Hard Roads

by Lily White

“Please tell me that the Holly you’re talking about is NOT the same Holly that recently went missing from Dominion. The same fucking Holly that is the daughter of the Joker.”

  “One in the same, I’m afraid.”

  “Fuck!” He stood up and the metal legs of his chair scraped against the wood floor. “And you hold yourself responsible? Are you the fucker that took her?”

  My head bowed in shame, I confessed, “Yeah, under John’s orders.”

  His boots paced the floor, back and forth in front of me, and I didn’t dare look up to see the anger and disappointment in his expression. I didn’t need to see the look in his eyes to know he wanted to put a bullet in me right then and there. When his feet finally stopped moving and I could see them standing right in front of me, I looked up, ready to face whatever fucking lecture I was about to receive.

  He surprised me when he pulled a snub-nosed .38 from where it had been tucked in the back of his jeans, released the cylinder, spinning it as he checked the bullets before snapping it back in place.

  “Don’t ask me how I know this, because I won’t answer you.” He stared at me until I nodded my head in understanding. “Hector is a trafficker who moves women faster than Hell’s Rebellion has ever been able to move drugs. Don’t know why he’s dealing with Diablo, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that drugs and keeping women silent can go hand in hand. IF…and that’s a big ‘if’… he still has Holly, we only have a handful of days before she’s lost to the world, you understand me? There’s no fucking telling what he’ll do with her. Her face is too fucking familiar ‘round these parts to keep here. How long has he had her?”

  “Not even 24 hours. I just found out and then I came here.”

  Nodding, he said, “Good. Should give us plenty of time.” He grew silent again and I noticed the sun peeking over the horizon and across the desert that stretched out from his house. I’d made good time rolling down here and I was surprised I’d reached his place before the sun had a chance to rise.

  “Guess we’re going to have to do this the right way. We’ll call her daddy. He has enough men…”

  “That won’t work.” I interrupted.

  He looked over at me, confusion alight in his eyes. “And why the hell not? Joker’s got at least 200 men he can get over here. He might have lost his damn mind since the Saint died, but he’s not going to let his girl get turned into a fucking whore.”

  “It won’t work because Dominion is most likely itching to kill me as well.”

  He didn’t need to speak for me to know he expected an explanation to follow my statement.

  “I killed two of his guys who tried to stop me when I was leaving Arizona with her. Didn’t recognize them except for the patches on their cuts. I’m not even sure how they knew I had her. Scooter was the one who grabbed her from a parking lot. He passed her off to me on a fucking side road that led to the Nevada border.”

  Henry crouched down in front of me so that he could look at me eye to eye. “You’re a dumb fuck, you know that?”

  The only thing I could do was nod.

  A sigh whistled over his lips and he stood back up to pace the floor once again. Minutes passed without a word being spoken between us and he finally moved to the window, looking out at the red and pink sky.

  “I think I know another way we can fix this for you, but you won’t be able to pull it off on your own. After it’s all said and done, you’re going to return that girl to her father and hope to God he lets you walk away with your dick still attached.”

  “He’ll kill me on sight, you know that.”

  Another few seconds of silence and he answered, “He won’t if I have anything to do with it, but only if we fix this shit before you face him.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Holly

  Days passed, I think. Wasn’t sure because there weren’t any windows for me to watch the sun rise and set in the sky. What I had were the same white walls with the same brown stains and some new red ones that appeared in the time I’d been held in this room. Some were from me and some were from the other three girls that had been moved in, raped, beaten and then moved out.

  So, it could have been days, maybe hours or minutes. Time didn’t exist in this space and the drugs they kept in my system made it impossible for me to know if a second had passed or an hour. Trapped inside my head, I couldn’t forget the looks on those poor girls’ faces, the terror that flooded their eyes when they looked to me for help. They screamed and the only thing I could do was watch them like the ghosts at Diablo’s place had watched me.

  Same bullshit, different day.

  After getting ‘cleaned’ by the blast of a hose, I’d been left to drip dry in the puddle that formed beneath me. The only good thing, I guess, was that there was no air in this room, so I wasn’t freezing after being left soaked to the bone. Two men had entered some time later, one holding a syringe and the other for the sole purpose of holding me down. As soon as whatever it was they injected inside me hit my blood stream, the room became a hazy space with phantoms moving in and out, not having anything to do with me, so I never knew if they were real. I sat slumped against the wall, the backs of my hands resting against the floor where they laid at my sides. I’m sure drool was probably dripping out the side of mouth and along my chin, but I couldn’t move to wipe it away.

  For the first time in my life I actually wanted to cry. I knew this was the end, the final pit stop in a life that never meant anything to me. However, no matter how far I fell into the black emotions that consumed me, my eyes wouldn’t produce tears, or if they did, I wasn’t aware of it.

  With nothing to do but stare out at the “nothing” in the room, I moved my foot from side to side, a lazy sway that was all I could manage with the drugs coursing through my veins. I wasn’t sure how long I watched that foot when the door opened again. My eyes shot to look at two people entering. The first was a woman dressed in nothing but four inch heels and a garter that hung down along her legs where they attached to thigh high stockings. Everything she wore was a bright white and it contrasted nicely against the deep tan of her skin. She didn’t stumble in the shoes like I would have, instead rhythmically clicking her way to the opposite side of the room where she turned around and faced the man who’d followed her in.

  She looked over in my direction a few times, the man behind her noticing her gaze and laughing when he said, “Don’t worry about her, baby. Maybe you can show this bitch how to be a real whore. Might save her some broken bones when they train her.”

  Her face visibly tightened when she dropped to her knees in front of him. Wrapping his hand tightly into her hair, he drawled, “You know what to do baby.”

  Reaching up with shaky hands, she unbuckled his pants. He buried his hand into her hair and when he pulled, she grimaced at first, but then seemed to come to life, moaning as she moved around and licking her lips as she freed his cock. I couldn’t tell if what I was looking at was real or not, so I just stared, not sure if I was being a voyeur for locking my gaze on her.

  Her body seemed perfect, wide hips that narrowed into a full waist before blossoming into tits, not too large or small for her body, tipped with light brown nipples. Jet black and perfectly smooth hair flowed down her back and was only mussed when the man above her wrapped it around his palm, pulling her face closer into his hips. She took the wordless command without question, suckling on just the tip of his cock before swirling her tongue over the head and opening wide to take his full length. The man’s head fell back and he muttered a word I didn’t recognize. The sound of her sucking him echoed throughout the room, her head bobbing back and forth and his hands wrapping around her head, holding her still as his hips took over.

  She moaned and her hands slid down along her own body, between her legs as she touched herself. I’m not sure if it was the drugs or something dark and buried deep inside me that turned me on watching them. She didn’t seem scared or in pain, just slightly broken and willing to do whatever
it was he asked of her. He pounded away and she took stroke for stroke, never choking on his cock. After a few moments he seemed frustrated, finally releasing her as he pulled out, barking a curt command. “On your hands and knees, bitch.”

  She obeyed him, immediately tilting her hips up so that it was obvious she welcomed his entrance. Her face angled towards the floor and his hands reached around her body to cup her breasts. “Yeah, baby, you have the best tits I’ve ever fucking felt. I’m going to fuck you so hard, you’ll be walking funny when you leave this room.”

  She didn’t respond as he slammed himself inside her, holding onto her chest as he rode her long and hard. Her body shook back and forth, but she didn’t utter a single sound as he grunted above her. I just kept staring, still wondering if any of this was even real.

  “You dumb bitch, you better let me know how fucking good I’m making you feel.” Gruff and breathless from sex, the man kept riding her hard as he barked out his next command. Releasing one of her breasts, he grabbed her hair again, pulling her head so that her face was arched up towards the ceiling. “Tell me!”

  Her voice was almost robotic when she said, “Oh god, you’re so big. Mmmmm. You’re making me drip for you, baby.” With a Spanish accent, she cooed obvious lies. She wasn’t enjoying this, but she was taking it like a champ. “Ride me harder, big boy. Show me that you own me.”

  “Yeah, baby, that’s right. Who’s your Master, bitch?” He released her hair and when her head fell free, she looked over in my direction. It was the first time I noticed how dead her eyes appeared.

  The man slammed against her harder, but again reached a point where his pleasure had morphed into frustration. “Goddamned fucking whore!” He pulled out of her, standing up quickly and kicking out at her with his foot. She fell forward, a quick yelp escaping her when her face hit the wall. “Stupid fucking bitches are too fucking used to get me off!”

  I laughed at his pain, my inhibition to keep from making a sound completely nullified by whatever high I was riding. His beady eyes turned to me, his eyelids narrowed in spitting anger.

  “You think that’s fucking funny?” Looking between me and the girl in front of him, he barked out, “Get the fuck out, whore.” His eyes returned to me. “This little bitch isn’t all used up.”

  His boots hit against the floor as he approached me, his pants still down around his ankles. “Oh yeah, you’ll do just fucking fine.”

  The chains wrapped around my wrists and ankles rattled when I attempted to move away from him, but I was too lethargic to put up any real struggle. Reaching down, he easily grabbed me by my legs, spinning me around so I was now in the position that the other girl had been. My arms felt weak beneath me and when I dropped to the ground, unable to hold myself up, I heard the door slam open. I assumed it was the first girl fleeing the room, but then the weight of the man was pulled off me followed by a loud voice booming, speaking in Spanish, but obviously fucking pissed. I stayed where I’d fallen, not really caring enough to turn over and look.

  It was probably just another asshole who would do something horrible. I was pathetic, finally having given’ up, not believing that there was any escape from the bullshit life I’d been thrown into. Fucking drugs were enough to make any person break. It wasn’t like I could fight if I wanted to.

  The door slammed again and a deep, baritone voice I didn’t recognize rang through the space. “She don’t look like much. I think your price is a bit high, don’t you?”

  “She’ll look a lot better when she’s cleaned up. Plus, she’s special, which is the reason I assume you two men are here. It took me a lot to get a hold of her and I know I can make a lot of money if I charged your men a price for each ride. So, I’m being nice in offering you an exclusive deal. From what you just told me, her father fucked you over worst of all. How much is it worth to you to get even?” It was the voice of the first man I’d met in this place, the one who’d ‘examined’ me before ordering his men to clean me and drug me up.

  “Turn her over. I don’t believe this is really the Joker’s daughter. Would’ve sworn the bitch had more fight in her than that.” Smooth, with a southern lilt that would make any girl’s panties fall, the man’s voice had a roughness to it that spoke of too many long nights of smoking and drinking.

  Before I knew it, I was flipped around again, my back slamming against the cold concrete and the chains rattling from the movement. Peering out of hazy eyes, I noticed the original man I’d seen when I first got here and two other men, obvious bikers, but only one of whom wore a cut. I didn’t recognize the patch, but I couldn’t really see it clearly either. One man approached, his long black hair tied at the back of his neck with silver streaks pulled through it. His chin was covered with a beard that matched and he wore a black t-shirt over a loose pair of beat up and dirty jeans. He knelt down in front of me and I didn’t want to believe the kindness I thought I saw in his eyes.

  Bikers weren’t kind. My life had taught me that and the past few days had driven the message home. I’d thought JD was kind despite all the bullshit he put me through. Shows how much of a foolish bitch I was. At this point, while I was being auctioned off to the highest fucking bidder, he was probably high as a kite and drunk as a fish back at his club, fooling some other stupid girl into believing that he could care about her.

  Staring at the man who was looking me over, I said nothing. I didn’t blink, didn’t move, didn’t flinch away when he placed the tips of his finger against my cheek.

  “I’ll give you $100,000, but that’s it.” He didn’t look away as he spoke to the other men in the room. I must have been imagining things from my wishful thinking, because I noticed that his eyes held mine instead of looking over my body with the lusty sneer of every other man who’d been near me in this place.

  “She’s untouched by my men so I’m sure you can do better than that. I’m not a dumb man, Mad Dog. $100,000 will buy you a woman already broken in by my men. You saw it yourself. These assholes are sneaking in just to get to her. They’re tired of the ones who have learned to be willing.

  The man never looked away from me, intentionally allowing tension to build in the room with his silence. I wanted to spit in his face as soon as he said, “$150,000, but that’s as high as I’ll go. Her daddy ain’t worth more than that to me.”

  “Done.”

  Once again, I thought there had been kindness behind the eyes of the man, only to realize he was just placing distance between him and the other man in order to work a deal. He’d played his game well and I realized he’d been doing it the entire time. He used the same tricks I’d watched my old man use many times before.

  Standing up, he looked down at me once more before turning and walking back in the direction of the other two men.

  “I won’t be taking her from here. Don’t know if your place is being watched or not. I’ll give you an address where she can be delivered. I expect her at 7 p.m. sharp. No earlier and no later.”

  “That can be done.”

  Glancing up, I noticed how the original man smiled, extending his hand to shake that of the man who’d knelt down in front of me seconds before.

  They left the room, allowing the door to slam behind them, the lock latching into place with an angry metal click.

  Closing my eyes, I felt a single tear slip over my cheek, down along my ear, eventually falling to the cold, hard floor below.

  Chapter Nineteen

  JD

  Dust billowed up from the ground to surround me, the front of my white t-shirt covered in a yellowish tinge from the cloud. My boots pounded sand wearing a circle into the front yard of Henry’s house. After we’d talked, he let me sleep in the small camper he had outside his house and by the time I woke up, he was gone. I was surprised the sound of his bike hadn’t ripped me from whatever dead sleep I’d fallen into.

  I kept looking out across the open land, my eyes searching the scrub brush for movement every time I heard something skitter across the expanse. So
unds echoed so easily out here, and besides the low hum of the wind, a man could go crazy without the constant white noise of living closer into the city. I didn’t know how Henry did it, constantly out here, alone and left to his thoughts.

  I was worried fucking sick that the idiot had gone out to take care of my problem without me. Ideas plagued my thoughts about whether he was alive or not. Had he done something stupid and his body was lying in a ditch somewhere, rotting away in the relentless heat of the sun?

  I’d broken out a bottle of whiskey from his liquor cabinet and was halfway through it by the time I heard the rumble of two or three engines as they rolled up the road. Glancing up, I noticed that they were no bigger than ants because of the distance between us, but the flat land allowed the sound of their bikes to announce their approach.

  The road around them appeared liquid with a dusty mist flying up behind, taking on the red tinge of the setting sun. The scene looked like three riders coming straight out of the gates of hell, barreling in my direction to judge me for every crime and fucked up thing I’d ever done. If that was the case, I deserved it, having stolen an innocent soul from the road, only to doom her to a life so bleak and violent that I knew there was no way for me to even imagine what it would truly be like to live it.

  Setting the bottle down, I pulled open the lid of a cooler on the porch of Henry’s house, grabbing and popping open a cold beer. Swallowing down the liquid, my eyes remained locked to the approaching riders. They pulled their bikes to the side of the main house. Once the engines were killed, I could hear the heavy steps of their feet when they came around the corner.

  Henry I recognized immediately, but the other two were new to me although a flicker of recognition and memory touched my thoughts. I couldn’t say I knew the men, but I wouldn’t say I’d never seen them before either. Both wore cuts over white shirts, while Henry had the same black t-shirt and jeans on that he’d been wearing when I arrived. Nodding in their direction, I acknowledged them, but remained silent, allowing them the opportunity to speak first.