Bocca: A Steel Paragons MC Novel

by Eve R. Hart

  There was a time when I was younger that I might have tried to tell him that he was wrong. But standing there, seeing this human being that almost no longer looked human, made me question if maybe he wasn’t right in saying there was nothing to be done. That the cruel thing would be to let her continue on like this.

  No, I had to think that this wasn’t the end for her. I had to believe that her life wasn’t over at such a young age. That in five, ten years she could blend into society and live a normal life. Right? But no, deep in my head I knew there was no coming back from what she’d been through. This wasn’t something you could flip, forget, and move on from. This was sewn into her subconscious now. This was her.

  Walk away.

  My mind was screaming at me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and there was an odd tingle that overtook my entire body.

  “Mr. Tinman?” he asked, his voice void of any kind of emotion.

  I hadn’t answered him, I knew I hadn’t. I couldn’t come up with words right at the moment. Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, could have prepared me for this. For all of this.

  I stood strong, held my emotions back, and turned my attention to him.

  “That one might just be what I’m looking for,” I said with as much sadistic satisfaction as I could fake.

  He watched me for a long moment, then gave one short, firm nod.

  “I’ll escort you back to a room. Care to get a drink before we head back?”

  “No,” I said firmly. “I’m good. And I appreciate it, but I think I’ve seen all that I need to see. I won’t be needing the room. Thank you.”

  Get out now.

  But I was trapped. I had somehow already called too much attention to myself. If I left now it would be noticed and I had a good feeling that I wouldn’t get far.

  I saw them closing in but I was cornered. Four more guards, coming from all corners and moving through the room with ease, thinking they were being stealthy, but I saw them. Only, I couldn’t do anything about it.

  “I don’t think this will be working out for you, Mr. Tinman.” And it was the way that he said my name that told me that the charade was up. I’d been made, though, I had no idea how.

  Before I could make a move, he pulled out his gun and clocked me hard on the back of the head. I stumbled and shook my head as if I could shake the dizziness away.

  One step, two steps.

  Then another blow on the side of the head, so hard my teeth came together with a force that vibrated my entire mouth. As I went down, trying to fight the darkness as hard as I could, my eyes connected once more with cage fifteen. Her eyes held nothing as she took in the scene. Her hands still gripped the bars of her cage and her teeth were still gnashed and bared.

  Then there was nothing else and I knew I’d lost the battle to stay conscious.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Bocca

  There were several languages I could speak. A few more that I knew enough to where I could follow along in a conversation. But this one I definitely didn’t know. And that sucked. If I had to guess, I would have said it was Croatian. As it was, I had no idea what they were going on about over in the corner. I was sure it had something to do with me. I couldn’t imagine that they were over there talking about dinner plans when they had me all tied up and ready to be tortured. I wasn’t even going to pretend like that wasn’t what was about to happen to me. I’d pissed someone off and they weren’t going to just slap me on the wrist and send me on my way. Not these people.

  Damn, my head fucking hurt. The heavy throbbing was screwing with all of my senses. I had to pull my shit together if I was going to make it out of here.

  I was still going crazy trying to figure out how I had been fucking made. I hadn’t recognized anyone there. Not even a little. And it wasn’t like I really looked like myself. I had been in a fucking suit, new damn shoes and all.

  “How did you find out about my auction?”

  I tried to shake the dizziness from my head and focus on the big lug that was standing right in front of me, asking me a very dumb question. Dumb because I wasn’t going to tell him shit and he should have known that.

  “I was just taking a walk and I saw the place. Looked like a real fun time,” I said trying to hold my head up as I flashed him a smile.

  He must not have liked my answer because before I could take a breath in, his fist collided with my face. My head snapped to the side and damn, that hurt. My jaw was throbbing and I tried to wipe the pain from my expression as I turned my head to face him again.

  “Is that all you’ve got?” I said with a smirk. “Your mother kisses harder than that.”

  With a grunt, he swung at my face again. No, he did not miss. The pain radiated through my jaw and down my neck. The pounding in my ears thumped harder and I got that tingling sensation in my nose like I was about to sneeze.

  I knew it wasn’t a good idea even before I said it. I just couldn’t stop myself. I clearly didn’t have the upper hand. I was tied to a chair and could see no way out at the moment. I had no moves to make other than what I could get out of my mouth. So it may not have been the smartest play, but it was really the only one I had.

  “Hard enough for you now, pretty boy?” His sneer only made his ugly mug look well, uglier. “Tell me who the fuck are you and how you got in.”

  “Nah,” I said and did my best to shrug. “But I have faith that one day you’ll hit harder than a twelve-year-old boy.”

  This would be day one for the torture and I knew it wasn’t going to be the last. These men were in the mindset like some of my own brothers got. Drag it out until you get what you need. The looks on their faces told me that they were not in any kind of hurry. That was a bad thing for me. No hope of them just ending my life now.

  It didn’t matter what they did to me, I’d never give up my club. Or Lucy. I was prepared to die, taking all of my secrets to the grave, along with everyone else’s that I was holding onto. I had a fuck-ton of them too.

  “That smug smile isn’t going to look so great when I take all those fucking teeth out of your mouth,” he said, his anger starting to show through.

  These guys, always with the teeth pulling. Honestly, I rather liked my teeth and I was hoping they’d save that for last…like maybe after I was already dead.

  “I’ll give you a little bit to think about things.”

  Then he walked out of the room, his lackeys following right behind him. I knew they weren’t going far. I had a good feeling there was at least one outside the door, I’d even bet on two.

  It was just a waiting game. I knew it wouldn’t be long. Once the door was closed, I let myself look around. There wasn’t a camera from what I could tell. Taking in the crumbling walls and torn wallpaper, I guessed I was in some abandoned house. Noticing the high windows that were boarded up and the lowish ceiling, I figured it was some sort of refurbished basement. The air was stale and musty.

  My brain still felt fuzzy and heavy from the blows to the head that knocked me the fuck out. It bothered me that I had no idea how much time I’d lost. I wondered if we were even in the same town. Fuck. I could have been halfway across the country by now. Judging by the build of the house and the smell of the draft coming from somewhere, I knew I was still in the states. There was that at least.

  It couldn’t have been more than a few hours that I was out. Sure, they could have shot me up with something and I wouldn’t have known it, but I had a feeling that they were eager to get answers and that meant they wanted me awake sooner rather than later.

  The door opened and in stepped the assumed boss-man again. I took a deep breath and hoped that I could get my shit together enough to keep this charade up.

  “I am tired of your games,” he said though I felt like we’d just gotten started. That little banter before, that was nothing. I was prepared and ready for more.

  But I was also very tired and dizzy.

  “What are you going to do to me, huh? Nothing I am not prepared
for. You gonna beat me? Slice me up? Suck my dick with that ugly ass fucking mouth of yours? What?”

  I shouldn’t have opened my mouth. I could see the red color of anger overtaking his face and his eyes somehow turned even blacker. A rage-fueled sneer twitched on his lips. With a blink, he regained himself and that sneer quickly turned into a smirk.

  “You should tell me what I want to know. My patience is wearing out and your time is coming to an end.”

  “You think I could get a TV in here?” I asked doing my best to seem like I couldn’t give two shits about what he was saying. “It’s really dull just sitting around in this shitty fucking room.”

  That earned me a punch to the gut. The air rushed out of my lungs as my body attempted to jerk forward, only I didn’t go anywhere because I was tied the fuck up. I relished in the fact that I had gotten to him enough for him to react.

  He stood tall, his fists balled at his sides betraying his confident façade. I smirked up at him because I was the reason that his control was slipping.

  “The Butcher is coming,” he said like I fucking knew what the hell he was talking about. Yeah, with a name like that it didn’t leave too much to the imagination. I had a feeling that shit was about to get real bad…for me. “The Butcher has been known to play for a long time and is excited about a new toy.”

  “Oh, new friends. Did you put the kettle on for tea?”

  “You are a fucking idiot.”

  I kind of couldn’t argue with him there. I knew goading him would only make things worse for myself. But I couldn’t stop.

  “Tell me what I want to know now and save yourself.”

  “I got nothing,” I said and managed a small shrug. “I don’t know what kind of answers you’re looking for. Call it wrong place, wrong time.”

  “I lost a lot of money because of you,” he said crossing the room toward me. “Lot of people are leery of me now, don’t trust me anymore because of you. I had to shut down.”

  His dark eyes pinned me, his face inches from mine.

  “I lost sales,” he seethed. “And merchandise. I didn’t know if you were alone or not. The easiest way to clean up is to burn it down, right? Everybody knows that. And it wasn’t like I could take all those girls with me.”

  Shit.

  I tried my hardest not to show him that what he’d just said had gotten to me. All those girls that I’d gone there to try to save were gone. So many innocent lives. It was hard not to put that on myself.

  I couldn’t even imagine what they went through in their last minutes. They were chained up and in cages. They saw it coming but could do nothing to flee.

  I hated this man in front of me, even more than I had minutes ago.

  “I want to know how the Steel Paragons found out about me.”

  That—I did not expect. How the hell did he know? I wasn’t wearing my cut. I didn’t even look like a biker when I walked into that place. I was still wearing every piece of my suit and I couldn’t imagine that they would get me naked just to redress me when there were done. So I bet they hadn’t seen my tattoo. There was something I was missing. And fuck if it didn’t irk me to no end.

  “You don’t deny it.”

  “Kill me now because I won’t tell you shit.”

  “I want to know if you are working alone or if there are more people that know about my operation,” he said ignoring my words.

  “Fuck. You.”

  That earned me a backhand to the face. Then there was a knife waving in front of me tauntingly and I couldn’t help but follow it with my eyes.

  “You will tell me.”

  “No, I won’t,” I said looking into his dead eyes.

  I grit my teeth because I knew he wasn’t playing around. I trapped the scream as much as possible as he slowly pushed the blade into my shoulder. It was a flesh wound but that didn’t mean that shit didn’t hurt. He ripped the knife out and I felt the blood trickle down my arm and soak the fabric of my clothes.

  “I’ll save the good stuff for your new friend.”

  Then he was gone again and I took in a few heavy breaths.

  How the hell was I going to get out of this situation?

  That was the only thing running through my brain. Well, almost. I couldn’t let go of the need to save my brothers from this. If only…

  What? I didn’t have a fucking clue.

  My head was throbbing and my face fucking hurt. I knew this was nothing compared to what was to come. Some guy called The Butcher wasn’t going to come in here and feed me ice cream and do my hair. Come on. We all knew that. I had no idea how much time I had or how many of them were beyond that closed door. The windows looked like they were boarded up good and that would cause too much noise if I tried to escape out that way.

  But first, I had to get free of my bindings. Which were fucking everywhere. There were thick zip ties holding me to the arms of the chair. That was not going to be easily undone. And I could feel that my ankles were in the same predicament. I tried to wiggle my legs and I could feel something holding me down just under my knees. Fucking duct tape. That wouldn’t have been such a big deal if I had my damn hands free. My midsection was currently wound with thick rope, keeping me from being able to fold forward.

  This was supposed to have been a simple job. Something I should have been able to handle myself. I couldn’t stop thinking about how he seemed to know who I was and where I came from. There was something I was missing here.

  Lucy?

  No, there was no way she set me up. I wouldn’t even entertain that one for a second. Though, she was the one that sent me here.

  Still, no. It had to be something else.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Bocca

  With nothing but the sound of my own breathing, my mind started to unleash everything I’d been trying to keep at bay. All those girls. I couldn’t save them after all. I had completely botched this thing. It was all my fault. I couldn’t help but hate myself right now. Come on, you would have too.

  But I didn’t have time to really go down that dark tunnel. I had to figure out how the fuck I was going to get out of this, whether it be dead or alive. I wouldn’t fucking break, I knew that much. Never. The club had been there for me. Took me in and had my back more times than I could say. Treated me like a family should. Basically, they were everything to me and I’d never betray them, even if it meant laying down my life for them.

  How the hell did he know though?

  It wasn’t like I was going to pull some answer out of thin air. I had nothing beyond what I knew and no way to dig into it. So really, I shouldn’t have been focusing on that right now.

  There wasn’t a damn thing that would help me cut my bindings. Even if there were, it wasn’t like I could reach for it. I was smart enough to know that pulling and wiggling wasn’t going to help me even a little bit. Hell, I’d used zip ties and duct tape to tie people up before because they were some of the most effective ways to do so. Especially in a pinch.

  Hours later, right when I was starting to think about taking a nap, the door flew open again.

  “You done pissing me off?” he asked as he stalked closer to me.

  “Nope. Having too much fun, buddy.”

  “I think you know what I’m capable of.”

  “Can’t say that I do,” I said with a cocky smile that hurt like a bitch to pull off. “I don’t even know who you are, and what you’ve done so far…” I gave him a dead, bored expression then looked away from his eyes as if nothing he had done to me already bothered me at all.

  “You have a big fucking mouth.”

  Yeah, no shit. Tell me something that I haven’t heard before.

  “I bet it gets you in trouble a lot, no?” he asked as his meaty hand came up and closed around my neck. I coughed and choked as he pushed upward like he was trying to lift me. “You will tell me what I want to know.”

  He was pissed, I could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice. I was getting to him, and I was going to ke
ep on getting to him until he decided to give in.

  “How did you know?”

  “Lucky guess,” I choked out.

  I felt my face getting hot as he squeezed my throat tighter. With narrowed eyes, he released his grip. I couldn’t help but suck in a huge gulp of air. Which was all I managed before his hand was wrapped around my neck again, this time gripping so tightly that my throat felt raw and I was worried I might pass out. My eyes bulged and as I blinked, it felt like they were going to pop right out of my head.

  “I won’t kill you yet. I will break every bone in your body. I will cut you until you have no flesh left that isn’t covered in red. I will make you wish for death. And then, when you’re begging for me to end it, I will leave you here, on the dirty floor, to suffer.”

  I had no doubt that what he was saying could come true and I began to wonder how many people had suffered like that before. How many innocent girls had been beaten by him as a way to break them? How many of them hadn’t survived it?

  He released me and my head dropped down as I coughed and tried to suck in some air. My throat felt like I’d swallowed sandpaper.

  “Bring her in,” he said and my head snapped up.

  I had no idea what her he was talking about but my eyes grew wide with fear. It could have been anyone. Sure, I didn’t have a particular special lady in my life. And I hadn’t ever really dated anyone. I couldn’t imagine that he had gotten a hold of any of my one night stands, or any of the clubwhores. So who the hell could he have been talking about?

  Lucy?

  Reagan?

  Ellie?

  I knew it wouldn’t have been Nadya, no fucking way. She’d have killed them all by now.

  Something in my gut told me that it wasn’t any of them. That maybe, it was worse.

  I had a feeling like they still didn’t know exactly who I was. Somehow they had an idea of who I was associated with, but how far would that really get them?

  Allison?

  Jessica?