Duke (The Henchmen MC Book 5)

by Jessica Gadziala

  "Not that we know of. But you know how shit is. The men go to the bars and get into what seems like random shit," Reign said with a head shake. "But no one has gone after any of our kids or women. That shit wouldn't be looked over."

  "Why did they go for this girl?" Renny asked, looking at me.

  "Me and Shred gave her directions yesterday. That's it. Two minutes."

  "Personal?" Renny asked, but looked at Reign. "If they didn't go after Summer or Maze or Janie... easier, more definite targets..."

  "True, but they're also more protected targets. Summer is almost always here or at home with that fence around the place. No one can get to Wolf's place and even if they could, Janie is a fuckin' wildcat," Reign said, smiling a little. "Beside that, she not only belongs to Wolf, but Hailstorm. And I don't think there are a lot of people stupid enough to want to take those fucks on. And Maze is more trained than half of the guys here. If they were looking for a quick, easy target, it wasn't our women."

  "True enough. But it was sloppy to pick some random girl that they haven't seen around here before who only had a two minute talk at the gates," Renny insisted. "So, either they are just sloppy and haven't been watching closely enough or they just wanted to send a message quickly and this was the easiest way."

  "So you can't give us anything," Reign mused.

  "Not yet," Renny agreed. "Maybe when the girl wakes up and can give us some descriptions or locations or even just snippets of conversation she might have overheard."

  "Right," Reign agreed.

  "You're not fuckin' interrogating her," I said, voice low, lethal, eyes on Renny.

  He looked over at me, one brow raised, looking me over for a second. "I wasn't exactly talking about waterboarding her here," he said with a lazy grin, flicking away one cigarette and already reaching for another. "But you had to know Reign would want to know..."

  "Reign," I cut in. "Not you."

  "Duke, if anyone is going to be able to get something out of her, it's gonna be Renny," Cash tried to reason. "With that fucking red hair and flirtatious vibe, she's not likely to see him as a threat. Reign, I mean," he said, gesturing toward his brother who, top to bottom, screamed: dangerous.

  "Know you two have some history," Reign allowed, giving me a hard look, "but you need to get over that shit. This is a threat and we need to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible. You might not like Renny, but he ain't gonna hurt the girl."

  "The ladies love me," Renny added with a smile that probably did work on the skirts.

  Maybe that was part of it too. Renny had a way with people. He had an outwardly open, funny, laid back, flirtatious vibe, very young and non-threatening. And if redheads were a chick's thing, he was good looking and had a silver tongue to go with his good looks. That being said, that was only half of the Renny picture. Underneath all that was the darkness he kept buried. Along with that darkness came a positively obsessive compulsive need to get to the bottom of shit that is none of his business. He wasn't content until he had your card, until he knew how you ticked, until he knew exactly what made you how you are. He had two faces and the one he kept hidden was a little bit more villain than ally, a little more dangerous than his outwardly friendly appearance made you believe.

  I found that I didn't want Penny to like him.

  And I didn't want Renny to know how she ticked.

  But, that being said, it wasn't really my choice.

  Reign was right; the threat was real and imminent. I couldn't fight this and waste precious time. I would lose anyway.

  So I bit into my cheek to keep my objections to myself.

  "She's in a Vicodin induced sleep right now," Cash supplied. "But as soon as she wakes up," he said, looking at Renny, "you go in and see what you can get. Then maybe we will have somewhere to turn our focus instead of standing here with our fingers up our asses, watching the fence like we're about to be ambushed."

  Again, they weren't wrong. The longer time passed, the more behind we were getting. It wasn't good to be working on the defensive. As a whole, we were men of action and generally were much more comfortable being on the offensive.

  And with families to worry about, most of the members were itching to get it handled quickly and with as little blood spilled on our side as possible.

  So it was settled.

  Renny would talk to Penny.

  And I had to deal with that.

  That being said, when I caught Renny heading inside and toward the direction of my room a couple hours later, I put down my beer and followed, taking up guard duty in the hall, pressed back agains the wall, ready to head in if things didn't seem to be going in a direction I would like.

  About thirty minutes after he went in, I got my cue.

  "I said get the hell out!" Penny shrieked, voice surprisingly strong and demanding.

  FOUR

  Penny

  Waking up had the weird distinction of feeling like I was trying to surface through a deep water. I could hear things, was aware that I wasn't alone and was mildly concerned for that fact given that I lived alone, but I couldn't seem to muster enough worry to snap me fully awake. I just lay there, body feeling almost like it was humming, mind half-asleep and half-awake for what felt like ages.

  The voices slowly got louder, as if closer, making me let out a grumble and start trying to push through the heaviness holding me down, finding my mind and body oddly uncooperative.

  It was almost as if I had been drugged.

  And the second that thought broke through my sluggish brain, it snapped it awake. It snapped my entire body awake. My eyes flew open and my body jolted to try to sit up immediately, only to be brought down on a quiet shriek at a stabbing pain down my side by my ribs and a pulling feeling across my whole back. That was not even to mention the throbbing pain I felt in my face.

  The word 'drugged' made my very much drugged mind remember what had happened. I had been given drugs. Granted, prescription ones, but still. I had been given pain medicine because I had woken up to someone stitching up my back, held tight in the arms of that uber hot blond bun-wearing, solid as a rock biker who had given me directions to Bella's the day before.

  "Whoa, easy honey," a female voice said immediately, her hand landing on my arm to push me back down toward the bed. "It's okay. You're alright. Just lay back down for a minute and wake up."

  "No, I..." I said, shaking my head, looking around the unfamiliar room with a sinking feeling in my stomach.

  If there was one thing a woman didn't want, it was to wake up feeling drugged in a place she didn't recognize. Unless, maybe, that place was a hospital. But judging by the gray walls and uber masculine vibe and scent, an altogether way too appealing scent I might add, it was most definitely not a hospital room.

  And the only reason it was even vaguely familiar was because the last time I had been conscious, I had been in it held by a man I didn't know, getting my back stitched up, and crying through the pain.

  "You're at The Henchmen MC compound," a smooth male voice said, unfamiliar and when I turned my head and looked over toward the end of the bed, I found the source.

  He was tall and a thin kind of strong with tattoos snaking up his bare arms. He had on a black leather cut and a white wifebeater underneath with black jeans and black slip-ons. He had a face full of angles, sharp cheekbones, a strong forehead, an appealing mouth. His eyes were a piercing blue. And perhaps the most notable feature he possessed was his copper-red hair that he had cut a little long on the top and close to the sides. By some miracle of engineering, he seemed completely devoid of freckles.

  A redheaded biker.

  I almost wanted to laugh.

  "The Henchmen MC," I repeated, my voice sounding raspy, rougher than it usually was.

  "The place you got directions yesterday. We found you today all beat up so we brought you here and had you fixed up."

  I nodded at that, seeing the truthfulness of it.

  But something didn't quite add up.

 
"Why didn't you take me to the hospital?"

  Why had I been subjected to battlefield medicine when I could have had a nice, painless stitching experience at a hospital?

  The guy looked a little sheepish, tucking his hands into his front pockets which made his shoulders slump forward slightly, giving him a boyish appearance.

  "See, if we brought you there, they would think we did it."

  "Why? Because you're bikers?" I asked, feeling a headache start to pound behind my eyes.

  "Yeah, most cops don't take too kindly to the likes of us."

  "But you didn't hurt me," I said, brows drawing together, trying to stitch the memories together, finding it harder than I thought it should of been. But I knew one thing- these Henchmen guys weren't the ones who hurt me.

  "We know that and you know that. But you weren't exactly conscious when we found you." The guy moved closer to the side of the bed, making me turn back and my eyes fell on the woman sitting there.

  She was pretty. Somewhere in her late thirties or early forties with long straight blonde hair, brown eyes, a great rack, and long legs. She had on green khakis and a tan tank top, showing off her strong arms. There was something about her, and I couldn't exactly tell you what it was , but there was something that gave you the impression of capability. She was capable. Of what, I wasn't sure. Everything, it almost seemed.

  "My name is Lo," she said when she noticed me looking at her. "And this ginger biker here is Renny."

  "And you're Penny, right?" Renny asked, hands closing over the woman's ankles and pushing them upward so her knees went to her chest and he could sit down by her feet.

  "Ah, yeah. How do you know that?" I asked, suddenly very aware of two things. I didn't know where my purse was. And I was not in my own clothes.

  Someone had stripped and changed me.

  "Hey, hey," Renny said, voice low and calm, dragging the words out on the end the way you do when talking to a scared kid. "We know your name because you told it to Shredder and Duke yesterday. Nothing creepy going on here."

  "Where are my clothes?" I asked, looking at the woman, somehow hoping she would understand my distress over that fact.

  "Your shirt was torn," Renny answered instead. "And it had to be taken off to do the stitches on your back."

  "Okay. Yeah," I said, nodding. "Fine. But where are my pants?" I asked, knowing just about everywhere hurt but below my waist, except a small ache in one of my ankles like I had maybe twisted it or something.

  The two shared a look, silently communicating something that had me stiffening and slowly pushing myself up into a seated position, feeling the material of my panties and mildly relieved by that fact.

  "I asked you where my pants were. And, while you're at it, you'll need to explain why they are off in the first place."

  Then my mind went there.

  Because, really, where else could it go?

  You find yourself in a strange room in a biker compound full of rough and tough men without pants on, that was where it went.

  That four letter word that somehow was worse than any other I had ever heard in my life before.

  They shared a look again and the woman, Lo, shook her head at him. Any hopes I had about her being some kind of ally flew out the metaphorical window. Metaphorical because the room had no actual ones. That was another weird thing. What kind of bedroom had no windows?

  My heart flew into overdrive, seeming to lodge itself into my esophagus high enough for me to feel like I was choking on it.

  "Get out," I heard myself say, low, warning. I had never heard my own voice like that before- cold, almost nasty. Then again, I had never felt quite so vulnerable and confused before. Their eyes snapped to me, surprised, but neither moved to leave the room. Actually, the woman moved to reach for me and the man leaned closer. "I said get the hell out!" I shrieked, making them jerk back.

  And about one second later, the bedroom door flew open, I think, surprising us all.

  Then there he was.

  I didn't know him.

  Really, he was all but a stranger.

  But he had made his friend stop flirting with me and possibly making me late for an interview. Then when I had woken up in his strong arms, upset, in pain, and confused, he had held me and whispered reassurances in my ear while his fingers stroked over my upper arm, trying to give me comfort.

  He was no one.

  But somehow, his presence sent a rush of relief through my system, making my heart move out of my throat and settle back down in my ribcage where it belonged.

  He really was good looking.

  I had realized it the day before too. His friend was good looking and had the silver tongue and all, but the hulking blond biker with the man bun and the strong masculine face and deep blue eyes, yeah, he was who I was immediately drawn to. Then he had directed me where I needed to go and I was grateful to him for being a decent guy as well.

  But standing in the doorway like some dark, avenging angel, he was even better looking than he had been standing in the sun the day before. Everything about him seemed tense, menacing. And his deep blue eyes were directed at the redheaded guy, Renny, for some reason.

  "Duke, we got this," Renny said, moving off the bed to face his biker brother.

  "Don't sound like you got it. Sounds like you're freaking her out. Reign wants you to talk to her, fine. But you're not fucking traumatizing her."

  "I think I know a little more about..." Renny started.

  To that, Duke's lips turned up into an almost cruel sneer. "Yeah, you would. Wouldn't you?"

  "Don't," Renny said, hands curling into fists, moving a step closer, making Duke stiffen as well.

  "Down boys," Lo said, sounding amused and when I looked over, she was actually smiling. Like their sparking, volatile energy wasn't completely alarming to her like it was to me. The freak.

  "What are you gonna do if I don't..." Duke started, taking a step forward, making the Lo woman get off the bed and move a few feet until she was almost between them, but stepped back slightly.

  "Why are my pants off?" I asked, that time directing it to Duke. At the sound of my voice, his shoulders went more lax and his gaze went to me. The area around his eyes tightened for a second before they relaxed. "They won't tell me," I added when he didn't say anything.

  "No one knew exactly what happened to you," he started. "So when the nurse got here, she did a rape kit."

  There it was.

  The four letter word I was trying like hell to not think about.

  God, it was so ugly.

  Rape.

  Just as ugly: rape kit.

  I had had a rape kit done while I was un-freaking-conscious.

  My stomach twisted painfully and my mouth went paper-dry.

  "And?" I asked, the sound barely more than a whisper.

  His head shook before he even opened his mouth. "No, baby."

  The relief felt like my air got squeezed out of me and I had to immediately take a deep breath to replace it, closing my eyes tight in silent gratitude for a moment.

  "Thank God," I murmured.

  "There," Renny said, giving me a smile, but his eyes seemed more guarded, less friendly. "That's settled. Now you can go back in the hall and pull guard dog duty while me and Penny talk for a couple minutes."

  "No offense," I said, shaking my head, "but I would really prefer that he stays."

  "Honey," Renny said, shaking his head at me. "I promise I have no intentions of hurting..."

  "Be that as it may," I said, pressing my thighs tightly together and cocking them to the side underneath me, "I would feel more comfortable if he stays."

  "I'm right here," Duke said, crossing his arms in a very final way, like no matter what the Renny guy said, he wasn't going anywhere.

  "I'll go fill in Reign," Lo said, giving them a head shake as she moved toward the door.

  "Why do I need to talk to you anyway?" I blurted out, surprising myself. I think confusion and fear made me a bit bolder than I usua
lly was.

  "We just want to know what you remember about what happened to you," Renny said, shrugging and moving to lean on the edge of the dresser a few feet away. It was close enough that he still felt like he was in my space, but far enough that he couldn't touch me if he reached out. I got the distinct impression that everything he did since he stepped into the room, aside from the altercation with Duke, was very purposeful, measured. I don't know where the idea came from, but that was how it felt. I felt like he was being ungenuine.

  "Okay. But, again, shouldn't I be telling that to the police?"

  "Sure. You can do that. But we would like to hear it first."

  Lie.

  That was a bold-faced lie.

  For some reason, they didn't want me talking to the police.

  "Penny," Duke said, his voice moving over my name in a way that made my insides do a weird little shiver. I looked over and he uncrossed his arms. "We need to know who this is so we can find them."

  There was a meaning there. I wasn't stupid or naive enough to miss it.

  They didn't want to find them to hand them over to the police.

  They wanted to find them to do something far more violent to them.

  To be perfectly honest, I was almost okay with that.

  That was messed up. I wasn't that kind of person. I was a firm believer in fixing our criminal justice system, to stop treating prisoners, especially non-violent ones, as animals. I sure as hell didn't believe in capital punishment. So why was I suddenly okay with street justice? Because it was personal? Because I was the victim?

  What kind of hypocrite did that make me?

  "You don't even know me," I found myself saying.

  "I know, but the thing is..."

  "Don't," Renny cut in, voice firm.

  "I don't know where you got the idea that you are somehow in charge of me," Duke said, voice bland. "In case you forgot, you and me, we're on the same level."

  "Jesus fuck," another voice said from behind Duke and I looked to find another biker walking in.