by Lane Hart
“Yeah, I did,” War answers as we stand there staring at each other awkwardly. “Now I need to tie your hands back up.”
“Right,” I mutter.
“But I mean, I guess I should just leave them free until you eat, or we’ll be wasting tape,” he tells me with a small smile.
“That is true,” I agree.
“Just promise you won’t try anything,” War says. Leaning in, he lowers his voice and says, “Don’t do anything stupid that would give Torin a reason to hurt you.”
“He’s already threatened to blow my head off,” I tell him. “And I know he wasn’t joking.”
“No, he wasn’t,” War replies with a frown.
Walking, or more like waddling slowly past him toward the bed, I sit down on it and maneuver so that my back is against the headboard, looking at the man still standing across from me. With the light pouring out of the bathroom, I finally get a good long look at War. He’s handsome, wandering around the room shirtless, showing off his massive chest and bulging muscles. Combine that with his closely shaved head and warm, dark eyes and he's got sort of a nice guy for a bad boy vibe going for him. He speaks to me kindly and looks at me like he doesn’t approve of how Torin has treated me.
Maybe he's the key to getting out of here alive. He's already been slack with Torin’s rules of keeping my hands tied. So, if I can get him to loosen the rules a little more, maybe he’ll turn his back on me long enough that I can get the hell out of here.
“So Torin wants revenge for his wife and son?” I blurt out.
“Revenge is a bit of an understatement,” War replies through clenched teeth.
"Just to warn you, my father's not going to give him any money. He’ll probably even try to kill him at the meet up."
War raises a dark eyebrow. "Hector will pay for his only daughter. And we’ll make sure he doesn’t pull any shit with us."
"If you say so. But money is my dad's baby. I'm disposable. If I wasn't, don’t you think someone would've snatched me up and done this same thing to him before now? The Cartel has a lot of enemies."
"I find that very hard to believe," War says with a grin.
"It's true," I say, lifting my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. “He’s gonna try and kill you all at the meet up. You should talk Torin out of this…”
“Try being the key word,” he grumbles before taking a seat on the other bed and crossing his arms over his chest.
About that time, Cooper shuffles into the room from the adjoining door. He runs a hand through his ear length brown hair, and I notice he's also shirtless in jeans. When he looks up and sees me, our eyes meet and he comes to an abrupt stop in the middle of the room. His facial hair, a brown goatee and thin beard, with the long hair and light blue eyes are the trifecta that make him stunningly handsome. All the girls wanted him at Avalon, but as far as I know, he didn’t sleep with any of them. Most importantly, he doesn’t look dangerous or act like there’s a mean bone in his incredible body. Really, I can’t figure out what he’s doing in the MC.
"Morning, Cooper," I smile and say to him in greeting.
He looks at War on the other bed and then back at me with a big grin splitting his face in half. "Morning, beautiful," he replies. Then, to War, "Does he know you untied her?" he asks, jerking his thumb over his shoulder toward the dark room behind him.
"I’ll tie her back up after she eats. Otherwise, it’s a waste," War replies.
As the president of the MC, Torin is obviously in charge. So it’s going to make convincing them to disobey him incredibly difficult.
"Fine, but you’re responsible for her," Cooper says while keeping his eyes on me.
"Why don't you put some clothes on and go get us some breakfast?" War asks. My stomach gives out a grumble again at the mention of food.
"Why don't you go get dressed and get breakfast?" Cooper counters. "I just woke up.”
War sighs but mutters his agreement before getting up and heading back into the dark room.
Cooper swoops down to quickly take his seat across from me on the other bed, practically bouncing on the mattress with excitement. He's clearly going to be the easiest to manipulate. I can already tell since we previously worked together. Or maybe he's just the one that will be easier to seduce.
“Watch her, and Torin said not to lay a finger on her,” War orders Cooper before he leaves out the hotel door.
In his absence, there's suddenly an awkward tension in the air with the two of us sitting alone together, a few feet apart. Cooper just continues to stare at me with heat in his darkening blue eyes as they drift to my breasts spilling out of my corset, down my legs and back up again. He never openly gawked at me at Avalon. There’s also a noticeable tenting going on in his pants. Now's my chance.
"So, um, do you think I can take a shower?" I ask, arching my back to emphasize my cleavage.
"A shower?" Cooper laughs while his eyes dip down to my breasts again. "You're a cunning one, I'll give you that. But, sure, if you want a shower, then let's go, doll."
"Really?" I ask, thinking that was too easy.
"Yeah. But I'm going to have to stand in the doorway the entire time, of course, just to make sure you don't pull any funny business."
"Of course," I reply, swallowing down the nervousness. Why I’m nervous about him seeing me naked, I’m not sure. He’s seen everything before when I stripped on his stage. For some reason, it seems more intimate to undress in a hotel room for a shower with a man I barely know and once worked for.
Cooper jumps up a second later, and lifts me over his shoulder, carrying me into the bathroom. He sets my feet down on the floor and then kneels down to cut the plastic tie at my ankles with a pocket knife, giving me a view of his broad, muscular, tattooed back as he works. I sigh in relief once I’m completely free again.
After the restraint is taken care of, Cooper hops up so he's sitting on the countertop. Then he just watches and waits.
“Mind if I hang out here?” he asks.
“Ah, no, not at all,” I reply. “I’m just a slutty stripper after all,” I mutter. “It’s not like you haven’t seen it before.”
The muscle in his chiseled jaw ticks. “I’m not just a peeping Tom. I’m trying my best to make sure Torin doesn’t hurt you. That’s not what I want to see happen, okay?”
“I know,” I reply, and watch as his blue eyes darken even further when I start unlacing the corset string until it’s loose enough to slide off to the floor. Last but not least, I push Torin’s boxers down in one shove, leaving me naked.
“Even with the private striptease, there’s no way in hell I would ever touch you,” Cooper remarks. “I don’t want to lose one of my hands.”
“Right,” I say, a little defeated even though, despite his words, his smooth, bare chest lifts and falls with his rapid breathing. He then rests his head back against the glass mirror, with a hand pressing on the bulge in the front of his jeans.
I turn around and lean over, flashing him my ass to turn the faucet on in the shower. After the water warms, I push the curtain out of the way to finally step underneath the spray.
The water feels good as it covers first my hair and face and then runs down between my breasts. I turn around and look up to the ceiling to soak the long strands. I don't glance over at my audience, although I feel his heated stare on me.
Reaching over for the sample size hotel shampoo and body wash, I lather my hair up with the lemon scented suds, missing the smell of my familiar vanilla shampoo, and then do the same with my body. When I cup both breasts, I hear a groan from the counter, then one even louder when I use a washcloth to rub between my legs a little longer and more thorough than is necessary. After I rinse myself, I turn off the faucet and reach for a towel from the rack.
I finally glance over to Cooper once I have a towel wrapped around me. He looks like he’s in pain and close to breaking.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, I reach back into the shower for the wash
cloth I used and wring it out before climbing out of the tub and taking it to him. Standing between his legs, I start to lower his zipper.
I’m certain that neither War nor Cooper wanted any part of kidnapping me. This is all about Torin’s vengeance. I wonder if the two of them are even aware of why Torin blames me…
"What the fuck!"
The words are bellowed from the doorway, causing Cooper and me to both jump. I grasp the top of my towel to keep myself covered at the same time Cooper hops down off the counter. He quickly zips his pants back up but Torin’s furious eyes don’t miss the movement. "I told you not to lay a fucking finger on her!" His angry words echo around the room.
"I-I didn't," Cooper responds, sounding out of breath.
"Bull-fucking-shit!" Torin yells furiously as he closes in on the other man. His hand on Cooper’s chest, shoves the man backward while I press my back against the sink, trying to shrink out of the way as far as possible. This could even be the perfect time to run if Torin would just move out of the way! But the bathroom is small and Torin seems to take up most of it.
Looking at him now, shirtless in the bright lights of the bathroom, he's bigger than normal. In fact, the only way to describe him right now is as a Greek god, with messy, dirty-blond hair and a full beard. He’s taller than both Cooper and War. And he appears to be much more violent.
"He-he didn't touch me," I speak up hoarsely and say in Cooper’s defense because he’s the closest thing I have to an ally here. "I-I touched him."
The angry god ignores me and swings a fist at Cooper’s face, but Cooper ducks and it only grazes his cheek. "She was playing you, you dumbass!" Torin roars.
"Fuck, Torin!" War exclaims when he comes running through the open bathroom door. Great, there goes my chance to escape. "Oh, Jesus," War mutters when he takes in the scene.
Torin then spins around and yanks me by my arm so hard that I yelp. He tosses me over his shoulder while I struggle to keep my towel over me, then throws me down on the bed. Hovering over me and looking angrier than a hornet, there’s a heartbeat when he looks at me like…like he wants me again. But then he blinks his dark green eyes and it’s gone, as if it was never there and I imagined it. Storming into the dark adjoining room, he returns with a plain white t-shirt and another pair of boxers.
I'm surprised when he dresses me like I'm an infant, putting my arms and head in the shirt, and legs in the boxers. I think he's just too impatient to wait for me to do it myself. After I'm covered, he returns to the other room and comes back with duct tape. Crap! He wraps that shit so damn tight around my ankles it hurts much more than the zip-ties. But he's not finished. He flips me to my stomach and does the same thing to my wrists behind my back. Now I'm getting scared, especially when he tears off another long strip with his teeth then slaps it across my mouth. Leaving me in the awkward position, I struggle to get on my side.
My body's still damp, and my long hair is soaking wet, dripping onto the white tee, which makes it see through.
Torin stomps back to the bathroom where Cooper and War have been arguing in hushed voices. His voice is not hushed.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he asks. "I ought to kick you out on your ass right now! Touch her again and you’re gone!" he warns him.
"I didn't touch her!" Cooper argues.
"Let her touch you again and you’re gone," Torin clarifies. "Now get the fuck out of here. I don't want to look at your goddamn face!"
War comes out of the bathroom first, giving me an apologetic look before grabbing up the bag of fast food he'd apparently thrown down on the kitchen counter when he came in.
Cooper heads straight for the other hotel room without even a glance in my direction.
"You gonna take the tape off of her so she can eat, or do I have to feed her?" War asks Torin after he comes back into the room and jerks the curtain to the side to look out the front window. The clenched fists at his side and heaving chest say he's still pretty pissed off.
"Neither."
"Um, what does that mean?" War asks.
"Until the whore stops trying to fuck one of us over, she doesn't eat," he declares without turning around.
My stomach rumbles in protest.
"Seriously?" War asks, sitting down on the spare bed, looking to his leader in shock.
"Shut the fuck up," Torin replies curtly.
"If she can't eat, then we don't either."
When Torin glances over his shoulder at War and then me, he curses when he sees the dampness on the front of my shirt. I cower in fear as he stomps over then jerks me up, painfully so, crushing my ribs before tossing me down onto the hard tile floor on my ass in the bathroom. He slams the bathroom door so hard that the walls shake.
Great. The bed was at least comfortable but now...the bathroom sucks. It's cold and wet. The only upside is that it offers me the chance of trying to wiggle out of the tape without anyone watching.
Chapter Six
Torin
I'm so goddamn pissed I could kill someone as I pace the length of the hotel room. I do want to kill someone — that slutty fucking bitch. As soon as I walked into that bathroom, it was obvious Cooper was five seconds away from fucking her. From what I saw, all he got was maybe a hand job from the conniving whore before I interrupted. I knew he was gonna do that shit ever since he first saw her. War isn't much better with him wanting to be all paternal, taking care of her like she’s a child. He's glaring at me right now from the bed with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Do you know what he was doing with her?” I shout.
"Whatever it was, she doesn't deserve to be starved,” War grumbles from his seat on the bed.
I scoff at that. "She was jerking on his goddamn cock."
War’s jaw falls open before he recovers and says, "So?"
"So? Are you fucking kidding me?" I ask, scrubbing my hands over my face.
"What does it matter if he didn't force her and shit?"
"Because she’s playing him."
"Cooper wouldn’t have caved. He’s around naked women all day, every day,” War argues. “And come on, Torin, even you have to admit that she's smoking hot," he says with a smirk, pissing me off even more because most women don’t even show up as a blip on his radar, but she does.
"You don’t know the fucked up shit that she’s done!" I yell at him.
"Then tell me what she did,” he says when he gets to his feet and charges toward me. “Tell me. I’m dying to know what’s been eating you up for months now, way before Kennedy –”
“Don’t say her fucking name,” I warn him.
"I know you went through hell, man, but why are you taking it out on that girl?”
I'm in his face the next second. "No, you don't know what it's like or what I fucking went through! What still torments me every single second of every goddamn day because of motherfucking Hector Cruz! This is about revenge! She is about revenge and nothing else!"
War blinks before he gasps. "You son of a bitch! You wanna fucking kill her too, don’t you?" he asks, putting both hands on my chest to shove me backward. "What's wrong with you, man? She's innocent!"
"No, she’s not innocent. My wife and my son were innocent, but that didn't stop Cruz from killing them, did it?" I counter.
"He's evil and soulless. You're not, Torin. That's the difference!” he shouts. “Don't do this. If you do, then you're no better than him. It’s one thing to go around taking out the Aces assholes. But if you do that to her…” He shakes his head. “There's no coming back from that shit, brother."
"Whatever," I mutter, because I’m too far gone to ever dream of coming back.
"I'm fucking serious, Torin,” War says. “Swear to me, swear to me on Kennedy and the baby’s graves that you are going to let Lexi go, or I'll go in there and do it myself right now. What would your old lady and son think about you doing this shit if they were still alive?"
"They're not alive, are they?" I yell in response.
"No, and I'm sorry
. But that girl didn't kill them," he says, pointing to the closed bathroom door.
"She’s just as responsible as Cruz," I grumble. "But fine. If Cruz shows up, I’ll kill him and let her go, but only if you and Coop stay the hell away from her."
"Fine."
"I'm serious, War."
"Got it. Damn,” he mutters. “I'm worried about you, Torin. I know it hasn’t been that long, but eventually you're gonna have to let them go. Killing Cruz isn’t going to bring your family back."
"Hell, I fucking know that," I say, combing my fingers through my hair. "I’ll put an end to Cruz, and then…then I’ll have a fresh start." I lie to my best friend so that he’ll drop the issue, rather than tell him exactly how I plan to end my suffering.
…
Lexi
It’s been hours since I was tossed onto the bathroom floor without food and no way to even get water from the sink with my hands behind my back and tape over my mouth. Rather than throw a pity party, I lie on my side and keep my eyes shut tight, breathing in and out through my nose, dreaming of being home instead of here on the cold floor. I’d give anything to be back in my apartment with Liam and Joanna…
The door opens, but I don’t bother moving. I’m so weak at this point that I’m not entirely sure that I can.
"Lexi?"
I blink my eyes open enough to see whose voice it is. I know it’s not Torin. He prefers to use derogatory slurs rather than my name.
It’s War who comes in and kneels down next to me.
"I'm gonna rip this tape off, and I'm sorry, but it's probably gonna hurt like a sonofabitch. Don't make a sound, okay?"
I nod my head in agreement, so he grabs one side of the tape covering my mouth and yanks on it quickly, making me wince when it feels like my lips are being ripped off with it.
"Thirsty? Hungry?" he asks me.
"God, yes. Both," I answer hoarsely.
He leans over me with his knife, using it to slice through the tape on my wrists and then the tape on my ankles. Once that’s done, I can thankfully move into a sitting position against the bathtub.