by Lexie Davis
Ella clicked her phone off and set it aside. She was tired and cranky. She didn’t know what kind of fucking game they were playing with her, but the man on that screen wasn’t the real Ryker. Grabbing the container her food came in, she yanked it off the table and tossed it into the trash. They knew he was weakened by whatever had happened that day. The idea that someone could do something so callous to another individual was beyond rational thinking. But it was how those monsters played. Nothing was ever what it seemed. Ryker would never send her a video of him doing drugs. Especially when he wanted her help in staying off them. She didn’t believe for one second that he did that on his own. Now more than ever he needed to get out before he ended up dead.
Mad at herself for not pressing him for more details, she went to the elevator. If she had leverage on them, then she could do something. They wanted her out of his life, she got that. They thought she was a threat. The sick bastards were the real threat. His father was the worst threat. Ella punched her father’s floor number and waited for the doors to close. Her father would know what to do about it. He’d be pissed, but he’d know what to do.
She rode the elevator to his floor and let herself in to see him. He smiled at her, his face still bruised and swollen from the beating.
“Hey, dollface. What’s wrong?”
“Razor.”
Her father sat up in the bed, grunting from pain as he shifted slightly. “What happened?”
She rubbed her forehead. “He told me to stay away from Ryker. It was part of our deal. But I didn’t exactly live up to my end of the bargain. Ryker came to me today needing some help coping with his cravings. He’s been clean for a year or two and for whatever reason, he breathed in some stuff today. He looked really bad. I sat with him. I supported him through it. Then he gets this call and leaves.” Ella pulled up the video on her phone. “A few minutes ago I was sent this video.”
He took the phone and watched the video. “Ella, they’re playing you. You need to leave this guy alone. You can’t save an addict. Clearly, he’s not clean anymore. You need to take this to the police. It’s obvious that’s at the clubhouse. That should be enough for probable cause if they’ve got anything there. They could all be going away for years.” Her father almost bounced out of his bed, he was so happy. “This is what we needed Ella. I never thought we’d get it, but this is what we need.”
She stared at him. Turning the video in wasn’t an option. She knew how Razor played. The only one that would pay for the Roaming Devils’ sins was Ryker. It pissed her off that his own father treated him that way. It was something he just accepted and it wasn’t fair. He didn’t know anything different.
“No.”
“No? What do you mean no?”
“I’m not giving this to the police. I’m not sending him to jail. Razor is the problem, not Ryker.”
“They’re all a fucking problem, Ella.” He took a deep breath. “Listen to me. I know you have a big heart for lost causes. You think you can fix them and you’re optimistic. It’s a great quality to have, baby, it really is. But these men are dangerous. They are not people you fool around with. I tried telling you that five years ago when I busted that little punk for possession.”
She shook her head. Ryker wasn’t like Razor. He made an effort to stay clean. He held her like she was the only thing that mattered to him. Her heart broke at the very thought of him being used for their sick and twisted games. Tears filled her eyes and she turned away from her father.
“Ella,” his voice was softer. He’d gone from being her father to the cop and was now back to being her father again. “Please tell me you didn’t sleep with him. They play people, Ella. They’re great at manipulating others to get what they want.”
Her tough exterior cracked. She brought her hand to her face and tried to hide her shame from her father but it didn’t work. Her sobs were soft as her shoulders shook from the intensity of them. She closed her eyes and tried to gain control of herself, but once the dam broke, it was hard to keep everything back. She was so stupid. It hurt to even think about it.
Her father got out of the bed and came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her. She laid her head against him, letting him comfort her. She knew that he shouldn’t have been standing. He shouldn’t have been out of the bed. He had broken legs and a broken arm. A few broken ribs. It had to be extremely painful just moving.
“Honey, it’s okay.” He kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay.”
When she finally stopped the waterworks, she pulled away from her father’s arms. “Get back into bed. You’re crazy for even trying to get out and comfort me.”
“I’d do anything for you.” He wiped her tears from beneath her eyes. “Even if it hurts like hell.”
She rolled her eyes and helped him back to the bed. She took a deep breath and he reached out to her, squeezing her hand. “I know you thought he was different, Ella. You’ve had a thing for that boy since you were a teenager. Just let it be a lesson learned. They’re all the same. I wish I could tell you differently. I wish I had your optimism. I just know better. You need to take that video to the police and let them bust them. If the higher ranking members are there, then that’s an added bonus.”
“Okay. I need to get back to work. I love you, Dad.”
“I love you too.” He kissed her hand. “Send the video to the police.”
She smiled and nodded, agreeing to before leaving the room. She looked like a complete basket case but it didn’t really matter. She pocketed her cell phone and went back to ER to finish her shift. She couldn’t turn Ryker in. Not until she knew the whole story.
It was the least he owed her as far as she was concerned.
****
After her shift ended, she drove to the club. She parked out front and noticed the party was going in full swing. She could only imagine what kind of lascivious deeds were going on inside. She walked up to the door and the burly guy stopped her.
“You can’t go in there.”
“Razor will want to see me.”
“No, he won’t.”
“Ask him. Tell him I got some candy for his sugar habit.” She smiled at the guy.
Instead of asking questions, he opened the door for her. The loud music was enough to make her head hurt. Every time she walked into the club, she had a sour feeling in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t know if Ryker was dead or alive. She didn’t know if she’d find him balls deep in another woman. Anything was possible and she had to stop her imagination from getting too out of control. Her heart thudded as she glanced around, looking for Ryker. With bodies gyrating to the music, the temperature had increased to the point she felt perspiration gathering on her upper lip. They acted like nothing was wrong. That partying was a way of life and they wanted to live it up. With everything that she was, she didn’t want him dead. It was a risky move for her to steal the fentanyl and her friend had almost caught her this time. She’d had to talk her way out of it while blaming her erratic behavior on lack of sleep and long hours. The risk was worth it if she found Ryker alive. Ella pushed through the crowd, disgusted by the lack of clothed women. Women walked around naked while some spun around on the stripper poles with their legs spread. She didn’t spot either Ryker or Razor, so she pushed deeper into the crowd.
The full-patch members enjoyed the women walking around like servants to them. One man grabbed a female’s tits and licked her nipples without any preamble. They did whatever the hell they wanted with these women and the women let them. As she moved deeper into the room, she saw Razor in the back with a girl kneeling before him. His head was resting on the back of the couch while his arm was out beside him. He was clearly enjoying himself, Ella mused.
That was until he spotted her.
He sat up a little straighter and glanced toward the door. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to bribe you.” She lifted the bottle of fentanyl. “I want to talk to Ryker.”
He sucked in a breath, stari
ng at the bottle. “He’s entertaining some bitches in the back. I seriously doubt he wants to talk.”
So he was sleeping with other women. The thought made her want to throw up. Part of her wondered why she even bothered. The other part of her knew that more than anything, he needed her help.
“I don’t know. I can be pretty persuasive.” She shook the bottle lightly. “Do we have a deal?”
He nodded once and she tossed the bottle to him. He waved her back and she went down the darkened hall, the music less intrusive. She knocked on the first door and found another guy fucking three women. Sweat rolled down his meaty back as a smile crossed his face, hips still pumping into one of the women. He made some comment about her joining them. She rolled her eyes and closed the door, going to the second room.
Ryker bent over the dresser, snorting a row of powder.
He was alone, and he looked a mess. His dark hair was greasy. Coke covered the dresser, the effects of feeding an addict’s habit. Her heart broke as she took in the effects of his drug abuse. He’d told her he’d been clean for a while. To see him relapse nearly ripped her apart. She stared at him a moment, debating what to do next.
“You shouldn’t be here, Ella.” Tears filled his eyes and he tried to wipe the powder from his face. “You need to stay away from me.”
“Says who? Your father?”
He swallowed. “I’m not a good person. I can’t love you like you need.” His voice broke as he spoke to her. “I tried.” He sniffled. “I did. I gave it an honest effort.” He turned away from her. “You deserve someone better than a junkie. You deserve someone that will be there to hold you and love you. To cherish you. I can’t do it. I can’t be that guy for you.”
She walked around the mess and went to him. “Look at me.”
When he did, he had pinpoint pupils. His nose was bleeding and he was a fucked up mess. “Why did you start using again?” She pushed him back to the bed and reached for a tissue from the box on the dresser. “I thought we worked out that craving.”
“They injected me as punishment for being with you.” He blew out a breath. “Ella, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought you into this. I don’t think I can get you out of it unless you stay away from me. If you stay away from me, everything will be okay again. They won’t bother you if I leave you alone.”
She wiped the blood from his nose. Every word he said broke her heart. They’d forced him into a relapse. It explained the video. She tossed the tissue into the trash, noticing that he was working his way through a gram of cocaine. They were sadistic bastards. His own fucking father was as evil as they came.
“Ella, you need to leave.” He grabbed her hand but instead of pushing her away, he pulled her to him. She stumbled, falling to the bed beside him. A moment of panic rushed through her as he moved on top of her. Instead of forcing himself on her as she thought, he pressed his face against her neck and broke down, crying like a small child.
Her heart ached as she wrapped her arms around him. She found herself wanting to protect him but she didn’t know how. He was a grown man that made his own decisions. While some were against his will, he had every ability to walk away from the club if he knew how terrible they really were.
“I’m so sorry, Ella.” He whimpered as if he were in physical pain. “God, I’m so sorry.”
She stroked his back, rubbing the tension from his muscles. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
He let her comfort him for a little while longer before he pushed up and away from her. She stared at him, concerned for his well-being. He was high and didn’t know what he was saying. He had a tremendous amount of guilt, though he didn’t say what it was about specifically.
“You need to go.” He nodded a few times as if he were convincing himself to let her go. “I need you to go.”
She sat up. What could she really say to him? He was exactly how the junkies arrived at the clinic. They only fought addiction if they wanted to. He was struggling with so much more and Ella was afraid that it would push him in deeper or potentially kill him.
“I can still help you.” She rubbed his arm. “You relapsed and you’re still alive, so it’s not the end of the world. You can come to the clinic and we can start all over again, except this time, you’ll have someone right there with you to help you get clean.”
He stood and walked away from the bed. “Don’t you get it? I can’t fucking see you anymore. I can’t talk to you. I can’t fuck you. I can’t go to the stupid clinic to get clean. I can’t do it. You need to stay away from me, Ella. You need to go.”
Ella had never seen him so agitated. Instead of allowing it to escalate, she stood and left the room. The music was blaring as she made her way back to the main room. Razor spotted her from across the room and she narrowed her eyes at him. He was killing his son and he didn’t even care.
Ella left the party and went outside to her car. Maybe she should cut her losses and leave him alone. It killed her to even think about that since he could be alive today and dead tomorrow. The thought alone scared the shit out of her. There had to be another way. She just wished she knew what it was.
Chapter Seven
Ryker walked around in a daze for nearly a month. He focused on the club and, when it was time to get ruthless, took his anger out on those that needed a good thrashing. He’d gone from drugs to fighting almost instantaneously. Everything pissed him off. Everyone pissed him off. He supposed he’d finally turned into the monster his father wanted him to be.
“This guy says he can’t pay,” Vampire commented. “He also said that we can take his bitch as collateral.”
Ryker’s hands clenched in his leather gloves. He knew junkies were a pain to deal with, which was why he hated dealing at a street level, but the damn wholesalers didn’t know how to fucking get the money for the drugs before they dispersed them. The fucking morons.
“Take the chick,” Ryker commented. He stared at the man Vampire had kneeling before him. “You walk around like you’re some fucking king with a bitch on your arm when you can’t even pay your bills.”
The girl was the least of his worries. Half of the fucking losers treated them like shit anyway and being a club coke whore was a dream compared to the shit they faced on their own. He knew Razor would probably like the chick. She didn’t seem the least bothered by their little arrangement either.
“As for business, pussy only goes so far before I’m bored with it.”
He slammed his fist into the guy’s face, cracking a bone or two. Ryker crawled on top of the bony guy, pounding his face with both of his fists. It took Vampire and Superman to pull him off before he killed the dickwad.
“The next time you can’t pay, you’re going to wish you never met me.”
He went to each point of contact, collecting money and dishing out a beating when they didn’t pay. While his friends liked to use the threat of weaponry, he liked his fists. It was messier and it had more feeling behind it. Plus, he liked the sound of bones crushing when his fist made contact with a face.
“You head back to the club,” Ryker told Vampire. “I need to take care of some business and then I’ll meet up with you.”
“What business?” Vampire asked. “I thought we had everything we needed.”
“I’ve got something else I’ve got to do.” Ryker glanced past him. “Go on. It’s not that big of a deal.”
Vampire wasn’t easily fooled. “You know I’ve got your back. What are you wanting to do?”
Ryker trusted very few club members. Most held a sincere loyalty toward his father and all the bad deeds he promoted within the club. He didn’t fucking want to go around spreading his plans for those that had wronged him.
“Can I trust you?”
Vampire stared at him. “Yes.”
“Are you bullshitting with me?”
Vampire cleared his throat. “If I were, would you even be having this conversation with me? I’ve ridden by your side for years. We patched in together. I thought we we
re best friends.”
“We are. Doesn’t mean shit in this world, though. Can I trust you?”
Vampire stared at him for what felt like the longest few seconds of his life. “I’ve got your back no matter what. You.”
Ryker trusted him. If he trusted anyone in the club, Vampire and Superman were the top two. “Ghost has been stealing from the club. I caught him taking a kilo of cocaine for himself. I carried five. He carried five. He only delivered four.” He cleared his throat. “I wondered what the fuck he was doing with it. When I followed him, he took it to a Young Blood production house. He’s been trading coke for guns from those bastards under the table from the rest of the club. I know Razor isn’t going to do anything about it. Ghost is his little pet. So I decided to handle it myself.”
Vampire propped his hands on his hips. “That would explain why some of Young Blood’s coke whores are selling higher quality shit. It’s cutting out our profits and sending our customers to Young Blood.”
“Yeah. I know. They get them hooked on the good shit that we sell and then trade it out when they’re addicted for the shit they sell. Ghost is orchestrating this and it needs to be handled.”
“You don’t think Razor would do anything?”
It wasn’t that he thought his father wouldn’t do anything. He was fairly certain that he would. The problem was that Ryker wanted to be the one to fix the problem. He wanted to see the bastard take his last breath. It was the least the fucker deserved and he wanted it to be him that dished out the consequences.
“I don’t know. Do you?”
Vampire pursed his lips. “Your father isn’t a bad leader. I know you two butt heads like two bucks fighting for a doe, but he is the president. The rules of the club should be followed no matter what. It prevents mayhem from ensuing.”