Gloria had forgot the knife was still clutched in her hand. The brown wood handle had practically dug itself into her skin, as she did not dare to let go of it. She ran back to him and dropped it before him before running back to her car. Vinny watched her as she struggled to sit down and shut her door. She drove off quickly, swerving frantically as the car disappeared into the rain soaked streets.
Vinny stood, putting the knife in his pants pocket. He slowly walked past the dead body on the ground, taking a moment to study its placement before heading inside. Once there, he called out into the dark, “Benni! Benni!”
“What is it!” Benni stormed out of his office, totally unaware of the action that had just gone down outside of the parking lot. He turned on the light of the main hall revealing Vinny covered in his own blood and that of Junior and Carl. His tattered clothes and bruised face and body said it all. His hand left a red handprint against the wall as he slumped to sit on the floor while Benni rushed to his side.
“Who did this to you?” Benni had his phone out, prepared to call in his troops.
Vinny pointed out toward the open door. Benni followed his direction and came back inside seconds later. His phone was pressed to his head as he said to the person he called, “Yeah, get over here now. Bring a couple guys. We need some clean up.”
Vinny slipped in and out of conscious as he watched men streaming in and out of the main hall. Some were caked in blood while others were covered in fresh dirt. No one said a word to him; they all just watched and waited until the “doctor” arrived. A tall man in his forties, he leaned over Vinny and inspected his visible wounds.
With a snap of his fingers, the group of men picked up Vinny and brought him to the table where he went to work sealing the deep cuts with a sterilized needle and some thread. He then wrapped his ribs in a tight, encompassing bandage. “Don’t move. Don’t talk. Don’t eat. Ice it. Thirty days of this and you’ll be fine.” Vinny nodded in understanding as he took a cup of pills from the doctor and swallowed them quickly. Relief couldn’t come any sooner for him.
When he awoke, his scenery had totally changed. Light streamed through his own bedroom. Blinds he had not opened in years were thrown back revealing his dirty, dingy windows. He looked around, noting that the space was pristine. Clothes were put away in his closet and dresser. The carpet looked fully vacuumed and the stack of dirty dishes were gone completely.
He struggled to make sense of it until he spotted her. Gloria was there, at his feet, absent-mindedly strumming his dusty old guitar. She was singing that song, the same song he heard her sing the first night they met. Her voice soothed him, breathed life into him as he struggled to prop himself up to sit.
Gloria felt the couch under her move as she turned to face him. Her eyes glimmered as she opened her mouth to speak, “Good morning.”
“Morning? How long was I out?” Vinny looked around at the room, hoping to get more clues on what had happened to him.
“Three days. Strong shit they gave you, I suppose.” She held up a clear bag full of unknown and unmarked pills. “I found them in your jean pocket. It came with a note to take three a day in the morning. I’ve been force feeding them to you.”
“How did you get in?” A small panic crept over him as he dreaded her answer, “Who knows you’re here?”
“No one knows I’m here. I had a client do me a favor and break in that night. I couldn’t leave you alone. When you weren’t here, I just waited in a closet ‘til they brought you in.”
“Why in the hell would you do that? That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard.” He couldn’t believe she would be so dumb as to risk her life and break into his place.
“I did it because I wanted to do it. You saved me. I couldn’t let you die without telling you you were free. You don’t owe me a dime. Your debt is gone.” Gloria was sincere. She had yet to release one of her clients, but now she wanted to make every exception for Vinny.
He looked at her long and hard, his eyes struggling to keep her glance. “You can’t get rid of me.”
“What?” She asked him quizzically.
“It’s not over. This thing between you and me—me protecting you? It’s not over.” He reached out his hand to touch her face. She smiled as he traced the still healing bruises that lined her face. “I’m not backing out now.”
In that moment, she knew he was not lying. She knew that he was not about to let her go about her life and business without him. He would risk it all to know that she was safe. He would spend a lifetime paying off the new debts he had owed Gloria. He had a new partner, a new person to ride with. He was ready for what came next. And she was ready to ride.
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CHAPTER ONE
A scream filled the room. Blood curdling, aching—the noise only a man in overpowering pain could make.
Gloria’s boiling water simmered to the top of the pan and ran down the side, extinguishing the fire that burning underneath. But the sound of the man screaming was her cue. She ignored the gas still running and the spoon still perched bobbing in the bubbly, frothy water. Her attention was only on the sound of the man crying out. “What are you doing?!” she screamed at Vinny as he lay on the floor of the living room. His legs were still on the couch, but he had managed to slip the top part of his body off. “You’re not supposed to move without help. Do you want to break another rib?”
She couldn’t help but break into a smile at seeing him writhe in pain as he attempted, in vain, to lift himself back up to the couch. Vinny was well over six feet tall. His bare chest was covered in black and red tattoos. His face was full of bruises and scars from fights he had won and lost. Yet, here he was in his own home, weakened from a blow to his ribs. And Gloria got to bear witness to just how much a man like Vinny could break when pushed to the edge.
She stood over him, her tiny arms crossed over her slight body and her foot tapping away impatiently. Yet a hint of a smile crossed her small face. She blew a strand of yellow hair from her eyes as she knelt down to offer him a hand.
Vinny took his free hand and pushed her off. He was not about to let her help him anymore than she already had. It had been about a week now since he had woken up back in his apartment. Gloria had already been there several days, attending to his every need and care. But now that he was starting to get his bearings back and the drugs were finally wearing off, he saw no need for her to baby him. “Get off me, woman!” he shouted at her as she continued to try to lift him by hooking her arms underneath his armpits. “I can do this myself. I’m not completely helpless!”
“Fine. Do it your way.” She dropped him back to the ground with a thud and took two steps back. He let out yet another cry of shocked pain. Her hand shot up to cover the burst of laughter she was about to release. But she knew better; Vinny was proud, almost to his detriment, so laughing at him—or even his situation—was a pretty heavy faux pas. Her best defense was to just roll with his silly demands and play along like nothing had happened to him, like she was not a part of the reason why he was so badly injured.
“Ha-ha-ha.” Vinny turned his head to mimic her. “Laugh all you want. You won’t be laughing when I can manage to get myself off this goddamn couch. You best prepare.”
She knelt down next to him, her face inches from his. She could feel his hot, sticky breath dance along the corner of her forehead. “Oh really?” she said, amused. “And what exactly best I prepare for?”
He smiled wickedly, a fire sparked in his dark, steely eyes. “I promise you this: I won’t be babyin’ you like you been doin’ with me.”
Vinny’s threat sent shivers down Gloria’s spine. She couldn’t help but remember those moments in her darkened bedroom the first night she met him. Sure, both of them were trying to play each other for information – Gloria had wanted to make him part of her blackmailing scheme; Vinny wanted her for an introduction to
a motorcycle club – but each of them got what they were asking for and certainly more than they bargained for.
Gloria answered him breathlessly as her mind filled of the memory of him twisting her body to his every need, him overcoming her till she was what he wanted, “Then you best get your ass back on this couch and let me take care of you until then.”
Vinny slumped enough, allowing her to help place him back on the couch. This certainly was not what he wanted. Just a few short days ago, he was her bodyguard and an enforcer for the Black Horsemen Motorcycle Club. He was a 1%er with a reputation for being a take no prisoner kind of guy. He kept those who rebelled in line, and had no one giving him orders or helping him back to his makeshift bed.
He could still smell the blood from all of his most recent assignments with the Horsemen. His most recent was working on a man named Junior who was suspected of double crossing the Horsemen with the rival gang, the Road Devils, by giving their leadership information on who they bought and sold merchandize from.
It was actually Junior who led him to meeting Gloria. After Vinny had stepped up to vouch for Junior and to save him from getting killed under the Horsemen’s president’s command, the two were instructed to find out what the Road Devils had known and what their own drug operations looked like. Junior was to be used as an infiltrator, and Gloria was the perfect way to get him into the ranks by using her encyclopedic knowledge of everyone who frequented the motorcycle bar, Jackman’s Tavern.
It worked like a charm with Junior getting in without a question. It should have set off red flags for both Vinny and Gloria, but they were too wrapped up in their own scheme. Vinny had totally let down his guard after Gloria blackmailed him. He negotiated a deal where he would work with her as a bodyguard while she conned the locals rather than to pay her a ridiculous sum of money. In exchange, Gloria would keep her knowledge of the Horsemen’s scheme to herself.
Now, Vinny was no longer her bodyguard. In fact, it was him who had her to thank for keeping him alive. Vinny had failed to see the danger in Carl. He thought he could take him. But the thirst for vengeance made Gloria stronger. She had followed Vinny back to the Horsemen’s headquarters where she watched Carl and Junior beat the crap out of him in the parking lot. If she had not been there to stab Carl in the back, the same way he stabbed her in the Tavern’s parking lot during her first blackmail attempt, it certainly would have been Vinny’s body buried in a shallow grave.
He owed her his life now. It wasn’t just that he was her bodyguard or that she had some power over him. The moment he had woken up to see her standing over him, bandaging his body, he had sworn to himself that he would never let her be in harm’s way again. He was sworn to his oath that he was going to protect her with whatever time left he had.
But he was useless on this couch. He was powerless and weak. It reminded him of being a child on a sick day where his mom would sit him on a couch watching reruns of old westerns while she fixed him up a bowl of homemade soup. While kids in his class would purposefully fake sick to bank on those kinds of days, Vinny wasn’t one to enjoy those moments. He wanted to be a part of the action. He wanted to ride off to where danger was and meet it head on.
He couldn’t do a thing for Gloria or himself while he was fixed to the couch with powerful pain narcotics still coursing through his body. He had to make a plan to escape. He had to find a way out. By his count, it was Tuesday afternoon. In a few short hours, members of the Horsemen would be gathering at headquarters to discuss and recap the last month. Certainly, there was going to be talk of what happened with Vinny. No one was going to miss the opportunity to ask about the fresh mound of dirt in the back of the warehouse where the grunts dug a hole for Carl.
If he wasn’t there to talk it through, the only witness to the action would be Benni, and Vinny wasn’t certain at what he had seen. He had suspected that Benni had seen more than he let on when Vinny entered the quarters to call for his help. He looked too bewildered, too taken aback. He had sprung into action so quickly. While Vinny had only been a member of Benni’s crew and had only ridden under Benni’s command, he couldn’t imagine someone being so calm and collected when his second-in-command turned out to be both a trader and a dead man.
Now Vinny had a new worry: Benni could have seen Gloria sneaking away after killing Carl. And if he saw that, her certainly watched as Vinny set Junior free to go give a warning to the rest of the Devils. Vinny would not only have to be there to defend himself should Benni bring up Carl and Junior at the meeting, he would also have to account for just who Gloria was and why Vinny had let a woman do a man’s job. Getting to that meeting was a must. And Gloria was not about to get in his way.
But as she stirred the contents of her pot, she, too, was looking to make a break from the life she had suddenly found herself living. Becoming Vinny’s caretaker was not in her wheelhouse. Sure, she felt like she owed him something. He had lived up to his word to protect her from danger. Him showing mercy to Junior had humanized him to her. And him covering up her murder by taking credit for it would probably be the only way she walked out of that situation alive.
However, she was not about to let her want to see this through the end get the better of her. She knew not to stick around motorcycle club guys, let alone the dangerous ones. It was her stupid idea to blackmail someone so powerful in an attempt to get a bigger paycheck. If she could only just slip out and away, back to her old life where she was singing in the Jackman’s Tavern and laying out cons on the side, she would be safe. She would be happy—she would be free. Instead, she was waiting on the man she owed her life to. Her life had become bandaging ribs, giving him a bath with wet towels and sponges, and cooking up the small amounts of food he could tolerate with his medication.
Gloria let out a long sigh as she looked down at where she left her cellphone. She pushed it to turn on as she looked at the time. It was just about ten. If life were back to normal, she would just be setting up for her regular performance at Jackman’s. She would be uncoiling wires, singing scales in the bathroom stall, or reviewing over her book of lyrics.
But when she found herself in this predicament, she had canceled her upcoming shows by calling in sick. Her voice was gone, she told the owner of the tavern. He couldn’t argue with her. She already knew too much about him to try to force her to show or to threaten to pull the rest of her performances for calling in so late.
It was too late to go back on that and show up for a gig. For one, she couldn’t call in the band and get them to appear last minute just because she had a change of heart. And two, she was still needed here. Her conscious wasn’t too strong, but it certainly wouldn’t release her of her duty to Vinny.
Gloria turned her phone off again as she spooned the bowl of noodles into a plastic bowl and tossed on some sauce. Grabbing two spoons, she returned to the living room where Vinny sat upright on the couch, pushing away at the television’s remote as he searched for something new to watch. Gloria pulled up a small folding table and sat next to where his legs outstretched.
“Spaghetti? Again?” Vinny teased her, knowing she wouldn’t take it well.
“Are you seriously complaining about my cooking? The fuck would you do without me if I wasn’t here? I don’t see any Horsemen showing up at your doorstep with casserole dishes or takeout menus.”
“Woah there, girly,” he said, raising his hands defensively. “I’m just teasing you. Ease up on them reins.” Vinny’s mind raced; he had found his solution.
Gloria looked down at her dish. Pasta was the only thing she had been able to cook. Most her nights were spent at the tavern where she ate bar food served to her straight from the kitchen. If she was on the road or at a practice, she would have Jordan – her employee, roommate, and band member – grab her something quick from a local diner or fast food chain. She had loved living without responsibilities or tasks.
It was how life was supposed to always be for Gloria. She had all the power with none of the obligations. Being h
ere with Vinny was starting to feel like suffocation. She calmed herself down as she turned back to where he was sitting, waiting on her reply, “Sorry. I’m just feeling a li’l stir-crazy. I’m not one to sit around and watch TV, y’know?”
“I getcha. I’m feelin’ a bit cooped up myself. I just want to get in some rides before the weather turns for winter.” He tried to act sincere and downcast.
“Yeah, I’m sure this is worse for you than it is for me. I just keep thinking about all my shows I’m missing.” It was true. Gloria only wanted one thing out of life: to sing. Not being given a stage was slowly eating away at her insides.
“Then why don’t you go out? You don’t gotta stay with me. I’m fine here. Can’t really go nowhere anyway.” He threw off the red blanket draped over his chest to gesture at the cream colored bandages wrapped around his upper waist. A pained look washed over his face as he clenched a side.
“You sure?” Gloria’s mind raced. Vinny was giving her a pass, but she was not entirely sure if this was a legit offer. “I don’t wanna leave you if you plan on doin’ somethin’ dumb...like gettin’ up off of this couch for any reason.”
Taken by Lies (Black Horsemen MC Book 1) Page 8
