. She would just be another dead body on the floor of a basement to him. No, Gloria had no other option than to find another way.

  She slowly ran outside, carefully shutting the cellar door once again and replaced the broken lock to conceal her tracks. Moving farther back in the yard, she spotted a deck with a back entrance to the kitchen. The screen door was open but she would have to break in again to through a nearby window. Luckily, Vinny and his pal had already done the job before her. As she placed the hairpin in the keyhole, the door slowly opened on its own. They had used the same trick to get in.

  The kitchen was dark, untouched. The men had left everything in its right place to make sure it didn’t look like a break in. Pans were still hung over the sink, a man’s briefcase still laid open on the dining room table with papers in a neat pile, photos of the small family on vacation were hung without a speck of dust on them in the living room. Gloria didn’t dare to leave a fingerprint on anything.

  Upstairs was more of the same. Doors were shut, lights were off, beds were made. Gloria had methodically gone through each and every room, peeking her head into the doors as she went for the sign of Calvin’s wife. There was nothing but dark stillness.

  As she turned to head back downstairs to the liv
ing room, the sound of a muffled, shaking cry broke through from the master bedroom she had just left. Gloria raced to the room and opened the door. Still, she could not make out anything but the outline of the large wooden furniture. Yet, the sound of the cry grew louder. She had just checked the bedroom a moment earlier and had seen nothing off. The bed was a bit messy, but there were no signs that someone had forced their way in or someone’s body was dragged out.

  But there, withering on the ground with her arms and legs bound to the post of the king-sized bed was a small, shaking woman. Gloria ran to her side and removed the necktie that was stuffed barbarically into her mouth. Before the woman could get a chance to scream, she used her hand to cover her lips.

  “Don’t scream!” Gloria whispered urgently. “I’m here to help you, but you have to stay calm. Did you see who took your husband?”

  “No—there were two of them,” Jessica softly sobbed as the words dribbled from her lips. “Big guys, with dark clothing on. I think they had masks on. One of them had a gun. They kept screaming about my son, Junior, asking where he is. I didn’t know what they were talking about. They tied me up and left me up here…” The woman realized the important detail she was missing as a look of terror covered her face. “They took my husband!”

  “Your husband is fine—for now. I was just down in your basement and saw where they’re keepin’ him. But we don’t got time. We gotta get you outta here.”

  “We can’t just leave him! They’re gonna kill him!” Jessica was practically yelling at Gloria as she shook and cried uncontrollably.

  Gloria took the woman’s shoulders in her hand to steady them. Pressing her fingers hard into her skin, she looked her into her eyes and said, “Listen to me. You cannot save him right now. We need to get out of here and then we will get to him. Do you hear me, Jessica?”

  The woman’s brow furrowed. “How do you know my name?” A spark of fear hit her as she tried to crawl away from her. “And who exactly are you?”

  Gloria had made a fatal error in saying her name. But she had to make her understand, “I’m here to help you and your husband.” She held up a hand to head off the inevitable question. “I can’t tell you any more than that. But please, I want to help you get out of here, because, believe me, the other man down there is going to kill both you and your husband by the end of the night. You’re just gonna have to trust me.”

  Jessica slumped down farther into the ground as she thought through her options. From her place in the bedroom, she could hear the occasional shouts of her husband and his captors. She knew that whatever was happening to him, whatever they were putting him through, was not going to end with everyone just happily walking away like nothing had ever happened. Gloria was right. To save the person she loved, Jessica would have to save herself first.

  She nodded as she moved out of Gloria’s way to reveal just how tightly she was bound to the bedposts. Gloria ran her hands through the length of the line, searching for some way to twist it free. But the knots that Vinny or his partner had made with the thick, dense material were strong and unyielding. Only a professional with years of experience tying up a body could make something so strong and impenetrable.

  Gloria had no time to think about the rope or how Vinny had come to learn the tricks of the trade. As she stood to search for a pair of scissors, she suddenly could hear her worst fear approaching through the kitchen and near the foot of the stairs.

  Gloria ran back towards Jessica’s side as she softly instructed, “Someone’s coming,” Gloria stuffed the tie back into her mouth and pushed the woman’s quivering body closer to the bed. “Don’t say a word about me, and I promise you, I am going to get you out of here, but you have to play along. Just do want that man says. Everything is going to be all right.”

  Gloria ran out of the master bedroom and into the closet of the hallway. She made herself small as she sunk down to the bottom of the floor and watched from the slits as a man’s slow footsteps grew closer and closer. A pair of black leather boots, similar to the ones she had seen at Vinny’s place, appeared before her and then turned away towards the master bedroom.

  “No! No! No! Please!” Jessica’s voice rang out. The man had taken out the necktie from her mouth and was now struggling with her. Gloria could hear the woman banging up against the side of the large bed as it hit the wall of the bedroom over and over again. Another long scream let out as the thrashing continued to grow louder and closer.

  The two black boots appeared before her again followed by the strands of Jessica’s long blonde hair. He was grasping on to them by the grip of his hand. Vinny’s partner looked down at her, “Bitch, are you gonna make me carry you down by your hair, or you gonna come with me nicely?”

  Jessica continued to fight back, as Gloria could see her legs kicking him wildly as he crouched down next to where she lay just inches from the door of Gloria’s hiding spot. His hands scooped up more of her hair and yanked hard as he dragged her body down the first stairs. Loud, inhuman thumps and cries rang up until it suddenly stopped altogether. But Gloria didn’t dare move. She couldn’t bear to give away her position if she tried. Instead, she waited and listened, biding her time until she was sure the man was back down in the basement.

  When she certain it was clear, Gloria ran from her position and down through the stairs. Even in the dark, she was careful to step over and around the pools of blood and hair that had fallen from Jessica’s head. She knew better than to promise the woman any bit of safety. After all, she had no idea what her next move was. But as she ran out of the home and back into the backyard of the Smith residence, she had to believe there was a way out of this.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Calvin…? Calvin…! Calvin!” Vinny was on his knees, practically begging for the man before him to just open his bruised and swollen eyes. “Wake up, Calvin! We don’t have time for this shit. C’mon. You hear me in there?” Vinny slapped Calvin’s stubbly face with the palm of his hand as Calvin’s eyes continued to remain closed shut as tightly as possible. By the way he clenched his fists and rolled his head, Vinny thought he looked almost like a child, refusing to see what scary monster may be hiding in their closet.

  It wasn’t an unusual sight. Most of the men did likewise when Vinny’s tactics had worked. But, tonight, he took no pleasure in this kind of torture. He just wanted to get out of there, find Junior, and get his life back to where it was. Calvin Senior and his refusal to give him what he wanted was one of the few things standing in his way.

  Now, the few and precious seconds he had to work without spilling too much blood were ticking down. But Calvin had no understanding of that. Vinny wasn’t even sure if he was close to death or just simply slowly dying. A dead man wouldn’t work for Vinny. He was in the business of scaring and scarring men. He brought men to the edge of his life, but he had no desire to see them get pushed over it. There was no coming back when you killed a man, especially one who didn’t do direct harm to you.

  He tried a different tactic this time, softening his voice to appeal to the man slumped before him, “Calvin, you need to give me something. You hear those cries? That’s your wife. That’s Jessica. My partner and I are going to have to kill her. You don’t want her to die over this. Just tell us where Junior is and this stops. I can make it all go away.”

  That man’s balding head began to roll forward in recognition. He tried to speak, but all he was able to do was choke back the blood and fluid that ran up from his lungs and pooled at the side of his mouth in a frothy, disgusting mess. Still, after a long, horrible moment of attempts, he managed to softly say, “Warehouse…” His breathing labored as he continued slowly, “Devils… Land… Jessica.... Jessica…”

  It was something. Vinny grabbed hold of the man’s body, shaking it as he exclaimed, “What warehouse, Calvin? Which one? What’s the address?” Vinny knew he was getting clues, but he needed the full picture.

  After all, he couldn’t risk anyone lying to him again about a location like G
loria had earlier. Luckily for Vinny, he had spotted the Smith’s novelty mailbox as the men canvassed the block, looking for potential witnesses or pitfalls in their plans. If he hadn’t foiled Gloria’s attempt to ruin his mission, his assignment would have been over before it began and he would have wound up dead, or worse—Gloria would have.

  “Devils… Land… Jessica… Jessica…” Calvin was repeating himself on a slow, hazy loop.

  “Did the son of a bitch wake up? Fantastic! Means we’ve got more to beat out of him!” Quimby stumbled heavily down the stairs. His enormous footsteps made thundering sounds throughout the house as he hit each step.

  To Vinny, he had seemingly transformed into a caveman while he was away. Jessica’s bloody, limp body rested on his oversized shoulders as blood trickled down her neck and face. In his other hand, he held an equally blood knife.

  “What did you do to the wife? Is she dead?” He disgusted Vinny. Quimby had a reputation of being sadistic, but his show tonight was beyond anything that Vinny could have imagined. He could understand why Benni wanted him to join Vinny on his assignment. Quimby was willing to go where Vinny didn’t dare.