by Smith, T. O.
I shoved him away from me and turned around, lifting up my bike. I rolled it to the garage, getting even angrier at the scratches I saw to the paint job and some parts messed up from being kicked to the ground so roughly.
I wanted to do nothing more than punch Cole in his fucking face for this. You just didn’t pull this kind of shit on anyone's fucking bike – man or woman.
~*~*~
I rubbed my greasy hands on a towel. I had been doing nothing all day but working on my bike. It was dark outside and I was the only one left in the garage. I could hear the music pumping from inside of the clubhouse and I could hear the loud laughter of everyone. I was glad they were all having fun. Instead of having an opportunity to get laid and drink myself sick tonight, or hell, maybe even riding off into the sunset, I was having to fix what I could on my bike while waiting for the other parts I needed to get shipped in.
"I love a girl who can fix a bike."
I snapped my head over to where the voice came from. My eyes trailed up boots, to jean clad legs, up a t-shirt, to a cut that was clearly not ours, and finally to a face I really wished I could just fucking forget.
I scrambled up from my sitting position, grabbing the blow torch and pointing it at him. It was my only fucking weapon in here. I had to have some way to protect myself from him.
No, it wasn't the leader of the ATL that was here. It was his Sergeant in Arms, Todd. Todd was given an opportunity to rape me, too. Not only that, but he helped deliver some blows to my body.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" I ground out.
He stepped forward and I let flames shoot out of the torch. He took a step back. "I just want to talk, Amelia. I was told that Travis, Katie, and daddy dearest would like you to ride off into the sunset away from us. I'd just like to let you know that it will never happen, dear."
I cursed. We obviously had a traitor in the club that was ratting everything to the fucking ATL. When I found that bastard, I would kill them with my own goddamn bare hands.
Realization hit me. He was able to get past the members posted at the gates. The gates were also closed and locked. How the fuck did he get in?
"How did you get in?" I snapped at him.
He pulled a gun out of his cut, smirking at me. "It's called a clean shot to the forehead using a silencer." He said. "You've pulled a trigger and used a silencer before. You should have known that, love."
I heard the door to the office open and the guy disappeared into the shadows. Someone placed their hand on my shoulder a moment later and I screamed, swinging around, burning the person with the torch. The torch was knocked from my hand as a voice that sounded familiarly like Cole's roared in pain. "For fuck's sake, Amelia!"
I gasped. "I'm so sorry, Cole!" I exclaimed.
I turned away from him and ran my fingers through my hair. Fuck, I was all out of whack right now. Too much had been happening to me in too little time. I was struggling to deal with it now. I was crushing under the weight of everything that I was being faced with. I wanted away from it all so bad, but I had a feeling it would only follow me and become worse if I ran away.
Cole turned me back to face him, his eyes meeting mine. "Amelia, are you okay?" He asked me softly, his eyes scanning my face.
I ignored his question. I didn't have the energy to lie right now. Not after having to put up a strong front to that guy.
"Your arm." I murmured, looking down at the burn, avoiding the topic of conversation he wanted to discuss.
He looked down at the burn and shrugged. His eyes met mine again and I quickly looked away from him. "Amelia-."
I grabbed his wrist. "Come on. Let's go to the clubhouse so I can take care of your arm."
I walked us forward. We were almost out of the garage when the ATL guy stepped back out of the shadows, holding a gun that was pointed at us. Cole immediately yanked me behind him, not giving a second thought to the burn on his arm. "What in the fuck are you doing here?" He ground out between clenched teeth. "Do you have a death wish, mother fucker?"
"I figured I would give you the same message that I just gave Amelia. She will never be riding off into the sunset, Colton. One of us will kill her first."
Before I realized what was happening, Cole had his gun out and had shot the guy with a clean shot to the forehead. He turned to me as the guy fell to the ground. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, slowly releasing it. It didn't do anything to help his anger, however. "Are you going to continue keeping fucking secrets, Amelia?!" Cole roared.
"Yes." I ground out. "This doesn't fucking concern you. I can take care of myself. I don't need you or the fucking club to do it for me."
He slammed the huge toolbox to the floor in anger, making me jump slightly. "I don't give a fuck what you think you're fucking capable of doing!" Cole hollered, seething at me. "This is much bigger than anything you can fucking deal with by yourself without losing your fucking life! I won't allow you to fucking keep all of this shit to yourself, even if I have to be your mother fucking shadow!"
"Break it up!" Travis hollered, jogging into the garage.
He yanked Cole back from me and a pressure I hadn't even realized had been on my arm was released. Cole shoved Travis off him and walked over to me, towering back over me. His eyes bore into mine with a coldness that chilled my bones. "If you keep doing stupid shit like this, I'm going to fucking walk away from you. I won't stand around and watch you get yourself killed. You mean too much to me for that. Let me know when you make your fucking decision."
He stormed out of the garage. I ran a hand through my hair. Cole had finally admitted that I meant something to him, but it was too late now. I was putting the Black Skulls and the Bloody Royals in danger by staying here. I couldn't continue on with my life here. I had to get out. I would put the clubs before myself.
Travis looked down at me. "I don't know what's going on and a part of me doesn't want to know. Get your shit together, Amelia. The clubs aren't blind to the way Cole feels about you. He'd give his very own life up for you. You may think that's not any different than him laying his life down for a man with a cut, but it's much more than that. You're crippling him, Amelia. You're twisting him all around and I don't like it one bit. Get your shit together."
I knew he was speaking some truth to some degree and it pissed me off that it was so fucking visible to everyone else. It also pissed me off that he was confronting me about shit that was none of his fucking concern. Travis may be the president, but when it comes to me and my business, he had no fucking place in it. Besides, I didn’t know where he thought he going with his little speech considering I ran by my own book and I didn’t give two fucking shits about anyone else when it came down to what I wanted or needed to do.
So, I denied everything.
"You and my fucking dad need to learn to stay out of business that has nothing to do with you.” I snapped at him. “Cole and I are fucking for fun, Travis, nothing more. Quit making this shit out to be more than it is."
He took a step forward, pointing his finger in my face. His eyes were blazing with anger. I glared right back at him, not backing down. He couldn't do anything to me that someone else hadn't already done.
"I won't let you fuck him up, Amelia."
He walked out before I could say anything else. I went outside to Cole's bike. I had to get out of here. Not only was everyone in danger with me around, but Travis had said it himself. I was twisting Cole around and starting to fuck him up. Besides, not only was I twisting Cole, but I was twisting myself, too.
I used my tools and took the parts off Cole’s bike that I needed for mine. Not only was I getting the parts I needed so that I could ride out, but I was stopping Cole from following me. I knew the second he found out that I had packed up and left, he would be out trying to find me.
~*~*~
Cole's POV
I woke up, glaring at the ceiling of my room. My head was pounding with a hangover from hell. Fuck, I shouldn't have drank so much last night. It was all Amelia’s fucki
ng fault, though. Had she not decided to keep fucking secrets all of the fucking time, I wouldn't even be feeling this fucking way! I didn't want to deal with the shit I was feeling last night, and I still wasn’t ready to deal with it. That's why I had drank until I didn't give a fuck anymore.
Amelia always kept secrets. I still didn't know what happened to get her locked up in jail. She refused to tell me how she got the knife wound on her shoulder. Hell, if I hadn't been in the hospital when they said she was raped, I wouldn't have known that, either. Not only that, but if the ATL president hadn't practically forced her to tell me his message, I would have never known who raped her! How much more shit was she keeping from me and the clubs?
I didn’t know, but I vowed to myself to find out.
I slid out of bed and hopped in the shower. When I got out, I got dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and my cut, slipping on my white high-tops. I slid my gun into my cut and went out into the bar. I was fixing myself a cup of coffee when Lorenzo poked his head into the bar room. "We're at the table, Cole."
I nodded in way of acknowledgement. I walked into the meeting room with my cup of coffee in my hand. Everyone was silent, looking down at the table. "What's going on?" I asked, immediately catching on to the bad mood.
"Amelia rode out last night." Luke said, glaring down at the table. "She didn't say anything to anyone. She didn't even leave a note. She left her phone on the bar."
I slammed my cup onto the table, breaking it with the force. Coffee spilt everywhere, but I didn’t give a fuck. "What do you mean she fucking rode out last night?!" I roared. "How in the hell did she leave? I fucked up her bike on purpose yesterday so that she couldn't!"
"We're not sure." My mom said. "She's smart, though. It probably wasn't hard for her to figure out a way."
It hit me. I knew exactly how she fixed her bike. Not only that, but she killed two birds with one stone. I jogged out of the clubhouse over to the bikes. Sure enough, my bike was missing parts. I sighed and sat on the ground, running my fingers through my hair. She had obviously made her decision. I never regretted anything in my life until then. I regretted ever saying those fucking words to her last night. I should have never given her the option of leaving. Fuck, I said a lot of stupid shit when I was pissed.
I got up and stormed inside, sending the doors to the meeting room crashing against the walls. "I want her found!" I roared. "We ride out in fifteen minutes. We're checking all of the charters and hotel rooms around. When I find her, her ass is mine.”
~*~*~
Amelia's POV
I opened my eyes, but it was dark all around me. I couldn't make anything out. My wrists and ankles were bound together by rope. Where in the hell was I? The last thing I remembered was leaving my phone on the bar. I was about to walk out to the garage when everything suddenly went dark. I couldn’t remember anything after that. What in the hell was going on?
A door opened and I cringed away from the sunlight that filled the once dark space around me. When my eyes adjusted to the sunlight, I looked around me. I had been thrown in a trunk. There was a dead body lying beside me. When I realized who it was, a blood-curdling scream ripped itself from my throat.
Heather lay beside me, her body pale and when I let my arm brush against hers, her skin was ice-cold against mine. Blood covered her clothes and the lower part of her was naked. Tears pooled in my eyes and I choked back a sob.
"You should have listened to us when we told you that you couldn't leave town, dear. Did you think we wouldn't catch you fixing your bike so you could ride out in the middle of the night?"
I glared up into the ATL president's eyes. His cold, dark eyes stared right back at me. I felt the fear seeping into my bones, but I channeled all of my fear into anger. He had killed Heather; he killed a woman of the club. She was only sixteen; she hadn't even had a chance to live yet!
"You deserve to burn in hell." I spat at him.
He leaned down and put his face next to mine. I recoiled and gagged at the scent of his breath. It smelt like weed, cigarettes, alcohol, and pussy all mixed into one. "Darling, when I'm done with you, you'll be burning in hell with me."
I couldn't stop the fear from chilling my bones that time.
Seven
Three fucking days. I'd been gone for three goddamn days. I knew my misery was coming to an end soon. He had a three day rule. After the third day, which was today, he would either decide to kill me, or he would rape me, beat me, and leave me somewhere for someone in the club to find me.
I had been stuck in a room with Heather's body the entire time I had been here. Her body smelt horrible, but the guilt I felt was ten times worse than dealing with the smell. I wanted to shut off the guilt and the hurt, but I couldn't, not when I was having to share a room with her dead and rotting body.
I glared at the ATL president as he stepped into the room. He walked over and knelt in front of me. I struggled against the cuffs that held me against the pipe in the floor, desperately wanting to get away from him. "I don't want to kill you yet, love, because I need your people to get my message."
He trailed his hand down my naked body and I blocked out the emotion that I knew wanted to overwhelm me. I couldn't cry. I couldn't show him that what he was doing to me was affecting me, and scaring me.
As everything went on, as he touched me and beat me, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to fall into the welcoming, blissful darkness to help myself.
~*~*~
Cole's POV
Amelia was still missing and my sister was gone on top of it. Why in the hell did my sister decide it would be a great fucking idea to run away from home when Amelia was missing? It wasn’t the time for her to be throwing one of her fucking hissy fits just because she wasn’t getting her fucking way!
"We've found her, man." Drew told me as he entered my room, but his eyes were watery and there were tears on his cheeks.
I'd never seen Drew cry, so I knew it had to be something serious. I pushed aside my anger at him and stood up, putting my hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong man?"
"It's not my place to tell you." He murmured.
I heard my mom scream and I ran out into the bar room. My dad was holding my mom tightly and both of them were crying. Clayton walked over to me, tears shining on his face and swimming in his eyes. "Have you seen her yet?" He asked me.
"Who?" I asked, my chest tight. Fuck, did something happen to Amelia?
"Heather." He muttered.
"I can't calm down, Travis! My daughter is dead, fucking dead!" My mom screamed. "All because of that stupid bitch, Amelia! I'll fucking kill her!"
I looked over at the table that everyone was gathered around at and walked over. I pushed my fingers through my hair roughly, tugging at the strands when I saw Heather's lifeless body lying on the pool table. "How in the hell did this happen?!" I roared.
Everyone stepped back from me, knowing my reaction was one to be afraid of. Before anyone could even try to begin answering me, the club house doors were flung open and Lorenzo walked in, holding a girl in his arms. "I've got Amelia." He announced.
Luke and Amy rushed over to him. Luke immediately took Amelia in his arms. No matter how much I cared about Amelia, she could wait. My fucking sister was dead!
"Somebody answer me!" I roared. I wanted goddamn answers!
"We found her on the side of the road wrapped in a blanket. Her clothes were missing." Drew told me quietly.
I sat down heavily in a chair. Fuck, what did Heather ever do in her fucking life to deserve this? Sure, she was a spoiled fucking brat that threw a lot of temper tantrums when she didn't get her way, but she didn't deserve to fucking die!
I forced myself to hold the tears back. I had to be strong for Heather's sake. I would fucking get revenge for this and it would be bloody. I would personally kill every mother fucking person involved.
I stood up and looked at Drew. "Deal with this. I can't do it. Get her somewhere to be prepared for burial. I want the viewing tonight and the f
uneral tomorrow."
"Son, she's not your daughter." My dad said, glaring at me, barely holding his emotions in. Hell, I could tell they were breaking through just from the few tears on his face.
"No, but she's my fucking sister!" I roared. "If you're not going to make the decision to get her prepared for burial and get shit tended to, then I'm going to fucking do it! We don't know how long she's been dead, so we need to fucking hurry!"
I turned away from him, feeling the anger and emotions coursing through my veins. I stormed down the hall to my room, slamming the door closed to my room.
~*~*~
Amelia's POV
I blinked as I came awake. My mom's face was the first thing I saw. She was using a wash cloth to wipe away the dirt and blood from my skin. I was in a shirt that smelled like my dad, and I was thankful for it. I needed some kind of support from him.
"Hey, sweetheart." My mom whispered. "How are you feeling?"
I moved my arm a bit and groaned in pain. "Where's dad?" I asked her, not answering her question. I didn’t like talking about pain.
"Right here." He said from beside me.
I looked over at him. He was sitting on my bed beside me. "What happened to you?" He asked me quietly, his eyes pained as he looked over the bruises and cuts covering my body.
It all immediately rushed back to me and I squeezed my eyes closed, feeling the tears immediately begin to run down my face. Heather. Fuck, did they find Heather? Please, tell me the club found Heather.
I forced myself to sit up even though it hurt like hell. "I've got to talk to Cole or Travis – someone.” I grumbled. "Heather-."
My dad cut me off, smoothing his hand over my hair. "Heather was found. Everyone is at her viewing – well, except Cole. He's not doing too great. I heard him trashing his room earlier, but now I think he's just drinking." My dad muttered.
Fuck – Cole. I had to talk to him. He deserved to know how she died. I knew how; I could tell him, help ease his mind. After all, I did get a very vivid and detailed story of her rape, beating and death. In fact, I was forced to suck the bastard off as he retold the story. The asshole was sick in the head and deserved to die. I would make sure he did, no matter how much he terrified me.
