Hard Roads

by Lily White

  Trying to swallow, I allowed my head to fall back as I forced moisture down my throat. It wasn’t working and I coughed when it felt like my saliva had turned into mud as it went down. Pulling me up with the arm he had wrapped around my back, JD pushed me so that I was slightly bent over myself, tapping me on the back as if that would help expel the dust from inside me.

  My ass stung when it finally touched the hot sand beneath me and I yelped, jumping up real quick before slowly settling myself back down. A masculine chuckle reverberated behind me.

  “Sorry about that. If it makes you feel any better, my hand hurts just as bad.”

  “No. It doesn’t make me feel any better.” I spit the words out, the acrid taste of shame and hurt feelings still thick on my tongue. “You know what would make me feel better? You letting me go so I can walk my happy ass home where I won’t be tortured and killed. THAT would make me feel better.”

  Burning tears still raced down my face, picking up even more heat as they slid along my skin to eventually drip from my chin.

  “Afraid I can’t do that, babe.” His words were weak, a whispered confession that gave away the helplessness he felt in the situation. I almost felt sorry for him, but then quickly remembered it was my life on the line.

  “Yes. You can. You can let me go and tell Big John that I got away. Give me something to hit you with. It’ll be more believable if you show up injured. He won’t kick you out of the club for losing me, JD. It’s not like you meant to do it.”

  “As far as he knows, right?” The deep baritone of this voice rolled against my skin, sending shivers through me despite the sun’s sweltering heat. “A lot more rests on me delivering you to the club; shit you know nothing about and that I can’t tell you. I have no choice but to hand you over. At this point …”

  He grabbed my chin, turning my face so that he could look me in the eye.

  “… the only thing you can do to survive is to stop fighting what will eventually happen. There is no escape. There is no talking me out of it. I won’t stop chasing you and I won’t just let you go. You’ll only get yourself hurt worse if you keep doing this.”

  “Then why not just kill me here? At least it would be quick.”

  He smiled as he leaned towards me, his head so close that within seconds, he bit my bottom lip between his teeth before releasing me to say, “What makes you think I’d be quick about it? I’m the type who likes to take his time.”

  I closed my eyes against the memories of the night before. He wasn’t lying about being slow. He’d taken his dear sweet time working my body into a tight and twisted cord, before finally pushing inside to release all the tension he’d expertly created within me. I still hated the man, but that didn’t mean he didn’t turn me on, which is why it hurt so much to look at him. I felt like I was betraying myself for having any type of attraction to him, knowing he would eventually hand me over to the monsters.

  “I don’t think you’re a bad guy, J.D. So I can’t understand why you’re doing this. Is the club really worth it?” I pulled away from his grip, but continued holding my eyes locked to the depth of the amber in his.

  However, this time, it was him that broke the connection, choosing to look away once again and out across the barren landscape.

  He opened his mouth a few times like he was going to talk, but would close it again. Most likely, he decided silence was better than anything he had to say. After a few minutes, I pulled my attention away from him to notice that my skin was burning up beneath the desert sun.

  “I think we need to go.”

  He looked at me finally and I motioned with my bound hands to my nakedness. “I don’t think it’s recommended to sit naked in the desert for too long.”

  Only nodding in response, he allowed me to stand up, making sure to hold his hand against my body to steady me on my shaky legs. His expression darkened when he looked at my ass and I imagined the skin had already turned a light shade of purple from the bruises I could feel developing.

  After bending over to pick up my clothes, he helped me into them and took off his shirt to slip it over my head. I looked up at him in surprise.

  “You’re turning red. Figured you needed it more than me for the trip back to the truck.”

  The walk was silent, not a word spoken between us. The only sound that could be heard was our steps pounding against the sand beneath us. The soles of my bare feet hurt, but I bit my lip, forcing myself to continue forward despite the searing pain.

  When the truck finally came into view, JD’s hand wrapped tightly around my arm, making sure I couldn’t bolt again.

  “Did you really think I would give you something to hit me?”

  I was as confused by the question as I was shocked to suddenly hear his voice. “What?”

  “You told me to let you go and let you hit me with something to make it look believable. Did you really think I would do something so stupid?”

  We looked at each other and I noticed how the corner of his lip quirked, the tiny expression odd against the anger I could still see in his eyes.

  “Yes, I was serious. I wouldn’t bash your head in or anything. Just break the skin so you bled a lot.”

  He chuckled softly, his shoulders vibrating with his mirth. “Yeah, okay Munch.”

  Finally reaching the truck, I could hear how the engine was working hard from having been left running in the heat. JD quickly released my arm to grab me around the waist and lift me up onto the seat, my legs left hanging outside of the truck. Pushing his torso between them, he looked up at me with a serious expression plastered to his face.

  “I want you to live through this, Holly. I know there’s a tough bitch hidden in there and the only instinct you have is to fight, but you need to let that go for now and depend on your instinct to survive. These guys won’t play around with you like I have. You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. I don’t think there is anything you can do to hide from it or outrun it. I wish I could take you to Washington myself, just to watch over you, but that’s not my choice. You and I both know how Gunner is and I promise you that Diablo is ten times worse. He doesn’t care and I think the drugs mixed with the desert sun have boiled his fucking brain. You don’t want to end up on his bad side. So I’m begging you, please just stay quiet while you’re there. In fact, stay quiet until you’ve been released. It’s the only way you’re going to walk away from this in one piece.”

  There was terror in his voice, a slight reverberation of fear that gave away everything he was feeling as he spoke. All the anger and resentment I’d held up until then melted away into my own fear. The adrenaline that came with fighting back dissipating to a point where I felt drained and washed up.

  “Do you hear me, beautiful?”

  I looked away from his eyes, not able to handle the sincerity of his words. His speech wasn’t intended to be a lie to gain my compliance. It’d been truth spoken in an attempt to save my life. Dread was a heavy emotion that we shared and I fell into him, lying my head on his shoulder, my bound arms pulled tight against my body beneath his shirt. His large arms reached around, pulling me closer into him. I felt stupid crying on the man’s shoulder, but I was out of steam. The closer we got to the hand off, the more ‘real’ the situation became. It left me confused and disoriented, alone in a place much worse than the one in which I’d been raised. These men weren’t my father’s brothers. They were strangers who cared about me about as much as they would care about a roach they crushed under their boot.

  His head turned slightly, the warmth of his breath running over my face. He smelled earthy and his body was hot against my skin.

  “I’m sorry I can’t let you go, but you’re a smart girl and I know that if you play this right, you’ll get away without too much damage. I don’t think Big John will let anybody fuck with you at the clubhouse. He’s not that type of guy, but if you cross him, he’ll have no problem tossing you out to the club to handle.” He pulled away, grabbing hold and then pushing back my s
houlders so he could look at me. “Do me a favor and live through this, okay?”

  I nodded my agreement while also wondering how far I would let them go before I had no choice but to fight. I wouldn’t just let them hurt me. I couldn’t. It wasn’t in my nature or upbringing to allow it. If for nothing more than the ability to run and push myself back up if I fall, I asked JD a favor.

  “I know you have to take me and that you have no choice but to hand me over to Gunner, but do you have to hand me over defenseless?”

  I looked down at my shirt and back up at him. “At least take me in there not tied? It’s scary enough having to do this at all, but having to do it with absolutely NO ability to block someone hitting me makes it absolutely terrifying. I have no way to protect myself.”

  It was like a shadow fell over his face. His jaw ticked from his grinding teeth and his hands fisted against my shoulders. Seconds passed and he refused to look me in the eye, the decision about what to do obviously weighing heavily on his thoughts.

  “Alright, listen, when we are almost there, I’ll untie you, but I’m talking feet away, not miles. You better not try anything stupid while we are in view of them. I won’t be able to stop them if they do anything about it.”

  A small smile cracked my lips and he returned it.

  Letting me go, he grabbed my legs and swung them over the seat before reaching over me and picking up the shirt I taken off when I tried to jump. Slipping it over his head, he nodded at me, guilt flickering in his eyes as he shut the door.

  Chapter eleven

  JD

  “There’s been a change of plans, JD. Someone has loose lips in this house and Gunner is itchin’ to silence him. I’ve never seen the man so fucking pissed and I can’t blame him. I’m about to shove my boot up the narc’s ass, myself.”

  My hand gripped the phone where I held it to my ear, my eyes flicking every so often to Holly in the seat beside me. We were ten minutes away from Diablo’s compound and it didn’t make me feel better to know that Gunner wouldn’t be there when I arrived.

  “We’ve sent Bandana and Bandit to take the girl off your hands. They should be rolling up within the next few hours, so all you need to do is play nice until they get there. Diablo doesn’t have any qualms with Dominion as far as we know, so keep it silent about who you have with you and there should be no problems. Don’t forget to pick up the supplies for the run on your way out. I expect to see you in Washington late tonight.”

  His timeline confused me because when I’d left, I’d been informed I had three stops to make instead of one. “What about the other two stops?”

  The unmistakable sound of his zippo could be heard through the phone as he lit a cigarette and breathed out heavily. “Don’t worry about them. They’re gunning for the Joker just like everybody else and I don’t need any bullshit on my hands if they think you have information that might be useful to them. Just head straight back here. Diablo should be able to supply you with everything we need.”

  “Understood.”

  The line went silent and I knew he’d hung up. Big John wasn’t much for goodbyes. They were just extra words that slowed him down from whatever business he had to deal with at that moment.

  Glancing over at Holly, I debated telling her about the change in plans, but finally decided it was necessary. Bandana and Bandit were twin brothers, both of whom had only been members of Hell’s Rebellion for two years but who’d already managed to build fucked up reputations within the club. They didn’t treat women well and it concerned me that Holly would be in their hands within the next couple of hours. Again, I couldn’t let it become my problem, but I hoped she took to heart everything I told her before we left the side of the road in route for the compound.

  “Hey, listen…”

  Her head spun slowly in my direction, her eyes opened wide as she waited to hear what I had to say.

  “Gunner ain’t coming for you. Guess there’s some shit back at the club he needs to handle.”

  From the corner of my eye, I could see a hesitant smile peek out from her lips. “So, you’ll be taking me to Washington?”

  I sighed, knowing full well I needed to tell her, but not able to find the words as quickly as I would have liked.

  “JD?”

  “Nah, I’m not taking you. Bandana and Bandit are on their way to get you. Big John said they’d be at Diablo’s compound in the next couple of hours. Until then, we need to hide the fact that you’re the Joker’s daughter. Big John doesn’t think Diablo has any issues with your dad, but there’s still a price on your head and I’m not sure if he knows about it or not.”

  She was quiet for a moment, most likely considering what I’d said. “Who’s Bandana and Bandit? I’ve never heard of them. Are they new?”

  Relaxing back into the seat, I kept my eyes on the road, my mind flashing through memories of what they’d done to one of the club sluts when she’d pissed them off a few months prior. The girl would never walk right again and after that night, I heard she dumped her love of bikers and moved halfway across the country to go back to her family. Big John let it slide because, in his head, she deserved it for trying to play the twins against each other.

  “They’ve been around for about two years.” Allowing my eyes to glance in her direction, I looked back at the road before adding, “They’re not all there in the head, Munch, so treat them like they are just as bad as Gunner. Stay quiet, don’t fight, just go along with whatever they want and you should make it to Washington in one piece. They’re under orders, so I’m certain they’ll leave you alone as long as you do as you’re told.”

  We turned a sharp corner and the road narrowed to a single dirt lane, the gates of Diablo’s compound finally coming into view. The tops of palm trees could be seen above the terracotta colored walls and I remembered the lush, tropical feel of his place. He had to put tons of money into pumping water in to keep everything green in the middle of the Nevada desert, but if he had it to spend, that was his prerogative.

  After pulling to a stop on the side of the road, Holly and I looked at each other, both of us stuck too far deep into our own concerns to say much more than had already been said. I reached into my back pocket, pulling my blade out and nodding in the direction of her shirt. “Let me see your wrists. I’ll cut you loose, but please, if your life matters to you at all, please behave. You have no idea what you’re about to walk into and I’d hate to see you become a memory before you ever had the chance to live. You get me?”

  She nodded in acknowledgment, her mouth refusing to open for her to voice her understanding. When her wrists poked out from beneath the shirt, I cut the rope away and she immediately pulled them back in to bring them up and out of the sleeves. Angry red lines marked where the bindings had been and she rubbed at them while keeping her eyes glued to the compound gates.

  Returning my attention to the road, I tapped on the gas and we drove the several hundred feet we had left. When we approached the gates, cameras noticeably turned in our direction and I pulled up to the speaker box on the left side of the driveway.

  “You lost?” The unidentified voice crackled as it sounded from the box and I grinned.

  “Nope. Looking for Diablo. Big John sent me.”

  Silence for a few seconds and then, “Where’s your bike? Didn’t know John dealt with anybody besides dirty fucking bikers.”

  Considering I had no idea who the fuck I was talking to and I wasn’t sure about how high he was on Diablo’s ladder, I snapped back at him, tired of his bullshit stalling.

  “Tell Diablo that JD is here.”

  The connection silenced and Holly and I waited without speaking. After a few minutes, a click sounded in front of us and the gates slowly crept open, revealing the lush gardens inside.

  “What the fuck is this place?” Holly’s head rotated slowly as she took in the ‘paradise’ that Diablo had created in the middle of what felt like hell.

  “It’s Diablo’s compound. Pretty ain’t it? The man i
s not what you would expect a drug lord to be. He’s a sneaky bastard so just keep that in mind while we’re inside. Do NOT give away who you are.”

  She blinked, the small motion indicating to me that she understood the seriousness of my words.

  Pulling up to the large mansion, I watched as four men in suits exited the front doors, taking positions in a line in front of the entrance. My eyes flicked to Holly and I could see the terror written across her face. It appeared that she was trying to control her breathing, attempting in vain to hide the emotions ravaging her system. I reached over, grabbing her hand in mine and squeezing. Her eyes met mine and I gave her a small smile.

  “It’s going to be okay, Munch. Just follow my lead. Don’t speak unless spoken to. When the brothers get here, you’ll be able to leave. I won’t take off until you’re in their hands.”

  She nodded, swallowing hard to force down the knot of fear in her throat.

  After turning off the engine, I jumped out of the truck, circling around to open Holly’s door. She hopped down without speaking a word and we walked hand in hand up towards the men waiting for us by the front entrance.

  “Diablo’s expecting me.” I kept things short-winded. There was no need for small talk when you were in the company of killers and that’s what these men were. None of them attempted to hide the fact that they were armed and I took comfort in the feel of my .45 tucked into the back of my pants.

  They didn’t respond, just stepped aside as Holly and I entered the house. As if on cue, Diablo came strolling down the long entry hallway, his arms spread to his sides in greeting. The heels of his polished leather shoes clicked rhythmically against the tile floors. He was dressed in white linen pants and a white shirt, black suspenders pulled up and over his shoulders. His hair was greased back and styled.