Chapter Six

Cash

Lying in bed like we were, with Minx resting her head on my bare chest, one leg and arm flung across my body, it almost felt like we were more than whatever the fuck we were. Something normal, like a couple I guess. The only sounds in the room was our heavy breathing as it returned to normal.

There was that fucking word again.

Normal.

I didn’t know what it was or why it loomed so big between us, but I didn’t want to think about it. I only wanted to think about the soft strip of skin my hand moved up and down in a slow, soothing motion. The fact that she didn’t smack my hand away was a good sign. Then her soft voice broke through the quiet.

“I was thirteen-years-old. Hanging out at the park with my friend, Chloe, practicing our soccer skills for tryouts the next week. This lady came up to us and she looked normal, like she could have been one of my mom’s church friends with her mom jeans and short flipped out hairdo, so I didn’t think anything of it when she said her daughter was missing. Stupid me offered to help her look.” Her voice shook and her hand trembled in circles on my stomach. “By the time I realized we were too far from the park it was too late. She’d already shoved me into the back of a windowless van. Sometimes, at night, I can still hear the sound of those tires peeling away from the curb. In a big-ass hurry even though no one was chasing us.”

Her voice barely contained any emotions. It was rote, almost robotic but I didn’t dare interrupt. Sharing this was a big step, and I refused to fuck it up.

“That night we stopped at a house somewhere, I don’t know, but we hadn’t been on the road more than a few hours because it had just gone dark when we got there. Maybe we were still in Indiana, but I didn’t know. They put me in a room with ten other girls ranging in age from nine to sixteen. It was pitch black and there were no windows and just a few buckets in the room for us. As toilets.”

I held her tighter but bit my tongue to mask the anger building in my gut on her behalf. She didn’t need that right now. This was her shit, not mine.

“I got moved around the east coast for a while, New York. That’s where they made sure I knew…who was boss. It took a couple months, a few busted ribs and a concussion to learn, but I did. Then I spent some time in Chicago. It was really bad there, but I couldn’t let myself succumb to the drugs like the other girls. As long as I did what I was told, they didn’t force them into me. Then there was Denver, Albuquerque, Vegas and Portland. When Magnus found me in the back of that truck I was headed to Mexico.”

She fell silent for so long, and I felt like a jackass because I had no clue what to say to her. It explained so much about her quirks, but fuck, it also broke my heart for her. Made me angry enough to use my military skills to exact revenge for her. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, baby.”

“Yeah, me, too,” she sighed, and then rested her chin on the hand over my heart so she could look at me. “Do you know you’re the only person I’ve ever had sex with that I wanted to? Ever?”

Damn, there was nothing else she could have said to get to me. Fuck. I felt honored that she’d given herself to me, but I didn’t want her to stay in that dark place. Not for me. “It’s because I’m so irresistible,” I joked and tightened my grip on her, smacking a kiss on her forehead. “I can’t say I’m not glad you chose me, but fuck, I want to kill the pieces of shit who did this to you.”

She gave a wistful smile. “Good luck. That’s all I dreamed about my first year out. But I don’t know anyone’s real names or addresses, so I gave up. I guess the shit today just brought it all to the surface.” She blew out a long, shaky breath and pushed off me before sliding from the bed. “Now you know my story,” she said, and moments later I heard her in the kitchen. She stayed there for a few minutes and I let her, gave her the distance she needed after that.

“Thank you for telling me,” I told her when she returned to bed with two glasses of water in her hands.

“Thanks for coming to check on me.” She flashed a smile and placed her head on my chest again, this time right over my heart.

I opened my mouth to say something, hell to say anything. To tell her I would always check on her, but I didn’t. I didn’t know what she needed—wanted—to hear. By the time I found the words, her breathing was slow and deep. She’d fallen asleep. I gently tucked us under the blankets and held her tight through a restless, fitful sleep.

She cried out, kicked, and twitched in her sleep, and I realized why she never let me stay the night. And suddenly it all became so fucking clear I could have kicked myself for not realizing it sooner. Why she didn’t have food delivered and why this little cottage had a tricked out surveillance system.

Yeah, it made sense, but what the fuck was I supposed to do with it?

***

“You haven’t heard from her at all?”

I shook my head, pissed off and confused as hell about Minx’s disappearance. In the passenger seat of Mick’s old ass truck, I sulked as we headed to a town just over the border for our meeting with Lazarus. “Nope, she was quiet but fine the last time I saw her.” Which was the morning after she revealed her past to me. We made love on and off throughout the night, and she made me breakfast before kicking me out with a kiss that I could still feel on my lips. “I blame myself,” I told Mick. I was too fucking focused on whether or not I could handle what she had said that I didn’t pay as much attention as I should have. She couldn’t have been fine after reliving all that.

And I’d done fuck all to help her.

“Talon said she left a note.”

“Yeah.” It just said, “Thanks for everything. I need to clear my mind for a while. That was it. No promise to fucking return or check in. Nothing. Just peace out, see ya when I fucking see ya. Adios, motherfucker.”

“Can you handle it? I think you better figure that out before she comes back.”

If she comes back. “I can handle a lot. What I can’t fucking handle is running.”

Mick’s sigh said he thought I was a dumb shit. “Her parents never found her, and as far as she knows never even looked for her. No one saved her until Magnus, and even he left.”

Well shit. I hadn’t thought of it like that. “Eyes up.” I didn’t have time to worry about it now that we closed in on our destination. I didn’t fucking trust Lazarus as far as I could throw his little Mexican ass, and if he wanted to try some shit, we would be ready. Lazarus and four of his men leaned against a black SUV, smoking and laughing when we pulled up in front of the meeting spot. It was near a crowded market which made it difficult to watch our backs, but the objective here was simple. Keep an eye on Roddick and Lazarus.

We stepped from the truck, and the man’s face lit up. “Gentlemen, to what do I owe this pleasure?”

Before we could say a word, Roddick rode up on his bike and dismounted, slowly ambling to where we stood with Lazarus just inches from us. “Lazarus. We got some news you might want to hear, amigo.”

“I’m listening,” he said in that deep heavily accented voice that was just a touch girly.

“Word on the street is that your new transport is selling your shit on the side.”

“Not possible,” Lazarus laughed and rolled his eyes. Lazarus stood tall and brushed his way too long hair from his eyes, but the lines around his eyes were tight.

“Tell that to the Black Bastards and Grim Reapers. Hell, you can even ask the Dragons.” He named a few of the other clubs in the area, and I saw the lines around Lazarus’ mouth tighten.

His eyes flared at the last name because they’d gone to war two years ago with the Dragons over the synthetic drugs the Chinese were selling. The war killed Lazarus’ young brother, Julio. “The fuck you say?”

“You heard me,” Roddick told him. “You did me a solid recently, so I’m returning the favor. That’s all.” He walked away and hopped on his bike.

“Gracias,” he called out, laughing when Roddick only waved in return.

Mick and I jumped back in the truck and followed Rod, along with the other guys we had nearby, back to Brently. We didn’t even have time to get comfortable before I spotted it. “Burning rubber, two o’clock,” I said, and Mick went on alert as I knew he would. In the desert, the enemies always staged a distraction right before an attack.

Mick groaned and flashed his lights up ahead to signal the rest of them that trouble was brewing. “Fucking fuck!” He smacked the steering wheel when Roddick fell off his bike a quarter mile up the road. “Shit!”

We caught up to them quickly, all the guys surrounding Roddick to protect him from the bullets flying across the highway. I jumped out and went around to the driver’s side with my gun in hand, opening fire and shielding the guys so they could get Roddick to the truck without being hit. I heard an anguished grunt and knew one of them had been hit. I emptied my clip just to be sure then hopped in the back with Roddick while Mick raced back to the clubhouse.

The truck came to a screeching halt outside the clubhouse, and we carried Roddick inside. We had a medical room in the back and put him on the bed, cutting off his jeans and getting him some water. We all knew the fucking drill, but it didn’t mean we weren’t worried about our Prez. “Go get Cherie,” I yelled. She was a nurse and Baz’s older sister which meant she knew how to be discreet. We paid for discreet.

“She’s on her way already,” Baz said as he rushed in with towels, an IV drip, and Jack Daniels. “How you holdin’ up, Prez?”

“Just fucking great, Baz,” he said, smiling around a grimace. “Don’t I look it?”

“Pretty as ever, bro. Just a tad bloody for my taste,” he said as blood soaked through Roddick’s shirt.

Roddick laughed and pulled the cap off the bottle of Jack. “Ah, thanks.” He offered a smile and smacked his lips, chugging back a heavy swig. “Bullet went out, so I’ll be good,” he said after Jack started to work his legendary magic.

“All right, Roddick, what have you got for me?” Cherie rushed in all soft blonde curls and no nonsense attitude.

“You finally get a peek at these sexy legs,” he joked, making her do the impossible. Smile.

“Easier ways to show off, you know?” She had her gloves on and bent low to examine the wound.

“We’re going back for your bike, Rod. You’re in good hands,” Mick told him with an amused smile.

“Be careful,” he told us, but his gaze stayed on me. “Get my bike and then go deal with your shit because you know what this means.”

I knew what he was saying, and I nodded before I spoke the word we were all thinking but no one had said. “War.”