When I reach her, I can’t help but look into her confused, scared eyes and for a moment, I want to take her face in my hands and kiss every worry away, but I can’t.
Instead, I pick up her hand and drop the keys in them, pushing her toward the car. “You need to go, now.”
“I don’t understand, can you just fucking stop for a minute!” She shouts.
I let go of her. “Steely, you’re in danger.”
“Don’t call me Steely right now, this is serious. What the fuck is going on?” She says, all of a sudden breaking down into heart wrenching sobs.
My nickname for her just slipped out, I didn’t mean to say it but it causes my feelings to come back tenfold so I block it all out. I block it out like I do with everything when we go on club business.
“Get in the car and drive, keep driving until you’re far away from any of The Crows Rebels turf. And don’t ever come back, do you hear me?”
I try not to feel a scrap of remorse at the ferocity in my voice, she needs to leave so she can be safe.
“But… I just don’t understand what’s going on. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Hasn’t done anything wrong? She slept with the enemy! My anger takes hold of the reigns and I bend down and grab her chin roughly.
“He’s eighty-sixed you, Steely. If you’d have just kept your legs shut, none of this would be happening. You’re free game now, so I suggest you get the fuck out of here before any of the other brother’s find out what he’s done.”
I let go of her chin as if she burnt me, what did I do that for? Because I’m jealous, that’s why.
I slam the car door and walk toward my bike without taking a look back at her. Tears spring to my eyes but I hold them back as my bike roars to life and I pull away. The feeling of guilt, jealousy and loss clawing its way through my conscience.
All my bravado is gone. All of the fight in me vanished. I’m ready for him to be done with me, he’s done everything he could ever do. I haven’t moved since he forced himself on me. No, let’s say it for what it really was. He raped me.
A salty tear rolls down my cheek, but I don’t move when I hear doors slamming against walls and his heavy footsteps walking a fast pace toward my prison. He throws the door open with such force that I think it’s going to come flying off its hinges.
He’s red faced and panting as he flips me onto my front and lifts my hips high in the air. I hear him unbuckling his belt and I go to my happy place, he can’t touch me there.
I stay limp as silent tears run down my cheeks and I pray for death. I pray my body will just give up from the physical and emotional exhaustion, from the starvation and dehydration. On my first two days here I was given a full meal and a bottle of water, they soon dwindled down and now all I’m given is a small cup of warm water and sludge which I presume is supposed to be a protein shake. It’s like trying to swallow lumpy swamp water and I almost always bring it back up, so I’m running on empty.
He pushes his hips into me again and again, grunting with each thrust. I choke back a sob, my happy place has vanished, all I remember now is pain.
He finishes and trails one of his disgusting fingers down my spine. “I’m starting to get bored of you, sweet girl. Where’s your fighting spirit?”
I don’t answer him, I just screw up my eyes and try to desperately grab onto anything that will take me away from here.
Picking my head up with what hair I have left, he screams in my face, “Answer me!”
I whimper, hating how weak I sound as I answer him. “It ran away with my dignity… and your toothbrush apparently.”
I receive a punch in the mouth for that but I smile through the pain, I’ve been waiting to use that one on him. Blood mixed with saliva trickles out the side of my mouth and drips onto the already dirty mattress as I start to laugh. I sound like a crazed lunatic, and perhaps that’s what I am now.
“There she is, your mom didn’t have any fight left in her in the end like you, you’ve lasted much longer than her.”
I freeze at his words and I feel the electricity running through my veins. “You’re a fucking liar!” I scream.
He laughs. “She never once stopped asking about you, made me promise her I wouldn’t go near you. Aww.” He runs his finger down my cheek. “Mommy loved you very much, she just wasn’t strong enough.”
I can feel myself starting to lose control. “You’re lying!”
“She wanted to take you with her when she left, but I told her I’d find you both and make her watch as I had my way with you.”
My heart stops, I always knew it was because of him she left, but I never knew he actually made her leave.
“You bastard!” He strokes my hair tutting and I flinch. “Stop it! Please just kill me!” I beg.
“In due time, sweet girl.” That same menacing laugh that haunts my dreams floats next to my ear. “I hunted her down the same way I did with you, she didn’t have a chance at getting away from me. I found her trying to play happy families with a surrogate family.” I try to read whether he’s lying, if he is he’s doing a pretty good job of hiding the fact. “She was sober and looking after someone else’s two kids. The ex-wife was six feet under so she took her place, tragic really when you think about it.”
He smiles down at me. He’s a fucking psychopath!
“I took her to this very room,” he says nostalgically, looking around the small space like it’s a fond memory. “Two days was all it took to break her. Then I slit her throat and watched every drop of blood pour out onto her cheap perfumed neck.”
I thrash underneath him as sobs wrack my body, my mom was a victim the same as me, she didn’t see any other way.
“And now it’s your turn. Don’t worry, you’ll be together again soon. I’ll even do you the fuckin’ courtesy of buryin’ you next to her.”
“No!” I scream, managing to buck him off me onto the floor.
I sit up as quick as I can and back up against the wall as he crawls back toward me.
“But first…” He pauses for effect, pinning me further against the wall. “We’re going to have a little bit more fun.”
He moves one of his hands and cups me there. That’s his first mistake. Something invisible snaps inside me and every ounce of fight I ever had in me rushes back into my body.
I let him keep his hand there as he moves his body closer, my eyes zone in on the knife he keeps in a sheath on his belt. He’s not watching my movements, too caught up in his own disgusting game. That’s his second mistake.
I reach for the knife and he coils his hand around mine after I manage to grab it, crushing it. I cry out to distract him but I don’t miss a beat as my free hand jolts up against his nose, sending him flying backward, and I shut my eyes as blood spurts out everywhere.
“You fuckin’ bitch! You broke my nose!”
I smile a triumphant smile. “That’s not the only thing I’m going to break. It’s my turn now.”
He lets out a low growl and tries to get up.
“Don’t you fucking dare move!” I shout, pointing the blade toward him with a shaky hand. The thought of stabbing someone knocks me sick, but I’m ready to do whatever it takes to escape, to stop this torture.
“Where’s my mom buried?” I ask ,trying to keep the hysteria out of my voice.
“Somewhere you’ll never find her,” he laughs out.
I kick him in the face, enjoying the satisfying crunch his jaw makes under my heel. “I said, where is she buried?”
He spits on the floor and looks up at me, laughing. “Fuck you.”
My hand holding the knife shakes more as my arm aches from holding it out. I’m weak and he knows it, but adrenaline does strange things to you.
He stands up and I back away toward the door. “I said don’t fucking move!”
He ignores my warning and shuffles forward with a sneer on his face, blood oozing out of his nose and down his chin, he thinks I’m not strong enough.
“You won’t
do this, Keeley. I’m the only one who knows the real you. The dirty, broken girl that nobody wants. You see, I’ve been watching you for a while now. You’re different, you’re not like them. You belong with me.”
“No!” I shout over his taunts. “You haven’t broken me, I will not give you that satisfaction. I may never be able to get your stench off me, but I sure as hell will rid this world of you.”
Launching myself at him, knife raised in my hand, I only have one goal.
I shake Jacques by his shoulders. “You’ve got to remember something!”
He rakes his hands through his hair and I walk away from him, kicking at the dirt.
Why Harlow? We pass through Harlow on rides out this way all the time, but there’s a niggling feeling in the back of my head that tells me this isn’t why I know Harlow. But for the life of me, I can’t damn well remember!
“I’m trying, Hunter. He kept me pretty much in the dark about it until just before I… before I took her.”
He looks at the floor ashamed of himself. Good, he damn well should be! I want to beat his ass but I need him right now.
“Try. Harder,” I say out of gritted teeth.
He links his hands behind the back of his neck and looks around at the old train tracks. “Why is Harlow ‘safe’?”
“What you talkin’ about?” I grit out, feeling agitated and restless.
He shrugs. “Taz said Harlow was safe, that’s why the meeting place was here, but I have-”
I have no idea what he- safe…
“Jacques, get on my bike now!” I shout out, running for it.
He runs after me. “What’s wrong?”
My bike roars to life and I shout, “I know where he’s keeping her!” over my shoulder and prepare myself for what we might be riding into.
There’s moments in life when you don’t need to take more than a split second to decide on something, whether it turns out to be the right or wrong decision, in that moment it feels right.
This is one of those moments.
And while I look into his evil eyes as the life drains out of them, I know I’ve made the right choice.
I choose me.
His grip around my neck loosens as he slides down onto the floor, pulling me with him. I let go of the knife in his chest and scuttle backward, pushing myself up against the wall, looking over my blood covered hands.
It’s over, he’s gone.
My hand flies to my mouth as I sit staring at him, tears running down my cheeks.
I’m free.
I tear up the dirt track and have to squint through the dust cloud my wheels are kicking up. She has to be here, I have no idea where else she could be otherwise. And she has to be okay. I swear if she’s not…
My heart pounds with adrenaline as we get closer, I know the safe house is just around this corner coming up. Jacques hasn’t stopped asking me where we’re headed, but I’m too focussed on getting there to explain anything to him. I round the corner with a skid and he nearly goes flying off the back.
“Shit, Hunter. Slow down!”
“No! We’re here and so is he!” I shout.
Up ahead there’s a black cage and Taz’s bike sitting outside a shabby old house, at least that’s what it looks like from the outside. It isn’t actually a house, it’s a reinforced safe house we use if we ever need to hide guns, drugs or people. It’s all on one floor with only three rooms so we can protect the place easy enough, but we haven’t had to use it in years, so it’s looking run down.
“Hunter, that’s the cage he had me drive, she must be here,” Jacques says.
I just nod my head while I jump off my bike, raiding the saddlebag for my hunting knife and my 9mm. I sheath the knife in my belt but keep the gun in my hand. This fuckers going down. Tonight.
Jacques tries to follow me but I stick out my hand.“Jacques, you’re staying here.”
He squares up to me. “The hell I am! You’re not going in there alone!”
“If anything happens to you-”
“It’ll be my own Goddamn fault. I put her here, Hunter. I gotta do this.”
We don’t have time to stand around arguing so I hand him the knife and nod at him, running toward the door. We don’t need a plan, there’s no point. We don’t have the element of surprise anymore because if he’s here, there’s no way he won’t have heard my bike. We have to be quick.
The front door opens with ease and keeping Jacques behind me, we search the first room. Apart from the crusty old sofa in the corner we put in here to make it look abandoned, we come up empty. We move onto the next room, trying to be as quiet as possible but with both of us with combat boots on, it’s a futile attempt. Looking in the next room, I feel bile rise in my throat. There’s spots of dried blood and black hair all over the floor, but no Keeley. I’m petrified that I’m too late when Jacques shouts my name through my foggy haze.
“Hunter! I’ve found her!”
My feet hit the cold hard floor at a sprint, and I run into the final room. I have to stop myself from pegging my nose at the smell and I catch my breath at the sight of the feral looking girl pushed up against the wall.
She’s completely naked, covered head to toe in cuts, bruises and blood, and her hair is matted and looks like it’s been hacked away at. That explains the hair in the other room.
I gasp, I can’t help it and she raises her pale face to meet mine. “Do your worst,” she spits out, and I follow her gaze back to a body on the floor, Taz.
I shuffle over to him and press my fingers to his neck. “He’s dead,” I confirm to Jacques.
As if noticing him for the first time, she screams and backs into the corner of the room. “He deserved it! Please just let me go!”
She frantically eyes my gun so I hold it up in the air and slowly put it on the floor in front of me. “Keeley, do you remember me? It’s Hunter, you’re safe now. I promise I won’t hurt you.”
Moving closer, I notice she looks like the shell of the human she was when I saw her last. Her normally olive complexion looks dull and her face is sunken as her eyes dart around the room, looking for an escape.
I kneel down in front of her. “Keeley?”
I can hardly believe it’s her. I try to touch her and she lashes out, kicking out a bare bloodied foot at me. “I know who you are! You’re the guy I thought I could trust, yet you sent me off into the world on my own over a stupid fucking rumor that wasn’t even true! Don’t touch me!”
“Keeley, that’s not important right now. What is important is getting you medical attention. You have my word that I won’t hurt you.”
She glares at me. “Your word doesn’t mean shit.”
It’s like a hard blow to the chest. “You know I’m a man of my word, it means everything.”
Her face hardens. “I don’t know you anymore, and no, your word doesn’t mean everything. You said you’d always keep me safe. No matter what. Look where that got me.”
I can’t look at her then, she’s right, I failed her. I touch her arm again and she whimpers. She feels like ice so I look around manically, trying to find something to cover her frigid body with. I walk over to Jacques who looks like he’s seen a ghost and has tears streaming silently down his face.
“I… I had no idea.”
“No… you didn’t,” I grit out.
“Keeley… I’m so sorry,” he chokes out.
She focuses her eyes on him and they narrow. “I knew it was you, just couldn’t place your voice until just now. Kidnapping women you thing now?”
“I-”
I don’t have time for this, we need to get her help. Who knows the extent of her injuries? “Jacques, we can sort through your fucked up feelings later on. Take off your hoodie.”
He unzips it and drops it in my arms. “I’m sorry, I need some air.”
He turns and leaves, needing to deal with this alone for now. I kneel down in front of her again and hold the hoodie out to her. She eyes it but doesn’t move. “Please just take it,
you’re freezing.”
She eyes me warily but holds out a shaking arm and takes it from me, wrapping it around herself.
“What you gonna do with me?” She asks, looking right into my eyes.
Those eyes. They pierce straight to my soul and all I want to do is pull her into my arms and claim her as mine, even with all the grime, cuts and bruises, she’s still as beautiful as ever. “We’re gonna get you to a hospital.”
She looks confused. “But I thought-”
“No, Keeely. We’re here to get you home, wherever that is.”
Her eyes are still untrusting, but they start to water and she sobs not taking her eyes away from mine. “I thought the club was coming for me.”
My heart breaks for everything she’s been through. “No, you’re safe with us. No one else is here, Jacques-”
“Jacques is the one who took me, do you really expect me to trust you?” She cries and tucks her head between her knees.
My jaw clenches. “And he’s not stopped beating himself up since, he thought the club wanted you back, that your pop wanted you home.” She looks up, searching my face. “I wanna beat his ass and I will, but I do believe he didn’t know what your uncle had planned. And I can promise on my life that you’re safe now, you’re always safe when I’m around.”
She blanches as she looks over at her Uncle. “I killed him,” she says deadpan.
Her lips turn up at the corners. There’s the Keeley I used to know, the fighter I know she still is.
“If you hadn’t, I sure as hell would’ve ripped him apart when I came in here,” I grit out, and close my eyes to calm the raging inferno inside me.
“Why did you come after me, Hunter?”
I clear my throat. “It wasn’t even a decision.” My hand twitches and I dig my fingers into my palm to stop myself from touching her face. “When I heard that your Uncle had roped Jacques into doing his dirty work earlier tonight, I saw red. Your uncle told him he’d get him his cut if he went somewhere with him, said your pop wanted you and you just needed a little nudge in the right direction to come back.” I shake my head. “He’s just a kid, he really didn’t know what he was doing.”
When I'm With You (Little Hollow #2) Page 17
