by Erin Osborne
Until Jeremy took me, I never believed in guardian angels or anything else. My thought was once you died, you got buried or cremated and that was the end of it. When I’d hear people talking about ghosts or the paranormal, I’d roll my eyes and walk away. Now, I truly believe we all have a guardian angel and they’re looking out for us. That we have to go through horrible and trying times to make it through the other side stronger and better than we were.
The times I’m awake, I listen to what’s going on in the shack surrounding me. I’ve figured out their routine as much as I can without knowing what time of the day it is. When there’s music blaring, Jeremy and Ginger are getting high and drinking. Then they fuck and do whatever else it is they do. If it’s completely silent in the place, Jeremy is gone, and Ginger won’t do anything because he’s out getting her next fix. The times I hear banging around, they’re making food of some sort. When I hear footsteps, I know I’m about to get a visit.
I’m so lost in my thoughts, I don’t hear the footsteps. It’s not until the door is slamming open to the point I think it’s going to break right off the hinges, that I’m jarred from my thoughts to see Jeremy. He’s standing in the room, just inside the door and looking at me with a sneer on his face. This is the look he gets on his face when he’s pissed about something. Or he’s going to taunt me with Colt or the club. It’s the same thing on a daily basis.
Looking up through the slits my eyes currently are, I see him holding what looks like a phone in his hand. He presses some buttons before walking over to me. My body tightens as he sits down next to me and places an arm behind me. Jeremy forces me to look at the screen and brings it close to my face.
“You’re in for a fucking treat, bitch,” he tells me.
I try to close my eyes and I’m slapped for doing it.
“You’re going to fucking watch what happens to your precious fucking bikers and that brat you tried to pawn off on me. Look at the fucking screen!” he yells, punching me in the side.
This time I don’t shut my eyes, I watch the phone as suddenly the building on the screen explodes. Flames fly up toward the sky and thick, black smoke begins to curl and wind its way up to the sky. Everything is so thick, you can’t see the sky or anything that was surrounding the building. Including any vehicles that were in the parking lot.
My eyes are so swollen and my brain is so foggy, I don’t even know if I was actually watching the clubhouse blow up. That’s what Jeremy wants me to think though. By bringing up Colt’s club and Zoey, I know that’s his intent.
“Now, no one will ever know you’ve been taken. I can kill you without anyone searching for you and set this building on fire,” Jeremy says, getting in my face. “Or, you could just do everyone a favor and give up. Prove what a pathetic and weak cunt you are.”
Closing my eyes, I let Jeremy think I’m thinking over my options. In reality, I’m crying and screaming on the inside. While I can’t be sure it was the clubhouse, I don’t know for sure that it wasn’t either. My heart breaks at the thought of losing Colt, my daughter, and the rest of the club. Especially Blood, Tonya, Logan, and Needa. All of these people died senselessly all because they were linked to me.
Guilt creeps in and settles in my gut and crushes my heart as Jeremy gets off the bed and leaves the room. He doesn’t beat me or taunt me this time. Showing me the video of the explosion accomplished his goal even if I didn’t let him see it. My body begins to shut down as I realize I have no one left in my life to fight for. Zoey and Colt are gone and it’s because of me.
Yeah, my dad is still alive, but the rest of my world has died an excruciating death with no warning or anything. If someone wasn’t at the clubhouse, they’ll come back to find a mess and the rest of their family gone in the blink of an eye. No one in the Kings Vengeance MC deserve to have their lives shortened all because I came to town and entered their life.
Then, my thoughts turn to Colt and I realize he wouldn’t want me to give up. He’d want me to fight. Colt would want me to live and break free from these monsters because I have a life we created growing in me. A baby that’s part of each of us that still has a chance to survive and make something of their life. I have to grieve in silence and try to find a weak link between Ginger and Jeremy so I can get out of here and make sure they never get their hands on anyone else to do this to. They don’t get to ruin any more lives than they already have.
With that thought in mind, I let sleep begin to pull me under. I need to conserve my energy as much as possible so I can think clearly and get out of here.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Emersyn ‘Sky’ Wilkes
GINGER CAME IN and uncuffed me. A bucket is now in the room so I can go to the bathroom. But that’s all that’s in here. There’s nothing I can use as a weapon. I’m too weak to pull the bars on the ends of the bed loose to use against Jeremy and his new whore.
The only reason they let me loose is because they think I’m too weak to move around or do any damage to them. In reality, I am weak, but I’ve been conserving my energy and I feel more strength than I have in a long time. I just need to play my cards right and not make a move too soon.
For a while, I’ll have to play the game and make them believe I am as weak and pathetic as they think I currently am. The more they continue to let their guard down, the easier time I’ll have getting away from them. It’s just a matter of time before they’re so high they don’t realize I’m better than I’m acting, and I can make my move.
With a goal in mind, it’s easier for me to focus and keep my head up. I have a purpose to fulfill and to keep my baby protected as much as possible. It makes it easier to get through each day and the countless hours I’ve been stuck here.
I’ve been pacing the room, trying to stretch my aching muscles so I don’t feel the pain as bad and I can keep everything limber. Hearing footsteps coming toward the door, I make my way back to the bed and lay down. I’m not ready for them to see me up and about in the room. Even if it’s just Ginger because she’ll tell Jeremy. They’ve been fighting a lot lately and she’ll do anything to stay on his good side.
Lying back against the disgusting mattress, I pretend I’ve been laying and not moving around. Ginger comes in and looks around the room before her eyes turn to me on the bed. She glares at me before bringing a tray over to me. I’m not sure what’s on it, but I’ll eat it because I need to for the baby and myself.
“Here’s your lunch, slut,” she says, putting the tray down on the mattress. “I’ll be back in a few minutes to get it. You better eat it all today.”
I don’t respond to her because I never do. Today is different though, instead of just leaving me alone, Ginger slaps the hell out of me and pulls my head up by my hair. She gets in my face and just stares at me for a minute. Jeremy must have really pissed her off for her to be treating me like this.
“What the fuck is it with you?” she grits out. “You got a fucking golden pussy or something? Every man you meet wants inside you and you give it up to them. You’re fucking ugly as hell and I don’t see the appeal. I’m here to tell you, I have Jeremy now and you can’t have him back.”
With that, Ginger tosses me like a rag doll back to the bed and saunters out of the room. She slams the door shut behind her, making sure to lock it, and I’m left to scramble to eat as much of the soup and apple as I can. The less I eat, the more I know I won’t be given food the next time. Instead of downing the food like I want to, I take my time as much as I can and eat the chicken noodle soup, start the apple, then drink the bottle of water I’ve been given.
I know these idiots could’ve tampered with the food and put something in it, but they haven’t yet. I have to think each day I get a meal that they’re not doing anything other than heating it up and bringing it into me. The bottled water is always closed and hasn’t been opened before I do it because the seal is never broken. That’s the only thing I’ll be allowed to keep with me when they come get the tray. I have to make it last because th
ey never give me more than one a day. It has to last me.
Chapter Thirty
Colt Johns
ZEUS AND I spent almost two days pouring over each and every map of the area. He circled all the hunting cabins and then we proceeded to check them against land deeds and finally he used some other program to figure out which ones were still in use and what ones are no longer being used by the owner and their family.
We’ve narrowed it down to three places. One is on the outside of town heading north while the other two are further south. Breaker, Bounce, and Vanish each took a house and spent a day watching over it. Bounce is the only one who’s not back yet because they’re at the lodge he’s been watching.
It’s taken us almost an hour to get to the lodge, and that was pushing it. We park a mile down the road so no one will hear the bikes approaching, and make the rest of the trip on foot. I’m practically running to get to my woman before he can do too much damage for us to undo.
“Colt, if you don’t slow down, you’re not goin’ in there with us,” my dad says, grabbing onto my shoulder and pulling me back toward him. “You have to use your head in there, or she’ll die.”
I know he’s right. But it’s been five days, almost six, and that’s far too long for Emersyn to be in this twatwaffle’s grasp. A minute is too long for her to be around him. I’ll do whatever I have to in order to get my sweet, precious, angel back to me safe and sound. I promised our daughter I’d bring her mama back to her and I mean to keep that promise. Zoey and Emersyn are the light in my darkness, the air I breathe, and the strength I need to keep going. No one else will ever give me what I get from them.
We finally get to the lodge and surround it based on the plan we already worked out back at the clubhouse. I’m in the front with Bounce, Vanish, and Carver. Since the guys are back from the run, every member of the club is here. That’s why my dad is not by my side. Logan, him, and me never go to the same place in a raid or on a run if we can help it. It helps ensure we aren’t all taken out by a rival or another enemy like Jeremy.
All of us are wearing comms in our ears so we can communicate. My dad is the one who’s talking right now. He’s giving us a countdown to breach the door and get in to rescue my girl. I wait for him to get to one and slam my boot against the rotting door. It falls from the doorframe and the sight before me shatters my heart. Em’s screams fill the room as I watch the belt land on her once flawless skin. My vision fills with red and I’m ready to kill the fucker.
Emersyn is bent over a table, completely naked. She’s bleeding from multiple places on her back, thighs, and ass. The rest of her body is covered in cuts she’s sustained over the last six days, bruises, and her body is swollen in places. She’s been through hell and back and is still living.
Jeremy stands up as his jeans fall to his ankles. We got here before he could rape her. Today at any rate. He pulls Emersyn in front of him and pulls a gun from the table where she just was. I’m not sure why she didn’t get her hands on it other than trying to protect her stomach. I can’t get a clean shot from where I stand and no one else is in the lodge except for us at the front door. There must not be another entrance to the place.
“This doesn’t concern you,” Jeremy grunts. “Get the fuck outta here and leave the whores behind. They won’t last much longer anyway.”
“That’s my woman and she’s comin’ home with me. Where she belongs,” I growl out, pulling my gun and leveling it on him.
“You dumb fuck,” Jeremy says, taunting me. “If you fire that gun, you’ll hit your precious Emersyn and I’ll get away scot free while she dies here on this floor. Is that what you truly think about her?”
“I won’t hit her. See, Jeremy, you have no place to go. This lodge is surrounded, and you won’t get very far,” I growl out at him.
“I will by using her as my shield,” Jeremy informs me. “You’re all going to move and then the two of us will leave here. If I so much as see you again, I’ll go through your women like water and make sure they know they’re dying because of you.”
The men behind me stand still. Not a single person moves as Jeremy trembles behind Emersyn’s back. He’s a loose cannon right now. I just need to keep him talking until he gets the gun away from Emersyn’s head. Then, I’ll make my move and take this fucker out. Permanently.
“You think these men are goin’ to let you take that woman anywhere? They respect her, love her, and want her to come home as much as I do. If you think you’re goin’ to get more than a foot before someone takes your ass out, then you’re worse than I thought. You’re nothin’ more than a psycho who thinks he can control those around him. Yet when you’re confronted by a man, you want to run and hide like the pussy bitch you are,” I say, taking a step closer to him.
“I’m not afraid of you. Or these bitches acting like men standing around you. I’m the one with the power in this situation and there’s nothing you can do about it unless you really want to kill this bitch,” he says, slightly moving the gun farther away from her head.
“Jeremy, these men won’t hesitate to take you out. They are marksmen, snipers, and have been shooting longer than you’ve been an addict,” I assure him. “What’s goin’ to happen is I’m goin’ to be the one to take the kill shot on you. I’ll walk out of here with my woman and we’ll go home to our daughter. You’ll be buried in a shallow grave where the animals will dig your rotting flesh up and eat your remains. Do you doubt me?”
Without letting Jeremy know, I try to silently communicate to my girl that she needs to move when I make my move. I will be killing this fucker here and there’s nothing to make him stop me. He’s going to slip up in a matter of minutes and that’s when his life will cease. Emersyn gives me a slight nod and I know she’s ready to make her move.
Jeremy’s eyes become wild as he takes in the words I’ve just said. He just needs to move a little bit more and I’ll shoot to kill. My finger on the trigger is getting twitchy because I’m ready to end this.
“Jeremy do you honestly think you’re gettin’ out of here?” Bounce asks him, diverting his attention to him.
Bounce knows what’s about to happen. He’s trying to help me get Jeremy to move just enough so I can shoot him. And take the gun further from Emersyn’s head. We just need the right words to fuck with his head.
“I say we keep him alive. Let me show him how we treat a man who thinks it’s okay to put his hands on a woman. To rape them. I’ll give him the same treatment he’s put Emersyn and others through,” Vanish says, stepping up to the other side of me. “I’ll make him my bitch and he’ll know what these women have felt over the years. And he’ll go through detox at the same time.”
“You scum bag motherfucker!” Jeremy roars, forgetting about Emersyn as he lunges at Vanish.
I yell out and Emersyn immediately ducks out of the way. Pulling the trigger, I put a bullet right between Jeremy’s eyes as he slumps to the floor. Vanish is without a doubt the straightest man I know but he knew the right trigger for the man who’s now dead.
Rushing to Emersyn, I pull her into my arms. Her body doesn’t hit the floor, I catch her just before she does. I can hear talking around me as I try not to move her because I don’t know the extent of her injuries. My girl looks up at me, tears shimmering in her eyes with her love underlying those tears.
“You came for me,” she says, her voice weak, barely above a whisper, and filled with shock.
“Of course. I’ll always come for you,” I tell her just before she passes out in my arms. “Someone, call an ambulance and get them here now!”
Remaining on the floor, I hold Emersyn close to me and don’t let her go. There are a few reasons I’m holding her so close to me. The first one is I can’t believe she was taken from me and I don’t want to let her go. Ever again. Secondly, she’s as naked as the day she was born. No one needs to see my woman naked; I won’t allow them to. Bounce, Carver, and Vanish saw more than enough and no one else will get to see her. She wouldn’
t want it in the condition she’s currently in.
My father comes in and kneels down on the floor next to me. He gently rubs his hand over Emersyn’s head. I see him take in the marks on her body he can see. I’m handed a shirt from someone behind me. Taking it, my dad helps me get it on Emersyn’s body as we try not to move her.
Looking at the front of her body, I immediately try to figure out if she’s still pregnant. With the cuts, bruising, and other marks on her, I’m not sure if she is. I don’t want to grieve for our unborn child without her; without knowing if he or she is still safely in her body.
Tears leak from my eyes and I don’t give a fuck who sees me crying over my woman and the possible loss we may have to deal with. Emersyn is still out in my lap and she’s not moving. I can barely see her chest rising and falling as she continues to breathe.
“How long until they’re here?” I ask the men now surrounding us.
“Any second,” Breaker tells me, grabbing Jeremy’s body and taking him away.
“What do you want me to do with Ginger?” Bounce asks, walking back in the room we’re in.
“She alive or dead?” my father asks.
“Dead.”
“Take her outside and bury her with the fucker she chose over the club,” my dad answers, no remorse in his voice as he doles out his order. “Hurry before we have to answer more questions than we want to.”
I can hear the sirens as the ambulance and police get closer to us. Leaning down over my Emersyn, I whisper to her.
“I love you, angel. Help is almost here. Please, hang on for me,” I silently beg her for me.
“She’ll be okay, son,” my dad says, standing up so the EMTs can get in here and help her. “She’s stronger than she looks and will pull through this no matter what we find out at the hospital. I’ll call your mom as soon as we find out where she’s bein’ taken.”
