by Ali Parker
I took a sip of the water with the guy’s help and thought about spitting it back in his face, but I was too thirsty to waste a drop of it. "Where are we?"
"At one of my warehouses." Tanner walked over and smiled. "I have a few things for you. Gifts that might help inspire you to help me out a little."
"Fuck you," I spat my words at him as fury raced through me.
"No, not yet." He winked and squeezed my knee. "Though the thought of taking you like a whore against the wall in a storage room does sound pretty appetizing."
Horror raced through me. Had Ryder said something to Tanner? Were they still working together? No. I couldn't let myself believe something so vile.
"Tell me what you want and let me go, or kill me. No one deserves to be toyed with or have to listen to the sound of your voice for more than a few minutes." I glanced down and let my chin drop as exhaustion tugged at me.
"You know what I imagined happening when we dragged you out of the river?" He paused.
I kept silent.
"I thought maybe Ryder would be on his way to find you, to stop you from leaving his place, but he didn't come." He moved closer. "Why is that, Dani? Did you guys have your fill of each other? Was he done with you like he is everyone he fucks a couple of times?"
I jerked my head up and paid dearly for the quick movement. "Does he work for you, Tanner? Is this what you're getting at?"
"Ryder? Johnny Moretti?" He laughed and knelt in front of me. "He's my best friend. He has been for all of my life."
"Maybe once a long time ago, but not now." I closed my eyes and tried to focus. I had to get the fuck out of there. "He's with my sister, Candace. She's carrying his child, Dani. You didn't know all of this?"
"Stop it." I glanced up as he laughed.
"Paul. Grab the phone recording from our last visit with Johnny. Danielle doesn't believe the impossible to be possible. Let's help her a little, shall we?" He motioned for someone to come in. "Bring in the video. The TV. She's up. I think she should know the truth. It'll help her with the little extra push she needs to assist us."
"Fuck you, Tanner. I'm not doing anything for you."
He reached out and grabbed my throat. Pressing his finger under my chin, I had no choice but to lift my chin and stare him in the face. "This can be a pleasant visit where I really open your eyes to the world you're playing in, cop, or it can be real fucking painful. Don't fuck with me. Period."
I jerked back from him as another guy rolled in a TV and video equipment. "Which one, boss?"
"Let's start with her and Johnny." Tanner clasped his hands behind his back as the video started to play.
I recognized the dark store room the minute my vision cleared. My voice filled the room along with Ryder’s.
"No." I turned to Tanner. "I'm not watching this."
"Oh yeah. You are." He walked over and gripped my face again, forcing me to turn toward it. "He fucks you real good up against the wall. I just wanna know one thing."
"Stop." I closed my eyes as tears dripped down my face.
"No, seriously. Tell me. Was he in your pussy or your ass? I love the sound of your moans. I want to get it right should we end up having a night together."
I jerked from him. "Let me go. Tell me what you want and let me go."
"One more video?" He released me and walked to the TV, kneeling down and changing something. The black screen cleared and it was the same room, but this time, it was Johnny and another woman fucking against the wall. Her dark hair and beautiful body made me look like a young girl with no experience and very few curves.
I turned away as another sob rose in my chest.
"Hate him?" Tanner moved over and sat down on the table next to me. "That's my little sister he's fucking. That wasn't but a day before he met you. He got her pregnant that night, Dani. How would you feel if someone did that to Tani?"
I screamed and turned, jerking toward him and trying to bite him. They had me on my back and Tanner was on top of me, straddling my chest before I could figure out what the fuck was happening.
"I didn't take her, bitch. She came to me." He pressed his hand to my chest as I cried. "You think you know every fucking thing, well you don't."
"Get off of me. You're a monster than steals little girls." I jerked beneath him, wishing for death if it meant relief from the nightmare. "Get off!"
He moved off of me and jerked me back up. "You're going to deliver Johnny Moretti to me when I tell you to do it."
"Not happening." I sat up and rolled my head, trying to stretch out my neck a little.
"No? Ask him about your sister, Dani. Ask him who brought her in. Who seduced her?" He tilted his head to the side and laughed as I leaned over and vomited everything in my stomach. My body clenched as pain and sorrow raged through me.
There was no way Johnny was involved with Tani, and yet it made sense. Why else wouldn't he explain himself or his past? How had he taken such a quick liking to me? Because I looked just like my sister.
"I thought he was your best friend." I glanced to the side as I spit acid from my mouth.
"He was, until he fucked Candace over. Family comes first, no?" He reached out and brushed my hair over my shoulder as I jerked from him. "I'm going to let you go. You say a word to anyone or don't do as I ask, and I'll kill him, Jason, your father and you'll be my pet until you're so worn out from being fucked by a million men that you will wish yourself dead."
"Fuck you."
"That'll be the greatest pleasure you get, little girl. Do what I tell you to do." He glanced up as he moved back. "Tracker."
"What?" I moved around the table as two of Tanner's guys moved toward me. "No. I don't want a tracker."
"If I trusted you at all, you wouldn't get one, but I don't." He laughed as he walked toward the door. "Hold her down. Make it painful."
"No." I kicked as they pressed me to the table and shoved a pill down my throat. I gagged as the taste of iron filled my mouth and burned my throat.
A black bag was wrapped around my head as I thrashed about. The hit to the side of my head was more than enough to knock me out, and crazy enough, I was grateful for it. Darkness was better than the hell I'd woken up in.
Chapter 17
Ryder
"Hey man. We need some help. A pretty lady has a flat out back and you're the best one with cars." Jax tapped the table in front of me the next afternoon as I sat in the clubhouse and drank my worries away.
"Where the fuck is Axel?" I growled and stared at my friend.
"Dude, come on. He's still at the shop. Get your mean ass up and come on." He moved back and pulled his suit jacket off before laying it across the table. "It's starting to rain out there. I'm going to bring her inside and get her something warm to drink. Go fix the fucking tire."
"Fine," I barked and stood up. The sound of the rain pounding against the roof gave me no hope on getting the flat tire off fast and the new one on. I moved out into the storm as Hyde jogged up the stairs with his arm around a young woman with a toddler on her hip. "It's the blue one."
"Oh, the one with a flat tire?" I mumbled and walked down the stairs as the rain soaked my shirt. I reached down and pulled it off, not needing the extra weight. I felt entirely too heavy as it were. I hadn't seen or heard from Danielle in two days and the shit with Candace was weighing heavy on me. Was she really pregnant with my kid, and what did that mean for me and Dani? Would she be alright with me helping raise the little guy?
"Thanks for your help." One of the bartenders patted me on the back and jogged up to the lodge. I glance back to find everyone inside. It felt fitting considering where I was in my life.
Everyone was gone. Disappeared without a word.
Jason was with Maria and Neiman, or so I hoped. The guys were keeping their distance which was smart, but it hurt nevertheless. Danielle had fallen off the fucking map and wasn't returning my calls no matter what I did.
I grabbed the jack and worked to get the tire off for much longer than
it should have taken. Someone patted my shoulder a little while later, and I glanced up to see Axel standing over me.
"Need some help, brother?"
"Yeah." I got up and pulled at the tire before chucking it over my shoulder. "I'll fix the tire and you deal with my dicked up life."
"How about I help with both?" He walked to the trunk and got the spare out. Both of us were soaked to the bone with water dripping down our faces and beards.
"Give me that." I reached out and took the tire before bending over and getting it to fit back on the car. I worked the thing back into place and finished up the job with Axel standing next to me. I finished and he offered me a hand. I took it and got up with his help.
We walked to the lodge in silence. When we reached the stairs, I dropped down on the top one and ran my hands down my face.
He sat down beside me. "What's going on, Ryder? You're not yourself right now."
"Yeah. I guess not." I shrugged and let my eyes move along the road. "Tanner King has my dick in a vise yet again."
"How so, man? Let me help."
"I'd rather you just stay out of it. I don't want you getting wrapped up in his shit again."
"You're my best friend, Jon. I'm not going anywhere." He reached over and patted my back. "Tell me what old Tan-Man is up to now. It can't be worse than killing your brother, Jon."
"No. It's not that bad, at least not yet." I let out a long sigh. It was rare that a sense of hopelessness settled on top of me, but it was one of those times. Every angle I looked at seemed bent. Every option was fucked up and failed. "Candace is pregnant."
"Oh, God." He pulled his hand back and cupped his face. "It cannot be yours. There's no way."
"Dude. I fucked her a week ago."
"Yeah. A week. It's not even been that long. It's not your baby, Jon. Get a paternity test."
"He was slapping her around in the fucking shop yesterday, Axel. I'm not asking for a paternity test. He put a fucking gun to her head as she started to cry and shake. What's wrong with this mother fucker? He wasn't like this when we were kids. It's almost like he sold his fucking soul to the devil, and now the piper has come to collect."
"Tanner has never been right, and you know that." Axel pressed his hands to his knees and lifted his face toward the heavens. "What does he want from you, Jon?"
"I'm not saying. I don't want you involved in this shit."
"Is it something you can do pretty easily?"
"Yeah." I brushed my hand down my face again, trying to wipe some of the rainwater off of me. "I'll just ruin any chances of a relationship with Danielle, but fuck it. We weren't going to become anything anyway. I don't need a woman in my life. I have enough shit to deal with."
"Dude. You met her a week ago."
"What's your fucking point," I barked and turned to face him. "When you know, you know, okay? It's like you and El, but I'm not dicking around. I'm pushing her to give me a chance, I'm making love to her and touching her and tasting her every goddamn chance I get. I don't know why she feels so right." I patted my chest hard. "But she does. I don't want to give up what we have, but if it'll save Tanner from taking out his wrath on me and Candace, then fuck it."
"No. We take him out. There's six of us, Jon. We'll take out his whole fucking MC. It's time to put them down anyway. They're a disease on this city. The things we've let them get away with for the last few years are deplorable. We'll be punished because of letting that shit happen."
"You don't know how powerful he is, Axel. You think you do, but you don't know shit." I stood up and rolled my shoulders. "I gotta get back in Dani's good graces to get this plan moving. The sooner I do what he's asked me to do, the quicker I can move on from this fucked up situation and try to live what's left of my life."
"Dude. You don't have to go at this alone." Axel stood and turned to face me.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out as my heart skipped a beat. I wanted it to be Dani so fucking bad. "It's my sister. I gotta take this. She's got Jason with her."
He nodded and looked like he wanted to say something else, but let it go and walked off.
I waited until the door closed behind me to move under the roof and answered the phone. "It's Johnny."
"It's Maria. We couldn't find Jason, so we went over to your place, Johnny and he's not there either." She was frantic, and her crying was making it hard to understand her.
I wanted to bark into the phone that he was her fucking problem and remind her how much of a pain in the ass the kid had been his whole life, but my timing was off. She was beside herself.
"I'm headed to the house."
"I'm scared to go into the bedroom, Johnny. He's not in there, but there's blood all over the sheets." Her voice broke.
"It's alright. I'll be there and I'll find him. Just go back to your place and lock the doors, okay? That fucking kid is into all kinds of things that would make my childhood look like a day in the park."
"Please be careful."
“Right. I’ll see if I can find him, if I can save him."
"He's not yours to save, Jon. Roberto wasn't either." Her voice was soft, compassionate, which was something I didn’t deserve.
“I’m the oldest brother in the Moretti family, Maria. Everyone is mine to save.”
I dropped the call. Who knew where Jason was, but if I had one guess, I'd have pointed right to Tanner King’s house. The fucker was after me, and what better way to get to me than using my family and friends? He knew how I felt about Jason namely because of the suffering he enjoyed when I broke down at Roberto’s funeral.
Fury boiled in my stomach as I walked back into the lodge to grab my keys and my shirt.
"Hey. You alright?" Hyde moved up beside me, walking fast and keeping stride with me.
"No. Jason's missing again. I'm headed to the house to find him. If he shows up here or you guys hear anything-"
"We'll call right away." Axel tossed me my keys and my shirt. "We got your back, Ryder. It's what we're here for. Stop pushing us away mother fucker. You set the tone for this club. Only you."
I nodded. "Thank you for the reminder. I'll be in touch."
"Good." Axel gave me a single nod before I turned on my heel and jogged back out of the lodge. The rain had let up a little, but not enough to make the ride home safe at all. At least not at the speed I went.
*
By the time I made it home, I had imagined the worst possible scenario. As mad as I was at the kid, he didn't deserve the life I'd lived. Neither mine nor Roberto's. Someone had to save his ass, and it seemed like it was going to be me.
I parked the bike, locked it up quickly and jogged up the stairs. Darkness greeted me when I walked into the house, which wasn't at all unusual.
"Jason? You here, man?" I walked to the back and turned into his bedroom. The smell of weed slapped me in the face, but I ignored it. I'd toked up as a kid too. His drug problem was the least of my worries as of late.
I pulled the cover back to find the sheets bloody. "Fuck."
The tracker. Either he or someone else had tried to get the damn thing off of him. There wasn't an easy way to do it without taking off some skin. After searching the house and coming up empty, I got on my bike and drove back up to the playground where the little bastard usually hung out. Nothing.
The warehouse was empty too. I parked outside of it and got out, walking into the dilapidated building and moving around the room. There was no reason to call out to him, he wasn't there.
My phone rang while I was looking in one of the closets, filling up the place with an annoyingly loud sound. I pulled my phone out and relief flooded my chest.
"Dani," I whispered into the phone. "There you are."
"Sorry." She sounded a little hoarse. "I just got back home, but realized that Jason's tracker has been deactivated. Is he okay? Did he run?"
"I don't know where he is, but I'll find him." I paused, not liking the weariness in her voice. Something was off. "You alright? You need me
to come over?"
"No," she bit out a little too quickly.
"Alright, well, I'm here if you need me."
"Thanks. I'll be in touch." She dropped the call without another word.
I stood there in the darkness and turned in a circle as something inside of me broke. The deep screams that welled up inside of me were terrifying. I was trapped in my old life and there was nowhere to run. I could help Tanner King once again, or he'd take everything I loved.
My only other option was to get the guys to band together with me and blow him and his boys to hell. Getting blood on our hands was something I'd promised myself as President that I'd never allow. Death seemed like the easy answer, but there was a price to pay for taking a life.
Freedom.
The law would come and take away our freedom, a sentence worse than death.
But wasn't a part of my freedom already gone? I was without a choice and being forced to hand over my nephew to Tanner's MC and give up the only girl who'd helped me want a different future.
Fuck. Maybe prison wasn't so bad after all.
Chapter 18
Dani
It was harder to move the next morning than it had been any other day in my life. My body hurt from all the shit the day before, but my heart was destroyed.
Johnny and I weren't much of anything - yet.
It was the yet that had me choking back tears and trying to come up with a new solution. Maybe he had fucked Candace in the same storeroom as me, but it was before me. Not after. It would be like me showing him a video of me and Seth together in a similar situation. My past only had the power to ruin my future if I let it. And I couldn't.
"But the shit with Tani." I sat up and groaned loudly as pain laced the back of my head. "I need to know what's going on there."
After a few minutes on the side of the bed, trying to decide what the fuck to do, I finally got to my feet. Tanner King was a much bigger bastard than I'd given him credit for. He wasn't only involved in sex trafficking and drugs, but in turning ordinary, good people into puppets.
