Chapter Ten
Cayden
“ R ise and shine, bitches!” a very annoying voice hollers. I roll over and crack an eye open to find Harley missing from the bed but Ryker and Grayson are still asleep.
The light clicks on, and Ryker groans, “What the fuck?”
“Wake up! First full day as prospects, and I can’t fucking wait,” my brother says with more enthusiasm than he should have early in the morning.
We all slowly rise to find a smirking Noah standing at the door. “God, this year is going to be the best year of my life, getting to torture the shit out of you three.”
“Fuck off,” Ryker snarks, clearly grumpy.
“Rage is going to be gone most of the day with Harley, so you are my bitches today. Get ready and come over to the club, sleeping beauties.”
“Why are we doing this again?” Ryker asks. Neither Grayson nor I answer as we all go about getting ready for the day and then finding Harley, Rage, and Sugar in the kitchen.
Ryker beelines for Harley, wrapping himself around her like a koala, “Why weren’t you still in bed?” he whines. Grayson rolls his eyes while getting coffee for us.
“Because it’s almost noon.” She laughs. “Gabe and I are going on our ride in a few minutes.”
“I’ll miss you,” Ryker says, kissing Harley until Rage clears his throat.
Ignoring Rage’s fake stink eye, I head over to her as soon as Ryker lets her go and pull her into my arms. “Be safe, baby girl.”
“Always.” She smiles as she wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me softly. I bite back a groan, knowing her father wouldn’t appreciate that, and pull back when Grayson walks towards us.
They say goodbye, and then Rage smirks. “Good luck with Blade today, boys.”
Sugar laughs. “I think we’ve all been looking forward to them being prospects.”
Rage just continues to smirk as he and Harley head out of the house. Shaking my head, I take a seat at the table as Sugar says, “Actually, today isn’t really prospect stuff. Oakley is ready to talk more about the ball, so you guys need to head over to the tech room after you finish your coffee.”
Nodding, Sugar takes his leave, and we all take a moment to finish our coffees before heading over to the club. When we get to the tech room, Nerds is standing at the door with a smile on his face. “Prospects.” He nods at us.
Grayson chuckles. “I feel like you guys are more excited than we are.”
Nerds shrugs. “Since you are basically going to be my bitch for the next year and then hopefully work with me, I have a gift for you,” he tells Grayson, opening the tech door and letting him step in first.
The space has been partially rearranged. There are still the desks in the center of the room facing each other like normal, but now, Nerds’ desk is an L shape in the far right corner of the room, and then there is a new L shaped desk in the opposite corner, with the same computer monitor set up as Nerds’ space. In between the desks, there are whiteboards, shelves, and two chairs. It looks like a shared office space now, not just Nerds’ domain.
“This is all yours,” Nerds says, gesturing to the new desk in the opposite corner from his. The long sides of their desks stick out from the wall facing each other so they can talk and work together easily from their own spaces.
Grayson’s mouth drops open, and his eyes spark with excitement as he runs his fingers over the monitors that are mounted to the wall above the desk and then the three other monitors sitting on the desk. “Wow. Thank you, Nerds.”
He nods and heads to his own desk. “Don’t thank me. Just put it to use.”
Ryker and I take seats at the center desks, and a few minutes pass before Oakley hesitantly comes in. “Hey, Oaks, is it okay if these guys are here while we talk?”
She nods after glancing around. “Where’s Harley?”
“She had plans to go on a ride with Rage,” Nerds tells her, which explains why Sugar waited until they left to tell us Oakley wanted to talk. He didn’t want Harley to feel the need to stay behind and miss whatever it was Rage wants to show her.
“Let’s sit around these desks,” Grayson says as he goes to the desks, laying out a large white poster board with some sharpies.
Everyone pulls up chairs and takes seats, Nerds making sure to sit right next to Oakley, which makes Ryker smirk. “Okay, Oakley, will you just tell us what you remember and we will ask questions as we go? If something feels fuzzy or like you don’t know the answer for sure, let us know so we can mark that it's a possibility,” Grayson explains.
“I vividly remember the first time I was taken to the ball. It was a month after I was kidnapped. I was in a warehouse like the one you found me in. They prepped us there, and then we were all blindfolded. I was painfully sober because they wouldn’t give me anything, and prior to being taken, I was mostly drinking, sometimes getting high. When we got there, they didn’t take the blindfold off until we were inside. The first room by the main doors was a large open space with two desks at the end. There were guards lining both sides of the walls and blocking off all the doors. They led us past the desks and down a dark hallway to a holding room. It was just an empty room with chains connected to the wall so they could chain each of us up.”
Grayson and Nerds draw and write what Oakley tells them while Ryker and I just listen closely. She keeps her eyes shut, and every few minutes, she takes a deep breath, but otherwise, she has no reaction like she has been preparing herself to relive all of this just to save others.
“I don’t know how long we waited there before a bunch of men came in and checked us over to make sure we looked appropriate,” she says through clenched teeth. Nerds stops writing and gently takes her hand. “Then, they led all of us out. We each had a guard with us as we went straight into a large ballroom. From there, they would lead us around, and any guest was allowed to stop us and speak to us.”
“If you had to guess, how many guests do you think there were? Less than fifty? More than?” Grayson asks, fully in work mode.
“I think there were less than fifty that first time. After they finished showing us off, we went back to the same room. Then, way later, we were led out one at a time to go up on stage and be auctioned off,” she explains in a cold, detached voice.
“How many victims do you think were there with you?” Grayson asks next.
She still has her eyes shut, but her body is rigid with tension as she answers him. “At least twenty.”
“So if they had enough guards for each girl during the actual ball, that means we are looking at twenty plus guards,” Ryker muses.
“It felt like there were guards everywhere we went. And you can always tell who they are because they wear black ski masks.”
“Can you walk us through what was different about being traded?” Grayson questions gently.
Nerds inhales sharply, and I know he is ready to stop this, to say she doesn’t need to do it anymore. I glare at him, and he ducks his head, not saying a word. No one likes that she has to do this, but we all have to detach from it and do it anyway.
“I was never blindfolded, although I saw some others were. I think it was because by then, I was always given pills and usually out of it. Parts are fuzzy, but I remember we were brought in through a back door and not the front like when you are just being sold. We were taken into another open room, but this time, our owners stayed with us. When we went into the ball, it wasn’t at the same time as the others being sold.
“Our owners stayed with us until we were auctioned off to someone new, whether it was a direct trade or we were auctioned off and they got paid.” She breathes deeply and finally opens her eyes. “I–I need to stop.” Her walls are shattering the longer she recounts the hell she lived through.
“Of course,” Grayson tells her softly. “Thank you. This is more helpful than you know.”
“You’re stronger than most people, Oakley. Most of us couldn’t sit here and do this like you have,” Ryker tells her.
She smiles sadly and leaves the room. Nerds mumbles that he will be right back and follows after her.
“What do you think?” Ryker asks Grayson.
“I think they are always going to have the same set up so there is no confusion and things are straightforward. That makes this way easier for us. But my big concern is the number of guards.”
“We will have to find out from Rage who we can bring in on this. I know we already asked for help, but I’d hope everyone would be willing to come back,” Ryker says.
Considering we only have five days until this ball is supposed to happen, things are about to turn into chaos. Excusing myself, I leave to go on a run, needing to burn off this nervous buzz under my skin.
Harley
“Where are we?” I ask in amazement as I gaze at the stunning view. We are at the top of some cliff that took almost four hours to get to. It has a view of the ocean and parts of a city I don’t know. Riding here with Gabe was the experience of a lifetime. I got to see a playful side to him I hadn’t seen before. He screwed around and made me laugh almost the whole time.
We stopped for lunch along the way and got to just chat about the club and plans. When I told him I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life, he told me it was okay, that I can take all the time I want to decide. It helped calm nerves I didn’t even realize I had. The guys all know what they want to do. They have purpose, and I feel a little lost not knowing what I want.
“This is my favorite spot. I have been coming here for the last eighteen years. I use it when I need to think.” He tells me as we take a seat on the ledge, our feet hanging over the side of the cliff as we stare out at the water below us.
“Eighteen years?” I ask, glancing over at him. The wind picks up slightly, bringing a calming breeze that blows the loose strands of my braid into my face. I brush them behind my ears as I wait for him to say more.
He gives me a soft smile, even as his eyes look sad. “The first time I came here was with your mom.”
Sucking in a breath, I stutter, “W-what?”
“It was the last time I ever saw her. If you don’t want me to tell you this–”
I shake my head. “No, please do. I just–I have to process.” I never expected this, nor did I know they actually got to spend any time together. But being in a place that I now know both of my parents were together at one point is a lot to process. It makes me wish more than ever that my mom was here now with us.
Wrapping an arm around my shoulders, he pulls me against him and tells me everything.
“I was going through a lot of shit the week before. My dad was a piece of shit and always tested us as prospects without any boundaries. I needed to get away, and Lilian had randomly showed up at the club, looking terrified and lost. I felt helpless, so I offered to get her out of there for a bit. The last thing I expected was her to say yes. We left and rode on my old Harley for hours until we stumbled upon this spot. We slept out here for the weekend. Never left each other's side.”
He continues to tell me about how he was finally honest with her about the initiation rape and what happened. They cried together as Gabe and I do now. “I think your mom is the only woman I have loved, which is insane, considering I barely knew her.”
“I don’t think it’s crazy,” I say quietly. “I also don’t think she is the only woman you have ever loved.”
Pulling away, he glances at me with furrowed brows. “What?”
Chuckling, I say, “Nothing we need to talk about right now. I’m glad you brought me here, but why now?”
“I don’t really know. I think I just wanted to share the one thing your mom and I had with you. We made you, which I believe is our biggest accomplishment in life. But now, you have something that belonged to just me and her. It only has good memories, even if only a few. It’s not tainted like most everything else.”
Gabe being vulnerable with me makes me want to do the same and finally say some things I should've said months ago. “I’ve never told you this because I didn’t really know how to just put it into a conversation, but I’m sorry for what happened when I came here. I’m sorry I stormed in here with one mindset and refused to believe what was right in front of my eyes. I will always regret that.”
Gabe sighs and glances out at the water. “You have nothing to be sorry for. Was it a dumb thing to do? Yes. But you were doing what you thought was necessary. You were strong and brave–”
“While being stupid.” I chuckle.
“Yeah,” he laughs. “I found out who you were to me right before you came. I didn’t know how to process it, and then, there you were, standing in front of me, looking like your mother. Brave, beautiful, a warrior.”
“The thought crosses my mind all the time—what would have happened if I had pulled that trigger and hurt you?” My voice catches.
“Harley, don't go there. Let that go. I never forgave you because there was never anything to forgive. You have been the biggest blessing of my life. I knew that even if you hated me until the day I died, I was still so fucking lucky to have known you.”
Tears gather in my eyes, and I blink them back, resting my head on his shoulder, allowing myself to take in this moment.
I hope you are proud of the both of us, Mom. I really fucking miss you.
“I love you more than life itself, and I will do anything for you,” Gabe says.
My mouth opens, but the words don’t come out. I love you too, Dad. Why are they so hard to say? Why can’t I just tell him how I feel?
Instead, I go for a lighter topic. “Anything, huh?”
He laughs. “Well, fuck. Guess I can’t take it back now. What do you want?”
I sit up and turn sideways, pulling my legs up so I’m facing him. “I want you to lay my mom to rest here.”
His eyes widen, but I continue, “If I can say one thing about my mom in full confidence, it’s that she wouldn’t want either of us to be dwelling on things we can no longer change. She was literally on the run as a single, terrified young mom, but she lived every moment with me, and I never knew how much she was dealing with.”
I take a breath before grabbing his hand. “You have tortured yourself enough. You even allowed me to torture you when you didn’t deserve it. So be happy, Gabe. Go home today and get that girl who looks at you like you walk on water and never let her go.”
“Harley–”
I shake my head. “I approve of her. She’s perfect and kind. Don’t let her go. I’m surprised she’s even still waiting after all this time.”
Gabe lets out a humorless laugh and shakes his head. “Sugar warned me you would be a force to be reckoned with.”
After a minute of silence, he speaks again, “I thought I could never give myself to someone in the way I wanted to give myself to Lilian. Then, I lost her as soon as I had her, and I didn’t think I would ever move on until a tiny blonde bombshell came in like a wrecking ball and threw everything out the window. I didn’t know how to deal with it, but I know I want her around.”
“She won’t always be around,” I tell him.
He nods. “I wasted enough time, you’re right. Who knew my kid would fix my fucking love life?” he grumbles, and then we both laugh.
“Are you ready to head back?” Gabe asks, bumping his shoulder with mine. We’ve spent another few hours just talking, and now the sun is starting to set. Ryker has already texted me asking when I am coming back because he is dying without me.
I sigh and drop my head against his shoulder. “No. I mean, yes, but I want to bask in this bubble forever.”
Standing, Gabe holds his hand out for me to take. When I place my hand in his, he pulls me to my feet and gently brushes my hair behind my shoulders. “Someday, Harley. Someday, you are going to be so happy and content with life, you won’t even be thinking about needing a bubble to escape to for a moment. Your entire life will be the bubble. I promise.”
After a few hours of riding, Gabe gestures for us to pull off to a gas station.
“One more hour until home sweet home. I bet you're excited to see the boys,” Gabe says with a teasing glint in his eyes. I roll mine and stretch my legs out while he fills both our tanks.
Noticing the same red car I saw earlier idling at the entrance to the gas station, I stretch again. “Gabe. The red car behind us was following us a while back, but then they turned off, and now they’re back.”
Gabe has a small smile on his face, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he hangs the pump back up and turns to look. I know the moment he spots the car, because his entire demeanor shifts as the smile drops from his face.
“Gab—“ I say at the same time a car revs, and I faintly hear him call my name. He pulls his gun from the back of his jeans.
Everything happens so fast— between one heartbeat and the next, I find myself flat on my back, my ears ringing from…a gunshot? A heavy weight rests on me, and I push it off. Blinking my eyes rapidly, I begin to take in my surroundings: three cars and a white van. The heavy weight on me was Gabe. He groans in pain and clutches his side. “Harl—“
“Gabe…” I whisper, tears filling my eyes as fury runs through my veins. Reaching over him, I grab the gun he dropped. “Keep pressure. Don’t you dare fucking let go.”
Jumping to my feet, I spin around and watch as multiple men in black pile out of the cars coming towards us. My pulse spikes, and I take a single deep breath. Shut down.
Not looking back down at my dad, I point the gun at the man closest to me. “Who the fuck are you?” I growl.
He smirks. “Put the gun down before you hurt yourself, princess.”
The sound of princess coming from his lips causes my finger to squeeze the trigger before I can fully think it through. The man drops to the ground, his eyes wide and shocked as blood pours from the hole between his eyes.
Another man steps forward from around the side of the van and glances down at the dead man with disgust before glancing up at me. “That wasn’t very nice.”
His eyes… I know those eyes. I’ve seen those eyes. “What do you want?”
“Well, that’s a stupid question.” He tilts his head as he studies me. “Shall we see how tough Rage’s offspring is?”
“Harley–” Rage coughs, but I don’t look down at him. Shutdown, don’t feel.
“No long lasting injuries,” the man says and then nods towards me. “Go ahead.”
Five men move towards me all at once, and I begin firing. I’m able to drop two men before one of them grabs my arm and my instincts kick in.
Twisting out of his hold, I use the gun to hit his head, but he moves to the side so it barely scrapes him. Coming at me again, he goes for my hair, but I duck and spin before kicking my leg out and getting him right in the balls. He grunts as another set of hands grabs me from behind. They yank my arms behind my back, and I let out a scream at the pain. The first guy comes forward again, and I try to kick out at him, but he steps aside.
“Fucking stop, you bitch,” he snarls.
Without responding, I narrow my eyes and keep fighting, trying to pull my arms out of the other guy's hold. He holds them high enough up my back that if there's one wrong move, he can easily snap my arms out of the sockets.
I don’t get a chance to come up with a new plan because there's a sharp pinch in my neck, and then everything slowly fades away.
Looking straight ahead, I can barely make out Gabe as he lays unmoving on the ground.