Chapter Nine

Brooklyn

CRICKET AND OPHELIA need help at Cricket's today. They're having Ophelia's baby shower at the bar instead of the clubhouse for some reason and want to get it all decorated before anyone shows up. Jayce and Gavin know I'm going to help. They have something to do for the club and won't be around today to follow me to the bar, but Theo's here for me. Fetch is supposed to go with us for a second person, but he's unavailable. I guess the guys called him in at the last minute to go help them and so it's just going to be Theo and myself going to Cricket's. It's okay. I'm confident that we'll make it there without anything happening because it's only a few minutes to get from the compound to the bar and no one knows where I'll be since I don't have my SUV back yet.

Darren is still going through the vehicle Jayce and Gavin got me and it breaks my heart because I feel as if they tried to do something really special for me and I can't keep it because of Bennett and his obsessive need to have me in his life once again. I'm nothing to Bennett except a possession because he craves owning everything and everyone in his life. Since I ran away from him, he needs to get me back and prove that I'm something else for him to own and destroy as he does with everything else in his life. He's taken everything from me over the last two years and continues to try and destroy my life any way he can. I've grown to loathe him and everything he represents, especially since I've come to learn more about who I am as a person. Jayce and Gavin are truly two of the best men I've ever known. Even when I get into my head about something, they're patient and compassionate. They don't push me to get answers and wait on me to process whatever is going on in my head.

I've already helped Nanny this morning with the chickens. The little chicks I found and brought her are thriving in the coop and she's slowly starting to mix them with her other chickens. This morning we let them all mingle together while keeping a close eye on them as Nora and Tracy even came over to watch what we were doing. I've heard a little bit about Tracy's story and to see her thrive in this new environment and be such an amazing mom is one of the best things I've ever witnessed in my life. Tracy has overcome so much and learned to lean on the men and women of this club. Nanny checks in with her daily and I know Autumn also spends time with her a few times a week. Today is really the first time I'm getting to be around her and she's so damn smart and funny as she talks to her daughter about what's going on in the coop.

"Who's going to the bar with you?" Nanny asks me as we leave the coop and I hesitate as she locks the door behind us.

"Theo's going to take me. No one else is around to follow me and I promised the girls I'd be there to help them. We'll be careful and it only takes a few minutes to get there. As soon as we pull in, Theo will get me inside the bar and that's where I'll stay until we're done. Cricket knows I can't leave and she won't let me put myself in danger," I answer Nanny as we walk over to Tracy and Nora.

"I want one of you to call me when you get there, Brooklyn. If I don't hear from anyone, I'll walk my old ass to the bar and make sure none of you ever forget to call me again. I've got a cane and an umbrella that will leave marks on you for making an old woman like me walk that far. I could fall and break a hip or something," Nanny threatens me as she tries to appear stern and mean when she's one of the sweetest people I've ever met in my life.

"Nanny, you wouldn't make it to the fence from here without breaking out in a sweat and deciding the walk is too far and it's time for a lemonade break," I tell her, laughter filling my voice as she tries to swat me.

"Oh, you're such a brat, Brooklyn. I don't know how Wheels and Soul put up with you," she returns, a large smile on her face as she looks at me. "I'm not gonna even try to say you're wrong though. I'm too old to walk that far. Though, there are extra motorcycles and trucks in the barn. I do know how to hot wire things so I'll just take one of them instead."

The visual I get of Nanny sitting on a motorcycle has me nearly doubling up in giggles. Somehow, even if she's never ridden one before, I suspect her sheer stubbornness would have her figuring it out. The only problem is, she'd probably strip the gears in the process.

"Goliath and Hulk would disown you if you tried to ride a motorcycle on your own, Nanny. You'd lose all access to Dillion and Briar as well. Goliath would never forgive you for putting yourself at risk trying to ride a bike," I state, knowing that's the truth of the matter as she pouts in response. "And every one of the trucks practically requires a stepstool to get up into it, Nanny! If you're trying to keep us all on our toes, you need to find another way, okay?"

"Fine. But, you have to come back here at some point and your cabin is right next to mine. I'll get you one way or another. And I'll rat out Cricket in a heartbeat for not letting me know you've made it to the bar. She hates when Goliath sleeps on the couch unless she put him there for something stupid he's done. I will win this battle, Brooklyn, and there's nothing you can do about it," Nanny states, letting her sassy side come out as Tracy starts laughing her ass off.

"Trust me, she won't leave your ass alone if you don't answer the door for her. When I first moved in here, she tried to come check on me and I didn't want to see anyone. I was having a rough day and just needed to be alone to get through it. Nanny didn't accept that as an answer so she stayed at my door until I finally opened it and came barging into my cabin and stayed with me all day long. I don't think you're gonna win this, Brooklyn," Tracy says, looking at Nanny with so many emotions circling through her eyes as the affection she feels for the older woman shines through brightly.

Nanny's a force of nature to be sure and I know one of the reasons that Goliath and Hulk are the men they are is because of her. She's definitely had her share of heartbreak, but she's strong and independent as hell. Well, as independent as she can be now that she's getting older, of course. Still, she figures out ways to accomplish what she wants done so she doesn't have to rely on any of us.

"It's the truth. But, I see Theo waiting for you. Get out of here and I expect a call within the next five minutes. If not, I'll call your men and you'll be the one in the dog house, Brooklyn," Nanny promises me, her voice as stern as she can make it.

"I promise we'll call."

"See that you do, Missy," she retorts, grinning unrepentantly at me.

Theo walks over and gets chewed a new ass by Nanny about protecting me and making sure someone calls her the second I'm safe inside the bar. She scares the hell out of him as Tracy and I watch him start to shake where he stands thinking of her coming at him with her cane and umbrella before letting the chickens out to finish off the job. He promises her that he'll make sure one of us calls her when we arrive before practically running to his bike while I tell the women and Nora goodbye and head for the SUV I'm borrowing from the club.

We leave the compound and nothing happens as we head down the hill leading to town. I take in the sun shining brightly in front of me and the warm breeze that's blowing through the windows of the SUV, blowing my hair all over the place because I forgot to throw it up in a clip when I was done with Nanny. I keep my eyes on the turn coming up fast that I'll take to get to the bar with a smile on my face. Even though I know Theo is following me, I have a sense of freedom that I haven't felt since the last time I was able to drive my SUV alone. It might not seem much to most people, but having the ability to get in a vehicle and go somewhere when you want or need to is so damn freeing. While I don't mind being a ‘passenger princess', having to find someone to take me or go along with me is frustrating! It's also a reminder that it's one more thing Bennett is taking from me because he's a dickhead. Fucking shit eating asshole!

Putting on my blinker, I hear a horrible crash behind me. My eyes immediately find the rearview mirror and I watch in horror as Theo is thrown from his bike and flies through the air before landing on the pavement and sliding toward the back of the SUV. His bike is fast approaching his prone body and I can't take my eyes from the scene behind me. I don't know how it happens, but the bike seems to change its path and misses Theo's body just as I'm hit from behind. The SUV I'm driving careens to the side of the road and I know in that instant that I won't regain control of the vehicle. Fear and a sense of calm fill me as I realize that Nanny isn't going to get the call saying I made it to the bar safely.

Before I can put my hands back on the wheel to try and get some kind of control so I don't go down the slight hill into the water a few feet below the road, I'm hit again and pushed until I'm trapped between the guardrail and truck that's taken out Theo and now me. I have no brakes or gas when I try to push down on either pedal. There is literally nothing I can do and I'm a sitting duck. Images of the guys start to fill my head as I realize this is Bennett's move. He's going to either kill me on the side of the road right here or whoever's driving the truck is about to take me from this SUV and deliver me straight to him. If I had known this was going to happen today, I would've held Jayce and Gavin a little tighter before they left and given them a hundred kisses to let them know how much I love them. Yes, I love them and I've never said the words to them. The fear of them not saying it back or rejecting me made me freeze every single time the words wanted to escape. Now, they'll never know how much they mean to me and just how deeply in love I've fallen with them.

My head bounces off the steering wheel in front of me when I finally come to a stop. I can't look around me to see what's going on because blood is filling my vision as it slides down my face from the gash the steering wheel left behind and my vision is blurry from the tears sliding down my face and the impact of hitting the steering wheel. Before I can try to even unfasten my seatbelt, the driver's side door is yanked open. A large man practically rips my seatbelt off without reaching across me to unclip it before wrapping his large hand around my arm and gripping it tightly. This asshole drags me from the wrecked SUV as I look back at Theo to find him still laying in the middle of the road and not moving an inch. From this distance I can't even tell if he's breathing. Anger and fear consume me and none of it is due to the fact that I'm about to be kidnapped. It's because an innocent man trying to protect me is now hurt, or worse, because Bennett is a piece of shit and can't stand to lose.

I send up a quick prayer that the accident didn't hurt my baby, and that Nanny was serious about finding someone and raising the alarm if she doesn't hear from me when I arrive at the bar. I also pray that Theo will be okay, and that no one else comes along and hits him since he's in the middle of the road. Right now, my focus is keeping myself safe and alive until I'm rescued.

Because I know Jayce and Gavin will move heaven and earth to get me back. That's how confident I am in how they feel about me. They'll burn it all down to find me. I just hope it's in time and that I don't suffer too much at Bennett's hands.

I don't fight against the asshole dragging me from the SUV as my eyes remain locked on Theo. Even when I have to twist and turn my head to see him. In my mind, Theo is more important than I am. He's a young kid and is just starting his life. Theo hasn't had a chance to live and experience anything at all yet. If these fuckers killed him in their haste to get to me, I will gut them all where they stand and watch as they slowly bleed out. I'm not a bloodthirsty person by any means, but in this instance I will gladly do it here and now to fucking take this fucker out.

I'm led to a fucking SUV with heavily tinted windows and I know deep in my gut when the door opens I'll find Bennett inside waiting for me. This time I don't feel fear or anything else that I'd normally have flooding my body from an encounter with him. Right now, I want to punch him directly in his smug face and watch as his blood flows. No one has ever dared to put their hands on him because they're too afraid of his father and all of the empty threats Bennett likes to toss around when he's not getting his way.

"I'd say it's good to see you, Brooklyn," Bennett's voice washes over me as I'm shoved roughly into the back of the vehicle. "But I'd be lying because I know you've become the whore you always were with that biker gang."

"It's never good to see you, Bennett. If I could go the rest of my life without ever seeing your ugly ass face or hearing your nasty as fuck voice again, I would gladly run away every single time I saw you close to me. And they aren't a biker gang. It's a motorcycle club. Don't you know anything?" I ask him, all of the hate and guilt I harbor for never standing up for myself previously filling my voice as I glare at the asshat in front of me.

"I thought you said she was weak and pathetic? That she's easily manipulated and believes every word you say?" another man asks and I snap my head in his direction to find Bennett's father sitting next to him, brushing imaginary lint from his suit jacket without even looking in my direction.

"I'm not a mindless fucking zombie like you've made your wife," I bite out, not giving a fuck what this idiot thinks he'll do to me. He's the reason Bennett is the way he is, a malicious, malevolent person who only cares about himself. I'd go as far as to say both of them are textbook narcissists based on my experiences with Bennett. They only care about themselves, no one else.

"No. You're a loud mouth bitch who doesn't know her place in the world," he returns, his voice cold and angry as he turns his glare to me while Bennett smirks in my direction. "I don't want to hear her voice again. Knock her the fuck out."

Before I can utter another word, something sharp pricks me in the neck and I know I'm being drugged. Fear for my baby and what's going to be done to me overrule everything as I try to fight against the pull of the drugs dragging me under to an oblivion that won't lead me any place good. Bennett's laughter is the last thing I hear before everything fades to nothing.

I'm groggy as fuck and my head is pounding as I try to pry my eyes open. It takes me several minutes to remember what happened. The crash. Theo flying through the air. Being taken from the wrecked SUV by a man and delivered to Bennett and his father. The last thing I remember is being drugged because Bennett's father demanded it. Opening my eyes, I try to figure out where I am, but the room is pitch black. I can't see a foot in front of my face and fear fucking consumes me as I begin shaking so hard my teeth rattle and smash together. No! If there's one thing I'm completely afraid of, it's being in an unknown place in complete darkness.

When Bennett and I first started dating, he took me out one night. We went up to some look-out point in Dobber's Cove. Surrounded by the forest and no city lights to illuminate the area, Bennett forced me to play some fucked-up version of hide and seek. I had to go in the forest alone and hide while he counted and then came to find me. I didn't stray too far from the beginning of the forest until he was close to finding me. Bennett chased me through the forest until I got lost and had no clue where I was. The entire time he taunted me and threatened to leave me out there alone all night long. When he finally captured me, I was thrown over his shoulder as he yelled and bitched about me crying and screaming for help. Instead of comforting me or anything, he only made the situation worse with his yelling and demands that I shut up. Since I couldn't calm myself down, Bennett threw me in the trunk of his car and refused to let me out no matter how hard I pounded on the inside of the trunk. That was the night I became terrified of the dark, especially when I'm around Bennett.

I run my hands down my body and realize I'm completely naked. My body is covered in goosebumps and I wonder what's been done to me while I was knocked out since I'm now naked and can't see if anyone else is in the room with me. I'm not about to call out for anyone either. The last thing I want to do is draw attention to myself. The only thing I have on me from when I left the cabin are the earrings that Hulk gave Gavin and Jayce to give me. Knowing they're still in my ears means there's no doubt in my mind that they'll come for me. My guys will know exactly where I am and won't leave me here for very long.

The worst part about this, besides being surrounded by darkness, is the disorientation. I have no clue how much time has passed or where I am. Being knocked out, I don't have the first clue where I've been taken. I could be near Odin's Gap still or very far away from my hometown. Since I also don't have a clue how much time has passed since I've been taken, I realize I could have been locked in the dark for a few hours or for days. Maybe even weeks if they kept me drugged. I let the darkness consume me as I sink back into a panic induced oblivion. This is just a setback and I will get through this is the last thought I have before more images of my guys flash in my mind on a loop.