Farrah

 

I had heard Connor coming up the stairs long before he arrived. Those heavy, steel-tipped boots. His sure, steady gait. I was grateful to him for stopping the mob out there, but I was still afraid of him. He was a Devil’s Wing, loyal only to a club full of cruel, tough men.

 

I wondered if he was coming to ask me about Honi or my aunt.

 

I wondered if he was coming to fuck me. That thought sent both a thrill of fear and excitement in me. I was conflicted, confused, and most of all, exhausted.

 

I needed to find out what the hell was going on with Aunt Venus, Honi, and the envelope. It was just like money laundering: it only worked if you had options and information.

 

The best way to get information, I thought, is a trick.

 

I’d noticed the bizarre, coded locking system as soon as I’d been sealed in the whore room. I needed to know the code, and even though Connor was trying to protect me, I doubted he would share it openly.

 

That would be going against his club.

 

I would need to trick it out of him.

 

There was a mirror on a stand beside the bed--I supposed so their whores could make themselves look pretty, or so that the men could fuck them while watching themselves in the mirror. In a flash, knowing that I had only seconds, I leapt to my feet, moved the mirror across the room, and leapt back into bed. As I moved, I could hear Connor keying in the code outside.

 

The sheets had just closed over me as the door clicked open. I slammed my eyes shut, and, despite my heart hammering, I forced myself to breathe slowly, as if I were asleep.

 

Connor approached. I could sense his throbbing, masculine energy as if it was a smell. He just stood there, contemplating me, watching me sleep, for what felt like forever. I could not bear his gaze any longer. I faked a groan and rolled over.

 

As I did, I allowed my eyes to open a fraction of an inch.

 

His dick! My God, his dick! There it was, bulging inches from my face, huge and powerful and turgid with excitement. It took every ounce of self-control not to gasp with wonder, surprise, and a little fear.

 

That thing could tear a girl apart

 

Instead, I shut my eyes again, and waited.

 

Was he going to fuck me? I felt his breathing fill the air. It was like being trapped in a room with a live bear, just waiting for it to attack you. Then, I heard him mutter, “Aw, fuck it,” and he walked away.

 

Silently, I let out a long sigh of relief.

 

And now, I needed to remember my plan!

 

Connor returned to the door. Normally, the key code would have been out of sight, blocked by Connor’s body. But the mirror was there. It reflected what I could not see, and Connor, thinking I was asleep, openly punched in the numbers.

 

One … three … eight … four … two. Click.

 

The key popped free. Connor opened the door and left.

 

I waited, counting to one hundred before moving from my bed. Who knew if he was coming back? At last, I stood, feeling energized by my new discovery.

 

I knew the code!

 

I glanced out the small window at the apex of the room, which was lined with iron bars, and saw that it was high morning. That would make it harder for me to sneak around.

 

Perhaps I should wait until dark, I thought. But my longing to talk to Aunt Venus was killing me. I was so worried about her and about Honi!

 

Think, Farrah, I told myself. Be smart. That’s what is going to get you through this. Not being rash or stupid.

 

I took a deep breath and decided that, tired as I was, I probably should get some sleep. I would try sneaking out that night, and who know what would be demanded of me then?

 

Or maybe Connor would come back with demands of his own …

 

I shook the thought away. It was distracting.

 

Repeating the code in my head over and over so I wouldn’t forget it, I crawled back into bed and, at long last, allowed myself to go to sleep.

 

# # #

 

I slept for what must have been ten hours, undisturbed. When I awoke, it was pitch black in the room. My stomach was growling angrily, but I ignored it. I had more important things to worry about.

 

Cautiously, I slipped from the bed and tiptoed to the door, my ears perked for the sound of any Devil’s Wings nearby. I didn’t hear anything, so, biting my lip and wincing with every click, I dialed in the code.

 

Pop! The key sprang free! I inserted it into the door and a moment later I was out, freed into a long, dark stairwell.

 

Okay, Farrah, I told myself. You’re out. Now what?

 

I need to call Aunt Venus.

 

She would be able to sort things out, seeing as she’d sent me here anyway. Besides, I wanted to check on her. I knew that she was up to handling any asshole on the police, but still, I worried.

 

But where to find a cellphone?

 

I decided to check the storeroom first. Devil’s Wings could keep their stuff there when going out on dangerous missions. In it would be fake IDs, passports, even wads of emergency cash. I remembered, as a child, looking at all of this in awe, thinking that being in a motorcycle club sounded like a grand adventure.

 

Well, now it was time for my own adventure. Even if it wasn’t grand.

 

I stole a jacket, some pants, and one of those wads of cash, just in case. There were a few guns too, but I decided against taking one. My skills had always been in bank accounts, not shooting, so I had never used one before.

 

Note to self, I thought. Add ‘learn to use a gun’ to your list of life goals.

 

I continued searching. At last! A cell phone! It was one of those cheap, pay-as-you-go kind of things, but I didn’t care. It could connect me with my aunt.

 

I glanced around, making sure there was no one nearby, and dialed. The first number I tried was my aunt’s cellphone.

 

Ten rings later, it went to voicemail.

 

I was about to blurt out, leaving a message asking for help, but some instinct inside me warned against it. Who knew who might be checking the other side? I hung up without saying anything.

 

Next, I called her house phone. That number had been drilled into my memory since I was a child. It was the landline I’d grown up with.

 

Another dead end. By this point, I was beginning to feel nervous. Aunt Venus always answered her phone. She thought of it as good business practice.

 

Finally, I dialed the final place she could be: The Berth.

 

One ring … two rings … three rings …

 

“Hello?”

 

I slammed the disconnect button. That voice! It hadn’t been my aunt’s, but instead was a deep, unsettling male’s. It was a voice I could have sworn I’d heard before.

 

Minghelli.

 

The name popped into my head like a terrible curse word. I had heard that voice before, screaming, “Die, bitch! Die!”

 

I had seen him, head of the Minghelli family, as he strangled Vanessa, one of my aunt’s top whores. It was over Christmas, and I had run away, screaming to myself, “It didn’t happen! It didn’t happen!” By repeating it over and over, and by disappearing to my fancy college, it had been easy to pretend that nothing had happened. That it didn’t exist.

 

But now …

 

The familiarity of those cops. The strange words of the men searching the freezer. The fear in my aunt’s eyes. Suddenly, it all came together.

 

That had not been some routine raid of the police force, making a show that they wanted to shut my aunt down even though they were half her clients. No, I was beginning to realize that this could be something much deeper and much more dangerous.

 

“Aunt Venus!” I gasped. She could be in trouble! Real trouble! The Minghellis were known as brutes.

 

I needed to get to her!

 

Knowing that I was actively defying her orders, I resolved then and there to break out of the Devil’s Wings compound and find my aunt.

 

No matter what.

 

I turned off, then pocketed, the cellphone, wanting to make sure it had charge left if I need it again. I glanced around, looking for a way out.

 

There! A window that wasn’t blocked by iron bars, right beside a shelf.

 

I crept to it, and unhooked the latch. As quietly as I could, I shoved the thing open.

 

Thud. Thud.

 

I heard someone walking in the hallway. They were coming!

 

Like a monkey, I wrapped my hands around the base of the window, which was just level with my forehead, and swung myself up, using the shelf as both a ladder and support.

 

Thud. Thud. The steps were coming closer! I didn’t have much time.

 

With a wiggle, a squirm, and a wrench of all my muscles, I managed to pull myself through. The tip of my toes disappeared just as the walker entered the room, and I was out.

 

“Ouch!” I fell five feet onto grass. Then, silence.

 

The walker was approaching the window. I bit my lip, forcing myself not to breath.

 

“Assholes,” I heard him mutter. “They’re letting the fucking AC out.”

 

He slammed it shut and walked away.

 

“Christ,” I breathed, giving myself a moment to collect myself before leaping to my feet.

 

Where to now? I thought. I closed my eyes, thinking and listening.

 

Nearby, I heard the muffled roar of a highway, not far through the woods.

 

‘f I can get there, someone is bound to stop for me, I thought. Everyone wants to help pretty girls.

 

Or rape them.

 

I shoved the thought aside. It wasn’t helpful, though I regretted not taking the gun. Hell, I probably would have shot myself in the butt while I was climbing out the window, I thought dryly.

 

Ducking low, I began jogging to the edge of the property, staying out of few from the road.

 

That was when I saw movement.

 

Just there! A pair of dark figures wandering through the trees. Thank goodness the night was cloudy, or the moon would have betrayed me, wide open in the grass. Holding my breath, I tiptoed to the tree-line and listened.

 

“This is a waste of time,” one muttered. It was a man’s voice, deep and disdainful. “Wandering around the woods at night. What are we, raccoons?”

 

“Shh!” The second voice said. “The Devil’s Wings don’t know we’re here, and the boss wants us to keep it that way.”

 

“Why? We can take the Devil’s Wings. With their stupid president, they don’t have the arms or resources to take on the Minghellis.”

 

So it is them! I thought. I knew it!

 

My sense of victory lasted about three seconds, to be replaced by dread. Fuck. The Minghelli’s.

 

Those men were dangerous, and they were looking for me.

 

As if they sensed my thoughts, the first one spoke again. “How is he so sure she’ll be out here? I’m sure the Devil’s Wings are too busy fucking her senseless, knowing them.”

 

The second sighed. “She’s Michael’s daughter, and the niece of Venus Michaels to boot. She’s resourceful. She’ll find a way out.”

 

In spite of myself, I felt a small burst of pride. My enemies respect me, I thought. That was something my father and my aunt always felt to be important. It was a bitter note when I realized how little regard they had for the current president of the Devil’s Wings. My father would be ashamed.

 

All of this, however, brought me another chilling thought: Minghelli’s men not only know who I am, but what I’m like. And they’re waiting for me.

 

I glanced around. Darkness, woodlands, and wandering thugs on one side. The main road, police, and most like more thugs on the other.

 

And the Devil’s Wings in the middle.

 

I am of no use to Aunt Venus if I am captured, or if the Minghellis kill me, I thought. I need to bide my time.

 

I decided then that it was best to return to the Devil’s Wings compound. It was dangerous, yes, but I had two possible allies: Connor and Honi.

 

Honi! I’d just realized that, since Honi had taken my name, that the Minghellis would also be after her. I felt a thrill of fear. I was angry at her, yes, but I could understand her selfishness.

 

Silently as I could, I returned to the window from which I’d escaped. Fortunately, the man who’d slammed it had been too lazy to latch it shut, so I was able to slip inside with little more than a bruise to my hips. Once in, I crept back up the stairs to the bunkroom, let myself in, and locked the door behind me. I stashed the items I had stolen in the bottom of a dresser, which was full to the brim with stockings and lingerie.

 

The room and all its sensuality assaulted my awareness. There was only one thing such a room was made for.

 

“You made a promise to Honi,” I muttered to myself. “You promised her no more whoring.”

 

What I hadn’t realized, however, was that I would have to take her place.