Chapter Eight
Mimic
He was back again. Every day he walked in, slid a tray of food into my cell, and stared at me while I ate it. The first day I’d eaten it without thought. I was so hungry that when he sat me at the table with a plate full of food, all I’d thought about was the grumbling in my stomach.
I hadn’t thought about my mother, or my sister, or what this man had done to either of them. I selfishly ate my fill, not understanding there would be consequences for my lack of awareness.
When I woke up, I was in a cell.
For five days, I refused to eat anything else he brought me.
First, he’d tried to coerce me. Promising me I’d see my mother.
That she was waiting for me and needed me strong.
When that didn’t work, he’d threatened me.
A tactic as opposite as night and day, claiming he would hurt her if I didn’t do as he asked.
He never mentioned Rose.
In the end, he force-fed me. He hadn’t given me a choice. When nothing happened after I’d eaten the food he shoved down my throat, I realized maybe it was safe.
No, safe wasn’t the right word. Nothing about being locked in his cell was safe.
Now he was back. He had a woman with him. When she saw me, she sputtered at him, “What the fuck, Dakota?!”
Dakota smiled at me. Not a friendly smile, it was a smile that spoke of his evil. Of all the things he planned to do.
“This is my pet, Lisa. My new plaything.”
“Plaything? What do you plan on doing to him?”
“Whatever the fuck I want,” he answered, turning to her and pushing her against the wall. “Right now, he needs to learn how to please a woman.”
“He’s a child, Dakota.” Her protests were weak as Dakota ran his hands over her chest. He lifted her shirt, and I closed my eyes. Something slammed against the bars, and Dakota yelled, “Open your fucking eyes and watch, or I’ll make you take her fucking place.”
My eyes flew open. Fear of being touched and groped, as well as other things I knew he planned for her, made sure I never closed my eyes.
I wasn’t stupid. I’d had an education not long after Rose and I began living on the streets.
I’d seen what men and women did with each other.
Dakota was bigger than me, stronger. I’d seen boys and girls my age forced to do things children shouldn’t be doing.
Things Rose might be forced to do being alone with no one to protect her.
She was so small. So soft and trusting.
Tears for my sister slid down my face, causing Dakota to laugh. He believed it was him who had made me cry.
“Dakota, he’s crying.” Lisa’s voice had an air of mockery. She took the same pleasure in my tears that Dakota took. The two of them ridiculed my weakness.
They would never know who my tears were really for. The only way to protect my sister while I was in this cell was to never tell Dakota about her. It was the only way to be sure he didn’t get his hands on her.
So I watched as he sucked on Lisa’s nipples.
I watched as his hand groped between her legs.
He narrated every dirty action he took against her body until she was screaming.
When he took off his pants and stroked his dick as he leered at her, I yelled at him to leave her alone, and they both laughed at my outburst.
“Touch her, boy!”
Dakota had pushed Lisa against the bars.
Her hands gripped the steel tightly, her breasts squeezed between them, as Dakota fucked her from behind.
He taunted me, telling me all the ways I would learn how to make a woman scream, either in pleasure or in pain, while I cowered in the corner and prayed for my mother to find me. To rescue me.
Only she never came.
I sat up in bed. My body sweating and my heart beating fast. Something had triggered the nightmare. I looked around my empty room. There was nothing of value here. I had nothing of value.
Years of living in a cell with nothing but a cot, a single pillow, and a blanket had conditioned me to what the world marketed as a minimalist lifestyle.
It wasn’t by choice. It was just what I knew. Years had passed since I’d had things I wanted beyond what I needed. Not since before my mother disappeared.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed.
Not wanting to think about my mother, I held my head in my hands and squeezed my eyes shut.
Ever since Rose had come back into my life, the nightmares had gotten worse.
They varied between memories of torture and memories of days when Dakota pretended to be my friend, thinking he would lure me into a false sense of safety and trust. He hadn’t realized I’d learned to play his game.
His father had though. He constantly reminded me how much I was like my father. How I would break the same way he did.
I shot up and dressed. I needed to clear my mind. Grabbing my phone, I saw that the time read three-eighteen AM. I could slip out of the clubhouse without anyone knowing. I needed a ride to empty the thoughts that were rattling around inside me.
Making my way downstairs, I froze when I entered the main room. There sat my sister, drinking a glass of water at the bar. Her eyes met mine, and we stared at each other.
“Couldn’t sleep either, huh?” she asked.
“Where’s Cash?”
She shook her head, a sad smile on her face. She hadn’t missed my avoidance of her question.
“He’s asleep. The first few times he got up with me, but he drags so much the next day, I had to beg and plead for him to go back to sleep. I’m used to this.”
“Used to what?”
“Not sleeping. The nightmares. The constant self-loathing and doubt that I deserve any of this. Take your pick.”
Everything she said resonated with me. We’d been separated for so many years, yet we still led very similar lives.
“You deserve all of this,” I argued, still standing in the doorway.
Rose studied me. Her sad eyes traveled over me, starting at my face and making their way down to my boots. I was uncomfortable under her scrutiny. I never wanted her to see what lay beneath the surface.
The front door opened, and Johnny, one of the prospects, walked in. King had him sitting at the bar in town every night Grace worked, watching over her. Making sure she got home after her shift without incident. He lifted his chin at me as he walked behind the bar and grabbed a bottle of water.
“You going for a ride?” Johnny asked.
Rose’s eyes snapped to mine. Her brows furrowed as she waited for my answer.
“Yeah.”
“Give me a minute; I’ll go with you.”
“No, you just got home. Go to bed.”
“I’m good. I’ll be up for a while yet.”
I knew that. This wasn’t the first time I’d met Johnny in the main room in the middle of the night. He never went to bed right after getting home.
“No.”
“King said—”
“Did you fucking hear me, Prospect?”
Johnny’s eyes turned hard. He was older than I was and hated that I gave him orders. His eyes landed on the patch on my cut, and I knew the moment he realized that even after he patched in, he would still be taking orders from me.
“Yes, sir,” he said with a sneer. He tossed his empty water bottle into the recycle bin and turned to my sister. “Do you need anything before I go?”
“No, Johnny, thank you.”
Once he was gone, Rose hopped off her stool and stomped over to me. “Why are you being an asshole?”
I rubbed my hand over my face as I exhaled. “Just a bad night.”
She wrapped her arms around my waist, and I held her tight. I’d missed her so fucking much. Everything she’d gone through was my fault. I’d let my guard down, and Dakota had found me.
“Stop blaming yourself. We are who we are because of everything that has happened.” She looked up at me, her chin on my chest. With a smile, she said, “I wouldn’t have Cash.”
I groaned, and Rose chuckled. She knew I hated thinking about her being with my VP. The truth was, I was glad he made her happy. That was all I’d ever wanted for her. To be safe and happy. Cash would make sure of it.
“Stop blaming yourself. You could be happy too.”
“What makes you think I’m not?” I asked, staring down at her.
“Twintuition.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Rosie.” The growl came from behind me, and Rose shook her head.
“Thought you told him to stay in bed?” I asked as I looked over my shoulder at Cash. His arms were crossed over his chest as he stood behind me in nothing but a pair of boxers.
“I didn’t say he listened.”
Rose pulled away and rushed over to Cash.
He caught her as she jumped into his arms, and he buried his face in her neck.
When he turned around, I studied the tattoo on his back.
The Silver Shadow emblem. I had one too.
But I’d had mine done in Colorado by an artist no one knew.
I’d done it away from Diamond Creek so no one learned my secret.
“Goodnight, Mimic,” Cash called over his shoulder as he carried my sister to bed. I didn’t answer. The smile on my sister’s face as Cash whispered to her on their way down the hall told me she wouldn’t have heard a word I’d said.
I slipped outside and swung my leg over my bike. Starting her up, I nodded to Joey, who was on the gate. Once it was open, I rode through without a thought to where I was headed. I needed the road beneath my tires, the rumble between my legs, and the wind in my face.
I found myself outside an apartment building at the edge of town. Turning the key, my bike powered down. I told myself I didn’t want to disturb the residents. The truth was, I didn’t want her to know I was here.
I quietly climbed the steps to the third floor. Then, I crept along the hallway until I stood in front of her door. My hands braced against the trim, and I hung my head. There was no reason for me to be here. King had ordered me to stay away from her. But something about her drew me here.
Dropping to a knee, I quickly picked the lock on her front door. The security in this building was shit. She wasn’t fucking safe here. The door opened with a creak, and I winced, expecting her to come flying out of her room demanding to know why I was here.
I didn’t have an answer; I just had to see her. Make sure she was safe. I closed the door softly and snuck down the hall to her room. Her bedroom door was left open, and my eyes went immediately to the woman on the bed.
Entering the room, I slipped into the chair in the corner and watched her as she slept. The urge to climb into her bed and pull her into my arms was so strong I wasn’t sure I could control it.
The scent of her skin wafted across the room.
The scent of citrus and flowers. I inhaled deeply and felt a sense of peace settle over me.
A peace I had never felt in my life. Something that had been missing from my life after my mother disappeared.
And truth be told, it wasn’t something I had felt before then either.
She was my calm in the storm. She wasn’t just something I wanted. I didn’t allow myself to want anything. Wants were selfish. I kept only what was needed. And Indigo Cambridge was something I needed.
She was mine.