Battling Troy: Devil's Knights Series (20 page)

“Are you ok, hun?” Meg asked, placing her hand on mine and squeezed.

“Yeah, I was scared before, but now I’m pissed off. I don’t know why they took Troy.”

“King is probably right. They couldn’t get you, so they are going after the people you care about. He’ll get this all cleared up.” She smiled at me and patted my hand.

“Would you take your hand off of me? I can walk through a door without tripping or getting kidnapped,” Gwen said through gritted teeth as she walked through the door, wrenching her arm out of Gambler’s grasp.

“Look here, sugar, I’m just doing what King told me to do. If you don’t like it, you can take it up with him,” Gambler shot back.

“Here’s an idea, why don’t you think for yourself instead of doing what The King tells you what to do.” Gwen swung her purse at Gambler and socked him in the shoulder.

“Did she just call Lo The King?” Meg whispered.

“I think so,” I giggled.

“Good Lord, please don’t let Lo hear that, it’ll go straight to his head.” Meg shook her head and sat back in her chair.

“You’re here, my job is done.” Gambler held his hands up in surrender and headed down the hall Gravel and King had just went down.

“What the hell is going on, Marley? I was closing up the shop when that bone head who has been watching me for the past week came up to me and basically kidnapped me and brought me here. He wouldn’t tell me what the hell was going on.” Gwen walked over to us, tossing her purse on the table and plopped down in the chair across from me.

“Mark’s family kidnapped Troy,” Meg said, grabbing Gwen’s purse, looking at it. “Where did you get this?”

“Kohl’s, on sale,” Gwen winked at Meg.

“We have got to go shopping together,” Meg gushed.

“I’m down whenever you are, girl.”

“Hello, Troy getting kidnapped?” I said, waving my hands in their faces.

“Sorry,” Meg said, petting Gwen’s purse as she set it back down.

“So what’s going on? Troy getting kidnapped sucked, but why am I here?” Gwen opened her purse, grabbing out gum and popped a piece in her mouth. Gwen always had gum in her mouth. The only time I had ever seen her without it was when she was eating. She offered a piece to Meg and me.

“Right now we don’t know much. The reason you are here is because King thinks they might be going after everyone Marley cares about. Cyn is on the way right now. Oh, shit, where’s Ethel?” Meg grabbed her phone out of her purse and was calling Ethel before I could speak.

I heard Ethel’s phone ringing from the kitchen and laughed. “Hello?” I heard her say.

“Where the hell are you, Ethel? You need to get to the clubhouse right now!” Meg ordered.

“I’m in the kitchen, Meg.” Again, I could hear Ethel talking from the kitchen, but apparently Meg couldn’t.

“Well, get out of the kitchen and get here.” Meg ended the call and shoved her phone in her pocket. “I can’t believe Gravel didn’t bring Ethel. Just leaves her in the kitchen.” Meg shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“Who wants a turkey sandwich?” Ethel asked as she breezed out of the kitchen, a huge smile on her face.

“What the hell are you doing here? You told me you were in the kitchen?” Meg asked, stunned.

“I was in the kitchen,” Ethel laughed, setting the plate on the table and taking the last chair.

“Hmm, next time specify which kitchen. Now I feel like a dope. I don’t know why I didn’t think you were here. I couldn’t believe that Gravel would have left you home.” Meg grabbed a sandwich, ripping off a huge chunk.

“I know, but I thought I’d mess with you, plus you didn’t really give me time to talk.” Ethel winked.

Meg blushed and shoved the rest of the sandwich in her mouth.

“I’m Gwen.” Gwen held her hand out, greeting Ethel.

“Ethel, hun. I’m King’s mom and Gravel’s fiancée.”

“Who’s King?” Gwen asked, grabbing a sandwich.

“King is mine, although at the moment claiming him is iffy,” Meg stood up and headed to the kitchen.

“Trouble in paradise?” Gwen whispered.

“Ha, no. More like Meg is crazy and King just tries to reel her in sometimes.” Ethel whispered.

“I heard that!” Meg yelled. “You’re supposed to be on my side, Ethel, even though he’s your son.” Meg walked back over to the table, handing us each a bottle of water.

“I’m on your side, hun,” Ethel winked.

“No taking sides,” Lo gruffed as he walked back into the common room. “We’re on the same team, babe.”

Meg rolled her eyes but a blush rose on her cheeks. “Stop being nice, I’m supposed to be pissed at you.”

“Try another day, babe.” Lo literally picked Meg up off her chair and sat down with her in his lap.

“Manhandling me now?” Meg whispered, cuddling into his embrace.

“He’s The King?” Gwen asked, her jaw dropped as she looked King up and down. Lo really was something to look at. With his signature ripped jeans and tight tees, he even made me do a double take the first time I met him.

“Just King. You must be Gwen,” Lo held his hand out to Gwen and she just stared at it.

She looked at me, her eyes bugged out. “I feel like he’s royalty. Do I kiss his hand and curtsey?”

Meg threw her head back laughing and King wrapped both of his arms around her so she didn’t fall out of his lap. “You can touch him,” she wheezed, grabbing on to King.

“Babe, you’re crazy,” King laughed, brushing back the hair from her face.

“Now that the introductions are over, do you think maybe we could focus on finding Troy?” I was beyond frantic and here we were, sitting around shooting the shit.

“There isn’t much we can do right now, Marley. We’re waiting to hear back from Leo,” Gravel said, walking out of the kitchen, a beer dangling from his fingertips.

“Are you shitting me?” I slammed my fists down on the table. All eyes turned to me, shocked. “We’re going to put Troy’s life in the hands of man who not even four hours ago was trying to kill me? Are you all insane?”

“Calm down, hun. We’re doing everything we can,” Ethel said, patting my hand.

I snatched my hand away, not wanting to be pacified. “We should be out there looking for him. We should call the god damn police is what we should do.” I pulled my phone from my pocket and fanatically tried calling 911.

Just as I had the dial pad pulled up, King snatched my phone out of my hand and handed it to Meg. She looked at me with sympathy, but shoved it in her pocket.

“You call the police, Marley, we are going to have an even bigger problem on our hands. Just let us figure it out. I promise nothing will happen to Troy.” King leveled his gaze on me, waiting.

Son of a bitch, he was right. I’m sure the Banachi’s didn’t deal with the police well. From what I have heard, they worked above the police.

So what the hell was I supposed to do then? I couldn’t sit around twiddling my thumbs waiting for something to happen. “Fine, no police. Can we at least go and look for him?”

“Marley, where the hell are we even going to begin looking for him? Sit tight, darlin’ and everything will work out.” Gravel stood behind me and rest his hands on my shoulder.

“Oh, I have an idea!” Meg jumped up from King’s lap and ran into the kitchen.

“Ten bucks she’s going for the bottle of Southern,” Gambler said, holding his hand out to Crowbar.

“I ain’t taking that bet. King told all of us how she handles stress. I’m out on that bet, man.” Crowbar held his hands up in surrender and plopped down on the sofa in front of a big screen TV.

“I’ll take that bet,” Slider pulled a ten dollar bill out of his pocket and held it up. Gambler pulled one from his wallet and tossed it onto the table.

“Any other takers?” Gambler looked around.

King pulled a twenty out of his wallet and threw it on the table. “I’ll double that bet.”

“You for or against the Southern?”

“Hmm, I’m going to go against my gut and say she’s grabbing something else.” King leaned back in his chair, kicking his feet back and threw his hands over his head.

“You sure about that?” Gambler asked.

“Yeah, I got faith in Meg.”

We waited, hearing nothing but silence from the kitchen. “What do you think she’s doing?” Gwen whispered.

“Lord only knows with Meg. You stick around long enough you’ll see for yourself.” Crowbar said and winked at Gwen. Gambler elbowed Crowbar and I swear I thought I heard him growl.

Crowbar looked at him like he was crazy and rubbed his arm. “What the fuck, brother?”

Gambler just shook his head, not saying anything.

“Who wants to play Go Fish?” Meg asked, holding up a deck of cards.

“Shit,” Gambler said, throwing his hands up in the air. “You were supposed to be getting a bottle of Southern,” he complained.

“Why the hell would I go to the kitchen to get a bottle of Southern? I would have walked over to your fully stocked bar.” Meg gestured to the bar that spanned on whole wall of the clubhouse.

“Son of a bitch!” Gambler shouted, pissed off.

“You shouldn’t bet against my woman, brother,” King taunted as he collected the money off the table and took the other ten Gambler was holding out. He gave half to Crowbar and pocketed the rest.

“How long do we have to wait until we hear from the Banachi’s?” I was losing it. As much as everyone was trying to distract me, it wasn’t enough.

“Leo said he would call back in an hour regardless of what he found out. I told him the sooner the better, darlin’,” King reassured me.

Meg sat down in his lap and opened the cards. “I can’t shuffle unless ya’ll feel like playing fifty two card pickup.”

“Give ‘em here,” Gambler grumbled. “They don’t call me Gambler for nothing.”

So here I sat, playing cards while Troy was off somewhere possibly being tortured and beaten all because he was someone I knew.

I’d like my normal life back anytime now.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Chapter 27

Troy

“Leo is on the way over, boss, and he did not sound happy.”

“He’ll see my side of things when he gets here. No one is going to take all that money away from me. Especially that little rat Mark got tangled up with.” I had finally figured out who the hell had kidnapped me. It was Mark’s family. I assumed King’s meeting with the Banachi’s did not go as planned.

Right now I was in a hotel room outside of town, sitting on the bed with my arms tied behind my back; the rope tied to the bed frame. I still had no idea why they thought kidnapping me would help them. I would let them kill me before I told them where Marley was.

“Alright, I’ll wait out front for them.” The guy who had clocked me over the head walked out the door, leaving it ajar.

“Bet you didn’t know what you were getting into when you decided to get your dick wet in that whore,” Pinstriped suit sneered at me while grabbing a briefcase from the floor and setting it on the desk.

“You might want to rethink the next thing that comes out of your mouth if it has anything to do with Marley.” I tugged on the rope on my wrists, trying to loosen it.

“Dumb bitch has got you all tied up in knots, too. Must have a magical pussy that one.” He opened his briefcase and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and two shot glasses. If this prick hadn’t kidnapped me and tied me up, I would have given him credit on having a full bottle of booze in his briefcase instead of paperwork.

“She had my son tripping over himself to get to her, too. Fucking foolish.” He sloshed two fingers worth of whiskey in each glass and put the bottle back in his briefcase.

“Your son had good taste,” I muttered.

“That’s where you are wrong. My son had horrible taste. He could have had the pick of the litter in high school and who does he bring home? Some whore from the wrong side of the tracks. The more we asked him to find someone else, the more he dug his feet in and wouldn’t leave her. I never should have given him a quarter of my business.” He shook his head and tossed back one of the shots.

“She doesn’t want the money, asswipe.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Everyone wants money, even your whore, Marley. It’s just an act, I know it.” He grabbed the other shot and drank it down. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and slammed the glass on the table.

“Look, Kevin, Marley doesn’t want shit from your family. She didn’t want it when she was with Mark and she sure as shit doesn’t want it now,” I sneered. I had managed to grab the loose end of the rope and was slowly working it back through the knot.

“Wrong. She wants it. She had Mark pay for her schooling and he bought her cars and expensive jewelry all the time. I saw the receipts. The web of lies she is spinning wound you right up. She’s a money hungry whore.”

Marley had mentioned the jewelry to me and she said she would accept it, but never wear it. I had spent a lot of time with Marley the past few weeks, and she didn’t seem materialistic at all. I had to bargain with her to let me buy the black dress at the mall for her and it didn’t even cost that much money. Kevin here was a fucking idiot. Just because he was a money hungry asshole, he thought everyone else was too. “Believe what you want, man, but I know the truth.”

He grabbed the glass and threw it across the room and it shattered against the wall. “No, you look here,
man,
I want my fucking money and you’re god damn whore has got it tied up in so much legal tape, I don’t even know if I’ll see it before I die!”

“So kidnapping me is going to somehow help you get your money? Newsflash, asswipe, kidnapping and attempted murder don’t really look good.” I had to keep Kevin talking until I figured out a plan. From what Kevin’s goon had said, the Banachi’s would be here soon. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

“Kidnapping you wasn’t part of the plan, but I have to play the cards I was dealt. Leo owes me a favor since he didn’t kill Marley. If his plan involves you dying I’m fine with that.” Kevin’s lips stretched into a manic smile. Kevin said he would play the cards he was dealt, but I don’t think he was playing with a full deck.

“You’re fucking crazy. You don’t even have a plan.” I had managed to get the rope loosened, and I slowly slipped my right hand out. I didn’t want to make any sudden movements to alarm Kevin.