Sleepless Nights

by Amanda Heath

  Nine

  I’m so fucking bored.

  There, I said it. I didn’t remember it being this boring around here when I lived with Rage. Although there was a lot more going on back then. The Wraths were in the middle of a gang war when I married Rage. I didn’t know many details about it though. Lola and Storm were in the middle of that one. In fact, Lola sacrificed herself for the brothers. She didn’t die, obviously, but it came pretty close.

  Since our situation now isn’t a war, just two idiots with a death wish, there’s not a lot going on. The mob isn’t after them, the gang who was causing problems is no longer around and I’m the only one on lockdown. Which I still don’t understand considering Victor’s being held by the mob and we have Talon down below. No one is after me.

  I lightly stroke Chuck’s fur as I lay on my stomach on Chutney’s couch. I refuse to think about Rage and our moment earlier. I hope he isn’t getting any ideas in his head. The only thing I want from him is a divorce.

  I’ve been in here for three hours doing nothing. I don’t want to go out front because there are still people around. I don’t want to talk to them; I don’t want anything to do with them. I’ve been an old lady before and it’s no picnic. I was treated better than some of them but it still doesn’t mean I wasn’t a piece of property.

  That’s the only thing I hated about it. I understood all the secrecy. For one thing if I don’t know anything about what’s going on and the cops questioned me, what the fuck could I tell them? Nothing. Secondly, I didn’t want to know. There’s only so much I could learn about their illegal activities before I started to pull my hair out. I know they don’t deal in women and that’s all I needed to know.

  But being Rage’s property wasn’t all that fun. Yeah, I loved him but he would dry hump my leg every time another man looked at me. What is up with that? First off, the brothers would get shot if they touched me. That’s a rule without having to say it out loud. You go around messing with another brother’s old lady, you’re just asking for death. It shows disloyalty and the brothers can’t have that. Second off, I wouldn’t touch anyone else either. I had Rage in my bed. He’s the best lover I’ve ever had (I realize I’ve only had two, but damn is he good) and I was in love with him. He was the air that I breathed and all that gushy shit.

  Why go looking for something else? That’s why I never understood his reaction to me visiting Victor. Rage should have known I only loved him. I mean I told him several times a fucking day. I didn’t look at other men when I was with him. Not even when he wasn’t around. That’s why every time he punched someone for looking at me I didn’t even know they were looking.

  God, I loved it though. Hey, I’m a female, I’m allowed to contradict myself. Anyway, I didn’t love the beating people up thing but I did love how possessive he was. There was something about him when he got like that. The crazy eyes, his muscles rippling under his shirt right before he threw the first punch, the way he would kiss me after and the way he would fuck my brains out all night long. But then again we couldn’t keep our hands off each other.

  The door of Chutney’s room bursts open startling me out of my thoughts. I look up to see Annabella standing there. Her hair is pulled up into a messy bun on the top of her head. Her red t-shirt clings to her body, as do her skinny jeans. The red kitten heels though might be too much but she works it. That’s Annabella though; she’d never leave the house without a three-inch heel on.

  “Where have you been?” I ask, not taking my hand off my dog. Chuck raised his head when she rudely came in here but he’s used to it. People don’t know how to knock in here and this is where Chuck grew up.

  Annabella puts her hands on her hips and glares at me. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is Victor is being held against his will by the fucking mob and you’re sitting around here playing with your dog.”

  I sigh and move to sit up on the couch. “I have no idea what you want me to do about Victor. I can’t save him and you know that.”

  Annabella is already shaking her head in disagreement. “That doesn’t matter anymore. They called me about thirty minutes ago asking for a ransom on him. I told them I’d pay it. I need you to come with me though because you know some of these people and I don’t.”

  I blink a few times and wonder how in the world I deserved a life like this. I knew I should have seen this coming. Victor is worth way more alive than he is dead. And the mob would want to cash in. “You do realize they will probably take your money, then take you and use you against Victor. I mean these are not nice men. They weren’t even born nice men.”

  “I know that. That’s why I’m taking you. They aren’t going to fuck with me while you’re there. You’re Greyson’s favorite and they all know it. That man has saved their lives more times than anyone can count. They hurt you or fuck with you, they’ll have all the bosses and underbosses after them.” Her heels click against the floor as she paces around. She also waves her arms around with her words because she’s agitated. She might think this is going to work but she doesn’t believe it. There’s also something nagging at the back of my mind. Like, how does she know this?

  I sigh and climb off the couch. “We’re taking Chutney Daniels and my friend Lola.” She opens her mouth to argue but I put my hand over her mouth. “You know who Chutney is. And Lola knows how to get out of sticky situations.”

  Annabella curls her lip up but I don’t care. Annabella has a problem with anyone who doesn’t curse. Says it makes them liars. She heard somewhere that studies show people who curse are more truthful than those who don’t. “I seriously don’t like or trust Chutney but her mother is the richest person in this country. No one will fuck with her. Lola is fine though. She’ll probably knife them all down before we even have to hand over the money.”

  I roll my eyes and stomp out of the room. I’m wearing a black shirt of Chutney’s and my jeans. I also borrowed a pair of flats because my heels were killing my feet.

  When I reach the main room of the clubhouse, I find Chutney eating a salad and Lola sitting across from her reading a book on her kindle. “You know that thing I asked about last night?” I say to Chutney, avoiding looking at Lola.

  Chutney nods and gets up quickly from her chair. She’s wearing red shorts with a white shirt, her bra underneath being red so it shows through. Her blonde hair is braided to the side and I see the excitement in her dark blue eyes. “Lets go!”

  Lola sets her kindle down and slowly comes to stand. “Where are you going?” she questions with one eyebrow raised. “Because if you’re going after that dirty white boy, I’m only coming on one condition.”

  Chutney and I stare at her, waiting for her condition. I feel Annabella come up behind me and cross her arms over her chest. “Well?” I ask with both my eyebrows raised.

  She eyes Annabella but then dismisses her. That’s usually not a good idea but Lola could pluck all Annabella’s eyelashes in less than a minute while holding her down with one hand. “You gotta get back together with Rage.”

  Lola and I stare each other down, neither of us willing to back down. Long before she became such a hardass I could win these stare downs. But what happened with that gang caused a lot of damage to Lola. Her eyes are dead unless she’s with Storm and since I don’t see him around it’s hard to just look into her eyes. “You know I can’t do that. He broke up with me over stupid shit. Then he wasted five years because he thought I wanted Victor when really I didn’t want either one of them. They’re both fucking idiots.”

  Lola shoves my shoulder and I jerk backwards. Okay, now I’m starting to get pissed off. I didn’t come into this shithole to fight with anyone. Hell, I don’t even want to be here. She turns around to walk away so I grab her hair and wrench it back. Lola, not being used to a chick fighting back, is caught by surprise. I lean into her ear and whisper, “You’ll come and you’ll shut up about me being with Rage. You forget I learned to fight right alongside you. I spent months with you perfecting our bodies and our s
kills. I’m just as good as you are.” I let her hair go and move back a few feet.

  Lola’s about to blow.

  She launches at me but I block her punch with my forearm. It fucking hurts but I don’t let it show on my face. She throws another punch at me but I duck out of the way and shove my shoulder into her stomach. We go down to the ground and roll around. Her fist connects with my cheek, hard. My elbow gets her in the forehead and she’s knocked stupid for a second. I take that opportunity to pin her hands over her head. “Let it go Lola. You can’t expect me to let you get away with shoving me.”

  She spits at my face but I move out of the way. “Fuck you, bitch. You left all of us to go back to that rich white boy. Didn’t even care to say goodbye!”

  I look down at her in shock. Out of everyone who got left behind when Rage left me, I didn’t think Lola would be this hurt over it. “I did fucking care! They wouldn’t let me in the fucking club, you bitch! I just wanted to check on Victor, I’ve known him all my life! It broke me to leave everything behind but there wasn’t anything I could do!”

  Caught off guard she bucks me off of her and then throws her arms around me. “I missed you so much. None of these other girls could ever replace you. It wasn’t the same getting into trouble with Chutney.” I feel a tear hit the side of my neck as I wrap my arms around her.

  “I know, girl. I missed the fuck out of you. It hurt I didn’t get to explain anything to y’all. I was left out in the cold for no fucking reason.” I stroke her hair and rock her from side to side. Lola might wear leather and brass knuckles but she’s still female at heart.

  “I love you Chiquita. Don’t ever disappear on me again.” I can’t hear the tears in her voice and I’m jealous. If I were crying right now you would totally be able to tell. But that’s Lola. Badass chick whose tears are even afraid to be around her.

  “I’m not going to disappear. I may not be with Rage anymore, but that doesn’t mean we have to lose touch again. I promise to always be around from now on.” We let each other go and climb to our feet.

  We dust off before looking around at all the stunned faces. I have no idea where any of the brothers are but they don’t seem to be here right now. It’s just club whores and old ladies sitting around.

  “Show’s over bitches! Get back to work! This place still smells like a dirty bathroom!” Lola screams out, shocking the women into doing what they were doing before we got into it.

  “I missed having you around, Glossy. I forgot what it looked like when Lola got her booty kicked,” Chutney announces, walking up to us and throwing her arms over Lola and my shoulders. “Now that that’s out of the way, let’s go save a man who doesn’t deserve it.” She sighs and drops her arms. Then she flits away, pulling her cell phone out of her back pocket.

  Lola growls after her but she quickly gets over it. “Smartass little bitch. I forget why I love her sometimes and then she says shit like that.” Then she follows after Chutney.

  Annabella looks at me with disgust but I ignore her. She wouldn’t understand. In this world you have to fight to earn respect and losing isn’t an option. In Annabella’s world all you have to do is throw money on it or lie your way out of it. She’s never had to physically work for anything in her life.

  I head out the front door and jog over to Chutney’s bulletproof limo. No one has ever tried to kidnap Chutney or anything but her mother is still worried. What with Chutney’s mom being stupid rich and Chutney’s father being a MC president, that could cause a lot of problems. I don’t doubt that Chutney is heavily protected. The girl is super smart and can talk her way out of anything, except a bullet.

  “What’s the club whore doing here?” Lola mutters once we all get into the limo. Chutney sits on the bench against the right side and Annabella sits on the left side bench. Lola and I sit along the bench between the doors.

  “She’s not a club whore. That’s Victor’s sister,” I explain, before looking at Annabella, who just looks bored. “Where are we going?”

  “Some warehouse on the outskirts of Meadows.” Oh joy, we get to go through my hometown. Though it seems fitting. You wouldn’t believe the members of the mafia who live in Meadows. I grew up around them, had to attend parties with them, and had to live on the same street as them.

  “The old Wal-Mart warehouse? They use it to off people. They’ve found like sixteen bodies out there since I was born,” I say, crossing and uncrossing my legs. I feel stupid now. “We aren’t going.”

  I open my door but a hand on my shoulder stops me. “Please Ashley? This is Victor. I know you don’t love him anymore, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been a part of your life. It’s not like he did anything horrible to you. How can you just leave him to this fate?” Her honey-colored eyes plead with me and I try so hard to block them out.

  They’re the same eyes I used to look into every day.

  I slam the door shut and shove my head back against the seat. They obviously are trying to make a point by having this little meeting there. It’s either to scare Annabella into giving up the money or to kill Victor in front of her. It has nothing to do with her but that doesn’t mean Victor would want his sister to watch him die. I know I would never be the same if I had to watch any of my brothers die.

  “Lola and Chutney, get out of the car.” I’ll risk my own life but I won’t risk theirs. I’d have an entire MC after me. Plus, after today, I’m sure I’ll have the mob after me. I’ll have to get Victor and Annabella far away and then I’ll have to get far away. But I’m not going with either of them. I’ve had enough of Victor and Annabella to last a lifetime.

  Lola crosses her arms over her chest. “I ain’t getting out of this limo without you. You want to go battle the mob, I’ll be by your side.” I study her and figure she’s for real. Then she gets this look in her eye and grabs my shoulders. “There was once a time you wouldn’t have gotten out of the limo either. Actually, I remember you wouldn’t get off my bike.”

  The night in question flows through my mind and I smile. “Yeah, but that was different. That was two men; this is a dozen, if not more. Victor is a special treat for them. It’s not often they get to off a rich white boy for stealing something. Well, he didn’t steal anything but that’s the point.”

  “I don’t give a shit if there are fifty men. We will do this together.” Then she lets my shoulders go and turns to Chutney. “Now you little princess, you have to get out of the car. We’ll have hell to pay if you come along.”

  Instead of answering, Chutney tamps a few buttons on her phone and then the car starts moving. She looks up at Lola and then me. Her blue eyes have that seriousness Lola and I have seen in Storm and Rage’s eyes. Fucking Daniels’ siblings. “If you think I’ll let you both go off and do this alone, then neither of you know me very well. I was too young to do anything last time, but I’m not this time. You’re my sisters for life. Sisters stick together.” Then she sticks her tongue out at us.

  Lola’s brown eyes light up with happiness and I can’t help but smile, even though we are on our way to death.

  Victor

  “Wake up fucker!” Micah kicks me hard in the ribs and I groan. This asshole has kicked me more times than I can count and I’m getting sick of it.

  I feel more tired than I did when I fell asleep last night. These people better be glad I don’t like to complain. The accommodations around here suck. I mean, who wants to be locked up in a dank dark room for days on end? Not me.

  And it’s not because I came from a rich lifestyle, because I spent my fair share of time in harsher conditions. I mean, I lived in Iraq for damn near two years. That place fucking sucks. It’s no fun living in unbearable heat in full fatigues. We all stank twenty-four hours a day with all the sweating.

  “What if I don’t want to wake up? What if I didn’t get enough beauty sleep?” I question, shaking my head from side to side trying to knock the sleep from my head. I need to wake up and keep on my toes considering the psycho is back.

&n
bsp; Micah kicks me again and he does it so hard I list to the side. My shoulder screams in agony from the awkward position I find myself in. Fuck that shit hurts but I don’t let it show on my face. Luckily my shoulder didn’t dislocate. That hurts worse than a bullet wound. When I dislocated my knee I thought my entire leg was on fire. Yeah bullet wounds hurt but you can still move around. Dislocating something like your knee means you’re just stuck there until it gets popped back in.

  Micah reaches around me and rights me. Then he pulls out a knife and cuts off my ropes, freeing my arms. I think for a second about getting away but I don’t have the strength to fight this crazy fuck off. I saw what he did to the woman in that whorehouse we fucked up. I feel sorry for any woman who has to fuck this guy.

  He helps me to my feet and once I’m on them, I get dizzy. This is pretty much when things take a turn for the worse. I look up when my head clears and find Micah’s gun pointed at me. “I’m not fond of your bitch sister. So I think I’ll arrive in style with your dead body. Sage well probably get pissed about it but he’ll get over it. Luckily, that cunt will never forgive him and I won’t have to listen to them fuck anymore.”

  I know he’s going to aim for my heart, so at the last second I move an inch to the right, right as the gun goes off. Searing pain slams into my chest. I take back what I said about dislocating something being more painful.

  Fuck this shit hurts.

  I look down as darkness starts to creep in around my eyes and see blood pouring out of a hole in my chest. Luckily the hole is an inch away from my heart. Then I know nothing but darkness.

  Ashley

  When the limo pulls up outside the warehouse, we all breathe a little faster. The only other car is another limo and I assume the mob sits inside. I just don’t know which mob members are there. Barney wouldn’t come all the way out here just to deliver Victor. He isn’t high profile enough. Victor’s parents came from old money but that doesn’t mean they were anyone. Lots of people in this state have old money from oil. In fact, Channing’s stepfather owns one of the biggest oil companies.