The house was silent as I crept along through the kitchen. I passed through the lounge, seeing Fighter asleep on the small sofa. He was far too big for it, his huge body dwarfing the piece of furniture. His features were relaxed as he slept. It was an expression I’d never seen on him. One arm was flung over his bare chest, and the other hung limply to the floor resting next to an almost empty bottle of whiskey, his large palm open.
The things those hands were capable of scared me and delighted me in equal measures, but I would never figure him out. Figure us out. I wasn’t sure what he wanted from me. One minute he was holding me like he owned me and the next he was pushing me away like I was someone else. He was fucking with my head. Hell, that was all he’d done since the first moment I’d met him. I shook my head and turned away from him.
I unlocked the front door and slipped outside. The day was still young and curtains were still drawn all around me, people sleeping, blissfully ignorant of everything.
I glanced back up at Rider’s house, knowing I’d probably never get to see Charlie or Rider again. And Fighter? Fighter really could go to hell. He was just as bad as my daddy. Probably worse in some ways, because with him I’d felt something I’d never felt before, and then he’d taken it all away—thrown me away like I was nothing.
He could go back to his whores and his strippers. To kidnapping women in the middle of the night and torturing them. I wasn’t sticking around to live that life.
*
“The wanderer returns,” my daddy called through the clubhouse as I walked back in. The look on his face told me everything about what he thought of me, and I hoped I held a similar look for him.
He stalked forward, pulling me to him and draping his heavy arm across the tops of my shoulders. I refused to be the meek little girl he wanted me to be any longer, and I looked up at him, holding his stare.
“Dad,” I said.
Dad, not Daddy, because I was a woman now and he needed to accept that.
His gaze remained impassive. “Penny,” he retorted. “You seen sense then?”
I shrugged out from under his grip, my eyes narrowed on him. “This is my family, my home.”
“Yeah it is. And you’re going to make a fine old lady,” he agreed.
I nodded. “I don’t know who took me,” I said with a heavy heart.
His eyes blazed. “Never really thought you did. I just needed to make sure. Besides, we already know who took you, and that fucker is going to ground very soon.”
My stomach squeezed with anxiety, my thoughts on Charlie, Rider, Gauge…Fighter.
Pain sliced through my heart. How could anyone have found out about Fighter? About the Highwaymen? I hadn’t told a soul! I wanted to cry, to get angry, to lash out—to do something, but my own survival was on the line now.
Scratch had died because of me, and now Fighter would too.
I was cursed!
Forever doomed to be miserable and alone.
“So what now?” I asked, though the words came out as more of a breathy whisper. How they had found out so quickly, I wasn’t sure, but I tried to push the dark thoughts to one side. It wasn’t my problem anymore—it couldn’t be. It was his—Fighter’s; it was the Highwaymen’s problem. I’d kept my promise. I had to think of myself. My safety. My survival. My life.
“Now you get to meet your old man. The man who found out who it was that took my little girl and is getting ready to put them to ground.” Dad grinned at me, like the cat that ate the canary. Only this wasn’t just a canary; this was blood and death and violence, and his own daughter.
“Solomon, get your ass over here,” Dad called, and I squeezed my eyes closed.
No! Anyone but Solomon.
Anyone at all.
Hell, I’d rather go back to Fighter and be unloved and unwanted than be with Solomon.
Solomon was an ugly man, both inside and out. He was the embodiment of a man-slut that would sleep with anything and anyone. And I mean anything. That man had put his dick into more things than I’d had warm meals. Though Lord knew how, because he was the sort of ugly that made babies cry.
He stalked toward me, my skin crawling as he looked me up and down with slick satisfaction, rubbing his dirty hands together. My dad gripped my bicep and pushed me toward him.
“There you go—payment for finding the fucker who thought he could mess with me and my club.” Dad patted Solomon’s shoulder. “Look after her. She’s not as sweet and innocent as she looks, are you, sweetheart?” He snickered. “She may or may not be a virgin anymore, but she’s as good as. Only fucked once. Look at it as Scratch broke her in for you, brother.”
I felt sick. How could anyone talk about their daughter like that?
“Dad!” I cried out. “I didn’t. You know I didn’t.”
He looked at me like I was trash. “You may as well have, Penny.”
Solomon pulled me to him, the stench of sweat and oil sucking itself into my lungs and making me gag. His hands pawed at me, sliding down my back to cup my ass and squeeze. I looked up into his face at his nose, which had been broken over half a dozen times and was now crooked, at his front teeth, which were chipped and dirty when he smiled. He winked at me, his eyes like pools of dirty water.
“Always had a thing for you, Penny,” he said, giving my ass a good squeeze. “We’re gonna have so much fun.” He licked his bottom lip and my stomach roiled in repulsion.
“I need to go home and pack some stuff,” I mumbled, trying to pry myself from his arms. If I could just get away for a few minutes, I could run. I could grab my car and drive until I couldn’t drive no more. Screw this life. Screw my dad and his club. Screw Solomon and Fighter and everyone else.
“I’ll get you new stuff,” he grunted, leaning down to try to kiss me.
His breath stank like he’d been eating onions and raw fish and I gagged, sliding out from his grip and taking a step back. “I really need to get some of my things, Solomon.”
His features contorted, anger flashing in his eyes, and before I realized what was happening he had swung his hand back and backhanded me across the face. I called out as pain flashed through my face and I dropped to my knees. He reached down and pulled me back up by my hair. He glanced over at where my dad was, seemingly satisfied that no one was going to stop him from doing what he wanted to me.
“I said, we’ll buy you some new stuff,” he gritted. “You’re my woman now, and you do what I say, when I say it. Got it?”
I nodded, my eyes streaming as pain lanced through my cheek.
“My room, now.” He pushed me toward his back room and I looked around the clubhouse for help, realizing with sadness and dread that none would be coming.
My dad stood in the doorway to his office, his arms folded over his large chest. I caught his gaze and he smiled and turned around, closing his office door behind him. The other Vipers had continued drinking and talking, and the sweetbutts were smirking.
That was what the club was like; everyone was out for themselves. No one cared about one another. It wasn’t a family like the Highwaymen; it was a group of selfish sinners all trying to get by, and no one was going to get involved to try and help me. What went on between a man and his women was their own business. That was what my dad always used to say, and that was how it was now.
This was between me and Solomon.
My old man and me.
And I had willingly gone back there.
Had willingly chosen that outcome.
I had chosen wrong.
~ 28 ~
Fighter
“Penny?” I tapped quietly on her door with my knuckles.
I’d barely slept with worrying about her all night, scared half to death she’d either come at me with one of Charlie’s kitchen knives and cut my dick off, or that she’d do something worse.
“Penny?” I knocked again.
“You’ll need to knock harder than that,” Charlie said as she came out of her bedroom, her silk kimono wrapped around her lo
osely.
I looked away from her and back to Penny’s door.
“What is it with you men? You can’t bear to share a feeling in case you start growing a pair of tits and a vagina. It’s okay, Fighter, all men break down their walls at some point. Feelings aren’t the enemy—you are.”
“What would you know about it?”
“First off, speak to me like that again and I’ll break your nose. You’re in my house, and you’d do well to remember that. And secondly, because I’m married to Rider aren’t I. You think he’s the same man with you as he is with me? Hell no. We’re all softer when we’re alone, and that’s okay.”
I scowled at her and she shook her head and walked on toward the kitchen.
“Coffee?”
“Yeah,” I growled.
She was right. Of course she fucking was. Charlie was always right. She had some sort of superpower when it came to shit like that. I was the enemy. But the thing was, that wasn’t what worried me. I already knew that. What I didn’t like was the dark world I’d be dragging Penny into. She didn’t know me or the things she was capable of, and she deserved better.
We hadn’t exactly had a fucking biblical moment stuck in that house together, but it was as close to God as I was going to get. She got me—whether I wanted her to or not. But worse, she got me and she didn’t seem to care.
No, this thing between us had to be a business thing. Nothing more.
I turned and stalked away from her door.
She’d come around. She’d fuckin’ have to if either of us were going to live through this bullshit.
Charlie barged past me as I walked into the kitchen. “She’s gone,” she said, and I turned and followed her back to Penny’s door.
She pushed open the door and stormed inside. “Rider!” she called as I made it into the room.
Sure as shit, Penny was gone.
The bed had been slept in, the covers thrown back and the wet clothes from the night before resting over the arm of a chair in the corner. Her clothes and shoes were gone though, and I felt the sinking feeling in my gut.
“Rider!” Charlie called again just as Rider stumbled into the room.
“Woman!” he barked out, dragging a hand down his face. “Quit fucking yellin’ my name.”
He was completely naked, his dick hanging between his legs, and I shook my head and turned away.
“She’s gone, Rider. Penny’s gone,” Charlie said.
“Fuck,” he replied. “This is your fucking doing, brother. Whatever happens to that girl is on you.”
I turned back around sharply. “And how d’you figure that?”
“Because you’re an asshole, that’s why.”
“What can we do?” Charlie asked Rider, and he shook his head, his lips pursed. “There must be something we can do. Her life’s on the line.” She nodded toward me. “His too, as soon as Hardy finds out.”
“Don’t worry ’bout me. I can handle my shit,” I said darkly.
The rumble of a bike engine out front had us all falling silent. The sound cut out and seconds later there was a knock at the front door. Charlie was a hard bitch, and not a lot fazed her, but right then she looked freaked the fuck out. She looked to Rider.
“I’ve got it.” He pushed past her and headed toward the front door. “Stay there,” he said to both me and Charlie, but neither of us listened as we followed him down the hallway and through the house to the front door.
A dark shadow could be seen through the frosted glass of the front door, and Charlie clung to my arm tightly.
“If he gets hurt, I’ll kill you,” she mumbled.
“Fair enough,” I replied.
The knocking came again, harder that time, and Rider reached up and opened the A/C unit by the door and pulled out his gun. He reached for the handle, cocking the weapon and holding it behind his back.
My heart was in my chest. Not at getting shot, or dying. Death didn’t scare me. Hardy didn’t. But Rider and Charlie were good people, and they didn’t deserve that shit.
Neither does Penny, my subconscious piped in.
The sound of their kid crying came from further in the house, but Charlie made no move to go to her.
“Do it,” she said to Rider, and he pulled the door open wide.
“Fucking hell,” I breathed, my heart slamming against my ribcage as I looked out past Rider.
“Battle?” Charlie said, and ran forward to hug him. “Thank God!”
Battle hugged her back and she stepped back to allow him into the house. “Brothers, I’m back.” He grinned widely. His gaze was on Rider and he smirked. “You know your cock his hanging out, right?” He laughed and then his gaze moved to me as Charlie ran down the hallway to her kid. His smile fell when he saw my expression, his eyes growing serious. “How bad is the bullshit I just walked into?” he said seriously.
“Bad,” Rider said.
Battle pulled Quinn in with him, and she offered me a smile which I didn’t have in me to return. Her eyes fell to Rider’s cock and she quickly averted her gaze.
“You wanna put some pants on and stop flaunting your junk to my woman,” Battle said, coming inside and closing the door behind him. He turned back to me. “And you better get to explaining what the fuck’s been going on around here.”
I dragged a hand down my face, unsure of where to start. So much had happened since he’d been forced to leave. The Vipers, Penny, Hardy’s shady business, the Reverend, and all the business with the Burning Eights. It seemed like everyone was out to get us at the moment. Everyone wanted a piece of us.
Blood.
Money.
War.
Everyone wanted something.
Even Penny.
But all she had wanted was my protection, and I couldn’t even give her that.
“I’ve fucked up, brother,” I replied honestly, “I’ve fucked up real bad.”
Battle put a hand on my shoulder. “So what’s new there, motherfucker?” He grinned.
I tried to smile back, but it wouldn’t come.
“You’re serious?” he asked.
I nodded. “Not sure what I can do to make it right.”
He pulled me to the sofa and we sat down. “Tell me everything.”
So I did.
*
Battle stared at me, his dark eyes offering me nothing. He dragged a hand down his beard and took the mug of coffee off of Charlie.
“Thanks, darlin’,” he grunted.
Rider leaned back in his chair, bouncing Macy on his knee absently. “We’re fucked.”
“Rider!” Charlie hissed.
“Babe, if Macy’s first word ain’t ‘fucked’ or some derivative of ‘cock,’ then I’d be surprised as shit. I am who I am and I talk how I talk.” He raised an eyebrow at Charlie and she narrowed her eyes at him, clearly not having any of his bullshit. “Fine, we’re screwed, right?”
Charlie snatched Macy from his lap and took her away to the kitchen to get a snack, tutting the whole time.
“Bitch is crazy if she thinks anything other than a cuss word is coming out of that kid’s mouth,” he mumbled, looking around at us all.
“So, Hardy thinks you killed this bitch?” Battle said.
“Penny,” I corrected, not enjoying the looks I got from my brothers. “Don’t even start with me.”
Battle smirked. “Fine, so Hardy thinks you killed Penny, and he’s gonna send you to ground when he finds out you didn’t because this bit—this girl knows it was the Highwaymen and could grass us up? But she hasn’t so far? Am I getting this right?”
“Yeah,” Rider and I said in unison.
“And if the Vipers find out that it was us who took her, then we’re all dead motherfuckers.”
“Right,” Rider agreed.
“And Penny came to you—her kidnapper—because she felt in danger from daddy dearest and his club. Am I still following? Because I can’t seem to get my head ’round that last part.”
“She said I owed he
r one because she hadn’t told anyone it was me that took her, but that wasn’t why she came to me.” I scratched a hand down my chest. I needed a joint, or some whiskey, or both.
“So why did she come to you?” Quinn asked. Bitch was leaning so far forward in her chair she was about to fall off it.
“How the fuck should I know?” I snapped.
“Really?” Rider drolled. “You can’t think of any reason why she would come to you for help and not just tattle to her daddy that it was you that took her? You can’t think of a single fuckin’ reason why she would ask you to help her. Why she would say yes to bein’ your old lady to save your ass as well as her own? Really, motherfucker?”
I dragged my hands across my head and stood up. I paced the floor, ignoring everyone in favor of the roaring in my own head. Of course I knew why she’d come to me. I knew it because it was the same reason I’d automatically agreed to help her. But it wasn’t right. We weren’t right. I was trying to do the right thing by her and all I was doing was putting everyone into more and more danger.
“So where is she now?” Quinn asked.
I turned to look at her with a glare that she didn’t deserve and she cocked an eyebrow up at me.
“I’m not one of your little bitches, so back the fuck off,” she snapped. “Where is she now?” she asked again.
“I like her,” Rider said, pointing at Quinn.
Battle threw an arm over his girl and smiled like he was the happiest motherfucker in the universe. “Me too.” He leaned in, one hand going to the back of her head and pulling her mouth to his. He kissed her hard, his hand wrapped tightly in her hair until they finally broke free, gasping for air as they stared into each other’s eyes.
“You done?” I bit out. I was more than happy to have Battle back where he belonged, but it was obvious to me that things were different. He’d changed; she’d changed him. His priorities were different. Gone were the days of us tag-teaming bitches and fucking anything that moved. He was one hundred percent pussy-whipped.
“Not even nearly,” Battle said, his eyes still on Quinn.
Man looked alive—more alive than I’d ever seen him, that was for damn certain. My chest burned with envy at what he had. At what I could have had but had thrown away.
Fighter: The Devil's Highwaymen Nomads #4 Page 19