Chapter Nine
Kytten
I was taking a chance driving down the dirt road. There wasn’t anything down here but a single property and the clubhouse. But it was a throughway. It led out to farmland that stretched for miles.
I would probably be less conspicuous driving a car, but I didn’t have a car. Only my bike. I hated cars. I could barely see over the fucking dashboard, so once I got my license, I took the test for my bike endorsement. Living in Vegas, it was always hot. No need to be in a cage.
My helmet kept my hair covered. The pink would be a giveaway. Though none of the women currently living at the clubhouse would have any reason to think I would be there. One of them I had never even met. Though she was the one who affected my life the most.
Just not in a good way.
Not the way we impacted the women we helped. No, she had the ability to tear my life apart. Take away everything I had.
My thigh began to itch, and the rumbling in my head started. Whenever I thought about her and everything I could lose, the monsters begged to scream.
They screamed when I couldn’t.
I turned the bike around and headed for the mountain. I could go back to my room at the motel and let them out, but I hated that place. It was simply a means to an end while I was here.
I wanted to go home but I couldn’t.
Because of her.
At the bottom of the path, I removed my helmet and hung it from my handlebars. I rode up along the edge, letting the branches scratch my skin. With every prick, my skin pebbled.
I made it to the top and saw him before I noticed his bike. He stood by the edge, looking out over the town.
Why was he here?
Did he have another shit day?
I turned off the bike and sat for a moment, watching him. His wide shoulders were tense. His posture stiff. He didn’t turn around to look at me, and the disappointment nudged at the monsters wanting to scream.
I scratched at my arm. The skin there was flawless aside from the tattoos. For now.
Scars covered my legs, but I hadn’t touched my arms. Not yet. Arms were harder to conceal. Especially in the humid climate of Vegas. Though like on my legs, the tattoos would help.
I walked to the edge and stood behind him. He placed his hands in his pockets, and the muscles in his neck bunched. He must have had a shit day.
Why else would he be here so stressed out? Did he have monsters too? Were they screaming to get out?
I stepped up beside him, but didn’t say a word. I didn’t know what to say. The last time we were here, I cussed him out. It was unusual for me. I only showed people, especially strangers, my happy side.
I didn’t push people away. Not like I wanted too. When you weren’t happy, people wanted to know why. I wanted to know why he wasn’t happy.
“You shouldn’t be up here,” he said, never taking his eyes off the town below.
“Why not? You’re up here,” I countered as I stared at his profile.
He turned to me briefly before boasting, “I can take care of myself. You shouldn’t be alone in the woods. You don’t know who could be up here.”
I rolled my eyes. “I can take care of myself, asshole.”
There I went again. The way he spoke to me, like I was a child, pissed me off. I had spent half my life training myself to keep my anger in check around others. But somehow this man brought it out.
I turned away, and he grabbed my arm, spinning me back to face him.
“What would you do if I hauled your tiny ass to the ground right now? If I overpowered you and ripped your fucking clothes off?” he growled.
“You’d never get that far.” I proved my words by pressing my knife to his dick. The hiss that slipped from his lips caused a satisfied smile to spread across my face and I lifted a brow, silently asking him what he would do now.
“Fuck,” he muttered, and if I wasn’t mistaken, he was hard. He released my arm and pushed me back enough that my knife was no longer pressed against him.
We stared each other down, and his nostrils flared. “Go home.”
“Fuck you. Last time I checked, this was a free country. This is state land, not private property.”
“You sure about that?” he asked, taking a step closer. I took a step back, not out of fear. No, I wasn’t afraid of him. But I was afraid of myself. Afraid I would launch myself at him.
God, he was fucking sexy. And his angry, misplaced concern for my safety should have been a turnoff.
Pretty sure I had daddy issues. Seeing as I had never had one. I had only ever had women in my life. Other than Thorne, but we were only eleven when he left me alone.
My eyes slipped to his cut, noting his name.
Cash.
The patch above it said Vice President . I would have assumed he was the treasurer based on his name.
The Nyght Nymphs didn’t stand on the same ceremony like most clubs. We didn’t generally wear cuts, not wanting to make our presence known. What we did required more anonymity.
I crossed my arms and scrutinized him.
“Is it?”
He fixated on my mouth when I asked the question and then said, “Is it what?”
I squeezed my legs together at the idea that I caught him off guard. He clearly hadn’t been paying attention.
“Is it private property?”
I took a step forward. I didn’t know what I expected.
But him taking a step back wasn’t it. I didn’t want to admit that his threat to haul my tiny ass to the ground had made me wet.
The thought of him ripping my clothes off and taking what he wanted had stirred something inside me that I couldn’t put words to.
If I did, it would be something like shame.
The Nyght Nymphs helped women every day get free from the controlling, abusive men in their lives. And all I could think about in this moment was how much I wanted him to defile me. How much I wanted him to overpower me and use me.
I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts before turning away.
I walked toward my bike, not waiting for him to answer. I had to get away from him before I did something stupid.
“What’s your name?”
I peered over my shoulder. I had a choice to make. It only took a second before I answered, “Rose.” And that answer was the reason I ran.
I stayed away from the mountain for almost a week. I didn’t know what had possessed me to give him my real name. I never gave anyone my real name. The first few mornings, I spent on my bike. Riding everywhere I could but up that path. The next few days, I spent walking around town.
I had breakfast with Trudy each morning. People came and went. One woman I recognized as an old lady, though I’d never seen her at the clubhouse. I only knew she was an old lady because her husband wore the same cut Cash did.
She came in with two little girls, and her protruding belly said she had another baby on the way.
“Good morning, Miss Trudy!” the older of the two girls called out as they entered the bakery.
“Good morning, Chrissy. Good morning, Tabby.”
The little girl just smiled. She carried a small brown teddy bear that she hugged in her elbow. I had a similar bear when I was little. It got left behind when me and Thorne left home after mom disappeared.
I closed my eyes briefly, pushing away the memory and telling the monsters to shut up. It never worked, but that didn’t stop me from trying.
“Morning, Ellie, how are you feeling?”
“Tired,” she answered. “Junior here kept me up half the night.”
“And I bet his daddy kept you up the other half,” Trudy said with a wink, and Ellie blushed, returning a small smile that said Trudy wasn’t far off.
I thought about Cash. Was he the type of man to keep his woman up in the night? I squeezed my eyes shut, telling myself it didn’t matter. I would never find out.
“No school today?” Trudy asked as I stared out the window, pretending not to listen.
“Nope,” Chrissy said. She sounded disappointed.
I had hated school. Val made me go. She said education was important.
When I told her I could learn what I needed to know from her and the other women, her answer was that part of education was learning to do things and deal with people we didn’t like.
She wasn’t wrong. I learned how to deal with a lot of people I didn’t like. The day I graduated was the best day of my life. It meant I could finally do what I wanted. Make my own rules.
Only the monsters made the rules now.
They dictated what I did. What I wore. Who I talked to. How I felt. They controlled everything.
I thought when I became an adult, I would have a say in how my life went. It didn’t work out that way.
“Hi.”
My head snapped around at the quiet voice. The little girl stood there. Blonde curls framed her face. She reached up and touched my pink hair. Her smile was so bright, and my nose burned at the thought that one day life would dull that smile.
“Tabby, honey.”
“She’s ok. She was just saying hi.”
“I’m so sorry. She doesn’t take to many people right away, so when she does, it’s hard to scold her,” Ellie said.
“I imagine it would be hard to scold either of them. They are very cute.”
Ellie looked at her daughter with a soft smile. “They sure are.” She held out her hand. “Ellie Thomas.”
I shook her hand and replied, “Kytten.”
“Kitten?”
“It started as a nickname. But it’s all I go by now.”
Ellie smiled. “It suits you.”
A roar of motorcycles drew our attention out the window, and my gaze went straight to Cash. A heavy sigh escaped, and Ellie chuckled.
“Quite the spectacle, aren’t they?”
“The bikes? Yea. I have one myself. I love riding.”
She studied me. “A girl who rides, named Kitten. There might be a story there.”
My palms began to sweat, and my heart raced. Trudy popped over, putting my nerves at ease when she said, “Not everything is a story waiting to be written.” She looked at me and winked. “Ellie is a romance author. Rayne Perry.”
My eyes widened, and my brows lifted to my hairline. “I’ve read your books.”
“Everyone in town has read them now.” Trudy laughed.
“Ignore Trudy,” Ellie chuckled. “Chrissy and Tabby, we need to get back so Daddy can go to the clubhouse.”
“Can we go too?” Chrissy asked.
“No, baby, I’m sorry,” Ellie said with a frown.
“But I want to play with Charlie,” Chrissy whined.
I wondered why they couldn’t go.
There were other old ladies at the clubhouse.
“I’ll call Auntie Sam and see if they want to come to the store.”
Chrissy’s head dropped, and her shoulders slumped. “It’s not the same.”
“I know, baby. We’ll talk to Daddy tonight and see if we can change his mind.” Ellie held out a hand to each of the girls. “It was nice to meet you, Kitten.”
“Nice to meet you too!” I waved to the girls as they left.
I finished my coffee and said goodbye to Trudy. If Cash was riding with the others, that meant he wouldn’t be on the mountain.
There was something about the mountain that called to me. The monsters still screamed, but they weren’t quite as loud up there.
When I got to the top, I was alone. A combination of joy and disappointment raged inside me. Each one fighting for control. I left my helmet on the seat and walked to the edge.
Sitting on the ground, I leaned back on my hands with my legs stretched out in front of me. I closed my eyes and pointed my face to the sky. After a few minutes, I lay back on the grass and relaxed.
I lay there for hours in the quiet before it was interrupted by the sound of pipes traveling up the path.
I didn’t move.
Apprehension and anticipation warred inside me as the rumble got louder before it stopped completely.