Chapter 14

CHAPTER

FOURTEEN

CLINK

“You’re telling me that they just stabbed us and left?” I ask. “Where is Blur?”

Gnaw shakes his head. “We never found Blur. The only people in that clubhouse were two prospects and Vixen. No other women. No other men.”

“What the fuck?” I hiss.

Guts shifts in his seat, clearly uncomfortable. “Vixen’s okay?” I ask.

Guts nods a couple of times. He doesn’t say anything else, though. I don’t know what he’s going through, but he’s upset about something. He doesn’t want to tell me, tell us, but he’s got to. He doesn’t have a fucking choice.

“Guts,” I grind out

“She’s okay,” he confirms.

“But?” King calls out.

“But those fuckers knew exactly what was going on. They knew we were there and why. Which makes me think that they have other plans, and I don’t get any good feelings about this.”

He shouldn’t.

I don’t either. I haven’t at all.

“What’s Vixen have to say?”

Gnaw leans forward, his elbows resting on his thighs. “She can’t give us much. They let her keep her phone so she would call us. They wanted this shit.”

“They wanted a war. Blur said they’ve been itching to take over the Dark Horse. It’s clear they planned all of this,” King says.

“They will not succeed,” I point out.

“No, they won’t, but they did get one over on us. Never again, though,” Gnaw grinds out.

“Nope.”

A deep voice rumbles through the room. “Next time, we follow Clink’s gut and shoot first, then ask questions later.”

I don’t tell him he said it’s what he was going to do in this situation, and then he changed his mind. He shouldn’t have. We should have picked these fucks off one by one.

No fucks given.

We need to come into these things with the same rage we have when we first hear about them. We’re too soft. It’s starting to cause us some serious fucking problems.

“What do we do now?” I demand.

What the fuck do we do now ?

“I’ve already called in reinforcements to watch the women. To protect them. Beyond that, we just need to get the fuck out of here and go home.”

“When do you get released?” I ask, looking at Atomic.

He snorts as if he’s highly annoyed. “Not until tomorrow.”

I understand why he’s annoyed now because we will be released today, but he’s stuck here for another one. I don’t say that, though. Clearing my throat, I jerk my chin. “It's going to be a fucking painful ride home.”

Atomic grunts. “But we need to get back to our women. We need to get back to our club. I refuse to let these fucks scare us.”

Everyone agrees. But I can’t keep my mind from drifting to Vixen’s sister. This shit is consuming us and taking over. Before we realize it, her sister will be gone, and with it, our opportunity to save her from a life that she thinks she wants but likely doesn’t realize what it entails.

We should probably mind our own business, but Vixen is our business, and with it, her family. If she says that her sister doesn’t realize what this is, that she doesn’t want her to be part of it, then we’ll do what we can to help her.

What feels like hours later, we’re finally released from the hospital and the police. However, they look like they are itching to pin something on us. But since there are no crimes committed, other than we were all three robbed and stabbed, they have no choice but to let us go.

Vixen is waiting at the front of the hospital as the nurses wheel both King and me to the car. She is smiling, although I can tell she’s not happy. That smile doesn’t reach her eyes, and if I know anything about Vixen, when she smiles and she’s happy, her entire body lights up.

We all climb into the car, and she offers to pick us up something to eat. “I’m fuckin’ starved, babe. That would be great.”

She nods once but doesn’t say anything else. She’s lost inside of her own head, and I don’t blame her. I am feeling much the same way. A few moments later, we not only have food but are also in a hotel room.

I can’t wait to take a real shower. I want to wash the hospital off me. Vixen has already brought our shit into the room. The brothers brought our bikes to the hotel and all of our stuff.

I’m thankful for them and their help. “Got a charger?” I ask, looking at Vixen. She smiles and dips her chin. She holds out her hand, and I slip my phone into her palm, watching as she moves across the room to charge it for me.

“You want to talk to us?” King asks, breaking the ice.

I shove my burger in my mouth and take a huge bite, nodding in agreement. Vixen spins around, her eyes finding King’s before they swing over to mine.

“I wanted to get my sister. I was driving to Virginia. To Richmond.”

I snort. “Yeah, I figured that part out when you called me and said you were here in Knoxville. You were going to what? Beg the Southern Mafia to release your sister?” I ask.

She closes her eyes slowly, then opens them before she speaks. “I don’t know what I was going to do. I just knew that I had to do something.”

“Well, babe, no worries. We’ll get your sister.”

Vixen’s gaze flicks down to the floor, and she keeps it there for a long moment before she lifts it to meet King’s. “I know I did the wrong thing. I deserve what came my way and whatever is coming my way. All of this is my fault.”

“Nope,” King barks. “This is not on you. This is on them. They were looking for an excuse, an opportunity, and you provided that, nothing more, nothing less. You never apologize for loving your family and trying to do the right thing. Not fucking ever.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

“And we are going to take care of your sister, the Southern Mafia, and the Demon Guns as soon as fucking possible,” I finish King’s words.

It’s a lot of damn shit we’re promising Vixen. We still don’t even know where her sister is being held, let alone how to get her out without causing mass chaos. I have a feeling it’s going to be complete fucking chaos no matter what, though.

The Southern Mafia does not want to release her to us, which means she’s valuable. And since we don’t sell women, we don’t know or give much of a fuck about her value. She’s family.

DILLION

My eyes flutter open. I don’t know where I expect to find myself, maybe home in my own bed. But that is not where I am. I lift my arm, but a chain-clinking sound causes me to pause.

That’s not the only reason I pause, though.

I physically cannot lift my arm any higher than a few inches. I also cannot sit up. I’m restrained to the bed. Every part of me is tied down—my ankles, my arms, my thighs, my belly, my chest… my forehead.

Tears instantly fill my eyes.

My breathing comes out in pants as I begin to panic.

I know I shouldn’t panic. There’s literally nothing I can do. I need to reserve whatever strength I have, but my body feels very lethargic, and my mind is a bit hazy. I don’t know what’s going on or why. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to, either.

I’m not sure how long I lie motionless on the bed, strapped down like an animal, but there is noise at the side of the room. I turn my head as much as I can, and my eyes slide to the side so I can attempt to see who or what made that noise.

There is a doorway, there is a light stream of light, and then there is a shadowy figure. I open my mouth to ask this stranger what is happening, but I decide against it. Not only am I not in the position to ask any questions, but it also doesn’t matter what I ask because I’m tied to a freaking bed.

“You’re awake,” a deep masculine voice rumbles as he moves into the room.

I press my lips together, rolling them a few times as the tears stream down my face. My eyes begin to adjust to the darkness, to the man who moves toward me. I don’t recognize him. Like, at all. But then I see his vest. He’s the man from outside of Sal’s Bar.

“Why?” I croak.

I don’t mean to say the single word. It just comes out, and I wish I could take it back, stuff it back inside of my mouth and pretend it never came out. Pretend I was unable to speak at all. Pretend that my entire being vanishes from this bed. From this moment. From this world.

“Why?” he asks. “That is simple. The Dark Horse MC needs to be taken down a peg or two. They think they’re hot shit. They aren’t. And I’m fucking done playing. See, if I took one of the other women, they would kill me. But you? You aren’t worth shit. You ain’t claimed.”

I don’t know what that means. What does any of it mean? Instead of telling him that, I don’t say a single word. I stare at him, unsure of what the hell I have done to deserve any of this. And then my mind fills with a million different scenarios, and none of them are good—at all.

“There are half a dozen ways I could think of to violate you in that position. I wouldn’t even have to untie you. But I haven’t done that. Have you asked yourself why?”

All I’ve asked myself is why the fuck I’m here. But I don’t say that. Because at the end of the day, that doesn’t matter. I’m here, tied up and at his mercy. The tears don’t stop flowing. I can’t even try to make them stop, even if I want to.

I’m helpless. Hopeless and pathetic. I can’t take care of myself. That much is clear. But at the same time, it’s not my fault. Even if I’m here as collateral damage, that’s all it is. I understand this lifestyle to a degree, and I know this isn’t personal.

My grandfather, uncles, brother, and even father did unspeakable things to people and felt nothing when they did. It’s one of the reasons I left that life behind. I hated it then. I can confirm that I still hate it now.

“But I’m not ready to play with you yet,” he murmurs. “Can you tell me anything about Atomic and the club?”

I almost snort but decide that this isn’t the time to be an asshole. This is the time for truths. And this guy holds my life in his hands. But I have nothing to offer him. Not a damn thing.

“I don’t know anything. I have only spent the night with Clink once.”

Silence consumes me for a long moment. It’s almost palpable. I stare at him, wondering if he’s going to say something or do something, but he doesn’t immediately. Instead, I hear his laughter fill the room. Then he bends at the knees slightly, his eyes finding mine and holding my watery gaze.

“You are an idiot.”

My eyes widen, I blink a few times, and then he laughs again. He thinks this is hilarious, and I feel stupid. I don’t even know why. I open my mouth to ask him, but he snaps his lips closed and continues talking, telling me all the ways of which I am indeed stupid, and when he finishes, I have to admit that I feel really damn idiotic.

“You’ve been fucking him for months. Sneaks into your house in the middle of the night, but is he really sneaking if he has a key?” he asks.

My secret lover.

Oh my god, Humble is my secret lover.

“You didn’t put two and two together? Holy fuck, this is great. Well, let me blow your mind completely. Your idiot of a brother was undercover in the Dark Horse MC for your family. When the MC found out, because he was stupid enough to plot against them and get Clink, your man, put in prison…” he says, his words trailing off.

I swallow the lump in my throat because not only did I not know that my brother was part of this club with Humble or that he knew him at all, I had no idea that Humble had been in prison.

Prison.

Holy shit.

“It gets better,” he says, not even trying to hide his laughter. He is loving this. Maybe if I thought I had the upper hand in something, I would be just as excited about it. But I’m not an asshole. I don’t kidnap people and tie them to beds, so I don’t know about his life.

“There’s also the little pesky fact that when the club killed your brother, they got complete and total ownership over you.”

“They can’t. I’m not part of either organization,” I say, speaking out loud.

“Funny how that doesn’t matter. So, even though you aren’t a claimed old lady, you are theirs. It’s a nice little loophole. If you were claimed, things would be different, but you’re just a cunt to fuck, because he owns you, and he can.”

If there was any breath left in my body, it’s now completely gone.

What the actual fuck?