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?”
“No. They didn’t have the chance. Though they wanted to.” I told him what she told me, how they threatened her.
“Jesus Christ. Somebody needs to put these dogs outta their misery.”
“My thoughts exactly,” I said. “And I think I have an idea how we can do it. Come over tomorrow morning and I’ll tell you what I have in mind.”
###
It was bedtime. This was the time of day I was dreading most. I didn’t know what she would expect from me. I wanted to be close to her, but I didn’t want to be closer than she wanted me to be. She’d been through a lot of shit. I couldn’t push my limits. Would she freak out if I got into bed with her? I thought about sleeping on the couch without even bringing up the idea of sharing my bed, but I didn’t want her to be alone if she had a nightmare.
She was ahead of me, though. “You’re coming up with me, right?” she whispered.
“Uh, yeah. If that’s what you want.”
“Please. I can’t be alone tonight.” She sounded like a little girl, completely lost. My heart ached for her. I wanted to hold her, to touch and kiss her. I also wanted to make her pain go away. And I wanted to kill the fuckers who terrorized her the way they did.
I couldn’t do any of those things. I could only be there for her in case she needed me.
“Okay. I’ll stay with you.”
She took a shower, I guessed to get rid of the feeling of the asshole’s hands on her. I reminded myself that I had to chill out. I couldn’t let it get to me so much. I had to be calm for her. She was already too worked up over it. She needed someone who would be calm and level. If I didn’t act like it was a big deal and those assholes needed to die, she wouldn’t keep thinking about it.
I would think about it for the both of us. I knew I would seethe all night. I didn’t expect to sleep. I knew I’d lay there next to her, wide awake, watching in case she had a nightmare. Listening to hear any footsteps or noises outside.
Before she got out of the bathroom, I tucked my semi under my pillow. No way I was taking any chances. Gareth’s men were insane and would do anything their leader told them to do. They would go to any length to get to me, to her, if that was their mission. I never hated anybody as much as I hated them for that.
She came in, drying her hair with a towel, another one tied around her chest. “Thanks for washing the towels, by the way,” I said. “I didn’t thank you for that before. I didn’t thank you for cleaning the house either. It meant a lot.”
She nodded with a smile. “Honestly? I was only doing it to be a bitch.”
“Cleaning my house to be a bitch? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Remind me to piss you off again sometime. My car needs a wash, and my yard needs a little work.”
She snickered. It was good to hear. “Yeah, well, I never said I ever made sense.”
I sat with my back to the headboard, watching her dry her hair and comb it out. It was so long and thick, like the color of dark coffee or chocolate. She noticed me watching and smiled shyly.
“You don’t have a dryer,” she murmured. “I hope you don’t mind damp hair in bed.”
I wanted to make a joke but bit it back. I didn’t think she would appreciate raunchy humor when she was in a good mood, much less right then and there. “It’s fine.”
“Do you mind if we sit up and talk for a little bit? With the light on?”
“I don’t mind.” And I didn’t. I would have sat up all night talking with her if she wanted to. It wasn’t like I planned to go to sleep. If she was talking, she wasn’t thinking about what happened. It was a positive thing, I told myself.
She turned away from me and stood up, and I only glanced over a couple times while she got dressed. She tried to be modest, with her back turned, sliding the panties up her legs with the towel still around her chest. But she had to drop it eventually, and when she did, I caught a look at her full, round ass and hips. I was glad to have a blanket over me, to hide the erection I couldn’t stop.
Then I thought about what would have happened to her body if I hadn’t gotten to her in time. Nothing like that sort of thing to kill a boner. By the time she turned around, wearing a massive nightshirt that reached her knees, I was flaccid again.
She climbed into bed, and I held an arm out for her to move closer to me. The warmth of her body pressing against me felt good. Too good. But I wouldn’t let myself go down that road. I owed it to her to keep it in my pants and be there for her. It was the least I could do.