Property of Drex (Book 2) (Death Chasers MC Series)

by C. M. Owens

  Chapter 7

  EVE

  Ben showing up is a surprise, and the squeeze he’s holding me in almost hurts too much to be called a hug.

  “I’ve been so fucking worried,” he says as he holds me tighter.

  “Can’t breathe,” I wheeze, maybe doing it a little more dramatically than necessary.

  He pulls back, grinning down at me before kissing my forehead. For some reason, I wince. It feels wrong for him to touch me like that.

  “Glad to see you still have your sense of humor. And to see that you still look like you.”

  His eyes rake over my clothes. I had to wear some I originally brought to the warehouse. Sarah’s stuff was too tight for me to even try to melt my body into.

  “Um… Yeah. How did you know I was here?” I ask, confused as I sit down.

  Unsurprisingly, he sits down right beside me and tosses his arm around my shoulders like he’s scared I’m an illusion.

  “I have friends, Eve. I’ve been trying to figure out where you’ve been. People told me you were with Drex, but I never heard for sure. Some said you even seemed happy about it, which I knew was total bullshit. What the fuck has been going on? Your phone has been off since you left.”

  I try to scoot away, but he has his arm locked around me. It feels like a betrayal to be so close to someone I’ve been with intimately. I sure as hell wouldn’t want Drex to have an ex’s arm wrapped around him.

  “They took my phone on day one.” I don’t mention I have another phone, because he’d be upset I didn’t call. No way in hell could I have called the son of Benny Highland while everyone suspects me as a spy.

  “Can I get you anything, sugar?” the syrupy sweet waitress asks Ben, biting her lip as she drinks him in with her eyes.

  She’d keel over if she saw Drex.

  Drex. He’d kill Ben if he saw this.

  While Ben is distracted with ordering, I manage to scoot over and put some distance between us. I even manage to settle one of my shopping bags in the space I’ve created.

  When he turns back around, his eyes drop to the bag before coming back up to meet my gaze as he frowns.

  “What’s wrong? Are you mad at me because of this? I begged you not to do this, Eve. I could have—”

  “I’m not mad,” I tell him quietly, noticing a few eyes have drifted toward us, considering Ben is a little loud.

  “Then what’s wrong? What have they done to you? I swear, Eve, I’ve been going out of my mind with a thousand possibilities. I’ve went to all their public businesses, and even tried to discreetly ask questions, but—”

  “Ben, I’m okay,” I tell him, unable to stop the smile that spreads.

  Confusion crosses his features.

  “You’re okay? The fuck does that mean? They let you go?”

  I shake my head while sighing.

  “No. You know your father wouldn’t like that. It’s safer for me if I stay put. But… I want to stay put.”

  Anger replaces confusion, but I don’t know why. If anything, he should be relieved that I’m not living through hell right now.

  “You want to stay? They gave you the option to leave?”

  “Well, not exactly, but I think Drex would have if I’d told him I wanted to go. I know he wouldn’t force me to be there. I was once afraid he’d give me back to Benny, but now I know he wouldn’t. And… anyway… I should probably get going.”

  The waitress seizes that inopportune moment to bring me the food I ordered, and Ben’s eyes drop to the plate.

  “Looks like you need to eat first,” he says bitterly, glaring at me.

  Shit.

  “I don’t think we should be talking. At least not right now. Your dad—”

  “Isn’t me,” he reminds me. “Since when can’t we be friends? Since Drex? Does he really have you?”

  He grabs my arm so hard that I cry out, and he roughly turns my wrist toward him. I bite back a whimper when he shows my other arm the same harsh treatment, practically jerking it toward him so he can study that wrist.

  Pissed but satisfied, he tosses my hand away, and it slams into the table. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen him like this. He’s always treated me with kid-gloves.

  “Obviously they don’t plan on keeping you. At least that’s good news.”

  I’m glad he can’t see my shoulder right now. If he’s going this crazy over thinking I’d have the typical DD initials on my wrist, he’d flip out over that.

  His jaw is tight and his eyes are blazing with fury. He’s cracking his knuckles while staring at nothing in particular.

  “I should go,” I say quietly, hoping he just gets up.

  “You should eat the fucking food you ordered,” he argues, not budging from his spot.

  “Ben, this is just weird. I’ve never seen you like this.”

  “Apparently you like guys this way if you want to fucking stay with Drex. Like it rough nowadays, Eve?” The bite to his tone is harsh, and I shrink back, feeling trapped.

  Fuck this.

  I’ve dealt with much worse lately than Ben in a pissed off mood. He might be acting like a jerk and handling me too roughly, but he won’t hurt me.

  “Get out of the booth. Let me out,” I tell him a little firmer.

  He cuts his eyes toward me, and I swear there’s a coldness there I’ve never seen before. I didn’t even know he was capable of it.

  “No.” He turns more to face me. “Tell me what the hell is going on with you. What’s up with you and Drex? Why are you with him instead of working for Herrin? Esmerelda would never let you in Herrin’s bed, so I figured he’d put you to work. What happened?”

  I can’t tell him. Even if I could tell him, I wouldn’t want to at this point. He’s not acting like my friend right now. He’s acting jealous and crazed. I could have been a sex slave and getting used and abused by the entire club, but all he’s concerned with is the fact I’m happy with Drex.

  “I’m getting up,” I mumble.

  Gasps ring out as I stand up in the seat, and I start to crawl across the table, but Ben grabs me at the waist and jerks me back down to the seat until my ass is pressed against the bag I put between us.

  “Tell me what’s going on,” he says against my ear. “It’s me, Eve. Same guy you’ve always known. Same guy you’ve always trusted. Not the guy who murdered your father.”

  My eyebrows go up in confusion at the random statement from nowhere, and I twist toward him.

  “What did you say?”

  He almost looks pleased. “You heard me. Do you really think your father—the guy who panicked when he took a Tylenol because it made him feel loopy—would kill himself by overdosing? No. He pissed off that club. It’s why they even went along with the trade. They just want a little more revenge. You’re getting played, Eve. Played hard.”

  I clear my throat and shake my head, struggling to get away from him. “You’re lying. The medical examiner said it was an overdose.”

  “No doubt,” he agrees. “But your dad didn’t shove those pills down his throat without coercion. It was kill himself or watch you be killed. I know. I didn’t know how to tell you, since you’re so fragile, sweet Eve. It’s why I’ve been trying to get you out. Think Drex really wants you? Or do you think he’s having fun with his enemy’s daughter?”

  I’m still struggling to get free, and he releases me so abruptly that I accidentally launch myself against the diner window with enough force to almost knock myself out. Spots speckle my vision, and I blink rapidly while feeling my head.

  Ben doesn’t even seem to give a damn that I’m barely staying conscious. He’s still ranting.

  “You’re fucking your father’s killer. Herrin doesn’t do the dirty work himself, Eve. He unleashes his little attack dog that he calls his son. Think about that when Drex is putting his dick inside you.”

  My ears are ringing, and my neck is on fire. My head is thudding from the window attack, and I taste blood in my mouth. It registers that I’ve bitten
my tongue when a subtle sting forms.

  “Drex, don’t!” I hear someone yell, but I’m too busy trying not to blackout to see anything or even comprehend what’s going on around me.

  “Fuck!” Ben yelps, as something that sounds like a hit collides against the white noise playing on a loop in my ears.

  Something resembling a fight takes place before my blurry eyes, but it’s hard to focus on the figures in the struggle. Glass shatters violently somewhere in the room, and more things clank and rattle. Axle. I hear Axle, I think.

  “Drex! Damn it, check on her. He’s down for the count. We have to get out of here. Dash, grab her shit.”

  My head is throbbing when two familiar arms wrap around me, tugging me close to a body I’ve learned just by touch.

  “He’s fucking dead.” That’s definitely Drex’s voice. And he’s definitely pissed.

  “Not here,” Dash hisses close by.

  I continue blinking, trying to get the blurry scene back to clear, but it’s no use. My eyes feel heavier and heavier.

  “She may have a concussion. That bump looks bad.”

  The grip on me tightens, but I don’t realize I’m being carried until I’m being placed in a seat. Everything is disorienting. Everything is…

  Chapter 8

  DREX

  “She should be fine. Just a mild concussion from what I can tell without an X-ray,” the doctor says as Eve rests in my bed. “If she continues to suffer from a headache or disorientation, bring her to the hospital.”

  Axle hands him a wad of cash while thanking him for making the trip off the books. I fight every urge in my body not to go after Ben Highland and blow his head off after I cut off each individual finger.

  “Guess she’s seriously not in with the Hell Breathers,” Dash says, then immediately holds his hands up defensively when my eyes dart over to glare at him. “I’m saying this will shut up all the ones who are still suspicious. Her best friend was one of them. Now we know she’s with us. She had no clue we were watching. Snake’s trying to discreetly figure out what went down in there before we showed up.”

  I swallow against the knot in my throat. I felt like shit for trailing her, but now I’m glad I fucking did. No one in that diner made a move to help her. Everyone just went on about their business as though she wasn’t about to pass the fuck out after getting her head slammed into the window.

  I practically leapt over cars when I ran across the street to get to her, thankful Axle had my gun. I would have shot that fucking cocksucker right in front of everyone at the diner.

  And I wouldn’t have given a damn about who saw him bleed to death.

  I don’t need Snake figuring out what went down. I know what went down. Ben wants her, but she wants me. It’s pretty fucking obvious. Nothing can piss a man off worse than a woman.

  I’ve always known he was a pussy, but I didn’t know he was a fucking piece of shit until today. He was happy to rough her up, but he didn’t throw a single punch at me when I beat him unconscious.

  “Cops showed up at the diner after we left,” Axle sighs as he checks to make sure the doctor is gone.

  “And?” I prompt calmly, keeping my eyes on Eve.

  She looks peaceful.

  Looks can be deceiving.

  “Sledge was listening in on the chatter. Diner doesn’t have cameras. No one said they saw anything. Ben told them he fell. Everyone there went along with the story.”

  Not surprising. They were too scared to do anything when she was helplessly trying to escape him.

  Her forehead is bruised, and the knot on it is still bubbled out. Her lip is split, and the doc said her tongue had been bitten pretty hard. I hope she bit it and not him. It’ll make killing him take longer when I have to cut his tongue out too.

  Her arm is bruised, which means he was way too fucking rough with her, and it also means I should have gotten in there sooner. I couldn’t tell anything was going on until she was slammed into the window.

  I should have gotten a better angle to watch her, but I was trying not to watch too closely since I wanted to fucking kill Ben. Now I have a good reason to kill him.

  “On the bright side, no one has figured out that it was your house that burned down. Your alias deed is holding strong,” Dash goes on.

  Last thing on my mind is the house they had to torch. Closing my eyes, I start massaging my temples, trying to stave off the headache from hell that is trying to form.

  “Drex.” The hoarse whisper has everyone going silent and still, and my eyes land on Eve’s as soon as she opens hers.

  “We’ll talk to you later,” Axle says, motioning for Dash to follow him out.

  I climb onto the bed, careful not to jar her, as the door to my room shuts. She immediately curls into my side, and I hold her to me, gingerly grazing her bruised forehead with my lips.

  “I can’t believe he did that,” she whispers softly.

  Clearing my throat, I start to ask her what happened, but she hugs me tighter, sighing against me, and I decide to wait until the new has worn off. I don’t want her upset right now.

  I hold her closer, careful not to squeeze too tight, and we lie like that for a few hours, just resting in comfortable silence. Until she finally breaks it with a question I should have been prepared for.

  “What were you doing there?”

  Fuck.

  I could lie; I probably should lie. Pulling back, I look down at her and decide I’ve fucked with her trust enough for one day. I don’t want to fuck her over the way Pop has me. Because of me, she was put in danger today, even though I sure as hell never expected that. It’s the same reason I’m done with Pop—putting me at risk when all he had to do was trust me with the truth.

  I never should have let him tell me what to do with Eve.

  “I followed you,” I tell her quietly, gauging her slow reaction. And it does take her a full three seconds to process that.

  “Why?” she finally asks, not pulling away like I was worried about.

  “Because Pop wanted to send you out in the open to see if Benny would approach you.”

  I feel like someone just punched me in the gut when the hurt in her eyes immediately floods them with tears. Not one tear falls though. She stubbornly reins them in.

  “Oh,” is all she says before starting to pull away.

  “Shit, Eve. I’m sorry.” I groan, trying to pull her back, but she doesn’t fold against me like she normally does.

  “I get it,” she says coldly, stiff in my arms.

  “No you don’t.”

  I blow out a breath, wishing I had just ended this deal when I had the chance. Now Eve is lying here, bruised and hurt, and feeling betrayed.

  “I was trying to shut Pop up for good. If he had everyone focused on you, and something else went down while our focus was strained, it would have come back on him. That and I have a reason for letting him win this one. I promise.”

  She stares vacantly at the wall across from us, not acknowledging anything I’ve said.

  “Eve? Talk to me,” I murmur, pressing a soft kiss to her neck. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have went along with it. I need to play a part right now. There’s shit going on that I can’t explain, but I will when I can. I promise.”

  She doesn’t speak, but I’m pretty sure I get gut-punched again when I raise back up to see more tears teetering on the edges of her lids. One finally falls free, and her lips thin like the feeling of that solo drop sliding down her cheek is pissing her off.

  “Eve?”

  “Just stop,” she says in a rasp whisper.

  This would be a great time to have Snake here. He could tell me what to do. He and Sarah have been together for months, so he probably has the best relationship advice out of anyone.

  “I said I’m sor—”

  The way she snaps her eyes at me has my words ending right there. No way do I want that glare to make me spontaneously combust.

  “I don’t get you,” she finally says in a stronger
voice, wiping away the tear that has fallen.

  She sits up too fast, and she sways in the bed while gripping her head. I hiss out a breath, moving closer to steady her before she falls off the bed.

  “Easy, babe. You have a mild concussion. Shit sucks. I know.”

  My last one was a little worse, but I don’t think pointing that out will score me any points at the moment.

  She mutters a curse while gripping her head, then wincing when she clutches the bruised area too hard. I. Feel. Helpless.

  “You,” she growls, sliding her legs out from under the sheets and standing with a wobble. “You can’t possibly expect sorry to make everything better, can you? Ben was right. I’m just your fucking toy, and I’m delusional if I think anything any differently. I’m just a pawn who gets moved around and sacrificed when you need to keep the king happy.”

  Ice chills my veins, and I slowly climb out of the bed as she takes a breath, trying to calm down.

  “What was that?” I ask in a deceptively calm tone.

  She cuts her eyes toward me, but the fear that was once there when she looked at me a month ago is gone.

  “You really need me to repeat it? Or do you just want to see if I have the courage to do it? It’s all a game of intimidation and power with you, isn’t it? Me? This? Us? I’m an idiot. Tell me I’m wrong.”

  “You’re very fucking wrong,” I say without hesitation, feeling a tic form in my jaw.

  She doesn’t back down. She doesn’t cower. She doesn’t even look afraid. She does, however, look ready to shred me.

  “I was so happy that you trusted me to go into town by myself. I was so worried a fed would approach me. I was so freaking terrified I’d do something wrong, that I worked extra hard to do everything right. Eggshells. It’s all eggshells with you. If I step wrong, something crunches, and it could cost me my life, Drex. And you just let me go out to be bait? After I trusted you? You let me be excited to be freaking bait, Drex.”

  I run a hand through my hair, back to feeling guilty instead of just pissed. Until she opens her mouth again.

  “It’s always going to be this way. Your dad just tells you to play me like a cheap piano and you bang the keys the way he wants. Right? Like the good son.”