Chapter 19
Brooklyn
I tried to steady my heart as I stood a few feet from my door. I could hear Pike and Viper joking outside and continuing to bang on the door.
“Just a minute!” I called out, because I knew I needed more time before I could face them. I also wanted to give Gunner as much time to get away as possible.
“You don’t have to put on your makeup, sweetheart, it’s just us,” I heard Pike say, and Viper joined him in his laughter. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck standing up. My teeth were on edge. I was disgusted with them.
Now that I had met Gunner, I had seen the other side. I was reminded again of how I should have been treated. No matter what kind of support I thought they were giving me since Luke’s death, they had no right to treat me like I was their property.
I cleared my throat and took in a deep breath, before placing my hand on the doorknob. With one swift pull, I opened the door and saw that it was only Viper and Pike outside. I’d pasted a forced smile on my face in the meantime and I stared at them, trying as hard as I could to convince them that nothing was wrong. All I had to focus on was getting them out of my building as quickly as possible and then finding my way to Gunner immediately after.
Wherever he’d gone; I knew he’d be waiting for me. He was the only person I could trust now.
Viper pushed past me into the apartment and Kevin followed, smiling at me indulgently as they looked around.
“What took you so long?” Viper turned to me then. Whatever bit of humor he was sharing with Kevin was now gone. Once he’d seen me again, he was back to being the rigid asshole that he always was.
“I was sleeping. I didn’t hear you knocking,” I said with a nervous smile and Viper narrowed his eyes at me.
“We’ve been banging on your door for the past ten minutes, sugar,” he said and came up close to me. Kevin was hanging about in the back, tracing his fingers over my furniture in the creepiest way possible. I knew I needed to spend as little time alone with these two bastards as possible.
“Yeah, well I’m hungover,” I said and Viper looked over my face, my body, and his eyes narrowed at the spot between my legs.
“You sure look it,” Kevin said with a laugh behind us and I tried not to show just how enraged I was.
“What do you want?” I asked Viper, trying to not grit my teeth. He was still watching me. Undressing me with his eyes and this was a different kind of naked that I felt under his stare. Unlike with Gunner, I felt like my skin was crawling and like I wanted to hide.
“Nothing much, sugar,” Viper said, stepping closer to me now and I stepped back, but he grabbed my waist and pulled me to himself. Pike only laughed in the background and my hands went cold.
“Look, Viper, if this is about last night…I’m very sorry, I was drunk and I didn’t know what I was doing,” I said and to my surprise, he only smiled and with his face that close to me, I couldn’t help but look at his slowly yellowing teeth. He might have appeared to be decent looking some time ago, but these days, I couldn’t stand the sight of him. He was making me sick.
“You’re sorry, huh?” he said, his voice slithering over my skin. “Just how sorry are you, sugar? You know you’ve been getting a little naughty these days. Who’s been teaching you to be a bitch, huh? What would your precious brother have to say about that?” Viper continued and my legs felt weak, but I didn’t struggle. I knew there was no point trying to wriggle out of his grasp. He was much stronger than me.
“I can bet money that he would tell her to suck your dick…you know, just as an apology,” Pike said, with laughter in his voice as my blood ran cold.
“Yeah, that’s right, I agree,” Viper said, smiling at me.
And that was when we heard the shots being fired. Viper’s grip on my waist weakened, but he didn’t let me go. I screeched in horror and watched as Pike went running to the window.
“What’s that motherfucker doing here?” Pike yelled and Viper was dragging me to the window to look.
“What is it? Who is it?” Viper asked, while I let out another yelp. He had caught me by the back of my head and it hurt with every pull.
“It’s that new BD recruit. What’s he doing here?” Pike said. The two of them were looking out of the window, while Viper kept a firm grip on me on his side. Viper strained his neck to look and we heard more gun shots. I wanted to scream out Gunner’s name. They had killed him! He was dead! I didn’t know there were more of them downstairs. I’d assumed Viper and Pike had come here alone. The tears were gushing down my cheeks and I couldn’t stop them anymore.
“He was here. I saw him jump off the fire escape,” Pike said and they both turned to me at the same time. I could see the rage in Viper’s bloodshot eyes.
“No! I can explain…” I screamed and the last thing I remember was seeing Viper’s fist coming towards me. It seemed to happen in slow motion. Their voices drowned out, replaced by white garbled noise. I felt a sharp jab on the side of my head and then I felt like I was falling. After that, there was only darkness.
***
When I woke up, I felt like I’d been sleeping; except for the throbbing at the back of my head which was a sharper pain than when I was hungover. I blinked my eyes open and realized that wherever I was, it was very dark. It could have still been morning for all I knew, but there wasn’t a ray of light entering the room.
My vision took a few minutes to adjust to the dark, and I could sense that I was sitting up, with my back pressed to a cold wall. I lifted my hands to my head and thankfully couldn’t feel any blood, fresh or dried, but that throbbing ache was still there.
I heard someone sniff and that was when I looked around me. I wasn’t alone. There were a handful of other girls all sitting against the wall in the small dark room. Some had their eyes closed, some looked like they’d been crying and two of them seemed casual…like this was normal for them.
I panicked, trying to sit up but it had a dizzying effect on me and I fell back down to the floor. One of the girls who had her eyes closed, opened them and looked at me before giving me a lopsided smile. She’d found it amusing!
“What’s going on? Where are we?” I got the words out, but I didn’t even recognize my voice. It sounded like someone else’s. I could feel my mind swaying and I was afraid that I had a concussion.
“In the warehouse,” the girl said, the one who smiled when I fell back down.
“Which warehouse? Who brought me here?” I asked, in the same broken unrecognizable voice. The girl exchanged looks with another one, and they both looked at me blankly without replying.
“Who are you?” I asked her and she smiled at me again.
“They call me Candy,” she said.
“Who calls you Candy? What’s your real name?” I asked, feeling a sob rising in my chest.
“I don’t remember anymore,” the girl said and I noticed the bruises on her arms.
I looked from her to the other girls and realized that they were all dressed in the same way. Short skirts and dresses, fishnets, high heels, tons of makeup and messy bleached hair. They were wearing a lot of jewelry but it looked cheap and I gulped, realizing that my throat had run dry.
The room was becoming clearer to me now, and I could hear drops of water dripping from the ceiling and there was a musty smell coming from somewhere. I tried to think hard. The last thing I could remember was being in my apartment. Gunshots being fired. Pike talking about Gunner. Viper hitting me. Gunner was dead…was he shot? Was he dead? A cry escaped my lips and I tried to get up again.
“Where do you think you’re going to go?” the girl said as I stood up unsteadily on my feet. I couldn’t even feel my legs. How long had I been here?
“I need to get out of here. There’s been some mistake,” I cried, beginning to walk while using the wall as support.
“There are no mistakes here,” another girl said and I turned to her and saw the deadpan blank look in her eyes. She was one of the girls who looked casual earlier, like she had resigned to her fate and wasn’t interested in putting up a fight.
“Who did this? Who brought me here?” I asked and the girl rolled her eyes and looked away from me.
“Was it Viper? Pike?” I screamed at them but none of them reacted. It was almost like they were feeling sorry for me, for being stupid.
“We have to get out of this place,” I said and finally found the door in the dark. I turned the knob and pulled, but the door was made of solid steel and was bolted shut. It didn’t even budge. I tugged at the handle and pulled again, and again there was no movement. I screamed and felt the tears rolling down my eyes.
“Just sit back down. There’s no point. You’re only wasting your energy,” Candy said and I whipped around to her.
“There’s been some mistake. I’m Luke Jenson’s sister!” I screamed but it was useless, she clearly didn’t know who I was talking about.
“Listen, we don’t know who you are, but there’s no point in screaming and crying. You’re making a fool of yourself. They appreciate good behavior. You should just sit back down and do what you’re told,” the other girl said, but my tears didn’t stop flowing. There had to be some mistake. If it was Viper and Pike who did this to me, I could put a stop to it. The Dragon Knights were like family to me. They would never do this to a Jenson! This was just some kind of cruel punishment for the slap. For having a Bad Disciples member in my apartment.
I whipped around from them and tried getting the door open again.
“Viper! Pike!” I screamed, while banging on the metal door.
“Hey! I was sleeping here!” another girl called out to me but I didn’t want to listen to them. I would have felt sorry for them, I would have wanted to do something about these girls, but right then, all I cared about was getting out of this place. I wanted to know what had happened to Gunner. If they’d killed him or if he was still alive.
“Viper!” I screamed again and tried to get the door open. Nothing was working. I leaned my forehead against the cold metal door and cried, the tears flowing freely down my cheeks.
“This is a mistake. Let me out!” I cried, but it felt like nobody could hear me. Even though I was in a room full of other girls, to me it felt like I was completely alone in the dark.
***
I still had my forehead against the door when it began to open. I heard the bolt being pulled and I stepped away from the door. This was going to be my chance to get out of this place and figure out what the hell was going on.
The door slid open and a woman stepped in, promptly shutting the door behind her. I heard someone outside bolting the door shut again. All my plans of slipping out through that door were now ruined.
“Who are you? I want to speak to Viper or Pike!” I thundered at her. The woman had empty looking deep dark eyes and she seemed like she was a little older than the rest of us. She was dressed in the same way as them though.
“You can speak to me. My name is Nancy,” she said while I glared at her. She had an expressionless face, like she didn’t care how much I screamed or cried or yelled.
“There’s been some mistake…I want…” I began to say but she interrupted me.
“We heard you screaming, you need to stop and do what you’re told,” she said and then grabbed me by my arms. She wasn’t being aggressive but her grip on my arms were strong. I tried to wriggle out of her grasp but she wasn’t about to let me go. She was looking at me from top to bottom, assessing my face and body, measuring me for size with her expert eyes.
“This will have to do for tonight. Tomorrow we’ll have to get you a skirt or something. You need to put those legs on display,” she said and let my arms go. I noticed that she was carrying a bag on the crook of her arm and now she bent down to the floor and unzipped it. She started rummaging through it which seemed like it consisted of rags and cloth and makeup.
“What are you talking about? What is going on? I need to go home,” I said and placed my hands on my hips in protest. I still thought I could talk my way out of this place!
“You need to look presentable for tonight honey. The less you resist, the easier it’ll be. The clients don’t like to see us putting up a fight, do they?” Nancy said and then I saw her throwing Candy a look.
I knew what was going on. I knew it from the moment I’d woken up. A room full of girls, all dressed in that particular cheap sexy way…I knew it. Gunner’s words rang cold in my ears. I just hadn’t wanted to accept it. I just couldn’t accept that Viper or Pike, or anybody from the Dragon Knights would ever use me for prostitution. They wouldn’t do that to Luke’s sister!
Nancy stood up, leveling her face with me and she had a damp cotton cloth in her hands. She brought it closer to my face and I jerked away from her.
“Just cleaning you up, honey,” she said, in an oddly kind voice and I stood there shivering as she wiped the grime and dirt from my face. I wasn’t crying anymore. I was angry and furious and the truth of my situation was just beginning to sink in.
“Nancy, please, if you let me speak with someone from the Dragon Knights…just let me speak to someone. It’s all a huge big misunderstanding,” I pleaded with her, as she wiped my face and my neck. Nancy stopped and turned a blank expression to me.
“Who do you think put you here?” she said and I felt some more fat tears roll down my cheeks. This couldn’t be my reality. This couldn’t actually be happening to me!
Nancy put the cloth away and brought out a makeup bag. She unzipped it and seemed to be picking colors. Garishly pink lipsticks, orange and blue eyeshadows…she rummaged through them till she found the ones she was looking for.
“Pucker up those gorgeous lips, honey,” she said emotionlessly, like she was doing my makeup for my wedding day. I kept my mouth firmly shut.
“No, I can’t do this. This can’t be happening to me…” I cried, my voice drowning away in my own sobs.
“You have to earn your stay here, honey, that is the only way to stay safe,” she said, that hint of kindness entering her voice again. Our eyes met and I could see that the strength and the matter-of-factness that Nancy displayed was only a facade. Deep inside her, she could still remember the day she had felt exactly like this.
“I don’t want to stay here. I don’t want to earn my right to stay!” I cried and this time, she gave me a smile. It was a sad helpless smile and it filled me with fear.
“You don’t have a choice, Brooklyn,” she said and hearing my name had a destabilizing effect on me. I felt crippled again and I crashed to the ground. I wanted Gunner. I wanted to see him again. I covered my face with my hands and sobbed wildly, hoping against hope that he was still alive. That he might find me. If only I could see him again…
“It’s time for you to pick a name, honey. We can’t call you Brooklyn anymore,” I heard Nancy say and I looked up at her with my foggy, watery eyes. She bent over me, bringing the cheap plastic lipstick case close to my lips.
“I think you look like a Scarlet. What do you think girls?” she said, trying to get the others involved. I pressed my lips together, resisting as much as I could against her efforts to try and put makeup on my face.
“My name is Brooklyn Jenson,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her but Nancy just smiled. My resistance wasn’t going to affect her. She had a job to do, and she was going to do it whether I liked it or not.