But tonight, for family, for Tangie, Pete, for Buck and my mother and for my dad, Freeland Trent, I road. I pulled into the lot of the warehouse behind the Dog’s clubhouse. There was a sea of bikes in various sizes parked out back.
Zach pulled up beside me on one of his many bikes and Starla and Eli were right behind.
“Christ, give the girl a bike and she is off to the races,” Starla joked, getting off her bike.
“You all ride every day and you were left in my dust.” I flipped my hair putting my helmet on my handlebar.
“Hey,” Zach said coming to my side. “You’re looking ridiculously sexy on that bike. But, I don’t like this, Ky.” He pulled me away from Star and Eli’s earshot. “You are walking into the lion’s den and I won’t be there to…”
“I’ll be with Eli,” I said, placing a hand to his handsome face. “I like that you worry about me. We have much to talk about when I get out of this.”
“Just make sure you get out of this…” He put his forehead to mine. “I won’t lose you before we figure out what this is between us, Kyanne.”
I stood on my tiptoes and brought my lips to his. “No one is losing anyone tonight, Mr. Foster. Keep the bike ready for me, handsome.” I winked at him.
“The bike won’t be the only thing ready...” he growled.
“Hey, you two.” Starla cut him off. “If you are done canoodling, can we get to what we came here for?”
“This bitch,” I muttered and Zach laughed at me.
“Hey, I want to do more than canoodle with you later, Ms. Trent.” He pulled me in and took my lips with his.
“Zach, don’t tease me…” I moaned as he pulled away.
“Okay, we’ll save it for later. There is more where that came from.” He swatted my ass as I turned to walk away.
“Ouch!” I yipped, rubbing my backside as I joined Eli and Starla at their bikes.
My newly found sister stared at me with knowing eyes.
“So when did the two of you start boning?” she asked.
Eli barked out a laugh next to her.
“You have room to talk, you and Mr. Baby over here. You still have so much explaining to do.” I eyed Starla.
“Yea yea. We will talk about this once this is all over. Now, explain how this is going down, bab…” She stopped herself and looked at me, and I gave her a smirk. “Eli,” she corrected.
“My dad and his cronies don’t really know you, Kyanne. They know of you because your Free’s youngest daughter, but they don’t know what you look like, now. You don’t really ride with the Lady Guardians. You aren’t out in the community with them. The last time any of them saw of you, you were a teenager. You’ve clearly… grown up,” he said.
“Hey.” Starla swatted his arm while Zach added his own. “Watch it, man.”
“I’m not saying it in a skeevish-type way or anything. No, disrespect, Ky.” His face turned red.
“Don’t worry about it, Elias, continue,” I said, waving him on.
“Yea, so.” He cleared his throat. “Because of your looks, the guys will want to bid on you.”
“Over my dead body. You are not putting her up as bait, you son-of-a-bitch. Not in front of those fucking perverted—”
I put a hand to Zach’s chest. “Hear him out.”
“Are you kidding me? Back at the garage, you were ready to rip his throat out thinking he was with the Dogs. Now, you want to hear about parading in front of them?” He cornered me.
“If it helps me find out what happened to my parents and Buck then hell yea. I have to do what I have to do.”
“I don’t like it. I thought you were going to sneak her in the back or something like you sneaked them out that day years ago.” Zach went to Elias.
“Easy, brother. I will be by her side every step of the way. I will sneak you in the back so you can case the joint. They will recognize your ugly mug.” Eli laughed.
“I’m going with him.” Star piped in.
“Like hell you are.” Elias shot back at her.
“Oh, so it’s okay for my girl to go in with you, but yours can’t come in with me?” Zach asked.
“Will you stop it?” I interjected. “We all go in, get what we came for, and get the hell out of here.”
“I hope it’s as simple as that,” Zach huffed. “Lead the way, E.”
Elias showed Star and Z the way to get into the back of the club and let them know where my mom and Buck might be. “You better be strapped, man, if you come into contact with anyone. They may be packing heat. I’ll be up front not able to help you. You protect my ol’ lady. You hear?” he warned.
“The same could be said to you.” Zach threw a glance at me and I could see the concern written in his features. “Don’t do anything crazy and get yourself in trouble,” he said, looking at me.
“We’ll be fine. Find my mom and be careful,” I hissed. “Text me!” I said before they disappeared through the door.
“Come on this way,” Elias said, taking my hand.
I looked down at the connection and back up at him, brow raised. “It has to look believable. Zach was right. Parading you in front of the rest of the men isn’t smart. If you come in on my arm, I can say you are my girl.”
“When is the last time you set foot in this club?” I asked, as he escorted me toward the front door.
“It’s been months. The Vice asks me to come in every so often for a vote or to stand in proxy for my dad.” He reached for the door.
“The Dogs do that? I couldn’t vote for my mother on anything for Lady Guardian matters.”
“The Hellhounds aren’t like the Guardians, Ky.”
“Yea, no shit,” I said following him in the smoke-filled front room of the Hellhound clubhouse. Loud music and brut-like voices assaulted my ears. I looked around at the graffiti on the walls and to large pool tables covered in red felt with the Hellhounds’ logo dead in the center. Several men were standing around in leather vests with the flames of hell rising up around the image of a devil looking dog. They sipped beer or dark liquor from low-ball glasses, some played pool while others just stood around shooting the shit. There were some women standing around hanging off their arms. In the corner, I noted a small stage with about six chairs with women scantily clad in lingerie with hands and feet bound. I gasped and Elias looked at me. “Play it cool, Ky,” Elias said, putting his hand to my back.
“Hey, E!” a man yelled from over at one of the pool tables. “Haven’t seen you in a long ass time, brotha.” He came and smacked hands with Elias and gave him a one-handed man hug, while the hulk of a man slapped him once then twice on the back. I remembered him from ten years ago. He was the man that pulled Tangie from the floor for Luther. My back stiffened and Elias glanced at me.
The man towered over Eli by at least a foot, with a thick beard that hid the bottom half of his face damn near all the way down to mid-chest, but the top of his head was bald and shiny like one of the pool balls.
“And, who do we have here?” He pulled away and ran a sleazy gaze up and down my form, not once but twice, making my skin crawl with each inch of me he covered.
“My ol’ lady, Bear. Mind yourself, man.” Elias stepped between me and the behemoth Bear. The nickname fit.
“Oh, yea? Your ol’ lady have a name?” he asked, peeking over Elias at me.
“Mizz Ol’ Lady,” I said, stepping around Eli and extending a hand. I cracked the gum I was chewing and waited while he engulfed my hand with his.
He laughed, and it sounded much like the Green Giant. “I like her, E. She doesn’t put up with any shit. I can dig it. You ride, Mizz Ol’ Lady?”
“Depends on what you are referring to?” I winked.
“Okay okay, that’s enough,” Elias said, stepping in between me and the giant man again. “Do you know where my pops is, Bear?”
Bear looked around him to see if anyone was listening in. How could they, with the music blaring like it was? He motioned for me and Eli to come in a little
closer. “We had some issues with the Guardians sticking their noses in shit that had nothing to do with them again. Your pops is in the back handling that now with Cappy and Mack.”
I gritted my teeth and Eli immediately put a hand to my back without looking at me before he regarded Bear. “What do you mean by ‘handling’ them, Bear?”
The giant shrugged. “Who knows with your dad, man? He just got out of prison and is even more of a hardass. Could be anything.”
Eli looked around. “Shit, man. He can’t afford to get into any more heat. I heard the Guardian Prez was killed. What do you know about that?” Elias asked.
I wanted to lunge at the ogre when a small smirk split his nasty animal-looking beard.
“That bastard had whatever was coming to him. Fucking goody two shoes. And his old lady and Vice came in here stirring up shit. That is who your pop is back there with now.”
“Did he really kill Free?” I spoke up and Eli shot me a warning glace.
“What do you know about Free Trent, little lady?” Bear eyed me.
I cleared my throat trying to look sheepish when I was anything but. “I mean, I know of him,” I lied. “He did a ton in the community, especially with the kids. I’m a counselor for battered youth. I looked at the young girls on the stage. It was girls like that I helped on a daily basis. And, I would tear this place apart to help them. “Free has helped out with my kids; mentoring and stuff.” Now, that was the truth. My dad had always helped in my center. He even helped at Zach’s sister, Shelby’s dance school with the children’s recitals behind stage. It’s just who he was, caring about others more than himself. If he came here to stop Luther, and it got him killed, that was just downright cruel.
Believe it or not, Bear’s face softened a bit when I mentioned the kids which made not a bit of sense being that he condoned the illegal shit Luther had been doing for years. “I have a new niece and nephew. Twins. Just turned two. I spoil those kids to death.” Oh, so things have changed in the guy’s life. Has a soft spot now… hmm. “It’s nice he did that for the kids. Look, I don’t know if Luther actually killed the guy. I mean he’s an evil S.O.B. Sorry, man,” he said looking at Eli. “But, I don’t know if he’d go as far as killing someone. I honestly think he sent the video to send a message to the Guardians to back the hell up and mind their own shit. You know?”
Eli nodded, and I glared. I couldn’t help it. Though I wasn’t about this life, most of my family, including the man I had feelings for, was very much a part of this world. This oaf wasn’t going to talk about them like they were pieces of garbage.
“The Guardians aren’t just going to lay back and take this shit, you know?” I spoke up.
Bear raised an eyebrow and my statement caught the attention of a few people near the pool tables.
“Shit.” Eli stood in front of me again. “Easy there, brother. She is only saying that because Free helped her kids.”
“Sounds to me like she is saying it cause she has a stake in the Guardians,” he said, rolling up his sleeves.
Just great. Me and my big mouth.
“Look, we’ll go. Okay? Just tell my pop I was looking for him. I’ll call him later.”
We turned to leave but a loud booming voice stopped us from going.
The music seemed to screech to a stop out of nowhere. What I saw when we turned around nearly took my breath away.
Chapter 11
Zachary
“It doesn’t look like anyone is back here,” Star whispered as we walked down a long dark hallway in the back of the Hellhound’s clubhouse. In the front of the club, the sound of pulsing, rock music blared, which was enough to give anyone a migraine.
“Sounds like one hell of a party up there.” She laughed nervously.
“No party I’d want to be invited to,” I scoffed. “Fuck these Dogs and their sick sense of fun. Selling girls for sex while they shoot the shit over a few beers and loud music? No, thanks.
We need to find Aunt Stella and Buck and get the hell out of here. This place gives me the heebie-jeebies. Star physically shuddered behind me. “So freaking creepy. The fact they thought they could drag me into this hellhole and sell me to one of these freaks makes my skin crawl.”
“The Guardians would have never let that happen to you, Star.” I shook my head. The thought of one of the people I considered family in harm’s way made my blood boil. Plus, Starla was Kyanne’s sister; there is no way I’d let anything happen to her. “Just stay behind me while we check these rooms.” I held my nine up in front of me, just in case, as Starla walked closely behind.
We came upon two doors; one to the left and the other on the right. I checked the handle on the left. The damn thing was locked. I held my ear to the door and heard nothing. But it was hard to hear anything with the damn music so loud.
“I’ll try this door…” Starla reached for the right, but I pushed her arm away.
“This enters before us. Okay?” I said, pointing to my gun.
She nodded and stood back allowing me to test the door. This time the door gave and slowly creaked open. I stuck my head in right behind my gun. A dim light lit the room. I looked to the right and saw there were monitors showing various rooms in the clubhouse. I could see on one of the screens in the front room where the party was happening. Kyanne and Eli stood near a pool table talking to a hulk of a man with a bald head and bushy, long beard. I knew the man was Bear Jones, the Hellhounds’ Sergeant at Arms. I hoped to God Kyanne could hold her mouth. That man had a short fuse, and I didn’t want to hunt any bears tonight because he laid hands on my girl.
I held the gun up as I scanned the rest of the room.
It appeared void of people until my eyes landed on two figures in the corner on the floor.
“Aunt Stella! Buck!” Starla pushed passed me.
“Goddamn it, Star.” The girl didn’t listen for shit. She was as bad as Kyanne. I looked out the door to make sure the hallway behind us was still clear before shutting the door. I went over to the corner, noticing the pair were bound and gagged. Blood seeped from Buck’s temple. Stella looked unharmed, physically, thank God. At least the pussy Dogs didn’t hurt her. But, her eyes did look hazy. I wondered if they’d been drugged. Starla crouched down to eye level and removed the gag from both their mouths. “We’re gonna get you out of here, Auntie,” she said, working at the ties that bound them. “Help me, Z.” She looked up at me, and I could see the tears forming in her eyes. I shoved the gun in the back of my jeans and pulled a pocket knife from my front pocket and crouched next to her and started working on Buck’s ties. “Here,” I said, handing her the knife to get through Stella’s ties quicker.
“Star… Zach? What are you two doing here?” Stella’s tone was loopy and sounded nothing like her own.
“Trying to get you the hell out of here, Aunt Stella,” Star said, trying to help her aunt up.
“What did they give you?” I asked Buck as I offered a hand to help him from the floor.
“Shit, I don’t know. We came here to find out what happened with Free, and I got knocked upside the head with a gun for my trouble. We were dragged in here and have been tied up for the last two days.”
“What do you mean, ‘try to find Free’?” Star asked as we inched to the door. Their steps faltered.
“Free is alive, honey,” Stella said, pointing to the monitor. “Stephanie reached out to Luther when he got out of prison.”
We turned to look back at the monitors. On the screens, where I’d just seen Eli, Ky and Bear, Luther, Eli’s dad, the Hellhound’s president, stood facing them with a gun in hand. Next to them stood Freeland Trent the Guardians’ president also bound and bloodied.
“Shit,” I mumbled. All I could focus on was the gun pointed at my girl. I promised I would keep her safe.
“We have to get out there,” Buck said, ambling to the door.
The four of us stopped in our tracks when we noticed the Hellhound Vice and Enforcer standing at the door, watching us, snee
ring.
“Going somewhere, Guardians?”
Chapter 12
Kyanne
“Dad!” I nearly sobbed as I tried to go to him, but Eli held me back. I hadn’t noticed the gun in Luther’s hand until that moment. Evil etched his face as he glared at me and then at his son.
“Hello, boy. Long time no see, son.”
“Ten years, Pops. I’d say it’s good to see you but I don’t wanna be a liar like my old man.” Elias stood ramrod straight next to me; his hand still on my arm.
Bear stood to my right, towering over me. I wasn’t moving now. That was for damn sure. Not with a gun pointed at me and Goliath breathing down my neck.
“Aww, you always did say the sweetest things,” Luther said in a fake, sugary voice. “You were always weak, just like your mother.” His face fell back into the sinister scowl I remembered from ten years ago. “You still fucking your sister?”
The question made me cringe. Oh my God. Was he talking about Starla?
“You know good and well Starla is not your daughter, Dad. She is Free’s daughter.” Eli’s tone was graveled.
I looked at my dad when he said it and his eyes registered shock. His gaze flicked to mine, and I saw the pain in the deep brown windows to his soul. “I’m sorry, baby girl.”
“It’s okay, Dad.” I shook my head as tears I didn’t know I’d been holding sprang forth and ran down my cheeks.
“Yea, yea, save the sentimental bullshit,” Luther scoffed at us.
“Don’t talk to her, asshole,” I heard my mother’s slurred words as she, Starla, Zach and Buck were escorted by two large men from a back hallway. “You were never the man Free was. That is why my sister left you. You won’t shame her or him for what they did. Get over it. It’s been almost thirty years. I did, so why shouldn’t you?” My mother did not sound like herself. It was clear she’d been drugged as she tripped over her words.
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