Raw: The Ultimate Mc Collection (156 page)

I was also starving for food.  I hadn’t eaten a thing yesterday, and after a shower, and more sex, food was very high on the list of what my body was demanding from me.

Once I realized there was absolutely no food in the kitchen, I put on my still damp clothes and went searching for Jett.  I needed food and I needed it fast.

I was grateful the rain had let up, and the fine mistiness of what was falling now was refreshing.  I found the trail behind the cabin, and strolled down it, taking in the scenery as I went along.  Jett had certainly picked a beautiful spot.  The forest was lush and beautiful.  It was pristine, the trees bursting with life.  I half expected to see a deer bolting through the trees.

But I didn’t.  I saw something entirely different.

I saw Sam’s body first.  I blinked my eyes several times as I stared down at her.  The brutality of it all seemed so out of place in such a peaceful paradise, and once I realized it was Sam, I was even more confused.

When I saw a coffee cup lying broken in a puddle of coffee ten feet away, my heart fell.

“Fuck!”  I yelled, my scream echoing through the trees.

****

I ran up and down every nearby trail I could find, yelling Jett’s name until I was hoarse.  There was one more car by the cabin, and a quick look in the purse on the passenger’s seat told me it was Sam’s car.  So, either she came with someone or they were on foot with Jett.

I had no idea what had happened, all I could do was assume Crazy Jack had Jett.  I had never been more terrified in all my life, and after running for a straight hour through the trails, I stopped and pulled my phone out of my pocket, trying in vain to catch my breath.

When Rusty answered, I had never been happier to hear his voice.

“We’re on our way, Colt, hang tight, brother.  We’ll find her. I promise.”  He hadn’t asked any questions, other than the address.  He hadn’t hesitated one second.  He knew I needed him and he was coming.  That was what our club was all about.  Loyalty.  If one brother was in danger, we all were.  

It would take them at least an hour to get there, and I needed to keep looking.  I ran back to the cabin, grabbed my gun that I should have kept with me all along, and headed back out into the forest.

There weren’t any other tire tracks other than Sam’s car leading in, so I was convinced that Jack and Jett were on foot. Eventually, I went off the trails, following along the river, my eyes scanning both sides for another house, a car, anything.  

I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to Jett, so I pushed all my fear to the back of my mind, and tried to pretend this was just business.  That I didn’t love her.  That she didn’t mean everything in the whole fucking world to me.

****

An hour and a half later, the roar of a gang of motorcycles echoed through the trees, and I ran back to the cabin. I had been searching in vain for so long that panic was setting in.  Hearing those hogs breaking through the stillness of the forest, and then tearing through the trees and seeing them pulling into the driveway, was like an oasis.

“Any luck, brother?” Rusty asked as he took off his helmet.

“No.  I’ve looked down every trail I can find.  Fucker’s got her, Rusty!  I can’t fucking believe this, man.”

“Try to hold it together, brother.  We’ll find her, okay?  Listen, we saw a car about a half a mile away, hidden in some trees on a turnoff off the highway.  Looked a little out of place to me, so we checked it out real quick.  Doesn’t look good, man.  There’s ropes and a bunch of guns in the trunk.”

“Oh, fuck…”

“Yeah, so why don’t we go back, and start from there.”

“He killed Sam.  She’s lying on the trail up there,” I said, gesturing behind me.

“Sam? Seriously? Fuck, dude means business.  I don’t think we can spare another minute, man.  Let’s go to that car and follow the trails there.”

We jumped back on our bikes, the other brothers riding along behind us as Rusty led the way.  When we found the car, we turned our bikes off and jumped off.  Rusty had brought five other men, and the seven of us scoured every inch of that vehicle.  When I saw the name on the registration, I knew I had been right.  Jack Anderson.

Crazy Jack.

“Fuck!  It’s him.  He’s got her.  If his car is here, then they gotta be close.  Let’s keep searching.  We’re gonna have to go on foot, though,” I said.

The seven of us thundered through the woods like a storm of leather, going down trail after trail after trail.

Rusty and I walked together silently, and I was grateful he wasn’t trying to talk to me.  I couldn’t think about anything else until I found Jett.  It was agonizing, this fruitless searching going on and on while I could only imagine what Jack was doing to her, what she was going through, how scared she must be.

And it was all my fault.

Once again, I had failed her.

This time, I had failed her miserably.  All I could do was hope that I could somehow make it up to her someday.

****

Two hours later, we came upon a cluster of three cabins hidden deep in the forest.  They must have been forest cabins, there were no roads leading into them at all.  When I saw a light flickering in one of the windows, my heart filled with hope.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

JETT

Roughly, he dragged me through the woods to a cabin miles from my own.  It seemed to take forever to get there, but when he pushed me inside, he pushed me so hard I fell to my knees.  I suddenly wished we were back out in the woods.  The thought of being locked inside four walls with this crazy freak sickened me.

When I heard him slide the lock in place, my stomach dropped.  I had to get out of here.  I didn’t know what his fucked up, insane plan was, but I was determined to not be a part of it.

He grabbed my arm again, his gun pointed straight at my chin as he made me sit in a chair in the brightly lit kitchen.  Immediately, he began tying my arms and legs to the chair.  I started to struggle, but he pressed the gun right into my temple, and I stopped.  

I was going to have to use my brain to get me out of this, as I had already determined before he killed Sam.

Sam. How could she possibly be behind this?  How could she possibly be dead?

I found myself wishing this was all a horrible nightmare, and I would soon find myself waking up once again in the safety of Colt’s arms.

Colt.  I knew he must be beside himself with fear by now.  He would find Sam’s body, and know something was wrong.  He would find me.  He just had to.

After Jack tied me up, he taped my mouth shut before I could even try to convince him to let me loose again.  I knew it was no use anyway.  He was determined, insane, and apparently very focused on whatever his plan was.  I was trying desperately to not imagine what that entailed.

He disappeared for almost an hour.  I struggled to get out of my restraints, but he had tied expert knots, and they wouldn’t budge an inch.  It was the longest hour of my life.

My whole life seemed to pass before my eyes as I sat there, trying to think of anything other than the horrific reality of the situation I was in.

I thought of my childhood, my mother’s high hopes for her only child.  I was the only chance she had at ever making something of her life, and she knew it.  She wasn’t completely awful, she had her sweet moments.  We had some fun along the way.  But after I had my breakthrough she had turned into an entirely different person.  The money got to her.  She had grown up so poor, that acquiring money had become like a toxic addiction to her.  We all had our addictions, though, didn’t we?  

I did.  That’s what had gotten me into this entire mess.  If I had only found a way to keep the bottle from my lips, none of this would have happened.  Crazy Jack wouldn’t have had an opportunity to kill Jesse, because I wouldn’t have made Colt sleep with me.  He would have been right by the door, he would have been able to hear it.  And if Jesse hadn’t died, I wouldn’t have fled to the cabin.  And if I hadn’t fled to the cabin, Sam wouldn’t be dead.  And Colt wouldn’t have been going through the torture that I knew he must be wracked with right now while he was surely searching for me.

This was all my fault.  Whatever this freak had in store for me, I surely deserved it.

I was lost in my thoughts when I finally heard the clicking of shoes walking down the hallway.  I turned my head and my mind almost exploded in disbelief.

Crazy Jack was wearing some sort of costume.  He had a coarse black wig on, the fake locks flowing around his shoulders in a glossy sheen.  His face was thickly covered in makeup, his eyes lined in heavy black eyeliner, and a familiar dark red shade of lipstick was smeared on his lips.  When I looked closer, I saw he was wearing a black leather jacket that looked exactly like my old one.  When I saw the tiny rip on the right arm, I gasped. That was my jacket!  How in the fuck had he gotten my jacket?

I shuddered in fear, as I watched him walk over to me, his stride unsteady on the tall, black pumps he was wearing.  He looked ridiculous.

He looked insane.

He leaned down, and I caught a whiff of lavender.  My lavender perfume.  How did he know what perfume I wore?  When his face was merely inches from my mind, he smiled, his teeth disgustingly covered in red lipstick.

“What do you think, Jett? Do I look like you?”  He stood up and spun around, stumbling in the heels before he caught himself on the kitchen counter.  

“Or do I look like a dirty whore? Maybe both, hmm?”

I shook my head in disbelief.  

“Maybe both, because that’s what you are! That’s what you’ve become, Jett. I’ve been so disappointed with you lately, do you know that?” he asked, cocking a hip and putting a hand on his hip. “You’ve been whoring around with devils, rolling around in filth and covering yourself in sin.  You’ve disgusted me, Jett.”

“And it’s not fair!” His voice began to rise in anger, and I began shaking.  “I love you, Jett!  You saved me, you know? All those years on the battlefield, all those days you sang to me while I killed those men?  And afterwards? It was you that cleansed my soul every time.  Now, I’m here to return the favor.  You’re clean, deep down, Jett.  I just know it.  They haven’t ruined you, there’s still hope.”

I felt like I was going to be sick as I watched him begin to pace around the room.  

“You know it didn’t have to end like this.  Oh, but not that this is the end.  I mean, it’s really just the beginning for us.  But if you had just kept your legs closed, if you had stayed pure like I know you are deep down inside, then we wouldn’t have to go through this.”

He disappeared again, this time up the stairs, almost tripping as he went up them.  I heard him rummaging around up there, and then I heard the sound of water running.  When he came back down, he had taken the shoes off and with a strength I didn’t know he possessed, he picked me up, chair and all, and carried me up the stairs.

The bed was turned down, and he had lit candles all around the room.  They glimmered in the darkness, the only other light coming from the attached bathroom.  There weren’t any windows, and I almost couldn’t see at first.  He put me down just outside the bathroom door, and when I saw the items laid out on the counter in there, I began to struggle against the ropes again, desperately wanting to escape.

Neatly lined up in a row, I saw scissors, razors, steel wool, a steel brush, an assortment of cleansers - bleaches, floor strippers, ammonia, alcohol, peroxide - along with hairbrushes and makeup.  The tub was filled with steaming water.

He laughed at my efforts to free myself, and once again I felt the gun pressed to the back of my head.  

“Don’t be silly, sweetheart. But of course you would think you could escape.  You don’t know who I am, do you? I’m Sergeant Jack Anderson, a decorated member of the U.S. Army, my dear.  I possess excellent skills, you know.  You’d be impressed if I named all the awards I’ve won. But I won’t bore you with the details.  Just rest assured you aren’t going anywhere, so don’t even try.  You’re going to be purified right now, and that’s that.”

He walked into the bathroom, and grabbed the scissors.  Returning to where he had placed the chair I was strapped to, he went around behind me, and gathered my hair in his hands.  I cringed, and when I heard the first snips of the scissors, I knew he was cutting my hair.  Tears began to roll down my face and the terror continued to fill my heart.

“This hair…it’s filthy.  It’s touched so many filthy people.” He was muttering to himself behind me.  When he was done, my beloved locks were lying on the ground below me like a pile of dead snakes.