by Wilder, L.
“Wait! You can’t just take him like this. That’s kidnapping!” I shouted. “I’ll call the police and—”
“Hate to break it to you, sweet cheeks,” Shotgun growled as he released Danny and grabbed me, pulling my arms behind my back and zip-tying my wrists together like he’d done Danny’s, “but you’re not calling anybody.”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I barked.
“I’m taking you with us.”
“The hell you say!” I jolted to the side, trying to break free from his grasp, but I simply wasn’t strong enough. “Let me go or I’ll scream!”
“We don’t have time for this bullshit, ’Gun,” Rafe groaned.
“Well, I can’t just leave her here.” He reached behind him and pulled out his gun, shoving it into my side as he ordered, “Move your ass, or I’ll end you right here and now.”
With his gun still pressed against my spine, I started out of the apartment, and Rafe and Danny followed us down the stairs. As we got closer to the parking lot, Danny leaned over to me and said, “You should’ve stayed in the bedroom.”
“You should’ve kept your nose clean and not gotten involved with these hoodlums!” As the words left my mouth, I felt the barrel of the gun dig into my back. That should’ve been enough to make me shut up, but sadly, it wasn’t. “How exactly are you involved with them? Is it drugs? Oh, my god, Danny. Please tell me you weren’t stupid enough—”
“Delilah ...”
“And then you went and shot one of them! Seriously, Danny. What were you thinking?”
“Not exactly the best time to talk about it, Dee.”
Shotgun lead us over to a black Ford pickup, then opened the door and shoved us inside. Once he’d closed the door, he went over and helped Rafe. While he was getting him settled, I looked back over to Danny and asked, “What are they going to do to us?”
“I don’t know. You wouldn’t even be tangled up in all this if you’d just—”
“Don’t you dare try to twist this around on me. You’re the one who made the decision to get involved in all this!” I shook my head as I asked, “You do realize that you could wind up in jail, right?”
“That’s the least of my worries right now.”
“Hmph. You’re probably right.” I huffed. “How could you do this, especially after all we went through as kids? You’d think—”
“Dammit, Delilah. I already told you! This isn’t the time for this shit.”
“When is the time, Danny? After these guys put a bullet in your head?”
Shotgun was just about to close the truck door when Rafe grumbled, “I can’t take anymore, man. Can you do something to shut her up?”
“What?” My eyes widened with fear as Shotgun nodded and headed over to my side of the truck. When he opened the door, I shrieked, “I’ll stop. I won’t say another word. I swear!”
“Not buying that shit for a minute, sweetheart.”
“No, seriously. I’ll keep my mouth shut.” When he reached behind me, I gasped. “Wait! What are you doing to do?”
He pulled out a roll of silver duct tape, and as he tore off a long strip, he announced, “I’m gonna give our ears a fucking break.”
With that, he slapped the tape over my mouth and then got inside the truck. A million questions raced through my mind as I sat there bound and gagged. I had no idea where we were going as I stared out the window, praying that we’d crash or someone would see us and come to our rescue. Unfortunately, neither of those things happened. Instead, we pulled through a large metal gate with tall fencing surrounding what looked to be an old warehouse. There were guards standing at each entrance, giving me an uneasy feeling as the truck came to a stop at the front door. Rafe’s focus was on that door as he muttered, “I’m good here for a minute. Take Danny in first.”
Shotgun hesitated for a moment, but eventually nodded and got out of the truck. He went over to Danny’s side and opened the door. With a quick jerk, he pulled him out and led him towards the front door. After shoving him inside, Shotgun disappeared, only to return moments later with two other men. It was dark, making it impossible to see what either of them looked like. Not that it mattered. Even when they opened the door and the light came on, none of them seemed to even notice that I was in the back. They were too busy trying to help Rafe out of the truck. As soon as they got him out, they all disappeared into the building. Several moments had passed, and I was beginning to think they’d forgotten about me, when I noticed the back door open. My heart started racing as I noticed a figure walking towards the truck. In a blink, the door opened, and the interior light flickered on, revealing the most incredibly handsome man I’d ever seen. He was tall and muscular with dark hair and fierce green eyes that seemed to pierce straight through me. I could tell by the vest he was wearing that he was one of them, so I expected him to yank me out of the truck and haul me inside like they’d done to Danny. He didn’t. Instead, he just stood there staring at me.
Damn. I thought I was scared earlier, but something about the way he was looking at me brought butterflies to my stomach, and that completely terrified me.
Hawk
I was torn by my own ever-growing curiosity and the best course of action for handling the beautiful redhead I’d found sitting in the back of Shotgun’s pickup. I wanted to take the tape from her mouth, ask her who she was, and how she was involved in all this mess with Danny, but something told me if I asked, I’d be climbing down a rabbit hole and never find my way out. Besides, with Rafe being shot and the club finally having our hands on Danny, I didn’t have time to waste with some broad—no matter how beautiful she was. Having no other choice, I got her out of the truck and led her inside. Not knowing who she was made it difficult to know where to put her. I figured she couldn’t do much damage bound and gagged, so I put her in one of the empty bedrooms with an exterior deadbolt to lock her inside. Just before I walked out, I stopped to study her for a moment. As I stood there looking at the beautiful creature, I considered removing the tape from her mouth, but then, I noticed the way she was glaring at me—like she wanted to scream for help or slit my throat—so I decided against it. Instead, I simply walked out of the room and closed the door.
Once I had her locked inside, I went down to our makeshift infirmary to check in on Rafe. When I walked in, Shotgun and Viper were hovering over the gurney as Doc assessed Rafe’s condition. Just as I was walking up, I heard Doc tell Rafe, “You got lucky, brother. Real lucky.”
“Don’t feel all that lucky at the moment,” Rafe complained.
“Well, you’re lucky nonetheless,” Doc replied. “I’m surprised he didn’t do more damage at such close range.”
“The piece of shit was a lousy shot,” Rafe grumbled.
“Clearly.”
While I was pleased to hear that Rafe was going to be okay, I was curious to know how he had ended up getting shot. I was about to ask when Viper beat me to it. “So, what the hell happened?”
“Things got out of hand,” Shotgun started. “We tried telling Danny that we needed to talk to him, but he wasn’t having it. Without any explanation, he told us to get the fuck out, and when we didn’t, he drew his pistol. I thought he was bullshittin’. I never thought the dumbass would have the balls to actually pull the fucking trigger.”
“Neither of us did,” Rafe admitted. “Guess he felt backed into a corner and decided to take his fucking chances.”
“That’s a mistake he’ll soon regret,” Viper snarled. “But first, we’re gonna need him to talk. It’s the only way we’re ever gonna know what the hell happened with that last shipment.”
“If he knows anything, I’ll get it out of him,” Shotgun assured us.
“Good. I’m counting on you to do just that. Menace took him down to your holding room.”
“I’m on it.”
When he started towards the door, I asked, “Hold up ... What’s the deal with the girl?”
“Damn. I almost forgot about her.” Sho
tgun turned back to us with a shrug. “She’s his sister or something. Got the feeling she didn’t know anything about what Danny was up to.”
“Then, why’d you bring her back here?”
“The way she was running her fucking mouth, there was no way we could’ve left her behind.”
“What was she running her mouth about?”
“Everything… Us being there. Me being shot. Danny getting himself into trouble. You name it. The girl was downright pissed.” Rafe chuckled as he added, “Fuck. She was giving Danny hell up one side and down the other. You should’ve heard her. It got so bad I almost started feeling sorry for the guy, and that’s saying something.”
“That why you taped her mouth shut?”
“Hell, yeah,” Shotgun answered. “Couldn’t take another minute of her yammering on.”
“So, what are we going to do with her now?”
“Got no idea,” Shotgun answered. “Probably would’ve left her if she hadn’t threatened to go to the fucking cops. At least now we know she isn’t gonna have them sniffing around and asking questions we don’t wanna answer.”
“He’s got a point there,” Rafe replied. “Talk to her. You’ll see for yourself why we didn’t leave her behind.”
“Where is she?” Viper asked.
“I locked her inside the empty room next to Bear’s,” I answered.
“Good.” Viper turned to Shotgun. “You go deal with Danny and see what you can find out. Hawk and I will talk to the girl.”
“You got it.”
When Shotgun headed towards the door, Viper turned his attention to Doc. “Take care of our boy. I’ll be back later to check on him.”
Doc nodded, then Viper and I left the room to go talk to the spitfire. As we walked down the hall, I found myself thinking about the moment I’d opened the truck door and found her sitting inside. Everything about her, from the intense look in her eyes to the blue nursing scrubs she was wearing, intrigued me. The revelation seemed odd to me. I wasn’t a man who was usually so captivated by a woman, especially one who hadn’t even spoken, but there was something about her that interested me, and I was eager to find out everything there was to know about her. After I unlocked the door, I followed Viper inside, and we found her sitting on the edge of the bed—hands still bound behind her, but the tape was starting to curl around the edges where she’d been trying to remove it.
Viper stepped over and crouched down in front of her. She never moved a muscle as he looked her dead in the eyes and said, “I’m Viper, and this is Hawk.”
Her eyes skirted over to me for a split second. Then her attention went back to Viper as he told her, “We have some questions for you. I figure we’ve got two ways we can go about it—the easy way and the hard way. Personally, I’d just as soon go about this the easy way. How about you?”
She nodded in agreement.
“Good.” As he reached for the duct tape, he told her, “I’m gonna remove this, but don’t make me regret it.”
After he carefully pulled the tape from her mouth, he stood up, towering over her. “You got a name?”
“Delilah.”
“Okay, Delilah. You gonna behave if I remove those restraints?”
“Yes.” With his pocket knife in hand, Viper reached around her, and the second he sliced the plastic, freeing her wrists, Delilah asked, “Where’s Danny?”
“Oh no, sweetheart,” he growled. “I’m the one asking the questions.”
“And I’ll try and answer them.” Without showing any sign of fear, she held Viper’s gaze. “I just want to know if my brother’s okay.”
“Damn, Rafe was right. You are a feisty one,” Viper grumbled as he shook his head. He was clearly as surprised as I was that the girl didn’t seem the least bit shaken by the situation she’d found herself in. Hell, even I would’ve been a little unnerved if I was in her shoes, but she came off cool, calm, and collected. She was either one hell of an actress, or she was too fucking pissed to realize that her life was on the line. A part of me wanted to warn her, to tell her that we were the kind of men who wouldn’t think twice about putting a bullet in her head, but before I got the chance, Viper looked down at her and said, “Danny’s alive ... at least he is for now. That could change for you both if you two don’t give us the answers we’re looking for.”
She flinched slightly at his response, then let out a deep, aggravated breath. “Then we have a problem.”
“And what’s that?”
“I don’t know anything about what Danny’s done or why we’re here.”
“Don’t tell me you really expect me to believe that shit.”
“I don’t have a death wish, and I don’t want anything to happen to my brother, so there’s no reason for me to lie to you,” she snapped back. “It might be hard to believe, but I’m telling you the truth.”
“Okay, I’m gonna just assume for the time being that you are actually telling the truth, and you don’t know anything about what your brother was up to.” Viper crossed his arms. “Let’s try to figure out what you do know. Where are you both from?”
“Here in Tennessee ... about thirty-five minutes away. A small town called LaGrange. We moved there about fifteen or so years ago.”
“What about your folks? Where are they?”
“My mom still lives in LaGrange. I don’t know about my father.” She shrugged as she continued, “I haven’t seen him since my mother left him.”
“What about friends? Does Danny have anyone in particular he hangs with?”
“I don’t know. At one time, he had a few guys he ran around with, but honestly, I’m not sure if he still talks to them anymore.”
“Does he leave town a lot?”
“Danny’s almost thirty years old. He doesn’t exactly check in with me to let me know when he’s coming or going.”
“What about a job?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say he doesn’t have one, but I really can’t say for sure.”
“You don’t know anything about who his handler is or where we might find them?”
“Handler? I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her expression softened as she lowered her head and explained, “I know it sounds bad that I don’t know more about what’s going on with my brother right now. I love him dearly, and I’d do anything I could to help him, but I don’t know every detail of his life. If I did, I’d tell you.”
Viper didn’t respond. Instead, he simply stood there, studying her as he tried to determine if she was telling the truth. After several moments, she glanced up at Viper with tear-filled eyes and asked, “What’s this all about? What’s a handler? Is it drugs ... or something else?”
“Best if we keep that under wraps for now.”
Her voice trembled when she asked him, “Are you going to hurt him?”
“That’ll be up to him,” Viper answered honestly. “Actually, that goes for the both of you.”
Her beautiful blue eyes widened with panic as the severity of the situation started to sink in. Involved or not, her life was on the line, and depending on how things turned out with Danny, there was a chance she wouldn’t make it out alive. That was a realization that didn’t sit well with either her or me. Her lip quivered as she asked, “You aren’t going to let me go?”
“Sorry, doll, but that’s not an option.”
“But I have a job. People are depending on me. If I’m not there, then they’ll—”
“They’ll manage,” Viper interrupted. “They have no other choice.”
“So, what? You’re just going to keep me locked up in this room?”
“As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.” Viper surprised us both when he turned his attention to me and said, “I’m trusting you to keep an eye on her. She doesn’t leave this room without you by her side, and she doesn’t leave the clubhouse. If she gives you any trouble, put a bullet in her.”
“Understood.”
Normally, I had no prob
lem being alone with a beautiful woman, but I was suddenly filled with pure and utter dread as I watched Viper walk out of the room and close the door behind him. I glanced over at Delilah, still sitting on the edge of the bed, and when her eyes met mine, a feeling of unease washed over me. It wasn’t anything she’d said or done. It was simply the way I felt standing in that room with her—like I wanted to toss that hot little body of hers across the bed and fuck her senseless—that had me on edge. Viper had put me in charge of watching over her, and I had every intention of doing the job I was ordered to do—nothing more, nothing less. With her eyebrows furrowed and her lips pursed in disgust, Delilah glared back at me and asked, “Are you just going to stand there and stare at me?”
“Do you always just say whatever’s on your mind?”
“Yeah ... I guess I do.” A light scoff slipped through her lips. “I should probably work on that.”
My words dripped with sarcasm as I replied, “Yeah, might be a good idea.”
She studied my cut for a moment, then asked, “So, who are you guys anyway?”
“Who we are isn’t important.”
“Then, it shouldn’t be a big deal to tell me who you are,” she sassed. “Besides, it’s not like I can’t read. You all have the name Ruthless Sinners on your vests. Are you a gang or something?”
I glanced over at the duct tape Viper had removed from her and growled, “You know, you’re really tempting me to put that tape back on your mouth.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“You don’t think so?” I held her gaze. “Try me.”
Delilah
I didn’t know what had gotten into me. I should’ve been scared out of my mind when Viper and Hawk came into the room to question me, but it was like that part of my brain simply wasn’t working how it was supposed to. I wanted to think it was just all the anger and frustration pumping through my veins that was making it difficult to see that my life was in danger, but I knew that wasn’t the only reason I wasn’t thinking clearly. It was him—the handsome stranger who brought butterflies to my stomach every time he looked at me. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I was a smart girl. I knew Hawk was one of them—the men who’d threatened my brother’s life and my own. For that matter, he was the one who’d brought me into this godforsaken room and locked me inside, yet I still found him to be irresistibly, earth-shatteringly hot. Every time I looked at his broad, muscular shoulders, dark tousled hair, and piercing green eyes, my pulse would start to race, and my entire body would grow warm with desire. It was bad to even give a man like him a second look. I knew that. Regrettably, I couldn’t seem to make my body understand that. I needed to get as far away from him as possible. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen. Because of Danny, I was stuck there with him, and if I wasn’t careful and didn’t stay out of trouble, he’d end me once and for all. Damn. I was screwed.
