Cook (The Ridge MC Book 4)

Chapter 21

Cook

I checked my phone. Maddie should’ve been back from the restroom by now. I should’ve fucking gone with her. Letting her go alone had been a mistake, but if I ignored how she felt, I would’ve been no better than anyone who had used her.

Then again, I had hurt her. She wasn’t ready for that, and I should’ve known. Fuck, I wasn’t ready for this either. I needed to get Maddie back to the Ridge and back to Doctor Richardson. I had tried doing things my way—really fucking tried—and I had failed. What happened tonight with Maddie never should’ve happened. I was selfish, and it was time for me to be better. I could be her Dom, that much I felt was true. However, I had to be more than that for her. I needed to be able to understand where her mind was going when she reacted like that.

Was that reaction enough to teach me?

I wouldn’t know unless we tried again, but I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t take the chance that I would turn into her personal demon.

Shoving my cell phone into my pocket, I bounded toward the door, ready to storm into whatever bathroom she was in and take her home. Take her to the recovery house.

But when I went to wrench open the door, it was stuck. I pulled at the doorknob again, but the door didn’t move. The sons-a-bitches locked me inside.

Mercer, however, was still here with me.

“What the fuck is this?” I asked, turning toward the man. “Let me out!”

Sloan Mercer had his cell phone out too, scrolling through a white screen. “Don’t you wonder why it is locked?”

I stiffened. “Some sort of sex game?” The memory of Maddie’s off-limits list flashed through my mind. Cages. She didn’t want to be caged. This was a playroom inside of a sex club, so were there people with some kind of lock-up kink?

“This is my favorite room because of the lock,” said Mercer with a groaning grin. “We have to remove it before every state and city inspection, but then I put it back on and come out to play with whoever I have in this room.”

He slid his cell phone back into his pocket, and I tried the doorknob again. I was still locked inside with him.

“Let me out. Now,” I demanded, reaching for the gun in the small of my back and came up empty.

“Looking for this?” Mercer spun my gun on his index finger.

“I’d be careful playing with a loaded piece like that,” I warned.

“Oh, I’ve already taken care of that little bit.” He held up the clip and inched toward a little slot at the other end of the room. He slipped the gun and clip through. “You did sign an agreement stating no weapons were allowed on the club premises.”

I fucking hated his shit-eating grin, but I cursed myself at the moment. What else had I not paid attention to when I signed?

With my teeth clamped so hard my jaw ached, I said, “I need to find Maddie.”

“Why?” asked Mercer, strolling over to the sex toys across the wall. However, they were only weapons now. “We’re just getting started.”

“Disgusting,” I scoffed.

Sloan shrugged. “Depends on who you ask.”

“I am not fucking playing with you. And I don’t need a gun to beat the shit out of you. Unlock the fucking door.”

He smiled, showing all his teeth. “I would like to see you try to beat me.”

I cracked my knuckles, knowing it would be easier to beat him to a pulp than break down the door. This was a lesson I wouldn’t have to learn twice. From now on, I would wear a locking holster so no weasel could pick it from my pants when I let down my guard.

As I stepped toward him, he took a whip off the wall. A motherfucking whip.

“Who the fuck do you think you are? Catwoman? You might need some breast implants if you’re trying to pull off that look.”

He wrapped it around his wrist until his knuckles bulged white without blood flow. Worse, he seemed to like it. I glanced at the wall for a toy that I could use as a weapon but didn’t spot one.

“There’s something about a snake whip that just...”

Mercer took a deep breath and let out a chuckle, and then he uncoiled the whip toward me. The tentacle reached out to grab me as I dodged out of the way. I landed on my side before scrambling to my feet.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Sloan?” I demanded.

“Many things,” he conceded. “I would prefer it if you would call me by my Dom name: Snakes.”

I glared at him. “What a stupid name.” But it rang a bell.

He glowered. “Like your stupid shirts.”

“Difference between you and me, asshole? I know mine’re stupid.”

That was the point of my T-shirts and frilly aprons. They got a rise outta people. Perhaps he didn’t realize it, but Mercer had fallen for it too.

I smirked and stroked my beard. “Isn’t it strange how my ridiculous double-entendres give me the tiniest bit of power over those who read them?”

He rolled his eyes and let out a puff of air. “Dumb.”

I shrugged.

Snakes—his name was niggling at me—made a figure eight with the length of the whip, watching the way it unfurled and coiled like he coveted it. “You see, I’ve earned my name time and time again.”

Mercer cracked the whip next to my ear and I flinched. And it dawned on me. Roni. Celt. This man had to fucking die. But he had the upper hand right now, so I watched the way the leather moved too and prepared to catch it when it came just close enough. Besides, Celt deserved this kill.

“What do you fucking want?” I goaded him. “I’m stuck in here, and you have your whip. You obviously don’t wanna take a ride on my disco stick, so whaddya want?”

He didn’t answer, only swirled the leather throng with fixated fascination written on his face.

I calmed my breathing, though my heartbeat ran wild. I needed to get out of the room, get Maddie, and blow this joint. I would get my revenge on Sloan—Snakes—after I made sure Maddie was safe and I had my gun. Yet I wouldn’t shoot him. Nah, I’d just hand him over to Celt like the stuffed pig he was.

Snakes gathered up his whip again, but then his phone pinged. I didn’t relax as he reached into his pocket and looked at the new message. That sadistic smile transformed into a displeased sneer. He pressed his finger to the screen, and the door clicked unlocked behind me. I backed up a step, but he reared back with his whip.

Pain didn’t scare me. I had been hit many times before, not with a whip but my daddy’s belt. But I had to put Maddie first right now. I couldn’t chase Maddie through Serenity with Sloan on my tail. Gah, how would she react to the thought of being lashed with that sick thing?

“We’re going to my office,” said Mercer, tilting his head.

And before I knew it, the whip snaked around my hands and the end tied itself in a knot. Despite the abrupt lash of the tail and my wrists being bound, I stared at the leather, fascinated with the skill or practice it had to have taken to perfect that move.

Mercer pulled on the handle, tightening the tail against my skin. “For my safety, you’ll understand.”

“For. Fucking. Now.” I glared at him with murder in my eyes. He didn’t account for my feet.

I sank my weight into my thighs, but he gave me a little back and forth shake of one finger. “If you’d like to see your girl again, you will want to come with me.”

Outside the door to his office, Sloan walked inside first, holding the door open to me. I glanced over my shoulder, hoping to see Maddie coming down the hallway. I had tried to spy her in the packed crowd of Serenity but couldn’t find her. I didn’t know where the bathrooms were, and by now, she could’ve been anywhere in the damn club.

“Don’t be shy,” called a man from inside the office, and I stalked inside. Snakes closed the door behind me, but I didn’t hear the lock. Then, he jerked the end of the whip and the wrap around my wrists fell away.

A man sat behind Sloan’s desk with his expensive shoes kicked up on the edge. His black leather shoes were polished, matching the glint from his rings and the buttons on his sports coat. He even had fucking cuff links. What a pompous ass. He screamed money, but I had no idea who he was. He had perfect hair, wore his beard closely cropped, and looked more at ease here than Sloan Mercer.

“So you’re Morris Cook,” said the man, dragging his gaze across me.

I stood taller. “I don’t know who the fuck you are.”

He laughed in a bored tone, strumming his fingers against the top of the desk. His pinkie ring, a shining gold with an emblem, identified him as one of the la Famiglia. Of course, I would be dealing with the fucking Mafia.

Again.

To go along with his pinkie ring, he wore another massive gaudy ring, one that identified him as a Mafia Don. That made me want to scratch my head. La Famiglia in these parts only had one Don, and he was in prison.

“I’m Massimo Parisi,” he said, but that didn’t sort out anything in my brain. The man waved his hand toward the chair. “Have a seat.”

“I don’t want a fucking seat. I want to know why I’m here.”

And what the hell had they done with Maddie?

Suddenly, cool metal touched the back of my head, a small and quite distinctive muzzle. A shudder ran down my body, and I fought the urge to round on Snakes and wrap the whip around his neck. A gun could kill way too fast, and I needed to be alive to save Maddie. I raised my hands.

“As I said, have a seat,” repeated Massimo.

I lowered myself into the chair.

Maddie

When my lungs started to burn and my legs felt like jelly, I finally teetered off the sidewalk and fell into the gravel. The rocks cut into my knees and across my palms, but I couldn’t run anymore, so I needed to hide. I crawled behind a couple of bushes, sucking in a deep breath. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, and I couldn’t hear anything but the rush of blood. I curled myself into a ball, scraping further back into the shadows.

While I had been running, I had occasionally looked to see if Massimo or one of his boys, as he’d called them, were chasing after me but hadn’t seen anyone. Now, I peeked out of my hiding spot, but aside from the lights, most of the vehicles were silent. Main Street indicated downtown, but no one was buzzing up and down the streets. Aside from a few still cars and the pulse of the neon lights, I saw no one and nothing. I was alone.

Pressing back into my hiding spot, I curled my knees to my chest and sucked in another deep breath. And then another. Slowly, air the pounding in my ears subsided, and my thoughts became clearer.

No one had followed me. I had left the club. Cook had to be freaking out. I glanced through the brush at the dimly lit street.

I’d been running for what seemed like an eternity, without any idea of where I was or where I was going. I didn’t know how I would get back to Serenity.

To Cook.

But Massimo was there too.

Fuck that shit. Fuck him! I threw my head back and sucked in another breath. I couldn’t recognize my surroundings, but wherever I was, it was not far enough away from Serenity. The real surprising thing was that mind was clearing with each breath. The spiral was stopping in favor of getting back to the one person who could help me.

I could follow the streets to a gas station or a store, but Massimo and his dicks might still find me.

I needed Cook.

Where was Daddy?

I shouldn’t have run out of Serenity. I should’ve gone to Cook. He would’ve known what to do.

He would know what to do now.

I grabbed my purse from where it crossed my body and then took out my cell phone. I fumbled with it. I needed to call Cook, have him get me, and get us the fuck out of here. We would ride hard and fast to the Ridge, and maybe we could keep riding. We could go so far that no one would be able to find us.

We could disappear, just him and me, and I would be safe.

I clicked on his name and placed the phone to my ear, waiting for him to pick up. Four rings, but Cook didn’t answer. Wouldn’t he be worried? Didn’t he know I was gone?

Calling again, I begged, “Pick up, Cook.”

An automated voice messaging system said he wasn’t available. I hung up and then hit his name again, restarting the process.

The phone rang.

Rang.

Rang.

No answer.

“Cook, where are you?” I whispered, tears prickling my eyes.

I ended the call before voicemail picked up, hanging my head. Maybe I had overreacted and everything would be okay. I just needed to stand up and retrace my steps.

Balling my hands into fists, I put them to my temples. When did everything get so messed up? I shouldn’t have taken off.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! I pounded my palm into my forehead.

Where was Cook?

A car sped by on the road, and I flinched back into my hiding place in the bushes. The car was gone in a flash. The purr of engines echoed in the distance on the streets, but not motorcycles. I wasn’t entirely alone, no matter how much I thought I was.

Staying here wasn’t an option. I couldn’t do this by myself. I needed help.

If not Cook, then who?

I scrolled my thumb at the screen of the phone. When Cook got me the phone, he had input a lot of contact information. I had ignored all the names and places before, including takeout restaurants and Doctor Richardson. Even now, I wasn’t calling the shrink.

Roni’s number wasn’t there, and it made my heart sink. She would’ve been understanding, patient. She would’ve helped me get back to Daddy, when I didn’t think anyone else on this contact list would. I wished I’d asked Cook to take the yellow note and help me enter it. I would have to call someone else.

My thumb hovered over the screen, shaking as my heartbeat finally calmed. I clicked on the familiar name and placed the cell phone to my ear, listening to it ring.

Suddenly, she answered, “Melanie Flemming.” She sounded so professional.

I blew out a deep breath, my head lolling against the brick wall at my back. “Mel, it’s me. I need help.”