Ravage: Lightning Bolts MC (14 page)

I nodded, and was just gonna get up and go to my office before I thought about what she said.
Waiting for me outside my house.

I ran to the office and pulled out the receipt I got at the auction. Michelle Adams. It even had her address on it—not safe, of course, if one of the girls ended up with a stalker. But right then and there, I didn’t care. I needed to get to her, fast.

I went back out to where a few of the guys sat at the bar. “I need one or two of you with me now.” I didn’t stop to tell them why. I was too busy feeling sick. Joe and Pete, two of my most trusted men, followed me out.

If I knew her at all, she would have left the house as soon as I did. She would have gone to her mother. What was the easiest way to get to me? To go after her. Gareth had to know by then that I bought her. Fuck, what was I thinking, leaving her alone? And she asked to go with me, too.

I couldn’t waste time blaming myself. Not when I had to get to her before anybody else did.

Michelle

It felt good to sit and talk with Mac some more while Mom slept peacefully upstairs. I didn’t realize sometimes how all-consuming it was for me to take care of her until I spent a few hours not thinking about her and simply enjoying time with my friends. Being with Eric didn’t count—I wasn’t enjoying that time. With Mackenzie I could be lighthearted and feel young, the way I should have felt at my age. Sometimes I thought I was the only girl in the world who felt so much older than she really was.

After an hour or two, the weight lifted from my chest and I could laugh again. She asked more sordid questions about what went on between Eric and me. I blushed fiercely at some of the things she asked. How big was he? How long did he last? I had never been one for girl talk before—I had nothing to talk about—so it was a crash course. To make me feel better, she told me a few stories of her most recent exploits. I hadn’t realized until then how different I felt for all the years of my virginity. Like I was different even from my best friend. Now it was like we were on the same level in a way. Only a person who stayed a virgin for as long as I did would ever understand.

The time flew by, and when I casually checked my phone I jumped when I saw that it was already past noon. Eric was bound to get home at some point.

I had to call yet another cab, since I couldn’t very well park my car in Eric’s driveway, and Mac couldn’t leave Mom. I would have charged him for them if I didn’t want to hide the fact that I’d sneaked out.

“I should go,” I said, giving Mac a hug and thanking her again for taking care of my mother while I was gone. I owed her a big one.

“Such a hurry?” she asked, frowning.

“I don’t want him to know I left. All I need is for him to come back at me and tell me I broke one of his stupid rules that I didn’t even know about.”

“Sweetie, just remember something.” She took me by the arms to hold me still, and looked me in the eye. “No amount of money is worth jumping through hoops like this.”

I opened my mouth to argue, and she cut me off. “I know, I know. You’re doing it for her.” She cut her eyes up toward the stairs. “And that’s a very noble thing to do. But when she’s gone, and she will be sooner rather than later if there’s mercy in the world, you’ll have to live with yourself. You’ll have to look yourself in the mirror every day. How will you feel about yourself?”

Her words rocked me to my core. I hadn’t thought about it that way—I hadn’t given any thought to what my life would be like after Mom died outside of how hard it would be to pay off the bills and how many other things I would have to take care of. It was all about Mom, and how I would clean things up.

“You need to start thinking about yourself a little bit, too. You have to think about a life that actually includes you, for once. Eventually, all this will be over, and you’ll be left with yourself. Just think about that, okay? Ask yourself if this is worth it. I know your mother wouldn’t think so.”

“Just like I wouldn’t think so if she were doing it for me. That’s the way life goes.” I shrugged, and hugged her again. “I love you. Thank you for being such a good friend. I mean that.”

“No problem,” she said, waving me off. “Just be sure to get that money if you’re going to put yourself through all this nonsense. Remember: damsel in distress.”

“Got it.” I giggled. “I can turn on the tears with the best of them. I’ll give Meryl Streep a run for her money.”

I was still smiling as I jogged down the front steps to meet the cab pulling up in front of the house. I hated Eric and wished I could slap the shit out of him for taking advantage of me, but the scales would be balanced soon enough. I couldn’t wait to balance them. He would see how it felt to be under someone else’s thumb.

I just got to the door when a van pulled up behind the cab.

“Excuse me, aren’t you friends with Eric? Eric Turner?”

I looked at the man behind the wheel. I didn’t recognize him. He was wearing a leather vest, the way Eric did when he was out, but I couldn’t see a patch on it.

“Uh, I don’t know any Eric. Sorry.” I thought it would be best to pretend I had no idea and get the heck out of there. I was just about to climb into the cab when a pair of arms grabbed me from behind, around my waist. I screamed bloody murder, kicking and punching. Fight or flight kicked in like a switch had been flipped inside me, and I fought like an animal. I might as well have been fighting a brick wall, though. It was no use.

As the man behind me dragged me into the back of the van, I caught a glimpse of Mackenzie at the front door. I heard her screaming for help, but the street was strangely empty for a Sunday afternoon. The cab driver made a move to get out of the cab, but the driver of the van told him to get back inside or else he’d have his head blown off.

I screamed for help, but it was no use. I was catapulted into the back before the man who took me climbed in behind me. I scrambled into the corner, as far away from him as I could get. I still clutched my purse, wishing I had a can of mace or something else I could use against him.

He slammed the door shut and we were on our way. The cabbie must have leaned on his horn, since I heard it blaring. I still heard Mac’s screams as we raced down the block.

I screamed, too, as loud and hard as I could. The guy who grabbed me, a tall, burly sort, held a gun to my head. “Scream again, bitch,” he muttered. “I’ll blow your fucking brains out.” I went silent immediately. He smirked at how scared I was.
It takes a big man to scare a woman with a gun
, I thought in the back of my mind. I didn’t dare share that thought out loud.

“What…what’s happening? Who are you?”

“That’s none of your business.” He grinned at me. “But you’ll find out pretty soon. So you were a virgin up til a couple of nights ago, huh? Don’t worry. You’ll get plenty of action to make up for it before we get rid of you.” He laughed nastily. There was no mistaking what he meant, not with that laugh.

I went cold all over, and had to consciously focus to keep from losing control of my bladder. I still didn’t quite understand what was happening. It was like a surreal nightmare. One minute I was on my way back to Eric’s, the next some goons threw me into a van. The only difference was I couldn’t seem to wake up.

The van hit a pothole and I bounced around the hard, unforgiving metal surface. The man with the gun laughed like I was the funniest thing he ever saw.
He hates women
, I thought. It was so obvious. He was probably terrified of them.

“I get her first!” I heard from the driver.

“No, I do. I grabbed her. She was kicking and punching me, too. I deserve the first taste.”

The driver replied, “You know the boss will want her first. Then he’ll give her to the rest of us before he decides where to leave the body.”

I tried to stay strong. I really did. I told myself the very thing they wanted was to see me break down. It would be the ultimate satisfaction, even better than raping me.

I couldn’t help but weep. It was some sort of sick, twisted joke. They were actually arguing over who was going to rape me first, before they murdered me. What sort of world had I stumbled into? It wasn’t like I could pretend they had the wrong person either. Not when one of them mentioned that I was a virgin until recently.

“Are you doing this to all the girls?” I asked.

“All the girls?” The gunman smirked. “What other girls?”

“The ones from the auction? So we won’t tell or something? I swear, if that’s what it is, I won’t say a word. If it’s illegal or something. I would get into just as much trouble, you know?”

He stared at me in surprise for a second or two, then burst out in genuine laughter.

“Is that what you think this is all about, bitch? Oh, no, no. You’re our special guest of honor. Just you alone. The boss wants to see you personally, and he wants to get to know you. See, you’re a friend of a person he don’t like too much. He wants to know what you know about him. Then he wants to see if your pussy is still sweet and tight before the rest of us get a turn with you.”

All I could do was sink further into horror. My mom. She would die without me. I hoped nobody ever told her what happened or it would only add extra pain to what she was already going through. She didn’t deserve it, the poor thing. I hoped I made her as comfortable as I could before she died.

No. I couldn’t think that way. Maybe Mac or the cab driver got a look at the plates. Maybe one of them had already called the police. Maybe the police were already after me. Or my phone. They could track my phone. It was in my purse, still turned on. Police could do that—at least I saw them do it on TV all the time. I whimpered, realizing how ridiculous I sounded even to myself. Relying on some bullshit I saw on TV.

“Please don’t do this,” I whispered. I hated it, but I felt like I had to say it. Another thing I saw on TV. It never worked then either.

“I don’t wanna have to gag you,” the man with the gun muttered. “But I’ll do it if you don’t shut the fuck up.” I felt the pressure of the muzzle against my temple and whimpered again. Moisture from my eyes and nose ran down my face as I wept. My body shook from head to toe. I was going to die, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I shouldn’t have left Eric’s. No, I shouldn’t have gone to the auction. It didn’t make a difference that I had—I never got the money for Mom anyway. I was a failure. That thought made me cry harder than the thought of rape and murder did. She would still die without the care I wanted to get for her. And Mac was right—I felt like a cheap, naïve idiot for falling for it all. I could have died with a little dignity, but no, I had to remember the way I prostituted myself for money I never saw. It was a cold, cruel realization.

I’m sorry I failed you, Mom
, I thought. Then I prayed every prayer I knew. I wasn’t sure what I was praying for. Rescue or a quick death.

Then, the van made a sudden stop. I pressed my lips together and held back even louder weeping. We had arrived at our destination, and it was only a matter of time before they got down to doing whatever they wanted to do to me. I cried so hard, I could barely breathe. To think, just a few days earlier I had no idea what the MC life was all about. Now I was getting a crash course. A short one at that.

Please let them kill me quickly
, I prayed. Then I closed my eyes, ready to accept whatever was coming next.

Eric

I raced through the streets, getting closer to Michelle’s house. I never prayed—I had no relationship with God, really—but I asked whoever was up there or out there or whatever to help me find her in time. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her. It wasn’t her fault that she wanted to go and be with her mom. It was my fault for holding her at the house in the first place. What the fuck was wrong with me? What was I thinking?

I didn’t know what gave me the idea that she was in trouble. Something inside me was totally sure they would try to take her, or hurt her. They might even try to kill her, for all I knew.

There was so much fucking traffic! What the hell was everybody doing out on the streets? I zigzagged between cars, my blood racing, my heart pounding like a hammer in my chest.
Let me get to her in time. Let me get to her in time.
I heard Joe and Pete calling out behind me, wanting me to take it slow, but I didn’t pay attention. I had to get to her in time. I was frantic to get to her before anybody else did.

By the time I screeched to a stop in front of her house, I knew I was too late. There was a cab there and a screaming girl. “Where is she?” I asked.

“Eric?” She blinked at me through her tears.

“Where is she? Who took her?”

“They went that way, in a black van! Just a half minute ago!” She pointed down the road.

I didn’t wait to ask more questions. I didn’t even know how I knew somebody took Michelle. I took off in the direction the girl had pointed and hoped I made it to her in time. It was all I could do.

I heard the engines behind me and knew it meant I had my backup in place. Good. I would need them if I had a van to stop.

I wondered if they were going in the direction of the docks—it was where the warehouses sat, including the one the auction was held at. I turned in that direction and my men followed me.

After a half mile or so, I saw a black van in front of me. I sped up, racing to catch up with it. I hoped the cops tried to stop me for speeding—I’d lead them right to the fuckers.

When we were close enough, I pulled up along the side of the van, then overtook it. I sped down the road in front of it, traffic a lot lighter the closer we got to the river. Once I was far enough away to give them room to stop, I stopped the bike and pulled a loaded semiautomatic from the waistband of my jeans. I leveled it at the driver.

I saw the terror on his face, and he slammed on the brakes. The van stopped only feet from me.

“Let her out!” I called, firing a shot in one of the van’s headlights.

“We don’t have anybody!”

Then I heard a scream from inside the van. I would have known her voice anywhere, even though I barely knew her.

“Let her go, asshole. I’ll let you go if you let her go.”

Meanwhile, Pete pulled up alongside the driver, pointing a gun at his head. “Lemme see your hands!” The driver held up his hands.

I got off the bike and ran around to the back of the van. “Open up!” I kicked at the door.

“It’s open!” Joe placed his hand on the handle while I aimed at the door.

“One…two…three…” Joe opened the door, and immediately a man jumped out of the van to attack me. Only I was too far away. Joe slammed the door into him, knocking him to the ground. I kicked the gun out of his hand, then let Joe take care of him while I got Michelle out of the van.

She was curled up in a ball, shaking. “Come on, baby. Let’s go. I have you now.” I helped her out of the van and carried her to my bike. “Hold on around my waist, okay?” She nodded.

Joe and Pete got on their bikes and we all rode off together in the direction of the clubhouse. I caught Joe’s eye when we reached the turnoff for my house, and I gestured to him that I was taking her home. He nodded his understanding, and we parted ways.

It was only a few more minutes to my house, but it felt like forever. I needed to get her inside and safe. I hated to think of what might have happened if Suzie hadn’t said what she did. I owed her, just like I owed Joe and Pete.

I helped her inside and sat her on the couch, then went to the kitchen to get her a glass of water. I handed it to her, but her hands were shaking too hard to take it. I guided it to her mouth and helped her drink.

Her eyes were wide, almost blank. Staring.

“I’m so sorry that happened,” I said. It was all I could say, and I knew how lame it sounded, but it was the best I could do. I was sorry. She deserved so much better than that. She wasn’t the sort of person who should ever have to suffer through something like what I just saved her from.

I waited a long time for her to come to her senses—meanwhile, I called the clubhouse. Everybody there already knew what happened. I increased the security around there and reminded them to travel in pairs from then out. I couldn’t risk losing any of my people.

By the time I got back to the living room, it seemed like Michelle was feeling more like herself. I sat next to her. “You should call whoever was at your house. She was hysterical.”

“Oh, Jesus.” She pulled out her phone and dialed. “Mac? It’s me.” She burst into tears. “I’m fine. Eric got me in time. He took me back to his house. Okay? No, I swear I’m fine. I just need a little time to get over it. I love you, too. Don’t worry about me, okay? I will.” She hung up. “Mac says thank you so much. She wants to meet you for real one day.”

“Me, too,” I said. “Can you tell me what happened?”

She swallowed a few times, then opened her mouth. “They pulled me into the van when I was about to get into a cab to come back here.” She turned to me, and her eyes were wide and wet with tears. “I had to see my mom. I couldn’t leave her for so long without seeing her.”

“I know, I know. You didn’t have a choice. Then what happened?”

“Then…the van pulled up, and the guy threw me in, and they took off. They knew you. At least the driver did. He asked me if I knew you, too. That was just to distract me, I guess. Then, in the van…” She trailed off and started weeping.

“Did they do anything to you? Did they hurt you?” My hands were clenched into fists, but I held myself under control so that I wouldn’t scare her.

She shook her head. “No, no. They talked about it, though.” She leaned against me and sobbed hard. I held her tight, thanking the God I didn’t know that I was able to get to her in time. It was a fucking miracle that it all came together the way it did.

“What did they talk about? Can you say it, or would you rather forget it?”

She sniffled. “They said they were going to…take turns with me…before they killed me.” She shook from head to toe, and I pulled her closer. I wished we had killed the pigs instead of riding away. They didn’t deserve to live.

“Did they say anything about who they were with? Like, did they mention names? Did you see patches?”

“No—I looked, too. But I didn’t see anything. The man with the gun…he did say that his boss wanted to meet me. He wanted to know if I knew anything about him…because…oh, right. Because I was friends with a man he doesn’t like.” She paused. “I assumed that meant you.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” I said. My teeth were clenched so hard, I could barely talk.

She shuddered. “Oh my God, I thought I was dead. I prayed that they would kill me fast. Isn’t that sick? But it was all I could keep thinking. I didn’t want them to drag it out and make me suffer. I wanted to go fast. I never thought I would think something like that, ever. Be he said the boss was going to take me, and then the rest of them would get a turn. I can’t imagine anything worse than that.”

“I’m so sorry.” It was all I could do, hold her and apologize over and over. Like it was my fault. I felt like it was, really. I was the one who pulled her into my bullshit. I could have let her go, but no. I made her stick around. For what? To be kidnapped?

She calmed down after a long time. It must have been Gareth. There was nobody else who would have thought to do it, nobody else sick enough to terrify a woman that way. He was one step ahead of me, always trying to catch me off guard. I had to get in front of him somehow. He had to know he wasn’t playing with a little kid. I learned a lot in prison, thanks to him.

One thing was for sure: Michelle couldn’t leave the house until I got things settled. I dreaded bringing it up, since I knew she would hate the idea, but it had to be that way. I went back to the living room, where she flipped through channels like a zombie.

“Send your friend Mac a message. Tell her I’m sending a pair of my guys to the house to keep an eye on her and your mom. Also, tell her I want you to stay here with me until this blows over. Okay?”

I expected a fight. I expected her to jump up and give me a list of reasons why there was no way she was going to stay with me. I couldn’t lock her up, I couldn’t tell her what to do, she was a smart, independent person who could make her own decisions. That was what I braced myself for.

Instead, she pulled out her phone and sent a text. “Done,” she said.

“Just like that?”

She frowned. “What did you think I would say?”

“I didn’t think you would go along so fast.” I sat across from her on a chair by the TV. “I thought you would hate having to stay here with me.”

She sighed deeply and looked at her lap. “I would have, before this happened. I really would have. I was pretty mad at you as I was leaving my house. But now? I just need you to protect me. Okay? I know none of this would happen if it wasn’t for you, but I know it’s not your fault, too. It’s whatever people you’re fighting with, or whatever’s happening. I don’t know anything about it. I just know that I need to feel safe. Okay?” Tears filled her eyes. Something about her voice made it sound like she was pleading with me. All I wanted was to gather her up and hold her and keep the world away from her forever.

I nodded. “Okay.” I moved closer, sitting next to her. She curled up and leaned against me, and we watched TV for hours. I didn’t do anything except put an arm around her shoulders, and she seemed to appreciate it.

We spent the rest of the day like that, going back and forth between movies and TV shows. I ordered food. I got up a few times to take phone calls. At one point, my phone rang. It was Spike. I hurried out of the room to take the call.

“What’s up?” I answered.

“We have a few guys on the streets, asking their contacts if they heard anything about a kidnapping gone wrong,” he said.

“And?”

“It was Gareth, of course.”

I groaned. “Of course. I half hoped it was somebody else trying to pin it on him. Do we know the names of the guys who did it?”

“No. Nobody seems to know that. I wouldn’t worry too much about that part if I were you. If you take Gareth down, you take down the entire club.” He wasn’t kidding. They were all a bunch of stupid, mindless thugs who did what he told them to do but couldn’t have an original thought if their lives depended on it. No way any of them could take over the club.

“I know. Still, it doesn’t make me feel much better to know they’re doing whatever they want tonight. Between Slash and Michelle, they have to pay dearly for what they did.”

“I know what you mean.” He paused. “How is she?”

I glanced into the living room. She was curled up on the couch, picking at a few leftover dumplings. I was glad to see she had an appetite. “She’s okay. I think she is, anyway. It’ll take a little time. I just wanna make sure she feels safe. After long enough, she’ll believe it.”

“What’s her name?”

“Michelle.”

“Tell Michelle we’ll get these fuckers for her. They didn’t do anything to her, did they?”