Chapter Eight

EVA

I am so tired.

But I can’t sleep.

I won’t.

I have no concept of time. Is it day or night? I don’t know. There are no windows, no natural source of light to give me any kind of clue.

Nycto has been gone for hours. After what happened earlier, I have no idea if he’s even coming back.

Then there’s Ivy. My gorgeous, precious sister. Nycto said she was gone. Sold. I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever see her again. The thought cripples me as I desperately cling to a pillow that smells like my captor. Leather, sandalwood, motor oil, and cigarettes.

I want Nycto to come back for so many reasons. So I can talk to him more about Ivy. Try to find out any clue that might lead me to her or the man who bought her. But also because it’s lonely and boring on my own. I’m exhausted. Hungry. What if nobody ever lets me out?

The door handle rattles and my head snaps to the sound. I scurry up the bed, sitting right at the top, bringing the pillow to my chest for comfort. I have no idea who’s about to come through or what they want.

I’m scared it’s not Nycto. I want it to be him. Because if it’s anyone else, I’m not sure how they’re going to treat me.

The door opens, and a small amount of light from outside shines through. I lean a little to try and catch a glimpse. It must be daylight, as a strong frame comes into view. Nycto. Sunglasses frame his face, making him look like something from a Top Gun movie. My insides growl and stomach tightens in delight as Nycto enters carrying a tray.

“Eva,” he says, his voice low, raspy, like he’s having trouble even saying my name. He closes the door behind him and strides over to me.

I sit forward on the bed, lowering the defensive pillow from my chest. Nycto slowly brings the tray over and places it on the mattress in front of me, then sits beside it.

“You brought me food?” I ask, looking down at the sandwich and milkshake sitting nicely on the tray.

“You need to eat.” His tone is more demanding than considerate. He takes off his sunglasses, and he looks tired. The dark circles around his eyes give him a worried appearance. I won’t let his demeanor lull me into some false sense of security.

I huff, crossing my arms over my chest. “So you can drug me again? Take me somewhere else? Deliver me to some buyer ? I don’t think so.”

He groans. “Always so fucking feisty. Here.” He picks up the sandwich in his huge hand, brings it to his delectable lips, and takes a large bite. He chews a few times, swallows, then sticks out his tongue. “And for good measure…” He picks up my shake and sucks a large mouthful through the straw. “Ahh… delicious. Now you try.”

I turn up my nose. “It has your germs on it. I don’t know where your mouth’s been.”

“I know where I’d like my mouth to be,” he murmurs, so low I only just hear it.

“Excuse me?”

“Eat your food, Eva.”

Anxiety rolls through me. “Why? What’s going to happen to me?”

He jerks his head back. “Nothing. I want you to be healthy. You don’t need to starve yourself in here for no good reason. You don’t like the Cuban sandwich, I’ll get you something else.”

My stomach growls again as I peer down at the meal begging to be eaten. I lick my lips, dying to take a bite. My hands instinctively move to the sandwich, picking it up. A sliver of mustard slides down my pinky, but it doesn’t bother me as I bite down right where Nycto took the first bite.

The ham, pork, and Swiss cheese taste like heaven. As I chew, the tang of a pickle tingles on my taste buds.

Nycto smiles. “There… wasn’t so hard, was it?”

I swallow, then take another bite right away. I knew I was hungry, but now I’ve had a bite, I’m starved. “This is delicious,” I mumble, my mouth completely full. Crumbs of Cuban bread fall from the corners of my mouth as I talk.

Nycto truly has the face of an angel but the aura of the devil himself. He smirks a half smile. “Trixie’s training at culinary school, so we get all her fancy dishes here. Not that a Cuban sandwich is fancy, but she knows how to make them real good.”

I can’t help but wonder who this Trixie is.

Is she his sister? His girlfriend?

Will she help me escape?

Hell, I know nothing about Nycto or the other people here. Wherever here is.

Nycto slides a little closer. “Trixie’s our head club girl. She’s been here since she was sixteen, and we’re paying for her to go to culinary school. She wants to open her own restaurant one day. With us helping her, she’ll be able to achieve that goal.”

Taking a sip of my milkshake—a delicious, syrupy chocolate—I let his words sink in.

The club girl is here. He’s a biker. I must be at his clubhouse.

“Is this clubhouse big?” I ask, attempting to ask the right questions to try and figure out where I am.

He cracks his neck to the side. “Yes, Eva, you’re at my clubhouse, but I’m not going to give you specifics. Not yet.”

I take the last bite of my sandwich, thinking my questions through thoroughly. “Will I be confined to your room for the rest of my life… however long that may be?”

His eyes widen, almost like he hasn’t thought that far ahead. He slides the tray to the other side of the bed, shifting to sit right in front of me. His eyes hold mine, and my stomach flutters. “I have to figure some shit out. I told people you drowned. They believe you’re dead. It’s better if they keep thinking that for now.”

My chest squeezes at the thought of being kept in here indefinitely. “Nycto, I’ve been in here for hours. I’m already going stir-crazy. I’m a dance instructor. I move around… it’s what I do. How am I supposed to stay cooped up in here for the next seventy years, give or take?”

“I know. Trust me, I know. And you won’t. We’ll find a workaround. I also have to trust you won’t go running off. If anyone sees you, it not only puts your life in danger but the lives of everyone at my club. I can’t have that.”

“Can’t have your club in danger because of me.” I roll my eyes.

“No, chiquita, the club is in danger because of me . Because I kept you, didn’t pass you on. Now, it’s my job to make sure all the moving parts don’t turn into a wheel of torture. If word gets out that I have you, it’s not going to be pretty. For this club, and especially for you, because the man who was selling you will come back. I don’t want that life for you. You’re better than that. It’s the whole reason we’re in this mess.”

My pulse increases as I stare at him. “Because you didn’t want me to be sold?”

“Exactly.”

The atmosphere in the air buzzes, surging with adrenaline, popping with electricity while our eyes remain locked, my breathing rushed and sharp. “I still don’t understand why you chose me . Out of everyone.”

Nycto leans forward, the smell of leather, sandalwood, motor oil, and cigarettes hitting me full-force. My skin prickles as his hand caresses the side of my face.

I should back away.

I should be terrified.

But something about him seems genuine.

I can’t pull away, even if I want to. I’m trapped here with Nycto, my only comfort.

His thumb darts out to brush along my bottom lip. The move is so tender I pant, and my body shudders. His hand slides from my cheek down my neck, tightening to grip around my throat. My pulse races. He’s not cutting off my air, not even impeding it, but it would be too easy for him to do so—his problem gone.

His hand meets the apex of my neck and collarbone, his firm grip sliding out as he presses his palm flat over my heart. My heartbeat races furiously as I sit, barely breathing, watching him.

“The reason I chose you is because of the way you are reacting to me right now. It’s the same response I had when I first saw you. Rapid, relentless… excruciating.”

“This is crazy, Nycto. You don’t know me.”

His hand slides back up to the side of my face. My fingers automatically reach up, taking his wrist and holding it to keep him in place. I bite down on my bottom lip as his nostrils flare.

“I don’t understand it either, Eva. I don’t do this. It’s not who I am. I don’t put the club at risk unnecessarily. I don’t feel anything for women other than the need to fuck them. Don’t get me wrong, I want to fuck you, but that’s not why I’m doing this.”

My eyes flood with tears. “I need to find my sister. I can’t have any peace knowing she’s out there living in a hell I can’t protect her from.”

Nycto’s eyes glass over. His hand drops from my face, and he lets out a huff. “You haven’t heard a word I’ve been saying, have you? If I let you go anywhere, Andrés’s men will see you, and my club will suffer. You will be taken to be sold, and I won’t be able to protect you.”

“My sister is suffering. I have to try.”

He stands abruptly, and a low growl erupts from his chest as his fingers run through his hair. “Stubborn woman. You can’t try, and you won’t. You will stay in here for as long as it takes for you to get it through your head. I won’t have you putting my club in any more danger than it is already in.”

My face heats, and I stand, throwing my hands in the air. “Your club is all you care about. What about me and the other innocent women who were taken from our lives? Kidnapped at gunpoint, sold ? I see how it really is.”

He stifles a laugh. “Chiquita, you test my patience. You have no idea what I’m doing for your safety.”

“Then tell me,” I yell in frustration.

He turns to storm back toward me, standing so close I’m enveloped in the scent of his sandalwood aftershave. It’s intoxicating. “You really want to know?” His lip turns up in a cruel smirk. “I had to ride out to a brother chapter today to borrow money from them so I could pay the man who bought you. He wants his money back because he didn’t receive his package, and that payment is to stop the buyer from coming after my club and possibly finding you in the process. I had no choice… now I’m down two hundred and fifty grand. I have to pay what I borrowed back to my brother chapter with interest. So, you think I’m not doing anything for your safety? I just paid a hefty price for it, sweetheart.”

My stomach rolls, and heat flushes all over my body. I think I’m going to be sick. I stumble on the spot, but he reaches out, grabbing me before I fall.

“I’ve got you,” he affirms in a much softer tone. He leads me to the bed, and we sit as I try to take all this information in.

Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars? Why on earth would anyone want that much for me? Or is that the going rate to transport and buy an unwilling human these days?

His hand rests on my thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze as I stare into space. “You with me, Eva?” he asks quietly.

My eyes glisten as I turn to him. “I-I heard what you said… that I had been sold, but I guess it didn’t really sink in until I heard the dollar amount. What would that man do to me that he’d be willing to pay two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ?”

Nycto freezes for a moment, then wraps his arm around my shoulders, pulling me to him as my tears fall. I sniffle, the emotion of this hitting me all at once.

My sister is gone. Taken by the very men who tried to steal me.

She’s going through hell, and I feel guilty because I’m here with a man who aggravates me but seems to have saved me from the same fate.

I’m mortified because I’m here with Nycto, and a part of me, even if it’s the tiniest part of me, is glad this happened.

Because if it didn’t, I wouldn’t be here with him.

I’d be somewhere much worse.

I burst into a river of tears, hating myself for feeling this way. My hand comes up, pulling Nycto close, needing him. He’s tense in my grip but holds me while I fall apart.

I let him.

And that scares the absolute hell out of me.