Chapter 20
D evi pulled herself back on her bottom until she hit the wall.
And then she stared up at the men entering the trailer. They filled the tiny living room with their presence.
And a fair amount of body odor.
God.
Was it too much to ask that they have a shower before they went around terrorizing people?
Her gaze went back to the forearm of the first guy to enter the room. He was big, but most of his bulk was fat. Still, he was huge compared to her. He was dressed in dark jeans and a black hoodie.
But none of that was what terrified her.
Nope that would be the tattoo on his forearm. A grim reaper surrounded by flames.
Satan’s Sons.
Oh God. They wanted the money that Derick owed them.
“What? What do you w-want?” she asked, unable to stop her voice from shaking.
There were three other guys with him. All of them dressed in dark clothes. But the first guy was the only one with his tattoo on display.
She couldn’t help but feel that was deliberate.
The tattoo guy ran his gaze over her with a sneer.
“You fucking bitch, Devi, I’m going to kill . . . who the fuck are you?” Derick stumbled out of her room, cradling his arm. He was pale and sweaty.
Oh God.
She’d done that. She felt ill.
Why had she hit him like that?
“Derick,” the man said as though he knew her father. “You can’t tell me that you weren’t expecting us? We’ve been chasing you all over town. I don’t like having to run after my prey. I like when they just give in to the inevitable.”
“Not much of a h-hunt, then, is it?” she asked.
What the hell was wrong with her?
Tattoo guy turned back to her. “Suggest you shut up. I don’t like my women mouthy. I know some people who do, though. And I might be tempted to take you . . . what do you reckon, boys? Would we get any money for her at the whorehouse?”
Oh God. She bit her lip. She wasn’t going to say another thing.
“What . . . what do you mean you’ve been trying to find me, Fury?” her father asked. “I had no idea.”
He was totally lying and he wasn’t very good at it. It was clear to see that these guys didn’t believe anything he said.
“Don’t lie to us, fuckwit,” Fury said.
Wait. Fury? Was that really his name?
Surely not.
“I wouldn’t lie. I’ve been getting the money together for you.”
Sure, he had. How much did he owe these guys?
“Really? You’ve got twenty thousand dollars just sitting around in this shithole? Christ, wouldn’t let my dogs live in this. Rohan really doesn’t think much of either of you, does he? Leaving his sister and father living in filth.”
The trailer wasn’t that bad!
But she didn’t say that. Instead, she watched as her father started blabbing out excuses. Her heart was beating so fast that she felt like she might pass out.
Was it possible to faint from fear?
Probably not . . . if so, she would already be unconscious.
Although these weren’t the types of guys that you wanted to faint in front of.
“Enough!” Fury roared.
Yeah, his name was probably quite apt. Still, she couldn’t imagine that his mom had named him that when he was born.
“No more fucking excuses,” Fury told him, pulling out a knife. “Where’s the money?”
“Sh-she’s got it! She’s got money!” Derick pointed at her.
Oh. Fuck. Him.
She knew that Derick didn’t love her. But she hadn’t realized that he hated her.
Fury turned to her.
“I don’t h-have any money,” she said. “This has n-nothing to do with me and I’d really l-like to go.”
“I don’t think so,” Fury replied. “I think you should stay while we have some fun with dear old dad. And then maybe one of you will find that cash.” He nodded at two guys and they grabbed Derick, pinning him to the wall. Then one of them wrapped a bandana around his mouth.
Were they really going to beat him up in front of her?
Then she realized that nope, they weren’t.
They were going to stab him. The third stooge slammed a knife into Derick’s thigh and her father let out a noise she’d never heard anyone make.
His eyes flickered back in his head. It had be excruciating.
Not to mention the fact that his broken arm was pressed up against the wall of the trailer.
“P-people will h-hear,” she said. Would they call the cops? Why was no one coming?
Why hadn’t she called Vega? Maybe he could have stopped this.
Well, maybe because he’s scary as hell.
Her breathing grew faster as they pulled the bandana from her father’s mouth.
“Where is our money?” Fury snarled.
“I don’t have it!”
The bandana went back over his mouth as the knife was stabbed into his other thigh. She stared on in horror before turning to the side to vomit.
Oh God.
She wasn’t made for this. She didn’t like the sight of blood.
“Jesus, got a weak stomach, huh?” Fury said, coming over to crouch in front of her.
“This . . . this is a lot of work for t-twenty grand,” she said. She couldn’t believe her father had lost that much. “How did he lose that much?”
Fury shrugged. “Interest is a bitch. And this isn’t about the money.
Well, not fully. It’s about sending a message.
See, your dad has been boasting about how he’s not going to pay us back.
How he’s not scared because the Scorpions will protect him.
That he’s untouchable. Things like that start to piss off our boss.
And it makes all of the sheep think that they can pull the wool over our eyes. Do you like what I did right there?”
Devi nodded even though she wanted to tell him that he was an idiot. And an asshole. But she did none of those things. Because he’d just had her father stabbed, twice, for mouthing off about them.
What a dumb fuck. And why would he say that they were under the Scorpions’ protection?
The Black Scorpions had abandoned them since Rohan went to jail. She was too upset to tell her brother about his ‘family.’ He fucking worshipped Lucan and Freddy. She knew that he’d often wished Lucan was his father.
If it hadn’t been for her he’d probably have abandoned them a long time ago to live with Lucan and Freddy.
“We don’t like people who don’t pay their bills. Like your father. He was given a chance, but I can see that I was too kind and lenient. He thought that meant he could take advantage. We know you don’t have no money, Derick. So now we gotta make an example of you. Take him out of here, boys.”
Her father was only half-conscious as they dragged him from the trailer. She couldn’t just sit here. Not without doing something.
“I have some money! I . . . I can pay off a bit of his debt.”
“Yeah? How much you got?”
“T-two thousand.” She needed that money. It would hurt like heck to lose it.
But she also thought it might break something inside her to just sit there while they took her father away to . . . to . . . God, she didn’t even want to think about what they might do to him.
“Yeah? Where is it?”
“I’ll get it. I’ll get it.” She somehow managed to stand and then she stumbled her way into her bedroom.
Her breathing was coming fast and shallow as she reached up her bed to where she had carved out a bit of the wooden post of the bed and stuck some notes in.
“That . . . that’s four hundred,” she told him.
Then she moved to her next hiding spot, beneath a corner of the frayed carpet under her dresser. It took a bit to pull it out and then she lifted up the carpet.
“That’s a thousand.”
“Jesus, girl. Guess I don’t have to ask why you had to hide this.”
She shook her head and moved to the bathroom. There she drew out a packet of sanitary pads. She’d opened the packaging of one carefully and taken the pad out, replacing it with a wad of cash.
“The last of it.”
“Well, that’s an interesting way to store your cash. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to save your old man. That’s interest payment for a week.” He turned away, walking into the living room.
“Wait, no, you can’t take him, please.” She got to her feet and stumbled after him, grabbing his arm.
Spinning he shoved her and slashed his knife out. Her cheek suddenly burned, making her scream in agony.
Oh God.
She stumbled back, falling on her ass.
“No one touches Fury. No one!” Rage filled his face.
What was she thinking? Why did she do that? She should have just let him go.
A whimper escaped her as he loomed over her. He shoved her down and then his knife swung out again. She raised her arms to protect herself and his knife slammed into her forearm and he dragged it along her arm.
Agony like nothing she’d felt before engulfed her. It was too much, she couldn’t breathe.
“Stupid bitch,” he muttered. “Don’t be opening your mouth and talking about this. Or I’ll be coming back to slice you open and gut you. That’s if you survive the night.”
Devi was semi-aware of him leaving. But she didn’t know how much time passed until someone else crouched over her. Devi tried to move but her body wouldn’t co-operate.
“Fuck, Mouse.”
She let out a whimper. At least she wasn’t really in pain anymore. She felt almost numb. Although she wasn’t certain that was a good thing.
“Did the Satan’s Sons do this? Motherfuckers.”
Devi just stared at him, Fury’s words filling her brain. She couldn’t tell anyone.
Vega shook his head. “It’s all right. I know it was. My guess is they came looking for your old man, wanting payment, huh? And you got caught in the crossfire? Didn’t think they’d mess you up this badly. Maybe push you around a bit.”
How could he talk about this so casually? Her father was probably already dead. And she was bleeding out on this filthy trailer floor.
“I told you to call me when your old man turned up, didn’t I?”
She glared up at him, anger filling her. He was blaming her?
“S-so sorry I-I f-forgot while I w-was being s-stabbed.”
“There’s that fire. Too bad I won’t get the chance to tame you. Even if the boss had decided to take you on, he wouldn’t now. He only likes undamaged girls. Question is . . . do I help you or just let you bleed out? You’re no use to me now.”
This fucking asshole! Was he really going to just let her bleed out?
“Fuck. Even I’m not enough of a bastard to just walk away. Must be getting fucking sentimental. Gonna have to wrap your arm, it’s a mess and you’re fucking bleeding everywhere.”
He started wrapping her arm.
Fuck! Fire lit up her arm and she had to retreat into her head, where the pain couldn’t get to her.
Time became irrelevant until he grabbed her chin again. “Focus on me. That’s it. You know, when your old man was trying to get a meeting with my boss I didn’t actually who he was. Not until I saw you come out of his trailer that night you ran into me.”
“You were w-watching my t-trailer?”
“My boss was tired of your old man pestering the girls to get him an interview. Sent me here to tell him to fuck off.”
Tell him?
She wondered if his idea of talking involved fists?
“But then I realized he was your old man and I convinced the boss to hear him out. You always intrigued me, Mouse.”
Awesome. Something to be pleased about.
“That night I brought him home, he’d just had a meeting with my boss. He was already drunk when he turned up, then the whiskey we gave him sent him over the edge. Do you know why he was there?”
“N-no.” But Derick had lied to her, she knew it!
“To sell you.”
“W-what?” she whispered.
“He wanted to see how much he could get for you.”
She let out a pained noise. She knew Derick didn’t love her . . . but to try to sell her? She was going to be ill.
“Yeah, that fucker cared nothing for you, Mouse.”
“Did your boss . . . did he want . . .”
“We don’t tend to shop in our own backyard. But we were toying with the idea. Until I did a bit of research and we decided you weren’t worth the risk. Even though the local cops are shit, your brother does have some powerful connections that we didn’t want to mess with.”
Lucky her. God.
“I leave you like this and you’re gonna die. That would likely make my life easier, but like I said, I like you, Mouse. Always so quiet. Always so easy to hurt. If it wasn’t for your brother, you would have been destroyed in that school.”
She kind of had been. Her spirit had been crushed.
“W-why did y-you want m-me to call y-you when D-Derick came b-back?”
His face darkened. “My boss wanted another chat. Your old man has been annoying some of our girls.”
Right.
“Now, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that you can’t tell anyone I was here, understand?”
She nodded and Vega put her phone into her hand.
“This is the end of my good deed, Mouse. I’d suggest you get out of town.”
Suddenly, he was gone and she was on her own with just her phone.
But she knew exactly who to call. She fumbled with the phone, but managed to hold onto it. She’d need to use the voice activation.
“Call Hayes.”