by Kylie Walker
Levi lay there looking out at the beautiful horizon with a feeling of dread about to consume her. She was practically choking on it and for just a second she considered rolling herself off the top of the plateau. She was torn between the choice of ending her own life and maybe living in eternity with her brother or facing the prospect of having this vile, dirty man inside of her. She wasn’t sure which one was less appealing. She decided that maybe she’d try something that she hadn’t tried thus far…groveling.
“Please Martin,” she was hoping that using his first name would humanize him, at least a little bit. “Please don’t do this.”
He unbuckled his belt. The bile turned into actual vomit. There was no way she’d get through this without throwing up. What would he do to her when she spewed vomit all over him?
“You don’t want me to fuck you? Why? Because you think you’re better than any of the other little sluts that hang around the clubhouse?” He bent down and hovered over her. His breath was rank and did nothing to calm her stomach. “You’re not. You spent the last two years fucking Frankie…scum of the earth; that makes you even less worthy than the other bitches. He was a whiney little pig. He always was, even since he was a kid and any slut that would get on her knees or spread her legs for him is no better.” He was practically seething with his hate for Frankie. Levi briefly wondered what Frankie had done to him. She didn’t have to wonder long because he went on to say, “I spent ten years rotting because of something that little fuck did. I took the fall for the club because Max was going to protect that little bastard at all costs. I thought things would be different once I heard they’d finally killed the little bastard, but now they want to protect you. You’re nothing but his whore and they want me to make sure that I return you safely. That’s what the fuckers said. They made some kind of deal for you and I’m supposed to just turn you in like an empty fucking coke bottle with no cracks.”
“Red Bull won’t be happy with you if you rape me.”
He wrinkled his forehead as he unbuttoned and unzipped his pants and said, “Maybe not, but I’ll take that punishment with empty balls and a smile on my face. And who knows? Maybe we’ll make a little Steel.”
That was when she could no longer control it. The vomit spewed out all over the rock and lodged in her hair and along the side of her face. She breathed in when she got the chance and the smell of the vomit caused her to retch again. The whole time Martin, ‘Steel’ stood silently watching her and she knew then that no matter what, he wasn’t going to change his mind.
Chapter 12
Kyle followed the trail of blood; a spot here and there as well as what looked like boot scuffs or drag marks down the hill for a few miles and that was where it got weird. The tracks suddenly shifted and instead of going down they began heading up off the trail along the rise of the mountain toward the summit. Why the hell are they taking her up? His legs and lungs were burning but he knew that he couldn’t stop. The fact that whoever had her was taking her up and not down toward a bike or a car worried him even more. What the fuck did he plan on doing with her at the top of the summit? He couldn’t even let himself think about that. He also couldn’t think about the fact that he was headed in almost the same direction he and Will used to go on their way up to the place where they did their cliffhanging. It was another reason for his stomach to roll.
As he trudged along the trail they’d left he began to realize that whatever was being dragged was being pulled across bushes and cactus plants. He could only hope that it wasn’t Levi…until he saw the blood on the side of one of the trees. It looked like her head or some other part of her body had slammed into it. He looked closer and saw a small clump of long, dark hair stuck to the bark of the tree. He had to brace himself against it for a moment. He felt like he was going to vomit. This son of a bitch was dead when he found him. He was going to die slowly while Kyle ripped him to pieces with his bare hands. It was going to feel good…as long as Levi was alive. If she wasn’t…well then God help this bastard…and him.
He walked for what seemed like hours. He was feeling light-headed and his legs were shaking uncontrollably but he wasn’t about to stop. He just had to find her, if for no other reason than to apologize. He’d begged her father and mother to forgive him after Will died. They’d told him there was nothing to forgive. He didn’t believe that and the guilt had eaten him up. But what he didn’t realize until the day he saw Levi again at Wanda’s was that he’d never apologized to her. He took her brother away…her hero, her biggest advocate and fan. And then the first night he saw her again ten years later he had stripped her of her dignity as well. He didn’t care what happened to him at this point; he just prayed that he’d have that one last chance to tell her how sorry he was.
**
This was her chance, Levi thought. Martin had unbound her hands and feet. He was naked now, save for his boxers which were almost as dirty as his jeans were. They were also tented and the sight of it made her want to vomit again. Curiously he’d simply ignored her vomit the first time. Maybe he was used to that response in this type of situation, Levi didn’t know and she didn’t care. All she knew was that if there was any chance of her escaping before this dirty pig raped her, it was now. Her head still throbbed and the rest of her body felt like a thousand pins and needles were sticking out of it. But she had to find the strength somehow or suffer the indignity, humiliation and violation that he looked ready to dole out. When he bent down to unbutton her jeans that’s when she made her move. She held her legs and feet together tightly and swung them just as he bent over. She connected with the side of his face and she saw a spray of blood fly out and paint the rocks. He stumbled backwards toward the edge and she actually hoped that he would fall over.
She rolled over quickly and tried to push up to her knees and get to her feet but before she could, she felt his hand on her leg. She struggled, turning herself over to face him. A piece of his lip was dangling, covered with blood and it looked like half of one of his silver lined teeth was missing. It made her almost want to smile. That was until he drew his hand back and landed the back of his palm across the center of her face, causing her neck to jolt and the back of her head to slam into the rocks underneath her. She felt her own teeth hit together hard and she saw stars.
She could taste the blood as it oozed down her throat and her ears rang at the sound of his now slurred speech as he called her a “Fucking, stupid slut.” He reached down and grabbed the front of her t-shirt roughly and even as she slapped and scratched at his meaty arms, he ripped it off of her. “Stop it!” He bellowed. The sound of his voice carried across the canyon and echoed back at them. “Be still bitch or you’ll regret it.”
He could tell her to be still all he wanted but there was no way she’d lay still and let him violate her. He’d have to tie her back up…or kill her. She didn’t even realize until she tasted the salt along with the blood that tears were streaming down her face. She watched through the watery curtain as he picked up the rope he had her tied with and began to bind her hands with it. She wanted to kick him again, but this time he was sitting on her legs. They were completely numb from his weight and by the time he got up, she wouldn’t be able to move them.
When he reached out again she assumed he was getting the rest of the rope for her legs. Her heart began to beat out a crescendo in her chest when she realized he’d reached for the knife instead. He saw her looking at it and he smiled. There was still blood all over his mouth and she could see where his front tooth had chipped off. She wondered if he would really kill her. Would he face the wrath of Red Bull who had told him not to? She also realized that the condition she was already in didn’t bode well for him giving a shit. Red Bull had apparently told him to bring her back safely…he already hadn’t followed orders. She was sure at that point that her life was being counted out in minutes if not seconds and she found it hard to breathe.
While he traced circles lazily across her abdomen with the knife, she stared up at t
he sky. She wasn’t a religious person, but she wondered at that second if her brother was up there somewhere, looking down on her. Was he waiting for her to die and come join him or was he going to try and save her. The sun was high in the sky, making for a bright and beautiful morning. She didn’t want to die today. She felt Martin flatten the knife and slide it underneath the front of her bra against her breastbone. He twisted it then and the bra split open and her breasts spilled out. He made a disgusting sound and she closed her eyes and tried to resign herself to what was about to happen. It was suddenly like time was standing still. She was waiting for the stomach turning feel of his touch, but it didn’t come. After a few seconds curiosity got the better of her and she opened her eyes. Martin had turned his back to her and he was looking at something from the direction of the trees. She tried to turn her head and look at what he was seeing, but she couldn’t see anything but the dark entrance. Martin saw whoever it was though and that prompted him to drop back down to his knees and press the knife to her throat.
“I’ll kill her. I’ll slice her pretty throat right now while you watch. I don’t care.”
She was still watching the trees and still, she couldn’t see or hear anything. Martin pressed the knife in tighter and she felt a powerful sting and the warm blood that seeped out around it. That was when Kyle stepped out about twenty yards or so from them. He was holding his hands up in the air and his gun was in one of them. “Toss it!” Martin ordered him. Kyle hadn’t made eye-contact with Levi at all. She couldn’t tell by his face what he was thinking but she prayed that he had a plan, or they were both about to die. He tossed the gun and she heard it bounce and hit off of the same rocks that her brother had bounced off of ten years before. Kyle’s face was suddenly a road map of agony and she was sure he was thinking the same thing.
“Good, now come over here. Closer!” Martin told him. Kyle glared at Martin. He approached the two of them and when he was about an arm’s reach away, Martin ordered him to stop. “So, you came for the slut?” Martin asked casually. Kyle winced. He took a deep breath and said, “They don’t want you to hurt her. If you do, you’ll have two clubs to answer to.”
“I’ve thought of that,” he said. “But the Sons of Warlocks owe me. They owe me a lot. I took the fall in a murder charge against Frankie. I said it was me that went to that warehouse that day and me that shot the homeless junkie trying to break in the back window.”
“But it wasn’t you,” Levi said in a hoarse, almost inaudible voice. “It was Frankie, wasn’t it?”
He nodded. “But I’d been wearing a prospect patch for almost five fucking years and I was sick of it. I wanted to be an enforcer like that piece of shit Frankie. I wouldn’t need to be coddled. All I would need was a point in the right direction and I’d take care of anybody they wanted. I did it while I was in prison and I was prepared to do it again when I got out…I thought things were finally changing and I was going to get some respect…but then they called and told me they changed their mind about this whore and they wanted her alive. No fucking way are they taking this away from me. I’ll come up with a story and anyone that doesn’t believe it can go fuck themselves.”
That was when Kyle moved. He suddenly had a knife in his hand, I’m not sure where it came from but he dove at Martin and knocked him off of Levi…but not before Martin’s knee sunk down into her gut. She was gasping for air as the two of them struggled for the dominant position. Levi saw a knife fall and skitter across the rocks. She wasn’t sure whose knife it was, but still in excruciating pain, she reached out for it. Once she had it in her hand she looked up in time to see Martin raising his knife high above his head. Kyle was on his back between the other man’s legs. She didn’t think about the pain in her head or her gut or the tingling in her legs as the circulation returned to them. All she thought about was that knife hurtling toward Kyle’s face. Just as Kyle turned his head and the knife struck him in the shoulder the one she had in her hand plunged into Martin’s back between his shoulder blades. He howled like a wounded animal and reached back. As soon as he was off balance Kyle bucked him off and when he fell back the knife plunged deeper into his back. His howling was echoing off of the canyon around them but as soon as Kyle reached for Levi and her face was buried in his warm chest and his arms were wrapped protectively around her, it began to fade. Kyle slowly lowered them both to the ground and he pulled her up onto his lap and held her. She felt his lips brushing her hair and the side of her face and she closed her eyes and leaned into him. She had no idea where they would go from here or how she would feel about the fact that she plunged a knife into another human being tomorrow. At that moment all that mattered was how she felt in Kyle’s arms. Levi wanted to stay there forever.
Chapter 13
The men were loud and rowdy and the whiskey and tequila was being guzzled like it was water. Levi sat on a stool at the bar and watched Kyle. It had been two weeks since the day she killed Martin and things were finally settling down. That first day once she’d calmed down enough for Kyle to take off his shirt and put it on her and announce that he was going to get rid of the body…she freaked out again.
“No! We need to call the cops. Someone will be looking for him and I’ll spend the rest of my life until they catch me worrying about it. I’m tired of living life looking over my shoulder.”
Kyle gently took hold of her hands and said, “You won’t be living that way, I promise. No one is going to be looking for this guy and judging by the looks of him if they are, they’ll be looking to take him out themselves.”
“But it was self-defense. Why can’t I just tell the cops that?”
“Because as long as the Sons of Warlocks have no idea where this piece of shit has gone off to, they have nothing to use against you, or us. Jared said that Rodney agreed to help them out with one job. Once that’s done, we’re finished with them. Baby that club is nothing but trouble and I know you know that even more than I do. This is a clean break for you.”
“But what will you do with him? How are you going to get his body anywhere? He weighs a ton…” That was when his phone rang. She listened nervously as he told someone where to find them. He didn’t say another word when he ended the call, he just held her until Jared and another guy named Drill showed up. She tried not to watch as they rolled the body off the cliff. She tried not to think about her brother going over that same cliff and the way his body looked that day after it had hit the rocks on the way down. One look at Kyle’s face told her that he was thinking the same thing. Once they got the body down where they wanted it, Jared and Drill went down after it the other way and Kyle went back over to Levi.
“Are you okay baby?”
She nodded, numbly. She wasn’t sure that she was okay…but what was she going to say? It wasn’t the first dead person she’d ever seen and it wouldn’t be the first time that she knew about someone hiding a body. She lived with Frankie for two years and murder and mayhem had been his specialties. But knowing she’d killed him was different. No matter how much he deserved it, the feeling of plunging that knife in between his shoulders was something that wasn’t going to be easy to shake. “What now?” she said in a whisper. She hadn’t even realized that she said it out loud until Kyle took her hands between his and said, “Whatever you want. You’re free baby. You have your whole life ahead of you. Now, you go and do what you’ve ever wanted to do. But first, I owe you an apology. It’s not one that will make anything better, but it’s one I need to give. I’m so sorry about Will and that I never gave you the apology you deserved…”
She was shaking her head. “I never blamed you for Will. It was a horrible accident, one that I hate you had to witness.”
“I still feel responsible that I couldn’t help him,” he said. Tears glistened in the corners of his eyes and tugged at her heart.
“I wish you didn’t. Will loved you. You were his best friend and I know that my brother wouldn’t blame you. I know that he knew you would do anything you could for him.�
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He nodded and whispered, “Thank you. I also owe you an apology for the other night when I acted like such a dick.”
She smiled through her own tears and said, “That one I’ll take.” He smiled too and then she said, “But why Kyle? Why did you seem so angry with me?”
He shook his head. “I was never angry with you. God baby I saw you that day and everything just came rushing back…but at the same time I wanted you. I wanted you so badly I could taste it. I started drinking and lost my inhibitions about you being Will’s little sister and I had you…and fuck it was amazing. But afterwards I felt like I’d betrayed him and you both…”
“Will’s gone, and if he was here I think that he couldn’t have picked a better man for his sister than you. And as far as betraying me…I’m not a little girl any longer Kyle. I wanted you too…I still do.”
He wrapped her up in a hug again and for a long time they just sat there, both of them trying to figure out what it all meant and where to go from there.
As she looked at him across the room, thinking that he was the most beautiful man that she’d ever seen, she still wasn’t sure where she was going with her life. But she knew for sure that the past two weeks in Kyle’s bed and in his arms had been the happiest of her life and she knew that wherever she went, she wanted him with her.
“Hey.” She turned to see her friend Cami take the stool next to her. “You okay?”
She smiled and nodded. “I’m good.”
