Phantom Riders MC - Hawk (24 page)

I didn’t see the shadow move up quietly behind me.

As an arm come around my waist I opened my mouth to scream while at the same time a hand covered my nose and mouth. I didn’t know what was on the cloth, I only had time to acknowledge that it smelled sweet, unique, nothing like I’d ever smelled before, and then I was sinking into a black abyss where nothing else mattered.

Hawk

I pulled my bike into the garage, cut the engine, and sat there. I didn’t want to think about Sonya, but Rock was right. The bitch still had her claws in me, even ten years later. I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying not to think about the ton of shit that had gone down. She’d been pure evil, wrapped up in a seductress’ body and a beautiful face. If I’d looked beyond the package I would have seen the cold darkness in her eyes. She’d had no soul.

From the beginning she’d played me.

Her killer looks had won me over and made me blind to what she really was. I’d ignored my brother’s warnings that she was no good, too high and cocky over the thought that an older woman wanted me, and for more than just sex. I’d just been patched into the club, so I hadn’t been naive to club life, just to women and how their devious minds worked. Before Sonya, my experience had been limited to sweetbutts. There’d been no reason to go looking for civilian pussy with whores around giving it up freely.

Sonya had set her sights on me, and I’d been a sucker. Once she’d got her hooks in me, nothing else had mattered. I’d loved her blindly. She’d wormed her way into the club until she was in so deep that she knew the running of it, knew shit she shouldn’t have, because I’d been reckless. Trusting her, I’d believed that she’d loved me, when all along she’d been a fucking mole, planted there by the Russian mob. All those sweet nothings she’d whispered in my ear had been exactly that, sweet fucking nothings.

It hadn’t become clear just how devious and evil Sonya was until she aborted my baby. She’d thrown that little bit of news in my face while I was being tortured. It had also revealed how loyal she was to the Russians. Until then they hadn’t been able to break me, but looking up into her twisted face as she screamed the words in my face, the truth was in her eyes. She enjoyed hurting me. I’d never forget the sick pleasure transforming her features when she realized just how much. I swore then that I’d never let another woman get to me.

That was the day I died inside, the day my heart turned to fucking stone. And even as love and hate had fought for control deep inside me, I knew in the end, if I survived what they had planned for me, that I’d kill her. Their plan to destroy the club had been the Russian mob’s main goal, payback for a hit gone wrong and the bombing of their meth lab, a huge plant in Brooklyn. Apparently the bedroom talk between me and Sonya hadn’t yielded the information they’d been looking for. So on the pretext of a midnight ride to our secret spot in the mountains, Sonya had lured me into a fucking ambush.

They’d wanted to know who’d arranged the hit on their leader, Ivan Orlov, the vicious attempt that had left him in a vegetative state. They’d known the club was involved, but they hadn’t known to what degree. Yeah, we’d fucking known who put out the hit, but none of us would divulge his name, and I’d known I’d go to my grave with the secret. They’d threatened to do a lot of damage to my body, fuck, they’d
done
a lot of damage. It had taken me months to come back from the burns, stab wounds, and broken bones. The psychological destruction had been worse.

I’d wanted to take my own life because of the trouble I’d brought to the club.

In the end, my brothers had saved me, but at a high cost. The president of our club then, Crazy, along with nine other brothers, had gone down, leaving the club crippled.

And Sonya had been killed. A single bullet to her brain had snuffed out the evil light in her eyes.

I gave my head a shake, bringing myself out of the dark thoughts that were numbing me. It was all in the past. Audra was my future, if I let her in. I’d already given her more than any other woman. I’d felt drawn to her from the start. Maybe she was my fucking salvation.

I left the garage and walked to the front of the house, wondering why Audra hadn’t turned the lights on. I got my answer when I turned the doorknob to find that it was still locked. My gut sent out a warning to my brain and I swung around, withdrawing my gun, squinting into the darkness, holding my breath while listening.

The dark silence surrounding me explained everything.

Someone had taken my woman.

Chapter 25

Audra

Oh, God.
My head!
It felt as if it were about to explode, probably adding to the nausea I felt. I tried to open my eyes but the lids were too heavy. I was unable to move, yet the sensation of floating left me confused. I could make out sounds through my muddled thoughts, my breathing, the drip of a faucet, someone, more than one person, mumbling something I couldn’t make out. I swallowed, searching my jumbled memories for what had happened. Giving into the drifting fog, back to where nothing mattered, was a strong temptation, but I forced myself to stay conscious.

I blinked, determined to keep my eyes open a little longer each time, but the room was swimming around me and the nausea became too much, forcing me to shut them. This went on for several minutes, until the feeling gradually subsided. Now I was staring up at a concrete ceiling that showed water stains and damage that I guessed had come from age. It didn’t take me long to realize that I was tied down to a bed.

“Well, well, look who’s awake.” I didn’t recognize the voice, but relief rushed through me when I saw the police uniform. “You’re a very pretty lady.” Relief turned to instant fear at his smirk. He brushed the back of his hand over my cheek in a caress that made me uneasy.

I turned my cheek from his caress. “Please…who are you, what’s going on?” All he did was run his hand over me in a rough move that resembled more of an examination than a caress. “Don’t touch me.” Even to my ears, my voice sounded weak.

He wrapped his fingers around my lower jaw and jerked me back around. “You have a lot of nerve, considering you’ve been spreading your legs for both Hawk and Dane Winthrop.” My eyes widened at the mention of Dane’s name, and a sick feeling settled into my stomach. Was he a friend of Dane’s? “Yeah, you should be afraid. You must really be a good fuck for him to risk so much to get you back.”

I had to know what I was up against. “You work for Dane?”

The man snorted, and then shook his head. “You’ll wish I did by the time I’m done with you. He wants you
alive
.” His hand traveled down my neck. “That would ruin my plans.”

Oh, God! He was going to kill me! Panic rose like an invisible demon, overtaking my body. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I hate the Phantom Riders, and I hate Hawk more. I’ve waited years to get my revenge on them. I thought by joining the police force and transferring here it would have been easy, but the fucking police chief is on their payroll and has thwarted every attempt I’ve made to pin something significant on them. After a while, I knew that wanting to put them away just wasn’t going to be enough. I wanted to destroy Hawk completely. Having you is going to help me accomplish that.”

I swallowed hard. “Hawk doesn’t care about me,” I said in desperation.

He laughed sarcastically. “I know that’s what you’d like me to believe, but we both know that you’re his woman. And I’m going to break you like he did my Sonya, before delivering you at his doorstep, naked and bloody, barely recognizable.”

Sonya? “No!” I gasped out, pulling against the ropes holding me.

“Sonya was my older sister. There’s never been any proof, but I know Hawk killed her. I’m going to enjoy fucking you. I’m going to stick my dick in every fucking hole you have. By the time I send your body back to him it will be full of my cum.”

The vision made me sick. “Hurting me−,” I swallowed hard, trying to keep the bile down, “Killing me won’t bring Sonya back.”

“No, but it will hurt Hawk. And then I’ll pin your murder on him, and stand back and watch him and his club fall.” He laughed a sick and twisted way, and I knew that I was dealing with a madman. He had to be if he’d been planning something like this for years. “I just put in a call to my chief to let him know that I was on to something big.”

“You’re sick!” I hissed, finally accepting that I couldn’t escape the ties at my wrists and ankles. All I did was manage to cause myself pain as the rope cut into my flesh. I fell back to the bed, breathing hard. “What, do you plan to rape me while I’m tied helplessly to this bed?” Maybe I could shame him enough to gain some kind of mental control. Sheer desperation made me reckless. Baiting him was stupid, but just maybe it would work in my favor. “Afraid I’ll overpower you? Afraid of a woman?”

His evil laugh held little humor. The coldness in his eyes made me shiver. “I know what you’re trying to do.” In the next instant he put his hand between my legs and covered my mound, reminding me that I wasn’t wearing any panties. “So warm down here.”

“Noooo!” I groaned, feeling his hand against my naked flesh. I tried to twist away, my pitiful attempt making him laugh harder. He had me spread eagle so I couldn’t even cross my legs against him.

“Ah, you’re wet. I see Hawk didn’t use a condom when he had his dick inside you tonight. It was quite a show, watching him fuck you on his bike. Even turned me on.”

“Fuck you!” I squeezed my eyes shut and bit down on my bottom lip hard when his finger flicked up and down the entrance of my pussy. Tears gathered hotly behind my eye lids, and there was nothing I could do to stop them from escaping.

“You’re nothing but a spineless coward!” I hissed, glaring up at him through angry tears. I lifted, bumped, and twisted my hips in a vain effort to dislodge his impending invasion, and then stopped when I was afraid he’d think I was getting off on what he was doing.

He pulled his hand away, his face turning red at my insult. The knife he produced took my breath away as I envisioned the damage and pain it would cause cutting into my flesh, but he only slashed through the rope around my ankles. I didn’t fool myself into believing that he was going to release me. I held my breath when he sat down next to me and slowly brought the knife up to study the blade.

I knew he was doing it for effect. He had total control, and his twisted, cruel expression told me that he was going to enjoy every second of what he had planned for me. The thought of being cut was terrifying, but somewhere deep down the will to survive bubbled up, keeping me sane. If I had any hope of getting out of this, I needed to draw on all of my instincts, and right then they were telling me to keep up my brave front and challenge him, because seeing any fear is what he really wanted.

Fear would feed into his madness.

He wanted me to beg for my life, but I wouldn’t do it. Not yet, not while there was still a chance I could get the upper hand. He looked down at me, and I could tell that he was waiting for some kind of reaction. I tried not to look at the knife. It wasn’t that big, but it didn’t have to be. It was pointed and looked sharp. I shuddered inside.

“You’re not afraid I’ll cut you?” he asked, bringing the blade up to my cheek. “So beautiful,” he murmured in a low tone, his eyes clouding over with a memory. “Like my sister was when her life was cut short. She didn’t deserve to die.”

“No one does,” I responded, unable to ignore the smooth surface of the blade that he held against my skin. “I’m sorry she died.” Maybe I could appeal to his forgiving side. The way he was staring off into space told me that he was remembering her. His expression softened, but it didn’t last. I watched the faraway haze in his eyes clear and return to the present.

“Yes.” He nodded. “And I’m sorry you will be the one to pay for that, but since you seem to be Hawk’s flavor of the moment…” He shrugged with indifference.

Before I knew what he was going to do, he wrapped his hand around my chin, squeezed until my teeth cut into my inside cheeks, and kissed me. I moaned in protest and tried to turn my face away, but his hold was too strong. The more I pulled the harder he squeezed, and the more damage I did to the inside of my mouth. Finally, he threw my head back against the bed in a move that revealed how angry he’d grown.

“You think you’re too fucking good for me?” he snarled with his lips pulled back from his teeth, his eyes glittering with hatred.

“Yes!” I hissed, trying to catch my breath, wishing I could wipe him off my mouth. “You’re insane! I am too good for you!”

He slapped me. Hard. My head swung to the side and I felt the taste of blood in my mouth.

I slowly turned to face him again, putting all the hatred I could in my eyes. “Yeah, it takes a real man to attack a woman when she’s tied up!”

“Bitch!” He brought the knife to the top of my dress and quickly slashed it open to the hem, not concerned if he cut me in the process. Every time I felt the bite of the blade against my flesh, I sucked in my breath, waiting for him to bury the knife deeper. The last thing he cut was the rope around my wrists, and then he was tossing the knife aside. I heard it hit the floor. “I’m going to enjoy this!” He pulled the edges of my ruined dress aside, letting his gaze run slowly over my body. “So fucking lovely.” His finger circled a nipple before pinching it cruelly.

Pain spiked through my body and I cried out, breaking the spell that he was in. His gaze shot up to my face, focusing again. His expression hardened, and before I knew it he had grabbed me by the waist and flipped me around, pulling me to my knees. I knew then what his intentions were. Hurtful hands clutched my hips as he thrust his hard cloth covered cock against my ass, his deep groan sounding over-loud in the room. The next thing I heard was the sound of him undoing his pants.

My eyes rounded, as panic set in. I knew that I couldn’t let him rape me. Not without fighting him with every ounce of my being. If he took me I would either be unconscious or dead. Without thinking about what it would cost me I reared up and back, hitting him in the face with the back of my head as hard as I could. The sound of a satisfying crack, which I hoped was his broken nose, and the sound of his cry as he fell back, was music to my ears. I immediately took advantage of the situation and scrambled off the bed.

My elation of being free was short lived when I heard his snarl of rage. I didn’t think, I just ran blindly, having no idea where I was except that I was in what appeared to be some warehouse. Everything was concrete. All that mattered was that I escaped the madman behind me because I knew without a doubt that he was going to kill me. There’d been lighting in the room I was being held in, but it dimmed away into nothing the further I moved into the maze of never-ending halls and past doorways to empty rooms.

“I’ll get you bitch!” The echoing sound of his voice was closer than I’d thought he could be. I kicked off my heels so he couldn’t hear me. “And when I do you’ll be very sorry!”

I remained silent, feeling my way down walls and through open doorways. Darkness consumed me, but not for long. Without warning I heard what sounded like a breaker being flipped, and then the whole damned place was lit up. I stopped moving instantly, frozen with utter disbelief.
Why would the power still be on in an abandoned warehouse
was my insane thought.

“You can’t escape me Audra!”

I searched the surrounding area with wild eyes, looking for a place to hide, while also looking for something that I could use as a weapon. The room I’d stumbled into had been some kind of office. A moment of elation filled me. I ignored the metal file cabinets, going straight for the desk. With a little luck I might find something inside one of the drawers. I pulled the first one out slowly, wincing at the sound of a protesting squeak. Waiting, I listened for a minute to see if the noise had given my location away, and then began to rummage through the messy contents.

Nothing! Damn it! Just papers and other meaningless junk like paper clips, rubber bands, and Band-Aids. I reached for drawer number two, coming up empty handed again. I paused for a second, my gaze moving to the broken window. I rushed over to it, and my heart sank when I realized that we were on the third floor. I glanced down at the empty parking lot, coming to the conclusion that the building had been vacant for a long time. There were weeds and grass growing in the cracks of the concrete, and confetti everywhere.

Dread settled over me as I realized that I was on my own, and that I was imagining the rumbling roar of motorcycles in the distance.

“There you are you fucking bitch.”

I swung around, clutching the torn edges of my dress together. He came charging through the doorway and into the room, his face flushed, hate glimmering in the eyes between his crooked, bleeding nose. I swallowed hard, knowing that my options were limited. I glanced behind me, back outside the dirty glass, contemplating jumping, but I knew that I wouldn’t. As I began to swing my gaze back to him I noticed a piece of jagged glass on the window ledge.