Chapter 3 #2
When he settles on the bike in front of me, I push against his back. “I don’t want to do this,” I say, fighting back tears.
“We’re just going to town. It’s not far.” He ignores how upset I am and grabs my free hand, wrapping it around his middle. “Hold on tight.”
As the countryside passes us by, my heart aches to go back to my life on the outskirts of Denver. To my quiet little neighborhood. To my soul soothing job at the oddities shop. To Deb and Mr. Johnson.
As soon as we stop, I jump off the bike, practically ripping my arm off in the process.
Cole doesn’t even bother uncuffing me as we stroll into the huge brick building on the corner of the block. When we step inside, it’s like being transported back in time.
“Hey, Tiff. Rage needs a room for this one.” He tugs at the cuff running between us.
Her gaze narrows on me. “Rage is putting her up here?”
“That’s what I said.”
Her lip turns up on one side in a snarl. “What for?”
“Do you want me to call him over here so you can ask him?” Carson asks, stepping up behind us.
“No,” she scoffs. “She just …” She waves her hand over me.
“What?” I ask, holding my head a little higher.
A tall man in a black cowboy hat joins her behind the counter. “What’s up?”
“Rage needs a room,” the woman answers, dipping her head. It’s easy to see that she is a little more hesitant to argue now that he’s here.
“Hey, Cowboy,” Cole greets the man.
The cowboy looks me up and down, clearly amused. “Give em’ the knockin boots suite,” he tells her.
Both her mouth and mine fall open at the same time.
“Ew, no,” I say. “I’m not going to be knocking boots with anyone around here.”
The woman rolls her eyes. “That’s obvious.”
“How is that obvious?” Carson asks, resting his elbow on the counter.
“She’s …”
“Gorgeous,” he says at the same time the woman replies, “Dull.”
Dull works for me. That’s what I’m going for. Boring and peaceful. It looks like she’s dolled up for a New Year’s Eve party or something.
“Just …” I shake my hand impatiently. “Can we just get on with whatever this is?”
“What is this?” Cowboy asks, grabbing a key off the wall behind him.
“Don’t know yet,” Cole answers. “She showed up out at the Trough looking for Rage.”
“So, you know him?” the woman asks me.
I curl my lips between my teeth. I’m not telling her anything because I know better. She reeks of arrogance and attitude.
She huffs, clearly annoyed with my silence. “Whatever.” She waves her hand, dismissing us to go into the back room.
“Don’t worry about her. Tiff is just jealous. She wants in Rage’s pants, but that’s never going to happen,” Cole says, guiding me up the most beautiful wooden staircase I’ve ever seen.
I have to admit this place is pretty cool. Too bad I won’t be staying long.
When we get to the room, I’m floored at how stunning it is. There is a huge four-poster bed in the middle. Cole drags us toward the bathroom and then removes the bottle of pills from his pocket. He makes a big show of flushing them down the toilet.
“We should check her shit when we bring it up here. You know, to make sure she doesn’t have anything else on her,” Carson says, watching from behind us.
“I could just jump out the window, you know.” I push my way past his brother so I can use the toilet. “I have to pee. Get out.”
He gives me a quick pat down before unlocking the cuff from around his belt loop. He shuts the door behind him, leaving me to stare at myself in the mirror.
“Deep breaths,” I remind myself, shoving down the anger I feel at my brother for putting me in this situation.
But maybe I shouldn’t be angry at him. It might not be entirely his fault.
This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve dealt with my family’s problems. I can’t tell you how much debt and trouble I’ve had to work out for them.
But like I said, I thought that was behind me.
“Chop. Chop. Rage doesn’t like to be kept waiting,” one of the men on the other side of the door says while knocking a little tune with his knuckles over the wood.
I quickly use the bathroom and splash some water on my face. When I step out, I pull my shoulders back, prepared to fess up.
“Good. You’re ready,” Cole says, once again locking me to his beltloop. “Sorry, but I can’t take any chances.”
“Wait,” I say, dragging my feet. “The Bloody Scorpions sent me. They want to know when and where your next shipment of guns is going.”
The two of them laugh. “I bet they do, now that we got a lock down on eighty,” Cole says, basically dragging me across the room.
“Eighty?” I ask, jerking at the cuff running between us.
“I-80 … the interstate.”
“Oh, that makes sense. Wait a minute. Why aren’t you surprised they sent me?”
Each of the twins grab one of my arms, lifting my feet from the floor.
“Because we’re not. The Scorpions are always looking for information. They’re nothing but a bunch of thieving cowards.” Cole stops and looks at his brother. “She’s not their usual type.” His head nods in my direction.
“What do you mean by that?” I ask, trying to peel his fingers from my bicep.
“Well, you’re …”
“Dull. Tiffany already established that.”
The two of them laugh, tipping their heads back in exactly the same way.
“I was going to say sweet,” Carson says.
I stop fighting them. “Sweet?”
“You remind us of our sister.”
“Well, yeah, I mean, I am sweet. That’s why you should let me go. I mean, if your sister was in this situation, you would want someone to let her go, wouldn’t you?”
“If our sister was in this situation, we’d be doing the exact same thing we’re doing with you.”
“Please let me go. The Scorpions are going to kill me anyway. I really don’t need to face … Rage.” I swallow hard, thinking about his fingers in my mouth.
“If that’s true, you shouldn’t be in such a hurry to leave. You’re safer here with us than out on the street.”
I roll my eyes. Sure I am. Do they really expect me to believe they are worried about my safety? Who are they trying to kid?
A few people look at us as we walk down the block, but no one looks long enough to notice I’m being forced against my will. In fact, no one pays me any attention at all. The two brothers are giants. Everyone’s focus is on them.
We stop in front of another brick building with a sign on the front that reads The Rage Cage.
Carson knocks on the glass door, and I spot Rage walking toward us from across the room. I dig my heels into the ground, trying to back away.
Cole unlocks the cuffs but keeps me securely by his side. “Calm down. He’s not as mean as he looks.”
“Sure he isn’t.”
Rage scowls at the three of us as he opens the door, like we’re somehow bothering him. You’d never know he was the one who insisted I be brought to him by the way he’s looking at me.
“The Scorpions sent her to gather intel. They want to know when our next shipment is going through.”
The expression on Rage’s face doesn’t change.
“Anyway, we got her set up at the Inn. Tiff wasn’t very happy about it,” Carson tells him.
Still nothing changes on the man’s face. Maybe something’s wrong with him, and his face is frozen like that. It’s a shame, because he might be attractive if, and this is a big if, he smiled.
“Okaaay,” Cole says, laughing under his breath. “What do you need from us?”
Rage’s gaze bounces between the two of them. “Go through her shit and get Wizz to run a background on her.”
“I’m right here, you know?”
His eyebrows pull together. “Which chapter of the Bloody Scorpions sent you?”
“The one my brother owed money to.”
He doesn’t even react to my joke.
“I don’t know. They’re set up outside of Greeley. The asshole who came for me, his name is Savage. That’s all I know.” I shrug my shoulders and hug myself.
Something happens to Rage’s face, and he snarls. I take a step back. The two brothers exchange a glance before busting out laughing.
“Do you know him?” I ask, confused by their polar opposite reaction to Rage’s.
“Of course we know him.” Carson looks at Rage. “Maybe he thought this one was different enough and we’d fall for it,” he says, shaking his head.
“Different?” I ask.
“You’re not a patch bunny, are you?”
My head pulls back. A patch bunny?
He and his brother laugh. “She doesn’t even know what that is.”
“Well, why would I?”
“I think she’s innocent, Prez,” Cole offers on my behalf.
“Of course I’m innocent.”
“Yet here she is,” Rage deduces, tipping his head to the side to study me.
“Okay, well, I’m glad we’ve had this little chat, but I think I’ll be going now.”
Rage reaches out and grabs me around the throat, dragging me inside the building.
“Hold my calls,” he tells the twins before closing the door behind us. He only releases me to flip the lock.
“This is ridiculous. I’m not a threat to you,” I plead. I’m not sure what he’s going to do to me, but whatever it is, it can’t be good.
He snaps his fingers for me to follow him.
“I’m serious. Up until yesterday I was just a woman working in an oddity shop outside of Denver.”
We step inside a room, and he hands me a pair of coveralls.
I stand frozen, my gaze sweeping my surroundings. It’s … it’s a rage room. Oh, I get it now. The Rage Cage. Rage. Everything is starting to make sense.
He steps in front of me holding a helmet with a full-face shield.
“What?” I ask.
He nods toward the coveralls. “Put them on.”
“No.”
“Do you want me to help you?”
My brows pull together. “No.”
A few more seconds pass before he reaches for them. I jerk away and angrily start shoving my feet in the leg holes. “All I wanted was some damn peace. Was that too much to ask?” I gripe while pulling up the suit and sliding my arms inside.
Rage doesn’t say anything. When I’m zipped up, he hands me the helmet. Then a pair of gloves.
I feel stupid …
He shoves a baseball bat in my hand and waves his arms out wide. “Have at it.”
When he leaves the room, I start to laugh. What the fuck is happening? Is this really my life right now?
“What the fuck are you waiting for?” he asks over a loud speaker in the room.