MINE: Fury Riders MC

by Sophia Gray

  A cell phone rang, and she heard it get answered. Jumping from the bed, she went to the door and pressed her ear against the old wood. It was garbled, but she could make out Reaper talking. He sounded pissed. A lot of “yeah”s and “fine”s were uttered but nothing of real significance, nothing to give her a fucking clue as to who he was talking to and what they were talking about.

  Boots crossing the room and coming closer toward her door had her scurrying to the bed. The lock was turned on the outside, and a soft knock came just as she made it back on the mattress and pressed herself against the headboard.

  Another knock. “Josephine? You up?” His voice. She remembered that voice. She remembered hearing him call her from the porch when she was playing with friends outside. Time to come home, Josephine, he’d call after her, dinner’s ready. She’d waited so many years to hear that voice again. Nights were spent crying herself to sleep, praying to hear that voice come through her bedroom door telling her it was lights out. And now, here it was.

  “Josephine?” The door opened just a bit, enough to let some light into the other ways darkened room. When he caught sight of her sitting up, the door swung open all the way. He walked in carrying a bowl with a spoon sticking out of it.

  She watched him walk across the room, leaving the door open behind him. He’d changed his clothes, leaving his kutte off. He wore only a t-shirt and jeans. He looked normal.

  “Cereal,” he said and put the bowl on the nightstand. “You need to eat something.” His gruff voice didn’t match his expression. Concern lingered in his eyes, and his forehead was wrinkled.

  She didn’t look at the bowl; she just slid down onto her back and rolled over, away from him.

  The bed dipped when he sat. “It’s going to be okay. I’m going to figure something out.” He placed a hand on her arm, and she jerked but didn’t scoot away. Her father was trying to comfort her. Tears ran out her eyes and down her nose, dripping onto the blanket.

  “Either let me and Cherry go or just leave me alone.” She managed to say, before scooting away from his touch.

  He sighed, not an exasperated sigh but one filled with remorse and sadness. “I can’t let you two go, but I will figure a way for us all to get out of this.”

  “Us? There’s no us.” She scooted further until she was on the other side of the bed and threw her legs over and jumped up to face him. “You made sure of that.”

  “There’s a lot going on here you don’t understand.” He didn’t move from the bed, just looked at her with pleading eyes. “Clay…” He sighed again, this time with more tiredness than before. “I know you think I just abandoned you and your mom. I know it looked that way, feels that way, but Josephine, that’s not…I mean that isn’t how I wanted it.”

  “Mom told you to choose, and you did.” She spat at him.

  “Your mom…fuck, Josephine.” He got off the bed and stalked to the door. “Stubborn just like when you were a little girl. Eat your breakfast.” With that he slammed the door and locked it again.

  “Josephine?” Cherry’s voice came through the wall. “Josephine, you okay?”

  Josephine sank back on the bed. “Yeah. I’m fine. Are you?”

  “Not really. I have to pee like a fucking racehorse.” Cherry said, then started giggling. Josephine laughed, too. “Cutter’s gonna kill me if this guy doesn’t.” The laughter died.

  “Cherry, he’s not going to kill you. Reaper isn’t going to, either. We’ll get out of here, and you can pee, and then we can go home. Cutter won’t care about what Clay said.”

  “Yes, he will. He’ll care that I didn’t tell him.”

  Josephine heard the door open on the other side of the wall and her father talking. She saw feet shuffle past her door and then another door open and close. He must have been listening to them.

  “Josephine, you need the washroom?” Her father asked through the closed door. She wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, but now that it was mentioned, she did need to pee.

  “Yeah.” She called to the door and shuffled herself to it, trying to ignore him when it opened. “Can I talk with Cherry? I mean, can’t we stay in the same room?”

  “The bathroom’s that way.” He pointed down the hall. When the door opened, Cherry stepped out. Her eyes were puffy and red, her short hair tangled and sticking up in odd places. She’d had a rough night.

  “Cherry.” Josephine pulled her into a hug. “Did he do something to you?”

  “Oh, for shit’s sake. I didn’t touch the little girl.” Her father pulled them apart. “She has trouble in small spaces. The bedroom’s big, but the locked door freaks her out.”

  “Then why would you lock her in there?” Josephine yelled at him.

  He pursed his lips together and pulled Cherry behind him. “Listen up, little girl. I know you think what you think, and I’ll straighten all that crap out later. Right now, you just need to know that this shit we are in affects all three of us. Clay isn’t kidding. If he says you’re gone, you’re supposed to be gone. If that doesn’t happen, I’m gone. So, you need to just give me a little less lip, so I can figure out how to get all three of us out of this shit with our heads still attached.”

  Her eyes widened at his little rant, but she didn’t move. “I…” She didn’t know what to say, except to ask, “Why are you in trouble? I mean, they can’t really expect you to hurt your own daughter. Can’t you say no?”

  He wiped his eyes and shook his head. “No. I don’t have a choice. I do the job that’s given to me, usually. Turning against the club is almost certain death.”

  “They’ve thrown guys out before.” Cherry said from behind him.

  “Yeah. And then sent me after them.” He nearly growled. “The club’s different now. Clay has lost it. Guys aren’t just let out. The only way out now is death.”

  “That’s the life you chose over me and Mom?” Josephine gasped.

  “No. I didn’t chose against you and your mother. The club was different then. I was different. The times were different,” he explained. “Go to the washroom, then we’ll talk.” He gestured to the bathroom. “Cherry will be in the kitchen with me.” He gave Cherry a little shove to get her going, then left Josephine to do her thing.

  So many questions burned in her mind. Had her mother not told her everything? Of course she hadn’t. But would her father tell her the truth? OR would he again choose his club over his family? If she was really considered family, did he see her that way, or was she just the daughter he had so long ago?

  By the time she finished up in the washroom, she’d worked herself up into a real nice mess. She found Cherry sitting at the kitchen table, a bowl of cereal in front of her and another sitting at the empty chair.

  “Cheerios. Who eats Cheerios anymore?” Cherry shoveled a spoonful of the little round o’s into her mouth. Reaper stood, leaning against the counter by the coffee pot.

  “Coffee. I want coffee.” She pointed to the freshly brewed pot.

  “Can you have coffee? I remember your mom staying away from it when she was having you,” Reaper remarked, putting his own cup down.

  Josephine rolled her eyes. “Yes, I can have it.”

  “Well, not really,” Cherry whispered into her spoon, then shoveled it into her mouth.

  Josephine sank into the chair and took a bite of her own food. A little soggy from sitting, but otherwise it was perfect. Not too sweet, he’d gotten honey nut version. She remembered that from her childhood, too. “Is this your house, then?” she asked, then took another spoonful of cereal.

  He took a sip of his coffee and watched her. “Yeah.”

  “You live here all the time? Seems a bit far out,” Josephine said, taking another bite.

  “Far enough.” He poured out the rest of his coffee and plucked up the full carafe, pouring that down the sink as well. “I’m not looking to piss of that man of yours any more than he already is.” He explained when he caught her glare.

  “Cutter and Lucas are going to tear
you to shreds,” Cherry said.

  He laughed. “They can try, and it’s their right, but I’m not going down with the ship.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “It means I’m done with Clay. I’m done with the fucking Rebels. I’m done.”

  Josephine watched him in silence for a few moments. He looked so worn out, so ragged from his years doing whatever he did with his club.

  “Mom’s sick.” She sat back in her chair and watched his expression—nothing.

  “I know,” he said simply.

  “How do you know?”

  Cherry continued to eat in silence, just watching them talk.

  “I told you, I didn’t just abandon you guys. I’ve kept an eye out as best I could. I know a few nurses at the hospital. They’ve kept me up-to-date on her condition.”

  “Then you know she’s having surgery, like today.” She nearly shouted. Until that moment, she’d almost forgotten. Her mom was having brain surgery, and she was held up in some goddamn cabin in the woods with her estranged father.

  “Yeah. I know.” He nodded. “She’ll be okay. Once this is over with, we’ll go see her. Together.”

  “Together? You walked out on us!” she yelled and jumped up from her chair.

  “Josephine. Your mom didn’t tell me to choose. She told me you and her were better off without me. That even if I got out of the club, I was no good, too much trouble. She didn’t think you’d ever be safe with me. I don’t blame her. When I walked out that first time, I was messed up in the head. I didn’t know what I wanted, or how to get what I needed. I thought you’d both be better off without me, but after I was gone…hell. Baby girl, my life was shit without your mom and you.”

  “But you didn’t come home.” She felt tears burning her eyes. All the familiar pain—the anger and hurt from her childhood of every time she went to an event and she was the only little girl without a daddy—rushed her.

  “No. I needed to make something of myself. Do something besides work on beat up old cars at that garage I was working at. I wanted to make enough money so your mom could stay home with you, could be a mom and I could be the dad, you know. The club was a means to that end, but your mom couldn’t forgive me, couldn’t see what I was trying to tell her.”

  “She didn’t trust you because you walked out.”

  “I don’t blame her. I really don’t. But living without you two, watching from the sidelines as you grew up, it fucking killed me.”

  Josephine could hear in his voice he meant what he said, but she couldn’t trust her own feelings on the matter. Everything was in the shitter.

  Her boyfriend—is that what he was called?—was off somewhere playing bad boys, her father walked back into her life only to kidnap her, and her gravely ill mother was lying in a hospital without her.

  “If Clay says to kill me—”

  “You’re not listening to me. Clay won’t be a fucking factor. I’m working that out. For right now, I need you both to just sit tight. No fucking around.”

  “Hey, you brought us, we didn’t exactly invite ourselves to this fucking party,” Cherry pointed out.

  “Cherry Pie, you think if I had let Clay take you with him instead of making you come with me, you’d be sitting, having a bowl of cereal? Fuck, no. He’d have you locked up in his fucking room back that the clubhouse, and he’d have fucked every one of your holes by now. He’d throw some metal collar around your fucking neck and make you his pet.”

  Cherry blanched at the colorful description.

  “You’ve seen him do it before, and he’s all about keeping his whores locked up these days. Apparently, you walking out on him pissed him off. A bit a bruised ego does not work well for him.”

  “Cherry, whatever happened before, when you were with the Iron Rebels, it’s not who you are now. It’s not who Cutter fell in love with. He’s in love with you, this you.” Josephine sat back down and grabbed her hand. “Don’t worry about that stuff, okay? Cutter will give you a spanking, and it will be over.” She tried to smile.

  “He whips your ass?” Reaper laughed. “'Bout time someone did. You, little girl, needed an ass whipping a long time ago.”

  “Shut up, Reaper.” Cherry threw a Cheerio in his direction.

  “Can you take me to the hospital?” Josephine asked Reaper, hoping to play on his sentiments.

  “No. Not until Clay’s taken care of.” He looked at the clock on the stove. “I should hear something in a few hours.”

  “At least let me call Lucas.”

  “No. Clay needs to think everything’s going the way he wants, which means so do Lucas and the rest.”

  A sharp cramp gripped Josephine’s abdomen. She grabbed hold of the table.

  “What’s wrong? What is it?” Reaper was at her side in two steps. “Here, let’s get you to bed.”

  “I have to pee again.” She waved him off and ran to the bathroom. The pain subsided. When she went to the washroom, she saw what she feared the most, blood in her panties.

  Chapter 18

  Lucas sat at the bar in the lounge, staring at Josephine’s phone. He’d gone to her mom’s house to talk to her, but her caretaker wouldn’t let him wake her. She was set for surgery in the morning, and the big ox refused. If it hadn’t been for the fact that she wouldn’t be able to make much sense of things given the medication she was taking, he would have forced his way in. As it was, the old bat was right. Josephine’s mom was sick, and she wasn’t in any condition to be startled awake and given the news that her ex–her murdering ex– had snatched her daughter–her pregnant daughter.

  When he got back to the house, he’d already talked with Cutter. Croc and Zack had been found in the bushes under the front windows. Two shots each, one to the head the other to the chest. Joe was taking care of informing their families.

  “Hey. You’re up early.” Cutter walked into the lounge, sporting a loose pair of sweatpants, scratching his stomach. Most of the members of the club chose to stay at their own homes. Because tensions were so high with Iron Rebels, the board members had been sequestered to the compound. Others, those who had some connection one way or another to anyone in Iron Rebels, had brought their families for safety. Joe hadn’t made the lockdown formal, but if things escalated, he’d call all members and their families in to stay behind the club’s locked gates until the situation was control.

  “I couldn’t fucking sleep, man.” Lucas put the cell phone down and rubbed his eyes. He’d been up most of the night. How the hell was he supposed to sleep while he didn’t know where Josephine was or if she was safe?

  “I know what you mean.” Cutter took the seat next to Lucas, reaching over the bar to find a pack of smokes and grabbing one. Lighting it, he took a long drag and stared off into space. “I don’t like this. I mean, I fucking hate Clay and that whole nest of assholes, but I don’t like this not being able to sleep because I’m worried about her. Cherry’s young, real young. She doesn’t understand the world yet, and she has a lot of fears, fears that if what Clay said is true, he knows about. He could be playing all sorts of mind fucks with her.”

  “He said they were with Reaper, right?”

  “That doesn’t exactly make me feel any better, you asshole.” He took another drag. “He’s Josephine’s father. Worse come to worse, he’ll have to take out one of them, and you think he’ll choose his own blood? No, he’ll take out Cherry.”

  “We’ll get to them first.”

  “Any luck with the mom?”

  “No. She was sleeping. She probably won’t be much help anyway. Her nurse said the hospital moved up her surgery. She’s going into the hospital this morning. With all the medications and the surgery itself, she’ll be out of it for at least a week.”

  “We better fucking find them by then.”

  “We will. I put a call in to our connection at the police department. Christian is gonna do a little digging and see if he can’t find us an address for a one Martin Reaper Bridgewater. Hopefully, he put th
e piece of shit he lives in under his own fucking name.”

  Josephine’s cell phone began ringing, dancing along the bar. He grabbed it and answered it without looking at the display. “Hello.”

  “Uh, hi. This is Lucy. Is, uh, Josephine around? She was supposed to start her shift half an hour ago, but she’s not here.”

  “Oh. Shit. No, I mean she’s not going to make it in today. She’s…well, there’s been some trouble.” Lucas didn’t want to go into details, and telling her work that she’d been kidnapped would probably open the door to a whole mess of questions he didn’t want to answer at that moment. He was damn sure she wouldn’t want to relive this drama when she got home. Because she was coming home, there was no doubt about that. It was just a matter of when, not if.