by K. C. Stone
Gently, he brushed my lips with his. His taste caused my heart to race and my blood to thrum as heat pooled at my core. I moaned into his mouth, and he deepened the kiss, brushing my tongue with his. I clutched his sides as he pulled me closer, running his hands down my back.
Finally pulling away, I gasped for air. Leaning down, he gently gripped my lip between his teeth, eliciting a groan. His fingers roamed my body and found their way under my shirt. He lifted it up, exposing my breasts to the cool night air. My nipples peaked as his fingers brushed the tips. Panting, he gripped my hips and lifted me up as I wrapped my legs around his waist. My core flooded and I moaned again as I felt his fingers digging into my ass while he rocked into me. Just as I felt the tingle in my spine and the delicious pull in my belly signaling my release, he pulled away.
He softened the kiss and lowered me to the ground. I stumbled, having problems finding my footing. I couldn’t help but stare at him as he watched the sun fade. The lighthouse turned on and became that beacon he’d talked about.
All I could think was, how could I fall for a man that fast? Under the emerging stars, framed by the red, pink, and orange horizon, I realized I could love this man.
“When you’re ready, my love, I’ll show you.” His words were soft.
Knowing what he meant, I smiled and felt heat spread into my cheeks.
I cried out as the memory faded. I looked around and tried to adjust to the darkness again. I just wanted to be able to see, damn it. I heard a whimper and the sound of chains rattling. One of the men must have come back down. I mentally scolded myself. Damn it, Jules. Pay attention. I couldn’t tell who was crying. Chains dropped to the dirt and someone was yanked up off the ground. I silently pleaded for Dom to find me in time. Make that, pleaded he found us in time.
“Looks like we have a buyer for this one, but he wants better pictures first.” The rough voice shattered the quiet.
“No, please!” Leah cried.
Panic knotted my chest and I couldn’t seem to keep my mouth shut. “Leah, don’t worry. It’ll be okay. I’ll find you. Don’t cry. Please don’t hurt her!”
“Shut up, you stupid bitch. I’m sick of your mouth.” He kicked me right in the rib cage, taking my breath away. He bent down to my ear. “Keep up with your mouth and I will find a way to fill it.” Then he stomped up the stairs, dragging Leah behind him.
“What are we gonna do?” One of the other girls whined.
“I don’t know.” Holding on to hope my family or Dom would come, I prayed we were found in time. I was getting weaker by the minute, but I had to stay strong for myself and the other girls. We needed a plan.
Step one, figuring a way out of these restraints. I ran my fingers along the ground to the chain and tried to figure out how I was bolted to the floor. I felt wood on each side where they’d bolted the chains. I couldn’t tell how long it was. I had the girls check their restraints too.
Even as we rattled our chains, we heard arguing upstairs, about how they needed to make us look more appealing. Bile rose and I fought the urge to vomit. I refused to give up. The first chance I got I swore I’d kill John. I’d do anything to keep him from touching me. Another wave of nausea hit me as I remembered the feel of his fingers and the stench of alcohol and body odor. Unable to stop it, I leaned over and dry heaved. The movement flared pain in my bruised ribcage.
I couldn’t help but cry silently, trying to catch my breath. I kept telling myself that it’d be over soon. We’d be found and rescued. I refused to let them win. I wiped away my tears with the back of my free hand. I determined that when I got out of here, I’d do whatever it took to bring down these bastards and save other girls from being put in our position.
“What do you think is happening to Leah?” Another girl asked, interrupting my Katy Perry Rise moment.
“I’m not sure.” I figured, in our current situation, honesty was best. But trying to stay positive in this hell was getting harder by the second.
“Do you really think they found a buyer for her?” Grace asked, her voice shaking.
“Let’s hope not, but right now we can’t think about that. We need to get out!”
8
Dom
I dialed Sal’s number and he answered on the second ring. “What did you find out?” No greeting, nothing.
“How do you know I have something?” Funny how he seemed so certain.
“Because you love her, and you would kill for her, and I know how strong that bond is.”
Well then. Guess I was more of an open book than I thought. “Do you know anyone named John?” Maybe it was a long shot, but it was a place to start.
“That fucking bastard! I swear to God I will fucking rip him apart limb from limb.” He roared. After a beat of silence, he asked, “How far away are you?”
Alarm sparked in my gut. He hadn’t answered my question. Did he know this John? Was he the reason she was taken? My head spun, but I stayed focused. “About twenty minutes out.”
“Well get back here as fast as you can. Come to my personal office. I take it you remember the way.”
I didn’t bother saying bye, I just hung up. My anxiety skyrocketed. He knew something. I pushed my bike hard to get there. I jumped off and tossed my helmet. At this point, I didn’t give a damn where it landed. I took the front steps three at a time. This time, the guards just stepped aside. I felt like I was racing against time as I jogged to the office.
Sal stood as I opened the door. He pointed to a chair in front of his desk. “Sit.”
I obeyed, gritting my teeth. “Do you or do you not know this John?” I had no time for manners or politeness.
“After you mentioned John, one of my associates kept coming to mind. He’s the only John I know of. I had the guys pull information on him.” He grabbed a file from a drawer and tossed it on the desk. “John Rizzo, and his soldiers, Alfonso Esposito and Brian Fitzpatrick. John came to me a couple months back and proposed a new business venture. I shut it down. I don’t play in that kind of shit. I might be dirty, but that’s just sick.”
“What kind of venture?” I asked, gritting through my teeth.
Sal seemed to be lost in thought, a grimace twisting his face. “Dealing in this kind of shit is lower than low. Makes my stomach bottom out just thinking about it.”
“What is the damn business he wanted you to go in on?” I didn’t have time for this stalling shit.
Sal looked at me and I could feel the sadness in his eyes. There was also a twinge of anger and regret. “Sex trafficking.”
My gut twisted as it all fell into place. Then the rage hit. “That motherfucker is dead!” I roared. The blood boiled in my veins.
“I have guys trying to get a lead on him as we speak.” Sal let out a long, defeated breath.
Maybe sitting back while someone else found his daughter was how Sal did things, but there was no way I was waiting for his guys. I snatched the photos out of his hands and ran out without another word. Maybe Duke saw one of them. If he could positively identify them, I could get Tech searching for locations.
I sped down I-86 back toward Elicit, hoping Duke was still there. When I finally arrived, I walked around the corner. Thank God, his stuff was still there.
“Duke!” There was rustling on the other side of the dumpster and I ran to his side as he sat up. “Duke, I need your help again. Have you seen any of these guys before?” I handed him the photos.
He pointed at one of the men and nodded. “That guy is one of the ones that grabbed her. Don’t know about the other two. I didn’t see much. I’m sorry, Dom.”
“Duke, are you sure this is one of the guys?”
“Yeah. His face was right under the corner light.”
I fought the overwhelming urge to hug him and grabbed his hand. “Thank you, Duke. You’ve helped more than you know. Maybe one day I can help you.”
He brushed it off and laid back down. I headed toward my bike and pulled out my phone to dial the best tracker I knew. Wh
en Tech answered, I gave him all the information I had.
My next call was to Sal. He was her father and had given me the lead, so I figured I owed it to him to let him know I had confirmation of who took her. He answered on the first ring.
I tried to smooth the rage from my voice. “It was them. They have her. I’ve got a guy finding them. How do you want to do this?” As much as I wanted to go in and get her on my own, I knew damn good and well it’d be overstepping my bounds. She was his daughter, after all. I couldn’t chance causing trouble between our clubs and making things even more difficult for her and I.
Sal growled into the phone. “Get back here now. I might have something.” Then he hung up.
I raced back to the house. This time when I entered the room, there were about fifteen other men crowding it. I didn’t know who they were, nor did I care. I walked right on in and stared at Sal.
He didn’t seem to have a problem with my bold behavior. “My men here have been working day and night trying to find information.”
Frustrated with what I saw as wasting time, I reined in a smartass comment. “Good. The more people we have hunting these bastards down the better our chances are of finding her and soon.” I waved the photo Duke pointed out at him. “This is one of the guys that took her.”
Sal took the picture and nodded. ”He works for another boss, a low life who runs a trafficking operation. They work out of a port just off the island. That may be where they’re keeping the girls, but we’re not sure. My men are in the process of gathering more intel as we speak.”
Just as he opened his mouth to say something else, my phone rang. I answered it without looking. My breath stopped when one of my brothers spoke.
“We got ‘em, brother. We found a house on the outskirts of some shit-hole town about thirty miles east of the city. We got eyes on them. There are three males we’ve seen, not sure if there’s anyone else. But we know it’s them. The dumbasses kept the van.”
I forced words out. “How do you know it’s the right van?”
“It’s the same one from the picture you sent us.” He paused, like he was hunting for the right words. “Dom, brother, Jules’ cell is in the van.”
My heart damn near broke ribs it was pounding so hard. I gripped the phone tight. “Text me where. I’m on my way.” I glanced at Sal, then added, “Oh and Mac? Nobody leaves that building.” I hung up and turned toward the door. “They found her. Let’s go.”
I didn’t even care if I was stepping out of line at this point. I didn’t need to look to know they were all on my heels. Everyone loaded into vehicles as I went to get on my bike. Sal called for me to ride with him. I ignored him and straddled my bike, firing it up and spitting gravel as I raced down the drive. I needed to get there first. I couldn’t take the chance Sal would take John and I’d never get to make sure he got the punishment he deserved.
I focused on my breathing, trying to stay in control and just praying I got there before anything else happened to her. I had no idea what kind of hell I was walking into, all I knew was I had to get Jules out. If it was the last thing I did.
Never had a thirty-minute ride seemed so long. Finally, I came to the rundown, piece of shit house smack in the middle of nowhere. Knowing Jules could be in there, and not knowing what other surprises it held, scared me to death.
Pulling up I saw my brothers’ bikes. I walked around the corner to see my brothers had two fuckers face down in the dirt, their hands zip tied together. Five feet away, a girl sat in the back of an SUV, wrapped in a dirty, old blanket. She was shaking, tears running down her face. By the looks of her, she needed a hospital.
I slowly walked toward her, stopping about a foot away. I didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was. “Is it okay if I come closer? I just want to talk to you.”
She looked to the right and that’s when I noticed Viper sitting next to her. She nodded and I moved a little closer, but not too close.
I looked at my brother. “How bad?”
He understood what I meant. “We’ll need ambulances, I think. At least one.”
I tried to rein in my anger and the urgency in my blood as I focused back on the girl. “What’s your name?”
Her bleeding lips trembled. “Leah.” She wouldn’t look me in the eyes.
I tried to make my voice sound as soothing as I could. “Hi, Leah, my name is Dom.”
She let out a sob and Viper was right there. With his back toward me, he enfolded her in his arms. As if protecting her from even me. Apparently, my brother had gotten attached to her. Quickly.
I took one more step toward her, my ears ringing. I needed to get to Jules. “What is it? What’s wrong?” What could’ve triggered that kind of response from her?
She hiccupped around a sob. “She said you’d come. She told us Dom would save her and the rest of us.” She shook harder and leaned into Viper.
“Who? Who said that?” I was trying hard not to scare her, but my life could be in that house. “Leah, is it Jules? Is she in there?”
With a whimper, she nodded. “Yes.”
That’s all I needed to hear. I ran toward the door as fast as my legs would take me. “She’s in here,” I yelled at the guys standing guard as I took the stairs two at a time.
The first thing I saw was the piece of shit who I hoped was John, cuffed to a chair.
I leaned over and placed my lips by his ear. Speaking through clenched teeth, I let the full force of my fury leak into my words. “If I find out you have touched one hair on her head, I promise you will beg for death before I’m finished with you.”
I swung my fist hard and fast, hitting him on the temple so hard his head snapped almost too far to the side. “Take him to the clubhouse basement. I’ll call it in. He can’t be here.”
As they dragged his sorry ass out the door, I raced through the house, yelling for my Jules. I came to a door in the kitchen. It was the only door in the whole damn house that was dead bolted shut. I knew she was in there. I could feel it. I heard boots behind me. My backup.
With my brothers flanking me, I unlocked the door with a shaky hand, preparing myself for what was on the other side.
9
Jules
Trying to stay alert was hard between the hunger pains and my tongue swelling from the lack of water. I had no idea when they might come back to feed us or even let us go to the bathroom. The ability to tell night from day was nonexistent. The only thing I was fully aware of was the cold. It was impossible to sleep when the ground felt like a block of ice. The cold seeped into my bones from my feet and ass, and everything was going numb. The feeling was a little scary.
I couldn’t trick myself into believing this would be over soon anymore. I had to admit, the temptation to give up hope was overwhelming.
Suddenly, the sound of motorcycles roaring to a stop and tires squealing outside had my head snapping up. My heart jumped as terror ripped through me. I just knew that whoever was here wasn’t here to help. They were either taking another girl or they’d found one to take Leah’s place.
My chest felt like it was going to explode and I felt dizzy. I couldn’t seem to catch my breath. Oh God, what if it was John coming for me? There was nothing I could do to stop him. No way to get free. I tried to take a deep breath and cried out in pain when the pressure pulled my rib cage, where the guy had kicked me earlier.
The room above us erupted with yelling and thumps and other sounds I couldn’t make out. Then the door opened and several heavy-footed boots stomped down the stairs toward us.
Terror set in full force as I shook. I couldn’t handle the unknown anymore. Screams let out around the room. Someone turned the light on for the first time in days and my eyes burned. I clamped them shut to block out the blinding light.
Someone grabbed me and I screamed. I kicked with my weak legs and punched with my free hand. I would not go without a fight. I tried to catch my breath through the screams as strong arms gripped me tighter.
My voice cracked as I screamed. “No! Leave me alone! Please, just leave me alone!”
Whoever had me was yelling something, but nothing registered over my fear and the roaring in my ears. My body finally gave out on me, my strength melting away as I fell to the side. Everything started to go black. I pried my eyes open, fighting the darkness.
Squinting in the flash of light that tortured my eyes, I swore I saw his face. The only man I had ever truly loved.
“Dom,” I whispered.
As the world fell away, I let myself float into the dream that he was really here and I was safe in his arms.
Dom
I headed down the stairs, my brothers at my back. The overwhelming stench of human waste nearly knocked me over, but I kept going. A pitiful chorus of whimpers and sobs, that would give a grown man nightmares, greeted us as we descended.
All of us ran our hands along the wall in the utter blackness, unsure of what we’d find and trying to watch our steps. One of my brothers found the light switch. When he flipped it on, screams blasted my ears. I tried to block them out as I took in the scene around the room. The image would be burned in my mind forever.
Four girls chained to the floor. Dirty, thin, bloody, and beaten.
Then I saw her. My Jules.
I ran to her and gathered her in my arms, my heart pounding in my chest. Part of it was relief that I had found her, the rest was rage at what they’d done to her. She panicked, her eyes not really seeing me, and started kicking and screaming for me to leave her alone. My heart shattered as I tried to hold her and keep her from hurting herself while telling her it was me. But she wasn’t hearing me. Then she gasped and fainted.
I held her tight as I yelled to my brothers. “Call this in and get some fucking ambulances on their way!”
Looking around I saw girls cowering and crying. I couldn’t tell if it was from fear or relief. Maybe both. Who knew what they’d endured or how long they’d been here?
