The back of Hailey’s neck pulsated with pain. She opened her eyes, and immediately threw her arms out in front of her. Crap. She blinked and wet her eyes until they adjusted to the piercing rays of sunshine that poured into the cave. The scene to her left looked as if the world had been torn apart and rebuilt in a night. A tree branch had been detached from it’s tree, and had been thrown into the middle of the clearing. Small pools of water had yet to dry up at the base of tree trunks and in holes that had been dug out by rabbits.
Beside her, Rocco’s light snores floated up towards the moss covered rock above them. Memories of the night before flooded her mind, the sensation of Rocco nibbling on her clit and dragging his fingernails along her thighs made her cheeks burn bright red.
She rose to her feet and stroked her hand against her cheeks, flecks of mud and dirt had gotten stuck to her exposed bottom over the last eight hours that she and Rocco had spent resting. Hailey stretched her arm over her head until the joints in her shoulders made a satisfying clicking sound. She gasped, vibrations rocked underneath her feet.
Hailey whipped her head towards the opening of the cave, and expected to see an angry bear looming over them. However, the tranquil scene that had been there a moment before still remained. She stepped over the remnants of the extinguished fire from the night before, and the vibrating intensified.
I didn’t think that we got earthquakes in Illinois. A flash of light caught her eye to the right of her, and she moved towards her discarded shorts. She slipped one of her fingers into one of the empty belt loops, and held them out in front of her.
The back pocket of her shorts was illuminated briefly, before it faded away. Hailey narrowed her eyes and pulled her cell phone out of the pocket. The screen had been cracked during all of the commotion that occurred when Rocco’s riders found her outside of Granger Cafe.
She winced as she dragged her thumb across the glass, and small shards of what remained of the screen scraped against her skin. Hailey sighed and navigated the home screen, before opening her text messages. A barrage of texts had been sent to her inbox over the last few days. However, the most recent sender’s name stuck out at the very top of the list: Dad.
Hailey opened the chain of messages which started with panicked requests to know how the riders at Chasing Spirits were treating her, and evolved to more pressing questions about her location.
She cupped her hand over the screen to shield it from the sunlight, and her eyes ran over a text that read: Turn on the location services on your phone. I’m not playing this game with the shitstains over at Chasing Spirits anymore. I’ll come and get you myself.
Hailey’s eyes widened and she threw one of her hands against the wall of the cave. He wants to know where I am. The riders at Chasing Spirits will go insane if they know that my father is in route to get me.
She dragged her hand over her face and shook her head. What if Meish instructs them to ‘take care of me’ because they haven’t forged a deal yet? Hailey stared straight forward, and followed the curve of Rocco’s cheekbones and jaw with her eyes.
Would he let them do whatever they wanted to me? She glanced at her phone screen once more before returning it to the back pocket of her jeans. Hailey sighed. I can’t blame him. I’d go nuts if Dad went missing for weeks on end.
Hailey frowned and placed her hands over her lower belly. She snatched the pair of shorts off of the ground and thumped her fingers against the phone screen.
“Come on, hurry up,” she mumbled. The phone came to life again, the low battery icon winked at her from the corner of the screen. She dragged her finger across the screen and jabbed her finger into the calendar icon on the left.
Her finger hovered above each week that was displayed. Hailey tossed her phone into the dirt. Her hands trembled as she ran through the dates in her mind. No, it couldn’t have been that long.
She pressed her hands into lower belly and waited for the familiar sensation of cramps to follow. Hailey slipped her hand in between her thighs and parted her lower lips with her finger. She held her breath as she pulled her finger out and examined the tip.
Nothing. For the last ten years, Hailey had felt cramps stirring in her lower belly around the fifteenth of each month. With the 31st approaching, her mind wandered to what might be the worst reason why she hadn’t begun to bleed.
Some people don’t have their periods when they’ve experienced trauma. Being kidnapped with an old friend is beyond traumatic.
Hailey yelped as the shrill sound of Rocco's ringer cut through the air. Rocco squeezed his eyes shut, then groaned, before pulling himself into a sitting position. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and held his phone to his ear.
“Yeah?”
“‘Yeah’ is all that you have to say? I thought that you were just going out for a little bit.”
Rocco dragged his fingers across his scalp and said, “I got a little…. Held up. There was a pretty big storm last night.”
Clyde sighed and said, “Yeah, no shit. I had to close the club early. Listen, you need to hurry back.”
Rocco frowned and replied, “Hurry back?” He looked over his shoulders and took in the calm state of the woods after the storm. Rocco pulled the phone away from his face and narrowed his eyes as he leaned in to read the time. “It’s only a little after seven.”
“Look, I can’t get into it. Meish needs to see you.”
“Meish is up this early?”
“Seriously. He wants to see you, and he says that he has plans for Hailey.”
Rocco scowled and glanced over at Hailey’s crestfallen expression before he turned away and said, “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means that you need to be quick about hurrying back to the clubhouse. I’ve gotta go, bye.”
“Clyde-”
The screen darkened just as Clyde ended the call. Rocco turned towards Hailey and said, “We need to get dressed.” He jumped to his feet and began pulling his jeans up his legs.
Hailey slipped into her shorts and said, “Is something wrong?”
Rocco shook his head but his eyes stared straight ahead. He pulled his shirt over his head and without looking back, stepped out of the cave. “No,” he said, over his shoulder.
Hailey’s were glued to his back as she watched him move into the dense brush of the clearing.