Chapter Eleven
Indie
“Indie, wake up!”
My eyes flew open as a hand covered my mouth. My body started to shake with fear.
“It’s me, baby. We gotta go. Don’t scream, okay?”
I stared at the figure above me. I didn’t recognize anything about them. Their face was hidden by shadows, and their voice was a harsh whisper that was hard to decipher between a man and a woman. New people were the worst. We never knew what to expect. What they expected of us.
“Indie, baby, wake up!”
The hand left my mouth, and I froze. Their hands on my body sat me up. I stared ahead as they helped me into my robe. Normally my clothes were removed, not added to. This was something different, uncharted waters.
I knew not to move until I was told what to do, so I sat on the edge of the bed and waited. Strong arms lifted me and carried me through the room. The feel of his body told me it was a man who had chosen me today. He set me down by the door and looked through it.
There were voices in the hall. Angry voices. Someone was being punished. I was thankful it wasn’t me, which made me feel worse than I already did. The man tugged me into the hallway and toward another room. He sat me on the couch, and I waited for my instructions.
The sound of the lock engaging was a signal. I sat on the couch with my back straight, my eyes cast down, and waited. I closed myself off to everything around me but the man who had brought me here.
Muffled noises and conversations swirled around me, but I focused on the sound of his voice.
He was talking to someone. He saved someone’s life.
I guess I was his reward. The next moment, everything was quiet.
His feet shuffled across the floor. My eyes caught on his boots.
I recognized them. They were boots bikers wore.
I closed my eyes as he sat down beside me.
He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close.
He never gave me any instructions, so I did what I had been taught to do.
I slid to my knees in front of him. My hands moved on their own as they went to his belt buckle.
“What the fuck are you doing?” He grabbed my hands, and when I looked up, everything changed in an instant. The Trick Pony disappeared, and the face of the man in front of me became clear.
“Oh my God, Mimic. What are you doing in my apartment?” I fell back on my ass, and my hands covered my mouth. I was going to be sick. I scrambled to my feet, but as I looked around, nothing was familiar.
“Where the fuck am I?” I rasped, desperate not to throw up, but the bile was creeping its way up my throat. I ran to the kitchen and leaned over the sink as I emptied my stomach.
The hand on my back startled me, and my reflexes kicked in. Without thinking, I swung my arm around and punched him in the stomach. A whooshing sound of air escaped, and I looked up.
“Oh God, I’m so sorry.”
Mimic was doubled over, his hand in the air. I backed up, not wanting to hurt him more.
“Fuck, that hurt,” he said through gritted teeth as he tried to stand up, only to grab his crotch and pant heavily. Oh God, I thought I’d hit him in the stomach.
“I’m so sorry.” He shook his head but wouldn’t look at me. My back slid along the wall as I sat on the floor. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“Stop... apologizing.” His words tumbled over gravel as they left his mouth. The sound of boots stomping down the hallway stopped in front of the door.
“Open this fucking door!” Gunner’s voice was loud over the banging on the door. Mimic still hadn’t stood, so I scrambled over and unlocked the door before he broke it down.
As soon as the door swung open, I found myself lifted off the ground. Gunner held me in his giant arms. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.” It was all I could say as I tried not to lose my shit. I didn’t know what was going on.
“What the fuck is going on?” King asked.
I looked over at Mimic, and Kytten stood next to him, rubbing his back. She looked over at me with a grin. “He get a little handsy?” she asked with a wink.
Gunner growled and set me on the floor. I rushed ahead of him and stood in front of Mimic. “No! Stop!” Gunner’s chest pushed against my hand as he walked forward. “Gunner, please.”
He finally stopped moving. “What the fuck happened?”
“The Death Dogs showed up looking for Indie. This is Derek’s apartment.
He saw them outside and knocked on the door and told me to get Indie into his apartment and lock the door.
I don’t know what he did, but he distracted them long enough for us to get in here.
When they made it to the floor, they kicked in her door.
Said something about Skinner being pissed that they’d lost her.
There were three of them, and I’m pretty sure Sting was one of them because one of the guys said something about him being the one who found her. ”
“That explains why you’re in here. Derek came straight to the clubhouse. He was just coming inside when I made it downstairs after you called and told us you were in his apartment. Why do you look like you got hit in the sack?” King asked.
“Because I fucking did.” Mimic glared at me, and I silently pleaded with him not to say anything.
Gunner took a step forward; Cash stopped him and asked, “Why did she hit you in the balls? And tread carefully, kid.”
Mimic looked over at me and said, “She was upset and threw up in the sink. She was disoriented from being woken up, and when I rubbed her back, it startled her. It wasn’t her fault.”
“Why the fuck were you in her apartment?” Gunner snarled through gritted teeth. “You were told to stay the fuck away from her.”
He was? Why? I looked at Mimic. “Why were you in my apartment? And how did Derek know you would be there?” I asked.
Mimic swallowed and looked at his president. He stood up straight and confessed, “I’ve been watching over you. And it was a good fucking thing I was, because if I hadn’t been here, they would fucking have her now.”
King looked at me, and I put my head down.
I wasn’t sure how to feel right now. On the one hand, I was glad he was there.
But on the other, I was livid he was in my home without me knowing.
How long had Mimic been breaking into my apartment?
And how had I not heard him? I was a light sleeper.
Living at the Trick Pony, I learned to stay alert, even when I was sleeping.
Especially when I was sleeping.
“We will talk about that later. First, we go back to the clubhouse. Kytten, take Indie into her apartment and help her pack.”
“Pack? Why?”
“You can’t stay here, Indie.”
I looked at Gunner. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“Indie—”
“No, Gunner! I’m an adult.” It took every ounce of self-control I had not to stomp my foot like a child. What was it about these men that made me want to throw a temper tantrum like a toddler?
“Indie,” Kytten whispered. “You don’t have a front door. You can’t stay here.”
“What?” I rushed out into the hall and stared at my front door. The one that was broken into two pieces and laying on the floor. I looked up and down the hall and noticed that not one of my neighbors aside from Derek had come out to check on me.
“Come on. Let’s pack up some things so you can stay at the clubhouse.” Kytten wrapped her arm around my waist. She was so small, I felt like I was being led by a child.
I let her lead me to my room, and she found a suitcase in my closet. My body slumped onto the end of the bed as memories came rushing back of the day we left the Trick Pony.
There was no time to pack anything. We left with only the clothes on our backs. Ever since then, once I started making money, I bought an extra of everything I needed. My toiletries, my favorite clothes, even snacks.
Kytten gasped when she opened the suitcase. “You have a go-bag?”
All I could do was nod. I was numb after the events of the evening. Why were they here? What did they want with me? I had no connection to the club other than working at the shop.
“Well, that makes things easy.” She zipped the bag and stood. She called out to Cash, who grabbed the bag from her, and then she sat next to me on the bed. “I know this is scary.”
I chuckled at her words. She didn’t know scary. This wasn’t scary. This was maddening. This was my fault. I should have left when I saw Daniel. I should have hightailed it out of Diamond Creek and found somewhere else.
“I have to leave,” I said, standing up.
“Yes, let’s get back to the clubhouse. King has prospects coming over to fix the door.”
“No, I have to leave Diamond Creek. I’ve stayed here too long.” I shook my head, not paying attention to the fact that I wasn’t alone. I often spoke out loud to myself.
“Indie?” I turned around and found Kytten studying me. “If you’re in trouble, we can help.”
“I don’t need help. I just need to leave.”
“You aren’t fucking leaving.” Mimic’s growl from the doorway had me closing my eyes and pressing my thighs together. How did he have this effect on my body? “Rose, give us a minute.”
Kytten smiled at Mimic and squeezed my arm as she walked past me. I steeled myself and spun around to face Mimic.
“What the fuck happened tonight?” he whispered harshly. I didn’t believe his anger was aimed at me, but I still took a step back without thinking. Survival was a muscle memory.
“I’m sorry I hit you.” I lowered my eyes the way I’d been taught. It was the fastest way to defuse a situation. Let them believe they were in control.
“That’s not what I’m talking about, and you fucking know it.”
“I-I t-think I was in shock. Disoriented, like you said.”
“You were in a fucking trance, Indie. What the fuck?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I turned away, but Mimic grabbed my chin, forcing me to look him in the eye.
“If I hadn’t stopped you, would you have sucked my dick? Would you have let me do whatever the fuck I wanted?”
My eyes burned with tears I prayed wouldn’t fall. I couldn’t answer him. I didn’t want to answer him, because the answer was yes. I would have sucked him off. I would have let him shove his cock down my throat. I would have let him fuck me any way he wanted to. It was how I was trained.
I closed my eyes, trying to shut down the images in my head. They weren’t supposed to make my heart race, at least not with anticipation. The more I thought about Mimic taking me, the wetter I got. I should have been disgusted by the way he just spoke to me.
Mimic’s hand dropped from my chin, and he took a step back. “You would, wouldn’t you? What the fuck happened to you?”
There it was. The disgust I expected. “None of your fucking business.”