Rig
“Ineed you to do this one last favor for me before it’s too late.” I lean against the hood of my car, tossing the wrench onto the workbench when silence meets me on the other end of the phone. “Pike, I’m running out of time.”
I’m fucking desperate and I know he can hear it in my tone, I’m practically begging here.
“We shouldn’t even be talking over the phone. It’s too dangerous. If he finds out…” Pike trails off, his voice raspy because he knows that if Payne finds out… we’re both dead.
“This will be my last favor, brother. He’s watching her too closely. I thought I had time but she’s growing into a woman now. You know what that means. Especially since she doesn’t look like him. Everyone can see it, man. I’ve run out of options.” I run my hand through my long hair, noticing the grey strands that weren't there a few years ago.
Time is flying by. I’m not as young as I used to be, nor am I strong enough to take care of my most important treasure.
“When?” That’s all Pike says as he draws out a long breath.
“I’d say right fucking now but too many eyes on her at the moment. That fucking kid keeps following her around even when she doesn’t notice. I don’t like it, the way he stares at her. Fucking hell, I’ve even told him to stay away from her but he just looks at me with these dead, blue eyes.” I push off the hood of the car and start to pace while looking left and right to make sure the garage is empty.
“I’ll see what I can do. This is my last favor, my friend. I have my own club to worry about, I can’t start a war with Payne. Hell’s Devils doesn’t compare in numbers. Plus my boy is the only thing left I have and I’m not willing to lose him no matter what.” Pike gets straight to the point, telling me that he’ll cut all connections for the sake of his son.
“I understand. Just find me a way for her to disappear, a place where he can’t find her. She’ll be sixteen soon and I don’t want this life for her. She’s already seen the hardships and the way the world works by being here at the compound. I want something better for her where she’ll never have to fear or look over her shoulder.” I pause at the sound of the garage door opening, heading over to the bay doors and finding no one there but the empty parking lot.
“Give me a week.” Pike lets out a heavy sigh over the phone. I can picture him opening his desk drawer and pulling out a bottle of whiskey.
Being the president of a motorcycle club ages you fast, it’s one thing after another but I’m glad he has my back. I’ll always owe him for what he did sixteen years ago but I might just owe him my life now. I hear a bang and whip my head towards the sound only to find that kid staring at me from across the lot by the fire barrels.
“A Demon Jokers owes you one. I have to go.” I end the call without looking away from him, his face cast in shadows from the dancing flames of the fire as he lights a cigarette.
He inhales and holds it in for a second too long before blowing the smoke towards my direction. Blue eyes hold mine without blinking and I swear I see a crack of a smile before he tosses the bud of his cigarette into the fire and walks back into the building without looking back.
I lean my shoulder against the garage door opening as the psychopath kid walks away, I rub my hand over my chest, the pressure tight.
Fucking Cruz.
Gazing around, I make sure my precious treasure isn’t hanging around with Cruz and sigh with relief when I don’t see her outside. Feeling my heart racing, I grab the chain-link above my head and close up the garage bay door before heading inside. I have to keep an eye on her at all times; something keeps telling me that she’s going to get hurt and I won’t be here to save her.
Impending doom.
Tillie
Why does the sound of a zipper being lowered hit me like a gunshot going off and make my whole body shake like the end of a rattlesnake’s tail? I hate how the mind can be triggered by just a smell, a word, or a sound. Fuck if the noise of Payne’s pants zipper slowly lowering doesn’t make my mouth burn with bile. What’s happening to me this very minute, seconds from being violated again, has my limbs frozen in stark fear. Everything he just said is whipping through my brain, trying to cut me open to get into my mind and leave me stuck with only my own voice to keep me company.
“Wh–what do you mean? I don’t… No! You’re lying...” I trail off on a broken whisper, my body going completely flush until it feels like someone dropped a bucket of ice-cold water over me and leaving the meat suit I’m wearing numb.
It’s like I’ve been placed in a body that isn’t mine and I’m left with not knowing who I am. I should be jumping for joy, thanking a faceless God that Payne isn’t my father. Instead, I feel cheated. Why have me go through the same torment all those years, making me feel like I’ve only been a piece of trash placed in front of him when in reality I could have had a father that would cherish me? It’s funny how life works that way but I’m still not laughing. Maybe the loud, crazed laughter echoing around the kitchen is mine but who knows? It could all just be in my head because I truly think I’m crashing at a rapid speed, watching everything in slow motion just before I realize it’s all happening within a blink of an eye. I’m almost at the point of not caring what the outcome is anymore.
“You think my daughter would be a slut like you? You’re just like your mother, willing to open her legs for anyone, and now I’ll be ripping through your tight pussy to get a taste of what’s mine. I fed you, clothed you, put a roof over your goddamn head. It’s only fair I sink my dick into what I rightfully own,” Payne taunts while sliding a knife through the back strap of my bra and leaving me naked except for the thin pair of underwear that I wish was glued to my body.
“Is that why you let your men rape me? Make me feel like I was nothing? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.” I keep repeating that one stupid word like a scratched record as the back of my neck is held down by the palm of Payne’s hand.
I guess I have my answer as to why I’ve always called him by his first name instead of Dad. He never felt like one and didn’t deserve the title. My gaze connects with Dalton’s and I realize I’ve been staring at him this whole time while losing my mind. Maybe this is just a horrible nightmare, where all my truths come out to play while the guy with the violet eyes watches my past repeat itself right in front of him as he slowly bleeds to death.
Please don’t die. Don’t die in front of me like this.
“Tillie.” Payne grabs my neck and roughly brings me to a standing position with my back arched as my bra slides down my arms, exposing my breasts to Whiskey and Poe and their disgusting, lust-filled eyes. “You are nothing. I just had to remind you and set an example. You can thank your whore of a mother for that.” His voice is like slick oil on my skin that I desperately want to wash off.
If I could, I’d vomit all over the quartz counters but I can’t even draw in a proper breath to try. Lead sits heavy in my stomach and the sharp, stinging pain that trails down my collarbone to my hip bone tells me I’m wide awake. Maybe if I focus on something to block out everything, I can live through this again. Why would I want to though? What more is there for me? I remember that stupid fucking nail in the basement ceiling and how it gave me the sanity to escape but that part of my mind I hold onto is going to crack this time around.
My body was used like a rag doll, being tossed and turned on numb limbs as if my body wasn’t my own. I really did die that day. The only thing that my eyes connect with are Dalton’s and it’s the sheer madness, uncontrolled rage shining in his gaze that grounds me.
It says fight.
