Chapter 10
Feather
“This is a bad idea, Blake. The other guys want their stuff back, and one showed up at the house,” I remind him. I shouldn’t have told him Pike was there, but I did. I can’t keep doing this.
“And I told you they just want to scare you, and it’s working. Ignore them. They aren’t going to do anything. They have no proof of anything.” He looks at himself in the rearview mirror before glancing over at me. He eyes me up and down before he nods for me to get out of the car. My stomach trembles, and my hands shake. I don’t want to do this. Not again, not a different club.
“Can’t you rethink this?” I ask him. Blake huffs out a breath before climbing out of the car and coming around to my side. He opens the door and grabs my wrist, jerking me out of the car and onto the sidewalk.
“You’re going to do this, Feather. Don’t make me angry,” he says through gritted teeth. I’m not trying to make him angry, but I also don’t want to make them angry. But I have no choice. This is what he makes me do. This is my repayment. Some days, I feel like I will never repay him enough.
We walk toward the packed clubhouse parking lot. I take a deep breath as we walk inside the crowded room. There are people everywhere. Music is blasting. Blake makes himself scarce as usual, and I’m left to do my job. I need a drink if I’m going to make it through the night. I don’t usually drink much but tonight? I need it.
I see the way some of the men are treating the women here, and my insides clench. I make my way to the bar and grab a drink, taking it down quickly when a hand wraps around my waist. This is where I start working. I spin around in his arms, and he smiles down at me. He’s a big guy. Bigger than Pike. In almost an instant, he leans down and presses his lips to mine. I almost gag at the taste of him, but I play my part and keep kissing him back as I slip my hand into his cut. I find his wallet easily and begin to slide it free, just like always, until his hand snaps up to my wrist. His lips are gone, and he pulls back, pulling my hand out of his cut with the wallet still wrapped up in my fingers. Then things change. He changes.
The man who was kissing me with such a frenzy is now beating my ass. His fist lands in my stomach before he backhands me across the face. Lights flash behind my eyes as my head snaps to the side. Before I know what’s happening, I’m being lifted off my feet and carried through the room. My stomach wants to expel everything in it, and my head is spinning.
Once we’re outside, I’m tossed to the ground, landing with a thud.
“You’re lucky that’s all you got, bitch.” My head spins and aches as I try to shove to my feet. When I finally manage to stand, I glance around, but I don’t see Blake anywhere. Did he leave me to this? Is he still in there? Surely, he saw what happened.
I stumble back down the road to where we left the car, but it’s gone. He left me here. He left me to this. That son of a bitch! Not knowing what else to do I pull out my cell and make the call. I shouldn’t be calling him, but I have no one else to call. A man answers the phone when I ask for Pike. It takes a second, but then he answers.
“Yeah?”
“I need help.”
“Feather? You got my shit?”
“I need help, Pike. I … I didn’t know who else to call.”
“What happened?”
“He brought me to a different club,” I tell him. I hear him curse on the other end of the line.
“Where? What club?”
“I don’t know. It says RRMC on the sign.”
“Fuck, Feather. Are you still there?”
“I’m outside. The guy, he caught me trying to steal the wallet.”
“He hurt you?”
“I just need help, Pike.”
“I’m comin’. I need to know where you are now.”
I tell him I’m going to walk down the street so I’m no longer near the club. I give him the best directions I can as I try to force my feet to move. Even after the line goes dead, I hold the phone close to me in case they come back after me.
I’m stumbling down the road when I hear the rev of an engine and look up. I see Pike coming toward me, pulling to the side of the road. He climbs off his bike and walks closer when his face falls.
“What the hell did they do to you?”
“I’m okay.”
“You’re not okay.”
“I am. He caught me.”
“And the boyfriend?” he asks, sounding disgusted even saying it.
“He left me there,” I tell him as a tear runs down my cheek.
“He fuckin’ left you to that? I’ll fuckin’ rip his ass apart,” he growls when we hear screams coming from down the road. Pike looks past me and then back at me. “We need to go.” I nod my head as he reaches out his hand and grabs my wrist, pulling me along with him. He grabs a helmet from the saddle bag and places it on my head before helping me on the bike. My skirt hikes up my thighs, but I don’t care what anyone can see at this point. I just want out of here.
Pike climbs on and revs his bike before doing a U-turn and taking off down the road. I notice he keeps checking the mirrors, no doubt making sure we weren’t followed.
He takes the curves quickly and we ride through the city until pulling up at his clubhouse. He kills the engine, and we both climb off the bike while I adjust my skirt. He eyes me, takes me in, and then motions for me to follow him inside. I pull the helmet off my head and leave it on the seat as I do what I’m told. Typically, I’m bold and wouldn’t listen to him, but not today. Now isn’t the time.
I follow behind Pike as we walk inside, and all eyes turn to me. Some look angry, while others don’t. I lower my gaze to my feet when I see boots come into view. His hand comes up to my cheek, lifting my face to look at him.
“Don’t do that. Don’t change who you are just because they look at you.”
“I’m sorry for what I did,” I tell him.
“I know you are.”
“They don’t know that.”
“They do know that. I told them that.” Now I lift my head and look at him. He looks sincere as he looks down at me.
“I mean it, Pike. I’m sorry,” I repeat. He nods his head when his hands come up to cup my cheeks. Tears pool in my eyes from the way he’s looking at me. Like I’m the only person in the world. It’s only me and him. I don’t understand this. I don’t understand any of this.
“I said it was okay, Feather. You don’t have to keep sayin’ it. We’re good now.”
“I know where he keeps the wallets, but the money is gone.” Pike nods his head before lowering his hands and grabbing mine in his. He leads me through the room and down the hall until we’re in his room and enter the bathroom. He sits me on the toilet seat and wets a rag before coming back to stand in front of me.
“Tell me what happened.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Now isn’t the time to be stubborn, Feather. I wanna know what happened and how it went down.”
“I was doing what I was told to do. This guy started kissing me, so I went for it. He must have felt me pulling it out. He punched me in the stomach and then hit me.” I can see the anger in his eyes. I can see the fire that burns deep inside of him as he wipes my face with the rag. He doesn’t say anything; he just keeps watching me. It’s slightly unnerving, but before I can think too much about it, he pulls me off the toilet and into his arms. His lips come down on mine, and he kisses me like I’ve never been kissed before. His tongue sweeps into my mouth, pulling a moan from my throat.
When he finally pulls away, he looks me in the eye.
“No one else’s lips will be on yours but mine,” he growls. I’m shocked by his words as I pull back a little.
“But …”
“But what? I know you’re not thinkin’ about the asshole who left you to this. He’s gone, Feather, and when I get my fuckin’ hands on that motherfucker he’s a dead man.”
“I owe him.”
“You don’t owe him shit,” he says.
“I do. You don’t understand, Pike. He’s done a lot for me.”
“And now that’s over. I don’t give a shit what he did for you in the past. I said those lips are only for me. You got it?” I don’t know what to say. I shouldn’t nod my head, but I do. I shouldn’t say yes, but I do. I shouldn’t agree to this but I do.
“Say it out loud, Feather.”
“I won’t kiss anyone else,” I almost whisper. I can’t believe I actually said the words or that they left my lips.
“That’s right, you won’t. Because who do those lips belong to now?”
“You.”