by Erin Trejo
“You’re right. I don’t like it either. If it’s an inside job, we handle it appropriately. If it’s on the fuckin’ Aces and they bring that shit into our world? Game fuckin’ on, brother.”
Hawk swallows his shot before laughing. “This right here, motherfucker, is why you are the VP,” he says pointing at me.
“Goddamn right!” I say grabbing the bottle from his hands. I take a long pull before passing it back, letting that burn slide down my throat.
“I’ll announce it. She has free reign. No phones. No way out. Treat her like a prisoner aside from the girls. She has no rights while she’s here. She doesn’t piss without permission,” I tell Hawk.
He nods his head before he says, “You sure you can handle all this? This is really how you want to take them down?”
His question would throw off a sane person. They wound rethink it. They would sit down and weigh the pros and cons, but not me. I’m as unstable as they fucking come. I’m a go getter. I know what the hell I want and there is nothing that could possibly change my mind on it. This is what I want – I’ve plotted and planned. I have my house set up for this. I’ve paid money to make things happen the way I want them to. No, there is no way in fuck that I’d back out of this now.
They will pay. She will pay for their sins. Each of their deaths will be redeemed through her. Each time she cries, each time she screams, it won’t be in vain.
Chapter 5
Each little bolt of anticipation that creeps its way up my spine sends another jolt through my body. My body is a huge ball of it. Some would be nervous, but me? No, I’m as calm as any other day. I’ve yearned for this. I’ve laid in bed at night dreaming about this. The plan rolling through my mind like a goddamn playbook. Everything has been set up by me. The guys know the deal. They know what’s about to happen and they all agreed to play their parts accordingly.
She walks out of the store much like she does at the same time every Thursday. She does the club shopping for Crashed MC. Dirty little fuckers. She’s the club princess; her daddy is the president. You would think he’d hold her in higher regard. He sends her out on her own but only on Thursdays. I never understood that. I never was able to figure out why. Today though? It doesn’t matter. Today she is mine. Today is the day that I will begin my torture upon her body, her mind, her soul. I will own it all when I’m through with her, and then I will toss her ass to the side of the road for her family to find. Not much different than how mine was.
She walks with her bags toward her little car and loads the things in quickly. I rev up the truck and prepare myself. Ski mask pulled down, I follow her out of town. She takes a few turns that are easy to follow, and as soon as she hits the dirt road, I make my move. I slam my truck into the back corner of her car, causing it to spin. She slams on the brakes much like I knew she would. I sit back and enjoy the scene that’s unfolding in front of me. The way the car fishtails and slams into the tree with a resounding thud. The sound of metal cracking under the impact. Yeah, I fucking like that.
Climbing out of the truck, I walk slowly toward hers. She may be armed. Hell, if her dad was any kind of man, she would be. Her door opens and that beautiful sexy body of hers falls to the rubble beneath her. She scrambles to right herself when she looks up at me.
“Who the hell are you? Do you know who I am!” she screams causing me to smile.
I groan as I look at the blood trickling down her temple clinging to her perfect porcelain skin. Fuck, it’s making me hard already.
“I know who you are, Braylynn Tanner,” I say. Her eyes widen just as that little thing called fear sneaks up on her.
“What do you want? Who are you?” she asks as the tears start to fill those pretty little brown eyes of hers. Such a fucking waste of sexy, she is. She would have been a good club whore. She would have probably been a good old lady for someone, but I’m about to ruin all that now.
“What do I want? There are so many answers to that one question,” I say as I walk slowly toward her. I take deliberate steps, watching the fear race through her, her body shaking slightly even though she tries to hide it. Sweat runs down my spine and I gasp. She is going to be fun to take the way I want to.
“My dad has money. He will pay you whatever it is you want,” she says.
I smile at that. Always the same thing. My dad will pay. I’ve heard it all so many times before right before I’ve slit a throat, choked them to death, shot them.
“It isn’t somethin’ that money can buy. You see, your family took somethin’ that meant a lot to me,” I tell her. I’m nearly touching her. Her breathing has picked up speed, her heart has to be thudding in her chest right now.
“I can get it back! I’ve done it before. Whatever he took, I’ll get it. I promise.”
Promises. I hate promises. Unless you are willing to go the extra mile and actually make good on them, they are useless. I reach my hand up and run my finger through the blood that still slowly leaks down the side of her face.
“The thing is, there is no way for you to get it back. It can never be replaced, that’s how precious it was to me.” Lifting my hand from her trembling body, I stick my bloodied finger into my mouth.
“I can do it. I know I can.” She tries to reason with me, which is basically useless on her part. I won’t give in.
“Oh, my little flower. There is nothin’ you can do now. You belong to me and my darkness. You will submit to every little fuckin’ thing I want to do to you. There is nothin’ and no one that can help you now. I’m too far gone. What was taken from me ruined me for good. I don’t think you understand just yet the gravity of what’s happenin’ here but in time you will. And you will hate it. You will hate me. You will hate yourself and you will despise your whole family,” I growl as I reach up and grip her around the throat. Her eyes grow larger as she gasps for air.
“It’ll be ok. Just sleep for me, my little flower.” I watch as she struggles to take a breath. She claws at my hands, her mouth moving but no sounds forming. No, I’m not going to kill her just yet. That would ruin the fun I have planned for her. I’m just taking enough of her sweet oxygen that she will take a little nap.
“That’s it.” As the fight slowly leaves her, I pull her into my arms. I inhale sharply at how soft she is. How good she feels pressed against me. Fuck, this is going to be fun.
“Sleep, my little flower.”
Chapter 6
Riding back to the compound with her fragile body bouncing in the seat next to me has that inner demon squirming and rearing his ugly head. He wants a piece of her. He wants to break her. But he doesn’t get to be in control right now. He can’t be.
I pull up to the massive gates that secure our compound. It’s very high security here – the whole compound was set up that way. There’s a twelve-foot wall lining our land fitted with cameras at every fucking turn. Inside these walls are our lives. Our children. Our family. When Hawk first stepped in as president of this chapter, he had big dreams. We’ve watched and helped him over the years make those dreams come to life. Inside these walls are everything you would need. One of the old ladies is a teacher who home schools the kids that have chosen to not go to public schools. Not all the kids or their parents would rather be home schooled and that’s fine. We have houses here, too. They are all lined down the right side of the compound. If you didn’t know any better and came in here, you would think it was a neighborhood. We have small paved roads that lead around that neighborhood. This is what Hawk wanted. He wanted his family close by. We have houses outside of here too, but those are mainly safe houses and only used in emergency situations. We have another clubhouse outside of here that we use for visits and business also.
“Where the hell you been?” Angel grins as I pull through the gates. Angel is another brother here.
“Pickin’ up my prize.” I nod toward Braylynn in the seat next to me where her head rests against the window.
“Goddamn, she’s a nice lookin’ prize.” He chuckles before
closing the gate behind me.
I drive down the road, past a few of the kids playing soccer in the yard to my right. I give a small smile and a nod as they wave at me. It’s nice to have all this in one area. Being together was something that comes easily for this chapter.
I pull into my driveway where I see Hawk sitting on my porch with a cigarette between his lips and a whore between his legs. I shake my head and smirk at the fucker. I turn the truck off and hop out just in time to see him blow his fucking load down her throat before shoving her to the side.
“Any problems?” he asks as he stands, tucking his dick back in his pants.
“Nope. Just like every other goddamn Thursday, she was alone.” The thought pisses me off to a point. The MC life is hard. It’s even harder on the fragile women who get involved with it either by choice or by birth. Either way, they should be protected at all costs. They’re the future of the MC world. They are the ones who give life to new members.
“Fuckin’ bullshit. Her daddy is one dumb son of a bitch. Debby is cookin’ up some shit tonight. You bringin’ her?” He nods toward Braylynn as I pull her limp body out of the truck.
“I don’t think so. Not this time.”
Hawk nods as I walk up onto the porch. He opens the door and before I step inside he says, “Come on up once you get her settled.” I nod my head and walk toward the back of my house.
It isn’t anything fancy, although these houses aren’t shit either. The club keeps them up, or rather the prospects do. They are in charge of all the care and maintenance around here. I step into the last room off the hall and groan. This is it. This is what I’ve waited months for. When I place Braylynn on the bed, she stirs slightly. I know she isn’t waking up soon, but that’s fine with me. I lift her arms, securing her dainty wrists to the headboard with the handcuffs I installed there. I move down her body and do the same with her ankles.
When I look down at her, motionless and at my mercy, my heart stutters in my chest. She’s so goddamn perfect. Her soft curves, the swell of her chest. She makes my dick hard just looking at her lying there with all of her clothes still on. Getting her naked is going to be that much better. I lean in, inhaling her soft scent. The smell of strawberries sweeps across my nostrils. Fuck, I need to get up to the clubhouse before I do something impulsive, like fuck her without playing with her first.
I pull away from her, pulling the side table drawer open and grabbing out the silk blindfold. I slip it over her eyes and secure it. As I look down at her, I can see just how beautiful she truly is. It was never a question, though. She is fucking gorgeous and it’s such a waste to use her the way I plan to, but that wasn’t my decision either. Her family made that choice for her. They chose to leave her on her own. They chose to take what was mine and not theirs. They made this choice for me, and regardless of how beautiful she is, she will be ruined.
Walking out of the room, I close the door behind me, flipping the lock into place. It isn’t like she can get off the bed, but just in case, I like to be prepared. I didn’t make it to where I am today by being careless.
As I head toward the clubhouse, I see flickers of their faces in my head. They are the reason I’m doing this. They weren’t a part of this MC, but they were taken away from this world because I was. That thought doesn’t leave me. I know I caused their deaths in as many ways as those bastards did. I know if it weren’t for me, they would still be alive. They wouldn’t be rotting in the fucking ground because of who I am.
Just as I step inside, I let a roar escape me so loudly the guys all jolt and look to make sure I’m ok. This isn’t anything new to them. I have outbursts. They got used to it after a while. And although I hate it at times, I can’t control my animal urges. Not after the carnage I saw that day.
Chapter 7
Debby is an amazing cook. She can make all sorts of food from different cultures. She’s kind of like a house mother in a way. She was married to one of the brothers. Sadly, he died a few years ago, but Debby didn’t have family aside from us, so she never left. That’s another beauty of this place. When you are one of us, that doesn’t change. You’re here to stay no matter what happens.
“Goddamn, woman!” I kiss Debby’s cheek when she hands me a piece of what I think is chicken. “Smells good in here.” I take a bite and groan when she grins over her shoulder at me.
“You like it? It’s a new recipe,” she says while smiling brightly.
“Fuckin’ amazin’, darlin’.” She beams with pride as I walk away and let her finish. I drop into one of the chairs that sits around a ten-foot special made table in the main room. Hawk likes to have these big dinners from time to time just to get all the guys together. Typically, the old ladies, girlfriends, club whores, and kids sit in the other room since this is generally a time we cut loose and take a break from life and reality but we always talk business. It’s not really an option for us not to at these things.
As I watch the guys take their seats, I smile. This place may be out of hand at times, but these guys are my family. When my real family wasn’t here, they were. Now that they’re gone, I still have these guys and I don’t think I could be anymore grateful for that.
“Shut the fuck up! We all know we thank God for this food and our families and all that good shit. Just to make an announcement that I’m sure you already all know since I’ve fuckin’ said it once before, Smokey has his conquest here. She’s not at this event but will be at future ones. You treat her the way you treat the whores, only hands off. She’s a nobody to any of you. We treat her as such. The other issue comin’ in is the Aces. You all know they’re on their way. We accommodate them as family. We open up our club house and personal homes if we need to. They took a hit. We will back them as we see needed.”
As Hawk keeps talking my nerves begin to fire off. There’s a spark racing up my spine that I can’t explain. I glance around the table at all the guys’ faces. One pisses me off: Ryder. He’s always been a hostile motherfucker. He’s never liked following the rules, which is why he’s a fucking member now. We liked that about him, but there’s also something off with that son of a bitch.
The more I watch him, the more I become pissed off. I can’t explain why. When his eyes come to meet mine, my heart thumps in my chest a little harder. I want to explode although I have no idea what’s pissing me off. He gives me a small nod, which I return, but that doesn’t ease the demon that’s sticking his head out when he shouldn’t be.
“Now that we have all that out in the open, let’s eat!” Hawk finishes his speech but my mind still drifts.
“You ok?” Hawk asks. I glance over and shrug before taking a bite of the food that has been set in front of me.
“Somethin’ feels off,” I eventually tell him.
“About her?”
“No. Somethin’ else. I can’t place it, Hawk.” Hawk sets his fork down and leans his elbows on the table. No one likes when I feel like this. It usually means something shitty is going to happen.
“Any idea what?” he asks but I shake my head.
“No. I just don’t like it though. It ain’t Ryder this time either,” I say as I take another bite. My body is calm but my mind is unstable.
“Let’s just get through dinner. You think of somethin’, you tell me.”
I grunt my agreeance.
You never know when things can change around here. Some days you will go without a care in the world. Some days you will fall into a world of shit and not find your way out without suffocating. Today started off easy enough, but I’m slowly beginning to be sucked under and it’s not something I want to feel. I eat as the guys talk and laugh around me. I miss it. The laughing part. I miss smiling. I miss being happy. For the last nine months I’ve been nothing but distant and out of sorts. Nothing can fix me. There is nothing left inside of me to fix.
Chapter 8
I can hear her grunting trying to get free as soon as I step in the front door. I can’t stop the grin that creeps across my face. I lik
e a fight. I stalk down the hallway with a full stomach but with an appetite for something more. When I push through the door and find Braylynn writhing on the bed, my heart leaps. She looks so goddamn perfect lying there.
“You won’t get out of those,” I tell her. Her body stops moving.
“What do you want?” she asks trying to control the sobs that are threatening to overcome her.
“There was a time when I would have said a quick fuck. Now, though-” I let my voice trail off. It was true. I’ve seen her more when I was watching her. That seemed to happen a lot more lately and I must say she looks gorgeous spread out on my bed. She was always beautiful but she was off limits being the daughter of a rival club. “Now you are to be a pawn in my game, darlin’. Your family took from me and now I’m gonna repay that.” I hear her breath catch in her throat.
“Whatever they did to you, I’m sorry.” The softness of her voice sends a shock to my dick.
“It’s nothin’ you can be sorry for, my little flower. You weren’t involved in it,” I tell her. I walk closer and sit on the edge of the bed.
“Then why take me?” she asks trying to remain calm but I can hear the shakiness in her voice. So full of questions. It’s sweet to try to reason with your captor. A smart person would at least try, right? I wouldn’t but that’s because I know the outcome of these sorts of things.
“They caused me pain. I can’t sleep at night. They left me to find the carnage of what they’d done. Do you know how much that hurt?” I ask her, knowing she has no clue. She couldn’t possibly.
“I’m sorry,” she cries again. I slowly climb up the bed, hovering over her. My lips are so close to hers that I can feel her breath dancing against my skin as she breathes rapidly. I know she can feel me
