Chapter 18
Slayer was biting his nails as Limit loaded his weapon, his dark hair covering his eyes. He had no idea how the fuck they were gonna get Billie back, not yet, and he was ready to crawl out of his own skin. It’d been two hours since she was snatched, and they were still waiting.
“If you don’t relax, I ain’t takin’ you with us,” Limit said.
“The fuck you ain’t.”
“You need to remain calm. We have to go about this the smart way, Slayer. We have their location, we’re just making sure we’re prepared. Our original plan got blown out of the water tonight.”
“Boys, we got a phone call,” Ox said. He had his phone in his hand, his eyes fixated on the screen.
“Is it her?,” Slayer asked desperately. His entire body was twisted into one anxious knot, and no matter what he told himself, he couldn’t remain calm. His woman, his Billie, was taken by some misled group of psychopaths, and they could be doing anything to her.
“This is Ox.”
Slayer watched as Ox listened to whomever was on the other end of the line. He didn’t seem to be phased by this, considering the fact that one of their own was missing.
“Is that so? You think takin’ one of our old ladies is gonna get that for you? That book was burned a long time ago, my friend.”
The little black book?
Slayer couldn’t believe that the little black book that caused Rayna so much trouble was being brought up again, years later. No one besides Axel had been given access to it, and it’d been disposed of not too long ago.
“I’m sure we can work something out. Why don’t you meet me at the halfway point between us?”
There was a moment of silence.
“I’m not sayin’ any such thing, you little fucker. But, I will make you a promise. Since you’re workin’ on being so accommodating, I’ll make sure Limit kills you first.”
As Ox angrily hung up the phone, he gestured towards the bikes.
“We gotta move, now. They have her at that shit-shack, and they want more connections for their coke business. They thought that this was the best way to negotiate some terms, get some more allies, and use that stupid fucking black book to gain some friends in the gun world! Man, but it never ceases to amaze me how damn small this network really is.”
“That book is gone, Ox. There ain’t nothin’ left of it,” Axel argued.
“We know that, man, but these fuckers are young and dumb. They’re unrefined. I don’t know why they thought taking one of our girls would work, but they did. They’re obviously not that smart, and we can use that to our advantage,” Ox said.
“So, what are we doing?” Limit asked.
Slayer waited on bated breath for Ox to answer.
“We head out now, and go in guns blazing. We don’t have any other options, and we don’t have time to make this quiet.”
“What about Billie? If we do that, we risk them killin’ her!,” Slayer snapped.
“If we wait to make a better plan, we risk them killin’ her anyways!”
Slayer didn’t like that plan, but he didn’t have much of a choice, and he wasn’t going to waste time arguing over it. He had to get to Billie, had to make sure she was safe. If he lost her now, he may as well put a bullet in his own head.
“Let’s get going. This ain’t gonna be pretty, and I wanna save my woman,” Slayer bit out.
“We’re gonna bring her home, brother,” Axel said softly.
I fucking hope so.
◆◆◆
Billie’s head snapped back when Blade landed a solid jab to her uninjured cheek. She grunted, but she didn’t make cry.
“They’re comin’, Scott, and they ain’t in the mood to negotiate.”
“Fuck! Was she not an old lady? She just a lot bitch?,” He snarled.
Billie didn’t comment one way or another, but she was happy as hell to hear that they were coming for her. What happened to her in the meantime wouldn’t be enjoyable, that much was obvious, but at least she knew that Slayer hadn’t left her to die.
“What do we do now, huh? These guys aren’t the locals, Scott. Ox will kill us! And, now Axel is part of their club? This isn’t what he planned!”
Scott ran his hands over his scalp and started to pace.
“No. They’ll listen to our terms! They have to! We have one of their women, they won’t let her die,” He argued.
“I don’t think they have any intentions of letting her die, man! They’re just gonna kill us to get her back.”
“Then shoot her.”
“If we kill her, then we’re for sure signing our own death warrants, and that ain’t what we signed up for. This little escapade was your idea,” Blade yelled.
It was obvious to Billie that they were stating to panic and that was either a gift from God, or a very bad sign. If they panicked and killed her, then she’d held her tongue for nothing. If they decided to try and reason with Slayer and his club, then maybe…
“I…have…an idea for you,” She breathed. Her nostrils were bloody, so she had to breathe through her mouth, but her lips were cracked and swollen, so her words were muffled.
“What’s that, bitch?”
She smiled, a gesture that hurt her down to her bones, but a chuckle made its way past her lips, anyways.
“Run. If they catch you, they’ll kill you, and that’s a fact. If you and your little crew run now, you can still work your coke and gun game from anywhere else.”
Blade and Scott looked at each other, before they glanced at the rest of the crew. One by one, they all seemed to come to the same conclusion.
“What about you? They’ll kill us for takin’ you and hurtin’ you, anyways!”
“Not if they can’t find you,” She reasoned.
“The broad has a point, Scott. Let’s get the fuck out of dodge! They ain’t gonna listen to us anyways, so we better get out now!”
“Fuck, fine! Everyone on their bikes, we’re riding south. No one stops for anything until I say so!,” Scott yelled.
Billie couldn’t even fathom the relief she felt at knowing that her idea had worked, and with very little prompting. She’d had no clue whether or not they would listen, because she didn’t exactly know what they were after. A glance in the corner of the room told her that the red-headed woman was alert and watching her closely.
“What about our supplies?”
“Fuck the supplies, man! Get your ass moving!,” Scott screamed.
Billie watched with watery eyes as each and every one of the men who had taken turns abusing her for the last few hours scurried around their little hell hole while trying to prepare themselves to leave.
The woman in the corner watched, too. Her amber eyes never left their backs as they hurried around like chickens with their heads cut off. At any moment they could change their minds and kill them both, but Billie doubted it.
For a group of men who had it in their heads that they were big and bad, one tiny suggestion from her, someone as clueless as can be, unraveled all of it. She still couldn’t believe that they were actually going to skip town without a fight, but she supposed it was for the best.
The woman in the corner didn’t make a sound as Billie surveyed her. She studied her thin frame to her expressionless face. That was the scary part; her eyes were empty. Dead. Cold. There was nothing coming from her that registered as even remotely human.
Billie wondered who she was and where she came from and how long she’d been stuck with the animals that Billie had only suffered at the hands of for a few hours. She couldn’t imagine what the other woman had been through. If the state she was in were any indication, then she’d been through hell.
Their footsteps grew heavier and louder before they suddenly grew quieter, and then disappeared altogether. The raucous sound of their bikes roaring to life in unison had Billie shuddering, even though that meant that they were leaving. She still couldn’t believe that they were going to leave. That they were going to run.
“I think they’re gone,” Billie whispered.
The other woman didn’t say anything, she just looked at Billie with wide, dark eyes. Billie understood that everything that she’d gone through was a whisper compared to the scream the other woman had suffered.
“Do you have a name?” She asked as she tried to loosen up the ropes tying her to her chair. They weren’t budging, so she was stuck, but at least she wasn’t alone. At least she didn’t have to sit in an abandoned cabin by herself naked.
The woman didn’t answer her yet again, and Billie began to wonder if she could speak. Maybe they’d cut out her tongue, or maybe she lost her voice, maybe she was deaf. Billie didn’t know, but she didn’t think the woman was deaf. It seemed that she could hear her just fine, she just didn’t want to speak.
“I don’t know who you are, but my man and his crew are coming. We’ll take you with us, okay? I won’t leave you here,” Billie promised. She didn’t say anything in response, but Billie knew that she’d heard her because she dipped her head forward and relaxed into her chair like she was relieved that she had a place to go.
Billie could understand that better than most, considering that she didn’t have anywhere to go if she didn’t stay with Slayer. She knew that she had a home with him, even if it wasn’t a perfect one, but they could figure that out together. If he would still want her, considering that her face was slashed to hell. She was still bleeding, could taste it, spat it at the ground near her feet. Her long hair was matted, cut in some places from Blade’s trusty blade, and she hated how violated she felt.
Even though she knew that slayer was coming, she was anxious as hell to get out of the chair holding her captive. The roped were burning her wrists and her skin was already scraped raw from her struggles, but she was alive. That’s what counted. She was fucking alive.
Her head fell forward too as she sucked in a deep breath and tried to remain calm, because the roiling emotions inside of her were getting ready to take over. She was still worried that they would come back and finish the job, felt stupid for urging them to go, but she knew that was her best bet. They obviously hadn’t had any idea of what they were doing.
It was only a matter of time before they were found again anyways because there was no way Ox would let them go just like that, and Billie knew at least that much. At least if they searched for them now, it would be on the Seven Deadlies’s terms, and that alone made the situation ten times better. For them.
The sound of bikes in the distance had her and the strange woman in the corner stiffening simultaneously until Billie started to smile. She recognized the sound of Slayer’s bike.
“Don’t worry, baby. I hear my man’s bike. We’re safe, now. You’re gonna be okay. I promise,” Billie said softly.
She didn’t answer Billie, but Billie could tell that she was beginning to trust what she said, at least a little bit. She held eye contact with her a little longer, she even dipped her head slightly to let her know that she believed her.
The front door to the shack was kicked open with such force that dust sprinkled into the air around Billie, but she could only cry out with relief. Her eyes filled with tears instantly when she saw Slayer coming towards her, his gaze intense and his gun raised.
“Here! I’m here!,” She cried.
The entire club came through the doors, with Limit and Tango at the lead. Ox was at the rear, but they were all there, to save her. Any questions she had about making a home with them were answered in that moment.
“Are you okay? Jesus, where are they?” All the men looked incredibly confused at the lack of gunfire and violence, but Billie calmed them when she spoke up.
“I convinced them to run. We can catch up to them later, but I needed to make sure her and I stayed alive, and they were talking about killing me,” Billie said as she nodded towards her companion in the corner.
The dark haired one, Torch, looked over at the red-headed woman and swore under his breath. He started for her, pulling his knife out of his pocket as he did so. She jerked away from him, her eyes wide with fear, her red hair sticking to her dirty skin.
“I ain’t gonna hurt ya, I’m gonna untie you.”
Slayer got to work untying Billie, swearing when he got a good look at her. She wasn’t exactly proud of what they’d done to her, but it was obvious the other woman had suffered worse.
“I’m okay, really. A few stitches here and there, and I’ll be golden,” She whispered.
“You’re basically naked, did they…touch ya?,” He asked her as he tipped her head back. “No, they didn’t get the chance. I’m okay, really, but I wanna get the hell out of here,” She said with a small smile. Slayer didn’t look like he believed her one hundred percent, but she didn’t need him to, she just needed him to give her something to wear so they could get the hell out of there.
“What’s your name?,” Billie heard Torch ask from behind her, but she knew that the lady wouldn’t answer him. When she glanced back to make sure that Torch was handling her with care, she saw that he was holding out this hand to her, and that the woman was reaching for it.
Hmm…
Billie startled when Rebel came towards her, a t-shirt in his hand.
“I usually keep an extra one in my saddlebags. You can have it,” He said kindly.
She thanked him and then looked back at Torch. He’d already removed his own shirt and was helping the red-head pull it over her head. Good, she was going to offer her shirt to her, but now she could ride home comfortably.
Once everyone was outside, Billie pointed to the right. It was dark out, the stars were bright overhead, so she had a good view of where they’d taken her. The land was wide-open, untouched apart from the cabin, and she had to wonder how they found her.
“They went south, but how did you guys find us?”
“Ty, a buddy from another crew pulled a few strings. He’d heard about the crew making their way up here and he used his connections to find out where they were holed up. They haven’t been around long, and they won’t be around anymore for much longer. We’ll make sure of that,” Axel said as he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“I told them to run. I’m sorry if that fucked up your plans, but I didn’t know what else to do-,” Ox stopped her by wrapping his arms around her.
“Shh, don’t worry about it, Billie. I can tell you didn’t spill a word about me or my crew, you have our loyalty forever. You did the right thing.”
“How can you tell?”
“Those wounds on ya speak for themselves, darlin’. You’d still be whole if you opened your mouth,” Prettyboy said.
Billie reached up and felt the flayed skin on her face, ashamed of how she looked.
“I’m never gonna be pretty again,” She whimpered when Slayer looked at it, too. He frowned, his eyebrows drawing together as he shook his head.
“No, don’t say that. You’re the most beautiful woman in the world, and this? This won’t change that. We’re gonna get you home, we’re gonna fix you up, and then you’re gonna take my brand and officially become my old lady. We’ve wasted enough time, don’t ya think?”
Billie’s teary eyes filled with joy as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hard, taking in his scent and the warmth of his skin. She squeezed tight, “ I didn’t think I would ever see you again,” She admitted.
“I’d never leave you here, baby. I won’t let anything happen to you ever again,” He whispered into her hair.
There was so much that both of them needed to sort out, that was for sure, but amongst the chorus of bikes and in the safety of his arms, Billie found her home. It wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t conventional, but neither were they. Six years was worth the wait.
Slayer was worth the wait.