Chapter 32
32
Melody
The ride took forever and was so bumpy I’m car sick and wobbly as we finally stop and they pull me out the back of the van. We’re in a clearing in some sort of a wooded area, with only a filthy, lopsided trailer. A heap of garbage of all sorts—mostly empty cans and old tires—litters the space around it. The headlights of the van are the only thing illuminating the scene, which just makes it look that much more like something from a bad crime thriller.
This could be the place I die. After they all rape me. Because this place looks like somewhere that kind of thing happens.
I don’t want to think about that. But now that I thought it, I can’t stop.
“What do you want with me?” I ask no one in particular.
Two of the five guys went ahead to open the trailer, two are holding my arms and Tito is walking beside us.
“You’re gonna help some guys get revenge on Devil’s Nightmare MC, which is gonna help me get my revenge,” Tito explains in a casual voice. I can’t see his face but it sounds like he’s smiling as he speaks.
“How do you figure that’ll go?” I ask. “I have nothing to do with the Devils anymore. I left them years ago.”
“Yeah, but you were one of their club girls back when,” Tito says, turning to me an eying me up and down. His gaze feels like something slimy slithering over my body. “And I have to say they’ve got good taste. Even though they’re total bastards that don’t deserve to live.”
“The Devils won’t move a finger to help me,” I say. “Why would they? I’m just an ER doc now.”
He chuckles. “Save your breath. You’re no good at lying. I know you’re close with their president’s and the VP’s sons. They’ll ride for you. Unholy assured us of that before he tried to take you all to himself. He spent some time with them in the past. He knows how they think.”
They have the trailer door open and some candles lit inside. The two guys let me go so they can shove me through the narrow door.
I could try and make a run for it. Get lost in the darkness and the trees. But that’s exactly what will happen. I’d get lost. And I’d have these five chasing me. I have to bide my time. Pick my moment.
The interior of the trailer is just as nasty and shabby as the outside, with a single, half rotted sofa under a grimy window, a small kitchen that’s more black than its original light brown and a table off to the side. I don’t even want to see what’s in the back. The smell of a decomposing dead thing—hopefully not a person—permeates everything.
“What’s gonna happen now?” I ask as one of the men pushes me onto the sofa. The smell of rot and dirt rising from it makes me gag.
The rest encircle me, blocking the way to the door.
“You’re gonna sit tight, while we wait for Rabid Dogz MC,” Tito says.
“And then you’ll use me as bait?” I ask.
He chuckles. “What’s left of you.”
I ignore that so hard I hardly know how to think or speak for a couple moments.
“Is this about the war the Devils are fighting?” I ask.
Tito lights a cigarette off the candle on the kitchen countertop.
“See, you do know what’s going on,” he says. “Not just a pretty faced nobody, are you?”
They’d likely already raised the alarm back at the hospital after I just vanished. Everyone got a good look at Unholy. Rogue will be wondering where I am too when I don’t show up at the clubhouse after my shift. He’ll come looking for me. He’ll find me. And yes, the Devils will ride for me.
But that can’t happen. Not if it’s gonna lead to more of them dying. I will never be the cause of that.
The roar of Harleys grows deafeningly loud outside.
“Ah, the Dogz are here,” Tito says, smiling. “Watch her.”
All but one of the guys leave the trailer to go meet them.
“You got her?” a male voice asks outside. The walls of the trailer are so thin, I can hear him as clearly as I would if he were standing right next to me.
“Yeah, we got her,” Tito says.
“Hand her over then,” the Rabid Dogz MC guy growls. “And then we’ll be in touch.”
“Not so fast,” Tito says and I hear the unmistakable sound of a gun cocking. “We’re all coming with you. I’m gonna get what I came for.”
“Where’s Unholy?” the other guy says. “Didn’t he explain how this is gonna work?”
“He had a change of heart,” Tito says. “Wanted us out of the equation. Now he’s out of the equation, if you know what I mean. I hope he wasn’t your friend.”
In the silence that follows the shuffling of feet against the dry ground is as loud as an avalanche.
“Unholy’s always been a cagey bastard,” the Dogz guy finally says. “No great loss that he’s gone. But we need the woman and we need to move now. The Devils are in the area and Cross’ son is with them. If we move fast, we can hit them right where it hurts the most.”
“So, let’s stop fucking around and get this done,” Tito says. “I want to speak with your Prez before I hand her over. I’m not backing down from that.”
Another tense silence follows. The guy with me is so tense he’s shaking as he peers out the window to see what’s going on outside.
“I’m Teller, I’m the Prez,” the Rabid Dogz MC guy finally says. “Bring her out now and then we’ll talk.”
Tito laughs. “Nope. We talk first. I want a promise that you’ll help us wipe out the club that killed my father.”
“Enough of this shit,” Teller says and it’s followed by more guns being cocked. “We ain’t got any time to lose.”
The guy in the trailer with me draws his gun too and puts it to my head.
“Make the deal or she dies right now,” he hollers. “I ain’t joking.”
He pulls me to my feet and drags me to the door, the gun pressed firmly against my temple.
The scene outside looks as tense as I expected. There’s ten of them and they’ve got a Mexican standoff type of thing going on.
“All right, all right,” Teller says. “We’ll help you after we take care of this. You have my word. All my men here are witnesses. Is that good enough for you?”
Tito exchanges a long look with the guy still holding a gun to my head. I can read it plainly enough. It’s not much of a promise and he knows it. They both do. I guess Unholy was the go- between and with him gone there’s no trust between these men. And I’m in the middle of it all.
“Fine,” Tito finally says and they all lower their weapons.
Teller chuckles and approaches me. “OK, you’re up, pretty lady. We’re gonna call Cross’ son Hunter now.”
“I’m doing no such thing!” I try to back away from him, but the guy holding me has too firm a grip on me to do that.
Teller laughs as he pulls a burner phone from his pocket and a knife from a sheath on his belt. The guy holding me drags me back into the trailer and Teller follows.
“Oh, you don’t have to talk, darlin’,” he says. “You just have to scream.”