by S. Nelson
Thoughts of Kena rushed over me. I tried to keep it together, do my part in whatever needed to happen before allowing myself to feel the mixed bag of emotions threatening my sanity. But the flood of rage, despair and heartache took hold and I feared I’d never be the same again.
“I’ll call back with the information. Oh, and boys, don’t even think about pulling a fast one. If I get a whiff you’re up to something, I’ll gut them both like the whores they are.”
Psych ended the call, and as soon as the silence creeped in, the entire room exploded into chaos.
Kena
Huddled in the corner of a dank, musty room, I clutched my knees to my chest for solace. I had no idea where I was or who had taken us, too terrified of the possibilities of what could happen to properly think straight.
Clutching my hands to my head, I tried to soothe the thunderous pounding between my temples, but nothing I did helped. I’d cried enough over the past few hours to last me a lifetime, so I’d eventually stopped. Whether that was because I’d willed myself to do so or because my body had finally depleted the emotion, I couldn’t say.
The door creaked open and someone stepped inside. But I couldn’t look. If I saw who it was, then this was all too real. I buried my head deeper into my hands, my elbows coming together while my fingers touched at the base of my spine. But no matter how much I shielded my sight, my ears continued to prick at every noise.
“Get up,” the rough voice demanded, stepping closer when I didn’t budge. A strong grip wrapped around my wrist, hauling me to my feet. He started to walk toward the door, and something told me to fight. I had no idea where he intended to take me but I knew it wasn’t somewhere safe. All I had was my struggle, so I allowed it to pour from me in waves.
I jerked my arm back the best I could, but it was ineffectual. The large man standing in front of me looked pissed off. And scary. His face was shadowed with a heavy beard, his dark hair cropped close to his head. If I hadn’t known any better, I would’ve thought he had been in the military at some point in his life, the haircut very similar to those of Marines. But I knew from one look into his dark eyes that he had done no such thing. There was nothing honorable about him.
He yanked me forward. “No use resisting. Prez wants a test drive.” No remorse. No concern or amusement in his tone. Dead. He was empty inside, alarming me even more than I had been before. “Says the other one is too much trouble.”
My thoughts flew to Adelaide. I hadn’t seen her since the accident—or rather, the intentional car crash. When I came to, she was gone. I’d thought I’d heard her screams, but tried to convince myself I’d been hallucinating. My denial served as self-preservation, but right now this man was shattering it to pieces.
Again I tried to resist, but that time it only served to anger him, delivering a backhand so harsh my head whipped to the side and I stumbled backward. I hadn’t fallen, though, his hold on my arm too fierce to allow a slap to break the connection.
I whimpered.
I cried.
But of course he heard none of it.
“Tough little cunt, aren’t ya?” he laughed, pulling me out of the room and down a narrow hallway. “Maybe when Psych’s done wit’ ya, he’ll let me go a round. I like a bitch who resists.”
I may have been inexperienced before Jagger, but I was smart enough to know exactly what he’d been referring to. I steeled my reserve the best I could, covering my cheek with my free hand to help stop the blossoming ache. I’d never been struck before, the radiating pain becoming worse and worse with each step I was forced to take. Licking my lip, I tasted blood. But at least the pain served as a distraction, blocking me from thinking about what was going to happen next.
We stopped outside a steel door. I tried to free myself from his grasp again, but to no avail. He knocked three times before the door swung open, an intimidating man appearing on the other side. As soon as he looked past my captor, he grinned, raking his eyes over me from head to toe. I cursed my earlier decision to wear a dress that day, wishing I’d thrown on some jeans instead. But how was I to know the car I’d be in would be run off the road, the driver would be killed and I’d be one of two people kidnapped?
Oh my God! Guilt tore at me that I hadn’t thought of him before now.
Zip.
I can’t believe they killed him.
Right in front of us.
I didn’t know the guy, that was true enough, but he seemed to be friendly with Adelaide. Plus, he was a member of the Knights Corruption, and therefore someone of importance to Jagger, as well as the other men of the club.
Jagger. Oh my God! Did he even know we’d been taken?
Had our kidnappers made contact?
Was it even about the club?
Or were we going to be sold into slavery? I’d seen my share of documentaries before. Sexual slavery happened all over the world, even in America. The thought I’d be sold to strangers for nothing more than pleasure heightened my terror.
“Bring her in,” a gruff voice called out. Passing by the man who’d answered the door, I was thrust toward another standing in the middle of the room. The guy in charge, I assumed. He was older, probably somewhere in his late forties. Maybe even early fifties. Haggard lines had stolen the remnants of whatever youth he’d had, the signs of a hard life certainly lived. His dark, shoulder-length hair greyed at the temples, the strands shaggy and unkempt. He licked his thin lips while assessing my body, inhaling the air around me as he advanced closer.
“You smell nice,” he said, his compliment certainly a lecherous one. I averted my eyes, quickly taking in the room. I noticed a worn, stained mattress in the corner, an unconscious Adelaide lying across it. Her hair was matted with blood, either from the accident or from whatever she’d endured at the hands of these men. Only one side of her face was visible. And from what I could see, they’d beaten her. But had they done something worse? The man who’d brought me here indicated they hadn’t, but I didn’t know if that was the truth or not. I prayed it was.
“Can you hear me?” he asked, reaching out to touch my breast like he had every right to violate me. I shouldn’t have done it, but I couldn’t stop my body’s reaction, slapping him across the face the second his hand fell away.
The man behind me grabbed my hair and yanked me back, slamming me into his hard chest. “You’re gonna pay for that,” he seethed, shoving me toward the man I’d just assaulted.
The older man tilted his head, running his fingers over his cheek, a redness starting to appear from where I’d struck him. He grinned, as if he’d found what I’d done amusing. “Now, let’s try this again,” he sneered. “My men tell me you haven’t uttered a sound since they found you.” My eyes must have bulged out of my head. Found me? What a warped sense of reality he possessed. “Can you hear me?” he repeated through clenched teeth.
I nodded.
“Good. Then you’ll understand when I tell you that you and that bitch over there are being traded for my daughter. But that doesn’t mean I can’t have some fun with you until then.”
Vigorously shaking my head, I raised my hands in front of me even though I knew he’d never understand me.
Jagger will kill you if you touch me.
“Put your hands down,” he growled. “I don’t understand retard, so save it.” His insult shouldn’t have hurt, not in the least considering what type of man he was, but it did. Turning his attention to the man behind me, and the other standing near the door, he waved them off with a flick of his wrist. “You can leave us now. Make sure to keep an eye out. Just in case the Knights try some slick shit. For all I know, these two have trackers on them.”
“You got it, Prez.” The clank of the closing door made me jump, my fright amusing this horrid man I was now alone with. Well, technically Adelaide was also there, but the poor woman was still unconscious. I pushed the thought away that she could be dead. He’d just said we were being traded for his daughter, so would he be stupid enough to kill one of us?
And who was his daughter?
“Do you have a tracker on you?” I shook my head, but he stalked toward me anyway. “I don’t think I believe you,” he taunted. “Looks like I’m gonna have to check for myself.” A few more steps and he’d backed me against the wall. Trapped. Nowhere to go. I was at his mercy and we both knew it.
I tried to make a run for the door, but he caught me mid-stride, wrapping his hand around my throat and squeezing. I clawed at his hold but it was useless. “Nice try, but you’re not goin’ anywhere until I say so. But I can let you in on a little secret.” He licked the side of my face, his rancid breath making me instantly sick. “No one is gettin’ out of here alive except me and my men. When your precious little boyfriend comes for you, along with his buddies, we’re gonna slaughter them all.”
Surprised he was able to read my mind so well, or rather the look on my face, he spoke again, his rough voice no doubt the product of too many years of smoking. “Yeah, I know who you are, sweetheart. You’re the fighter’s woman. Since I couldn’t snatch back my daughter, I grabbed the next best thing. Stone’s woman. You just happened to be with her. Two cunts for the price of one,” he laughed, the evil sound strangling the hope out of me.
Snaking his free hand down my body, he hoisted the hem of my dress, trailing his fingers up my inner leg until he reached the apex of my thighs. I tried to squirm away from his touch, but he only tightened his grip on my throat. Moving my panties to the side, he shoved a finger inside me. I winced, the burn of his intrusion rocketing through me. I closed my eyes to block him from sight, needing the shield of darkness to help my brain flit off to somewhere else. But it was useless.
“Nope, no tracker up there. How about your sweet little ass?” My eyes flew open when his hand trailed toward my backside. Before he could enter me there, his attention was drawn to the other side of the room.
“Leave her a . . . lone, you bas . . . tard,” Adelaide croaked out, her voice raw and throaty.
“Well, well. Look who decided to join the party.” He released his hand from around my throat and propelled me toward Adelaide. “Go join your friend while we wait.”
I thought for sure he was going to do something to one or the both of us while we waited for the men to show up, but he didn’t. He walked from the room and left us to ponder our future.
Or lack thereof.
Jagger
“There’s no way in hell I’m letting Sully go!” Marek shouted, pacing back and forth like a caged animal. His head whipped up every few seconds to look at his VP. His best friend.
“So you’re gonna let Addy and Kena die? Is that it?” Stone yelled back, doing a bit of his own pacing.
I was torn. I wanted to shout at Marek to listen to Stone and allow Sully to be traded for the lives of our women, but then I didn’t want Sully to come to any harm either. I could only imagine the torture he grappled with; I had no idea what I’d do if I were in his shoes. My initial answer would be the same, but would I eventually come around and devise a plan that would enable me to save my woman, along with the other two?
My thoughts turned to Kena, my heart breaking at the thought they were touching her. Hurting her. I knew I should have never brought her into my life, but I’d been a selfish prick, wanting her up close and personal. Then shit went down with Edana, and it was enough to wake me up. But it’d been too late. I wondered if I hadn’t allowed her to go with Adelaide, if she would be at home safe and sound right now.
But she never would’ve allowed me to get away with forbidding her from accompanying Adelaide, nor would Stone’s woman tolerate such pigheadedness from me.
I should’ve left Kena alone after coming to her rescue the first night I met her. My decisions would forever haunt me, but now was not the time to focus on such things. I had to do my part in the planning of what we were going to do next.
“I don’t know what to do, Stone, but I sure as fuck am not handing my wife over to her father. He’ll kill her and you know it.”
“Well, he’ll kill Addy and Kena if you don’t,” Stone countered, his face red with bridled rage.
“Fuck!” Marek roared, throwing his chair against the wall, his predicament weighing on all of us. The rest of the men sat in silence, waiting for orders. We were all ready and willing to act at a moment’s notice.
A soft knock rapped against the large wooden door, our heads whirling toward the sound. Since I was closest, I rose from my seat and turned the handle. Sully stood in the doorway, her eyes red and puffy, indicating she’d been crying. I hadn’t even realized she was there. When I’d been called in, I knew it was an emergency but I had no idea what had happened. I’d later come to find out Zip had managed to call Hawke, allowing him to hear everything that had transpired after he’d been dragged from his car. Marek must have brought his wife to the only place he knew was safe. The gates were locked and armed, so there was no fear of someone sneaking in while we were held up in Chambers.
Marek attempted to block Sully from entering but she shoved past him. No women were allowed in here, but no one said a damn word, realizing the circumstances warranted a bit of leeway.
“Baby,” Marek soothed, “what do you need?”
“You need to take me to him, Cole,” she said, preparing herself for one hell of an argument.
He looked shocked that she not only knew what we’d been discussing, but that she’d offer to go back to her father. The man who’d raped and beaten her throughout her life. The man who’d passed her off to Vex and who’d so freely given her to Yanez.
“Never,” he growled. “I’ll never let him get his hands on you ever again.” When he saw the look on his wife’s face, he pleaded with her instead. “Don’t ask me to do that, Sully. I can’t. Please,” he practically begged, a trait none of us were used to.
“He won’t kill me.” For her to even speak those words about her own kin made my blood run cold. It spoke to the true evil of her father. Shit, he was worse than my old man, which was saying a lot.
“He will and you know it. Maybe not right away, but he’ll end your life as surely as you stand before me.” He shook his head. “No, forget it. It’s not happening.”
“Then I’ll leave you,” she warned, standing tall with her head held high. She never took her eyes from her husband, challenging him to comply before things got out of hand.
“What?” he asked, astonished she’d threatened such a thing. Grabbing her before she could retreat, he pulled her close, his face mere inches from hers. “What the fuck did you just say?”
Sully never flinched. “I’ll leave you if you don’t let me go. I’m the key to saving both of them, and I can’t sit by and do nothing. If my father wants me, then make the trade. He won’t do anything. I promise. He’d rather keep me alive and torment me than end my life. Besides, I can endure him again until you come for me, because I now know what love is.” She placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed him gently. “You’ve saved me, in every way possible, and it’s you I’ll think of when things get tough. But I’ll survive. I promise. Just come for me soon, okay?” She smiled, but it quickly faded.
“I can’t do it,” he repeated, resting his forehead against hers. At some point, Stone had approached his friend from behind. He placed his hand on Marek’s shoulder, but his touch was quickly dislodged. “Don’t fuckin’ touch me,” he barked, never breaking away from his wife.
“Don’t be mad at him, Cole. Wouldn’t you ask the same of him if the roles were reversed?” Marek never responded, but we all knew his answer would’ve been yes.
“So either way I lose you.”
“But if you trade me, you’ll get me back. The time frame just depends on you.”
“Fine,” he conceded before releasing her. “But you’re coming back with us right along with Adelaide and Kena.” Grasping his wife’s hands, he pulled her toward his seat at the head of the table. “Now we wait for him to call back with instructions.”
An hour later we traveled north
toward Modesto. The place we were to make the exchange was an old abandoned warehouse, a building so dilapidated I was shocked it hadn’t been torn down yet. What Psych hadn’t realized was that I knew the place well. I’d fought there quite a few times, finding hidden back entryways into the building for the sole purpose of avoiding all the hoopla that went along with the fights. All I wanted to do when I battled was get in, win, collect my money and get the hell out.
No doubt Psych would have half his fucking club waiting to ambush us, but we had a plan of our own. Stone and I sat in the front of his truck, Marek and Sully huddled in the back, capturing their last fleeting moments before she was handed over.
Marek had placed a call to Salzar, the head of our Laredo chapter, as soon as he’d heard about the kidnapping. And again when Psych had given him the directions to the warehouse. So we had men hiding out everywhere, waiting for orders to attack. Some were hidden around the warehouse we were headed, some were back manning our compound, and others had been dispatched to hide out near the Reapers’ compound and wait for instructions.
Stone turned down an unpaved path, the warehouse about half a mile down the road. My heart sped up, fear and adrenaline fueling the erratic thumping. What if something went wrong and Psych killed Adelaide and Kena anyway? Were they even still alive? Stone had asked to speak to his woman when the Reapers’ president called back a second time, to which he heard Adelaide screaming, but that was a while ago. A lot could have transpired since then.
As we approached the building, the garage started to open, two men standing guard just inside and guiding us through. Both Reapers were armed, their weaponry strapped across their chest, probably not the only ones they had on their bodies. Coming to a stop a few feet after entering, our doors were yanked open and three additional men appeared, extracting us from the vehicle and shoving us forward, but only after patting us down and stealing our weapons. The entire way, Marek had his arms wrapped tightly around Sully, protecting her as best he could with Psych’s men crowding them.