An Honest Mistake

by L. Grubb

  I’m afraid to open my eyes, I don’t want them to see I’m awake. Instead, I lay on a scruffy, smelly, old mattress in a moldy, damp, concrete enclosed room; naked and cold.

  I listen attentively to the noises around me; the slow drip of a nearby pipe, footsteps heavy above my head and muffled talking from just outside the steel encased door.

  I try and focus on the voices through the throbbing ache in the middle of my head.

  I hear two men, but can’t make out the muffled words. I crack an eye open, just to take a quick peek around the room, but it’s dark and the dizziness this causes me, makes me want to hurl.

  I try and curl into a tight ball, but my ankle is chained. I breath through the nausea with steady breaths, pressing my fingers to my temples to try and relive the pressure. No use. I fucking hurt. And, I have no idea why these people took me.

  Confused and alone, I let my tears fall, streaking my face in a hot, angry burn. Where’s Alexis? Do they have her too? The thought terrifies me and more tears come down.

  I lay there, sobbing quietly for a while, feeling sorry for myself. We knew it wasn’t safe to leave the clubhouse, but we left anyway. Two very stupid and naive girls, not thinking the danger truly included us. Alexis is fiercely independent and wouldn’t have taken no as an answer, and she didn’t. But, we had Cobra, we were supposed to be safe with him. Where is he?

  Will they rescue me? Will they get to me in time? I really hope so, I’m not ready to die, and I’m going to fight to the very fucking end.

  Chapter 22

  Alexis

  I wake up to Cobra peppering kisses down my abdomen, leaving a wet trail in his wake. Mmm…Now this is a fucking wake up call and a half. My eyes flutter open, finding his in the low light of his room.

  He gives me a half smile while making his way back up before coming face to face with me. “Morning, beautiful.”

  “Morning, yourself,” I reply, a lazy smile gracing my lips.

  I feel his manhood pressing against my entrance. Wait. Did he take my panties off? When did that happen? I don’t have time to speculate, he thrusts in, deep, hard, oh so fucking amazing.

  I moan long and loud, my nails digging into his biceps, mouth open and forming an O. He catches the next moan in his mouth, tongue dancing with mine.

  He thrusts slow, deliberate and causing my orgasm to climb at a pleasurable pace.

  “Harder, Dom, now is not the time to make love,” I murmur into his mouth.

  He pulls out, flips me onto my stomach and pulls my hips back. He spanks me once, hard, before thrusting deep.

  I scream incoherent words into the pillow, and my belly dances in delight at the pleasure.

  He grabs my hair at the nape of neck, wrapping it around his wrist and pulling back. He leans down and kisses me behind my right ear, sending delicious shivers through my body. “You want it hard and rough, princess?”

  “YES!” I scream into the pillow, legs shaking from the intensity.

  “Then you got it, baby,” he whispers in my ear before leaning back. He grips my left hip with his remaining hand before plunging deep into my depths.

  The bed moves with the fury of his movements, scratching along the carpet before banging against the wall in loud, ear deafening bangs.

  Fuck my life, this is HOT. I’m hot, a sheen of sweat coating my skin as a tingle at the base of my spine warns me of my impending release.

  My inner walls quiver with anticipation, but he stops. “What the hell, Dominic?” I screech at him. So freakin’ close and he just stops?

  “Now now, princess. All in good time,” he chuckles, routing a map with kisses along my back.

  I groan in frustration as the tingles decrease and my walls stop shaking. He starts moving again, slow, frustrating the ever loving shit out of me.

  I’m about ready to speak my damn mind when, finally, he decides to speed up, back up to the heavenly rhythm he set at the start. I moan into the pillow with each deep thrust and wrap my ankles around his legs to keep from falling.

  He circles with his hips ever so slightly causing the knowing tingle to return. My noises grow louder and my legs begin to shake, a big giveaway I’m about to blow. He spanks me hard again, and I come in a guffawing of expletives, screams, and I think at some point his name, before my body starts to sag.

  He wraps an arm around my middle to keep me from falling and chases his release. His rhythm is lost, and it’s erratic, a big tell tale sign he’s about to combust.

  His grip on my hair tightens before he lets out a loud cry, and pushes me into the bed. I can feel the twitching of his cock as his load fills my insides. The warm sensation setting off a small orgasm within me.

  He rolls off me and we lay there, panting for breath. Hot damn, that was good. Much needed as well.

  “Damn, Alexis. That was insane. Blue balls averted,” he exlaims, laughing.

  I join him, giggling along with him, snorting.

  “That was real cute,” he says, staring at me with a loving expression.

  “What was?” I ask once I have control over my laughter.

  “The snorting shit while laughing. Was cute.”

  My face flames with embarrassment, which makes him laugh again. I punch him in the arm before saying, “Shut it, Dom.”

  He clutches his shoulder in feigned pain and stares at me, slack mouthed, but lips twitching at the corners.

  I just shake my head at him before getting off the bed, heading to take a long, hot shower.

  “Where you going?” he asks, leaning up on his elbows.

  “A shower…obviously,” I say, pointing at the door I’m just about to walk through.

  “All right, smartass. Can I join?” He wiggles his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

  “Nope. Otherwise we’ll never leave this room,” I smirk at him before turning and walking through the door, locking it behind me.

  “You’re lame!” I hear him shout. But I don’t reply, instead I turn on the shower to as hot as I can stand it before moving to the sink to brush my teeth.

  Cobra

  I lay back on the bed, a big grin spread across my face. I can’t remember being this happy. Ever. No girl has made me feel so warm and fuzzy. No chick has ever been able to crack through my tough exterior.

  I always told myself love was never for me, I didn’t want to be with a girl that I would need to lean on, to need and want. But, I found it without even looking.

  Now I just need to cheer her up and get her best friend back. I frown at remembering the whole shit storm that’s forsaken this club; waiting a week is too long, way too fucking long.

  I hear the water still cascading down from the bathroom and decide to make my way to the kitchen to put some fresh coffee in the pot. Knowing those fuckers, the pot that Kristine typically makes first thing in the morning would be gone now.

  I put on some faded jeans that were on the floor and black tee before leaving the room, you never know what club whore is around at this time of the morning. Queue the cringe.

  Kristine is in the kitchen when I shuffle in, bent over the stove cooking what I can smell to be pancakes. Fuckin’ A. I make a beeline for the coffee pot and, as I thought, no coffee left in there except the lumpy, slimy shit at the bottom.

  Setting up the pot for making the coffee, I hear Kristine behind me ask, “How’s Alexis?”

  “She’s doing okay, managed to distract her this morning.” I chuckle, I feel Kristine’s smile on my back even though I’m guessing she’s scrunching up her nose at the image.

  Five minutes later, the coffee pot beeps, I smile at myself as I pour two coffees, adding creamer and sugar to Alexis’. “Better get this to her before she comes wondering out in practically nothing.”

  Kristine laughs, shaking her head at me. “You’re too funny, Cobra,” she muses, looking at me with a sparkle in her eye.

  “Yup, class clown over here.” I smile at her, tipping my head in passing. Kristine is like the mother I never had, she’s be
en there for me since day one and knows everything about me, bar my darkest secret.

  She’s my go to when shit gets rough, when I feel I can’t take the guilty torment that threatens to swallow me whole. She’s simply the most amazing woman to grace this earth and came at a time when I needed a mother hen to guide me. How she puts up with the Prez I have no idea, I snicker inwardly at myself.

  “Babe? You still in the shower?” I ask, opening the bedroom door with my elbow and pushing it open with my back.

  “Nope, sitting on the bed, you idiot.” She rolls her eyes before eyeing the coffee, eyes lighting up. “One of those for me?”

  “No, I thought I’d dose myself to my eyeballs with caffeine this morning,” I retort.

  I love this banter between us, it keeps us strong and the relationship fresh.

  She rolls her eyes again. “Gimme, gimme.”

  I try looking at her all serious as if to say, ‘what the fuck was that,’ but she’s just too damn cute in the mornings.

  Giving in, I pass her the coffee with creamer and sugar, sitting beside her on the bed. “You know, I have to break this to you, but this week is going to be difficult. I won’t be around much while we plan.” I look at her cautiously, waiting for her reaction.

  “I know. I’m already prepping myself.” Her shoulders slump and a forlorn expression crosses her bleak looking face. “I know you’ll all bring her back to me safely.”

  My heart plummets, I hope to fuck we bring her back in one piece. Alexis will never forgive me, or the club for that matter, and may end up leaving, taking my heart with her.

  I wrap my arms around her, bringing her to my chest protectively. “She’ll be okay, princess. She’s strong, you know she’s a fighter.”

  Her determination sinks in, and I feel her back stiffen in my hold, body tensing with new found resolve.

  “She is a fighter,” her voice steady, eyes like steel staring at the door as if Lauren will come through.

  “That’s my girl,” I praise her, a smile spreading wide across my face. “Ready for pancakes? Kristine’s already in the kitchen cooking up a storm.”

  “Sure, I could eat.” A tight smile forms on her sunkissed lips. At least she’s smiling, even if it is only small.

  Standing up, I take her hand, pulling her to her feet. She sways a little. and I steady her, holding her shoulders to help her balance.

  “You okay, princess?” I ask her, worried.

  “Just lack of food and water, I’ll be fine.” Her eyes smile at me as she leans back out of my hold. “I can walk on my own, Dominic.”

  “What are you talking about, woman?” This chick confuses me. I scratch my head in an attempt to figure her out.

  “I see that look in your eye, mister. You were going to carry me to the main room like a child. Not happening, buddy.” She waves her dainty finger in my face with the other hand on her hip.

  I blink a few times at her and burst out laughing. What the actual fuck? Is she for real? “You can’t read my mind well, sweetheart. That was the furthest thing from what my mind was thinking.”

  “Gah, you’re insatiable, Cobra. Mind in the gutter twenty-four-seven.” She shakes her head, but I can see her vibrating through silent laughter.

  Chapter 23

  Cobra

  2 days later

  Prez called church early as fuck this morning, it’s now nine in the damn morning, and we’re sitting here waiting on him to walk his fat ass into the room so we can get this moving. We talk about mundane things as we wait, tension crackling in the air from worried nerves for Lauren.

  Lack of sleep is making everyone a bit weary and that’s not good when we don’t know when we’ll be going in, fucking shit up and rescuing a girl that belongs to us.

  “Men,” was the greeting from the Prez as he swaggered into the room. He fell into his chair with a heavy thud, looking around the room at each of our weathered faces.

  “Anytime today, Prez,” I grumble, my patience already wearing thin with waiting on him when he called the damn meeting.

  He throws a look of disdain at me before addressing the room. “The other chapters have arrived.”

  Everyone sits up straighter at this, mumbling to each other. Champ looks ready to kill, hands clenched on the table and a scowl marring his chiseled features.

  “We ride later this morning, boys, get some sleep…You all look like shit.” He didn’t look much better if I’m honest. He’s been losing sleep as well, you can tell. He’s old as dirt anyway, but he looks awful today.

  “How long do we have?” Champ gripes from across the table.

  Prez checks his Rolex on his right wrist before looking at him and replying, “Three hours.”

  Nods all around before chairs scrape along the floor. Everyone piles out the double doors at once, heading toward the bedrooms. I detour around them all and go find Alexis to tell her the news, unsure of her reaction and will approach with caution.

  There she is, legs tucked underneath her, silk black hair blowing in the light breeze. She has her hands wrapped around a mug of what I assume is coffee.

  She looks lost in thought and doesn’t notice me approaching ‘til I’m sitting right next her.

  “Shit! You scared the bejesus out of me,” she exclaims, hand clutching her chest.

  Nerves swirl in my knotted stomach, knowing I have to tell her we’re going to be getting her best friend, but it won’t be easy and isn’t something I really want to do.

  “We’re going to get Lauren,” I whisper, biting my cheek to stop the rising panic that takes over my body.

  “What? When?” she says, back straight, golden hazel eyes wide in astonishment.

  “In a couple of hours. Don’t get excited, princess. This won’t be easy and is dangerous,” I tell her.

  I take her cup from her hands and place it on the concrete by our feet. Taking her hands in mine, I look into her mesmerizing eyes before swallowing and saying, “Before you ask, I can’t tell you anything. Club business.”

  Sorrow crosses her face, but she shakes her head in understanding and let’s her hands drop into her lap. “When are you leaving?”

  “Three hours,” I whisper, lowering my head. I’m dreading it, if I’m totally honest. A plan may be in place, but this is unpredictable. How many men do they have? Are they expecting us to find their little hiding place? “Come to bed with me?”

  “Really? Is that honestly all you can think about right now?” Fire flashes in her eyes as she stares me down, assuming shit that just isn’t going to happen.

  “To sleep, princess. I need some rest before we leave.” Her face relaxes into a soft expression before she apologizes for the assumption.

  The clubhouse is deathly quiet, eerie considering it’s always got people in here, but there’s not a soul in sight.

  When we reach our room, I push open the door and lock it behind me. We clamber onto the bed, and I pull the comforter over us. I snuggle her under my arm and throw my other arm over my eyes.

  “I love you, Dominic.” She sighs into my chest, her breath tickling my nipple. “Please come back to me later.”

  “Shh,” I croon to her. “I’ll be back, okay? Don’t fret it. I love you too, princess. More than I can express in words.”

  I kiss the top of her head, and she moans in contentment. A smile flitters across my mouth before darkness descends, and I drift into a nightmarish dream.

  Alexis

  I lay awake, sprawled over him and drawing small patterns across his chest and taut abs.

  Thoughts of losing him are at the forefront of my mind, unshakable, terrifying images of him lying on the ground, blood pouring from his body, haunt me every time I close my eyes. I can’t lose him, I’ve just found him. My soul mate. The man I believe to spend the rest of my life loving, caring for and annoying.

  The risk he, and this club, is taking to save my best friend is mind blowing. I will forever be indebted to these men.

  I don’t know much abou
t what is happening, I’m not allowed to know. But, I do know they’re risking their own lives to save a girl they don’t know, that they only met a handful of weeks ago. Their loyalty shines through their protective bad boy armor, and these men are my family now.

  I want to go to Lauren myself, but, knowing the danger involved, I will stay put, wait for her here. She’ll need me when she returns. I have no idea what’s been done to her, but I feel the surge of anger heating my skin again, knowing they could be doing God knows what to her. How much pain has she suffered?

  The guilt is eating me alive, if it wasn’t for me visiting the care home, she’d still be here with us, making us laugh and smile. If I had gone to the bathroom with her, Cobra would’ve been outside, and we would be okay. Here and safe. I’ll never forgive myself for this.

  I sob silently into Cobra’s chest as it rises and falls in an even rhythm. It soon soothes me to a dreamless, restless sleep.

  Chapter 24

  Lauren

  I’m not sure how long I’ve been out, but the pain is excruciating. The new cuts along my abdomen rub together painfully, fresh blood oozing out in a steady flow. My breathing is shallow because the pain is too much to bare. Every muscle in my body is aching, twitching on its own accord.

  I lay on this dingy mattress that adorns the filth, insect ridden floor of the dark basement room I’m in. I’m not sure how much more my body can cope with, how long I will survive with the continuous beatings and torture. I fought back, I did, but these men are bigger and stronger than me. I’m small, not reaching five foot four, and these men are well over six feet tall and intimidating.

  My eyes are sore from the never ending tears, my left eye swollen shut from the punch I received for spitting in one of their faces. That’s what I get for trying, huh. I miss Alexis, I hope to shit she’s okay, safe and out of these maniacs’ clutches.

  That asshole put everyone of us in danger, his sordid past came and bit us all in the butt and my God…he’s going to fucking pay for this.

  I just hope someone finds me soon, before my body gives up. Before I give up. If there’s a God, please help me. Please.