by Elle Boon
“Those are the Littles to the old fuckers. We’ve released them but they’re convinced this is a test and if they move, they’ll be punished,” Dragon said, an uneasy tone entering his voice.
“Leave em be, Dragon. They’ve already been fucked up by the sick bastards. Besides, I need help getting them up in their contraptions. They’re not as light as their victims.” Koyn pushed Claire in front of him, making her keep moving.
“What’s the meaning of this and who are all of you degenerates?” Mayor Coker asked, straightening his suit jacket.
Keys tossed his head back, laughing at the proper way the man spoke, even as a dozen young men and women, with nothing but collars and chains on cowered along the walls. “Are you fucking kidding me, PopPop? Isn’t that what your granddaughter used to call you, until you betrayed her trust by selling her to your Little? That is until he aged out of your society. Fuck, what is wrong with all of you?” Keys roared the question. His mind scrambling to process the men he was seeing half dressed, looking as though they’d been playing with the poor victims, with the men he remembered from before.
The sheriff, who had been a bastard when he’d been younger, sat with a narrowed eyed look as he stared at Keys. He wore a pair of boxers with his son next to him wearing a skimpy pair of briefs. Neither man looked afraid, but that would change.
“What’s your name, boy?” the former sheriff asked.
“The only boys in this room are you sick fucks who can’t get it up unless you have a Little”—he snarled the word, moving closer to the retired sheriff until he could grab him by the shirt, hauling him up so they were face to face—"my name is Keys but you might remember me by a different name. Silas.” He let the name hang in the air.
“It can’t be. He died,” Claire cried.
“Sorry granny, but as you can see, I’m alive and well.” Keys gave the sheriff a little shake, releasing him with a hard toss. Stroud’s son, the new sheriff growled but he didn’t move to help his father as fell on his ass, missing the chair he’d been sitting in. Keys chuckled when the older man landed on the hard floor with a groan.
Keys walked around the room, looking over each man. His brothers had been busy stringing them up into the different apparatuses they’d been using to torture their victims.
“So, let me see if I got this right. Each of you get to come out here and play with your Littles. How does it work? Do you leave them here while you go home to your wife and kids, and then what, come back and play again?” he asked, anger building as he thought of the atrocities that went on behind these walls.
A whimper brought his head around to a young girl and boy huddling close together. His shirt was blood stained from the bullet scrape, but none of the dozen victims had clothing. “Traeger, we got anything for them to put on?”
Usually it was he who took care of things like that.
“Got it,” Katana said, leaving the great room, pulling a silent Dragon with him.
Katana returned alone, carrying two large duffel bags. “Bermuda procured a couple dozen shirts and sweats.”
Out of all of them, he didn’t think there was a single one that was less frightening than the next. Shit, they should’ve brought a female along.
Duke and Katana went through the bag, pulling out items and handing them to the shivering, wide-eyed boys and girls. They could be anywhere from twelve to twenty, he couldn’t tell. Keys could hear their quiet whimpers as they slid the clothing on as if they feared they’d be hurt no matter what they did.
The two who’d gotten his attention were apart from the others. They looked too much alike to be anything but related.
Keys moved to them slowly, keeping his movements where they could see him. “We’re going to get all of you out of here. Can you tell me your names?” he asked them, not focusing on either too long.
He’d seen victims who would close down if they thought their words would cause harm.
“I’m Jessie and this is my brother Justin. We were sh...shopping in Toledo with our aunt when he came and took us. She let us go. Our mom has to be so scared.” Her lip quivered; tears flowed down her cheeks.
“Shut up or I’ll kill you both,” Mayor Coker yelled.
King kicked the older man. “Does that look like he has any power?”
“The only ones getting hurt are those fuckers. Now, how long have you been here, Jessie?” Keys asked. It was hard to tell with them both being blonde, blue-eyed, and pale skinned if they’d been outside in a while. Shit, they reminded him of his Palmer. He jerked his eyes to Mayor Coker.
“I don’t know. We went to visit our mom’s sister for Spring Break.” Jessie looked to Coker than up at Keys.
“Those against the walls appear a lot more subdued. I’d wager they’ve been here a lot longer than a month or two.” Duke shook his head.
“Which are your Littles?” Keys snarled looking at the old man who’d given his own granddaughter to the man he’d groomed.
“I don’t have to answer you,” Mayor Coker yelled.
Several of the victims whimpered. The twins cowered closer together. The sick fuck had taken two that reminded the mayor of his own granddaughter. He looked at the other victims, picking out which he thought the bastard was claiming as his. “King, can you get them all out of here, before we continue—talking?”
“My brother Copper is actually just pulling up. He’s a fed and is going help ensure we have our bases covered. He’ll also make sure they’re returned to their families,” Koyn told them.
“You can’t do this. They belong to us.”
A man Keys didn’t recognize roared. He was younger than the others, had probably been a Little himself. “What’s your name?” he asked him.
When the fucker didn’t speak again, Keys shrugged. Even if they’d taken him and twisted the fuck out of his ass, he was now doing the same shit to some other poor souls. These fuckers were sick and twisted. Katana helped the victims move around the men that were yelling obscenities and vowing to make them pay. It took a few well-placed kicks that Keys enjoyed giving, along with King and Duke and the other Bastards, to get the fuckers to shut up while they cleared the room, leaving the handful of sick fucks with the Royal Bastards. He looked at the space that had recently held the poor victims, but now sported the ‘Daddies’ in the same positions, except for the Mayor and the Langley’s.
“You realize none of you are leaving here alive, don’t you?” Koyn asked in a casual manner.
“You can’t just kill us. He’s the mayor, I’m the sheriff.” The man puffed out his chest.
King hauled his arm back, punching the retired sheriff. “Does that look like I give a fuck who you are?”
“Dammit, you started without me?” Dragon strolled in, looked at the group then went to the one who had yelled earlier. “What’s your story? You get taken off the street as a kid and fucked up so much you got Stockholm Syndrome?”
The guy turned his face away, refusing to answer. Dragon shrugged. “Don’t matter to me. The fact is, you are now doing that very thing to innocent people, which makes you enemy number one.”
When Dragon pulled a wicked looking knife out, the room gasped, all but the Royal Bastards.
“Oh, now the party is getting started.” Katana rubbed his hands together.
“They’ve even got a big old fireplace. Perfect for burning the bodies when we finish.” Traeger came around with some ropes in his hands.
“What’s that for?” Duke asked.
“I like to play with rope when I’m bored. I found these in one of the rooms back there when I was checking to see if the place was empty. I loaded their computers into the vehicle so you can do that thing you do?” He wiggled his fingers like he was typing.
Keys nodded. “Oh Gramps, just to let you know, your grown-up Little Thomas, he’s dead.” Keys took out a knife, tossed it in the air and caught it. “Damnedest thing, you know. He came outta nowhere, scared the shit right out of me. I think he fell on my knife, right he
re.” He pointed at his forehead. He didn’t really scare Keys, but it sounded good when he was telling Coker the story. He watched the way his words hit their mark.
“You killed my Thomas?” Mayor Coker asked, jumping to his feet much spritelier than he’d thought the old bastard would be able to.
None of them had thought to restrain the old man or check him for weapons. Keys, holding the throwing knife watched Palmer’s grandfather reach for a gun inside his jacket. He didn’t let his relation to Palmer stop him from releasing the knife, knowing he’d have to face Palmer afterward. A bullet rang out, creating a huge hole in the middle of his forehead. The man who should’ve been good but was evil to his core wouldn’t be hurting anyone again. Keys knife hit a second later, but Mayor Coker was already dead.
“What the hell did you shoot him with?” Keys asked, looking at Dragon then at the Mayor, who was bleeding all over the floor with a wound the size of his fist.
Dragon shrugged. “Illegal shit. Who’s next?”
The two Langley boys began to wake up. Keys went over, need for vengeance and retribution filling him.
“Leave my boys alone.” Claire yelled.
“Got it.” Katana moved faster than Keys could track, slicing her throat before Keys could ask what he’d planned.
He waited to feel remorse, but none hit. Every single person in this home had tortured and took pleasure in it. He didn’t even know the exact scope of their deeds, but the fact Koyn had brought his MC brothers up from Tulsa, left his pregnant ole lady home, called King and his MC brothers in California was telling. With Bermuda and Copper along with Koyn digging into all the ‘Daddy’s’ records, they went deep making sure they had enough dirt to destroy all the motherfuckers in the woods, to where no questions would be asked.
Katana fucked up one of the Langley’s, almost to the point Keys knew it wouldn’t be any fun to do anything other than end his miserable life. “Dragon, can I borrow your gun?”
“Ain’t you got one of your own?” Dragon asked, coming to stand by him.
“Yeah, but I wanted to see what he looked like with a bigger hole in him.”
Blaire and Blaine tried to roll away, the zip ties preventing them from doing anything more than look like idiots flopping around.
“Got it,” Katana called from across the room.
Duke yelled a no, but Keys knew there was no stopping the man.
He and Dragon took a collective step back, watching two throwing stars sail directly into the man Katana had almost curb stomped.
Keys stepped on the remaining Langley’s chest, the one who had put the taser to his nuts as a kid. “Long time no see, uncle? Bet you wish you’d have killed me. Too bad your money train would’ve dried up. Tell me why she hated me when I was her flesh and blood, and I’ll go easy on you.”
The sounds from behind him let him know King and the others were taking care of the trash. He put more pressure on Blaire, moving until his boot rested on his throat. Blaire’s eyes went wide.
“What’s that?” Keys asked as Blaire’s face turned a purplish red.
“She was leaving us. She told mama she hated her and wished she died. Mama killed her, you didn’t,” he coughed.
Keys let his foot ease up from Blaire’s throat. “How’d she kill her own daughter? I thought she’d had me at the hospital and died?”
“No, mama locked her up in the house and when she had you, she...she let her die. There was a lot of blood but that was on account of what mama done. She told the mayor and he was gonna make her go to jail, but then she showed him what she knew about this place here. She knew what he’d done with me and my brother. We didn’t mind, it wasn’t like we were boys. But mama used it and him to get her way. She was like us and him. The town already knew sister was pregnant, but they didn’t know who the father was, but again, mama did. She was gonna tell everyone and be richer than them Cokers. So, the mayor and her made a deal. Mama kept you alive and he gave her money. She got to be a member of The Domicile.” He gasped, looking around him.
“Why would the Mayor want me to continue to live if I was the rightful heir or whatever?” This town made no fucking sense.
“Because your mother had already created a trail. If you were to die before your twenty-fifth birthday then the Lion Family would’ve been notified. The Mayor would’ve had to explain why he’d had you placed in such horrendous conditions and didn’t ensure your safety. She wasn’t stupid like her family thought, but at the end of her pregnancy her mother kidnapped her, held her in a locked room and then killed her.” Traeger looked up from his phone, sadness etched on his face.
“You let your mother kill your sister? My mother? Then all of you treated me as if I was a stray dog you hated. Fuck, I bet you’d have treated a dog better than you treated me. My god, you’re nothing but a bunch of sick fucks. Were you there when she killed her?” He kicked Blaire in the side of the head, a sort of satisfaction filled him when blood spewed from Blaire’s nose.
“She was a whore who spread her legs for everyone. If me and Blaine wanted, we could’ve had her too.”
Keys didn’t let him say another word. The woman he hadn’t known, but who had the courage to take on this town, deserved better than whatever the prick was going to say. He reached behind his back, pulled his Glock and shot Blaire at point-blank range. It didn’t produce the same size hole as whatever Dragon had used, but when he pulled the trigger again, moving his hand a little, the wound got bigger.
“Nice,” Dragon complimented him.
“Had to improvise since you were being stingy with the cool gun.” He stepped back, looking at the room filled with his brothers. Although he’d lost his blood family that he hadn’t known about until tonight, he didn’t feel one ounce of regret at their loss. The men still standing, willing to risk it all, these warriors were worth ten times more than the pieces of shit he and the others had taken out. They were his true brothers, his family.
“Not stingy, but whatever.” Dragon looked around, probably for another victim.
“Let’s torch this place,” King said.
“Fuck yeah,” Duke agreed.
Koyn lit a cigarette, holding up his lighter.
“We’re gonna need a little more than that to get the job done.” Traeger looked around the room, then walked out.
“Got it,” Katana called.
“Why does that scare the fuck out of me?” Keys asked.
“Cause he’s crazy.” Dragon squeezed his shoulder, then followed his crazy friend out.
They didn’t actually torch the house since it was nestled in the woods and worried it would cause a forest fire. However, between all of them they had the bodies loaded into Koyn’s cage and the one Dragon and Katana had driven up.
“We’ll go down to Tulsa with Koyn and take care of the trash with them. No reason to make them handle this shit by themselves,” King said.
“That’s mighty nice of you but I think it would be less conspicuous if you boys head on back West. We’ll take care of this shit like we do, and Copper will make sure it disappears on his end. Between me and Bermuda, the rest should be easy.” Koyn lit a cigarette as he looked around the darkness.
“I’m taking Palmer and Jaxson with me. I’m pretty sure her MeMaw won’t agree to pack up and follow so we’ll be making trips back here regularly.” Keys kicked a pile of leaves from the path.
“You’re welcome at my place anytime.” Koyn slapped his back before walking away.
Keys and King stood on the front porch of the place that had seen too much horror if the videos they’d procured were any indication.
“So, we’re blowing this place, huh?” King asked.
Keys nodded without looking at King.
“I feel you. This can’t be a good place for anyone. Let’s get it done so we can get the fuck out of here. Your ole lady is probably getting anxious for your return. Imagine being holed up with Bermuda.” King walked down the path, pulling his phone out.
Chapter
Fourteen
Palmer didn’t know how long she was supposed to wait without going crazy. They’d been gone for hours. She’d fed Jaxson and they’d played, then he’d gone down for a nap. Now, she was pacing and worrying. Keys hadn’t called or texted, not that he had her number. Or did he? Gah, she was going to drive herself mad with all the does he or doesn’t he’s.
The sound of tires crunching over gravel brought her head around, making her heart beat faster. She looked at the man named Bermuda. “Is that them?” she asked.
“Yep. You did real good, girl. You held your cool. You got grit. Keys is a lucky man and that kid, he’s gonna be a badass when he grows up.” Bermuda shut his computer down.
She smiled. In the hours that she’d been holed up with the scary biker, he’d been tapping away on his computer, refusing to answer any questions about Keys and what he was doing. However, he was one of the most intelligent people she’d ever had the pleasure of speaking with. “Thank you, Mr. Bermuda.”
“It’s Bermuda, no Mr. about it.”
The door opened seconds later, leaving whatever she’d been about to say forgotten. Keys didn’t look much different from the last time she’d seen him. She stayed where she was, waiting for him to come to her. Other men entered behind him, but her eyes were held by the one man she’d loved her entire life.
“C’mere,” he said, stopping in the middle of the room.
Palmer’s entire body was vibrating with the need to touch Keys. He said one word, one demand. She’d told herself she wasn’t going to do it, but she did, leaping those few feet separating them, wrapping her arms around him, letting him lift her to him.
“Fucking missed you like hell, sassy girl,” he whispered against her lips.
“You scared me leaving like that. I didn’t want to think anything happened to you, but when hour after hour ticked by...” she cried unable to say another word without her voice cracking.