Chapter Eighteen
S utton shivered under the cold air coming from the vent above her. She glared at the man across from her and crossed her arms. “You know Kendrick is going to kick your ass the second he finds me with you.”
It was a statement, not a question.
“Oh, I have no doubt he’ll try, but I enjoy a good fight.” Her captor, driver, savior—whatever you want to call the man who’d kidnapped her from the clubhouse cracked his neck from side to side. He was devilishly handsome with long, wavy hair. Heck, many women went to salons and paid a lot of money to get their hair to have that hombre appearance and still couldn’t pull it off. Yet she was sure he was completely natural. And, to top off the not-fair meter, he had bright blue eyes that sparkled. Even when he talked about fighting a man like Kendrick, who was known as the head of the mafia, for crying out loud, the shithead grinned, showing off two dimples. It was as if the heavens shined down on his mother when he was born and gifted him with all the looks and charisma and a double dose of insanity. How was the man not scared shitless?
“So, how do you like working at the smaller hospital, Doc? Think you’d like working in another city like Chicago?”
“I’m not a doctor. I’m a Physician Assistant, but yes, I can do a lot of what they do as doctors. Still, I practice under the supervision of a physician, while a doctor or someone with an MD can do so independently or within a hospital. Essentially, I can perform many tasks like them, including taking medical histories, performing physical exams, ordering tests, and prescribing medications. I have helped during surgeries, but nothing extreme.” She was rambling but couldn’t stop herself.
“You don’t remember me, do you?”
Bright blue eyes met hers. “I’m sorry. Where did we meet?”
He lifted his shirt, showing off a set of abs covered in—holy shit. “Those are lovely tattoos.”
Again, his lips quirked up in a smile. “Thanks. But that’s not what I’m showing you. See the precision of this scar?”
Sutton moved from her sitting position in the corner of the room, hating giving up the spot against the wall. Why she felt safer with the hard surface to her back, she didn’t know and wasn’t going to question herself.
“What happened?” She pulled her fingers back before making contact with his skin. Although she was in the medical field, touching this man, or any man, without the guise of professional need felt wrong. God, Kendrick broke her. The thought nearly made her laugh.
“You did this. Well, you saved me, I should say.” He pulled his shirt back down and stepped back against the wall, nudging his chin toward the bed she’d been on.
Sutton moved to take her spot back. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember.” She rubbed her temples. Her head ached from stress and lack of sleep.
“That’s not surprising. Five years ago, with a gunshot wound, I found myself dumped at the hospital. Nobody thought I’d make it. My supposed family dumped me near the entrance, bleeding out, and left me for dead. I looked up and saw an angel with blonde hair and brown eyes telling me not to die on her, or she’d electrocute my ass until I came back like a zombie. I tried to tell her I wasn’t gonna make it, but this chick told me she’d make sure my dick was broke forever if I didn’t fight.”
Sutton covered her mouth, laughing at the memory as she recalled finding the kid like he described. It had been her last night at the hospital in Los Angeles before she’d moved to Santa Clarita. He had been the catalyst to her moving, seeing the poor kid ready to give up and having nobody willing to claim him as their own.
“How did you come to be part of the Royal MC?” Fuck, and here he was, giving her up to Kendrick’s enemies. She’d saved him, and he was sending her off to a fate worse than death.
“Well, my initiation failed that night. However, I didn’t die, and my dick certainly ain’t broke. I realized I never got to thank the woman who saved me, and by chance of fate, I saved someone who meant a lot to one of the brothers. The rest, they say, is history.”
“What’s your name?” she asked.
He tapped his chin, looked up at the cameras, grinned, and flipped his middle finger toward the little device. “My road name is Hulk.”
“You don’t look like a green giant to me,” she muttered.
“I agree. I tried for Captain America, but Hollywood told me to fuck off and said I was more like Hulk. After that, the name stuck.” He chuckled and looked up again. She noticed he flipped the cameras off as he moved around the room like a caged animal.
“Ah, are you okay?” No way in hell would she call this guy Hulk.
“I’m good. How you doin?”
Pausing in her immediate response, she pushed her hair behind her ears. “Why don’t you let me go? I swear I won’t tell anyone it was you who took me.”
He rounded the room, stopping in front of where she sat. Bending down, he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her left ear. “It’s too late for that, lady doc. Besides, it’s almost over. When that door opens, I need you to stay as far in this corner tucked up like a tiny ball. Mkay? Wrap your arms around your legs, hold ’em close to your chest, and whatever the fuck you do, try not to draw any attention to yourself. If I go down and you don’t see any friendly faces, I’m really sorry.”
She watched him look back up at the camera and shake his head. Sutton was well-aware they’d been inside the room for what seemed like hours but couldn’t have been more than ten or fifteen minutes. She assumed they’d take her to see the man who wanted her by now.
“Hulk, you’re scaring me,” she whispered. Her voice shook as she tried to do as he said.
“Saint. My name is Saint, but I’m the furthest thing from my namesake.” He eyed her, nodding when he noticed she’d followed his instructions. “Good girl, lady doc. This room is soundproof. I can’t hear a fucking thing outside these walls. I hate feeling like a sitting duck,” he muttered.
“I like your name.” Such an inane thing to say, especially when he would probably be the last person she’d talk to before either being killed or sold as some sex slave.
KENDRICK SWIPED THE card across the scanner. The waiting for it to unlock the doors felt like an eternity. Again, the clucking sound of the locks disengaging sent adrenaline through his veins. Behind him, Andre and two others lined up, preparing to enter after him.
“You should let me go first,” Andre growled.
He ignored the other man, quickly moving into the space and stepping to the side. His eyes narrowed, and he blinked several times, trying to adjust to the dark interior. Keys warned them about the dark space. The only illumination appeared from the floor. It reminded him of an airplane's emergency lighting, but there was something eerie about the long hallway. The most shocking thing was the black walls, broken up by the different colored doors and the large windows between each one. He counted five on each side, which meant Sutton could be in one of ten rooms.
“If any of you motherfuckers says redrum, I will gut you and send your family a check for their loss,” Cosmo said.
Kendrick wasn’t going to engage in any sort of banter with the men. His entire focus had to be on finding Sutton.
He went to the first door, swiping the card through the reader this time instead of passing it over. The schtick sound allowed him entrance. He passed the keycard to Cosmo before moving inside.
On the far wall sat a throne-like chair with a man sitting on it. Kneeling on the floor were two females completely nude, their hands tied behind their backs as they gazed up at him. The scene didn’t disturb Kendrick. The man tugged on a chain, making one of the women cry out.
“Shut up, whore.”
A figure moved from the side of the room. The familiar sound of a whip cracking through the air was startling. He looked around the rest of the space for a familiar blonde. The room wasn’t large, so it was easy to see she wasn’t inside. The man with the whip lashed the one who’d cried out. Blood sprayed from her to the floor.
“That’s not a regular whip, Kendrick.” Keys uttered through his earpiece, breaking his stare.
Another cry followed as the man lashed the woman two more times. She fell forward while the one beside her stayed silent.
Kendrick could’ve exited the room. Who knew what sort of play these women had or hadn’t agreed to? However, he would never allow that to happen to a woman or man. As a Dom, there were limits, and having a whip made of razor wire didn’t even go on a hard one. If the woman survived, no doubt she’d have scars for life. Before the whip could fall again, he fired off two consecutive shots. The man sitting in the chair slumped to the side, a clean shot straight through his forehead, while the back of his skull would be a mangled mess, the whip man fell to his knees groaning.
“Don’t play with your food, Kendrick. Take him out and leave the women for later. We’ll ensure they get saved.” Keys barked the order in his ear.
Fuck, he wanted to shoot more than just the man’s dick off. Blood pooled beneath his spread thighs as he rolled around howling. Kendrick strolled across the space, kicking the whip away from his fist. “A quick death is too good for the likes of sadists like you,” he spat. With his raised arm, he fired another shot directly into his chest, then one in the center of his head.
The tears falling from the two bound women made him wish he had time to release them, but in truth, they were safer inside the room than outside with them. However, being stuck with two dead wannabe Dom’s might be a stretch in the safety department.
“Keys, do you have any information on who these women are?” Kendrick moved toward the injured woman first, checking to see if she was still alive. She flinched when he crouched next to her.
“Not yet, but we will. Go find Sutton. We’ll deal with the others after.” Nobody said they wouldn’t find Sutton or what condition they’d find her in.
They both knew there might be others who wouldn’t survive until they could get to them.
Cosmo came out of the door across the hall.
“This one is empty. You good?”
Kendrick jerked his thumb toward the open door. “Two dead fuckers and two women. One is in bad shape. The other is probably fucked in the head, and who knows what else after what she’s been through. I hate leaving them gagged and bound inside there.”
“I’ll move them into this room while you move down to the next one.” Cosmo stepped around Kendrick and handed him the keycard back.
“Thanks, man.”
He went through another door. After finding it empty, he relaxed slightly. Moving to the next door, he prepared for what he’d find inside. His shoulders tensed as Andre exited another room with a woman in his arms. He placed her on her feet outside, steadying her against the wall.
“What room was empty?” he asked.
Kendrick pointed at the door he’d just closed. He moved back and swiped the card over the panel.
Once Andre eyed the empty room, he lifted the woman back into his arms, moving quickly to secure her inside the space before reappearing in the hall. Nobody questioned him. Kendrick quickly glanced inside the one his friend had stepped out of, wincing at the bloodbath inside. He shut the door and did as he’d done with the first door.
There were only four doors left. Two on each side.
He took a deep breath. A door at the very end opened. Light streamed into the dark space, almost blinding him. Andre pushed Kendrick against the wall, using his body as a shield as bullets began to fly.