“You may want to close your eyes, Maya,” he tells me.
“NO! I want to see. I want to see them all dead!” I demand. If this is real—if I am about to be saved, I want to see their dead bodies. I need that proof for my own sanity. If not, I will live whatever days I have left fearing they will return and capture me again.
“I have a place where I can take you, a safe place,” he tells me.
“Do you have a problem with bikers Maya?” Lark, asked.
“No,” I lied. What the hell was he thinking? Of course, I had a problem with bikers. They were the reason I was in this mess.
“I wouldn’t save you then hand you over to another piece of shit,” Lark tells me.
I pause as I hear the honesty ringing from his voice.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him sheepishly.
“Don’t fucking apologize. You did nothing wrong,” he demands harshly.
I was so lost that I didn’t realize we had left the house until he placed me in the passenger seat of some expensive black car. At some point he had wrapped a blanket around me too.
Pulling it closer to me, I hold onto it like a life line. Was this really over? It was a question I couldn’t get out of my head.
Chapter 15
Kevin
Lark’s large frame entered the room carrying a bundle in his arms. An unmoving bundle. His dark eyes locked onto mine as his long stride ate up the space between us.
When he was a few feet away, he slowly lowered whoever was wrapped up in the blanket to the floor. Bare feet peeked out from the edge of the blanket and slowly pressed into the floor.
Then, whoever it was strained and dropped the blanket that was surrounding them like a cocoon. My breath stilled in my lungs and my chest squeezed painfully.
I couldn’t take my eyes from her. It was like looking at an angel and not being able to believe what you were seeing.
“Yes or no?” Lark asks.
My eyes were still glued to the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Her long, blond hair and deep blue eyes accompanied a tiny frame that had my heart beating at a painful pace.
If she wasn’t a fallen angel, I wanted to make her one.
“Kevin,” Lark growls.
Larks phone started ringing and I only half listened to whatever was going on around me. This woman put a spell on me; enthralled me.
“Bethy?” I ask.
Anger pulsed from the hit man as he listened to whoever called, and my eyes finally left the woman before me fully and focused on him. Our eyes met.
“Hey man, wait up,” I tell him.
Lark just started walking away not even pausing to reply or even looking my way.
“What the fuck man?” I ask him, as I grab his shoulder and squeeze.
“I suggest you remove them before I take them,” he tells me.
“Lark, I just want to help,” I tell him.
“Lily needs me,” he tells me.
“Who the fuck is Lily?” I ask.
Larks hand shoots out and his fingers wrap around my throat and squeeze.
“Mine. My family,” he says coldly.
“Fuck man, I didn’t know,” I tell him.
He released me and started walking again. The fucker was crazy. But, he was my friend and I wasn’t letting him do this alone.
“I'm coming man, but what the fuck are we walking into?” I ask him.
His silence told me we were going in blind.
“Shit! Fuck! Okay, if I die today, I’m haunting your fucking ass. Do you hear me?” I ask him.
“I won’t lose any sleep,” Larks voice held a note of honesty. The prick.
“Love you too, asshole,” I tell him.
I wait for him to say something like fuck off or I’m going to gut you, but instead, he keeps walking.
“Follow me.” Lark tells Tom and I over his shoulder.
He doesn’t look at us or even make sure we listened. Lark just walked away. I’d tell him he was an asshole, but the fucker was scary.
Pausing, I look at the woman Lark had just brought in.
“What’s your name babe?” I ask her.
Her eyes flashed in anger as her lips curled.
“Maya. Not babe. Not sweetheart. It’s Maya,” she tells me harshly.
Damn, this one is feisty.
Chapter 16
Maya
I wanted to smile and laugh and scream all at the same time as I watch the man before me try and speak to me. He was treating me like a wounded animal; I guess in some way, I was.
I watch in amusement as he turned and walked down the hallway. He wanted me to follow him, but instead of using the words, he pointed and started leading.
The door loomed before me as he reached for the knob I cringed a little inside. What’s wrong with you Maya? You’re blindly following this man, trusting him as if what happened to you was just a nightmare you woke up from.
Swallowing as memories assaulted me, I launched through the door like a heat seeking missile. I needed to prove to myself that I wasn’t broken and that I came out on the other side intact.
The door was still open, and he was still looking at me like a freak. There was concern and confusion all over his face before he wiped it clean.
“I need to go, you’re safe in here,” he tells me.
“Wait, what’s your name?” I ask him desperately.
I wasn’t sure I was ready to be alone in a room again. I wasn’t sure I was ready to be in the company of a man. I was just fucked.
He smiled at me seemingly pleased with my question.
“Kevin,” he tells me, his voice smooth, rich, and coated with sugar.
I highly doubted this man had anything sweet in that body of his. He was sexy as hell, but I couldn’t let my guard down just yet.
“Look Maya, I need to go and as much as I want to sit here with you, I can’t,” he almost sounded sorry about that.
I nod my head and let my eyes cast to the floor looking at my bare feet. The silky green dress was still intact even though it was rumpled and wrinkled.
The door closed behind him and I quickly found the bed and sat down hard, and it bounced slightly under my descending weight.
I was assaulted with memories of how I found myself trapped in the room I had just escaped from. It was a night that would mark my soul for the rest of my life.
Dimitri was angry. He had a cold fury to him that pulsed off in waves and left frost bite in its wake. He had shoved me into the cool, dark room. Unlike this man who had gently led me here and talked to me like I was a real person and not some object to play with.
I waited for him to turn on the lights, but he didn’t. Instead he pressed a hand to my back and shoved and continued to shove, until I reached the bed the one place I didn’t want to go.
Then his hand grabbed a fistful of my hair and my face was slammed into the mattress. I thought I had felt fear before, but I had felt nothing as scary as this.
He had leaned over me even now I could feel the material of our clothing rubbing together. The sounds of our breaths as it pulsed out of us heavily.
The weight of his body as he pressed it down on me slowly. He was enjoying the fear he had instilled. The fear of not knowing what was next.
The heat of him stung my cold flesh as his body heat sunk through the layers of fabric. The sting of his days growth beard as it rubbed the skin of my cheek made me cringe.
“You’re to be my wife,” he tells me.
Fear had my heart beating painfully. I tried to swallow, but my throat was dry. I cried out when he pressed against me harder, letting his full weight press into me and forcing me further into the bed.
Curling up into a ball, I try to fight my way out of the memory, but it wasn’t letting go. I was stuck in that room.
Terror shook my body as his cock pressed into the crease of my ass. Oh god this isn’t happening. He grinded it against me, rocketing up my terror. My body hurt as my muscles locked together and I felt light headed.
“I won’t take you, but you will be punished,” he tells me darkly.
I sucked in a sharp breath as he lifted off of me. The only contact I had was the bed against my front. I should have jumped up and moved, but I was frozen in place; stuck in a terror induced position.
Then I heard it, the rattle of something metal. Finally, the muscles loosened. I went to stand, but he was there once again pulling me up by my hair.
He was pulling me to face him with an angry urgency. As our eyes met, he threw his arm back and brought it to my face with a loud slap.
Crying out from the painful impact, my eyes watered more as tears released and poured down my cheeks in waves. My mind wanted to drift to a safe place somewhere where he couldn’t hurt me, but I refused to be broken. I was stronger than that. I will endure and survive.
The impact of his hand a second time had me falling to the bed and blood dribbled down my chin as my lip split open.
“Get in the middle of the bed now,” he demanded.
Quickly scooting toward the middle of the bed as instructed, I closed my eyes for a moment to collect myself. I wasn’t weak. I was strong. I repeated this mantra in my head over and over.
His cool fingers wrapped around my right wrist and yanked it above my head, then I felt cold metal encircle it as a click followed. I tugged and yanked, but it was no use because my hands were now cuffed to the bed.
When I thought he was finished, he went to my legs and repeated the process. I was laid out like a sacrifice. I lay there with my eyes closed waiting for the knife to carve out my heart. I know it was foolish, he wanted to marry me he wasn’t going to kill me. But the fear was still there.
He hit me again this time in the stomach. The air left my lungs in a whoosh. I listened as his feet connected with the carpet covered floor until the door opened and closed behind him.
Before he left, he turned and around and said words that would haunt me until the day I die.
“Soon I will have you. I will have all of you and I won’t be easy Maya. I promise you if I don’t break you now, I will break you then,” his voice was filled with desire and need.
He turned and slammed the door closed behind him. There was nothing but the silence and the darkness to console me. Slowly, my mind started to crack, and I feared he would win. I feared that I would break in the dark silence like a tomb he had left me in. Sometimes it felt like the air was growing thin. Like I was sealed in here. Was he ever going to come back?
Chapter 17
Kevin
Lark was ready to walk through the front door and rip their heads from their soon to be dead bodies. Looking at Tom, I point to the left and then I point to myself, before pointing to the right. I was taking the Tom’s back and would look for a way inside.
The building was quiet, and I wanted to laugh at the fact it looked like the men were inside playing card games or some other cliché shit.
The air was cool as I quickly made my way to the other side of the building. My feet crunched over dead, dry leaves and twigs. Cringing, I prayed they didn’t hear the noise.
The rusted metal exterior door with its off-white paint peeling and yellowish stains, loomed before me. As I closed the distance between us I heard it.
The sound of gun fire. Fucking Lark, he didn’t wait for us. The door swung open and men filed out trying to run. My guess they figured out who and what Lark was.
I laughed as I put a bullet between the first man’s eyes and grabbed the next with my left hand. Pulling him into me so his back was to my front, I used his body as a shield as some of his men tried to fire at me.
The others opened fire killing the man I was holding against me. With my right hand, I open fire on them. Aiming for their knees first then the head.
Five, maybe six men, laid sprawled and bleeding in the dirt as I released the man I was holding and walked through the door.
The building was silent, not that I was surprised. Lark probably already killed whoever was left in there. Tom came out of a room to my left with blood splattered on his gray t-shirt.
“Knife?” I asked him.
He nodded and headed in the opposite direction I just came from. I laugh at him, damn, the man liked to get his hands dirty. Walking through the dirty decaying building, I take in the bodies littering the floor.
Blood was everywhere. Lark came from down another hallway carrying a little bundle wrapped up in a blanket. A fucking child. These men died too quick for this shit.
Lark nodded to us in thanks as he passed us carrying his precious bundle. He didn’t pause as he lowered her into the car and helped her buckle in. Once she was seated he was in the car and starting it.
Climbing onto my bike I follow the bastard as he drove away like a hell hound was nipping at his heels. The drive was short and cold. The night air held a crispness to it that stung the flesh.
Before I could really get into the ride and enjoy the freedom of the open road provided, Lark was pulling up in front of a small house.
Pulling up out front, I shut down my bike before climbing off it. Tom following behind me. Lark leaned down in his back seat and collected his bundle before turning and heading in the direction of the house.
Tom and I followed him inside and stayed on the lower level of the house. I watched as he carried her up the stairs.
The room was decorated with lots of color. My eyes were drawn to the photos on the fireplace. Making my way over to it, I look at the woman who must be the one Lark has claimed as his.
Her hair was dark, shimmering in the light and her eyes were bright with happiness as she cradled a little bundle wrapped in pink.
I wasn’t sure how he knew to bring the girl here, but he did. Sometimes, we didn’t question things; we just followed orders and prayed we were doing the right thing. When we first entered the building tonight, I knew I was going to kill a bunch of bastards, but I had no idea that these were also sick, and twisted individuals.
Not waiting for him to return, we walk out of the house and to our bikes. A small smile formed on my lips as I realized Lark had a soft side that none of us knew about. The road was calling my name and Maya was waiting for me at home. For the first time ever, I had someone to go home to and that thought warmed me.
Chapter 18
Kevin
I had just made it back to the club house. My bike was still warm and my ass was still planted on it when my phone started to ring.
Pulling the device from my pocket, I look at the lit-up screen.
“Lark?” I ask, in shock.
“I need you to pick up Lily,” he tells me.
“What?” I shout.
“Bethy’s gone and I need you to watch Lily,” his voice wavered slightly, the first sign he gave me that he was human.
“I'm coming,” I tell him.
I’m not sure if he heard it, but the line had gone silent before a beeping sound started in my ear telling me he had ended the call.
Turning I look at Tom.
“His woman’s missing,” I tell him.
Without a word, he starts up his bike and I follow suit. The ride back to Larks was quick. As soon as I walked thought the door he was on us.
“One man at the door to her room at all fucking times. Do not under any circumstance leave her unattended or I swear I will rip your balls off and suffocate you with them.” Larks dark, cold voice had me turning to look at him. When did he come down stairs and how the fuck didn’t I hear him?
I nod to him and Tom does the same. Lark doesn’t need words and says nothing as he walks out the door.
Chapter 19
Maya
I had just gained the courage to leave the room. As I moved to open the door, I couldn’t resist the need to look at my bare feet.
There was a bottle of water outside the door waiting for me, even a sandwich and some chips. I wasn’t sure who left it, but I was grateful.
I had already found the bathroom attached to the room and languished in the shower. Borrowing a shirt a
nd a pair boxer briefs from the man who owned this room made me feel somewhat human; almost like I had some semblance of control back.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, I devour the sandwich first before diving into the chips. I loved sour cream and cheder chips. The cheder flavor bursting on my tongue.
Closing my eyes, I savor the feeling of being full. Something I haven’t felt in months. Something I will never take for granted again.
I knew better to lay down so soon after eating, but my eyes felt heavy and my body was relaxed the most relaxed I’ve been in what feels like forever.
Blindly reaching around I find a loose part of the blanket I wasn’t laying on and pull until it was covering me. It was like a pointed taco I folded half the blanket over me as I laid on the other half.
Between the warmth, the fullness in my stomach, the no longer dry throat and clean body I couldn’t help but drift. Drift in the darkness in the peace I have longed for for so long.
Chapter 20
Kevin
The door opened quietly, and Lark slipped though it before rushing up the stairs. I followed behind him silently.
“Fuck, man,” I say out loud, as he lowered her to the bed.
Lark hasn’t looked at me his focus on her.
“What happened to her?” I ask him.
“Not now,” he growls at me.
I watch in shock as he covered her with a blanket and pressed his lips to her forehead gently. The man who made bad guys piss themselves was taking care of a slip of a woman.
Backing away, I leave the room a few steps in front of Lark and he looked ready to skin someone alive.
“Thanks,” he tells me, his vice rough as if sandpaper had been rubbed all over the inside of his throat.
“Yeah man anytime,” I tell him. I thought about slapping him on the shoulder but instead wisely went and collected Tom.
“We need to go,” I tell him.
He looks up from his perch on the stairs and nods. He was a man of few words and sometimes it pissed me off this wasn’t one of those times. We needed to put space between us and Lark, the man looked ready to drag anyone unfortunate enough to be close to him to hell.
Kevin (The Ace’s Mc Book 2) Page 4
