by Sophia Gray
Maddie clung to me tighter, burning her face in my neck. “What did you do to her?” I demanded.
“Nothing. Little shit’s just scared of the dark probably.”
“Gray.” Brittany called to him from outside, her voice sweeter than honey. “Gray, can you cut my hands loose. I already apologized, I’m real sorry.”
Gray looked over his shoulder, out the door and smirked. “Bitch needs her last leg of her punishment, then we’ll give Rafe a call.” He gave me a wink then stepped out of the room, slamming it shut. I put Maddie down and ran to the door, yanking on the handle, but I heard the bolt slide into place on the other side and the keys jangle as he locked it.
I screamed. At the top of my lungs I screamed and yanked at the door, kicking it and kicking at hit with all my force. Nothing budged, and no one answered. I felt tears start to burn my eyes and I leaned against the door, my chest heaving with my breaths.
“Mommy?” Maddie’s little voice brought me out of my moment of panic. I swiped my hand across my eyes, and crouched down to her level. Her hair was messy, and there was as smudge of dirt on her cheek.
“It’s okay, baby. We’re going to be okay. Are you hurt anywhere?” I asked, looking her up and down. She was still dressed in the shorts and t-shirt I had her in the day before.
“No. That mean man wasn’t nice though. He pushed me and I tripped. My foot hurts a little but it’s better than before.”
I sat her on the air mattress and picked up the foot she pointed to and inspected it. No bruising or swelling. Thank god. She probably just pulled a little muscle in her foot when she tripped. “It’s okay now. That man won’t hurt you again.”
“Brittany said he wouldn’t hurt me, she said he was going to take us for ice cream. She lied.” Maddie sniffled and wrapped her arms around my neck, showing no signs of letting go.
“I know, baby, I know.” I scooted us back against the wall and adjusted her on my lap. It only grew hotter in the room with her on top of me the way she was, but I wasn’t letting her go. I needed to come up with something and quick.
I heard a scream in the distance and winced. Brittany. He was hurting her, but I couldn’t do anything about it from where I was.
“She does that a lot when he’s here,” Maddie said. “I don’t know why.”
“I don’t know either, baby.” I held her closer to me and covered her ear with my hand. Wanting to drown out Brittany’s screams, I began to sing to my girl.
Rafe had to be able to get us, and I needed to be sure he knew Gray was waiting for him.
Chapter Twenty-Three
RAFE
Fifteen members rode their bikes behind me as we made our way to the warehouse Stephanie had told me about. All of them fully on board with what needed to happen.
Word got out that morning that Javier was dead, and rumor was Gray was the last person to see him alive. No one mentioned that he was stabbed by some mystery guy in his garage, and I wasn’t going to fill in that piece of the news.
When the members found out Gray had been trying to deal with Javier and getting us back into the drug market, it didn’t take much else to get them to turn. As a club we voted out drugs, and that vote would stick. Once it was known that Javier had been killed and his crew was pointing the finger at Gray, the members weren’t questioning my loyalty anymore.
“He wasn’t just tarrying to get in the drug trade, I think he was trying to take it over,” I had said to the fifteen that gathered at Beth’s house. I was met with nods and angry agreement. After that they all saddled up and off we rode.
The summer sun was blasting us with its rays as we drove into the warehouse lot. Sixteen bikes made a lot of noise—Gray would know we were there. I didn’t give a fuck.
Not another bike or car in sight. My stomach churned. I signaled to JC that I was going in the front door and for him to go around to the side.
Looking behind me, I checked the other members were all standing ready. I gave a nod the twisted the knob, yanking the door open and running inside, gun already drawn.
Empty.
No one was there. Not even a sign that anyone had been there. JC eyed me from across the warehouse with as much of a confused expression as I had.
“What the fuck?” he asked, his voice echoing off walls of the empty place.
“Steph said this warehouse,” I called back to him. My phone started dancing in my back pocket and I whipped it out. “Go tell the others to back down.”
He nodded and headed back out. I answered the call just as the metal door slammed shut. “So, have you figured out that your girlfriend has left you yet?” Gray’s voice slithered through the receiver.
“Gray.” I turned around, rushing to the offices. “Where the fuck are my girls?” I checked the main office, completely empty. So were the other two smaller ones down the hall.
“Wouldn’t you love to know.” He laughed in my ear. I heard a woman squirming behind him, muttering something incoherent. “Shut the fuck up unless you want another dozen,” Gray yelled to whoever was with him.
“If you touched her—”
“Relax. That’s just my old lady. The bitch just got finished getting her ass whipped and already she’s talking out of turn.”
Brittany. He must have her with the girls. From the sobs I could hear coming from his end of the phone, I suspected she wasn’t too thrilled about it either.
“Where’s my girls?” I asked again, my teeth hurting from clenching so tightly.
“They are fine. I’m not ready for you to meet them again just yet. I need a few things set up first. I’ll have your little whore call you when I’m ready for you to drop by for a visit. In the meantime, I suggest you get your little gang of turncoats and get ready. You aren’t the only one with eyes and ears everywhere. I’m not stupid. I have plenty of guys on my side, guys who see a future of our club that doesn’t involve so many goddamn pussies in it.”
As he said the words, I heard the rumbling of engines. I cut the call and ran outside. Pulling in and surrounding us was almost half the club. Mostly made up of prospects and newer patched members, but they circled us, riding around us as though they were more vulture than biker.
JC walked up to me. “What the fuck do they want?”
“I think they are with Gray. How’d they find us?” The leader, Aaron pulled his bike out of the circle and pulled up to me.
“Must have followed us,” JC answered before Aaron cut his engine.
Aaron parked his bike but he didn’t get off. Instead he sat with his arms folded over his chest, eyeing us. “We need to talk,” he said with a twisted grin.
Chapter Twenty-Four
BETH
Sweat dripped down my back and Maddie’s hair was matted to her forehead from the heat. I watched her sleep with a heaviness in my chest. Gray hadn’t been back to the room yet and I’d lost all track of time.
My phone was gone, must have fallen out of my pocket when Gray yanked me from the car. I couldn’t call out, I couldn’t see what time it was, I was completely blind and deaf to the outside world. Except for Brittany’s sobbing. She must have been put in the room beside ours. I could hear her sniffling and crying, but I made no move to comfort her.
The heat finally got to me and I started banging on the door again. “It’s too fucking hot in here, Gray!” I screamed, aware that I was going to wake up Madison.
I pulled my leg back again to give the door another kick when I heard a hiss whooshing through the vent on the floor. Crouching down, I felt the cool air and almost started to laugh at it. I pressed my face to the vent washing myself with the chilled air.
“Mommy?” Maddie was awake and standing over me. “What are you doing?"
“It’s hot in here, baby, come here, come sit down and put your hands over the vent. It will help you cool down.”
She did what I said and started giggling. “That feels good, Mama.” She lowered herself even more and pressed her own face to the grate. “Oh, that feels
nice.” She grinned and for a moment I felt something other than complete fear. We’d get out. I knew it. We’d get out of that place and Gray would pay for what he’d done.
Shortly after we cooled our faces off we snuggled back up on the mattress, while I began rerunning several books I could remember that were her favorite. I had just finished wrapping The Little Nemo when the door swung open and Gray stood before us all big and menacing-looking.
He didn’t have a phone in his hand, didn’t he want me to call Rafe? How could I do that without a phone.
“Change of plans,” he answered me as though he’d heard my thoughts. “Get up. The three of us are going for a ride.”
I stood up on shaking legs, holding Maddie behind me. “We aren’t going anywhere with you,” I snarled at him. My patience was gone. Maddie’s little hands wrapped around my leg. I could feel her little body trembling.
“Oh, I think you’ll change your mind. Rafe is waiting for you.” He pulled out his gun and showed it to me before shoving it back in his back pocket. “Now, unless you want your daughter there to pee her pants, I suggest you get moving.”
Maddie must have heard him clear enough. “I need to go pee pee, Mommy.”
Gray made a face then heaved a sigh. “The bathroom’s down that hall. Let’s go.” He walked behind us as we shuffled down the narrow passage way.
The bathroom could have been more disgusting, but at least the toilet was working. I helped Maddie use the potty, helping her to hover instead of sit on the seat. I noticed that Gray hadn’t come into the washroom with us. I started looking around the tiny room for a weapon of some sort, anything I could use to jab him with or hit him with.
“Mommy, my hands.” Maddie held her hands over the sink that was still a little too high for her reach.
“Don’t worry about that right now, baby.” I patted her head and stared at the mirror. I needed to break it, without Gray hearing it. “Maddie, stand back, baby. Go by the wall and cover your face okay?”
“Why?”
I put on my best mom voice. “Because I said.”
She did what I asked and I started to look for something to use to break the mirror. I had nothing, and I doubted my gym shoes would do the trick.
The door flew open and Gray glared at me through the mirror. “Looking for something sharp?” His sneer sent a shiver through me that I hoped Maddie didn’t pick up on. “Let’s go.” He jerked his head and stepped to side, still holding the door open for us as I grabbed Maddie and made our way out of the bathroom.
Gray walked behind us, but I knew better at that point to try to run. The sun had started to go down outside, taking away some of the heat. “Don’t we need Brittany?” I asked, some concern for my once friend surfacing.
He shook his head. “She’s fine. She’s gonna hang back here for now.”
“You can’t just leave her here.”
He stepped up to me, putting his face too close to mine. “I said she’s fine. You have other things to worry about besides her, like what’s going to happen if Rafe doesn’t do what I say.”
The door to his truck yanked open and he motioned for me to climb in. I helped Maddie, then got in myself. Pulling her onto my lap and putting space between us and the crazy biker.
“Why don’t you just get rid of him like you did Jason?” I asked once Gray was in the truck and had us moving. He looked at me for a brief moment and shook his head.
“Too many fucking guys are starting to ask questions because of what Rafe’s been trying to dig up. If he has an accident, it’s gonna look like I did it.”
“But you did do it—to Jason, I mean.” I knew I was poking the bear, but I couldn’t seem to keep my mouth shut.
“I should have taken them both out at one time. Fucking Rafe turned, messed it all up.” His fingers were white at the knuckles and he kept his eyes focused on the road. “Things will be different after today, though. My guys, they know what’s up, they know how the club needs to change.”
“How?” I rocked Maddie a little, trying to keep him talking. Her little eyes fluttered and she fell back asleep. She had to be so hungry and scared, I tightened my arms around her. “How do you want to change the club?”
“That’s club business, and I don’t talk that shit with no club whore.”
“I’m not a club whore!” I hissed at him, not wanting to wake up Maddie.
He snorted. “Right. I forgot. You’re Rafe’s old lady, no MC chick, just something he picked up off the road. Either way, I’m not telling you shit.”
“Drugs?” I prodded him, shoving down the anger I felt at every word he said up to that point. What the hell did Brittany see in him?
“Shit ton of money in that ring, yeah.” He turned us down an alley way. The sun was completely gone from the sky and what few lamps were turned on barely lit up the way. Abandoned building after building passed my window. My stomach began to cramp.
I didn’t ask him any more questions; I was paying too much attention to where we were and looking for a way to get us out. Even if I could run faster than him while carrying Maddie, it wouldn’t matter, he had a gun. He didn’t need to chase us.
When the truck pulled up to a building that had at least twenty or more bikes parked outside of it, my heart started hammering again. “Good, they’re here already.” He shoved the gear into park and gave me one his snarling grins. “Show time.”
Maddie woke up as we slid from the cab of the truck. I put her on her feet and she gripped my hand hard. I could feel the trembles through her hand and gave her a little squeeze back. “It’s okay, baby girl. It’s okay.” I smiled down at her. She nodded, but didn’t look overly convinced. Neither was I.
Gray led us into the building, another worn down factory gone dead by years of recession and overseas outsourcing. Only this building wasn’t empty. Dozens of Anarchy’s Reign men stood waiting for us.
One man stepped forward, greeting Gray. His slicked back hair and clean shaven face would look almost handsome if he weren’t involved with Gray. He rolled his shoulders back and forth before turning his gaze on me and Maddie. Something in his eyes changed when he looked down at us, the steel I’d seen as he walked over to us softened some. Or maybe it was just hope.
“Hey, Aaron. Everything ready?” Gray asked in a low voice, ducking his head.
“All set.” Aaron nodded, glancing at us one more time before stepping behind Gray to follow his lead toward the others.
Gray looked over his shoulder at us and gave a toothy grin. I really wished he would brush his teeth more often. “Stick close to me, if you step out of line…well, you heard what happens when my women step out of line.” He winked at me then started walking again. His woman?
“Where is he?” Gray called out to the crowd as we approached. The chatters and clamoring ceased and the men separated, leaving a walkway down the center of them. In the middle stood Rafe.
His hair was mussed and his kutte ripped under his left arm, but otherwise he didn’t look any worse for wear. My heart pounded at the sight of him. His eyes, dark and narrowed, fixated on Gray. He didn’t even turn to me and Maddie, didn’t show any signs of noticing us at all.
“Rafe!” Maddie called out with excitement. She tried to run toward him, but I pulled her back.
“No, baby. Stay with me.” I shoved her behind me again, and held her hand tight. She pressed herself into my legs. I understood her feelings, I wanted to run and throw myself into Rafe’s arms, too.
Gray walked off, leaving us behind him. Aaron stayed behind him as well, moving to stand between me and him, blocking my view of him.
“Baby girl, you okay?” Rafe’s question was pointed at Maddie, but his eyes never left Gray.
“I’m scared.” Maddie’s voice was small in comparison to Rafe’s booming sound.
“I know, baby girl. I’m taking care of it. You stay with your mama, okay?”
“Okay.”
I looked at him, trying to make eye contact, but he was s
till ignoring my presence. He focused on Gray. How was he going to take care of the situation when he was the only fucking one of them who seemed to still have his sanity!
Gray laughed. “The girls are mine now, no need to concern yourself with them.” Rafe’s jaw tightened. “All you need to deal with right now is figuring out how you’re going to get out of here with your skin intact.”
“Oh, I don’t think that will be difficult.” A female voice rang out from behind the crowd. Stephanie walked into the room, and behind her several Mexican men glared at Gray.
