“I know I’ve said this to you before but none of you trusted me so I brought Roz here so that she could tell you that we are just here to help you. So any of you who want to go home, can. The boys will take you,” Sarah told them, bringing the women’s attention to her. She was standing next to Roz, her elbows resting on the counter as she leaned her chin into her hands.
“Yeah, nobody is going to hurt you as we said and all our guys want to do is get you back where you belong,” Sammy said, speaking for the first time since they’d entered the building. She was standing near Sarah watching the women who were now gathered around the counter.
“I get how hard it must be for you to trust that offer but it’s true, I promise.” Roz noticed darkness in the woman’s eyes when she said those last words and she knew something bad had happened to Sammy in the past. Sammy really did understand these women and their fears. Roz wondered briefly about what could have caused that darkness she’d seen before she banished the thoughts and did what they had brought her here for. She reassured the women who were counting on her.
“If you want to go home, you can trust them, they will get you there,” Roz said even though she didn’t know if she was fully convinced that it was true that they could trust the Blue Bandits, but she wanted to believe that Iron hadn’t hooked up with a bad element. Their treatment of Sarah and Josh seemed to indicate that her trust wasn’t unfounded.
“I want to go home,” a quivering voice said from a few feet away and Roz turned to see it was Mary, the sixteen-year-old girl who she and the older women in her group had given most of their food to over the past six weeks.
“Me too,” another of the women said, becoming brave after Mary voiced her need. Several others also piped up and Roz was glad. When she was in the hovel, the only thing she had wanted for the women with her was that they got to go home safely. Now it looked like that goal might be attainable and she was glad.
“It’s settled then, we’ll start getting information from you all so that we can get you home,” Sarah said, looking relieved by the positive response to Roz’s presence and her reassurance.
“What if we don’t have a home to go back too?” Thea asked quietly, her eyes darkened with so much pain as the words left her that Roz wanted to hug her.
“Then we will find you somewhere to stay here and help you find a job. Until then you can stay here in the rec center. The rooms are already set up and you’ll have the others for company,” Sammy said, looking at the woman with sympathy.
“We don’t have to be––hookers, do we?” Thea asked, looking pale.
“Hell no! You can work at the restaurant or the drycleaners or something like that, not as a damned hooker,” Sammy said, looking shocked that the woman had even asked such a question.
Thea nodded, her color returning to normal as she hugged herself. Roz felt for her; she had really been through a lot and discovering that she didn’t have anywhere to go home to saddened her. Several of the other women said they would like to stay because they didn’t have anywhere else to go. Roz felt bad for them and wanted to tell them all that it would be okay but not knowing what the Blue Bandits were really like, she didn’t know that for sure. But anything had to be better than being sold as a slave as they would have been days ago by the Headhunters.
“I want to stay with Roz,” Laci said from beside her, surprising Roz.
“You don’t want to go home?” Roz asked, looking at the young girl.
Laci shook her head vigorously back and forth, “No.” She didn’t elaborate but Roz could tell that there was a story behind the cloudy look in her eyes.
“Then you can come back to Grandyville with me I guess,” Roz told her
“You’re not staying here with Iron?” Sammy asked curiously.
“No,” Roz said, not willing to say what she knew was true, that he didn’t want her here. That thought made her chest hurt again and she wrung her hands in agitation. “I should head home.”
“I see,” Sarah said, looking a little worried before she wiped the look off her face.
Roz wasn’t sure she did see because everything inside Roz told her not to leave Iron now that she had found him again but she knew for Iron their conversation yesterday had ended what was left of their relationship. Roz felt almost worn down and more than a little depressed when she thought of going back to Grandyville.
Shaking those thoughts away, she began asking the others who was heading home and who would be staying behind with the Blue Bandits. Sarah and Sammy both watched her for a moment before they too began figuring out the others’ plans.
Iron wasn’t in a better mood when he returned from Cartersville. Pansy and Animal followed him to the tattoo parlor where he was going to have to explain this somehow to Reaper. He climbed off his bike and ran a hand over his head feeling the hair that was getting a little long, realizing that he would have to cut it again soon. He wanted to head over to Lance’s clinic and see Roz but he didn’t want to push his luck with Reaper. He had already pushed Reaper’s patience enough by going after Hank without asking first.
Iron didn’t really want to discuss his and Roz’s relationship. Hell, he didn’t even know what their relationship was anymore so how could he explain it to Reaper?
Moving into the parlor headed back to Reaper’s office, he nodded at Flame and Lock, who was filling in for Animal since he had been with Iron instead of here to work his shift. He knocked on the door, waiting until Reaper called out ‘enter’ before opening the door. Pansy and Animal had stayed out in the main area and he was glad. He wasn’t really ready to talk about this with an audience. It would be hard enough to tell Reaper, much less the other two men. Iron walked inside the room, shutting the door and pausing, standing there looking at Reaper for a moment.
“Want to tell me what the hell’s up with you, Iron?” Reaper demanded, leaning back in his chair and staring at him with a cold look on his face.
“Hell, I don’t know, Reaper. It’s a damned long story.” Iron plopped down on the couch that sat along the wall near the door.
Reaper watched him carefully for a long moment, his hands steepled in front of his chin. “We have time. Now, explain.”
“Fine, shit.” Iron shifted on the couch, leaning forward and grabbing his knees before resting his head in his hands. Fuck, this was just so screwed up he didn’t even know where to begin.
“Start with the man you went after, Iron. Why?” Reaper told him, seeming to read his mind.
“Yeah, all right,” Iron said, lifting his head out of his hands, looking at Reaper. “He was Rosalind’s stepfather and he killed her mother. I needed to make sure that he paid for that.” Iron let out a frustrated sigh and leaned back into the couch, his body tense because he knew that Reaper was going to start asking other questions and he really wasn’t ready to answer them.
“And the girl, Rosalind?” Reaper asked, standing to move around to sit on the edge of the desk with his legs stretched out in front of him and his arms crossed.
“That’s the long story.” It was also the story he didn’t want to tell anyone yet but he knew that he was going to have to tell Reaper. He owed his friend an explanation of his odd behavior over the last few days. “You remember me getting approval when I first got patched to bring my old lady here?”
Reaper frowned and seemed to think about that for a long moment before his face cleared and he said, “Yeah, but you came back alone and said she wasn’t coming.”
“Well that was Roz and the reason she wasn’t coming was because I thought she had died. Only two days ago she fell out of a truck of kidnapped women into my arms still breathing.” Iron couldn’t keep the anger out of his voice as he spat the words at Reaper.
“Fuck. I see and how does the stepfather play into this other than the mother’s death?” Reaper asked, looking weary.
“He was the reason she faked her death. The night her mother died he beat Roz nearly to death,” Iron told him.
“Right, so no
t a big loss to humanity then. Okay, well now I get the reason you’ve been acting so out of character since the raid.” Reaper rubbed his jaw, looking uncomfortable for some reason and it was making Iron nervous. Had something happened to Roz while he was gone? The thought made his fists clench and he leaned forward again standing up, intending to go to Lance’s to check on Roz.
“I’m going to head over to Lance’s,” Iron told Reaper, seeing the other man grimace slightly.
“What?” he demanded, now sure something was wrong and a sense of panic settled in his guts making him feel slightly rabid. If something had happened to Roz, he was going to lose his shit in a big way.
“She’s not at Lance’s, Iron,” Reaper finally revealed.
Iron felt a little relieved. She’d just been moved, she wasn’t hurt or––dead. “So where is she?” he asked.
“She’s with the other women and they are planning to take them home today. They might have left already,” Reaper told him flatly.
Iron felt anger explode inside his head making him blind for a moment. Roz was leaving him again? How dare she pull that shit when she had already done that to him once?
“The fuck you say! She’s not going anywhere,” he burst out.
“Iron, you can’t force her to stay if she doesn’t want to,” Reaper told him, looking grim and a little disturbed.
“The hell I can’t. She isn’t going anywhere, Reaper. She’s mine,” Iron growled, his hands clenched into tight fists and his eyes burning with anger so hot he was surprised Reaper didn’t catch fire when he looked at him. Roz was his and she had better realize that he wasn’t going to let her walk away a second time. It didn’t matter that he was all mixed up over her sudden return to the land of the living or that he wasn’t even able to give her a relationship anymore, she wasn’t leaving, he wouldn’t allow it.
“Iron, you can’t just command that she stay here. She has a right to decide––”
“No, she stays and anyone who tries to stop me from keeping her here is going to find out that I am not fucking around about this, Reaper,” Iron told him, moving towards the door.
“Iron, you’re not being reasonable.”
“If this was Sarah what would you do, Reaper?” Iron growled, whipping around to meet Reaper’s eyes with his own, his anger clear in every line of his stiffened body. His eyes were a dark emerald filled with the fire of his fury at the thought of Roz leaving him again.
“Damn, I don’t know, but Iron, it’s not the same.”
“How’s it not the same, Reaper?” Iron demanded, wanting to know the other man’s reasoning. Sarah belonged to Reaper just as Roz belonged to Iron. There wasn’t a difference.
“You don’t love her, Iron. You’re just angry that once when you did she was taken from you,” Reaper told him, watching him carefully.
“You’re damned right I’m angry, Reaper, but that isn’t the only reason she’s not leaving me again. What’s going on between her and me is none of your business. Just leave this alone, trust me. It’s not going to end well if you don’t,” Iron told him, unable to express how he felt but he knew that this was something he needed to work out with Roz before he could allow her to leave. If he didn’t, he would never get the fuck over this burning pit of fury that seemed to consume him every time he thought about her.
Chapter 7
Roz sat in the passenger seat of the large van next to Bull, who was taking them home. Laci and five other women were also in the back and they were all either from Grandyville or somewhere nearby. They were waiting on Gina who had run back inside because she had forgotten her rings on the sink when she’d washed the dishes this morning.
Roz was staring out the window watching the road, contemplating how life changed and that only a few weeks ago she’d had Toby’s love to hold on to and as long as that was true, she felt like she had a moral compass and a place where she was safe. Now she didn’t know what she was feeling. Too many emotions were swirling around in her head bombarding her with their need to be heard.
Roz heard the roar of a bike and wondered who it was, looking around trying to find the bike to no avail. The back door was thrust open and Gina climbed back inside, “Sorry, guys, one of them fell down behind the sink and I couldn’t get to it. Luckily Burner was able to get it for me.” Gina slammed the door, taking her seat.
“Great. Everyone finally ready?” Bull asked, sounding frustrated and more than a little put out by the delay.
“Yes, your royal rudeness, we’re ready to leave now,” Laci snapped at him from her place behind him. Bull didn’t respond, just let out a rumbling growl and started to pull away from the building, but a bike swerved around the van parking in front of it. Bull let out a loud curse and slammed on the brakes, barely missing plowing over Iron on his bike. He was glaring at her through the window, not even bothering to try to move as the van skid towards him, coming to a stop inches from the bike.
Roz felt like her heart was going to pound out of her chest and her hands shook from the fear seeing him almost plowed over by the van caused. She wanted to scream at him that he shouldn’t take such chances with his life.
Had he lost his mind?
He jumped off the bike and headed around the van. Jerking her door open, he rudely commanded, “Get out of the cage, Rosalind.”
“No,” Roz said, scowling at him and wondering what the hell he was thinking and what the hell was he calling the van a cage for? “I’m going home, Iron.”
“Fuck,” Bull said from the driver’s seat.
“Get the fuck out now.”
“No! ” Roz growled back through her clenched teeth, feeling disbelief at his behavior take over. How dare he waltz back after two days and command her to do anything. What the hell did he think gave him the right to treat her this way?
Iron grabbed her arm jerking her out of the van despite her attempts to stop him. She stumbled, falling into him as he dragged her from the vehicle.
Laci cried out behind her, “Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing!”
Roz turned to see Laci try to dive out after her but Bull’s arm slamming down on the seat next to him prevented her from accomplishing her goal. She ran into it and stopped. Laci didn’t stop fighting though and began slapping Bull in the head and shoulders. Bull grunted and used his other hand on her forehead to gently shove her back into the seat behind her.
“Sit your ass down, girl. Trust me, this isn’t a fight you want to get involved in,” Bull growled at her. Roz turned back to Iron trying to jerk her arm from his tight grip.
“Let me go,” she demanded.
“No, you are not going anywhere, Rosalind.” Iron wouldn’t release her and he now held both her arms in his almost painful grip, his glare hot and his nostrils flaring as he sucked air in and out of his lungs.
“Who do you think you are to tell me what I can and can’t do? I’m not staying here because you’re still pissed at me,” Roz told him, still trying to get him to release her, which he refused to allow.
“Fine, you can stay because I told you to then,” Iron told her, getting right in her face, his nose pressed against hers as his dark glower bored into her. “Bull, take them and go, now.”
“No, I’m staying with Roz. She said I could,” Laci protested, jumping up again but Bull grabbed her, not allowing her to jump from the van as she was attempting.
“Sit down. You can ride with me to take the others home and then I’ll bring you back but right now you’re not staying here with them,” Bull told her, his arms now wrapped around her waist to prevent her from jumping out of the van. She struggled, trying to get away to no avail.
“You aren’t the boss of me!” Laci screamed at him.
“Sit down and shut up!” Iron barked and Laci stopped struggling against Bull, seeming to freeze at the deadly command. Bull stiffened, his face contorting into a grimace, and he glared at Iron.
“How do I know I can ride back here alone with him safely? He could dump me along
side the road somewhere,” Laci finally asked softly and Bull let out a sound that was somewhere between a growl and a grunt, his arm tightening on Laci.
“I won’t hurt you for the last damned time and I am not in the habit of dropping defenseless girls alone in the middle of nowhere.” Bull looked so put out that Roz felt a laugh bubble up from inside her despite being held tightly in Iron’s steely grip.
“Well how do I know that? You could do other––things to hurt me. I don’t know,” Laci said and Roz knew she meant rape. Bull grunted, allowing her to sit in the seat next to him but his body was tense as if he were prepared to grab her should she try to jump out of the van again.
“You’re safe from that too, little girl. I like my women to be a hell of a lot older than you are. Girls barely out of the school room aren’t really my style,” Bull told her before reaching over her to slam the door shut. Roz had opened the window earlier and she could still hear Laci’s response.
“Fine, but if you hurt me I will make sure you pay for it.” Laci sat with her arms crossed over her chest looking straight ahead. Roz knew she was on her own.
The other women in the van hadn’t even protested because they were too frightened by the display of both men’s anger to object. Damn it, why did she have to be in the group that was so damned fearful they didn’t even try to help her. Laci was the only one with a little backbone but both she and Roz were out of their league with these men.
“Just go,” Iron told him and Bull nodded, backing up enough to swing around them and Iron’s bike without another word. Iron let her go once the van was pulling out onto the roadway. Roz jerked away from him taking a few steps back while rubbing her arms and glaring at him.
“What makes you think you can just come over here and insist that I stay here, Iron?” Roz demanded, feeling a giddiness fill her when she thought for a moment it might mean that he wasn’t as indifferent to her as she had once thought.
Melted Iron (Blue Bandits MC Book 3) Page 7
