~* * * *~
Cassie groaned as she came back from oblivion. Her head ached and her wrists hurt. She tried to struggle but her hands wouldn’t move. She could feel the bite of the restraints get tighter and it lent to her struggle with the past. The smell of mold hit her and her mind flashed back to when she was a child. She didn’t want to open her eyes. She didn’t want to find out if she was back in her own little corner of hell. She tried to move her wrists but couldn’t. The reality of where she was came down on her. She had escaped this particular hell at one of the lowest points in her life and now, she knew even without seeing it with her own eyes—she was back.
She started to remember the days when she was trapped down here as a child. Her body remembered the beatings she took. She could still feel of the strap as it burned her tiny body after each and every stroke.
Cassie finally opened her eyes and saw nothing. She wanted to scream but couldn’t. Her throat wouldn’t allow any sound to be released. Her own fears wouldn’t allow any sound to penetrate the darkness that surrounded her. It wouldn’t allow her to struggle against the obvious but it would allow her to surrender herself to the past.
With her eyes wide open, Cassie sank down into her own hell as the past came back and took over. She was too tired to fight it, so she didn’t. She gave up the struggle to survive and she let the fears take her.
~* * * *~
Deke flipped the lights on and came down the steps. When he saw her hanging there, eyes wide open staring at nothing, he let out a cry of anguish. He rushed to her side and carefully picked her up in his arms. Gator reached out with his pocketknife and cut the cord that bound her to the wall.
Neither man spoke as the made their way back to the stairs leading back to daylight.
Slow heavy steps came back up the stairs. Gator came out first leading the way. Deke carried Cassie in his arms. Without a word to the men standing there, he made his way down the hall to his bedroom where he carefully laid Cassie down. Gator, Reav and Peaches followed him but everyone else stayed behind.
A moment later, Reva came out of the bathroom with a basin of water and a cloth to bathe the wound on her head.
Deke took the rag away from her and knelt beside the bed. Dunking the cloth in the water, he cleaned the wound on her head.
Her eyes still stared at nothing and she was acting like she couldn’t hear him calling her to come back to him.
Peaches was on the other side of the bed sobbing.
Deke couldn’t make her leave. Cassie might be his woman but she was also Peaches’ best friend. If he couldn’t find a way to bring her back maybe Peaches could.
Deke looked down at her hands. Whoever had done this had wrapped a cord tightly around her wrists. Her poor hands were turning blue due to lack of circulation. He tried to unravel it but it was just too damn tight. Suddenly, there was a knife being held out to him and Deke took it. Looking up he saw Gator standing beside him. Deke nodded and began cutting the cord.
When the last little bit of the cord holding her hands together snapped, her wrists fell to the bed with a plop. Deke grabbed one wrist and began rubbing life back into it.
Peaches grabbed the other one and did the same. “Oh Cassie, please come back. I know you can hear me. Please come back to me sweetie. I need you in my life again. I can’t make it on my own without you.” She sobbed. “I need you baby girl. It’s supposed to be you and me against the rest of the whole damn world. Please come back.”
The coloring in her hands was returning to normal but Cassie was still staring into nothing. There was no sign of life. Her heart was beating but she was caught up in her nightmare.
“Cassie, baby, you need to listen to me, “ Deke whispered. “I need you to come back here. I love you baby.”
Cassie’s finger slowly curled around his hand. Her eyes were still blank but it was a sign.
Gator tapped him on the shoulder and motioned for him to come outside.
When he moved out, Reva took his place. With her and Peaches, at least Cassie wouldn’t be alone while he was gone. He hated to leave her but he had business to take care of. Closing the door behind them, Deke asked, “What did they find?”
When they entered the main room everyone was silent for a moment them Wiley stepped forward and handed him a phone.
Deke glanced up at Wiley.
“It’s Connie’s phone.”
“What does this have to do with anything?” Deke asked.
“I took her property vest back after she was caught listening at your door this morning,” Wiley explained. “I took her keys but forgot about the cell. One of the Prospects found it outside the gates on the search today. This would be something she would do to get me back. Either that or to get even with Cassie.”
Deke’s fingers tightened on the phone.
“There’s something else you should know, boss.” Wiley straightened his shoulders.
“What would that be?’ Deke asked.
“She broke the rule.”
“What rule would that be?”
“I checked on her last message. She put a photo of the tiger out on the web and asked anyone and his brother if they knew anything about it. She also put our name out there. Everyone knows where the painting is at.”
Deke’s fingers broke the phone in half. The first rule of any MC club was not to talk about what happens inside the clubhouse. To do so meant death. Everybody knew this and everyone abided by this rule. He looked over at his Sergeant at Arms. “You know what to do. Don’t kill her on the outside, bring her stupid ass back here, I want her to admit what she did before she dies.”
Wiley nodded. He tightened his lips and turned toward the door.
Three others fell in line behind him and the four men left the building.
Deke turned and returned to his bedroom. Closing the door behind him, he reached for the closest bottle. Chugging the liquor down, he waited for the familiar burn.
CHAPTER FIVE
When Deke’s phone rang a couple of hours later, he almost ignored it. But it kept ringing. Hauling it out of his pocket he growled, “What the fuck do you want?”
“Just giving you a head’s up.” Rusty’s voice came over the line.
“About what?”
“The picture of the tiger went viral,” Rusty explained. “When it hit the net this morning along with your address, several agencies suddenly became very interested.”
“Who and why?”
“Boston police Detective Lance Sullivan for one. Seems the man has an open murder case sitting on his desk. Boston Child Services for another. They seem to have misplaced two wards of the state several years ago.”
“Anybody else I need to know about?” Deke asked drily.
“Yeah.” Rusty paused. “Mrs. Eleonore Pierce wants to know the whereabouts of the two missing girls. She’s even offering a reward of a hundred thousand dollars for information and, or their return. From what I can understand, she don’t care in what condition they are returned in as long as both girls are still breathing.”
“What the fuck is her interest?”
“One of the girls she claims killed her son, Robbie.”
“How did she know?”
“The painting resembles something the girl did on her basement wall.”
Deke sighed heavily. “So, what I asked you to find out this morning is really true?”
“Yeah, every fucking word. The cops are closing in on the girls, and Mrs. Pierce has the clout to make sure they never see the light of day again.”
“Did she kill Robbie the night of the attack?”
“No he lived, but the girl did a number on his manhood. It seems he felt life wasn’t worth living without his dick. He blew his brains out three weeks later. Got his hands on daddy’s gun and pulled the trigger with his own little hand.”
“Fuck a duck,” Deke whispered.
“Yeah and Mama’s had eleven years to wait for her revenge. That woman is a bitch of the worst kind.”
“Are you all right man?” Rusty asked. “You sound a little strange.”
“Yeah, there’s been some goings on here. That bitch Connie was caught snooping at my door. Wiley took her cut and tossed her sorry ass out. Then she leaked that picture and our MC over the net, clocked Cassie in the head and put her down in the basement. It wasn’t good.”
“Poor girl.” Rusty cleared his throat. “I’ll try to let you know when the cops are on their way down to you.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.” Deke ended the call and got to his feet. He’d been sitting in the bedroom all afternoon. It was time to take care of business. He glanced over at Peaches. She was curled up on the bed with Cassie and both of them were sleeping.
He left the bedroom quietly. His footsteps echoed as he moved down the hall. When he got to the main room, everyone was looking for word of how Cassie was doing. He went over to Gator’s table and sat down. Deke ran his fingers over his tired face. “She and Peaches are sleeping. I don’t think she’s back yet, at least not all the way. She’s fighting some pretty bad demons.”
Reaching over, Reva patted his hand. “At least she’s trying.”
Deke nodded, then looked over at Gator. “Are the boys back yet?”
Just then, they all heard the roar of motorcycles pulling into the parking lot. They waited for Wiley and the others to come in.
Everyone could hear a woman screaming, begging for her life, as they got closer to the door. Wiley dragged Connie into the room by her hair. He had to pull her along and he wasn’t gentle about it. He brought her over to where Deke and Gator were sitting, then threw her on the floor.
Connie was crying and screaming at the whole bunch of them, then she peered up at Deke as she paled and shut her mouth.
Deke picked up his drink and sipped it. “I just got a phone call from Rusty. He told me that someone posted a photo this morning on the World Wide Web. It was a photo of Cassie’s painting. Peaches told me earlier that Cassie doesn’t share her art with anyone until she feels safe. In fact, Peaches was very surprised when she saw old Rufus here.” He grinned and motioned to the tiger on the wall. “Peaches told me that when Cassie had nobody else to talk to, she could always talk to Rufus.”
Connie looked perplexed and terrified. They all knew this tone. The way he spoke and the way he smiled. It meant hell was coming and Deke would be serving up cold justice.
He turned back to the group. “We have been betrayed my brothers. Connie betrayed us to the whole world when she posted that picture. Now, we have badges coming our way. Johnny Law is coming all the way from Boston after my woman and they know right where to come, thanks to Connie.”
The room went silent except for Connie’s whimpering.
Deke slammed down another shot of whiskey. “I know all of you have had a hard life. It isn’t easy for any of us to grow up. Hell, the only family I ever had was either in the service or here with you all. But I’ll tell you a little bit of Cassie and Peaches’ story, so you can understand the hell they went through. At the age of three, Cassie lost her mother. He father sold her to Mrs. Eleonore Pierce. Pierce used her as a slave and used to beat the shit out of her on a regular basis. Cassie stood up for every other kid in that house and got beat down for her troubles. Pierce threw her tiny little body in a dark basement, after she beat the hell out of her, for days at a time, just for kicks. She left her tied up all alone for days. That’s what Connie overheard this morning. When we all left to do our normal business, Connie came back. She hit Cassie on the head with a fucking wrench, while she was sleeping, tied her up and left her to die in our basement.”
When Deke stopped talking the room was silent as all the members stared at the woman on the floor in disgust.
Connie hung her head down and was still crying.
Deke searched the faces of each of his men. “I know life isn’t fair but for a ten year old kid, there should be something more than what she had. One night when she heard Peaches screaming she busted out and went to find her only friend. She saw Robbie Pierce, a fourteen year old pig cutting and trying to rape a ten year old little girl. She didn’t manage to kill him, the bastard took his own life three weeks after the fact. But she did almost cut off his dick. They managed to escape and have been living on the streets since then. Now thanks to this bitch, old lady Pierce has a bounty on my woman and the badges are coming here.”
“What do you want us to do boss?” Wiley asked.
“Two things…The first thing, you have to seal her fate.” Deke nodded his head at Connie. “You all have to pronounce what’s going to happen to her, then you have to decide if you think I’m still your President. You all may think my feelings for this woman have led me astray. And you may all be right. I will use everything I can to protect her but I won’t use this club, if you guys aren’t comfortable with it. I can’t betray everything this club stands for, for my own personal gain. I won’t do that to you guys. I love and respect you guys too much for that.” Deke sat down and poured himself another drink.
No one said a word. Finally, one by one they all came forward and stood behind Deke. The last one standing there was Wiley. He went to stand behind Connie. Before she could raise her head, he grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head back. Then while staring into Deke’s eyes he took his knife and slit her throat. Blood sprayed everywhere. Wiley threw her body to the ground. Then he laid the bloody knife on the table and joined his brothers standing behind Deke.
Everyone was waiting for him to speak when they heard footsteps coming from the back hall. Deke stood and turned to see Peaches helping Cassie coming toward him. She still looked incredibly weak but with Peaches’ help, they made their way to within a few feet of where Deke sat. Everyone moved to make a path.
A few of the men stepped in front of Connie’s body. They all watched as Peaches let Cassie go.
She took a few steps to come to a halt in front of him. Without saying a word, she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. When her lips touched his, Deke grabbed her to him and kissed her for all she was worth. Everyone cheered and Deke could feel tears rolling down her face. He could taste them but he didn’t care.
Cassie leaned away from his embrace for a moment. “I’m sorry I left you for a while.”
“You came back to me.” Deke smiled. “That’s all I care about. You came back.”
“It was hard to do,” she whispered. “I almost didn’t. I almost stayed in the shadows. It’s easier to do.”
Deke sat down and hauled her into his lap. Several of the guys dragged Connie’s body out the back door and the women got busy cleaning up the blood. Deke held Cassie’s face to his chest until everything was done. He didn’t want her to see any of it. Then he let her go.
Peaches, Reva and Gator sat down with them.
Finally, Cassie spoke up, “I know its club business and I have no right to ask, but Peaches and I heard some of what you said. Can you tell me what’s going on?”
Deke reached for his drink. After swallowing it, he told her, “Connie betrayed both you and the club. She was listening at the door this morning and heard everything you told me. She’s the one who hit you and took you to the basement. She brought the police, Boston Child Services and Mrs. Pierce down on us.” Then he shrugged. “She paid for her betrayal.” He tilted her chin up to look into her eyes. “Life is hard in a MC. She knew the rules same as everybody else here does.”
Cassie nodded. “Those are the same rules all over, even on the streets. You rat out your friends and you pay for it with your life.” Then she shuddered. “I do wish she hadn’t included Mrs. Pierce though. She’s a stone cold bitch.”
“That bitch has a hundred thousand dollar bounty on your head,” Deke told her.
Cassie paled.
“What?’ Peaches yelled. “That’s just wrong.”
Cassie shook her
head. “I killed Robbie. She thinks she’s justified.”
“But you didn’t kill the little puke. You just cut off his dick. He blew his own brains out three weeks after your attack.”
Cassie shrugged. “I was still behind what he did. She won’t care he pulled the trigger with his own filthy hands.”
“We aren’t giving you up Spitfire,” Wiley called out. “We stand behind our President and will protect you from both the law and this Pierce bitch.”
Cassie paused at the nickname then she blushed and smiled. Looking around she said, “Thank you. As for the law and Child Services, I have evidence of the horrors that went on in that house. I’d been collecting it for some time before Peaches and I left. Before we got out, I took her scrapbook. She has pictures of what happened to the kids there. I took it all and hid it.”
“Can you get it here?” Gator asked. “That would clear your name for the police.”
“It’s out in the door panel of my Jeep. I’ve carried that stuff for too long already. You learn early in life not to trust anyone but yourself. It has to be that way sometimes.”
Deke looked at his men. “We go to lock down. No one in or out, for however long it takes. One badge in particular, Lance Sullivan is heading here. I want a roaming watch until they get here.” He looked over at Gator. “Get rid of Connie’s body where no one will ever find it. I don’t want that coming back to us.”
“We’ll take her over to the pig farmer.”
“Do it now and when you get back, we’ll lock it down. I want an armed guard standing watch. I’m not taking any chances someone will jump the fence and come after her. A hundred grand is a lot of money.”
Gator got up and three guys followed him out the back door.
Cassie sighed. “Maybe Peaches and I should just leave.”
Deke held her tighter. “You girls aren’t going anywhere. I’m not letting you go. If you really have the evidence you say you do, then the law isn’t going to have a case against you. If I need to handle this Pierce woman I will.” Deke scowled. “She’s gonna wish she’d never been born if I go after her.” He patted her thigh. ”Let’s go see what this evidence of yours looks like. I like to know exactly where I stand.”
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