Dirty Side Down

by Phoenyx Slaughter

  “All right, let’s set that aside,” Romeo orders, taking control of the meeting once again. He points at me. “How’d it go?”

  “In and out.”

  “Any witnesses?”

  “Fuck no.” I pull out the envelope of cash I collected after the job and toss it on the table.

  Romeo hands it off to our treasurer, Savage. I know I’ll get my cut before I leave this room, so I ain’t too worried.

  I flick my wrist over to see the time—something that doesn’t go unnoticed by Romeo. Karina should be home from school by now. Missed my girl and want to get home to see her. Hemi goin’ missing is fuckin’ up my afternoon plans.

  Romeo dismisses everyone except our VP—Wolf, road captain—Whip, Savage, Viper, Luck, and me.

  Romeo points at Savage and jerks his head at me. Savage hands over my envelope of cash, which I stuff into an inside pocket of my cut.

  “What’re we gonna do ’bout Hemi?” Luck asks.

  Romeo shakes his head, and then nods at Wolf.

  “Boy was shook up, but we made it across the border fine. He fuckin’ split when we stopped for a refuel.”

  “Could he have been grabbed?” Whip asks.

  Wolf shrugs. “I guess. But his bike was gone, too. I wasn’t in the store but a minute.”

  Savage glances my way. “He think we’re gonna be mad he got picked up?”

  “How the fuck should I know?” I growl. “Ain’t no reason to take off like a pussy. We’ve all done our time. Kinda a given in our line of work.”

  Romeo smirks at that. “I got feelers out to our supports and other charters from here to the border.”

  Viper finally decides to add his two cents. “Maybe he met up with a hot piece of ass and wanted to get laid instead of comin’ and gettin’ bitched out here. He spent lots of time bitching about the lack of pussy on our last run.”

  “That better be it,” Romeo says.

  Because nothing else makes sense. Unless he decided to turn on us.

  Romeo releases us with an order to stay close.

  “Yeah, I’ll be at my cabin,” I answer.

  His mouth twists into a filthy grin. “Yeah, figure you’ll be balls deep in jailbait pussy.”

  “Fuck you.”

  Luck claps me on the back as we walk out and collect our cell phones from the basket outside the door.

  “How’s your girl? She okay with you bein’ away?” Luck asks.

  I know he ain’t askin’ to be a dick. “Think so. Her dad wasn’t home much, so I think she’s used to it. Still want to get home and see her though.”

  The corners of his mouth curl up in a genuine smile. “Yeah, don’t blame you.”

  He says something else, but I’m distracted by my phone goin’ off as soon as I turn it back on. Got a voicemail and text from Karina.

  The text comes up first. Sent almost an hour ago.

  Leaving house w/Logan now. See u soon.

  What the actual fuck?

  My vision clouds red.

  Murder must be written on my face. “What’s wrong, brother?” Luck asks.

  I put my finger up and dial into my voicemail. Hitting speaker so we can both listen, I hold the phone out. Romeo walks out as soon as the message starts playing.

  Karina’s hushed voice is hard to make out at first, but I get the gist of what’s going on.

  “Dante, it’s me. Logan’s here. He says you sent him to take me to a safe house because the club is on lockdown. Are you sure you want me to go with him? I don’t know—”

  She stops for some reason. A muffled shout sounds from somewhere in the background. Motherfuckin’ Hemi, no doubt.

  “If you get this in the next few minutes, text me and let me know it’s okay to go with him.”

  “Motherfucker!” I jab my finger at Romeo. “He’s dead. That motherfucker is dead. He laid a fuckin’ hand on my woman. It’s grounds and you fuckin’ know it.”

  Romeo holds up his hands. “I hear you. Let’s get the whole story—”

  “What fuckin’ whole story? He fuckin’ tricked her—”

  Luck puts his hand on my arm to stop me. Much calmer than I am, he says, “Prez, you heard the girl. Hemi told her a fuckin’ lie to get her to go with him. That can’t stand.”

  “He fuckin’ touches her, he’s not out bad, Prez, he’s fuckin’ dead.” I ain’t makin’ idle threats either. Whatever Hemi’s doin’ goes beyond disrespectin’ a brother. He’s outright breaking our code.

  I’m shaking with rage. Proud of my fuckin’ girl though. She did good. Knew something was wrong and called me first. I need to get to her. Need to touch her. Make sure she’s okay. Hemi’s obviously lost his fuckin’ mind. I’m scared shitless he’ll do something to hurt her.

  Fear ain’t something I’ve felt in a long time. I mete out justice with my fists for the club. Fucking kill for my club. So no, there ain’t much I fear in this world.

  Losing Karina? Fucking terrifies me.

  A small voice inside me says this is why. This is why I shouldn’t ever have gotten involved with a bitch.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  We’re not in the car very long before I conclude I’m in trouble. Logan won’t give me any details about where we’re going. He won’t talk to me at all.

  We head southeast out of the city and I pay close attention so I’ll be able to tell Dante.

  After driving for an hour and a half, I start squirming in my seat.

  “Logan, I need to go to the bathroom.”

  “Can’t you wait?”

  “Uh, no.”

  “We’ve got maybe another hour.”

  I twist and make a show out of crossing my legs. “Definitely not.”

  He blows out a breath. “Fine. There’s a rest stop coming up.”

  He pulls up to the curb. “Hurry back,” he instructs as I jump out of the car.

  It must be a busy traveling day or something because the bathroom is jammed and I have to wait. When a stall finally opens, I lock myself in it and whip out my phone. I’ve got at least ten missed calls from Dante and one text.

  Don’t go with Hemi.

  Shit! I knew it.

  As I tap out Dante’s number, my fingers are shaking so much I almost drop the phone in the toilet.

  “Karina!” he shouts. “Where are you, baby girl? Are you okay?”

  “We’re at the San Silas rest stop.”

  Someone bangs on the stall door. “Hurry up. There’s people waitin’.”

  “Fuck. Dante, hold on.” Holding my phone at my side, I step out. A mom with two kids gives me a bitchy look, but I ignore her and walk into the food court. Even above the noise of the rest stop, I hear Dante’s voice yelling from my phone. Huddling facing the wall, out of the way of traffic, I put the phone up to my ear.

  “Sorry, Dante. I needed to—”

  “Karina. Stay where you are. Luck and I are on our way.”

  “Okay—”

  Something hard presses into my back. Warm breath skates over my ear and down my neck. “Thought you forgot your phone, sprite?” Logan whispers. “Don’t fuckin’ move.”

  “Karina? What’s wrong, baby girl?”

  Logan slips my phone out of my hand and ends the call without a word. My phone disappears into his pocket. “Move,” he growls in my ear. “Signal anyone and I’ll shoot you.”

  “Logan,” I plead. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Start walking, Karina. I’m not fucking around.”

  He slips an arm around my waist, and I guess to any casual observer we must look like a young couple in love. Although, if anyone bothered to look closely at my face, it would be obvious that’s not true.

  When we get to the car, he presses me up against the driver’s side door. “You’re driving. Don’t pull any stunts.”

  I’m too scared to come up with any sort of plan that doesn’t involve crashing—which I’d rather avoid—or getting shot.

  So I drive.

  I steer us back onto I
nterstate 10. “Where are we going?”

  “Just keep driving.”

  After a couple miles, he breaks the silence. “What did you say to Dante?”

  “I told him where we were.”

  His fist slams into the door. “Fuck! This is bad. He’ll fuckin’ kill me.”

  “Well then maybe you shouldn’t have kidnapped me.”

  He’s silent, so I risk glancing over. His eyes are fixed on me and it freaks me out.

  “Why did you have to come there?”

  “Where?”

  “The clubhouse. That first day. Why?”

  I shrug. I don’t want to admit that I originally went there to make him jealous.

  “What can you possibly see in him?”

  He can’t be serious. “Dante?”

  “Who else?”

  “He’s good to me. He takes care of me.”

  “Are you fuckin’ kidding? He’s an animal. You know he was so pissed with me, he sent me down to Mexico to get killed?”

  I open my mouth to call bullshit, except I wonder if it’s true. Then I decide I don’t care. My shoulders lift in a nervous shrug.

  “You really want me dead, sprite?”

  “Stop calling me that. I don’t care enough about you to want you dead.”

  He lets out a heavy sigh. “Karina—”

  “Don’t. You made it clear how you felt about me.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  Now it’s my turn to sigh. “I don’t want to hear it.”

  He bolts forward in his seat. “There. Get off this exit.”

  I steer us onto the off-ramp and he directs me to a shabby looking motel.

  “Really?” I’m striving for a bored tone, but I think I sound scared.

  “I gotta stop and think. The club’s gonna be after me by now. Pull up to the front door.”

  As the car rolls to a stop, he pulls up the emergency brake and takes the keys. “Wait here and don’t move. We need to talk.”

  Don’t move. Where the fuck am I supposed to go? We’re in the middle of nowhere and he took my damn phone.

  He’s in and out pretty quick. “Drive ’round back,” he says as he gets back in the car.

  My heart stops when he opens the door to our room. There’s one bed.

  All I can think about is that one bed. “You can’t be serious.”

  He shakes his head and pushes me inside, locking the door behind him. He sets his black duffel bag down on the cheap, scarred-up dresser. “Sit,” he orders. I take out a chair at the table and drop into it. My legs won’t stop shaking. I want to show him how indifferent I am, so I stare at the grungy, green curtains.

  That’s a mistake.

  Logan takes my arms and pulls them behind my back. As soon as his hands circle my biceps, I squeal and try to get away, but he’s too strong. “Stay still.”

  He works quickly, tying me to the damn chair. It’s not uncomfortable yet, but it will be.

  When he’s finished, he takes the chair across from me.

  “Now you’re going to hear my side of things.”

  …FOR NOW.

  Originally published August 25, 2015

  COPYRIGHT

  Disconnect (Iron Bulls MC #2)

  Copyright © Phoenyx Slaughter

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  NyxSlaughter@gmail.com

  Written by Phoenyx Slaughter Copyright © 2015, 2016, 2017

  Contact the author: NyxSlaughter@gmail.com

  Edited by: Hot Tree Editing

  CHAPTER ONE

  How could I let this happen?

  Luck and I have been driving Interstate 10 lookin’ for any sign of Karina for hours.

  My job, my role in the club revolves around protecting what’s important.

  Yet, I failed my girl. And somehow over the last few weeks, she’s become the most important thing to me.

  Don’t know where the fuck she is. Don’t know why the fuck Hemi kidnapped her.

  Well, I can guess why.

  He has a death wish.

  We tore through the rest stop Karina called me from. No sign of her. Janitor said he remembered seeing her with some guy. They left maybe ninety minutes ago.

  Ninety minutes.

  “You want to give Romeo an update?” Luck asks. My mind’s a fuckin’ mess so Luck’s behind the wheel. Took his SUV since there’s a good chance we’ll be carting Hemi’s dead fuckin’ body home.

  “Tell me about her.”

  Great, Luck thinks I’m so fucked in the head he’s trying to get me talkin’.

  I must be fucked up, because I answer.

  “Somehow we just fit together.”

  “How’d she end up living with you?”

  My shoulders jerk and I stare out the window. “I didn’t like where she was living.”

  “So you moved her into your cabin?”

  “She needed someone to look after her.” Too bad, I fucked it up.

  “You ever had a sub before?”

  “No. I ain’t got time for all that crazy shit you’re into.”

  Luck snorts at that. “Lazy prick.”

  We fall silent again and I keep watching the scenery. “She calls me Daddy.”

  “Ahh. Baby girl subs are the best kind.”

  “What?”

  “Littles. Never mind. Just, treat her with care.”

  “I fuckin’ try. Feel like I fucked up big now.”

  “This ain’t on you. How the fuck could you know a brother would pull a stunt like this?”

  “He’s been up in our business since day one. Way he’s been acting, I shoulda seen it comin’.”

  I’m so freaking scared. Logan’s barely said a word to me since he tied me to this damn chair. He paced behind me for a long time, and then went outside to make a phone call. As much as I strained to listen, I only got bits and pieces of the conversation.

  “He should be gone…it should be clear. They’re gonna kill…so you better…”

  None of it sounds good.

  The slam of the door when he steps inside startles me.

  “We need to talk.”

  Gathering my courage, I answer as calmly as I can. “You need to let me go, Logan.”

  “I can’t go back after this. I want you to come with me.”

  He’s already kidnapped me, what more does he want?

  “I don’t want to. I want to go home.”

  His face contorts into rage. “To Dante? That’s not your home, Karina. He’ll hand you off to one of the brothers when he’s done with you.

  “That’s not true,” I whisper.

  “He’s a fuckin’ killer, Karina. He murders people for the club. That’s his job.”

  My heart thuds. Prickles shiver over my skin. Not my Dante. “He takes care of me,” I whisper.

  “He’s never hurt you? Would you even know the difference?”

  “Fuck you! You have no right after what you did.”

  “Karina, believe me when I tell you I had a very good reason for what I did.”

  “Well, I got the message from your friend loud and clear.”

  Shock ripples over his face. His eyebrows draw down and he cocks his head to the side. “What the fuck you talkin’ about?”

  “Let me go.”

  As if being tied to the chair isn’t leaving me defenseless enough. He’s going to strip every last bit from me. His hands curl over my shoulders, shaking me until I look at him. “After you dumped me. The guy you sent to make sure the message stuck.”

  “Karina, I never sent anyone to see you.”

  He’s lying. I know he is. Even as his hand brushes over my cheek in a tender gesture, I haven’t felt from him in ages, I know it’s a lie. “Honey, your dad threatened me. I needed time to get in with the club, make some money so I could get you out of his house, and put you through school—”

  “Stop lying!”

  He recoils, staggers back, and drops into the chair across from me. “I never stopped loving you, Karina. I just ne
eded time.”

  “That’s bullshit. My dad’s never even home.”

  “I couldn’t have you living with me at the clubhouse. You see what it’s like there. I was saving up to get us a place.”

  “If that’s true, why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I couldn’t.”

  “Why have that guy come and do what he did to me—”

  “What guy? Karina, I swear to God, I never.” He stops and stares at me as my words sink in. “What did he do to you?”

  I can’t look at him. But I can’t close my eyes either, or the image of the dark stranger forcing me—no.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “You got some sort of tracking thing on her phone? You know, in case it gets lost or stolen?” Luck asks after a few more miles.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Does she have email on it?”

  Why the fuck didn’t I think of that sooner? My brain isn’t functioning. Any skills I’ve gotten through years with the club are turning to shit over this girl.

  “You should be able to log into the device manager and track it that way if the phone’s on.”

  “Yeah, after she called, what are the chances he kept the phone on him?”

  Luck shrugs. “It’s worth a try.”

  After going through a thousand screens and prompts, I’m ready to throw my phone out the window when Luck pulls over and snatches the phone out of my hands. “Signal’s shitty out here,” he mutters, as he’s tapping in a bunch of shit. “Do you know her email?”

  “No, but I installed a throw-away email on it to set the phone up. It should still be attached to it.”

  He puts in the information I give him and we wait.

  And wait.

  “The phone was on Interstate 10.” That’s good. It confirms what Karina told me before Hemi cut us off.

  Luck taps and hums some more. “This…” he trails off and I’m ready to fuckin’ throttle him. He tips up his head then glances back down at the phone.

  “What?”

  “Last hit was off exit 81.”

  “That’s not that far up.”

  Luck hands me the phone and pulls back onto the highway.