“But she wasn’t happy about it, was she? And you were a minor,” he continued, and she shrugged her shoulders.
“No, I guess she wasn’t, but she didn’t try and stop me either,” Sage replied, and Axel smiled more fully now.
“So, you’re back in Long Beach,” he stated, and Sage didn’t respond to the obvious. “And you’ve come looking for me, for some reason?” he continued and then looked over at me again, as though I would have the answers for him.
I didn’t have the answers in fact. I wasn’t sure what Sage was doing here, or why she wanted to talk to Axel. What could she possibly achieve from this meeting?
“I wanted to speak to you about what’s going on with the women in this neighborhood…and I don’t know where else,” Sage said and she crossed her arms confidently over her breasts. Axel was watching her every movement, he was assessing her. He grunted a response.
“What do I have to do with the women in this neighborhood or anywhere else? Other than leaving them very satisfied of course,” Axel said, and a mumbled ripple of laughter rang around the bar, and Axel looked around at his men with a smile on his face.
Sage’s chin twitched as she tried to hold her stead.
“Last evening, I was assaulted by an MC guy, not your MC but a different one. He threatened to rape me and kidnap me and sell me off and make money off me. All this because I was trying to stop him from beating up a girl who he clearly had under his control,” Sage continued, and the ripple of laughter died, and Axel jerked his head to look at me.
“You tried to stop this guy?” he asked, with his eyes widened and Sage nodded her head.
“As best I could. He was a big guy, stronger than me, and I was only able to distract him for a few minutes. He dragged the girl away after he had already groped and threatened me,” Sage had her chin raised up, and I could see a slight tremble in her arms as she spoke. I knew that she was trying her best to create an illusion of strength, but it was taking all she had to recall last night’s incident. With every word she spoke, I wanted to crush that asshole’s skull in.
Axel was listening to her with crossed brows. He glared at her some more after she was done talking, and then he looked over at me.
“Was this one of the Dragon Knights?” he asked, and I nodded my head silently. Axel clenched his jaws and looked at Sage again.
“Why have you come to me with this?” he asked her. He wasn’t smiling anymore, he seemed mad.
Sage dropped her arms to her side and took a step towards him. Some of my brothers closed in on her, as an instinctual defense step. Axel held up his hand to them and allowed her to draw closer to him.
“Because I know who you are and what you guys do here. I know that they are your rival gang and you have been trying to crush them for over a year now,” Sage said, and I clenched my fists. Axel was looking at me again, there was an accusatory gaze in his eyes. He knew that Sage knew all this because I had told it to her.
“So, why are you telling me what I already know?” Axel asked and pulled a box of cigarettes out of his pocket. He slipped one in between his lips and lit it.
Sage licked her lips and then threw me a look. I was trying to plead with her with my eyes to shut up. She had caused enough damage already, and there was no use to take it any further.
Instead of submitting to my pleas, she jerked her head back at Axel, just as he took his first drag of the cigarette.
“I want to help,” she said.
***
They had all broken out in laughter. My brothers and Axel were all laughing at Sage, and presumably at me too. They found it hilarious, that a girl who had moved away from this neighborhood ten years ago, a girl who looked like her was now claiming to offer her services to a full-fledged MC.
Sage waited patiently for the laughter to die down, which lasted at least a couple of minutes before she spoke again.
“I don’t know what’s so funny,” she spat, and Axel wiped the corners of his eyes, and smoked his cigarette.
“You, my girl, you are very funny,” he said, and I could see Sage glaring at him.
“I don’t know what is so funny about a lawyer offering her services for free,” she said, and suddenly, nobody was laughing anymore, least of all Axel. I shifted on my feet. This was the worst revelation that Sage could have made. A representative of the law had waltzed into our bar, and I was the one who had led her to my brothers. What were they going to do to her? Whose side would I have to take?
I clenched my jaws and glared at Sage for getting me into this mess. I should have fucking kept my cock in my pants and just forgotten about her.
“Look, Sage, I’m very sorry that you got groped and whatever else happened to you. I didn’t do it, and neither did any of my men. So, I have no idea what makes you think that you can just come in here and offer to help us. You don’t know the first thing about us!” Axel’s voice was raised now, and he was glaring back at Sage.
I could see that the tops of her cheeks were flushed, to match the fiery color of her hair. She was embarrassed and looked insulted, but I was amazed at how she was still continuing to hold her ground.
“I know enough, and I want to know more about this gang. Look, I’m a licensed lawyer, I can figure out a way take legal action against these assholes,” Sage snapped, and Axel looked at me and narrowed his eyes. I knew what that look meant; he was going to deal with me later.
“We don’t meddle with the law, we handle our problems our own way,” Axel growled at her and Sage nodded her head.
“I understand. I don’t agree, but I understand. But the girl’s you guys have rescued don’t need to handle it that way, they can press charges and maybe if the Dragon Knights are behind bars, they won’t be such a big problem for you guys anymore,” Sage continued. Her voice had become more stable, she was putting forward a logical argument, and with every passing second, she was beginning to sound more and more like a proper lawyer. A small part of me that I refused to acknowledge was somehow proud of her. This woman was a force of nature!
Axel was thinking too. He puffed away at his cigarette and then stubbed it in the tin ashtray on the bar counter before he pulled out the pack again.
“We don’t want to be involved in anything legal,” he said, and Sage licked her lips. She believed that she was going to win this argument, and it seemed to me like she just might. Axel might not have been agreeing with her, but at least he wasn't aggressive either.
“I don’t want to involve you guys in it. I just want access to the women you’ve rescued and any other women that you do rescue. I want to be able to build a case with their help and then nail the Dragon Knights. I don’t want one more woman to have to suffer what I watched that girl suffering. I want to do my bit to make this neighborhood somewhat safe again,” Sage was speaking passionately. I could see her whole body shaking with emotion and rage as she spoke.
Axel was looking her up and down again. He smoked his cigarette and then grunted.
“I’m not promising you anything,” he said, and Sage bit down on her lip and nodded.
“Okay, you don’t have to right now,” she replied, and Axel looked at me.
“Introduce Miss Campbell to the ladies, Glock. She should get a taste of what she wants to get herself into before she or I make our final decisions,” Axel said to me, and I had no other choice but to nod my head. This was the last thing I wanted. I was hoping that I would be able to convince Sage to get out of here and go back to San Francisco in a few days.
“And, Miss Campbell,” Axel was speaking to her again, and Sage was smiling, she was happy with herself. “Once you’re in this with us, there is no way you’re getting out. Remember that before you make any decision,” Axel growled at her and she gulped and nodded her head.
“Now get the fuck out!” he barked loudly, and Sage turned to me with a smile, her face flushed with accomplishment.
I glared at her before I led the way out of the Rusty Pelican. She was fast on my heels, and
a buzz of conversation and music had erupted in the bar again.
I burst through the doors and walked straight for my bike. Sage followed.
“Glock!” she called out, and I stopped in my tracks and turned to her.
“I know you’re angry with me, but this is a good thing! I want to help those women, I can help those women,” she said. She looked less firm and more like she desperately wanted my approval. When did Sage ever want my approval for anything?
“I don’t give a shit,” I growled and jumped on my bike, waiting for her to climb up too. If Axel wanted me to make introductions, that’s what I would do, but I had no intention of encouraging her. Sage’s place wasn’t amongst us. She had worked hard for the past ten years to escape exactly what she was now getting herself into.
Chapter 10
Sage
Glock stopped the bike outside a warehouse, which looked abandoned from the outside. When we got off, he was still refusing to speak to me.
“Glock!” I called after him, while I followed him to the secure metal pull-up door of the warehouse. I knew he was mad at me, and of course, he had every reason to be. I had somehow managed to force myself into his life, against his wishes. Not only that, but I had complained about his life choices ever since we had known each other; I had pointed to the dangers and the violence…and now I was getting myself involved in exactly that.
“Sage, I’ve brought you here like Axel wanted. I’m following orders. What more do you want from me?” he snapped, as he pulled out a set of keys from his jacket pocket and unlocked the door and the levers.
I stood aside and watched him with heaving shoulders.
“We’re on the same side, Glock, don’t fight me on this!” I snapped back, and I watched as his muscles moved while he lifted the heavy door up.
Inside the building were bright lights and a space which had been divided up into sections. These sections looked like little rooms, and there were women everywhere, in the rooms, in the common area. There was pop music playing on the stereo somewhere, and there was a smell of coffee and doughnuts in the air.
Everyone turned to look at us as we stepped in. Glock was securing the door back in position, and I looked at all these women who were staring at me. They had a look of concern on their faces, and I realized what they were thinking…they thought I was one of them—one of the women who the Bad Disciples had rescued.
A woman with long brown hair and tanned skin was approaching me with a smile.
“Hi, I’m Brooklyn, you’re very welcome here,” she said in a soft, friendly voice, and Glock appeared behind me.
“She’s not one of the girls, Brooklyn, this is Sage, an old friend of mine,” Glock said, and I smiled at the woman and shook her hand.
Two other women had appeared behind Brooklyn, who also seemed to be authoritative figures here.
“I’m Kylie,” one of them said.
“I’m Noelle,” the other said, and I shook their hands too.
“So, Sage, how can we help you?” Noelle asked, and I looked at Glock, who was staring straight ahead, rather than looking at me. He was making his disapproval of the situation very clear to everyone.
“Well, Axel sent me here, to make my introductions and to have a look around. I’ve offered my services to the MC as a lawyer for the women you all have rescued,” I said, with a full smile on my face, as warm as I could muster.
The three women were gaping wide mouthed at me, and then they exchanged silent worried looks. I could see the confusion and the hesitance on their faces.
“I’ve spoken to Axel, and I’m aware of the concerns that you all have regarding someone like me working with the MC. I’ve assured him that I will make sure that the Bad Disciples and anyone associated with you, never get into any trouble with the law,” I insisted, and the women continued staring at me. It was like they couldn’t believe that Axel would approve of this.
“She’s all right, girls, she just wants to have a look around. Nothing is finalized yet,” Glock spoke up, and I pursed my lips together. Why couldn’t he just get it in his head that I was going to find a way of making this work? That I had no intention of giving up now that I’d started!
Brooklyn smiled at me and nodded her head.
“Of course. We’ll be happy to show you around and introduce you to the girls,” she said, and I was happy to hear it.
“What kind of work do the three of you do?” I asked, and they exchanged looks again and shrugged their shoulders.
“Well, I’m working full time with the girls. Any girl who is rescued from the Dark Knights is brought here, and it’s a full-time job to rehabilitate them and get them back on their feet and keep them away from drugs and prostitution. I’ve been working hard to create a safe haven for them,” Brooklyn said, and I nodded my head.
“I’m a physical therapist at the VA, and I try and help Brooklyn out whenever I can,” Kylie said.
“I’m a nurse, and I do the same, in between shifts or on my days off. We’re all with guys from the Bad Disciples,” Noelle said, and I smiled at them. It hadn’t occurred to me that they were in relationships with MC guys. These women seemed so normal and different from the kinds of women I would have expected Glock and his friends to be in relationships with.
“I really want to help. Last evening, I had an encounter with one of the abductors, and I tried to rescue the woman he was beating up, but I couldn’t. I want to find a different way to take them down,” I told the women, who were all looking concerned now.
“Oh, we’re so sorry to hear that, Sage, and you’re doing a good thing offering your services. We’re glad to have you here,” Noelle wrapped an arm around my shoulder and squeezed. Brooklyn was smiling at Glock, who was still refusing to be a part of this conversation.
“You have a good woman here, Glock, it was about time!” she said, and Glock gritted his teeth before he spoke.
“She’s not my woman!” he growled, and I could feel my cheeks flushing. He was right, I wasn’t his woman, but it still stung me to hear him say it.
***
The girl called Janice was sitting with her legs tucked underneath herself. She was smoking her third cigarette in a row and had a wild empty look in her eyes.
“And then there was the training,” she said, and there was a deathly silence around us. I was sitting at the edge of the bed in her makeshift room. Her nails looked chewed up, and there were signs of healing bruises all over her skin. She was one of the girls who had recently been rescued from the last raid conducted by The Bad Disciples.
Brooklyn, Kylie, and Noelle were standing around her, while Glock was behind me. None of us had spoken while Janice narrated what had happened to her.
“What kind of training?” I asked, and I immediately regretted asking it. Janice’s cheeks flushed, and she looked away from me nervously.
“They were training us to do what we were told, to follow orders and make ourselves available in every way possible to the men who were buying us,” Janice said with a trembling lip. My instinct was to reach out and lightly squeeze her knee, but she flinched at my touch.
“We don’t have to talk about it anymore,” I said and met Brooklyn’s gaze who nodded her head in agreement. Janice was the third girl I was introduced to, and it was the same story with each of them.
They were tortured, beaten up, sexually assaulted and forced into prostitution. They were all being prepared to be sold off on the flesh market.
“They used lit cigarettes sometimes, its where I got all these marks from,” Janice said, ignoring my previous statement and she craned her neck to the side so I could see the marks.
“Janice, we don’t need to talk about it. Sage has heard everything she needed to hear,” Kylie said and crouched down beside Janice.
Janice stared at me, with a wild look in her eyes.
“How are you going to help us?” she asked, her voice had turned a little shaky.
“I want to build a case, using all your testimonies,�
� I replied, and Janice smirked like she didn’t think I could do it.
“We don’t have any proof or nothing, that it was them,” she remarked, and I nodded my head.
“That’s okay, we can use your official statements and your testimony. We can build a case strong enough so that they can’t disprove their involvement. It’s worth a shot. I would like to see them behind bars,” I said, and Janice slunk back on her bed and continued smoking her cigarette.
“They are untouchable, they are dangerous. No law case is going to scare them,” she said, and I gulped. I could understand why she felt that way.
“They’ll have no choice,” I said, and she rolled her eyes.
“Why don’t we go out and talk?” Brooklyn interrupted us, and she came over to me and started leading me away from the room. The others followed us to a corner where we could talk out of earshot of the other women.
“We really do appreciate your concern, Sage,” Brooklyn said.
“But you don’t want my help?” I asked. Brooklyn squeezed my shoulder and smiled sadly.
“We don’t want you to get everyone’s hope up, is all. These girls have been through enough. We have been through enough,” Kylie said, and I felt Glock’s hand on my elbow.
“Exactly, you’ve seen and met the girls, now it’s time for us to leave,” he said in a commanding voice. I didn’t let him pull me away just yet, and I slipped out a card with my name and phone number on it and handed it to Brooklyn.
“I want to help, I want you to trust that I can help. We need to fight them!” I said to them, while Glock tugged me away, towards the door of the warehouse.
I saw Brooklyn nod and the others smiled as he led me out. He unlocked the door and the levers and lifted the gate up, and then grabbing my elbow again, he yanked me out.
I stood behind him with my arms crossed over my breasts while I watched him lock the door up again.
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