by Khloe Wren
“Sarah, what kind of place are we going to? A house? Warehouse?”
“It was an old ranch house, but it's been extensively renovated and added onto. I think Bruce's folks were some kind of doomsdayers, or something.”
I didn't ask anything else. But unease had the hairs on my neck tingling. How could she have lived here for over twenty years and not know things like that for sure?
She shook her head. “I'm sorry, my memory isn't the greatest. I often forget things...”
She trailed off as she started walking and I followed her. Maybe she was on drugs of some kind? Although, after what the Iron Hammers did to us, I couldn't believe she'd even consider doing drugs. Regardless, Sarah was someone I'd have to worry about later. Scout needed to be my first priority right now.
Scout
Gritting my teeth against the pain, I stayed silent as the fucker kneeling in front of me put another slice over my ribs.
“Just tell us what we want to know, then we can sort out a deal and stop this shit.”
I glared at the asshole who was standing back watching me be tortured, pretending like he cared. It had been like this from the moment I woke up strung up from this fucking hook like a slab of beef. My bare feet barely touched the ground, and my arms had gone numb before I woke up so I didn’t have the ability to lift up and kick out at the bastards. I’d tried, but just couldn’t get my muscles to do what I fucking wanted them to.
To start with, they'd tried to beat information out of me about the bunker and what it was being used for, until they figured out that wasn't going to get them anywhere. I'd been in the Marines for years, and since returning to Bridgewater, had always enjoyed a regular good round or two in the ring set up behind the club's gym. A beating I could take, no matter how hard they wailed on me. This cutting shit they were doing now though, that stung like a motherfucker. The thin, sharp blade sliced through my flesh like it was fucking butter. Nothing deep, because even they seemed to know a dead man couldn't talk. But they were getting as annoying as fuck. The feel of my blood trailing down my body wasn't great either. They'd stripped me from the waist up before I woke up. They’d also taken my boots and socks off, but had thankfully left my jeans alone so far. Although, I was sure they'd work up to that at some point. I still wouldn't tell them a fucking thing, though.
“I ain't telling you shit, and I sure as fuck ain't negotiating any kind of deal with fuckers who tie me up to beat the shit outta me, then try to fucking cut me like I'm some kind of steak.”
At my words the boss man’s face went red and he finally broke from his fake calm bullshit he'd been pulling. Lunging forward, he landed his fist right over my kidney. I'd expected it, and braced for it, but it still hurt like a motherfucker. Breathing through the pain, I did my best to keep my face neutral. I didn't want to give this asshole anything. Clearly he didn't like my stoic demeanor, as he stormed out of the room cursing me under his breath. Not sure what outcome he expected from this little stunt, but I was USMC trained, dammit. And I'd been president of the Charon MC for a long fucking time. I was no pushover, I would never spill my secrets, and I sure as hell didn't cave to little shits on a power trip. And that's what this was. He'd said something about us using his daddy's bunker to make money and he deserved a cut of it. My brain wasn't doing logic real well just at the moment, but I guessed this had something to do with the Satan's Cowboys and what they were doing over at the bunker on the gun range. In which case, it didn't matter what the fuck I said, I had no power over what Viper and his club did there. I'd told him no drugs on the streets of Bridgewater, and he'd agreed but that was pretty much the end of my control over that shit. So all this was for nothing, unless it was something else they really wanted. Because honestly, all this shit seemed a little excessive for some information about gun and drug running.
No matter what they were really after, these fuckers would kill me before they got anything. And if they did end me, hell would rain down on them like they'd never imagined. My brothers would call in the Cowboys and they'd all storm this place and fucking destroy every single one of them. In fact, as soon as my boys realized I was missing, Keys would find some way to track me here, then they'd come do that regardless. With or without back up from the Cowboys. The Charons were no pussies. If all my brothers showed up together, we’d get this place cleaned out and ended in no time. Fuck, I hoped he found a way soon. I really didn't want to fucking die here, especially with Marie still angry with me. An image of her pretty face filled my vision as the bastard who'd been cutting me moved away from me, following his boss out the door. Closing my eyes, I let my head hang forward, mentally going over every inch of my woman's face and body. Fuck, what I wouldn't give to be back in that hotel room in Houston with her. I should have tied her to the fucking bed before I went to sleep, to make sure she was still there when I woke up.
I kicked myself for not leaving a voicemail message. I should have at least wished her a happy birthday. If I died here, the last contact between us was me fucking hanging up on her. Even though I'd fucked up and said things that had hurt her, would she realize in time that I really did care about her? Fuck, she'd been the moon and stars in my world for over twenty fucking years. No one I'd fucked since meeting her had meant a damn thing because she'd had my heart. A shudder ran through my body as I remembered how it had felt to slide inside her heat for the first time. Finally. Fuck, I was such a damn fool for wasting so many years.
Her scent filled my nose a moment before I heard her voice.
“Ah, hell, Scout.”
Was this a dream? I shook my head to clear it before I opened my eyes and sure enough, Marie was standing in front of me, her palms reaching for my face. Definitely a dream. I hissed in a breath when she touched me, her skin so warm and soft against my face. She leaned in and pressed the lightest kiss to the side of my mouth, like she was scared she'd hurt me. It didn’t matter if I was dreaming, I needed to tell her everything I hadn’t earlier.
“Love you, babe. I’m so fucking sorry I screwed things up. I get crazy possessive about you. Even the thought of you ever having been with someone else drives me fucking nuts. Forgive me, yeah?”
Her expression softened as she stroked my face again. “You're forgiven, but how about we get you out of here before we have a big heart to heart?”
Frowning, I shook my head. She was nothing but a hallucination. She couldn't be here. “Out of where, babe?”
Her eyes grew wide before she turned from me and looked around the room. Someone else behind her passed her a bottle which she made fast work of uncapping and holding up to my mouth. I opened for her to pour the liquid in, not really expecting to get any. My imagination wasn't that good.
Cool, clean water flowed into my mouth and I swallowed that shit down as fast as I could. Fuck, I was so damn thirsty. She pulled it away before I was done and I growled.
“No, Scout, you'll make yourself sick.”
“You're fucking really here. Are you crazy, woman? Go! Get outta here while you still can.”
Oh fuck, they'd come back and find her here. She couldn't take the abuse they'd dealt out to me, it'd break her. I tugged on my arms, trying to break free as she searched the wall behind me for something.
“Don't suppose you know how to release your hands? I can't find anything that would lower you down.”
They'd wrapped my wrists in chain, then attached it to a hook that hung down from the ceiling. I was sure there was a lever somewhere, but I had no fucking clue where it was.
“I'll look outside the room.”
“No, Sarah, don't―”
Oh fuck, the other woman was Sarah? Marie's foster sister? I didn't have time to ponder that thought for long as Sarah was brought back in by the head asshole. He had his hand wrapped up in her hair, while the other held a wicked looking hunting knife against her throat.
“Well, looks like my little mouse came home and brought a friend.” Marie shuffled until she stood directly in front of me, press
ing her back to my front. I took deep breaths, breathing her scent in as I prayed to anyone who'd listen that she wouldn't be hurt by these bastards. “You must be Marie? Yes, no need to answer. I'd hoped when Sarah found we held her savior that she'd go running to get you. I do so love when plans work out, don't you?”
What the hell was he talking about now? How the hell did Sarah fit into all this shit? The water had helped clear my head. Fuck, who was I kidding, having Marie in danger was what had cleared the fog from my head so fast. Had my woman really come storming in here with no backup? I was gonna spank her ass red when we got out of here. Putting herself in danger like that... but first, we had to fucking get out of here, somehow.
The fucker kicked the door shut, and I heard the lock slide home. Dammit. That wasn't a good fucking sign. At least he was on his own. Keeping his back facing away from me and Marie, he moved over to the opposite wall where he briefly turned away from us and made fast work of shackling Sarah up to the wall. Unlike me, her arms weren’t fully extended, but it still wouldn't take long for her arms to start hurting at the angle he had them.
“I guess now we're all here I can tell you what this is really all about. Because, I'm guessing as soon as I get to work on the lovely Marie here, you're gonna tell me every damn thing I wanna know, aren't you Scout?”
“Leave her the fuck alone. She's got nothing to do with this!”
Fury had me vibrating and I wanted nothing more than to be set free so I could shove Marie behind me and take this fucker out with my bare fucking hands.
“You had your chance for that. You chose to not talk, so here we are. Not that I'm complaining. I've waited a long time to be able to fully play with these two. Of course, I've been fucking around with little Sarah here for a good, long while, she just doesn't realize it.” He ran a finger down her cheek, dragging moisture from her tears before he moved to grab her breast roughly. “You got no fucking clue we've been testing drugs on you all this time, do you little mouse? Ever wonder why you wake up in the mornings so very sore? No? Hmm, we still have some tweaks to make. It seems they mess with memory more than we need it to.”
Bile rose in my throat, but I forced it down, and tugged on my arms again. Pain flared through the numbness but I didn't care. I couldn't believe what this fucker was saying he'd been doing. And how in the hell did Sarah get mixed up with him and his shit in the first damn place?
CHAPTER 6
Marie
I could barely process what he was saying. He'd been drugging and using Sarah as a whore for however long he'd had her? And the drugs he'd pumped her full of had screwed her memory up? What the hell kind of rabbit hole had we’d all fallen down? Scout was seething with anger, I could feel it radiating off him. Reaching back, I put my palms on his sides, trying really hard to not focus on the stickiness I came into contact with. They'd tortured him, cut little slices into his torso, in a pattern up his ribs.
The bastard, who I guessed must be Bruce, turned away from Sarah, who was now shaking with her sobs. “Nope, I'm gonna enjoy working you both over, but good. Because you see, when you two got away from the Iron Hammers all those years ago, you left others behind didn't you?” He didn't give me time to answer, “Yeah, that's right. You left all those other women behind, to be drugged and used however those fuckers felt like―”
My temper got the better of me, and I interrupted. “How is that any different than what you've done to Sarah? For how long?”
He grinned an evil smile. “That's the point, Marie. She's been used as my sister was. She's been paying the price you soon will for leaving others behind. And it's been a good, long while―about twenty-three years, I believe. Poor little Sarah, she was so scared of bikers, even her saviors, the Charon MC. When I came along and offered her sanctuary here away from society in general, she jumped at the chance. For a girl who grew up in foster care, she really is surprisingly gullible.”
Yeah, she was. That's why I’d always looked out for her. I hated that she up and left Bridgewater like she had. But I hadn't wanted to go, so I let her make her choice and leave.
“I guess you'd have called my father a doomsdayer. He prepped for the end of the world. A little too much, in my opinion. It meant that like Sarah, my sweet sister grew up very naive and unaware of the evils in the world. When she rebelled and ran away, father sent me to retrieve her. But she’d vanished. I couldn't find her anywhere locally. So I came home to tell father. After that he went a little crazy―well―a little more crazy. My mother had died giving birth to my sister, so we were all the old man had. It took him over a year to finally locate her. She'd been picked up by one of the Iron Hammers and taken to their clubhouse... but you two know all about how that works, don't you? How they drug and rape those girls until they're completely hooked on that shit they pump into them all the damn time. By the time father tracked her that far, she'd already been moved on. You see, my sister was a pretty thing. Blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin, not a mark on her precious body. Father found her in a brothel over the border in Mexico. I went with him down there, and we were loaded to start a fucking war to get her back.”
He paused to stalk toward me, I swallowed nervously as he got closer. There was no point in trying to run, the door was shut and locked. He wrapped his palm around the front of my throat and squeezed just enough that I felt a little restriction on my breathing. Scout’s growl filled the room as I raised my hands to try to pry his hand from me, but he held firm and ignored my efforts.
“When those Mexican assholes realized who we'd come for, they slit her throat and tossed her out the door to land at our feet. We barely recognized her. What they'd done to her.” His eyes glazed over for a moment with moisture, as though he really had loved his sister. “Father went into warrior mode. I tried to stop him but he wouldn't listen, he went barging in there with guns blazing. He took out a good half dozen men before he was killed.”
“We didn't do any of that. You know we didn't! I've told you what happened that night, how we got told the police were in the Iron Hammers’ pocket and wouldn't have helped those other girls. We were just kids ourselves.”
Sarah's voice was hoarse with emotion and if I could talk, I was sure mine would be the same. Guilt over not doing anything to save those other girls had eaten away at me constantly since that night.
“As soon as we found out what the Iron Hammers were doing, we went down there together with the Iron Wolves MC and shut that shit down. New management down there now and all the girls they still had have been put through rehab and given all the help they need to get back on their feet. When you’d realized who'd taken your sister, you should have come to us. We didn't fucking know back then what they were up to, dammit.”
Scout's words seem to make him even angrier. With a growl, he tossed me aside and I went crashing into the wall with the force of his shove. Fuck that hurt. I'd managed to turn enough my shoulder caught the brunt of the hit, but still. Ouch. I glanced back over just as the bastard landed a fist against Scout's cut up side. I winced even as Scout stayed stoic.
“Why the hell would we have gone to an MC to deal with another MC? You would have sided with them. I know how you bastards are all about brotherhood. And don’t fucking lie to me! You had to know after the girls were given to you.”
“They never told me exact details. And we only back up another MC when it's deserved. Anyone in this corner of Texas knows if you have an issue with the Iron Hammers, the Charons are the ones to come see about it. Nothing you do here will bring back your sister or father. I’m sorry you lost them, but this isn't fixing it. What you've done to Sarah for over twenty fucking years, isn't going to bring them back. Stop this shit now, before it costs you your life.”
Crazy bastard threw his head back and laughed. “It ain't me that's gonna lose my life here today. That honor is all yours. Then I'm gonna use your woman just like I have Sarah. I'm sure my men will appreciate the fresh meat.”
I could see Scout was struggling to keep his ra
ge under wraps.
“This was never about that fucking bunker, was it?”
I had no idea what Scout was talking about, but I made the most of them talking and shifted so I could slowly rise from the floor where I'd landed.
“Of course not. That was just to get the others on board to help me snatch you, and in turn, Marie. They don't know shit about who was responsible for what happened to my sister. How these two bitches left her to be used and sold to be used some more. Nor do they realize an MC would never give a civilian a fucking cut of their business. I'm not stupid, I just needed an excuse to get the others to help me.”
“And the drugs? How many are in on that shit?”
“Only a few. Can't trust many people these days. But that's all good. Less ways to split the money once we get it right, and none of the men complain when Sarah turns up high as a kite and looking for some cock. They don't give a shit what she's on, so long as she willing to spread her thighs, or open her mouth. Sure they'll love it even more when there's two of them to use.”
Trying not to gag at what he was saying, I made the most of the fact his focus was so completely on Scout, he didn't notice me moving. Taking a deep breath, I moved around the perimeter of the room, as quietly as I could manage. When I reached Sarah, I waited for him to say something else―do something to cover the noise I was going to make by flipping open the shackles. Thankfully, he hadn't taken the time to lock them with anything other than basic clips.
