6. Nicole

Chapter 6

Nicole

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for something we can use as a weapon," I mutter, trying to keep my voice down. I haven't seen signs of video equipment or listening devices even though I've looked. I'm hoping we can talk freely, but I want to be careful.

"Why are you mumbling?"

"They could be listening," I point out. Gabby goes still for a minute. Her face pales and just nods.

"Oh. Do you think Dragon will be here soon?"

"I think he's searching for us," I allow. "He'll be here."

"Daddy will be with him," she murmurs, dropping her voice down and covering her lips carefully as we stand by a small window. It's so filthy, you can't actually see anything. It's just a distorted, foggy view.

"Most likely," I admit.

"I haven't done much to make him proud. He will be highly upset with me."

"You don't think he should be?"

"I love Dom," she whispers, the words sounding painful, making me sigh. I try to imagine what I would have felt like if Dragon hadn't loved me like I love him. It would have killed me. I know that. With that in mind, I could almost feel sorry for her. Then, I remind myself that she tried to destroy my boys' happiness—not to mention that she came between them.

"You don't," I tell her point blank.

"I do," she insists, but I just shake my head.

"If you loved Dom, you would have never allowed things to go anywhere with Thomas. Hell, Thomas would have been off limits from the beginning. I think you are in love with the idea of being in love. Your father has taught you that you need to be the center of attention, and that's what you crave."

"You don't know me," she huffs.

"I think you don't know yourself," I murmur.

"I don't?—"

"Gabby, I need you to stand and block me as best you can. I don't see cameras, but I imagine if there are any, they'd be close to the mattress where they expect us to sleep."

She turns around to look at me like I'm insane. "How am I supposed to block you?" she asks.

"I don't know. Pretend to stretch or something with your arms stretched out. Act like you have gone insane and begin squawking like a bird. Just be a distraction, okay?"

"Fine," she grumbles. "You don't think if I squawk like a bird, they'll figure out we're doing something we shouldn't?"

I get down on all fours and start crawling toward the window. I look at Gabby over my shoulder and give her a dirty look. She doesn't see because she has her back turned toward me. Still, it makes me feel better. I reach the corner of the room and spot an old folding card table. Slowly pulling it down, I glance to make sure Gabby is still standing in front of me. She's swinging her arms back and forth while looking around.

I get to work on the card table and eventually get one of the metal legs off. It won't do a lot of damage, but it's the best I can come up with. With some effort, I also remove the other three. Finally, I stack them up under the top of the table. Standing up, I walk back over to Gabby.

"Let's drag the mattress over to that corner. There's sun coming from that tiny window up top. It's not much, but it makes me feel as if I'm not suffocating, at least."

Gabby looks at me like I'm insane. "I don't want to touch that filthy thing," she says, her features curling up in distaste.

I know my eyes go wide. The feeling of needing to kick her is intense. "Gabby!" I growl, hands on my hips. I stare at her pointedly, hoping she gets the silent message.

"Fine," she says eventually, clearly not happy.

We tug and tug. The damn thing feels like dead weight. I'm pretty sure tugging on a dead body would be easier. Eventually, we get it in place. Everything in me hurts. My back hates me right now. Gabby huffs as she lets go of her corner of the mattress, then proceeds to look at her hands in disgust.

"Stand in front of me," I order.

"Again?" she barks. "I hate this place. I hate being here. I hate all of it. This place is disgusting. We should at least have some antibacterial wipes or something supplied to us. We could catch an infection and die. What good would we be as hostages then?"

I just stare at Gabby in disbelief and shake my head. At least she gets in front of me as I move the legs of the table, hiding them under the mattress. I know if we are being filmed, they can see some of what I'm doing, but I don't think we truly are. I'm just being overly safe. Plus, it's annoying Gabby and I take pleasure in that after the way she hurt my boys. Apparently, I can be a grown-up and still be petty. Who knew ?

I stand up, letting my hand trail over the walls as I walk the perimeter of the room. I'm searching for anything that might help. I'm not really finding anything, but I'd kill for a secret passage right now—one that leads straight out of this hellhole and back home.

I freeze when I hear heavy footsteps heading our way. Gabby crowds in behind me as we wait for the door to open. I try to prepare myself for the worst. I don't know what to expect, but I know I need to be ready. I need to survive this, if only to be there for Dragon. When he finds out King was part of all of this, it will kill him. He's already raking himself over the coals over all of this. I admit, I left because I wanted him to face the mess that he created. I'm sick of him trying to keep me in the dark.

I give King a dirty look as he walks through the door. For a minute, I think I see his lips turn up as if he is fighting a smile. Does he really think there's anything funny about what's going on here?

"Dinner time," he says, reaching in a white plastic bag and pulling out two of those horrible sandwiches they keep in a freezer at a convenient store. He holds one out to me and one to Gabby. We both stare at him like he is insane. "Take it. You both need to keep your energy up."

"I'm not touching that. For all I know, you slipped something into it," I mutter.

"It's still factory sealed," he points out, seemingly annoyed. I have a newsflash for him. If he thinks I've been uncooperative so far, wait until he sees what I do the rest of the time I'm here. King can go fuck himself.

"I'm not touching it," I repeat.

"Me either," Gabby adds.

He lets the sandwiches fall to the floor with a shrug. "Suit yourselves. It's no skin off my nose if you starve."

"Dragon will be here soon. You know that, right?"

"You have a lot of faith in the man, considering you left him."

My stomach burns. It feels like I've just been gut punched. I don't like people knowing my private life. That King knows, and he's with these men to hurt Dragon, makes everything worse. "I haven't left him," I deny at once.

"Whatever you say," he says with a smirk that I'd like to wipe off his face.

"You done in here?" I look around King to see another member of the Feral Kings MC standing by the door.

"Just having some fun. Eyeball okayed it," King responds. "Me and Dragon's bitch are going to have some fun tomorrow night."

"I'm goin' to get me another taste of that pretty blonde. Had a small taste on the ride here but I could only watch. Eyeball said I needed to wait for my turn. Lookin' forward to round two. Eyeball said I needed to wait, though."

I feel Gabby tremble beside me, and I move my body more in front of her trying to protect her as best as I can.

"I'll join you in a bit for a beer," King yells, not even looking back at the other guy.

"Sure enough," the guy says and then walks out.

King rubs the back of his neck and I hate how that reminds me so much of Dragon. Right now, I'm scared, tired and feeling alone. I'm aching so much to see Dragon right now. I know if he was here, he'd make sure I was safe. He'd wrap me up in his arms and make the world disappear. I know it's selfish because if he was here, he'd be drug into a war, and they'd do their best to kill my man. No one gets to do that but me. If I get out of here in one piece, killing him might be an option.

"You so much as try to touch me and I won't wait for Dragon. I will rain down hell on you," I hiss.

"You goin' to take on a man who could bench press six or more of you?" he says, fighting laughter.

"I've been with Dragon for almost thirty years. I can take care of myself," I warn him, praying I have it in me to make good on my threat. Once, I would've felt much more confident. Dragon worked like hell to train me to take care of myself. Over the years, I've become lax. Stupid-ass me thought getting older meant I could relax a bit in my life now.

Clearly, I was insane.

Without warning, King reaches out and grabs me. Immediately, I stiffen. His hand wraps around my neck and he holds me exactly where he wants me. My hands claw at his hands and although I'm afraid, I fight to keep my weakness from showing. He brings me close, and my legs stumble as I'm held up mostly by the pressure on my throat.

"You can't stop me. You're at my mercy," he practically snarls. "You'll find that out soon."

"Fuck you," I spew, my voice slightly breathless because he's constricting some of my airflow. Despite that, I'm sure he doesn't realize how much I'm panicking right now, so I count that as a win.

"Eat your fucking sandwich. You need it for what I'm going to do to you," he warns, his voice dropping down menacingly. He brings his face in closer until there's barely a breath between us. My heart is running away with me, but I'm not going to let this asshole intimidate me. I spit on him. It's not very ladylike, but then again, I am being held hostage by a bunch of monsters. He wipes the side of his face. I thought he'd hit me. I fully expected it. Instead, it almost looks like he wants to laugh. He leans in and whispers close to my ear. "Eat the sandwich, Nicole. I'm trying to help as much as I can. Dragon will be here soon. Just be cool and play the game. Act like what I've said has grossed you out."

My body goes completely still as my brain registers what he just said to me. He gently taps me on the side of the face, but he winks at me. It's then that I realize that he's completely blocking me from the area where I suspected there might be a camera. "Look at the sandwich," he murmurs quietly, then speaks up. "Get some sleep. You and I have a date tomorrow."

"Go fuck yourself," I snarl. I'm not sure what's going on, but there's one thing I do know. He's right. Dragon will be here soon.

I just need to hold on.