Chapter Twenty-Six
BETH’S SKULL CRACKED against the van’s metal wall for the third time, and she tasted blood.
No seat belt. No seat. No way to brace herself as every turn catapulted her across the cargo hold like a rag doll.
After slamming into the side of the van three times, she managed to brace herself, propping her back against the wall and using her feet to push against a ridge in the floor.
Not a great system, but it kept her from violently flinging back and forth across the van.
The other challenge, besides keeping calm, was helping Melody.
The other woman groaned in pain, cradling her ribs. Every bump and turn made her cry out. After a few moments, she started to sob.
The van rolled to a stop.
Beth straightened off the wall, straining to hear. When the driver’s door didn’t open, she scrambled across the vehicle toward Melody, who lay sprawled in the center of the van. They’d either stopped at a light or hit some traffic.
“Come on, Mel,” she said as she slid her hands beneath Melody’s shoulders. “Let’s get you secured somehow.”
Beth’s abraded knees screamed as she kneeled on the unforgiving floor, tugging Melody toward a wall. It took more strength than she had, but inch by inch, she managed. Melody tried to help, bending her knees and pushing off the floor, but every movement made her cry harder.
Beth’s back hit the van wall just as it began moving again.
“Okay.” She breathed in heavy gulps of air. Her shredded palms felt on fire after dragging Melody across the floor. “Almost there. I know it hurts, Mel, but help me one more time. Then you can rest.”
Melody must have heard her through the sobs.
She dug her heels in and pushed once more.
Beth’s ass dropped to the floor, and she was able to pull Melody’s head onto her lap.
Then just as the van took a turn, she braced her feet against the ridge in the floor once again.
They jostled through the turn but stayed where they were instead of mimicking a pinball machine.
Melody groaned, but her crying lessened with the more stable position. “T-thank you,” she managed between sobs.
Beth nodded. Melody probably couldn’t see her through those swollen eyes.
“We’ll be okay. The club will come for us.
” She glanced down at the battered woman with a wince.
Melody’s hair stuck to wet cheeks. Mascara mixed with the bruising under her eyes gave her a grotesque horror movie victim appearance.
Gently as possible so as not to add to the pain, Beth brushed the hair back from Melody’s face.
“Why are you being nice to me?” Melody mumbled.
Beth sighed. “If you haven’t noticed, we’re kinda all we got right now.”
Melody made a noise Beth chose to take as an acknowledgment.
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll call you a bitch and a bunch of other names after we get out of here.”
“I’ll be ready.”
“I’ve thought a lot about slapping you, but someone obviously beat me to it.”
Melody surprised the hell out of her with a bark of laughter that turned into an agonized groan.
Gallows humor. Who didn’t love it?
They spent the next stretch in silence, save for Melody’s labored breathing and occasional whimpers. Beth closed her eyes and tried to figure out where they were by feel. All she could determine was they’d hit a section of switchbacks, but that could be any hundred roads in these mountains.
Where are they taking us? What do they want? How long until the club realizes I’m gone?
They turned left, and the road changed, becoming consistently bumpy and jarring the van so much her teeth rattled. Her ass bounced on the hard floor, sending jolts of discomfort shooting up her spine. It had to be torture for Melody.
And then, without warning, the van stopped.
The engine cut.
Beth’s heart slammed against her ribs.
This is it.
“We’re not moving,” Melody mumbled. “The van isn’t vibrating.”
“No.” She straightened and stared toward the back doors. “I think we’ve reached our destination.”
The doors opened, sending in a flood of sunlight.
Beth squinted against the searing brightness.
A large man she didn’t recognize filled the doorway, blocking out the sun.
She couldn’t see his face, just his silhouette, massive shoulders, arms like tree trunks, and legs as wide as her hips.
He radiated the kind of confidence that came from knowing no one could stop him from doing whatever he wanted.
He grabbed Melody’s ankle and yanked.
Melody screamed.
“Hey!” Beth scrambled after her. “Be careful. She’s injured.”
The guy grunted. When he got Melody to the edge of the van, he pulled her up and out, setting her on her feet. Beth winced as Melody cried and tried to find her footing.
“Let me help her.” She jumped out of the van and moved to put her arm around Melody, only to be hauled away by a rough hand gripping her bicep.
Demo.
He started walking, dragging her with him. His strides were so long, and his grip was practically lifting her off the ground. She had to run on her tiptoes to keep up.
“Slow the fuck down,” she demanded, looking over her shoulder. “Where are you taking Melody?”
Demo laughed. “I’d be a little more worried about where we’re taking you if I were in your shoes.”
Ice slid down her spine. She knew exactly what men like him did to women they had power over.
She’d survived one monster.
She could survive another.
She had to.
Unable to do anything for the other woman, Beth shifted her attention from Melody and onto her surroundings. If she could learn as much as possible about where she was, maybe she could find a way to escape.
She blinked as she glanced around. “The sawmill?” When she was a kid, this place ran a thriving business.
She’d never forget trips here with Copper to pick up lumber.
He and Rocket built her a playhouse in the backyard when she was six.
Together they’d made trips here, and Copper would let her ride on the flatbed cart.
She’d sit on a pile of lumber and direct him where to go.
The place closed a handful of years ago as the area’s lumber industry declined.
Demo didn’t respond, just yanked open a heavy door and shoved her into the building.
From darkness to bright light to dark again.
Beth blinked, trying to get her eyes to adjust faster.
The place was mostly empty. Some ancient, dust-covered pieces of equipment were bolted to the floor in various locations around the large warehouse.
A fluorescent light flickered overhead with an insistent hum that would drive her crazy any other time. Today, she had bigger problems.
The air still smelled of sawdust and something else, something chemical and sharp that burned her nostrils.
About a dozen men sat at folding tables, weighing and packaging white powder while others supervised. A few looked up when she entered. Their eyes tracked her body with the casual assessment of men who’d done terrible things and would do them again.
Beth’s skin crawled.
“Why am I here?”
Demo towed her over to a chair, shoving her to sit. “My boss wants to talk to your father.”
She laughed out loud. “What? You do know they’ve wanted to meet with him for a while now, right? You could have just answered the text instead of all this drama.”
“We don’t operate on Copper’s terms.”
“Let me guess… you operate on your boss’s terms. Must be nice, being somebody’s errand boy.”
Something flickered in Demo’s expression. Just for a second, there was a tightening around his jaw, a flash in those dead eyes. She’d hit a nerve.
“I’m not anybody’s errand boy, princess.
” He leaned down, close enough she could see the thin white scar running along his hairline.
“I’m the guy who does the things even the boss doesn’t want to think about.
The guy who makes problems disappear. Your daddy’s club has been a problem for a long time.
” He straightened. “But I’m patient. Grew up with nothing, learned how to wait.
Your old man’s had his kingdom for thirty years. I can wait another thirty to take it.”
Beth snorted. “So… what? This is some kind of dick-measuring contest? Your boss thinks snatching me shows he’s king of the Smoky Mountains? Please. The Handlers have ruled this area for decades. You’re—”
She never saw the slap coming.
The world tilted, and she was on the floor before she registered the blow, the crack of his palm against her cheekbone, the explosion of pain, the way her vision went white, then black, then spotted.
Fire bloomed across the left side of her face.
Her ear screamed with a high-pitched ring that swallowed every other sound.
Get up. Get up. Don’t let him see you broken.
Her arms wouldn’t cooperate. She lay there, gasping, hip throbbing from where it had slammed against the concrete.
Somewhere in the room, a man chuckled.
Fucker.
Beth cradled her cheek as she stared up at Demo.
The man who’d pulled Melody out of the van came over and whispered something to Demo.
Where the hell had he stashed Melody?
“Why the fuck is he here?” Demo asked with a hard head shake. “He’s a low-level dealer. Tell him to get the fuck out of here if he still wants a job.”
The guy nodded and jogged back outside.
Beth began to stand only to have a boot slam into her chest, driving her flat onto the concrete. Demo loomed over her, all his weight pressing down through that single point of contact.
She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Her ribs groaned under the pressure, and she clawed at his boot with fingers that felt like they belonged to someone else. Black spots danced at the edges of her vision.
I’m going to die here. On a filthy warehouse floor. Before I fixed things between Saint and his family.
One more ounce of pressure and her sternum would crack like kindling.
“I don’t give a fuck how much power your daddy thinks he has. We have his princess. He’ll come running when we contact him.”