Reaper Chapter 8
I was about ready to give up. We’d been searching for a couple of hours and hadn’t found any sign of Cheyenne and Alisse. The woods along the edge of the road had been a bust. We were now working our way back and going further into them. I’d sent two men to her place in case she got by us and made it that far.
It was dark as hell in the trees. Thankfully, we had flashlights. I was a little leery of using them, since they pinpointed our location, but it was a risk we had to take. There was no sneaking up on them with all of us, so we were shouting their names, telling them that we weren’t going to hurt them. I had no idea if that would work or not.
A shout off to the left and ahead of me and Mayhem had me running in that direction. I burst out of a bunch of trees to find that Maniac and Ink had both of them cornered. They were trying to get them to lay down the gun Cheyenne was holding. When she saw me, she swung the gun in my direction. Mayhem tried to get in front of me. I wouldn’t let him.
“Cheyenne, baby, please lay that down before someone gets hurt. No one wants to hurt you or Alisse. I swear it was a misunderstanding. I never wanted you to be locked up. I just wanted you to stay there until I got back. It wasn’t safe for you to be out here,”
I pleaded.
She glared at me. She kept Alisse behind her, like she was shielding her. Savage, Gunner, Thorn, and Falcon from the Warriors, stepped out of the woods. She paled and started to back up as she swung her gun from side to side. She was trying to cover all of us. I stepped toward her so she’d focus her attention and the gun on me.
“Bright Eyes, I’m sorry. I know you’re scared. We don’t even know what the hell happened back there. We need answers and I know you do too. I know you don’t want to hurt anyone. You could accidentally shoot someone.
“Just let us go, Reaper. I won’t call the cops. I know the drill. Just let us go. We’ll be gone and you’ll never see us again. All we need is two hours to pack some shit and go.”
It hurt me to hear her talk about disappearing. I didn’t want that! “No, baby, you can’t. There’s no reason to leave. We can protect you.”
She started to laugh, only it wasn’t an amused one. It was a disbelieving one.
“Yeah, sure, you’ll protect us. Right into an unmarked grave or into some other club’s hands. No thank you, I’ll take my chances out there. I’ve done pretty good all these years. I just got complacent and let my guard down. I won’t ever do that again.”
She glared at me. I knew she meant she’d let me in. What in the hell did she mean she’d been doing it for years? What was it that I didn’t know about her?
I took another step toward her. “Don’t, Reaper, she’ll shoot you,”
Maniac hissed at me. Cheyenne took another step back and Alisse shadowed her. I could see Alisse was now not directly behind her. She was off to the side. She looked like she was scared to death.
“Come on, Alisse, you have to help us here. Cheyenne has it all wrong. I’d never fucking hurt either of you. All I want to do is protect you.”
I changed tactics. She’d helped me convince Cheyenne to come to the party, maybe she could help me talk her down.
“I wish I believed that, Reaper, but I’m not sure I can. I helped you to get her there today, and then you’re with someone like that. She’s right. We need to leave. I promise not to tell the cops either,”
Alisse said as she kept her gaze jumping from man to man.
“You can! God, why would I hurt her? I’m fucking in love with her!”
I shouted. This wasn’t the time for holding anything back. I saw the shock come over Cheyenne’s face then she sneered.
“Oh yeah, I know how bikers love their women. They love to use and abuse them. Forget it, I’m not interested.”
“What the hell are you talking about? We don’t use and abuse our women or our kids.”
“If you’re associated with Serpent, then like hell you don’t. No way am I going to go back into that life. I’ll die first.”
As she shouted the last part, Mayhem made his move. While I’d kept her talking, she’d focused mostly on me. He’d faded into the background and made his way around behind her. She’d moved back enough to be close to where he was. He jumped out, grabbing her gun and tore it out of her hand. She screamed like she had been killed and started to fight him. She was as bad if not worse than when she’d gone off on me at the compound. I ran over to take her from him.
I wrapped her up in both arms. She slammed her head back, but I was too tall for her to do any damage to my face. She kicked the hell out of my shins. Gunner had secured Alisse. She wasn’t fighting like Cheyenne. I think she was in too much shock to do it. A wail tore out of Cheyenne. “Just kill me! God, please just kill me. Don’t let him take me.”
She sobbed as she screamed. I put my mouth to her ear. Hearing her beg me to kill her made me want to scream, swear, cry, and kill, all at the same time.
“Baby, I’d never kill you. I’m not giving you to anyone. I know you don’t believe me, but I swear to everything holy, I’m not going to hurt you. Please, let’s go back to the compound and sit down. We need to talk and figure out what’s happening here.”
Her body slowly relaxed, though not completely. She looked over her shoulder at me. Her eyes showed me pain, fear, along with resolve. “If you’re lying, I’ll find a way to kill you before I kill myself. I promise you that, Reaper.”
A chill went through me. She meant every word.
“I know you will. You won’t have to. Come on, we need to get the two of you back.”
I slowly lessened the tightness of my hold. She tried to pull away but I wouldn’t let her. I had to keep touching her to know that she was alright. It was a tense and silent trek back to the bikes. Maniac called and let the others know they could stop searching and to meet us back at the clubhouse.
When we got to the bikes, she didn’t want to get on the back of my ride, but I insisted. We hadn’t brought a car, and no way was she riding with anyone else. Her place was on the back of my bike. Alisse got on behind Gunner without arguing. I held out my hand. Cheyenne debated whether to take it, but finally she did and swung up behind me. I handed her my helmet. “Put this on, babe.”
She took it and fastened it. I was glad to see Gunner had done the same for Alisse. I fired up my bike and took off.
While she held on enough not to fall off my bike, she wasn’t as close as I wanted her. She was trying to keep some separation between us. I knew the next few hours would determine whether I got my heart’s desire or was left to live the rest of my life alone. Because I hadn’t lied, I was in love with her. I think I fell in love with her at first sight that day at the doctor’s office.
When we came through the gate, the ones who’d stayed behind and those who had already returned were waiting for us. I felt her stiffen when she saw all of them. I was glad to see that none of the women were out here. Most likely they’d gotten them settled down with the kids. I stopped, and she got off so I could park my bike. I didn’t waste time. I parked and then got off to take her hand before she walked away. She tried to get loose, but I wasn’t letting that happen.
“Church, now,”
I shouted. All of us stomped inside. I went to the bar and Carter. He was eyeing Cheyenne through narrowed eyes. “Get that look off your face. Bring us some beers and water to stock the fridge in church, then you keep an eye on Alisse. That means you watch her in the common room, give her whatever she needs, but you don’t fucking lock her up. Do you understand?”
I growled. He nodded then got to work. I kept going toward church. Cheyenne tugged on my hand when Carter stepped up to block Alisse.
“You’re coming with me. We need to find out what’s going on. Alisse will be safe. I promise,”
I told her. She gave me a skeptical look but didn’t resist any more. Once we got inside and the door was closed, we took our seats. I sat her down beside me, though to be honest, I wanted to hold her on my lap.
Carter came rushing in with a tub full of beers and water. He sat them down, and we all grabbed one. I got water for Chey and opened it. She took it and gulped it down. In the light, I could see she was worse for wear. Her face and hands were dirty. She had a couple of scrapes on her face. Her eyes were ringed with mascara from crying. Her hair was a tangled mess and had leaves in it. Her clothes were dirty and torn. However, even with all of that, she was beautiful.
“Baby, are you hurt? Shit, I should have asked that first. Do you hurt anywhere?”
I asked as I slid my hand to her arms to feel them. She pushed my hands away.
“I’m fine. Some bumps, bruises, and scrapes. Why don’t we get this over with? No need to act like you care. I’m not falling for it,”
she said in a flat tone. Her face looked like she was made of stone.
“It’s not an act. I do care. And when we’re done here, we’ll talk about that. First, we need to know what in the hell set you off earlier and how do you know Serpent?”
She sat there for a couple of moments before she answered. “Why don’t you tell me first why he was here? What is your relationship with him and his club?”
I looked at the guys. They were watching her with frowns on their faces. “They weren’t supposed to be here today. We had a meeting set with them for next Saturday. They claimed they got the dates mixed up. Since they had such a long ride, we took a little time to talk to them.”
“Why were you meeting with them?”
she ground out between her teeth.
“They contacted us not long ago that their club had disbanded and they were looking for a new one to join.”
“And you were going to let them? My God, you really are a one-percenter club. Why don’t you wear the triangle to show it? Afraid the cops will scrutinize you more?”
That remark let me know she knew a whole lot more about clubs than I’d imagined.
“How do you know about one-percenters?”
“Let’s not get off topic. You just confirmed what I thought. You’re all a bunch of fucking abusive, killing bastards who’ll do anything for money and power. There’s nothing more to talk about. Get it over with.”
“What do you think is going to happen here?”
“You’re either going to give me over to him or you’ll keep me yourself to sell or use. Remember what I said, Reaper. I’ll kill you before I kill myself.”
The guys all looked shocked and grumbled.
“I’m not going to fucking sell or use you! Where in the hell did you get that idea?”
“From your associates. If you’re associating with the Soldiers of Corruption, then that’s a given. It was a nice touch to have those women and kids here. Not sure why all the effort. Poor things have no idea how bad it’s going to get for their kids as soon as they’re a little older.”
I jumped to my feet and started to pace around. What she was saying was starting to make me tense. I hated the thoughts her words were causing to fill my mind. Something didn’t make sense.
“We’re not working with the Soldiers of Corruption,”
I told her in confusion.
“If you’re talking to Serpent, then yes you are. He’s been with them since birth. No way he’d leave them. You said his club had disbanded, like hell they did. His daddy would never allow that. They have too big of a territory in Ohio to ever give that up.”
“Ohio? He said they were from Pittsburg and part of the Steel Falcons. That’s a legit MC that disbanded a year ago. We checked into it. We were going to meet with them after we’d done some more research. We got their names before they left so we could look into them. We would never just bring someone in that we hadn’t thoroughly vetted.”
“What name did he give you?”
I pulled out the piece of paper they’d written on. “It says his name is Tucker Smith. Why? Isn’t that it?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not. His name is Chaz Tucker from Blue Creek, Ohio. I don’t know the others. They didn’t look familiar. If you’re telling the truth, then they lied to you. You can’t trust them, Reaper. If they’re trying to get into your club, then it’s not for any other reason than to cause trouble.”
“Okay, we’ll come back to that. I want to know how you know about him and the Soldiers. Why does he have your name on his stomach? Why in the hell did you say those things about selling and using women and kids?”
I asked urgently. It was eating me up inside, imagining what she meant. I prayed like hell I was wrong. She looked around the room at the others. We were all looking at her. I saw degrees of worry, anger, and concern. She sighed.
“The Soldiers of Corruption don’t respect anyone except themselves. That includes their women and children. They’ll use them anyway they can, as long as it benefits the club.”
“How do they use them?”
Terror asked.
“They have them run drugs, deal them, and anything else they want. The women are used for sex to seal deals with other clubs or even their own members in the Soldiers. If it can get the person ahead, he’ll do it. When that doesn’t work, they sell them off to other clubs like theirs or even to human traffickers or pimps. The boys mostly avoid that fate. They train them to be future little Soldiers. They’re taught to treat others like the men do.”
Swearing and angry yelling rang out around the table. “What the fuck! Are you kidding me, their kids and their old ladies?”
Mayhem shouted louder than the others. I couldn’t shout. I was too stunned. Cheyenne nodded.
“How do you know this, Cheyenne? How does Serpent know you?”
I asked again, dreading the answer. Was she his old lady and had escaped that life? Had he used her and let others use her as well? Is that why she had such an aversion to bikers? Oh God, please say I’m wrong. I saw the thought was crossing the minds of my brothers and friends. She stood up and walked over to the window. She looked outside.
“Because I grew up in the Soldiers of Corruption compound. My dad is one of the members. I saw the shit they did every day.”
The despair in her voice was palpable.
I went over to her and turned her around. I had to hold her. I tugged her into my arms. “Baby, was Serpent your old man? Did he do those things to you?”
I asked, ready to vomit. She jerked away from me.
“He wasn’t my old man! I’d die first. But he was planning on it. He’d negotiated with my dad to have me given to him. Dad wanted to get a leg up and become an officer in the club. Serpent’s dad was one. It was a huge win for him.”
“How did you get away? When did this happen?”
“It happened ten years ago, when I was fifteen. Dad had held onto me longer than most of the men. He was waiting for the prime opportunity to barter away my virginity to his best advantage. Most of the girls were used by the time they were thirteen.”
More growls and curses came from the guys.
“God, tell me what happened?”
“My mom helped me. She found out and found a way to get me away before it happened. She had a great-aunt that no one knew she had or even that she had contact with. She arranged to get me to her. We were in town and she had me go into a specific store to try on clothes. My aunt was waiting and got me out the back door and into a dark car.”
“What about your mom?”
Her face grew pale, and she swallowed. Her arms wrapped around her middle and she rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “She couldn’t get away. They had guards with us. They would have followed us into the back if she’d gone with me. She made me promise to go and that she’d find another way to get away and join us. I didn’t want to do it, but she begged me.”
“And did she?”
Savage asked her softly.
She shook her head. Her eyes filled with tears. “No, my dad killed her before that could happen.”
“How do you know he killed her?”
“Because it was on the news a week later that the body of a thirty-year-old woman had been found dead in the woods in Ohio. It wasn’t that far from them. They showed a picture of the woman. It was my mom.”
She broke down and sobbed. As she sagged, I swept her up into my arms.
“We need to finish this later. I know we need answers, but she needs to rest. I assume you and the guys will be sticking around until later tomorrow?”
I asked Terror. He gave me a chin lift. I strolled out the door and into the common room. Alisse came rushing over to me.
“She’s fine. Just upset over something she told us. You’re both going to have to stay here tonight, Alisse. It’s not safe for either of you to leave. You can stay here or at my house. Cheyenne will be there with me.”
She eyed me then nodded. “I’ll stay with you if you don’t mind. In case she needs me.”
“Then follow me. Viper, I assume Cayden and Harper are asleep at the house already?”
He nodded. They always stayed with me when they came to visit. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
I didn’t wait, I left the clubhouse. Cheyenne was still quietly sobbing in my arms. God, the hell she’d been through. I could only imagine the things she’d seen growing up.
It didn’t take long to get to my house. Inside, I pointed to the kitchen. “Help yourself to anything you want. I’ll show you where you can sleep and get a shower.”
Alisse didn’t say a word. She just followed me up the stairs. I indicated the bedroom at the other end of the hall from the master. She seemed reluctant to go into it, but it was my place to calm down Cheyenne not hers. “Goodnight.”
I went to my room and closed the door. It was time I took care of my woman. The first order of business was to comfort her and make her feel safe then to get her to rest. Later, I’d be hunting Serpent and the rest of the Soldiers. They were going to die.