by Erin Osborne
Keegan
“No!” I scream as I feel my body start to hit the ground.
Before I can make it all the way to the ground, Wood scoops me up and turns to head inside with me. we’re heading in as the rest of the men are running outside to find out what’s going on. I can hear myself still screaming and trying to wrench out of Wood’s arms, but he’s not letting go. I want nothing more than to go after the men that took the love of my life. That took Kasey’s dad away from her.
“You need to calm down firefly. Please don’t make me call the doc in to sedate you,” Wood pleads with me.
There’s no way I can calm down though. Rage just literally pushed me into the arms of these men so that they would take him in my place. Why the fuck would he do that? They’re not after him, they’re after me. He has no clue what they’re going to do to him because he’s not who Sam and my dad want. Eventually they’re going to get to me anyway. Rage should’ve just let them take me.
“Wood, I need to get to him. Please let me go after him!” I scream out.
I can hear a door being pushed open, but I have no clue who’s room we’re at. Wood lays me down on the bed and the only thing I can think of is that I need to be with Kasey, but going after Rage at the same time. Before I can make any moves, I’m surrounded by more men and the old ladies. They’re all trying to keep me in bed and warn me to calm down because of the babies. Unfortunately, I don’t have any clue what I’m doing right now. I’m so scared and out of my mind with worry that I can’t focus or concentrate on anything.
“Please, Keegan, you need to calm down!” Whitney says, trying to soothe me. “Please calm down. There’s already guys going after Rage. We’ll get him back.”
“I-I-I need to b-b-be out there with them!” I gasp out between gasps and sobs.
“No!” Bailey says. “You need to be in here waiting for the men to do their jobs and being there for Kasey.”
Without any further time, Kasey comes running in the door. Instantly she knows something is wrong. Climbing up in the bed with me, she wraps her little arms around my neck and buries her face. I know that she’s going to be asking where her dad is and I’m not looking forward to having to answer that question. Honestly, I know when she finds out what happened, she’s going to hate me. I basically took her dad away from her and her brother and sister. Who wouldn’t hate me right now?
“Why’s everyone look so sad?” she asks, looking around at all the adults in the room.
“Well, somethin’s happened and your dad has to go away for a little while,” Grim tells her. “He’ll be back as soon as he can.”
Kasey takes a minute to process what she was just told. She’s not a stupid little girl and knows that’s not the truth though. Anyone looking at all the adults in the room can see that it’s not the truth. Instead of saying anything more on the subject, Kasey gets up and runs out of the room. She’s been lied to and now she doesn’t want to be around any of us.
“I got her,” we hear from the doorway.
I look over through my tears and see Anthony standing there. He’s looking at all of us and disappears without saying another word. I’m glad that he’s going to be there for her right now. Even though I really want to, there’s no way I can get past what just happened and be there for her when she’s hurting and doesn’t know what truly happened.
So, I turn over and put my back to everyone. I let the tears fall as I curl up in a fetal position. Hopefully everyone gets the hint and leaves me alone. I know I’m not going to get that lucky, but a girl can hope. Before letting myself fall asleep so I can forget the nightmare I’m living in, I turn on Picture On The Dashboard by Brantley Gilbert.
Chapter Eight
Rage
I CAN’T EVEN BEGIN TO TELL YOU how many days I’ve been in this fucked up situation. I’m hanging from a rafter in the ceiling of a warehouse and across the room is Riley. At first, I thought she had been lying to us and really was working with them. But, men came in and raped and tortured her right in front of me. There’s no way she’s working with them.
I’ve learned a lot about her in the moments that I’m conscious. She has a child that was ripped away from her. There’s been no mention of the child’s father, but I know that Sam has her baby. They’ve taunted her with that knowledge and what kind of future awaits her daughter. From the very beginning, Sam and Keegan’s dad have tortured this poor girl. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if one of them were the father of her daughter.
Riley is barely alive from the little that I can see of her. Hell, I’m not doing much better at this point. I’ve been beat several times, the threat of killing Kasey has been thrown in my face, and they’ve told me that they’re going to go after every chapter of the Wild Kings. These slimy bastards can try all they want, I will be found, and my club will protect themselves no matter what. I just hope that they find me when I’m still alive.
“Are you going to make my daughter come to us?” Keegan’s dad asks me, throwing a bucket of freezing water on me to wake me up.
I yell and sputter until I’m slapped, yes slapped, across the face by the evil man in front of me. “No. I will never do anythin’ to get Keegan to come to you. You are no father of hers and I won’t let you try to corrupt her more than what you’ve already done.”
“Wrong answer,” he says calmly, before motioning to men hiding in the darkness around me.
Instead of coming towards me, the men make their way over to Riley and begin to assault her any way they can again. I hate seeing her go through this, but that’s not going to make me give up the love of my life. Instead, I’m going to make sure the attention is turned towards me. I’ll make them torture and torment me.
“You scumbags are really that much of a pussy that you have to take your lack of manhood out on a defenseless woman?” I yell out as loud as I can.
My throat is dry, and I know my voice is low and scratchy. I really need a drink, but they give us almost nothing. At this rate, we’ll die of dehydration and starvation before anything else. But, once a day we get scraps of mush and some water. Just enough to keep us alive so they can continue to torture us.
I continue to call out obscenities and try to get the men to turn their attention to me. Finally, they stop their assault on her and give me what I want. The six men start pummeling me and beating me until I once again fall into unconscious. My last thoughts as always are Keegan, Kasey, and our twins.
“Rage? Can you hear me?” a soft voice calls to me, almost in a dreamlike state.
“Huh?” I ask, starting to come to.
“Let them come after me Rage. Please save yourself for Keegan and your children.”
“Riley?” I ask, confused as to what’s going on right now.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“I can’t do that. You know that.”
“Keegan is going to need you. I’ll be fine, you need to let me do this for her,” Riley pleads with me. “Everything I love has already been ripped away from me. There’s not much else they can do to me. Please let me give this to Keegan to show her how much she means to me.”
“Keegan wouldn’t want you to do this. She knows how much you care about her. She will come back to you, it’s just goin’ to take some time.”
“Let me give this to her. Let me send you home to her so she can be free and happy for once in her life. I’ve never seen her shine the way she does now.”
“How did they even get to you?” I ask, curiosity getting the better of me.
“I went out back to have a smoke. It’s not something I do a lot, but I needed one and one of the club girls let me get one from her. The table right by the door is where I sit so I am close to the door. Anyway, two men grabbed me from behind. I didn’t hear them coming and I don’t know how they got in. As soon as they had me, they put something over my face. I woke up here.”
Before much more can be said, the men return to the warehouse and I know our daily torture is about to begin. Only this time, th
ere’s a man that I haven’t seen before. I’m guessing that the coward before us is Sam. Took him long enough to show his fucking face. I can’t wait to get my hands on this mother fucker!
“So, you’re the man that has defiled my beautiful betrothed?” he asks me in a whiny voice.
I can’t help laughing at the childish quality of his voice when he looks like his shit don’t stink. This man is dressed impeccably and not a hair is out of place on his head. I bet he even gets manicures on a regular basis. Sam is the type of man that won’t get his hands dirty. No, he’ll hire dumb fucks that don’t know any better to do his dirty work.
“I’m the man that has a woman, and children on the way. You don’t have shit to do with my girl!” I yell, spitting on the man in front of me.
It’s petty and I know I’m going to pay for it, but he is a sick fuck and deserves so much more than that. If I could get down from here, I would beat his ass to a pulp and that’s with all the pain I’m in, all the abuse I’ve suffered since I’ve been here. We can’t even tell how much time we’ve been gone because there’s no windows in this room. Riley and I have no clue if it’s day or night.
“You think you can defy me and I still won’t get what I’m after?” Sam asks. “All I have to do is send a video of the abuse you’re both suffering through and she’ll cave in an instant.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. She has a whole club behind her and she’s not the weak and mild girl that you’re lookin’ for. Keegan is strong and will stand her ground to protect those she loves. She’s not goin’ to do anything to put our babies in jeopardy. Think again asshat,” I spit out, the pain starting to take me under again.
“We’ll see how easily she caves in. Take the video of both of them. Send it to the burner and I’ll send it out later today,” Sam then walks away, and I see that some men are surrounding Riley. I can’t do anything to stop it today though. Darkness is pullin me under again.
Keegan
It’s been almost a week since the love of my life was taken from us. Since Kasey lost her daddy. We’ve had no word from anyone about him. Riley also hasn’t been seen around the clubhouse and I can’t help the doubt creeping in that she had something to do with this. I really don’t want to think this way, but it sure seems to be a coincidence that they’re both missing. Well, I was supposed to be the one missing.
Kasey isn’t handling this well at all. She won’t leave my side, she barely eats or drinks, and none of the other kids can get her to go with them for any reason. Needless to say, Anthony has been sticking close to her and Glock and Melody have been spending time with us too. Whitney and Sami have been trying to get Kasey to come back out of her shell too. Nothing is working and there’s no way that any of that is going to happen until Rage comes home. I can’t even bring myself to think if something so bad happens to him that he doesn’t make it back.
“Mama?” Kasey asks, waking up from our nap.
“Yeah baby,” I answer, running my fingers through her hair.
“Is daddy really coming home?”
“Yeah. Daddy will make it back. He has to. Daddy has you and the new babies to live for.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
“Sweetheart, your daddy will make it home to us,” Grim responds from the doorway. “Uncle Grim and every single one of your other uncles are workin’ on it day and night.”
“Okay unca Grim. We needs daddy,” she responds quietly.
Kasey rolls her back to us and I can feel her little body shaking with silent tears. She’s trying to be so strong for me, she thinks I need her to be strong. Anthony crawls into the bed on the opposite side and wraps his arms around the little girl. I can hear murmuring and know that he’s trying to tell her everything is going to be okay. Until Rage comes home, she won’t let the belief in though.
“Melody is comin’ in to sit with Kasey for a little bit. We need you in church with us Keegan,” Grim tells me.
“I’m not supposed to be in there.”
“There’s exceptions. This is one of them. We got a video and are waitin’ on you to see it.”
“I don’t think I can watch it,” I tell him honestly.
Grim nods in understanding but tells me they want me in there regardless. I can turn my head away or whatever I have to do. The men voted, and they think I need to be a part of this. Especially if Sam tries to call or get in touch with us at all. This way I can be in on whatever game plan is come up with.
Melody knocks on the door a few minutes after Grim leaves and I know it’s time for me to make my way to the common room. They’re all waiting in there for me. My body is killing me, and my feet feel like lead weights as I get out of bed and make my way towards the common room. This is the last thing I want to do and it’s draining all parts of me.
“Guys!” Grim calls out. “Church!”
Grim and Pops stand on either side of me and lead me into the room they meet. After taking his seat at the table, Grim motions for me to sit next to him in Joker’s spot. I don’t want to take his seat, but Joker holds the chair out for me and I sit down. Standing behind me, Joker offers a silent support while Pops takes my hand. Tank goes to the computer and pulls up the email that was sent to them. Before he plays the video, there’s a note.
Keegan,
You have greatly disappointed me. Instead of coming home and taking your rightful place by my side, you have chosen to be defiled by a heathen. Now, everything that happens is on you. I hope that you can live with yourself. It’s only going to get worse the longer it takes for you to turn yourself over to me.
Your Loving Man,
Sam
The tears are already streaming down my face as I look around the table. I know what I have to do, and no one here is going to let me do it. Pops holds my hand tighter like he can feel what’s going through my head right now. Tank takes a few minutes before he presses the button to play the video. The first thing we see is Riley hanging from the rafters in a roof. She’s surrounded by men and they are violating her in the worst way. There’s no need for me to say a word, a garbage can is placed in front of me as I throw up what little is in my stomach.
Next, we see Rage in the same position. He’s being attacked by the same men that just beat and raped Riley. They aren’t holding back, and the tears are flowing freely down my face. There are various shades of purples and blacks on his body that we can see. Both of his eyes are swollen shut, his face is swollen period, just looking you can see at least one arm is badly broken, and that’s just from taking him in quickly. I can’t watch and Pops and Joker sense this.
Before I know it, both men are surrounding me so I don’t have to watch. Pops is pulling my face into his neck to shield me further, and Tank has turned all sound off, so I don’t have to hear the beating my man is getting right now. All because they want me. I need to turn myself over to them. One way or another this is what I have to do.
Not only is my heart breaking for my man, it’s breaking for Riley. I let the fact that she was approached by them delude me into believing she had something to do with her missing. That she allowed them to get to her again and trap her into helping them. The pain and anguish written on her once beautiful face will forever be etched into my memory. When she gets back, I will do whatever I have to in order to help her heal. Not just physically but emotionally too.
“That’s enough Tank. There’s a number to call, so I think we should call it now,” Grim tells everyone in the room.
I hear him dialing a phone before placing it on speaker and setting it on the table in front of him. It rings so long that I almost think no one is going to answer it. That they’re just going to play further games with us. With me. Trying to get inside my head more than what they have already with sending the video.
“I see you received my email. Now, let’s get down to negotiations,” I hear Sam’s voice through the phone. It makes my skin crawl and I want to scream and yell.
“We did. You think that by havin’ our f
amily in your possession will make us want to work with you at all?” Grim asks.
“You’re going to work with me and give me what I want. Or, you’re going to start receiving little pieces in the mail. Not just of your so-called brother either. Riley is still a feisty little bitch and is slowly learning her place. I have no use for her, so she can suffer the same fate,” Sam tells us.
“What do you think is goin’ to happen here?” Grim asks, folding his arms on the table in front of him.
“You’re going to hand my woman over to me and I’ll let you know where you can find the scum that I have in my possession now.”
“That’s not goin’ to work for us. If you want Keegan, then you can meet us with Riley and Rage. If you can’t see fit to do that, then I can’t see any reason to bring Keegan to you,” Grim responds, staring at me to gauge my reaction.
“And you think that I’m really going to meet with you. I have people that do that for me.”
“I know you do. I also know that you’ll be somewhere close by watchin’ the exchange too. See, bein’ a cocky fuckwad like yourself, you’re goin’ to want to watch everythin’. You’re just not man enough to get your hands dirty. You don’t have the balls to face me head on and get the one thing that you want because she managed to elude you for so long.”
“Do you really think that’s going to make me meet you, Grim? You have to be smarter than that,” Sam responds, letting his cocky side out more and more.
“I know it’s goin’ to. You can’t stand to have someone, even me, think that you’re not a man. That you can’t handle your own business.”
Sam goes quiet for so long that I almost think he’s hung up. He’ll only let someone push him for so long before he lets his rage and cockiness take over. Finally, we hear shuffling on the other end of the line and Sam’s voice again.
“Fine. I will meet you. But, it will just be you and Keegan. On my end, it will be myself and her dad. We’ll have what you want. I’m warning you now, if you try to play any games, she’ll be dead before any of you can blink. I’ll even let you choose where and when we meet. Does that satisfy you?”