Stryker's Salvation (A Savage Saints MC Book 3)

by J. Lynn Lombard

  “Good job, baby.” Her mommy praises in a whisper, silently clapping her hands. She’s been whispering a lot lately. “Keep your voice down so you don’t anger Daddy. Let’s go outside and play.” The woman takes the little girl’s hand and gently leads her out the front door into the warm summer day. Her eyes keep searching at the top of the stairs for signs of her husband. When he doesn’t appear, she breathes a sigh of relief and takes the little girl outside.

  My body trembles with fear as that memory pops out of my head. I haven’t remembered anything from my childhood but being here they’re playing in my mind like a silent movie. I silently make my way up the rest of the stairs and pause at the top. There are three doors to the left and three to the right. My feet take me down a familiar path to the right. Once I reach the last door, I pause. Running my finger down the white door, something tries edging its way into my mind, but it’s just out of reach.

  Squeals of laughter float through my head of myself as a little girl laughing and playing in these hallways. A beautiful woman who was once so sure of herself, who used to play with me, withers away in her own silent pain. I remember this woman giving me warm hugs and a loving smile, trying to hide what was going on behind closed doors late at night.

  Sobs wake me up from a wonderful dream of sunshine and unicorns. Normal dreams for a five-year-old. I slowly climb out of my little bed and quietly open my bedroom door a crack. Daddy’s home from work really late tonight and by the sounds of the sobbing coming from the other end of the hallway, mommy isn’t happy. Shouting and yelling move my feet forward. Before I realize what I’m doing, I’m standing in front of mommy and daddy’s bedroom door. They raise their voices.

  “You can’t do this. Not again, Drew. You promised me.”

  “I’ll do whatever the fuck I want. I told you not to get too attached. Your job was to raise her and then they’ll take her when she’s ready.” Daddy’s voice is harsh and full of anger.

  “She’s not ready. Not yet.” My mommy sobs.

  “Of course you think she isn’t ready. If it was up to you, she’d never go. They’ll be here in two days to collect her. Make sure she behaves and doesn’t throw a temper tantrum.” Mommy sobs even harder and I hear daddy’s heavy footsteps walk toward the door. I hurry my little feet back to my room, just making it on time. I fly under my covers and pretend I’m asleep when I hear my bedroom door open. I smell my mommy’s perfume she wears every day and a sense of calm washes over me. She sits on the edge of my little bed, pushing my hair away from my face. I don’t move a muscle.

  “I’m so sorry, baby. I’ll figure a way out of this.” Mommy sobs into my hair and gives me a gentle kiss on the forehead. I pretend to sleep but the way mommy’s acting, something is wrong. Really, really wrong. I open my eyes and pretend to stretch.

  “Mommy, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, baby. Go back to sleep.” She wipes the tears from her eyes and tucks my covers around me, cocooning me tight. Mommy offers me one of her warm smiles, trying to ease my mind, but it’s not working.

  “I’m scared, mommy,” I whisper.

  “Don’t be scared, baby. There’s nothing to be afraid of.” She gently runs her fingers over my hair, smoothing my wild curls. I close my eyes and let sleep take over.

  I’m curled up in the corner of my old bedroom when I come out of my memories. I must’ve come in here and closed the door. What happened to me that I blocked these away? Heavy footsteps creaking down the hallway, making my heart skip a beat and I hold my breath. Someone’s here. I don’t move when a shadow passes by the door, the heavy footsteps come back and they’re standing right in front of the closed door. Fear wracks my body when the doorknob turns slowly. The door opens and his stench reaches me before Sledge spots me.

  “Come out, come out. Wherever you are,” Sledge’s voice sing-songs into my childhood room. “I can smell you, Holly. I can smell your fear.” He takes a step inside my room. “Hmmm…. I remember this room. Do you remember this room and what happened in here?” His gravelly voice full of lust and anger makes me shudder. “This is where I first saw you. Such a beautiful little girl. I was only a young prospect to the Serpents, but I knew I’d rise in the ranks and claim you as mine.” He reaches down and adjusts his cock in his jeans. I hold back a gag, not moving a muscle. The man’s a sick pedophile, taking claim to a little girl.

  “That night when we came to get you,” Sledge continues, “I saw you asleep in this bed. So little, so trusting while you slept, you didn’t even know I was in here. I touched your face, inhaled your scent and knew I wanted you when you were older. Knew you’d be mine. Until that bitch of a mother took you away from me. It took me four years to find you again.”

  I need to do something, anything to get away from this vile man before he spots me and does what I think he wants to do. I uncurl myself slowly and try to spot something I can use as a weapon against him. The door is too far away for me to make a run for it. Sledge would catch me before I could reach it. Then I remember the shadows in the woods following me. I quietly pull out my phone from my pocket. Keeping the light dim and hidden, I send an S.O.S. text to them. Then I click on the audio recorder to record Sledge and his fucked-up scenarios.

  “Do you remember that night, Holly? She got the best of me that night. I was so caught up jacking off in here to your scent, I didn’t see her coming. That bitch knocked me out cold and took you away from me.” I hold back a gag at the images flashing in my head. This man needs to be taken care of and quickly. He can’t keep torturing me like this.

  Shuffling feet outside the bedroom door catches Sledge’s attention and I breathe a sigh of relief. I must’ve been a little too loud because his head snaps in my direction and he’s up off the bed in a flash, heading right for me. I scream when his hands wrap around my throat picking me off the floor.

  “Found you,” Sledge bring his nose against the side of my face and inhales deeply. His fingers tighten around my throat harder, choking the life out of me.

  “Sledge, stop,” I croak out. I claw and dig my nails into his fingers and the back of his hands, trying to get him to loosen his grip. I kick and fight with everything I have. I connect a couple of times with Sledge’s shins. Bringing up a fist, I hit him in the face but he doesn’t loosen his grip on my throat. Blood trickles down his hands from my nails. I knee him in his balls as hard as I can. He finally releases my throat and we fall to the ground. I’m coughing and gagging while Sledge groans cupping his nuts. I stand up on shaky legs and kick him again and again. Pouring all the rage inside of me out into each blow. The door bursts open when my foot connects with his groin one more time and shadows fall over me.

  “Damn, girl,” Poison raises an eyebrow at the scene. I fall to my knees in relief that they’re here and this finally being over.

  Poison and Siren enter the bedroom, flipping on the light. Siren heads to Sledge still on the ground groaning and Poison heads for me. The room fills with more people as Kayne, Blayde, Ace, Duke, Butch, and Stryker enter. They head for Sledge to make sure he doesn’t get away and Stryker heads right for me. He gathers me into his arms and I rest my head on his chest, inhaling his musky scent.

  “Lil’ Bit, I’m so proud of you.” Stryker’s deep voice vibrates my ear and brings a smile to my face.

  I look up into his ice-blue eyes. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’d never leave my girl to deal with this shit on her own. Once I found out who you were and why he wanted you, I got here as fast as I could.” Stryker looks down at me with love and adoration.

  A growl pierces the air around us and I watch as Kayne and Blayde hoist Sledge up. They tied his hands behind his back and blood’s flowing down the cuts on his face from me. I push away from Stryker and stand up on shaky legs. I need to finish this to really feel safe again.

  Stryker stands up behind me, resting his hands on my shoulders, comforting me and giving me strength. Giving me my salvation. I approach Sledge with careful steps un
til I’m directly in front of him. He’s watching me with his cold black eyes. A smirk forms on his busted lips.

  “You think this is over?” Sledge teases. “I’ll keep coming after you again and again. I’ll haunt your dreams and make you crazy until I get my hands on you. And when I do, you won’t be getting away.”

  Something cold rests in the palm of my hand and I look to my right. Poison handed me a knife with a nod of her head. I bring it up in front of me, looking at the metal shining off the lights with a gleam in my eyes.

  “There’s one thing you’re forgetting, Sledge.” I bring the knife up to his throat and press it against his skin. Staring into his cold black eyes, I realize he’s never going to stop. He will never leave me alone and let me live in peace. “I’m not the weak little girl you think I am. You’re going to keep coming after me and there’s only one way to end this. With blood on my hands, I’m taking back my life.” I press the blade harder against his skin until his blood flows down his throat. Sinking the knife in deeper, I pull it across his throat, watching the life drain from his eyes. I drop the knife while Sledge gurgles his last breath and his body slumps to the ground.

  “Now it’s over. It’s finally over.” I sob into Stryker’s chest. He pulls me close to him, giving me warmth.

  “Yes, Lil’ Bit. It’s over for you.” Stryker rubs my back in soothing motions.

  “Take me home, please.”

  “You got it.” Stryker looks to Kayne, “Can you guys handle this? I need to get my girl home.”

  “I’ll get the prospects here to clean this up.” Kayne rests his arm around Poison’s shoulder and kisses her forehead, “C’mon let’s get the fuck out of here.”

  We file out of my childhood bedroom and down the hallway. Instead of going down the stairs, my feet are taking me to my parent’s bedroom door. There’s something nagging me in the back of my mind. Stryker stays by my side as I open the door. Inside is just the way I remember. A king-size oak bed against one wall, two matching nightstands on either side. An armoire and a dresser against another wall. On top of the dresser are a mirror and a jewelry box. Everything’s covered with dust, not shining clean like it used to. I spot the closet door and walk over to it. I crouch down like I would have when I was little and peer out the crack in the door. A memory comes to me from that dreadful night.

  Shouting downstairs wakens me from a deep sleep. My mommy sobs as a hard crack rings though the house. A deep, angry male voice booms over the crying of my mom. “Give her to me now.”

  That voice scares me and I’m up and running to the safety of my parent’s bedroom. I hide inside the closet and crouch low, peeking out the crack in the door. My dad’s footsteps are hurrying down the hallway and into the room. I watch as he yanks back the rug in hurried motions and removes the floorboards. I stay quiet, holding my breath as he pulls papers out of his pockets and shoves them into the hole. He quickly shoves the floorboards back into place and covers it back up with the rug. He hurries out of the room, never once checking to see if anyone was in here with him. More shouting and screaming rings through the house. I tuck myself deeper into the closet and cover my ears from the noise.

  Soft footsteps approach the closet door and I try to tuck deeper into the closet, but I can’t go any further. My mommy appears in the doorway and crouches down to my level. She has tears running down her cheeks. Relief washes over her face when she sees me.

  “C’mon, baby. It’s safe but we have to hurry.” She reaches inside the closet and helps me out. Together we hurry down the hallway into my room. She runs to my closet and pulls out a heavy suitcase and a smaller one. “Only put what you need in here. I got the rest earlier.”

  I grab a few stuffed animals and some things I think are valuable. We hurry down the stairs and into the dining room. Mommy turns to me, watching everything around us. There’s a spark she’s been missing coming back.

  “Hide under the table and don’t come out unless I tell you to. No matter what you hear or see, stay put.” She lifts the long table cover-up and I crawl underneath. She hurries out the front door and disappears from my sight. I’m terrified, watching everywhere and waiting for her to come back.

  Shaking myself from that night, I walk to the corner of the room and my foot creaks on the floorboards. I bend down and peel back the same rug.

  “I remember watching my father put something down here years ago. I wasn’t supposed to be in here but I was hiding when he came in. It was right before my mom and I escaped this hell.” I pull up the floorboard and reach inside. My hand connects with something cold and I pull out a black metal box and set it on the floor. Blayde is next to me, picking the lock. It springs open and inside is a bunch of papers and photos. Kayne reaches down and pulls them out one by one.

  “Holy fuck,” Kayne says, looking at each photo and a paper attached to them. “This is part of the trafficking ring dating back twenty-plus years ago. Guys, this is bigger than we thought.”

  “What do you want to do, Prez?” Blayde asks.

  “Bring it all with us and we’ll have Rooster see if he can track these girls down. This is fucking huge.” Kayne orders. He tosses the photos and papers back into the box and Blayde picks it up.

  “What’s going on?” I question. I don’t think anyone will answer me, but I ask anyway.

  “Do you remember who your father was?” Kayne asks.

  I shake my head no. “All I remember was that he was an angry man who worked late hours and I’m guessing we had a lot of money.”

  “Your father’s one of the most prestigious men in our state. And by the looks of things he was using his power to run a sex trafficking ring.”

  “Who is he?” I ask, completely baffled.

  “Ever heard of Senator Drew Kingston?” Kayne says the name with so much fury, I’m guessing they’ve had a few run-ins.

  “I’ve heard you guys say the name Kingston before but not his. I don’t pay attention to politics.” I shake my head, feeling stupid for not knowing who he is.

  “Yeah,” Kayne confirms. “Dean Kingston. Senator Kingston’s son. Your brother.”

  My stomach sinks with the revelation Kayne just dropped on me. The man who’s been wreaking havoc on the club is my brother. My flesh and blood are trying to destroy the people who took me in and brought me back to life. He’s out to destroy the only family I truly have.

  “What do you want me to do?”

  Kayne smiles at my question and nods his head. “Let’s head back to the clubhouse and regroup. I have a plan that could work.”

  Chapter 21

  Stryker

  We’ve been sitting in Church for an hour hacking out the details of what Kayne wants Holly to do. I don’t want her involved any more than she needs to be. If the glares I’m throwing everyone is any sign, I don’t want her involved at all.

  Rooster is holed up in his communications room, looking through every missing person database available to him, searching for the missing women and children. I haven’t seen Alyssa around since Sledge took me and that worries me. There’s something I can’t put my finger on from that night, but I shelve that in my mind for later.

  “Holly,” Kayne’s voice snaps me out of my own head and I sit the fuck up and pay attention. This is the do or die moment here. “You know what you’re going to do?”

  She nods her head and gives him a tiny smile. She’s scared shitless but won’t say anything. I growl deep in my throat not fucking happy at all.

  “I’m ready,” Holly responds taking a deep breath. Our eyes connect and she winks at me. Fucking winks like all is good in this fucked up situation. “I’ve got this, Stryker.”

  “I know Lil’ Bit, but I don’t like it.”

  “You don’t have to like it. This man who’s supposed to be my brother is hurting my family. I’m not letting him get away with it.”

  “Make the call,” Kayne demands.

  Holly pulls her cell phone out of her pocket and dials Kingston’s number. She w
aits, strumming her fingers on her jeans. “Dean?” She pauses for a beat. “This is your sister. You listen and you listen good. I know exactly what you and dear old daddy are doing. Be prepared. The Savage Saints are going to hunt the both of you down and end you.” She punches the end call button on the phone and shoves it back in her pocket. “There done. Can I go now?”

  “Yes. You’re dismissed. Thank you, Holly. If he contacts you again, come straight to me.” Kayne nods. Holly stands up and I watch as she leaves Church. Wanting to follow her, I know I can’t until Kayne lets me. “Now we have Kingston running scared. We hit him hard where it hurts. We’ve stopped the trafficking ring here for now. Duke, you and Ace keep your ears to the ground. Butch and Talon, did you set up the meet for the runs?”

  “Aye, Prez. We meet tomorrow night in Ashton.” Talon answers. “We scoped the place out and there are plenty of spots for us to set up.”

  “Perfect. Until then, let’s let loose and relax tonight. Shit’s going to get deep the next few days.” Kayne slams the gavel on the thick oak table, dismissing us.

  “Prez?” I lean forward in my seat and look at Kayne. Everyone shuffles out of the room, ready to party and relax but there’s something still bugging me. “How’d Sledge get me out of the house on his own?”

  Kayne leans his elbows on the oak table, “I’ve been wondering the same thing. In due time brother. In due time.”

  He won’t tell me more until he knows for sure. Something is off about that situation, but right now I need my Lil’ Bit. I stand up quickly and head out the door like my ass is on fire, searching for my Lil’ Bit. I spot her brown, wild curly hair disappear into the kitchen. I follow and stay back watching her. Enjoying the way her body moves with grace. Her slender figure moves to its own beat.