Below The Line

by Chelsea Camaron

  I blow against her heat as she rides through the aftershocks and I allow her a chance to recover.

  “Owen, I need you inside me,” she begs. “I have never been teased before and I don’t like it.” She laughs. “Owen, please, I’ve never had anything feel like this between us.”

  Having no resistance left, I stand and remove my clothing as fast as I can. Laying over her, the woman beneath me is my love, my life, and my saving grace. I slowly enter her taking in the sensation.

  With a slow languid pace, I make love to her. Refusing to break my rhythm I only smile when she cries out for me to go faster. I continue to pull out all the way to the tip and move slowly back in to the hilt as my piercing works all the way up and down her inner walls.

  I fight the need to speed up as my impending climax builds. The tingle shoots down my spine as my balls swell. Reaching between us, I rub Hadley’s clit in circles feeling her tighten around me. With my self-control gone, I quicken sending her over the edge and me following right behind as I release hot inside of her.

  Holding her with my cock pulsing inside her, I don’t want to move. I kiss her tenderly as I finally withdraw.

  “So this is what making love feels like,” she says happily under me. “Never could have imagined it to be this … comfortable.”

  “Hadley, you are my gift in life,” I kiss her again.

  “Feels damn good, Owen. Better than any movies I’ve seen. This is the stuff they should put in books.” She laughs again and it’s heaven to my ears.

  “Pierced Prince Charming works his magic,” I reply light heartedly and wonder when the last time I felt this free was.

  “I definitely can be a testimony to Pierced Prince Charming and all his magic.”

  “Our future is gonna be damn good, Hadley, just need you to believe in me, in us.”

  “I believe in you Owen Maximus Gallow. No matter what don’t ever doubt my faith and love in you.”

  While her words are deep and meaningful I can’t help but hear the dread in her tone making me fear that we may not be on the same page with where life is headed for us.

  ***

  I wake in a cold sweat. The room is dark. The bed beside me is cold. I look to the bathroom door, wide open and dark.

  Shit! She’s gone.

  Chapter Ten

  ~Hadley~

  I wake up to a rapping on the door. Owen is sleeping deep which is unlike him. After having our time together and hearing him say he loves me, I want to let him rest. I smile at the memory of him telling me he loves me and then showing me.

  This is real and it’s every dream I never thought I had come true. When I get back in bed, I’m going to wake him up showing him just how much I love him back.

  Sliding out of the bed, I grab his t-shirt from the floor and pull it on.

  Thinking it is one of the guys from Devil’s Due, I don’t hesitate to pull the hotel room door open without even looking at the person in front of me. Slightly shifting to my side, I give the perfect angle for the man at the door to grab me and yank me out before I can manage a scream as a cloth is shoved harshly into my mouth. The sharp pain makes me wonder if I chipped a tooth.

  My pulse quickens, my feet and body tense as fight or flight mode kicks in.

  First, I try to fight. Kicking out and stomping on his feet do nothing to slow my attacker. If I can get free, I’ll take off running and get rid of this cloth in my mouth. I gag choking on the fabric.

  He continues to drag me backwards down the breezeway with his arm wrapped tightly around my chest. In a panic I grip his forearm as I swing up and kick the walls. Rowdy and Judge have a room in this area I think to myself. I drop my feet and swing up to kick the wall again. We pass their door. No movement. My feet hurt as the concrete walkway beneath us cuts into my heels as I try dragging myself. Gripping his forearm again, I swing up trying to get Deacon and Trapper’s attention from their room. They get up super early. Deacon is a former SEAL; I think that’s what Owen explained in a late night conversation. Unless he’s in the shower, he will react to the noise.

  The man behind me moves in a twisting way but not releasing me in any way. Cold metal hits my cheek. “Cut the shit, Hadley.” Marco’s voice assaults my ears and I freeze.

  He has no problem killing me. Letting my feet hit the cement below me, I tug at the t-shirt wishing it was longer, wishing I had on panties, and wishing more than anything Marco wasn’t this close to Owen.

  “Come with me quietly, we leave your boyfriend alone for now. Keep up the shit, I make the call and all your new friends are slaughtered while they sleep.”

  Instantly, I calm. He’ll do it. There isn’t a single doubt in my mind, he will kill them all.

  “That a girl. You never should’ve left, Hadley. Lo’ren can’t spare you what’s to come.”

  My mind races, why would Lo’ren want to spare me anything?

  I watch helplessly as Deacon and Trapper’s room door opens. Trapper’s head peeks out and his eyes meet mine before Marco turns the gun from my cheek to the man. Trapper steps out into the open breezeway, rushing towards us.

  “Fuckin’ hell, Hadley!” He yells beating the outer wall before I feel the heat and hear the pop of the gun fire.

  Trapper mutters something I can’t make out before I see him grip his shoulder.

  “She takes the bullet next!” Marco says turning the gun back on me and the hot end scorches my cheek.

  Trapper instantly quiets while Marco takes me into the parking lot and shoves me into the back of an SUV where two men grab me and hold me still. Marco jumps in and we take off. I can’t see anything out of the dark tinted windows.

  I hear the sounds of shots and recognize Deacon yelling something as the car starts to swerve before the driver hits the gas harder. The pings hit the glass from the bullets but nothing breaks making me think it’s bullet proof glass.

  “He got two tires. Run flat only gives us so long before we gotta pull over Marco.” A man explains making me hope Deacon keeps firing and disables the vehicle.

  “I thought this was a cartel fucking car.” Marco replies angrily.

  “It is that’s why we’re still going.”

  “Get us out of here. Tommy set up a new ride quick.” Marco orders while I try to gain leverage of any kind over the guy holding me on his lap firmly.

  The prick to my neck makes me jump as I realize I’m being given a drug. Before I can process what is happening, everything goes black.

  When I come too, I’m in a bedroom tied spread eagle to a bed. Lo’ren sits in a chair watching me.

  “Hadley,” his voice is firm but he remains seated.

  “Lo,” I reply unable to finish saying his name as my mouth feels like it’s filled with cotton.

  “You have no idea the shit storm you set into motion.” He says cryptically but still doesn’t move.

  Fear grips me.

  Adrenaline rushes through my veins.

  “There is nothing more I can do for you or for him.”

  My blood runs cold. “He’s your son. I don’t care what you do to me, but Owen didn’t ask for any of this.”

  “I’ve done all I can for as long as I could.”

  “What does that mean!” I shriek pulling against my restraints.

  “You should have stayed dead to him Hadley.” Lo’ren says matter of factly. His dark hair is shaggy for a change. He usually keeps it gelled flat back. The man in front of me is not the same Lo’ren I’m used to.

  Gone are the slacks and button up shirts of a businessman and in it’s place he’s wearing a plain white fitted t-shirt and faded jeans. His eyes are puffy like he hasn’t slept. In all the years with Lo’ren he’s never once been seen like this. I don’t understand.

  He continues, “I paid a lot of money to have people follow Owen. I even put people at the hospital that night to make sure he believed you were dead. Made sure he was told you didn’t make it. I tried to keep you from being leverage. He needed to stay away.” />
  “What? Why?” My mind races with questions. “You’re not the good guy here.”

  “Oh honey, I am the good guy and the devil himself wrapped in one.” Lo’ren laughs at me. “I’ve been the master of Hell for many and I’ve been a savior for you.”

  Bile rises in my throat. How warped is he to think he has saved me from anything.

  “This isn’t making sense, Lo’ren.”

  The man in front of me isn’t fazed. “He went to the hospital looking for you. I made sure he was told you died.” Lo’ren shares with me information he never has before. “When Owen left NOLA, we were home free, Hadley.” His voice turns bitter. “Then you took off and he found out. If he had stayed gone, we would all be safe. Now, there’s gonna be hell to pay for you, for me, and for him.”

  With those words, he stands and leaves me in the room. The only light coming in is from the one window to my left. It’s daylight, I just don’t know if it’s the same day I was taken or I really slept that long.

  I try to assess my situation and figure some escape. I’m laying on a mattress with no sheets, the rough material scrapes against my back. I have no pillow lifting my head. When I kept lifting it to talk to Lo’ren now has my neck sore as I lay here and try to find something, anything to hold onto my sanity. The air is warm which given my lack of clothing and sheets is a blessing. Why does Lo’ren feel like he’s out of control?

  I have more questions than answers. How can Lo’ren really think he in any way saved me or Owen? How can he think he did right by his son? And if Lo’ren isn’t in control … who is?

  I worry not only for me, but Owen and Trapper. He took a bullet trying to save me. It’s hard to process everything. It’s a challenge to steady my mind.

  My heart longs for Owen.

  I’m grateful he’s found family with the Devil’s Due MC. Trapper may be crazy and chase death, but he has a heart of gold. In my time with Owen and his brothers, I can see how they fit together.

  I know they will come for me.

  It’s what worries me most. They need to leave me here. This is my fate, has been even as I tried to run from it. Owen needs to let me go. The tears fall freely down my face as my heart breaks, my soul cracks, and I realize that no matter how hard and long I’ve fought, this is the end.

  Owen isn’t the kind of man to let me go. Lo’ren was right, he was better off thinking I was dead. He had a chance at a life full of happiness. Now … well, now they’re all doomed.

  They are walking into a trap. One I don’t think any of us will get out of this alive.

  Chapter Eleven

  ~Owen~

  Thunder roars in my head. Boom. Boom. Boom. It pounds like the seconds ticking by. Trapper was shot and Hadley was taken.

  Rowdy, Deacon, and I hit the road south while Judge, Collector, and Sonnie went with Trapper to get the bullet removed and stitched up. It isn’t ideal to split up, but every second Hadley is gone is agony. They will catch up with us as soon as they can.

  I loved her before either us could understand what that entails. It’s more than the sexy way she screams my name as she comes, it’s the way I can sit with her and neither of us have to say a word. I can’t explain it. Hadley fits with me, always has.

  I twist the throttle pushing my bike harder. I know where they’ve taken her. The man who shot Trapper and took Hadley is Lo’ren Cortez’s go to guy and I’ll be finding Marco first. Then dear old dad is about to learn what kind of man his son has grown into.

  My pulse races when we hit the French Quarter. I don’t park until I hit the sidewalk in front of Lo’ren’s most frequented brothel.

  I walk in with Rowdy and Deacon flanking me on either side. The door isn’t locked – not smart for the man or these women, but also not my fucking problem. I’m greeted by a familiar woman. I look over to Rowdy who recognizes her too. The life is gone from her eyes. The bruising on her neck shows she was strangled with a rope or something like that not hands. Her makeup is overdone and not concealing the purplish tint on her face from more bruising.

  Cameron Linn B has taken a beating. She’s alive though and for that she should be thankful.

  “Hello,” she greets softly.

  “I want Lo’ren.” I state crossing my arms over my chest.

  “He’s not here, but he’s expecting you.” She meets my stare and the woman is broken. Her eyes are void of all emotion. “Said for you to go back to the beginning. You’ll find him where you both lost it all.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?” Rowdy asks as his temper flares.

  “It means I go back to the beginning.” I say knowing this has to do with who I am and not Hadley. Guilt hits me like a kick to the nuts. She probably has been a pawn in a game she didn’t even know how to play. Shit, I didn’t even know.

  Learning the rules as we go along is not something I like to do especially when Hadley is involved.

  I’ve put this woman through far more than anyone should ever have to experience. Even if I didn’t intend for her to feel one ounce of heartache or pain, it’s her association to me that brought her into this mess.

  We climb on our bikes and the guys following me as I go back. I pull up to the house that was converted into apartments that I grew up in.

  “Owen, one day we won’t be here. I’m gonna find a way son to get us out of here.”

  I stand in front our place with my mother who every day makes me the same promise.

  To the outside world, it looks like a three level home. Each level is a separate apartment. The top floor is decorated with window boxes filled with flowers. Our floor is the middle and we have a balcony that comes off my mother’s bedroom. The bottom floor is the largest and home to four young girls. They are nice to me, always saying hi and asking if I need anything. The top floor belongs to Cajun Charlie. He comes and goes. I don’t really know much about him except he speaks with a heavy Cajun accent and loves to go fishing.

  Well, I got out of here but somehow found my way back. Dread fills me. I haven’t set foot in front of this place since the night my mother was murdered. The memories flood.

  “Owen, go in the pantry. Stay down, stay quiet. No matter what happens you don’t come out.”

  “Momma, what’s wrong?”

  “Bebe, you gotta listen to your mom and don’t ask questions. I love you, Owen.”

  She pushes me into the pantry to which I lock the door behind me and sit. I’m fourteen years old. For my whole life it’s been me and mom. She’s never acted like this before. I feed off her anxiety.

  “Lo’ren isn’t happy. He knows.” The man’s voice radiates through the space.

  “I didn’t open the door, you aren’t welcome here. It’s my night off.” My mother’s voice cracks.

  “I’m not here because of an invitation. I’m here to deliver a message.”

  “Message received.” My mother says and I drop to the floor and look out under the door to see a tall man standing in front of her. He has dark hair and a star tattoo under his eye.

  “You’re the message.” He says before reaching out pulling my mother against him with her back to his chest. The bowie knife for hunting comes up in his glove covered hand and slices her throat so deep and so fast blood splatters everywhere and she’s almost decapitated.

  “Can’t have the other women thinking they can skim money too. Lesson learned.” He says dropping her body to the ground as blood pools on the kitchen floor.

  Message received. I feel the heat of my tears fall as my entire body shakes in fear. I open the pantry door and rush to my mother’s side. The liquid surrounds us both and is warm as it leaves her body. The man doesn’t even turn to acknowledge me and continues on his way out the door while I scream from the pit of my stomach in agony.

  The building looks the same only a little more weathered from time. I take the outside steps to the second floor. Opening it with Rowdy and Deacon following me, I’m shocked to find everything still in place like it was when I lived here.
>
  Lo’ren Cortez sits in my mother’s chair like he owns the place. Well, he does, but he doesn’t seem concerned that I’m going to kill him today.

  I glance into the kitchen and see the floor is cleaned of her blood but the white chalk outline still remains from her body.

  “I couldn’t help it. Filling this house didn’t seem right.” Lo’ren explains as if he has some conscious.

  “I don’t give a shit what you feel or don’t feel.”

  “You should know, Owen, she loved you.”

  I clinch my fists. “I know she loved me. Never had a single doubt about that.”

  “You should know, she loved me too.” He remains seated. “I let her keep you because in my own way I loved her. My hands were tied. She kept breaking the rules. She kept trying to take more than her cut. I couldn’t have that and save face in my business no matter what I felt for her or how good her pussy was.”

  “I don’t give a fuck what you call love. Where is Hadley?” I ask wanting to know so I can kill the motherfucker in front of me.

  “Hadley is a beautiful woman. She loves you too, Owen.”

  I move to stand in front of him. With my legs shoulder width apart, I stand firm. “Where the fuck is she?”

  The man doesn’t move even though he could easily reach out and cut me. Then again, he’s outnumbered three to one.

  “I won’t tell you that.”

  Pulling my Glock from the back of my waistband, I click the safety off and ready the chamber. With my gun aimed between his eyes, I stare at the man who looks too much like me. “Where the fuck is Hadley?”

  “Let me tell you a story. There once was a young man who met a beautiful woman. They were once so in love.” His tone is softer like he’s going back in time to a good memory. “Then opportunity came to immerse themselves in a family business of sorts. In time, the woman was no longer the man’s lover, or even is friend. Tied together in too many ways, life moved on.”

  “My patience is running thin, Lo’ren.”

  He nods his head but continues his story. “A woman fell on hard times and found herself indebted. Her story was typical but her personality and beauty was not. The man was no longer young and in love, but a man who found a piece that made him whole.”