Chapter 48
Chapter
Forty-Eight
The sound of rumbling from miles away makes me alert. And the small flash of adrenaline after hearing it sends blood and fear pumping through my system. Every part of me is screaming at me to go, to run but all I can do is whimper in hopeless desperation.
The only good thing to happen was me managing to topple the chair so I’m no longer spread out like a Christmas Ham. But that was hours ago, and since then I’ve jumped at every noise. I’ve felt things crawling over my skin, I’ve cried until I have no tears left to give. And I’ve tried so damn hard not to believe this is where my life comes to a screeching end.
I understand fear erodes hope but it doesn’t change the fact that’s exactly what happened. I’ve been here too long, I’m too far away, and no one is coming.
My ears prick up again when I hear the rumbling again. But it’s not rumbling like thunder, the noise of a bike is so distinctive I feel like a failure for not hearing it for what it was the first time.
The flash of light on the barn is unnecessary, because the closer they rode the clearer it was I had company. And as obvious as their arrival is, so is the fact it’s not King, or my pack because they’d be rushing in here, untying me from the chair.
There’s no noise except for the tick of their cooling engines, and I should feel relieved it’s only two bikes and not a whole gang of them, but I don’t because they bring with them a malicious energy. I feel it crawling over my skin and it gets worse the longer they stay in the shadows without saying a word.
The longer they don’t move or speak the deeper void of fear I sink into. All my hopes of getting out alive, of seeing my pack and King again burn to ash. I don’t know how I keep breathing.
“Who the fuck is that, Rex?”
God, my heart sinks. Rex is here. Rex who I know is a complete asshole is here.
But the very next moment, the hope I had starts to ignite again, because somehow Steel is here. It was him who spoke. And it’s really hard not to move a muscle or make a sound when every part of me wants to.
Rex laughs. It fills the night and it confirms what I already know, he’s an asshole. The noise he makes isn’t because he’s happy, or he thinks Steel is funny. The sound echoes who he is—sinister, evil, and malicious. All the hairs on the back of my neck stand up in warning.
“That is our message,” Rex says, chuckling. I feel each step he takes on his way over, it vibrates through the floor, reverberating down my spine along with wave after wave of panic.
He stands over the top of me, watching me before he kicks the chair I’m tied to.
“Wakey, wakey…”
There doesn’t seem much point twisting around to face him but at the same time I don’t want to wind him up either. Turning slightly, I go to look up at him but he squats down to stroke my face. His hand trails over my cheek and I somehow repress the shudder that courses through my body at another Alpha touching me. His touch is not gentle or nice, it’s demanding and hurts.
I don’t get the chance to even look at him before he flicks my hair over my face. A second later he makes a hocking noise and then I feel his actual spit hit me, his hand scratching over my throat a second later.
“Would you fucking look at that,” he marvels, before he swipes his hand over my claim again, harder. And only for the intention of hurting me.
He stands, pulling my chair up with him, and he uses the edge of his shirt to swipe over my throat until I’m sure every skerrick of makeup is gone.
“Those stupid fucking bitches didn’t even realise, did they? Fresh too.” He talks to himself before he finally looks at me in the face for the first time. “Who’s your Alpha?”
I snap my jaw, shutting away my secret, hoping by doing so I’ll keep them all safe. And the chuckle he makes deep in his throat lets me know how much he’s enjoying himself.
“Steel, look at this.”
It’s not a request, it’s a bark of obedience. And Steel moves, the second his shadow falls over my face I can feel him recoil. Steel is not acting, he is as stunned and as shocked as I am. I don’t have to look at my reluctant Alpha to know how dangerous this subterfuge just became, it’s painfully obvious what direction Rex would take the current situation if he knew whose mouth had been on my neck.
“Who the fuck is it, Rex? What have you done?” Steel asks carefully, taking a step away from me.
I lock my gaze on Steel’s shoes, using them as a way to focus and bury all our happy memories away. Pretending we never met is the only way for Steel to survive this. But pretending comes with another trap, my fear forces me to consider all this was a set-up, and that is heart-breaking. I hope the way Steel’s acting and talking isn’t real. I hope I didn’t fall for the biggest lie in the world when I believed him back at the lake house.
I risk a look at him, and that hurts. Because right now, he looks and feels like a complete stranger.
“Rex?” Steel asks again.
Rex chuckles, avoiding Steel’s question, “She’s a dirty cunt, who is also now my puppet.”
“How’d you get her? Must cost a pretty penny,” Steel says, his foot kicking the bottom of my chair.
Rex laughs again before he stops but when he answers Steel it’s clear he’s still smiling by the way he speaks. “Some club sluts jumped on an opportunity.”
“How so? Like from the Riders?”
“Nah,” Rex says slowly, driving control of the conversation. And his voice, the way he speaks and stands keeps confirming what I already know, he’s a prick. Rex rests his boot on the top of my thigh, pushing down hard enough to hurt, as he leans his arms on it like he’s leaning on a bar top. “Apparently this one’s been thinking she’s got some sort of magic pussy.”
My eyes fly up to his, and he’s already waiting with a sneer on his face, watching my reaction. It’s what he wants, to see me suffer and I don’t give him the chance, dropping my eyes as quickly as they flashed on him.
Rex might be the same height as Steel but in one look I can see how different they are too. As I expected though, he is as ugly and evil as his voice and presence suggest. If anything, he looks more like the twisted face of the Death Riders’ demon than he does a man.
But he wants to see my emotions as they happen, and he bends over, getting in my face and making it impossible for me to hide. I lock as much of myself as I can away from him as I hold his stare.
I’ve heard stories of Rex for so many years, hanging with King it was inevitable, but the only thing he and King share is the title of president. The similarities stop there. I could list the differences but the most obvious is their designation. Rex is a pale, bad imitation of King. A dangerous one.
Rex raises a hand like he’s going to touch me or something, and Steel takes a step nearer. Drawing his attention back to him and off me. “Rex, what are we doing here?”
Rex drops his eyes off my face, I can feel it without looking at him. And then I can feel his attention crawl over my nakedness, stopping between my legs. I grit my teeth so hard not to whimper.
“I think we need to test her little cunt out, don’t we? See if it really is magic,” Rex suggests straightening himself up. He starts pacing and Steel takes the chance to put himself between me and Rex, but in doing so he also becomes a target, or maybe he was always going to be. Rex stops pacing when he’s right in front of Steel, and then he makes it obvious and gets up in his face. “I guess now’s the time we need to clear some of the air. Between me and you I mean which is why I asked the boys to give us some time alone.”
The way Rex smiles at Steel makes my stomach drop. Nothing good is going to come out of Rex’s next move, you can see it in his eyes.
“See, Steel, it’s been on my mind for a while now. Damn near broke my fucking heart it did. To hear my kid wanted out. I know you’re not fucking stupid which is why I was so”—Rex juggles his hands as he pretends to look for the right word—“torn in conflict? Anyway, I knew you just needed the right motivation to remember once a Rider, always a Rider. Even after you got worms eating your rotten flesh you pledged your soul to Death.”
“I know that, Rex. Where’s this coming from? I’m a little lost considering you never wanted me to patch. Never let me even.”
“Well, let’s just say this solves both our problems, it’s our way forward. Your way of apologising to me for being involved in helping the girls disappear. My girls, Steel. Sallyanne and Harley are mine.”
Steel visibly startles. It might be small, but I don’t miss it and I’m sure Rex doesn’t either. He tries to cover it, and Rex laughs and makes a noise like he’s disappointed.
“Ima let your involvement slide for a bit because by getting rid of Sallyanne you made my eyes open to better horizons, full of more opportunity and something tighter to fuck. But I am not happy about Harley, Steel. I’m feeling her loss big time because I had plans.” Rex flicks his head towards me. “But this magical big pussy might bring me just as much fucking happiness. Might even solve some of our problems too.”
Steel twists around and follows Rex’s line of sight. And right now Steel’s usual grey eyes resemble his namesake… cold, impenetrable. I can’t even get the slightest hint of his scent, every part of him is locked up so tight. And I hate it. I hate seeing him like this and I hate the way Rex is playing games and messing with Steel’s head.
Rex claps him on the shoulder, pretending they’re friends. But they’re not. Everything Rex is doing is winding Steel up, leading him along until he’s ready to make him pay, or use him.
“Get your cock out, Steel. I don’t give a shit if you can’t get it up, but you’re shoving it in her fucking hole and you’re gonna keep fucking until your come leaks out her cunt. And I’m going to film you busting a nut and packing her.”
“What?” Steel swings back around to face Rex, taking a step away from him and the waves of threat and malice rolling off him.
“Let’s call it her insurance and incentive all rolled into one.”
“What?”
“You haven’t figured it out yet, Son?” Rex exaggerates the word son and takes a step closer to Steel.
Steel holds his hands out, shaking his head. “Nah, Rex, I really haven’t. Are you sure the gear you got from El Demonio was clean? Remember they cut it before and it was bad.”
“Don’t bullshit me now. This ain’t about drugs. But I’ll do you a solid and pass on your concerns to El Demonio, that good?”
“No! I didn’t mean that. I’m worried about you, Rex, that’s all.”
Rex laughs callously, “You know I’m scratching my head, trying to figure out why you tried to double cross me. I saw things happening but I thought to myself, surely not. There’s no way the kid who I raised, fed, and helped out, would do anything wrong. But then all these little things started stacking up. You being dodgy as shit around the club, then there was the time at Birdies you didn’t shoot when we told Reid we would. I can’t even remember the last time you took club cunt when it was offered.” Rex rambles, the nonsense and threats tumble out over each other making him hard to understand and nearly impossible to follow. “You know I don’t fancy fucking homos and I’m not saying that’s you but watching you take Fallen slut is going to bring me a certain level of peace. In a way I’m ensuring your loyalty stays with me, because how do you think King’s gonna feel when he finds out this hole of his is swamped by the seed of a Death Rider? I reckon he’s going to fucking lose it. He’ll come gunning for you, boy, but me and the boys will protect you. And then he’ll see we’re not playing around?”
“Rex, you know he’s weird about women getting hurt. He won’t stop. Fuck, man, she’s probably a fucking no-one, I mean, we can’t believe the club sluts and King wouldn’t fuck packed pussy.”
“Don’t give a fuck. She’s the start, Steel. She ain’t the fucking reason we’re gonna go to war but I reckon he’s got too much pride to let one of his cunts being owned by one of The Death Riders. And it will mean so much more don’t you think that it’s my fucking son, my legacy, that she’s gonna be next to? Every time we see him, he’ll be reminded that we take what we want. This ain’t just about the strip, this is about the Death Riders becoming top of the fucking pyramid.”
Jesus, he is absolutely delusional.
Rex lunges for Steel, digging a hand into his shoulder so he can’t get away.
“But Steel, I know you got a fucking tender heart for women in trouble. Yeah? You step one fucking inch out of line again and I’ll slice her open on the bar for our Friday night session. I will shoot your fucking kneecaps out so you can’t move and you’ll sit there and watch Bash and Cog, and the rest of my boys ruin her every hole before I find your sweet sister, Harley, and drag her back to auction off her virgin asshole. Unless of course you don’t need the reminder, Steel. I’m offering you a change of heart right now. You show me you’re committed.”
Steel doesn’t argue, he just holds out his hand waiting for them to shake on it, with a grin on his face. “Rex, you don’t have to ever doubt my intentions. I promise you I was not involved with Ma and Harley leaving, why would I? To prove my faith of course I’ll fucking film me taking this cunt myself. Might even FaceTime him so he can watch it happen live if that’s good with you? But only if you know she’s King’s.”
Rex’s eyebrows climb up, the intense threats and promise of violence from only moments ago twists yet again, resulting in gloating satisfaction. Rex looks like the king of the world when he holds his hand out to Steel for them to shake. “This is a small step to making me feel like I can trust you again, Steel.”
“You know, thinking about how fucking wild King’s going to be when I feed her my cock has got me hard already.”
Rex laughs. “Just like your old man.”
“Let’s do this now.” Steel pushes and Rex nods his head like he’s deep in thought but really he’s almost frothing in eagerness.
Rex walks off muttering under his breath and Steel’s facade cracks for the briefest moment. Perhaps because he realises himself, he leans down getting right up in my face so he’s the only thing I can see.
“Hey, WIP. I don’t want you to remember this. Go back to the lake and I’ll see you on the other side,” Steel whispers, his lips barely moving. And it’s incredibly risky because if Rex caught on, I’m pretty sure we’d be dead, but Steel gives me hope by giving me an out.
“You getting started before I got my camera ready?” Rex shouts from past the entry. “Wait till I got some fucking lights, hey?”
He flicks on his bike headlights and all the shadows I was hiding in blink out of existence.
“Too fucking right. We don’t want King to miss this.” Steel laughs, peeling off his cut and letting it drop to the ground.
I watch Steel, tugging his hair out of his band, running his hands through it and I hold on to the time at the lake when I confessed how much I love his hair when it’s down. Steel takes off his shirt next, and he takes me even further away from here when he taps his chest with his two fingers like he does to Maverick before he slowly flattens his nipple rings, like I always seem to.
“All we need is a fucking cosy fire. Am I right?” Steel turns, talking over his shoulder but also tapping my chest above my heart, confirming he’s not playing. He’s here with me, saving me the only way he can. He’s giving me anchor points, asking me to trust him, giving me a chance to tap out mentally.
“You got your phone?” Steel asks, hurrying this along. And I suspect it’s because the reminders are fresh in my head, he doesn’t want to waste them, but I can’t help the tears from falling. “I’m going to let King watch, Rex. Make sure he knows who’s fucking this little WIP.”
He says my pet name and I nearly fucking sob.
“WIP?” Rex asks, sounding confused.
“Nah, like a whip. You know snappy, or a whip cracking… don’t worry about it.” Steel laughs. And Rex closes the distance, to us holding the phone up to his face as it rings.
The call picks up and Rex bends down, his face filling the screen, “I’ve had an interesting day today… What about you?” Rex talks as he takes a step closer before he turns the camera to the front of Steel’s body. There’s no way King would know what’s going on yet.
“Make sure he sees my face, Rex. I got no fucking issue with him seeing me fuck her.” Steel’s pants are dropped to his thighs but he’s standing in front of me, his dick not even stirring.
Rex does a close up of Steel, then drops down to get a shot of Steel’s dick in front of my face. He holds the camera there for a second before he turns it to me, taking a step back so my face is the only thing King would be able to see.
“You starting a war?” King asks slowly.
Rex grunts a laugh, “You want to go to war over cunt?”
“Careful Rex,” King threatens slowly. “You’re already a dead man, don’t make it worse by disrespecting an innocent woman.”
“We figured you’d want to watch her learn to take Rider dick since she fucking ran at the first chance she got from your club. And then my son’s going to bite her throat and claim her pack, marking her Rider property.”
I can hear King’s breathing hitch, but before I can bring my eyes up, Rex is slapping my face. “Either you put Steel’s cock in your mouth or you’ll take mine. Stop being fucking difficult.” Rex lashes out so hard and fast my head flings backwards.
“Rex!” King barks, and I whimper, the noise ripping submission from every bone in my body, but Steel covers it by pushing his tip past my lips, making me whimper for a different reason. The tears that fall are real.
“Here we fucking go,” Rex encourages, nearly bouncing on the balls of his feet as he gets caught up in the moment. Steel snatches the phone out of Rex’s hands and fiddles with it before holding it at eye level, so all I can see is either his or King’s eyes.
Neither of them utter a noise. But it doesn’t mean we don’t communicate while Rex catcalls and dances around in his obvious happiness. Through our bond King roars endlessly of his love and devotion while making violent promises about what he’s going to do to the Reapers. King’s influence somehow reaches Steel, and he makes it possible for Steel to keep doing what has to be done.
The both of them stay with me the entire time, ignoring Rex’s delusions and endless threats. Together, Steel and King urge me to sink even further into the bond and go as far away from reality as possible.
But no matter how much they try to buffer me, there’s no escaping Rex’s malicious and malignant presence, for no other reason I’m fucking terrified.
I want to say it’s a beautiful moment when Steel binds us together as pack but the flood of his regret and the whirlpool of guilt as our connection snaps into place threatens to drown me in the deepest ocean. The Steel I knew from the cabin is long gone, and that hurts as much as our choice of packing being taken from us.
I want to say we’ll get past this, but we made a promise not to lie to each other.
Rex picks up on the shift in Steel because he rips us apart before shoving a bottle in his hand in congratulations and picking up the phone.
“Now I’ve fixed about a hundred problems in five minutes.” Rex chuckles. He starts talking to King like they’re friends. “I mean, Steel’s new cunt had no Fallen marking on her so she couldn’t have meant much to you, huh? But see now, Steel also gets to learn what loyalty is all about. Unless I choose to teach him a fucking lesson using his piece of ass which is on the cards considering he gets so worked up about Rider cunt that’s not his to worry about. Huh?”
“For the tenth fucking time, Rex! I was with you. How could I be in two places at once, huh? No doubt Ma and Harley got help, but not from me.”
“This is clearly not a discussion me and you need to have in front of this prick, is it?” Rex snaps, his eyes looking lethal as he stares at Steel. “Have some fucking respect, Steel, King’s dealing right now, suffering the fact he lost this fine piece of ass but also he’s got rats in his house. And you have your own issues too.”
Rex lunges unnaturally fast and buries a hunting knife in Steel’s side. I scream but that only makes Rex laugh harder and faster.
“What?” Steel staggers backwards, tripping over his feet.
“A reminder, I’m fucking watching you. Now say see you later to your fucking whore. She’s riding out with me.”
“What?”
“You ain’t fit to ride,” Rex snarls, twisting the knife.