Chapter Twenty-Two
Hope
W AKING UP, I find myself locked in a cage that’s no bigger than one of those crates you can buy large dogs to hold when you leave them home alone or something. I can hardly sit up as I try to stretch out my body feeling the aches and pains filling me from head to toe. There isn’t a single inch of me that’s not in pain. It reminds me of waking up in the hospital after dealing with the hitman at work. Opening my eyes, I take in the room I’m being held in. There are so many cages filling the space. Each one of them is filled with a woman or child. Each cage my eyes land on only breaks my heart even more. There isn’t a single person here that hasn’t been beaten and tortured. Everyone is covered in dirt, grime, blood, bruises, cuts, and so many other things. Clothes are ripped and hanging loosely from their bodies as their hair is matted and covered in blood from their various injuries. No one will meet my eyes as I listen to the whimpers coming from some of the cages. I promise myself to get each and every single one of them out of here with me when the club comes for me.
“She’s finally awake,” I hear a man say, whipping my head around so fast it causes my vision to spin and nausea to build up.
When the room stops spinning I find two men standing in front of the cage I’m in. They’re both wearing suits that are off a rack and covered in stains I’d rather not think too hard about right now. Both men are short and skinny with long hair that’s greasy and hanging limply to their shoulders. With one look I know these men are drug users. I’m sure if I saw their arms, I’d find track marks from their addiction.
“Yeah. The accommodations aren’t up to my standards so there’s no way I can sleep in this hell hole. If you wouldn’t mind, I’ll take a nice comfy bed full of pillows and thick blankets to keep me nice and warm,” I deadpan, sass filling my voice as I look at the stupid fucks in front of me.
“Boss man is gonna have fun breaking you, bitch. You’d do well to keep your fucking mouth shut,” the idiot on the left says as he leans down over my cage with a sneer on his face.
“If you think anyone is gonna break me, you’ll be waiting for a very long time. Why don’t you hold your breath until it happens,” I state, a smile on my face even though I know it doesn’t reach my eyes because these fuckers aren’t going to make it easy to get away from them.
I take in every single detail of the men and don’t find any sign of the keys in their pockets. In fact, I don’t even really see pockets. Not in their jackets hanging from their upper bodies or the pants sitting low on their hips. I’ve never seen suits like these before because all the ones my family members have worn for various reasons over the years have pockets like most other clothing.
When I don’t find what I’m looking for on the men in front of me, my eyes travel over the guy’s shoulder where he leans down over me as if it’s supposed to intimidate me. He’s got another thing coming if he believes I’ll cower before him so easily. However, I do spot a nail on the wall just inside the door where a set of keys hangs. I know deep in my gut that the key for all the cages are on that ring and am proven correct a few minutes later when the second asshole turns and makes his way over to the wall and grabs them. He tosses them to the pussy leaning over me so he can unlock the cage door.
I wait patiently as the door swings open and the man doesn’t move to let me leave the cage. I’m not about to willingly touch this idiot so I remain crouched in the back of the cage with my eyes locked on every move the twatwaffle makes. After releasing a breath he’s holding, the guy reaches in and manages to catch my hair. He yanks it and I wince from the pain shooting through my head.
“Get the fuck out of the cage,” he growls out, his voice not deep or menacing as I believe he feels it is.
Knowing if I don’t move along with this fucker that he’ll rip all of my hair out, I finally force my body to move. I’m not going to berate myself for this because at the end of the day I’m getting out of the cage and won’t lose all of my hair in the process. My knees hit the hard concrete and again I wince in response. I’m not going to cry out in pain or anger because these kinds of assholes always want a reaction and hate it when you don’t give them what they crave to feel powerful. It’s one of the first things my dad taught us growing up and a lesson I practice every day no matter who I’m dealing with. Not that I find myself kidnapped and everything that’s been happening to me lately on a regular basis.
I’m forced to my feet as the second asshole stands up and grabs my arm while the first fucker keeps his grip locked in my hair. They remove me from the room with all the cages and I take in every detail of the hallway we’re now in. Doors line the length of the hallway and at the opposite end of we’re I’m being led, a large, open room sits empty. I can hear voices coming from that direction and try to distinguish how many more men are here. My attention is ripped from doing that when I get slammed against a metal wall. With all the metal surrounding me, I’m going to guess that I’m in a warehouse of some kind. It would make sense with the high ceilings and the large space at the end of the hall.
The last door in the hall is unlocked and opened before I’m shoved through. I flinch slightly as the door slams behind us and I hear the clicking of the lock snapping into place. Before I can take in the details of the room I’m currently in, the second man grabs my arm and leads me to the metal table in the middle of the room. I fight against their hold because I know if I get strapped to that table then nothing is going to be good for me. Kicking and lashing out with every part of me that I can. The assholes manage to get me on the table and strapped down despite my struggling and the kicks I manage to land on them. When they step back, I take in the smug looks on their faces as the door opens and I spot the head bitch in charge sauntering in the room as if he doesn’t have a care in the world.
“Looks like she put up quite the fight,” he laughs, looking at his men and it’s all I need to hear to know he won’t protect anyone working for him. He’ll let them suffer and die before risking himself. “Did you both really let her get the best of you? I mean, I know she’s got a smartass mouth, but she doesn’t know how to defend herself good enough to take on two men.”
“You’d be surprised what I know,” I state, pride filling me because I do know how to defend myself against men since I grew up learning and training with the boys in the club and my uncles.
“Doubtful. So, here’s how things are gonna go,” Garrison states as he stalks closer to me and presses a button on the side of the table I’ve been strapped to. It raises me so the table is no longer parallel to the floor but so it’s standing up and I see a camera across the room from the table. “You’re gonna hold up a newspaper with today’s date on it so your family knows that you are indeed alive at the current time. Then, they’ll watch as these two beat the fuck out of you. We’re gonna record the entire thing for your family to see that I’m not kidding around.”
“You’re a dead man if you do this. All of you will fucking die at my family’s hands when they come for me,” I promise him, my voice full of the hate and anger I feel right now. “All of this to get a woman who can’t stand you back. So fucking pathetic and desperate.”
Garrison simply laughs as he holds out a paper for Slimy Man One to take. He steps up to me again and slaps me across the face like a fucking girl. Must be he used up his one punch when he knocked me out to get me here. I start laughing my ass off because I barely felt his slap at all. Faith used to hit me even harder than him when we were little girls and just starting our training with Dad, Uncle Fox, and the rest of the guys.
“You hit like a fucking pussy. I’ve taken punches from real men and didn’t sway on my feet. You got lucky earlier and managed to hit me in the temple. Now, you’re showing your true personality by slapping me,” I state as Garrison tells his men to do their worst to me before leaving the three of us alone in the room.
Slimy Man One makes his way over to the camera. I watch with a smirk on my face as he tries to figure out how to turn the damn thing on and make sure it’s recording. I can hear him grumbling and swearing to himself the entire time. At the same time, Slimy Man Two gets closer to the table and I can see the lust filling his eyes. He thinks he’s going to get some action from me and that’s the last thing I’d ever give him. In my eyes, he’s even lower than Becker because I have no doubt he also drugs women to fuck while also doing drugs. I’m sure he’s taking some of the stash these fuckers are supposed to be selling. It really wouldn’t surprise me to learn that’s the truth of the situation.
“Did you get it on yet?” Slimy Man Two questions the first one.
“I think so. Can you see the red light that’s supposed to be on when it’s recording?” Slimy Man One returns, his voice full of frustration and anger.
“It’s on. Get the fuck over here so we can get this shit done.”
Slimy Man One makes his way back across the room to the table and they surround me on either side. I listen and roll my eyes as they discuss what to do to me until I can’t take it a second longer.
“Why don’t you just get on with this shit? I’m tired and would like to take a nap. So, either man the fuck up and do what you gotta do or sit the fuck down and let me nap in peace,” I tell them, my voice breaking as my rage continues to build inside and I know it’s just a matter of time before I breakdown.
“Shut the fuck up!” Slimy Man Two yells as he finally goes on the attack.
That seems to be all that Slimy Man One needs to also start attacking me. Both men hit me everywhere they can. One of them are wearing rings and I feel my skin split open in a few places from the jagged edges of the rings and not because there’s any real force behind the hits. Like Garrison, these men can’t do much damage with their hits and lack the power to make it hurt more than aching wherever they land against my body. I don’t have to hold back my screams or anything like that because if anything, I want to laugh at the lack of damage being done to me right now.
Both men are covered in sweat after a few minutes. Their movements are already becoming even more sporadic and erratic as they run out of steam. They have no stamina and I know they won’t put up the slightest bit of fight against anyone in the club when they come for me. Their clothing is even more wrinkled than before and there’s splatters of blood covering them from the few places they managed to break my skin open. I’m about done with this shit as I try to pull away from their hits to no avail. They’ll run out of energy long before I do.
“Let’s get her back to the fucking cage. Boss Man doesn’t want her to be left in here unattended. The sooner we get her locked up, the quicker we can use one of the other girls to relieve some of the stress,” Slimy Man one states as he steps back and grabs the newspaper from Slimy Man two and tries to force it into one of my hands.
“I’m not holding that shit. You want my family to know what the fuck day it is, you hold it the fuck up,” I taunt the men in front of me as I wiggle my wrist while neither man pays attention to me. The strap is just loose enough that I should be able to work my way free of the straps given enough time.
“Hold the fucking paper up from behind the table so the date is in the camera. I want to get the fuck outta here,” Slimy Man two says, standing up to his partner for the first time since we entered this room.
With a deep sigh, the fucker walks around the table and I know he’s just fucked up. One of the things I noticed as I quickly looked around the room was the large window that’s behind the table. There’s nothing blocking out the view from behind the building I’m being held in. I might not know much, but I can tell there’s enough out there for one of the guys to determine where I’m being held. That’s all they’ll need in order to make a plan so they can get me the fuck out of here and away from the assholes who will never break me.
In a few minutes, I’m being released from the table and I slide to the floor since neither man laid it out flat before releasing me. They start laughing as I cringe. For the first time since entering this room, I’m truly hurt. I came down on my ankle wrong and I’m sure that I’ve sprained it at the very least. It starts to throb as I push myself up off the floor and both men grab my arms once again. They pull me from the room I’m in and drag me back into the room with all the cages. Once I’m locked in again, I listen as they leave all of us alone, arguing about something stupid as fuck. It won’t take the club long at all to take out every fucking idiot here.
I somehow manage to fall asleep in the cage. It’s not a peaceful sleep at all. The cage is metal and the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever attempted to sleep on in my life. While I don’t need a lot of sleep right now, I can get by with quick naps until I’m out of here and know that I’m safe where I can fall into a deep sleep surrounded by Jinx as he keeps me safe from the demons that haunt my nightmares.
Sitting up the best I can in the cage, I look around to find all the women and girls awake and looking at me. Some of them have pity filling their eyes while others loathe me for some reason. Even more look at me with nothing more than fear and panic filling their eyes. I hate anyone looking at me with pity as I spend a minute looking at each woman and girl.
“My family is going to come for me. When they do, I’ll make sure that you’re all freed and removed from here. They’ll get you back to your family or wherever you need to go,” I tell them all, hope filling me because I know this is the truth and what will happen the second the guys figure out where I’m at.
“Yeah right. Don’t you think we all thought the same thing when we were drugged, taken, and woke up here? I’ve been here the longest and each woman and girl in these cages have said the same thing. It won’t take you long to end up just like the rest of us—hopeless, broken, and alone,” one of the women states as I truly take in her looks.
She’s probably the oldest person in here. Her long, dark black hair is matted and greasy while the shirt covering her upper body is literally being held together by her hands. She’s only wearing a thin pair of cotton panties on her lower body. Dirt and grime cover every exposed inch of her skin and she’s so damn thin I know they’ve been starved.
“There’s one huge difference between my family and your family members. I can guarantee that. My family makes up the new chapter of the Phantom Bastards MC in Pine View. My dad is a member of the mother chapter in Benton Falls. Do any of you have family members in a motorcycle club? The mafia? A cartel? Anything remotely close to any of those?” I question the women surrounding me in cages as they all perk up and look at me with hope shining dimly in their eyes.
“Are you serious? Your dad is a member of that club? I’ve heard things about them and how ruthless they can be when you fuck with one of them,” the same girl questions me as she moves closer in her cage to mine.
“I’m serious. If you’ve heard about them, maybe you’ve heard of Killer?” I ask as she nods her head and pales at the mention of my dad’s name. “That’s my dad. Fox is my uncle. I grew up in the clubhouse on a daily basis. They’re all in Pine View right now and the second they realize I’m missing and that I’ve been taken from the compound, they’ll start searching for me. The second one of them realizes where I’m being held, they’ll storm this place and won’t rest until I’m back with them. I just hope Becker’s here when they show up so they can kill him along with Garrison.”
“Becker will be here. He’s staying here because he’s being hunted from what I’ve overhead when they take me out of the cage,” the woman informs me as I smile at that knowledge. “I’m Trinity by the way.”
“Trinity, I’m Hope. And my promise from before stands. I will get each and every one of you away from here and back home where you belong. The club will help you get therapy or anything else you need once we’re out of here. You’ll have a fresh start on life and I will ensure it happens one way or another,” I state with determination filling my voice.
To pass time, we all talk about our lives before we were taken. I go first so they know I can be trusted and that I’m not being treated any different than they are. Most of the girls surrounding me are shy and were taken extremely close to their homes. My heart breaks with every story I hear from these girls and I know I will do everything I can to make sure that they don’t have to live in fear for the rest of their lives. When I start to see them get sleepy, I promise them that I’ll remain awake and vigilant so they can rest. None of them have been able to sleep properly since they were taken and I can’t blame them.