by K. J. Dahlen
Micah groaned. “Shit!”
Whiskey paled but recovered quickly. “So? Raven was bound to find out sooner or later. All I have to do is step up the timeline. As far as the rest goes, well they have to find me first.” He shrugged. “I know all about the Sons of Satan, our club has dealt with them in the past. I’m not worried about them.”
Melora sneered. “You should be. Raven’s not going to protect you or your crew this time. Not like he did when you shot that guy in the back when he was alone in the dark. You can always duck and run like the bitch you really are.”
Whiskey glared at her as his hands shook, but didn’t bother answering her challenge. He walked to her and raising his hand, he hit her hard. When she stumbled and fell to the floor, he grabbed her by her shirt and ripped it from her body. She jerked as he pulled the material away from her torso. He tossed the shirt and the denim vest into the corner of the room.
Grabbing both her wrists, he dragged her over to one of the chairs. Pushing her down into the seat, he tied one wrist to the arm of the chair with a length of rope. With the other length of rope, he tied her other wrist to the opposite arm.
The bindings were so tight, she couldn’t move and her fingers began to tingle as the circulation was cut off to her hands.
Whiskey’s hands went to the zipper on her pants and he ripped it down. Grabbing the waistband of her jeans, he tore them down her legs, nearly pulling her from the chair. He left her in her underwear and began to pace back and forth in front of her.
Micah joined them and stared at the girl.
Melora could see lust in his eyes.
“So now what, boss?” he asked. “What the hell are we gonna do now?”
“Shut up.” Whiskey shouted at him. “I need to think.”
“Yeah, well think fast okay?” Micah urged. “If what she says is true, it won’t take them long to find us and I want to be long gone when they get here.”
Whiskey stopped and stared at the other man. “So what? They find us, or they’ll find her barely alive and we’ll be long gone. They don’t know where we are.”
“We gotta get out of town while we can.” Micah grabbed his arm. “We don’t have time to take her out!”
Whiskey wrenched his arm away from Micah’s hold. “We got time to make her suffer. Yes, they might know we’re here but they don’t know where here is. Now settle down and let me do my thing.” He stared at Melora and licked his lips. “I’ve been waiting two years for this and I will not be denied.” Whiskey reached behind his back and grabbed the handle of his knife from the sheath inside the back of his vest. Pulling it around to his front, he twisted the handle in his hands. “This is gonna be fun.” His eyes glazed over and for a moment, he was lost in thoughts of pain-pleasure he knew was coming.
Melora’s heart pounded in her chest. Her skin crawled just having these two men this close to her. She knew the look in Whiskey’s eyes. She’d seen it before, the last time was the night Baily died. She knew how Whiskey got so tied up in what he could do with that damn knife of his and she knew he was one who enjoyed bringing others pain. She just never thought he would catch her and now she was afraid he would bring her world to a nasty ending. She almost prayed for death to find her quickly.
Her eyes focused on the vest Zipper had given her yesterday. She prayed the tracking device he told her was working. All she had to do was wait and pray the guys got here in time. She really wanted the chance to finally know her father and to find a future with Sam. In that moment, she realized something. She loved that old man. She loved him with everything she had and she desperately wanted a future with him beyond the here and now.
Glancing up at Whiskey and Micah, she knew her future was very limited. She also knew Whiskey was going to take his sweet time in delivering her to the hands of Hades.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Whiskey paused in front of her chair and stared at her for a moment. His cold gaze traveled up and down her body while his eyes dulled with lust. He twisted the knife in his hand and he checked out her body carefully. He watched as her breasts moved up and down with each trembling breath she took. Her breasts were full and almost bursting out of her bra. He licked his lips as he watched her face. Finally, he saw the fear she was trying so hard not to let out. Her fear wasn’t strong enough yet to give him the high he so eagerly sought, but he knew he could get it there.
Whiskey licked his lips again as the fear in her eyes grew. He lifted the knife and laid the blade on her skin just above her belly button. He drew a line across her belly. The blade touching her just hard enough to break the skin but not enough to really make her bleed. “Did you know one of the eastern continents, I’m not sure if it’s Japan or China or somewhere in between, has this torture called the death of a thousand cuts?” he asked her softly. “It don’t really matter where it came from I guess, only that’s it’s out there somewhere.”
Melora held still as he stood closer.
Again, he lifted the knife and cut her, not very deep but enough to get the blood flowing. This time, the knife wrapped around her side. He lifted the knife to her chest. “Did you also know you can stab the body in several places and not kill a person? That if you do it the right way, you can deliver however many stab wounds you want and the person will never die, at least not from being stabbed, she will die from blood loss first, well that’s the theory anyway. I’ve never tried it before now. When I stab someone, I want to do the most damage I can but I guess you know that don’t you?”
The cuts on her belly hadn’t actually hurt, they only caused her discomfort. Taking a deep breath and praying the knife wouldn’t slip, Melora answered him, “Yeah, I’ve seen your handiwork.”
Whiskey smiled. “That’s right you have, you were there the night Baily died. You saw what I did to him.”
Melora sneered. “You are one sick puppy, you know that?”
Whiskey shrugged. “The little sniveling bitch thought he could bargain with me. I’m not the one who borrowed money from the club. I’m not the one who thought he could get out of paying it back or thought he could use his uncle as a bargaining chip. I’m just the one who taught the boy some manners.”
“You murdered him!” Melora all but shouted. “How the hell was Raven supposed to collect his money from a dead man?”
Again, Whiskey shrugged. “At the time, I didn’t care one way or the other. It wasn’t my money and his debt carried over to other members of the brat’s family. His mother paid it back and that’s all Raven was looking for. She thought paying off the debt would get her the location of his body or at least that’s what she was told. Although, the debt would have been settled anyway by the Senator. Too bad, she’ll never know exactly what happened to him.”
“Sure she will,” Melora interjected.
Whiskey grinned. “And how will that happen? The hogs took care of his body. There wasn’t anything left of Baily to worry about.”
“That’s where you would be wrong, you psycho bastard” she assured him.
“What do you mean by that?” Micah spoke up.
She turned toward the other man. “It means…asshole, if anything happens to me Baily’s body will show up along with a copy of the video I took that night. Everyone and his brother will know what really happened and who did it.”
“That’s not possible.” Whiskey paled.
“Oh, it’s more than possible,” Melora stated in a firm voice.
Whiskey stared at her for the longest time then shrugged. “I don’t believe it. You couldn’t have known where we put him that night. We weren’t followed and the hogs would have been called by the scent of his blood.” He moved the knife to the top of her chest just below her collarbone. He angled the tip of the knife away from her skin “Here for instance…is a very good place to sink a knife into a body. If you do it right, there are no major blood vessels or organs to hit. ” He suggested as he slid the knife through her skin. The blade went through her muscle and struck bone on the other side.
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Melora felt faint as the blade pierced her body. She felt like screaming but couldn’t get any sound out of her throat.
He didn’t extract the blade right away and when he did, he twisted it slightly, doing the maximum amount of damage with the minimum amount of effort. Blood flowed freely from the wound, washing down her chest to pool at her waist.
Whiskey moved a step or two away, then studied her for a moment. When he returned to her this time, he placed the blade against her right side. Pushing the blade into her body he told her, “Here is another good place. It hurts like a sonofabitch but doesn’t really do that much damage.”
Melora began to sweat as she tried hard not to cry out her pain. When she felt him twist the knife, she moaned but didn’t scream. When he pulled the knife from her body, she felt the gush of blood run down her side and pool underneath her. She raised her head to glare at him.
~* * * *~
Whiskey smiled. He could feel his body respond to the pain and fear in her eyes even if she wasn’t screaming yet, he knew she soon would be. Then and only then, would he feel complete. Only then would his taste for pain and torture be complete. His body began to crave the end that would only come when she acknowledged the pain.
He was about to find a third nonlethal spot when the door to the room they were in flew open and several men rushed inside. He felt the sudden pain explode inside his head as a huge fist hit him in the face. He dropped to his knees in stunned disbelief.
Then he felt something hard hit the back of his neck and everything went dark. The knife tumbled from his blood soaked hand.
~* * * *~
Mountain glanced over at Raven as he saw the other man uppercut Micah.
Micah flew backwards hitting the wall hard. He slid down the wall and lay there crumpled on the floor.
Mountain turned to the other side and watched as Sam grabbed Whiskey’s knife off the floor and cut the ropes holding Melora to the chair. He knelt beside her and grabbed one of her hands rubbing her wrist as his eyes traveled over her bruised and bloody body. “Are you okay baby?” he whispered.
Melora turned her head and saw the concern in his eyes. “It’s nothing that time won’t heal,” she whispered.
Sam removed his own shirt and draped it over her abused body. “Deke is coming with a vehicle. We’ll get you to the hospital, so they can patch you up.”
Melora shook her head. “No hospital. They’ll ask too many questions.” She tried to explain in a breathless voice. “Can’t someone at the clubhouse take care of this?”
“Maybe she’s right,” Raven suggested. “We can’t exactly bring the police into this.”
Sam lifted her into his arms. ”Raine can take care of her. He’s dealt with worse than this.”
Melora lifted her arms to circle Sam’s neck. Laying her head on his shoulders she asked, “What’s going to happen to Whiskey and Micah?”
“Where is the third guy, Lightning?” Raven asked.
Melora’s lips curled upward. “He’s in the woods wrapped around a tree.”
Raven’s brows went up. “How the hell did that happen?”
She shrugged. “There might have been some speed, rough terrain and a helping kick involved in there somewhere.”
Raven snorted, looking at Mountain and Sam. “We’ll have to look for him in a day or two. Might not be safe out there at the moment, with all the wolves in the area.”
“At least he ain’t feeding the wild hogs,” Mountain sneered.
“Guys, I hate to rush this conversation but she’s still bleeding here,” Sam called out in a worried voice as he walked back to the door. Before he could go through it however, Deke, Gator and several other guys from the club rushed in.
Deke told the others to bind Whiskey and Micah. “Tie them up and throw them in the back of the truck. One of you guys will have to bring Sam’s bike back to the clubhouse too.”
“And mine,” Mountain told them. “I’m riding back with my daughter.”
Melora lifted one hand from Sam’s shoulder and reached out for her father.
Mountain took her hand in his and held it close to his heart. Then lifted it to his lips and kissed her fingers softly.
Then she turned back into Sam’s shoulder and groaned.
Mountain looked around the room and saw her clothing. Picking it up, he followed Sam and found them sitting in a truck just inside the building.
Sam was sitting in the back seat of the truck with Melora on his lap.
Mountain leaned over them and lifted Sam’s shirt out of the way. Pulling her away from Sam slightly, he balled Melora’s shirt up and pressed it against the bleeding wound on her chest.
Melora groaned but didn’t fight him. The bleeding had almost stopped and the pressure from his hand would stop it altogether. Next, he grabbed a towel from the seat next to where they were sitting. Moving down to her other stab wound, he pressed the towel against that wound. Then he pressed her against Sam again, and nodded. “That should hold until we get back to the clubhouse.” He turned to glare at Sam. “I hope your man can deal with this. She’s lost a lot of blood.”
Sam nodded and held her close. “Raine can deal with this,” he assured the other man. “Can you?”
Mountain glared at Sam. “Yeah, I can deal.” He backed up and slammed the back door shut, then climbed into the front passenger seat slamming that door shut as well.
Then they all waited for the others to put Whiskey and Micah’s bodies into the back. Deke got into the driver’s seat and without a word, drove out of the warehouse and back to the compound.
~* * * *~
Melora curled up in Sam’s arms, glad the nightmare was over. Lifting her lips to his neck she whispered, “Thank you for coming for me Bones.” Her lips pressed a kiss to his neck.
His arms tightened around her and he softly kissed the top of her head. “I think you knew I would come for you Silk,” he whispered back. “I’d have to be dead not to come after you.”
Melora tightened her grip on him without saying a word. Closing her eyes, she rested for a moment then Deke hit a pothole and jarred her. She hissed then groaned in pain.
“Hush now darlin,” Sam whispered. “It will be okay. I promise.”
“As long as I’m with you I’ll be fine. Just don’t let me go.”
“I won’t,” Sam vowed.
Melora sighed and closed her eyes, knowing Sam would keep her safe.
~* * * *~
An hour later, Raine put the last bandage in place and began cleaning up around him.
Melora had her wounds tended to under the watchful eyes of her father and Sam.
Raine had draped a towel over her girly parts while he tended her wounds, so neither man would feel the need to beat the hell out of him. He looked over at the girl and caught her smile. He grinned as he lifted a t-shirt off a pile of towels and helped her into it. As she tugged the garment down, he pulled the towel out from underneath and lifted the blanket to cover her bottom half. “That should do it,” he finally told her. “I’ll keep an eye on things for the next day or so, but you should be okay.”
“What about all the blood she lost?” Mountain asked with concern all over his face.
“Her own body can replace that if she rests,” Raine assured them. “Then we need to get plenty of fluids and food into her. I’ll have Reva bring her something hot and filling in a little while but for now, I think she should sleep.” He got to his feet and stared at the two other men in the room. “I’ve given her something for the pain and she needs the rest. Don’t you guys have some business to take care of?”
Mountain pushed himself away from the wall. “Yeah, we do.” He tapped Sam on the shoulder and turned to leave the room.
Before he could get too far, Melora called him back, “Daddy?”
Mountain halted in his tracks his face paling at the endearment he thought he would never hear. He slowly turned then stepped over to the bed.
She reached out and grabbed his han
d.
Mountain gently squeezed her fingers. Looking at her, he could see the struggle she was going through. He leaned over her and gently pressed his lips to her forehead. “I’ll be here if you want to talk later.”
She smiled softly. “I’d like that. I’d like that very much.”
Mountain kissed her cheek then stood up tall and straight. He nodded at Sam then left the bedroom.
Sam went over to the bed and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “I’ll be back.” He straightened up and turned to leave.
Melora reached out and grabbed his hand.
Sam turned to look at her his hand reaching up to smooth her silky hair away from her face.
“Make him suffer,” she whispered. “He’s caused too much pain and agony in this world. Give him some of it back.”
Sam smiled slightly. “I don’t think that will be a problem. This time, it’s a matter of more than just bones, baby girl. If I can’t break him Mountain will.”
After he was gone, Raine caught her glance. “That man loves you.”
Melora smiled. “I know. I love him too.” She chuckled. “I never thought I would ever say that about someone.”
“Why?” Raine asked. “You’re young enough to fall in love several times over.”
She shook her head. “My mother only ever loved one man. That man just walked out of this room. She never loved anyone the way she loved him and when he left her behind, she never forgot him either. She taught me about that kind of love and I’ve never felt it until the day I met Sam. It was so strong and so sudden, I never knew what hit me. I never thought about it until then. Now, I can’t imagine my life without him in it. I don’t think I even want to try.” Melora closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.
