“Cat got your tongue, little lady? Word on the street is you belong to the pretty blonde one,” He said as he tugged on a strand of her hair. Billie just looked at him.
“You wanna play it like that, huh?”
Again, Billie didn’t answer. She looked directly at him, barely blinking, wondering if he would eventually give up. He sneered in her face and nodded towards another man behind her. When he came into view, she was surprised by how dirty he was. He looked like he hadn’t showered in a long time. His hair was stringy against his neck and his skin had patches of pure dirt stuck to it. He grinned and she had to wonder how his teeth remained in his head, they were so discolored.
“This one here is called Blade. He’s really good with a knife, honey. Maybe he can get ya to speak up,” The bald man with the earrings told her. Billie glanced at the man now wielding a knife and shrugged.
Blade stepped towards her and looked her over, his tongue sliding against his disgusting teeth. He watched her like she was next on his menu of things to eat, and that didn’t settle well with Billie.
“You got yourself a pretty face, you know that? I like to ruin pretty things,” Blade said gruffly.
Billie didn’t have to guess what he meant; he put the blade of his sharp knife to her right cheek, and cut her deep, causing her to gasp. She was stubborn though, not making a sound as he cut from her ear to her mouth.
Billie hadn’t ever had someone torture her, and she couldn’t make any promises on how well she would handle it, but she was damn proud of herself for not making a sound. It didn’t please Blade though, because he tipped her head back, and slipped the blade to the tender skin below her collarbone.
“Which one do you belong to?”
“All of them!,” She spat.
He growled under his breath and split her skin open, causing red to seep from the wound. Billie never did have much of a stomach for the sight of blood, but she had other things to worry about; like the fact that three other men were milling into the room, and they were all crowding around her.
“We don’t really want to hurt you. We just want your prez to grant us a meeting, and we thought taking something he cares about would make him more compliant to give us one,” A man with bottle-red hair said.
Billie didn’t say a word, even though her chest and face were on fire. She could feel drops of her blood slipping down her skin, soaking the collar of her shirt.
“This one ain’t gonna give us anything, Scott.” The bald one looked at her angrily and slowly began to circle her, his fingers coasting through her hair. He yanked her head back at the last second, his mouth too close to hers.
“What’s it gonna take to get you to answer a question? We have to remove digits, maybe? Cut off your fingers, your toes? Maybe you need something a little more invasive to make you talk, huh?”
Billie didn’t need for him to elaborate on what he meant by that, because he grabbed the front of his pants as he said it. More than one of them chuckled at the idea, and even though no woman on the planet would consent to that, Billie didn’t have a choice.
“Okay, let’s see if we can get an answer to a more direct question, then. Did Axel combine his crew with Ox’s?”
Billie didn’t even have to lie, “ I don’t know.”
Scott seemed to get even more irritated as he shook his head and slammed his palms onto the arms of the chair.
“If you don’t give me what I want, I’m going to kill you. We’ve killed way more than one person in this town, sweetheart, we won’t feel bad about offing one more.”
“Wouldn’t you lose your leverage if you did that?”
That question only seemed to make Scott angrier as he roared in her face, but he knew that she was right. If they killed her, they lost their bargaining chip, and that would get them nowhere.
“Okay, we’ll play it the hard way. As long as I keep you alive, then I can still get what I want. That doesn’t mean I can’t return you a little damaged.”
Billie didn’t like the sound of that, and she hated the feel of his fist connecting with her bloody cheek even more. She did cry out then, because it surprised her, but she clamped her mouth shut over the throbbing pain anyways. Her eyes watered and she was positive her cheek bone was broken, but she had to try and stay strong.
She may not know any of the answers to the questions he was going to ask, but that didn’t matter. None of it mattered. She was kidnapped, in enemy territory God knows where, and she wasn’t even the only hostage they had!
Billie knew her circumstances weren’t ideal then. She knew that no matter what beans she spilled, even if she lied, they were still going to have their fun with her. She was fucked either way. She didn’t want to end up like the poor woman in the corner, but she didn’t see a way out of this.
“Strip her down. Bra and panties,” Scott ordered.
Billie fought against Blade’s hands, but he stopped her by placing a gun against the side of her head. He pulled it out of his waistband, the black barrel scratched and obviously well-used.
“Sit still, or I’ll blow a hole through your knee, got it?”
Slowly, Billie nodded.
Blade used his knife to cut off her clothes, and she didn’t miss the way his hands groped almost every inch of her as he did so. She was sickened by the way he touched her, but she felt even worse for the woman in the corner of the room. She hadn’t anyone to search for her or save her. Billie vowed that if she got out of there alive, she’d take her with her.
“Such a sexy piece of ass, who would let you out of their sight?,” Scott murmured as he looked at her. Billie’s face was throbbing, but she managed to cringe anyway.
“She ain’t got any marks on her, Scott. No tattoos, no brands.”
“Maybe she ain’t an old lady, then! You idiot, I told you we needed an important woman,” Scott said angrily.
“If she ain’t someone’s old lady, then she ain’t important and we can keep her. We’ll go back for another one tomorrow,” The red-haired one said. He looked like a life-size bottle of Ketchup to Billie, but she couldn’t look away from the trio that were actually talking. The other two men remained silent in the corner.
How am I going to get out of this?
Chapter 18
Slayer was biting his nails as Limit loaded his weapon, his dark hair covering his eyes. He had no idea how the fuck they were gonna get Billie back, not yet, and he was ready to crawl out of his own skin. It’d been two hours since she was snatched, and they were still waiting.
“If you don’t relax, I ain’t takin’ you with us,” Limit said.
“The fuck you ain’t.”
“You need to remain calm. We have to go about this the smart way, Slayer. We have their location, we’re just making sure we’re prepared. Our original plan got blown out of the water tonight.”
“Boys, we got a phone call,” Ox said. He had his phone in his hand, his eyes fixated on the screen.
“Is it her?,” Slayer asked desperately. His entire body was twisted into one anxious knot, and no matter what he told himself, he couldn’t remain calm. His woman, his Billie, was taken by some misled group of psychopaths, and they could be doing anything to her.
“This is Ox.”
Slayer watched as Ox listened to whomever was on the other end of the line. He didn’t seem to be phased by this, considering the fact that one of their own was missing.
“Is that so? You think takin’ one of our old ladies is gonna get that for you? That book was burned a long time ago, my friend.”
The little black book?
Slayer couldn’t believe that the little black book that caused Rayna so much trouble was being brought up again, years later. No one besides Axel had been given access to it, and it’d been disposed of not too long ago.
“I’m sure we can work something out. Why don’t you meet me at the halfway point between us?”
There was a moment of silence.
“I’m not sayin’ any such thing
, you little fucker. But, I will make you a promise. Since you’re workin’ on being so accommodating, I’ll make sure Limit kills you first.”
As Ox angrily hung up the phone, he gestured towards the bikes.
“We gotta move, now. They have her at that shit-shack, and they want more connections for their coke business. They thought that this was the best way to negotiate some terms, get some more allies, and use that stupid fucking black book to gain some friends in the gun world! Man, but it never ceases to amaze me how damn small this network really is.”
“That book is gone, Ox. There ain’t nothin’ left of it,” Axel argued.
“We know that, man, but these fuckers are young and dumb. They’re unrefined. I don’t know why they thought taking one of our girls would work, but they did. They’re obviously not that smart, and we can use that to our advantage,” Ox said.
“So, what are we doing?” Limit asked.
Slayer waited on bated breath for Ox to answer.
“We head out now, and go in guns blazing. We don’t have any other options, and we don’t have time to make this quiet.”
“What about Billie? If we do that, we risk them killin’ her!,” Slayer snapped.
“If we wait to make a better plan, we risk them killin’ her anyways!”
Slayer didn’t like that plan, but he didn’t have much of a choice, and he wasn’t going to waste time arguing over it. He had to get to Billie, had to make sure she was safe. If he lost her now, he may as well put a bullet in his own head.
“Let’s get going. This ain’t gonna be pretty, and I wanna save my woman,” Slayer bit out.
“We’re gonna bring her home, brother,” Axel said softly.
I fucking hope so.
◆◆◆
Billie’s head snapped back when Blade landed a solid jab to her uninjured cheek. She grunted, but she didn’t make cry.
“They’re comin’, Scott, and they ain’t in the mood to negotiate.”
“Fuck! Was she not an old lady? She just a lot bitch?,” He snarled.
Billie didn’t comment one way or another, but she was happy as hell to hear that they were coming for her. What happened to her in the meantime wouldn’t be enjoyable, that much was obvious, but at least she knew that Slayer hadn’t left her to die.
“What do we do now, huh? These guys aren’t the locals, Scott. Ox will kill us! And, now Axel is part of their club? This isn’t what he planned!”
Scott ran his hands over his scalp and started to pace.
“No. They’ll listen to our terms! They have to! We have one of their women, they won’t let her die,” He argued.
“I don’t think they have any intentions of letting her die, man! They’re just gonna kill us to get her back.”
“Then shoot her.”
“If we kill her, then we’re for sure signing our own death warrants, and that ain’t what we signed up for. This little escapade was your idea,” Blade yelled.
It was obvious to Billie that they were stating to panic and that was either a gift from God, or a very bad sign. If they panicked and killed her, then she’d held her tongue for nothing. If they decided to try and reason with Slayer and his club, then maybe…
“I…have…an idea for you,” She breathed. Her nostrils were bloody, so she had to breathe through her mouth, but her lips were cracked and swollen, so her words were muffled.
“What’s that, bitch?”
She smiled, a gesture that hurt her down to her bones, but a chuckle made its way past her lips, anyways.
“Run. If they catch you, they’ll kill you, and that’s a fact. If you and your little crew run now, you can still work your coke and gun game from anywhere else.”
Blade and Scott looked at each other, before they glanced at the rest of the crew. One by one, they all seemed to come to the same conclusion.
“What about you? They’ll kill us for takin’ you and hurtin’ you, anyways!”
“Not if they can’t find you,” She reasoned.
“The broad has a point, Scott. Let’s get the fuck out of dodge! They ain’t gonna listen to us anyways, so we better get out now!”
“Fuck, fine! Everyone on their bikes, we’re riding south. No one stops for anything until I say so!,” Scott yelled.
Billie couldn’t even fathom the relief she felt at knowing that her idea had worked, and with very little prompting. She’d had no clue whether or not they would listen, because she didn’t exactly know what they were after. A glance in the corner of the room told her that the red-headed woman was alert and watching her closely.
“What about our supplies?”
“Fuck the supplies, man! Get your ass moving!,” Scott screamed.
Billie watched with watery eyes as each and every one of the men who had taken turns abusing her for the last few hours scurried around their little hell hole while trying to prepare themselves to leave.
The woman in the corner watched, too. Her amber eyes never left their backs as they hurried around like chickens with their heads cut off. At any moment they could change their minds and kill them both, but Billie doubted it.
For a group of men who had it in their heads that they were big and bad, one tiny suggestion from her, someone as clueless as can be, unraveled all of it. She still couldn’t believe that they were actually going to skip town without a fight, but she supposed it was for the best.
The woman in the corner didn’t make a sound as Billie surveyed her. She studied her thin frame to her expressionless face. That was the scary part; her eyes were empty. Dead. Cold. There was nothing coming from her that registered as even remotely human.
Billie wondered who she was and where she came from and how long she’d been stuck with the animals that Billie had only suffered at the hands of for a few hours. She couldn’t imagine what the other woman had been through. If the state she was in were any indication, then she’d been through hell.
Their footsteps grew heavier and louder before they suddenly grew quieter, and then disappeared altogether. The raucous sound of their bikes roaring to life in unison had Billie shuddering, even though that meant that they were leaving. She still couldn’t believe that they were going to leave. That they were going to run.
“I think they’re gone,” Billie whispered.
The other woman didn’t say anything, she just looked at Billie with wide, dark eyes. Billie understood that everything that she’d gone through was a whisper compared to the scream the other woman had suffered.
“Do you have a name?” She asked as she tried to loosen up the ropes tying her to her chair. They weren’t budging, so she was stuck, but at least she wasn’t alone. At least she didn’t have to sit in an abandoned cabin by herself naked.
The woman didn’t answer her yet again, and Billie began to wonder if she could speak. Maybe they’d cut out her tongue, or maybe she lost her voice, maybe she was deaf. Billie didn’t know, but she didn’t think the woman was deaf. It seemed that she could hear her just fine, she just didn’t want to speak.
“I don’t know who you are, but my man and his crew are coming. We’ll take you with us, okay? I won’t leave you here,” Billie promised. She didn’t say anything in response, but Billie knew that she’d heard her because she dipped her head forward and relaxed into her chair like she was relieved that she had a place to go.
Billie could understand that better than most, considering that she didn’t have anywhere to go if she didn’t stay with Slayer. She knew that she had a home with him, even if it wasn’t a perfect one, but they could figure that out together. If he would still want her, considering that her face was slashed to hell. She was still bleeding, could taste it, spat it at the ground near her feet. Her long hair was matted, cut in some places from Blade’s trusty blade, and she hated how violated she felt.
Even though she knew that slayer was coming, she was anxious as hell to get out of the chair holding her captive. The roped were burning her wrists and her skin was already scraped raw from her st
ruggles, but she was alive. That’s what counted. She was fucking alive.
Her head fell forward too as she sucked in a deep breath and tried to remain calm, because the roiling emotions inside of her were getting ready to take over. She was still worried that they would come back and finish the job, felt stupid for urging them to go, but she knew that was her best bet. They obviously hadn’t had any idea of what they were doing.
It was only a matter of time before they were found again anyways because there was no way Ox would let them go just like that, and Billie knew at least that much. At least if they searched for them now, it would be on the Seven Deadlies’s terms, and that alone made the situation ten times better. For them.
The sound of bikes in the distance had her and the strange woman in the corner stiffening simultaneously until Billie started to smile. She recognized the sound of Slayer’s bike.
“Don’t worry, baby. I hear my man’s bike. We’re safe, now. You’re gonna be okay. I promise,” Billie said softly.
She didn’t answer Billie, but Billie could tell that she was beginning to trust what she said, at least a little bit. She held eye contact with her a little longer, she even dipped her head slightly to let her know that she believed her.
The front door to the shack was kicked open with such force that dust sprinkled into the air around Billie, but she could only cry out with relief. Her eyes filled with tears instantly when she saw Slayer coming towards her, his gaze intense and his gun raised.
“Here! I’m here!,” She cried.
The entire club came through the doors, with Limit and Tango at the lead. Ox was at the rear, but they were all there, to save her. Any questions she had about making a home with them were answered in that moment.
“Are you okay? Jesus, where are they?” All the men looked incredibly confused at the lack of gunfire and violence, but Billie calmed them when she spoke up.
“I convinced them to run. We can catch up to them later, but I needed to make sure her and I stayed alive, and they were talking about killing me,” Billie said as she nodded towards her companion in the corner.
Lust (Seven Deadlies MC Book 5) Page 12