by Brook Wilder
“Yeah, you know the Riders?”
“You could say that. I was captured by them and, for a time, I belonged to Mason.”
I shook my head. It was a horrible way to explain it, but I didn’t know this woman.
Trust no one, I reminded myself.
She nodded and stuck out her hand as she sat down facing me.
“Liz. I used to be Noah’s old lady.”
I took her hand and frowned in confusion.
“I don’t think I know Noah.”
“Probably not if you came into the GRMC in the last couple of years. He’s been locked up for a spell.”
Liz brushed her hands across her jeans.
“Not his fault though,” she continued. “Someone framed him. He and Mason were close.”
I blinked, suddenly remembering.
“You were there the night that I got auctioned,” I remarked.
“That’s right!” Liz said softly, remembering too. “I saw you and Mason. I was hoping I wouldn’t see any of the GRMC there.”
I frowned again.
“If you were close to them, why would they let you be auctioned?”
“They don’t have a choice about what goes on at auction, darling. Besides, I don’t ask anyone’s permission.”
Liz dusted her hands off as if that was done with.
“Wait,” I shook my head. “You wanted to be auctioned.”
“It’s a long story and I don’t know you,” Liz said distrustfully.
I didn’t blame her one bit. After my time with the GRMC I understood why she’d distrust everyone. Hell, I certainly did.
I nodded acknowledgment and we fell into silence for a moment.
Finally, I looked over at her.
“You’ve been here this whole time?”
Liz shook her head.
“Not right away. I got bid on and such, but eventually Ruiz decided he wanted me and offered my owner a price he couldn’t refuse. So here I am.”
“This place scares me,” I said softly.
Liz agreed. “It should.”
I wiped away a tear with hands still stained red with blood.
“I was hoping to die quick,” I said.
“I doubt Ruiz will grant you that wish,” Liz said softly. “If he knows you are – or were ever – with the GRMC, he’s going to punish you,”.
Her eyes were haunted by memories of whatever Ruiz had already visited on her.
Thoughts of what Mason had done to me came to mind.
“What’s going to happen me?” I whispered.
The distraught look on Liz’s face struck terror into my heart. Nothing Mason had ever done had made me look like that.
Liz looked down and shook her head, unable or unwilling to speak the words.
Despair settled over me.
What had I gotten myself into?
Chapter 19
Mason
As I pulled into my driveway, I saw a girl on the porch of Cassie’s house. It looked like she was looking for house keys.
Cassie?
I’d come to grab some things, but my errand was immediately forgotten. I expected the girl to disappear as soon as I blinked, just as she’d disappeared every other time I imagined I’d seen her. My mind liked to torment me when it came to Cassie. However, the girl remained even after I’d blinked. And she appeared not to have noticed I was there.
I glanced at the white car in Cassie’s driveway. I didn’t recognize it. I slipped swiftly across the yard. I didn’t speak or make any noise. I grabbed the girl, spun her around quickly and captured her mouth in a kiss. The girl fought and shoved against me. When I released her, I saw my mistake. It wasn’t Cassie, but she had Cassie’s eyes.
“Who the hell are you?” the girl asked as she took a swat at me with her hand.
I dodged the blow.
“I thought you were Cassie.”
“Well, I’m not.” The girl put her hands on her hips. “I repeat, who are you?”
I thought better of knocking the girl’s teeth down her throat. She could be Cassie’s relative. It wouldn’t do to draw suspicion on the GRMC or myself.
“I’m Mason. I’m…” I thought about the best way to put it and continued with a smile. “I’m Cassie’s boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend?” The girl eyed me doubtfully. “If you say so.”
The girl waved aside all the nonsense,
“Look, we haven’t heard from her in ages. Frankly, I’m worried. She was mad at me but not angry enough to ignore our parents’ calls. Do you know where I can find her?”
My blood ran cold. My assumption had been wrong. Cassie’s family hadn’t seen her. No one had seen Cassie since she’d left.
“We had a fight and she ran out on me. I haven’t seen her since. I was hoping you were her.”
“Fucking hell! Where can she be?” The girl shook her head. “Sorry. My name’s Pearl. I’m Cassie’s younger sister.”
Ah. The one that had slept with Cassie’s fiancé, huh?
I cleared my throat.
“Nice to meet you… Look, I gotta go.”
I turned, but the girl’s hand on my arm stopped me.
“You know where she is, don’t you? I can see it on your face.”
Pearl had that same determined look Cassie got when she wasn’t about to let me off the hook for something.
I nodded. “I think she’s with some very bad people and I think it’s my fault. I’m going to get her back though.”
“Let me go with you,” Pearl pleaded. “I don’t want her to die mad at me. She’s my sister.”
I waved off the girl’s words.
“Cassie isn’t mad at you. She never was. She’s just hurt.”
I turned around, but the girl was right behind me.
“Get in your car and go home,” I said firmly. “When I find something out, I’ll let you know.”
Pearl opened her mouth to speak, but I cut her off.
“Don’t push me, Little Girl,” I warned her with a growl.
Pearl nodded, taking a wary step back. She scrambled toward her car.
Cassie would have my ass for threatening her little sister, but I had to focus. The Cartel had Cassie. They’d had her this whole time, while I was drinking myself into a stupor and feeling sorry for myself. I cursed under my breath and hurried back over to the truck. I had to find out where they were holding her.
I burst into the safehouse. Diesel looked up from the card game he and a few of the boys were playing.
“The Cartel has Cassie.”
Diesel’s brow furrowed.
“I thought she was with her family?” he said.
I shook my head as I ordered some of the boys to gather up weapons. I explained to Diesel about my run-in with Cassie’s sister.
“We need to find out where they’re keeping her,” I concluded. “Wherever it is, I guarantee Ruiz will be there.”
“We’ll find her,” Diesel said, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll get her back, Boss.”
Chapter 20
Cassie
A man walked up to the cage. He grinned over his shoulder at one of his fellow guards.
“Those the two GRMC bitches?”
“Yeah.”
Both men looked us over. My skin crawled at the lust in their eyes. Liz paid them no attention.
The newcomer leaned against the side of the cage and smirked at me.
“Hey, Sugar! Why don’t you come over here and use that pretty mouth of yours.”
I grimaced in disgust.
“Fuck off,” I hissed at the man.
“She’s got a mouth on her,” the man joked to his friend, “but it’ll be even better when it’s got my cock in it.”
The men laughed. I glared at them and looked away.
They came to the cage door and unlocked it. Fear lanced through me. Liz stood up defensively, and I stood with her. One man of the men stepped inside. It was the one with the cock that wanted sucking. I as far away from him as I
could.
“Come on! Let’s party,” he said with a grin. “I wanna see what the Ghost Riders thought so highly of.”
“I’d rather die,” I said firmly.
Liz nodded at the other guy. The man outside the cage held a gun on us. The other girls in the cell whimpered and cowered as far back in the cage as they could. Liz walked over to the man who had come into in the cell.
“You want some fun?” She looked at the man and smiled. “Fine.”
I couldn’t believe what she was doing. My mouth fell open as she reached into the man’s pants and began fondling him.
He grunted in appreciation. He looked over at me.
“You too, Honey.”
Liz looked over at me and gave me a wink.
Hesitantly, I walked over. The man put his arm around me and pulled me against him. He kissed me. His mouth tasted stale and salty. I almost gagged at the stale cigarette smell that lingered on him.
Suddenly his eyes bulged and he squealed in alarm. Liz had wrenched the man’s balls. She shoved him back, hard against the cell bars, making sure she kept him between us and the guy with the gun outside.
“What the hell are you doing?” the man with the gun demanded.
I helped Liz shove the man. He hit the side of the steel cage with a thud so loud that it echoed around the warehouse. He gurgled a bit, then slumped to the ground.
Liz stepped back as the man with the gun opened the cell door.
“Get back!”
He swung the gun up at us and we staggered back away from him and his friend on the ground.
“Louis?”
Louis appeared to have passed out. The man reached down and shook his shoulder, then straightened up again.
“Hey, I need some help over here!” he shouted.
Liz shifted from foot to foot. I wondered if she was going to jump the man, but his gun swung wildly between us. I reckoned that, if we all rushed him, we could take him. But the girls behind us didn’t seem eager to do so. Soon enough, the other guards were dragging the unconscious man out of the cell.
There was a heated argument between some of the men outside the cell, and I watched it intently.
“They killed Louis,” the man with the gun growled. “Busted his neck. I’m gonna kill those bitches.”
We’d killed him? I didn’t know how I felt about that. I’d never killed anyone before. I felt sick to my stomach and my knees felt weak. Liz put her hand on my sleeve.
One of the other men caught Louis’ irate buddy by the arm.
“You can’t touch them. Those are the boss’s girls.”
The man shook his head and spat.
“Fucking bitches.”
“You shouldn’t have been messing with them,” another man said as he walked up. “You can’t take chances with those GRMC bitches. They are a tough lot.”
The men walked away, still talking. I was barely listening anymore. That’s all I was, just a GRMC bitch. I sank to the ground. Liz sat down next to me.
“Don’t let them take away who you are.”
I looked over at her.
“What does it matter?”
“It matters a lot,” Liz sighed. “That’s what these warehouses are for. They train the girls here. Break them, condition them. By the time they leave, they’re less than people. They’re just objects, fuck-toys.”
Tears brimmed in my eyes. I’d seen the girls in the other warehouses. I’d heard of the abuse they’d suffered. But experiencing it first hand was different.
“How do you keep it together? How do you hold onto yourself?”
“Well, I got my reasons. Unlike most of the girls here, I chose to auction myself.”
Liz gave me a compassionate look.
“I gather you didn’t choose this.”
I shook my head. “No. Mason sabotaged my car, and the rest is history.”
“But Mason bought you back at auction?” Liz looked curiously at me. “Seems an odd thing to do. Not very smart. Mason is usually smart.”
I shrugged.
“I think he just didn’t want Ruiz to have me.” I sniffled and wiped my eyes. “Why did you choose to auction yourself? I can’t imagine making that choice.”
Liz eyed me for a moment. She took a deep breath and edged closer to me. Her voice was low, as if she didn’t want to be overheard.
“I had my reasons. I can’t go into them because, if Ruiz found out, he’d hurt people I care about.”
I nodded. I wouldn’t pry.
“I get that. Mason and I were hiding out. The GRMC’s been hitting the Cartel pretty hard, so we’ve all been underground.”
“I heard something about that. The guys tend to talk like we don’t have ears. I guess they get to use to thinking of us as animals.” Liz laughed softly. “I’m glad the GRMC finally got the balls to cut ties with the Cartel once and for all.”
I took my chance.
“So, you left the GRMC?” I asked.
“No. Not exactly. See, Noah got sent to jail on some trumped-up charges. Mason wanted to fight it, but Noah decided it would be best for everyone if he just rode the sentence out. I didn’t agree. Noah and I had a falling out right before he got sent off. He told me to go home to my family.” Liz shrugged. “He always was a hard-headed asshole.”
Despite the situation, I giggled at Liz’s words. Or maybe it was because of the stress of the situation. Whatever the reason, Liz and I ended up laughing together quietly for some time. The man outside the cage eyed us suspiciously, but we ignored him.
“You still love Noah, don’t you?”
I watched the woman’s face as I asked the question.
Liz let out a long breath and then nodded.
“Yeah, maybe,” she grinned. “What happened between you and Mason that you ended up here?”
“We had a falling out too,” I said softly.
I thought back to that night and, compared to sitting on the floor of the cell, it almost didn’t seem so bad. Maybe I really did have Stockholm Syndrome?
I laughed.
“I thought I was in love with him. I thought he loved me too. But I don’t think there’s any room in that man’s heart for anyone but Dana.”
A look of sadness passed across Liz’s face.
“Dana would be a hard act to follow. But you don’t strike me as similar. So, if Mason fell for you, then… well, it was probably you he fell for and not some shadow of Dana.”
“Maybe,” I mumbled. “I just know that I fell for him.”
I hated admitting that. It felt like telling the world how big a fool I was.
“Who does that? Who falls for the guy who sells and buys her?”
Liz shrugged.
“Life is crazy, Cassie. Not everyone is what they appear to be when you first see them though.”
I nodded, agreeing with her sentiment.
Liz’s words had made me realize something about myself. Even on this cell floor, I couldn’t quite dampen down the urge to trust. Despite everything that had happened to me and all the lies I’d been told, here I was still looking for the best in people.
Chapter 21
Mason
“I think we found the warehouse,” Diesel said as he walked briskly into the room.
I was bent over a map. I’d been marking off all the locations we’d hit and other known Cartel warehouses. I looked up when he didn’t continue.
“Do you need a fucking invitation?”
“Sorry, but you look like hell,” Diesel said. He tossed a piece of paper on the table. “This note’s from a snitch in the next town over. Apparently, this warehouse, which was defunct until a month ago, has been moving a lot of goods lately. Trailers full of livestock, coming and going at all hours.”
I snatched up the paper and quickly marked down the location on the map.
“Livestock, huh?”
“Yeah. The guy said he’s heard a lot of screaming coming from there. It’s a big operation. Bigger than the ones we’ve hit around Eden
. We’ll need more than just our forces to go in there.”
