Chapter 10
Kemah
I’ve lain here for days. He wasn’t lying when he told me to piss myself, which I’ve done. I feel disgusting, like I’m slowly losing my mind. The bedroom door opens, and he walks in.
I try my best to ignore him, but he walks closer, bends down, and cuts the rope from my wrists. I quickly pull them down, rubbing them where the rope has bitten into my skin.
“Get up,” he orders. My head still hurts, but I sit myself up as the room sways. I roll onto my knees and shove myself up, standing and holding onto the bed so I don’t fall over. “You’re leaving.”
“What?”
“You heard me. You’re leaving. Your father and I agreed this would be the best course of action to take with you. You need to be somewhere you can be monitored all the time.” Monitored? What the hell is he talking about? I don’t need a fucking babysitter.
“I’m not going,” I tell him. He doesn’t respond, just laughs. That’s when I hear the footsteps getting closer. My eyes shoot to the door just as four men storm in. I look at Jake, but he just smiles at me.
“What the hell is going on?”
“I told you, you’re leaving.”
“Going where?”
“Somewhere you can stay out of trouble,” he replies casually.
I want to snap his little fucking neck, that bastard.
The men come toward me, one making a face as the scent of urine is strong in here.
One quickly shoves something over my head, while one grabs my arm, and the other moves in behind me.
I feel something touch my back, and then I scream as my muscles spasm.
Are they tasing me? When the shock of the taser wears off, I try to fight once more.
The fourth man, I assume, grabs my other arm as they drag me toward the door.
I try to fight them, but the pain comes back.
Electricity shoots through my body, threatening to buckle my knees.
“We can do this all day,” Jake’s voice says.
“You son of a bitch!” I yell.
“This will only be until we get married, Kemah. If you can behave after that, you can come home.”
“Behave? Like I’m a fucking child!”
“You’re acting like one, which is why you can’t stay here right now,” he adds.
“You tied me to the fucking dresser, Jake!”
“Again, you were acting like a child. Just go along with these men and you’ll be fine,” he says.
“And if I don’t?” I ask and then feel it again. My jaw locks as my body tightens again. I can feel the piss leaking down my legs.
“Jesus, Kemah. That’s disgusting.”
“I hate you,” I seethe as soon as I’m able to talk. He doesn’t say anything when the men start leading me out of the room.
We make it outside where they force me to climb into something, a van maybe?
“Sit down,” someone orders me. As I sit down on the seat, I hear women talking around me.
“What the hell is this?” one asks.
“She isn’t one of us,” another chimes in. Who the hell are they? I don’t bother asking. Instead, I sit back and close my eyes. I don’t know what the hell is happening right now, but as soon as I can, I’m getting the fuck out of here.
I hear the doors close and the engine start before we begin driving. I’m not sure how long we drive before the van stops once more.
I can vaguely hear people, no men, talking outside the van when the door can be heard opening.
“What the fuck is this shit?” Someone asks.
“She’s just an additional girl,” another man says.
“No, the fuck she isn’t. We vetted all the girls. Who is this one?”
“I was told to offer you another hundred thousand for this one.” A hundred thousand? What the hell? Did he sell me? Did Jake sell me? Instead of talking, I listen.
“We didn’t fuckin’ agree to this shit,” the man roars this time.
“What the fuck is goin’ on?” another voice.
“They added a new girl.”
“No, fuck that. I vetted all the girls on the list. We ain’t takin’ another one.”
“If you don’t take her as well, the deal is void,” the man says this time. My heart is hammering in my chest, not knowing what's happening. I can faintly smell cigarette smoke through the hood they have on me, but I can’t see shit.
“You tell that motherfucker he’s a real piece of shit!” The man yells loudly. I can hear the jingle of keys, slamming of doors, and the mumbles around me.
“Do you know her?” A man asks, and I hear women talking. They all say no. “You see this shit? Does she look like she’s willin’ly goin’?”
“Fuck. No.” Someone reaches in and plucks the hood off my head as I squint my eyes, trying to see who it is. That’s when they hit me. The prettiest green eyes I’ve ever seen in my life.
His face contorts in anger as he looks me over. I can only imagine what I look and smell like. I’m almost embarrassed.
“What the fuck are you doin’ here?” he asks me.
“How the hell should I know?” I snap at him.
“Get out,” he tells me, reaching in and helping me out.
“What are you doin’?” another man asks this time. His cut says Remy.
“She isn’t one of them!”
“And how the fuck do you know that?” he asks.
“'Cause I know her,” Hodge tells him.
“You know her? That’s just fuckin’ great, Hodge. You can’t just pull her out of the van. They’re expectin’ her.”
“Not anymore, they aren’t.”
“Think about this shit, Hodge. If there isn’t an extra girl, they’re gonna know,” Remy roars louder now. I look between them, confused as all hell as to what’s actually going on.
“Who sent you?” Hodge asks me. I shake my head.
No way. No way in hell am I telling him about Jake.
Not a fucking chance. “I mean it, Kemah. Who sent you with them?” He yells louder this time.
I jolt slightly but keep my head held high.
He isn’t going to bully me into saying shit to him like Jake did. Fuck that.
“This is fuckin’ great,” Remy mumbles as Hodge runs his hand over his face. He glances around before looking at his friend and motioning to another girl walking past.
“Put that bitch in her place,” he orders him. Remy glances over at the girl at the same time I do, before looking back at Hodge.
“Why?”
“We need another girl. Put her in there,” Hodge orders once more. His tone is harsh; he’s obviously pissed off.
“Oh yeah. Because she looks so much like me,” I snap.
“You kiddin’ me right now?” Hodge asks me.
“Does it look like it?”
“Keep your mouth shut, Kemah, and let me figure this shit out,” he growls at me.
He fucking growled at me. So why was that the hottest thing I’ve ever heard?
I snap my mouth shut and don’t say anything else as Remy walks over and talks to the girl.
She shrugs her shoulders and walks over, climbing in the van and taking my seat.
“Tell my dad I had a situation and I couldn’t make this run,” Hodge tells Remy. Remy looks at me and smirks before nodding his head and slamming the van door. I watch as he walks around and climbs in, taking off with a group of bikers all around him.
Then it’s just me and Hodge. I don’t look over at him, but I do smell the smoke of a cigarette he just lit.
“You comin’?” he asks. Now I do look. He’s walking toward a building that says Soulless Bastards on it. I debate telling him to fuck off, but I don’t. Instead, I follow behind him like a fucking whipped puppy that Jake wanted me to be.
Hodge held the door, and I walked past him and stepped inside.
It’s quiet in here with just a few guys and girls moving about.
Hodge motions for me to follow him down the hall and opens a door, ushering me inside.
I step in and realize this is probably his room.
I spin around, ready to make a run for it, but he stands, blocking the door, shaking his head.
“You’re gonna tell me what the hell you were doin’ in that van.”
“If I knew, I might.”
“What the fuck do you mean you don’t know?”
“Just what I said. I was forced into the van. That’s all I know.” His eyes now roam over me, no doubt seeing the wetness of the piss on my jeans.
“Take a shower. I’ll find you some clothes,” he says, nodding toward the other door. I shake my head once more. I don’t know him. I’m not sure if I can trust what he has to say to me.
“No.”
“You like bein’ in piss clothes?”
“Does the smell bother you?” I snap back at him. I know this is wrong, but I don’t know what he wants with me either. I don’t know why he’s keeping me here, or what the hell is going to happen now.
Hodge doesn’t speak. His eyes darken as he steps toward me, a look I can’t place in his eyes.
“You think a little piss is what’s gonna make me walk away from you?” I swallow hard as he stops in front of me, his hand coming up to wrap around my throat lightly. My lips part, and suddenly it’s too damn hot in this room.
“What do you want?” he chuckles.
“I want answers.”
“I don’t have any.”
“Yeah, you do. You just don’t want to give them to me. And you know what? That’s fine. You can stay here until you do,” he tells me. His thumb runs a line over my flesh that heats me from the inside out. I’m not sure what kind of game he’s playing right now, but I want no part of it.