He pulled the SUV over to the side of the road and got out.
This was going to be my chance to escape. I needed to be faster and smarter than him.
The windows of the SUV were tinted pitch black, and it was so dark outside that I lost view of where he went. I squinted through the side window and tried to see him.
The hatch quickly popped open, and I didn’t have a chance to react.
Jenkins pressed a gun to the side of my head and whispered. “This should help you sleep, bitch.”
Pain exploded through my head, and the world went dark.
The End
Brinks
Fallen Lords MC
Book 9
Wall Street Journal & USA Today Bestselling Author
Winter Travers
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter One
Brinks
“Stop. Fucking. Movin’.”
I gritted my teeth and gripped the hand towel in my fists. “I would if you stopped fucking poking at me.”
“Poking?” Boink ripped open a Band-Aid. “I’m scraping the fucking gravel from your flesh, brother. Excuse me for trying to prevent your skin from rotting off because of infection.”
My eyes slammed shut, and I snarled. I knew he was just trying to fucking help me, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. “Just get it fucking done.”
He slapped the Band-Aid on my skin and pressed it down. “Next time, don’t get kidnapped, and this won’t happen to you.”
“Thanks for the advice.” I opened my eyes and rolled down my sleeve. “Don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.”
“Still think you should have stayed in the hospital,” Boink muttered.
I shook my head. “I’m fine.”
Boink shrugged and gathered the wrappers from the bandages and gauze. “Yeah, that huge ass gash on your forehead and the gravel I keep scraping out of your flesh screams fine.” Boink balled the wrappers up and tossed them in the trash can.
“I was there long enough for them to stitch me up. That’s all I needed.” I gingerly stood and tried not to grimace. Once the ambulance had rushed me to the hospital, I had woken up under the bright lights of the ER with three nurses and a doctor staring at me. The hour I had spent there was more than enough. They had tried to convince me I needed to stay so they could observe me. Even now, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at that ridiculousness. Pay a shit-ton of money for them to watch me sleep? No fucking thanks.
“Maybe you should have stuck around for them to scrape all of that gravel from you.”
I shook my head. “None of those nurses have as good bedside manner as you have, Boink.”
Boink flipped off the lights in the bathroom and stalked into my room. “Even half dead, you’re still a dick.”
I buttoned up my shirt and grabbed my cut from the back of the toilet. “It’s gonna take a whole hell of a lot more than what Jenkins did to me to kill me.”
“Get some fucking rest.” Boink nodded to the bed. “Wrecker said church can wait until the morning. The rest of the guys are working on patching up the clubhouse”
I shook my head. “No fucking way.”
It had been hours since Jenkins took Cora. We needed to find her now or at least figure out what the hell we were going to do.
Boink shook his head. “Wrecker figured you would say that.”
I gingerly pulled on my cut. “Because each and every one of you fuckers would say the same thing if it was your woman.”
“The difference is that we weren’t hiding our women like they were some dirty secret.”
Cora wasn’t a dirty secret. I just didn’t need to fucking tell the whole world about us. “You patched me up, and now, you can leave.”
Boink patted me on the shoulder and moved to the door. “Just rest. There isn’t anything that can be done right now. The only thing to do right now is to sling some drywall and mud to patch the huge ass hole Jenkins made when he drove his truck in.”
I scoffed and shook my head. “I find it hard to believe that having Cora in the grasp of Jenkins is part of the plan.”
Boink flipped off the lights. “It is. It may not seem like it right now, but everything is going to be okay, brother.” He closed the door behind him, and I was left in the darkness.
Darkness.
That about summed up the past days of being with Jenkins. Once or twice a day, he would come into the room I was being held in, taunt and beat me, then leave me in darkness. I had lost count of how many days I had been in that room.
One?
Five?
Twelve?
I didn’t fucking know.
I sat on the edge of the bed and buried my head in my hands. I didn’t know how the hell things had gotten so fucked up.
A simple order to keep an eye on Jenkins had somehow ended with me getting the shit beaten out of me and Cora in the clutches of her psycho brother.
I fell back on my bed and ran my fingers through my hair.
Everything was a fucking disaster right now, and I had no clue what to do.
But I knew I would die to set Cora free.
*
Chapter Two
Cora
“Get up.”
The toe of a boot landed on my side. I bit my bottom lip and winced. I gingerly rolled over, away from Jenkins, and held my side. “Stop,” I wheezed.
“Don’t tell me what to fucking do. Get your ass up and into the house.”
Ten seconds ago, Jenkins had opened the back of the SUV, pulled me out by my feet, and I had dropped to the gravel. Now, he wanted me to stand up and walk like I hadn’t been curled up in a ball and in and out of consciousness for God knows how long.
I remembered stopping twice for gas, but each time, I had barely been able to raise my head from the dirty, gritty floorboard. “I can’t.”
Jenkins grabbed a fist full of my hair and yanked my head back. “You got thirty seconds to get your ass in that house before I rip all your fucking hair out.” He twisted my hair in his hand.
My scalp burned, and I knew he wasn’t joking around. I scrambled off the ground, falling back down for a second before I finally got to my feet. I was bent over at the waist, my hands on my knees, and I struggled to breath.
“Now fucking walk.” Jenkins moved behind me, with his hand at my back.
If I didn’t move fast enough, he was going to push me, and I knew that if he pushed me, I would fall, and then I wouldn’t be able to get up again.
It took everything I had to shuffle my feet down a path toward a dark, dilapidated shack. “Where are we?” I asked.
Jenkins laughed dryly. “Like I’m going to fucking tell you that.”
It wasn’t like I had my phone on me or had a way to tell someone where I was. Everything had happened so fast that I didn’t have time to think. Jenkins was going to kill Brinks if I didn’t volunteer to go with him.
I hadn’t seen my brother in a while, but I knew him better than Brinks did. It sounded crazy, but I was confident I could survive being with him. I had for twenty-eight years before I wound up in the Fallen Lords clubhouse.
I made it to the door. Jenkins grabbed a fistful of my shirt, and he reached around me. He pounded on the door and leaned back. “You and Susie are going to be best friends.”
Who in the hell was Susie? My question was answered w
hen the door whipped open, and a woman my height stood there. Her hair was bleach blond; her eyes were piercing blue, and she had a wicked sneer on her lips.
“About fucking time you got here. I figured you were dead or arrested.”
“Neither.” Jenkins pushed me forward. “I did exactly what I wanted. Got rid of the trash and got our next bargaining chip.”
Susie looked me up and down. “Looks like you played rough with the merchandise.”
She stepped to the side, and Jenkins pushed me through the door. “She needed a bit of convincing.”
I stumbled through the doorway and squinted into the darkness of the room.
“She’s not going to be worth much.”
“Shut the fuck up, Susie. You don’t know what the hell you are talking about. She just needs to be cleaned up.”
Susie curled her lips. “If you say so, Jenkins.”
“I do fucking say so,” he mumbled under his breath. He grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the kitchen. The house we were in was more like a one-room shack. Kitchen in one corner, living room in another, what I assumed was a bathroom, and then, in the far corner, a long table stood with pieces of guns and lots of knives laid out on it.
It looked like Jenkins was getting ready for a war.
He grabbed a bottle of water and held it out to me. “Fucking drink this.”
“What do you care if I drink that or not?” I retorted.
He grabbed me by the hair and yanked my head back. “Because you’re not worth anything to me dead, sister.” His eyes flared. “Drink the fucking water.”
I grabbed the bottle and clumsily twisted off the top. I was dying for a drink, but I didn’t want Jenkins to think that I would do whatever he told me to. “Where are we?”
Jenkins just glared at me. “Drink,” he growled.
“Tell me where we are,” I demanded. Even kidnapped and beaten, I still had my take-no-shit attitude popping up. It was Jenkins’ own fault. He was the one who had made me this way.
“Why? So you can tell your fucking boyfriend?” Jenkins spat.
I growled. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
I wasn’t a fucking teenager. Brinks was not my boyfriend.
“That’s not what we heard,” Susie sang out. “You’ve been knocking boots with that backstabbing biker for months.”
“Shut it!” Jenkins shouted at Susie. “What have I told you about talking when you’re not supposed to?”
Susie snapped the gum in her mouth and folded her arms over her chest. “You didn’t mind me talking last night,” she purred while she ran a hand over her boob and winked at Jenkins.
Ew.
Jenkins curled his lip. “Shut your trap and go fill the tub for Cora.”
Susie flounced over to what I had assumed was the bathroom and pulled open the door. “We’ll see if you say that later tonight.” She disappeared into the room with a wink over her shoulder at Jenkins.
“She’s exactly your type.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.
“What the hell does that mean?” he demanded.
I looked up at Jenkins. This man had the same blood as me running through his veins. We were family. My brother.
I fucking hated him.
Hate was a word I didn’t use.
It was harsh.
It was mean.
It was final.
To me, once you hated something, that was it. There was no coming back from that.
I hated Jenkins, and all I wanted to do was watch him die. Slowly. The breath in his lungs gone and the life he had wasted and pilfered, done. He didn’t deserve to breathe.
He didn’t deserve to live.
“It means she seems really nice, and you two are perfect for each other.” I knew my brother. I could only say so much before I crossed the line and he started to push me around.
He glared at me but didn’t say anything else.
I drank my water. My eyes never left Jenkins.
I needed to make a plan. We had driven for so long, and I was in and out of consciousness, so I really had no idea where the hell I was. That was going to be the first thing I figured out. “Are we even in Ohio anymore?”
Jenkins smirked. “Pretty sure that isn’t something you need to know.”
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “So what do I need to know?”
“Whatever I feel like you should know.”
Typical fucking Jenkins. Always had to be the one in charge even if he didn’t know what the hell he was doing. That was the reason why the River Valley chapter of the Fallen Lords had collapsed. Jenkins knew shit about anything, but he thought he was an expert on everything. “So tell me what I can know.”
He grabbed the bottle of water from me and tossed it in the sink. “You can take a bath and then I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping.” He grabbed me by the arm and marched me over to the bathroom.
Susie came out with a slick smile on her lips. “Hope it’s not too hot for you,” she replied sweetly. She slipped past me with a quick elbow to my ribs.
The bitch was going to pay for that as soon as I got out of here.
“You got twenty minutes. Shit, bath, and get the hell out.” Jenkins pushed me into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. I heard the lock click from the outside, and my shoulders slumped. I dropped my chin to my chest and finally took a deep breath.
I wasn’t going to die.
If that was what Jenkins had wanted, I wouldn’t be here right now.
I was here for a purpose, but I wasn’t sure what that was.
My eyes moved around the bathroom, and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t disgusting.
The toilet was a pristine white; the sink was scrubbed clean with soap and towels sitting nearby, and an old, clawfoot tub with chipped porcelain sat along the opposite wall.
Not bad for a shack.
She had left a towel for me, but there weren’t any clean clothes. I was going to have to put on my dirty ones after my bath, but at least I would be clean for a little bit.
I turned my back to the sink and looked down at the water Susie had filled the tub with.
Steam rolled off the top, and I was surprised this shack had that good of a water heater. Here I had been thinking she had made the water ice cold. Apparently, she was trying to scald the skin right off my body.
The joke was on her, though.
The hotter the water, the better. Especially now, after being on the floor of that filthy truck for hours upon hours.
I quickly stripped off my clothes, knowing Jenkins had told me I only had twenty minutes, and slowly sunk into the steaming water. I moaned softly, the hot water swirling around me, and I laid back ‘til just my head was still out.
This was the first good thing I had in two days—or however many days or hours it had been since Jenkins had tossed me in the back of his truck.
I dunked my head under the water and scrubbed my hands over my face.
I was dirty.
It felt like I had ten inches of dirt on me, and the scalding water was the only thing that was going to get me clean.
I gasped for air. I shouldn’t have stayed under the water for that long, but I knew I still hadn’t got all the dirt from my face. I grabbed the bottle of shampoo and squirted a large dollop in my hand. With my eyes closed, I scrubbed the suds all over my face and then worked it into my hair.
There had been a mirror over the sink, but I had been smart enough to know that I shouldn’t look. At least, not until after I got out of the tub. I knew I wouldn’t look back to normal after trying to clean myself up, but I would at least look somewhat decent.
My scalp was tender from where Jenkins had clocked me over the head, and I was careful of all of the cuts and bruises on my skin.
I dunked my head again and worked the shampoo from my hair.
Once I was clean enough, I floated in the water, trailed my hands over the surface, and closed my eyes.
I was g
oing to be okay.
I needed to keep reminding myself of that.
The plan I had was vague, but I knew I had to stick to it and trust my gut.
So, until the next part of my plan came into view, all I was going to do was try to keep my mouth shut and wait.
Just fucking wait.
*
Chapter Three
Brinks
“Do you think he knows we are here and he’s just ignoring us?”
“Nah, I don’t think Brinks would do that.”
My eyes were closed, and I was pretending to sleep with the hope that Karmen and Wren would go away. I kept my breathing even and focused on not moving.
“Where is Alice?” Wren asked.
Karmen laughed and plopped down on the bed next to my feet. “She said she was up all night.”
“Baby moving around a lot?” Wren asked.
Karmen scoffed. “She wishes it was that. She and Wrecker went out for Chinese last night, and it didn’t sit well. She messaged me at four in the morning telling me her butt was dry heaving.”
“Say what?” Wren asked, shocked.
Even I wanted to know what the hell that meant.
“Uh, I think it’s like when you dry heave when you puke but from the other end.”
“Eww,” Wren moaned. “I did not need to know that.”
“Girl, neither did I.”
“I didn’t either. What the hell are you two doing in here?” I demanded. I hadn’t moved an inch other than to open my mouth.
“You were awake!” Karmen shouted. “I knew talking about butt dry heaving would get you up.”
“So you just said that to shock him awake?” Wren asked.
“Why the hell are you talking about my butt heaving?” Alice screeched.
I rolled over on my back and raised up on my elbows. “What in the hell are you three doing in here?”
I hadn’t thought to set an alarm clock, but obviously, Karmen and the girls had decided to take it upon themselves to wake me up.
Fallen Lords MC: Books 7-9 Page 28
