“You hungry?”

“No.” Penni rested her bruised cheek on her knee. Curling into a ball, she tried to ignore the man standing in the doorway of the room she had been dragged into.

After the intimidating biker president had forced her into the back seat of her car, she had watched as they had used fuel from their own bikes to start the sluggish motor.

She had made sure to look out the window so she could remember the way she had been taken. That’s what kidnapping victims do, Penni had told herself despite the darkness out her window making it difficult to spot any signs she could use to find help.

“Hennessy’s not going to give a fuck if you’re hungry or not.” Cruz placed the take-out bag on the bottom of the bed she was sitting on.

Penni lifted her head to glare at the biker who had uncaringly forced her into the messy bedroom that made her skin crawl at the thought of the germs she guessed were on the filthy mattress.

She was tempted to reach out with her foot and kick the food into his face.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.”

Penni arrogantly sniffed the air as he bent over to grab the bag. Reaching inside, he pulled out a hamburger and took a large bite of the cholesterol ridden burger that had her wishing Shade and The Last Riders were there to rip out his clogged arteries before letting her dance on what was left of his heart.

“I’m not frightened of you or your men.” Penni stubbornly stuck out her chin. “A smart man would let me go.”

Cruz wiped his greasy hand on his jeans. “I’ve never been accused of being smart.”

“That’s a shocker.”

Penni included the dark man entering the bedroom into her fierce glare.

“You threatening my men again?”

She clenched her fingers on her thigh. “If you know what’s good for you—”

Hennessy’s laughter had Penni ready to jump off the bed to claw out his eyes.

“My brother and his friends are going to make you wish you had never been born.”

“Let me guess; he will come for you, and he will kill me? Does he have a particular skill that I need to be worried about?”

If the man standing at the bottom of the bed hadn’t been holding her captive, Penni would have found him very attractive. Even Lily and Grace, whom she considered her BFFs, would find him attractive, and they each had handsome men keeping them warm.

“Actually, he does,” Penni taunted. “He damn sure has more men at his back than I saw riding with you.”

Hennessy’s smile disappeared. In a split second, he was bent over the bed and over her.

Penni winced as his hand clenched her jaw. Bravely, she stared up into his eyes.

“Your brother belongs to a motorcycle club?”

“Maybe,” she spat out.

“Is that why you were at the Hay and Fiddle?”

“No. My brother wouldn’t be interested in a club like yours,” she retorted.

“What’s the name of your brother’s club?”

Penni snapped her mouth closed as Hennessy intentionally lowered his body over hers. She didn’t give in to the body braced over hers. Men pissed her off when they used that dominating bullshit.

Their eyes refused to back down from each other’s.

“She’s lying.”

Penni didn’t look his way when Cruz spoke from her side. She had no expectations of him interfering with whatever Hennessy planned to do with her.

“She’s not lying,” Hennessy stated, staring down at her. “It’s only a matter of time before I find out, anyway. I gave Apoc your driver’s license.”

Penni had seen him searching through her purse when she had been shoved into the backseat of her car. She had no intention of giving him any information on The Last Riders; she wasn’t an idiot. Thank God Shade and she didn’t share the same last name. She was sure Hennessy would eventually find out, though. Hopefully before then, she would be back home, or Shade would find out she was missing.

“Good luck,” Penni snarled. “You need to let me go before my brother finds out I’m missing, or you and your men will get seriously hurt.”

She shivered at the menacing twist of his lips.

“I can take anything your brother wants to dish out.”

“Really? He wouldn’t be your only problem.” Her cheek was beginning to sting from the pressure he was exerting on her face. She forced herself to hold still as he settled even more weight on top of her.

“You’re just filled with surprises. You want to tell me who else will be looking for me?”

“What? And spoil the surprises?” She let her mocking smile slip to a serious expression. “Listen, I really don’t give a damn what was going down with your men. Just let me go. I’ll go home, and you’ll never hear from me again.”

“And I’m supposed to believe you?”

“Yeah, I haven’t been hurt. Why would I care about a dead biker?”

“Sorry, but that’s not going to work for me.” Hennessy eased his grip on her cheek. His touch became a caress as he trailed a calloused palm over her throat before covering the beating pulse at the base of her throat.

“Why not?” Penni had a sinking feeling she wasn’t going to like his answer.

He released her abruptly and stood next to Cruz. “Did you forget about Striker?”

Penni lowered her eyes. “What about him?”

“Don’t play games with me.” He angrily moved toward her again, but Cruz gripped his arm. Hennessy shook him off, taking several minutes to straighten his jacket.

Cruz gave her a warning nod of his to tread carefully with the man who seemed to have reached the end of his temper with her.

Penni turned to sit on the side of the bed. “I’m not playing. I told you I could recognize him.”

“See? You can help.” He brushed his leg up against hers, not letting her move away from him. “You help me, and then I can help you. If I don’t find Striker, the cartel I bought the drugs from will wipe out my club. So you can see the pussies from your brother’s pretend motorcycle club are the least of my problems.”

“What do you need me to do?” Penni asked, knowing she only needed to keep herself safe until Shade found her.

“I told you she was a smart girl, Cruz.” He kept his gaze directed on her. “All I need from you is to go for a ride.”

Seeing the surprise she made no effort to hide, Hennessy stepped back, giving her a reprieve from the forcefulness of his presence.

“It won’t be so bad. You might even have some fun.”

“You’ll let me go home when I show you Striker?”

She didn’t miss the sarcastic exchange between them that Hennessy and Cruz thought she was too stupid to recognize.

“It seems I don’t have a choice, do I?” She sighed.

“No, you don’t.”

Penni firmed her chin. She was determined to show him that he needed her until he could find Striker. “It seems we’re stuck with each other, then. I’m hungry.”

Both men were surprised at her sudden change of conversation.

“I thought you fed her.”

Cruz gave her an angry glare at Hennessy’s question. “She refused to eat, so I ate it for her.”

“I’m a vegetarian.”

“Go get her something else to eat,” Hennessy ordered then gave her a hard stare. “I have better things to do than send out my men on your errands. Next time, tell him what you want, or you’ll go hungry.”

Penni nodded, and then the men left the room without saying anything else to her.

Left alone, she was tempted to pick the lock, but she had already seen the man standing on the other side of the door when they had entered her room.

The room only held the bed and an adjoining bathroom. She had searched furtively through the drawers in the bathroom without success. There was no escape from the prison that she had been locked into. All odds of coming out unscathed were against her.

Penni did what she always did when she felt overwhelmed. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her worries into her hands then threw them out into the vastness of the cosmic wilderness. The situation she was facing seemed bleak, but Penni’s brother had faced insurmountable odds when he had been in the service. He had remained alive, not letting them steal his soul when so many men had returned without theirs. She couldn’t do any less. She was a survivor; it ran in their blood.

Penni remembered the name of the club printed on their vests. The Road Kingz didn’t know what was in store for them.