by Nikki Wild
Another minute agonizingly dragged by.
“What if they shot him?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t hear any shots but I probably wouldn’t have at that speed. Don’t worry babe, it’s almost impossible to hit a moving target when you’re driving. Real life isn’t like the movies.”
We waited silently for any sign of life. Addy scooted herself up and rested her little body against me.
Man, I wanted to work her over. I don’t know if it was all her, or maybe a little bit of the action, but my blood was flowing hard and fast. I wanted to yank her panties to the side and fuck her right in the middle of that goddamned alley.
She was growing restless.
“I can’t wait anymo-”
The rumble of a Harley interrupted her sentence.
“Is that-”
It was. The little punk had gotten away. He rolled confidently down the alleyway to meet us. A look of triumph spilled over his face.
“Are they gone?” I asked.
He shrugged his shoulders.
“How the hell did you get away?”
“Nobody can catch the Ace,” he said, with a grin.
16
Adeline
Hale took us to a condo in the downtown area. He said the club used to hide girls there but nobody had used it in years. He’d been paying a cleaning service to take care of the place so it would appear lived-in. That didn’t make sense to me but Hale said it didn’t matter. This was a safe place and he was the only one alive who knew about it.
The way he said ‘alive’ only made me more uncomfortable, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the rest of that story…
Jared fell asleep on the couch almost immediately after we walked in the door. I don’t think he’d slept since that day in Sheffield.
“What now?” I asked.
Hale was scrolling through the messages on his phone.
“Now we wait.”
“We can’t just hide here forever, waiting for someone to come looking for us.”
“Believe me, they haven’t stopped looking for us. We’ll be safe here for a few days.”
“What’s the plan, then?”
“Damn, girl. I just pulled you and that pain in the ass over there out of a whole heap of shit. Give a man time to think.”
“Sorry. I guess the adrenaline is still going through me.”
“You hungry?” he asked.
“Maybe a little. I want to eat later, though.”
“Is he a heavy sleeper?”
Hale’s mind worked fast. He wasn’t the type to sit and hem and haw over a decision.
“Why?”
He had that dangerous look in his eye.
“It doesn’t matter. He can deal with it.”
He scooped me up in his strong arms and carried me down the hall.
“You don’t quit, do you?”
“Not when there’s a woman like you within arm’s reach. Now take off that blouse.”
This time there was no games. He wanted to fuck.
I guess I was too slow in responding because he yanked the shirt off my shoulders and down around my waist.
“You know, if you ruin my clothes every time we have sex, I’m going to be walking around naked in less than a week.”
“Fine with me.”
He pulled his belt free from the loops and bent it in half. When he snapped it, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
“Next time when I tell you to get your clothes off, don’t play around.”
“Or what?”
He pulled me by the elbow and spun me around to face the bed.
“Bend over.”
“What?”
Hale placed his strong hand on my hip and used his other forearm to bend me over at the waist.
“Keep your feet flat on the ground.”
My back arched and my butt poked out.
“Ask me again.”
“I…”
The belt snapped on my backside with a stinging quickness. It made a sound that reminded me of a paper bag popping.
He did it again.
I yelped.
“You’re bad,” I whispered. I honestly couldn’t think of anything else to say.
The rough play drove me wild. It bordered on the edge. I knew he wouldn’t do it too hard, but it still made me hold my breath.
The buckle clanged when he threw the belt against the wall.
“Let’s try this again. Get out of those jeans.”
I turned back to face him and popped the button free.
Never breaking eye contact, I fell back on the bed and shimmied free of them.
“Like this?” I asked, innocently.
“Just like that,” he said.
His voice was low and predatory.
When he leapt, I opened myself to him. His toned body fell between my legs. I wrapped him up in the strongest hold I could manage.
We kissed. A long, passionate caress followed by several quick pecks.
“I need to be inside of you.”
Hale yanked my panties to the side and inserted himself, roughly.
“Ohhhhhh.”
He filled me completely. His cock pulsed inside when I put my mouth to his neck.
Each of us balanced on an elbow as we let our bodies wrap and sync together. There was madness in our movements.
Hale jammed himself into me. We went at it hard. The sex was relentless. We took turns, struggling for position. He mounted me and erupted inside. I climbed on top and rode him until my muscles gave out.
We fucked like that until the sun started to rise the next morning. If we didn’t have business to take care of, I’m not sure he would have stopped.
He was insatiable.
Jared was still on the couch. If not for the empty beer cans on the floor next to him, I might have believed he didn’t move all night. He was even in the same position.
Hale was in the shower. He said something about getting together with some other bikers to take care of things. I didn’t ask any more questions now that Jared was back. His business could stay his business as far as I was concerned.
It was hard to believe how much had changed over the past few months. I thought I’d be doing my nursing clinicals over the summer… not hiding from a dangerous biker gang with my outlaw boyfriend.
“I’ll be back later. You guys stay put.”
“Where are you going?” asked Jared.
“Don’t worry about it. Stay here and hang out with Adeline.”
“Why? What’s up?”
“Jesus, kid. Let me do this thing, okay? It doesn’t have anything to do with you anymore.”
“You’re going to the club house, aren’t you? I can clean up my own mess, Roughneck. I don’t need you to take up for me.”
“You’ve proven that, haven’t you?” Hale said, sarcastically. “It seems like all I’ve been doing is cleaning up after you.”
He rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
“I’m not going to the club house anyway,” he continued. “I’m headed out to meet with a couple of guys my contact gave me. They’re gonna help me out with some guns. You know… just in case. Stay here with you sister and watch over her while I’m gone.”
For the shortest of instances, I thought Jared was going to make the ultimate bad decision. But he chose not to challenge Hale further. Instead of saying any more, he dropped his head and walked back to the other bedroom.
“I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
Before he left, he walked across the room and planted a sweet kiss on the corner of my mouth. I already missed him.
A hot shower and a cup of coffee sounded like the perfect combination to tide me over until he returned. Maybe after, I’d…
The sound of keys jingling disrupted my train of thought.
Jared didn’t say anything as he passed me on his way to the front door.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“I’m going with Roughneck. He might need s
omebody to watch his back.”
“Are you crazy? Didn’t you hear anything he just said?”
“Don’t worry about it. We owe him for what he’s done for us. I’m just going so he’s not alone.”
“He won’t let you go, Jared.”
“I’m just gonna follow. He won’t see me until he needs me. You don’t understand how these people operate, Sis. When you’re in a club, you don’t do anything without somebody watching your back.”
Jared grabbed his phone off the coffee table and walked outside.
I chased him to the parking lot.
“Wait!”
He craned his neck to look down the street. I followed his gaze to see Hale waiting at the intersection. Maybe if I could stall Jared long enough, he wouldn’t be able to see which way to go.
“Think about this,” I said. “What if he needs us to stay here for a reason that we don’t know about? Maybe he needs your help with something here.”
Even I didn’t believe that. A guy like Hale didn’t trust a guy like Jared with anything.
“Stop freaking out, Addy. It’s all good.”
“It’s not all good, Jared. You can’t just follow Hale around. He does things his way and if you try to disrupt that he’s gonna be pissed.”
“It’s not that big of a deal, okay? I can’t sit in that shitty condo all night or I’ll go crazy. You know I can’t stay still.”
“And I also know you’re always getting yourself into trouble!”
He ignored me, pulling his helmet over the mop of hair he’d been trying to grow out before riding away. As he disappeared around the corner… the same way Hale went… I didn’t have the energy to worry about how it would all play out. If Hale wanted to break both of Jared’s arms when they got home, then so be it.
I was tired of the back and forth.
The hot shower started calling my name again. It was going to feel so good to wash away last night and relax in peace and quiet. I took a deep breath and said a silent thank you for the things I had in my life.
And that’s when they grabbed me.
17
Roughneck
I couldn’t believe the little fucker was following me.
He made the turn too wide when we got on to third street and gave himself away. It wouldn’t do any good to tell him to back off. He was too set on redeeming himself. I just had to hope he would possess good enough sense to stay at a distance. I didn’t plan on holding my breath.
The meet was going down in some shitty motel out in the sticks. I didn’t know the guys I was meeting, but Ray vouched for them.
It was supposed to be a simple gun deal. A quick transaction. Ray even said they would sell them at a discount.
There were only two cars parked in front of the place when I got there. Good. I didn’t like surprises.
“You Roughneck?”
I dipped my head to look over the frame of my sunglasses. He was standing in the walkway outside of the room.
“You than man with the goods?” I answered.
He waved me inside.
The place was typical. The small, round table that normally lived in the spot beneath the window had been pulled to the center of the room.
“Have a seat.”
“I’m alright, brother. I’m not gonna be here long enough to get comfortable.”
“Suit yourself. Money?”
I produced the bankroll from my back pocket.
“Four-fifty, right?”
Just then, his friend walked into the room and whispered something into his ear. I’d seen the friend, too. He was sitting in one of the cars facing the door. I pulled the bills off the roll and waited for an answer. The guy nodded and his partner disappeared.
“Rock said you had some kind of disorder goin’ on up there. What’s that all about?”
“Club business,” I said, sternly.
“Club business, huh? That why you need to pick up a couple of pieces?”
“Something like that,” I said. “Listen, this shouldn’t be too hard, I put the cash on the table, and then you give me what I need. Then, we go our separate ways.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” he said. “That is, until I found out you brought a goddamn trailer with you. Now you got me wondering if something else is going on.”
The door opened again, and Jared stumbled forward with a shotgun placed firmly in the center of his back.
My “trailer”.
“Sit down next to him, boy.”
He didn’t dare make eye contact with me as he settled into the chair. The other one circled around and now pointed the big gun at both of us.
“Damnit, Jared,” I whispered under my breath. “He’s okay. He’s with me,” I said, trying to defuse the situation.
“Start talking,” said the one with the gun.
“Yeah, start talking fast because if Rock hadn’t said you were cool, you’d already be dead.”
I eased out a long sigh. I hated it when I had to explain myself.
“So what was the plan? Make the deal, then have skinny boy over there show up and you guys rob us?”
“The truth isn’t that exciting, fellas,” I said, letting out a little laugh.
They looked at each other.
“What’s the truth, then? And get to it, because I’m getting real tired of looking at your faces.”
The “tough guy” act was starting to test my patience.
“He doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. He’s just a prospect with no damn common sense,” I said, plainly. “We weren’t looking to rob you guys any more than you were looking to pull one over on us, and he was supposed to stay back watching a safe house, not chasing me cross town on his fucking bike. Now can we do this deal so me and my simple friend can get the hell out of here?”
“You’re talkin’ pretty loud for a guy with a shotgun pointed at his head.”
“And you’re making a lot of threats that I haven’t seen you follow up on,” I said. “So, let me put it to you this way… my money’s here.”
I tossed five crisp hundreds on the table.
“So, go get me what I want before I take that gun away from you and smash you in the face with it.”
He stormed forward, pushing the barrel into my chest. I could read his face like a book. He wasn’t prepared to pull the trigger.
Rule number one: Only point a weapon at something if you’re committed to destroying it.
I yanked it free of his weak grip and turned it on him faster than he could react. The asshole’s finger never even touched the trigger guard.
“Easy, easy!”
They each held their hands up in surrender.
“Let’s everybody calm down here.”
“I am calm,” I growled. “I’m here to pay you for your services. Now tell me where my fucking guns are.”
They both looked toward the black duffle back at the foot of the bed.
“Jared, pick that up,” I instructed.
Jared opened the bag and held it for me to see.
“All the ammunition you need is in there too, man,” said the tough guy from earlier. His voiced quaked.
“Shut up.”
“Please don’t kill us, man. We were-”
“I said, ‘shut up!’ Here’s how it’s gonna go, guys… you’re each gonna lay face down on the floor, close your eyes and count to fifty. Then, and only then, can you get up. I see you assholes poking your head out the door any sooner and it’ll be the last time you do.”
“Okay,” they said in unison.
When they got to their knees, I nodded for Jared to wait outside.
“The money is on the table. You can keep the change. And this one…” I displayed the shotgun above my head, “this one will be under that car out front. Don’t touch it until you can’t hear the sound of our engines.”
I stepped slowly through the door keeping my eyes on both of them until the door closed between us.
Jared sat astride his bike.
The duffle bag with the guns was lashed to my seat.
“At this point, it feels like you’re trying to fuck things up,” I said.
“I’m sorry man, I owed you one,” he whined. “I thought I could back you up if something went wrong.”
“YOU are what went wrong,” I said. “And what the hell is going on in your head? Why did you think it was a good idea to leave your sister all alone?”
“I… I didn’t think you’d…”
“You didn’t think. That’s the problem.”
We rode in silence, but when we got back to the condo something felt off. It was unsettling. Jared had run ahead of me. I think he knew better than to walk by my side. When I reached the door, he was standing in front of it with his head down.
“What are you doing?”
When he faced me, he was as white as a ghost.
“What is it?”
He held out a piece of paper. I had to flip it over to see what it said.
You know where to find her. Bring the boy.
18
Adeline
It all happened so fast.
There were at least two of them. I didn’t get many details because they pulled the hood over my head so fast. Going by the tone of their voices, they didn’t seem too concerned with being seen.
“Get her in the van!”
I struggled with every bit of energy I had, but they were too strong. They held me down and bound my hands with a rough rope. My feet kicked wildly.
“Hold her still, I’m gonna stick her.”
“No man, Dirty said to bring her in sober. He doesn’t want her all drugged up.”
Dirty?
They were taking me somewhere… to someone. I thought I heard Hale say that name when he was on the phone earlier, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Where are you taking me?”
I tried to sound strong, but my voice shook.
“My brother is inside. He’s expecting me any minute, so when I don’t come back he’s gonna call the cops. He probably already did, so you better let me go.”
“Don’t lie to us, bitch. Your brother and your man are both out of pocket. We watched them leave.”
How did they find us? Hale said the place was safe. He never would have left me here if it wasn’t.
