Ox (The Devil’s Riders #5)

Chapter 20

TWENTY

Kayla

We drove for hours in silence. Once Ghost had gotten me into the van, he climbed in behind me and bound my feet and stuffed my mouth with a rag.

Warning me to keep my mouth shut or he’d make me pay, he draped a painter’s drop cloth over my body. My adrenaline rush over being drugged and kidnapped, led to a crash of my energy. The thrum of the motor beneath me, mixed with the heat of the blanket, caused me to fall into an exhausted, dreamless sleep. I only awoke when I heard voices and realized we’d come to a stop.

I wanted to shout out, but I didn’t know where we were or what was going on. I recognized Ghost’s voice immediately. He was speaking fluent Spanish with someone outside our vehicle. Where were we? Had I been asleep so long I didn’t notice we’d driven to Mexico?

Terrified that he was talking to one of his biker buddies over the border, I hesitated to call out and cause a scene. The last thing I wanted to do was incur the unstable man’s wrath while I was still so vulnerable.

Suddenly, the voices grew animated. Then, both men were out and out shouting. The door to the vehicle was opened and the shouting moved further away until there was only silence.

I thought my heart might explode out of my chest when I heard footsteps approaching the van. Someone got behind the wheel and we began to move once more. However, we didn’t drive for long. After about twenty minutes or so, the vehicle slowed and parked.

In an accented English, a masculine voice announced, “I know you’re back there, Senorita. It’s time to show yourself.”

Ghost

The dusty sackcloth that had been covering my head was suddenly ripped off without warning. Light flooded in and I squinted against it. Whatever the border official had stuck me with was strong. I could barely stay conscious, let alone fight against my captors.

I didn’t need to see the man in front of me to know who was there. I’d thought I’d been clever, but he was cleverer. Always one step ahead of everyone else, Maze appeared bored, his VP, Snake, at his side.

My Prez didn’t speak for several seconds. He just looked at me with those pale blue eyes, like he was reading my very soul. But, as he well knew, he was going to be there for some time if he was hoping to catch a glimpse of it, as I didn’t have one for him to read. I’d lost it a long time ago in a shelter for boys that turned the other way when the lights went out each night.

Glancing around, I took in my surroundings. After I’d been drugged, I must have been transported to this bleak basement somewhere in Mexico. A place I was certain I’d never leave.

“Where’s Kayla?” I managed to say, even though my tongue felt as thick and cloudy as my brain.

“Don’t worry about that gash. You’ve got bigger problems than she does right now,” Snake sneered, his thin lips spreading into a cold grin.

Ignoring his slight, I tried to will my hands to move. But the sedative was too strong and I could only manage to wiggle a few fingers.

“You defied me, Ghost,” Maze spoke, as he watched me try and wrestle back control of my drugged body.

There was no use denying it. He was right. I had betrayed him and all the other Watchmen. Now it was time to pay the piper. And I knew it.

“Nobody defies the Prez,” Snake said, smiling like he couldn’t wait for what we all knew came next.

Maze spread his feet wider and shook his head. “I told you to get rid of the bitch, Ghost. Instead, you drove across the border and tried to escape with her in tow. Did you really think I wouldn’t know? That I wouldn’t find you?”

I should have known. But I’d thought I’d covered my tracks by killing anyone who knew about the abduction, ditching my bike, and stealing the van to drive to Mexico. My miscalculation was going to cost me my life. And, even worse, Kayla’s.

“Don’t—” I forced myself to push the words out like I had when I’d been a child and had a paralyzing stutter, “hurt her.”

Looking disgusted, Maze began to put on a pair of leather gloves. “You let a woman come between you and your Club, Ghost,” he lectured, disgust dripping from his words. “Now you gotta pay for that.”

He was right. I’d killed men for much less. Either way, I’d have done it again. Kayla was perfect. She would have made me whole. Happy even. I was sure of it. I was just a shell without her. Empty and hollow. My only regret was not tasting her before dying. And I knew, with all my dark soul, that I was never going to get the chance to touch her again. I wasn’t leaving this cellar in a foreign land. My Prez didn’t farm out his dirty work. He was going to do it right here, right now, himself.

“Snake, get the gasoline,” Maze directed.

His VP scurried into a dark corner to get a red jug. When he returned, Snake snickered and handed it off to his Prez. “I hope you like your meat well done, man.”

Maze ignored the dig and said, “You know what happens to a Brother who betrays his Club, don’t you Ghost?”

Summoning just enough strength to nod, I told him silently that I did.

“Any last words?” the large man pressed, slowly unscrewing the cap to the canister.

I wasn’t much for conversation, so I just sat mute, waiting as Maze began to pour the noxious fluid all over and around me.

Digging into his pocket, he produced a matchbook. “Good. I hate speeches. Save it for the Devil. He’s the only one who cares about your sins now.”

Walking toward the stairs, he trailed the remaining gas in a line until the last of the fluid ran out.

“You sure you don’t want me to tune him up before you light the match?” Snake offered, a gleam of hope in his muddy brown eyes.

Maze shook his head before striking the match. “What a waste,” he returned, before letting it drop.

I watched the beautiful red glow float to the ground as though it were lighter than air. Like it had a mind of its own, it danced seductively toward me. I’d never seen anything more beautiful in my whole life. And, like all beautiful things, it came with a price. Pain and misery.

When it reached out for my pant leg, I bit down on my tongue to stop the scream lodged in my throat. Despite all the sedatives, my nerves and body jolted to life the instant its heat kissed my skin. When it reached my thighs, I screamed like an animal that was being gutted from the inside out. And when it crawled up my stomach, arms, and head, I was caught somewhere between agony and euphoria. A state that felt akin to God to me.

The last thing I saw before I erupted brightly like a Roman candle, was the door to the cellar shutting behind my Prez and Snake. And then I saw no more.

Kayla

I’d been hauled into what looked like an old farmhouse after being dragged from the car. We entered through the kitchen where three women of various ages were preparing a large breakfast. Spices wafted into the air as pans of food merrily steamed away on all four burners.

Nobody even spared me a glance as my captor demanded I “move faster”. Ushering me through the tidy kitchen, I willed the women to look at me. But it soon became clear they weren’t going to help me in any way. They weren’t my saviors. They were passive bystanders at best, and willing accomplices at worst.

I was led upstairs into a small room before the door was shut and locked behind me. To my surprise, my hands and feet had been left unbound. As soon as my captor retreated downstairs, I shot up from the bed and began to circle the space, looking for a makeshift weapon or way out. Unfortunately for me, this room was spartan and contained even less than the one Ghost had locked me in yesterday. There wasn’t even a window I could look out of. Or, if times became desperate enough, jump from.

About twenty minutes later, I heard the key in the lock and I immediately panicked. Was it Ghost coming to retrieve me? Someone else? Before I could think of what to do, my captor from earlier ushered the oldest woman from the kitchen into my room.

I smelled the food before I even saw it. Aromatic rice and eggs were piled high on a plate, with two thick, homemade slices of buttered bread stacked like the cherry on top. I hadn’t eaten in close to twenty four hours, and my stomach instantly awoke and grumbled for relief when it got a whiff of the homey meal.

The older woman smiled reassuringly as she handed me the plate and spoon, motioning for me to start eating when I just stood there dumbly for too long.

Needing my strength, I decided it was in my best interest to eat. Reasoning, if they’d wanted to poison me, they didn’t need to hide it in my food. They could simply force the issue. They clearly had the strength to compel my compliance one way or another. Trickery, at this stage in the game, was wholly unnecessary.

My captor and his female accomplice left then and I ate in relative peace. When I was done, I held onto my spoon, as it was the closest thing to a weapon I could get my hands on. I soon felt the exhaustion and fatigue setting in as my body began to process the filling repast. Crawling onto the bed, I decided to rest my eyes for a few moments, but I fell asleep instead.

The sound of the door opening dragged me awake. Shooting out of bed, I held my spoon in front of me like a sword. Before I’d tumbled into unconsciousness, I’d decided I’d fight to the death before suffering whatever disturbed fate my captors had planned for me.

My kidnapper stepped inside the room and said, “Easy there, Senorita. I won’t hurt you,” like he was trying to calm a spooked horse.

Not believing him for a second, my gaze widened crazily as I calculated my chances of running by him and making it outside. Before I could react, a large man stepped into the room and pushed past my guard. To my absolute shock, and relief, it was Ox.

I was in his arms before I’d even blinked. Crushing me so tightly to his chest it hurt, Ox whispered, “I’m here now, Babe. You’re safe.”

Dissolving into tears, I leaned against his warm, muscled chest and finally allowed myself to fall to pieces in the comfort of his strong embrace.