Chapter 11 #2
A void seemed to catch me on the cusp of his words, and the word betrayal seemed to stick around my heart like a thick stone. Swinging, hitting my sternum with each pass.
Alec had betrayed me. He’d hurt me.
Silas pulled my hand, and I realized we were walking out of the house.
We stepped outside, my bare feet pressed into the dirt right as Silas pulled me into his arms, bridal style. I winced as the light hit my eyes, my days inside making it nearly impossible not to recoil. Instead, I allowed my head to be tucked under Silas’s chin as he walked us to safety.
I felt dazed as we hiked, the bright sun making my eyes slide shut, but my heart hadn’t stopped hammering in my chest. I had no concept of time, of how long we walked, only the loud pounding in my head that seemed to go on and on and on.
“You need to wear these.”
I was set back on my feet, which had my eyes cracking.
Suddenly a pair of sunglasses landed on my face, and I saw Silas standing next to his bike, holding his leather jacket out to me.
I lifted my hand to accept it and saw the blood-stained manacle dangling from my wrist. My stomach tilted, but I pushed past it so that I could get the hell away from this place.
Slipping into his jacket, there was a comfort that came seeing his name cover my chest. His coat was too big for me, so it covered the oversized t-shirt I was in, and most of my upper thighs. I inspected the bike with a recoil tightening in my chest.
I did not want to get on that. As often as I had hoped for Silas to come for me, now with the bloodied cuff, and not wearing any pants, I just wanted to curl into one of the bushes and sleep until the pain around this entire situation lessened.
Kidnapped.
I’d been abducted by someone I thought cared for me.
Someone I once sought as a refuge.
“We’re going to ride like we used to, Caelum…come crawl into my lap.” That deep voice was a rope catching around my frayed mind, pulling me back to shore.
He straddled the leather seat of his bike, one hand going to the handle, as the other was held out for me. I approached him, my hands still shaking. My mind going back to bullfrogs and peaceful creeks. I wanted to go back in time and erase.
Erase.
Erase.
Erase.
“He refused to give you clothes?”
My focus went back to those eyes that were foundation stones for me, and nodded. My voice would get caught around the explanation of the dried cum currently coating my stomach.
Silas met my gaze. “You’re safe now, that’s all that matters.”
Was it? I’d been hiding behind the walls of another club for two years, waiting for Silas to come and get me and I still didn’t feel safe. I felt hunted.
I felt disposable.
I felt forgotten.
“We have to go.” Silas flicked a quick look over my shoulder and I knew he was right. This rescue is what I had been waiting for but my limbs locked up.
He watched, wary and seemingly confused, until finally he reached for me and pulled me over his lap.
I adjusted so my legs went around his waist, my hands tight around his neck. Our faces were inches apart, my hair blew in the wind, acting as a shield as Silas held me to him, his gaze lowering to my lips.
“You called me your wife,” I whispered, my voice shaking.
The space next to his eyes crinkled as he pushed a piece of my hair behind my ear. “It’s still true, isn’t it?”
Was it?
I didn’t answer him as I buried my face in his shoulder and closed my eyes.
Silas lifted his other hand and started the bike. The familiar roar soared through me like a set of wings, lifting my hopes as I wrapped my body around his and he sped off, leaving my captors and the cage I was kept in.
We rode for only half an hour or so before Silas pulled off near a gas station. The air was still crisp and the sky still a stark blue overhead, but I remained oblivious to what day or time it actually was.
“We need to get you some clothes. It’s three hours back to Rose Ridge.”
Silas helped me off his lap, the separation already feeling too cold, too far. Fears that he’d walk away again slithered into my chest, creating a poisonous condition.
“Pyle is closer, just take me there, we’ll be protected by your club.”
There was a calculated look in his gaze, but there was also fear. Rejection stabbed at my gut, a reminder that two years had divided us and perhaps he had a new life now. Maybe he had a person back there waiting for him.
Silas loved me in his own way, and was protective of me but he’d also stayed away from me for two years. The distance spoke louder to me than any attempts at safe keeping.
I was standing there, next to Silas’s bike while his jaw worked back and forth, and I knew what he was thinking. I knew it so well because it was the only thing he had been doing for the past two years.
Running. From me.
My emotions were raw; my body chilled and exhausted. I wouldn’t survive his rejection, so I just turned away, clutching the leather of his jacket.
“I can’t go in like this.” I looked down at my bare feet, wishing I had grabbed the go-bag that Rachel had prepared for me.
“I’m not leaving you alone out here.”
A large semi-truck drove by, causing a gust of wind to blow my hair up and ruffle Silas’s. We stared at one another, his glowing blue eyes that always felt so unnatural and perfect. He was trying to work something out, that or wait me out.
“Didn’t you have people with you when you invaded Fable’s safe house?”
Silas raised a dark brow at me in question.
“Your club…or the Stone Riders, did anyone help you?”
His shoulders lifted right as his phone rang.
“You didn’t tell whoever it was that you were leaving?” I asked, completely exasperated.
“Didn’t realize I had to.” He lifted the phone to his ear. He began listing off directions to the gas station we were at and then within the next few minutes, two bikes rumbled down the road, followed by a double cab pick-up.
Wes Ryan and Killian Quinn slowed their bikes until they stopped in front of us. My heart lifted at the sight of them, but it nearly shot through my chest as I registered who was in the truck. Penelope’s dark hair was visible through the window, and I launched myself forward as Jameson parked.
Pen opened her door, jumped down and began running at me. Tears streamed down her beautiful face as she hiccupped and pulled me into a tight hug.
“I’m so sorry. It was all my fault,” she murmured into my hair.
I held her so tight I worried I might break her. I’d never had any friends outside of Sasha and Silas that cared enough about me that they’d cry over my absence or go with their husband to pick me up during a raid.
“No, it wasn’t. Don’t put that on yourself, Pen. I got that text and left the club because of it.”
We separated, both of us crying as the men began talking to each other behind us.
“You came with Jameson?”
Penelope nodded. She had hair dark as a raven, it was long, nearly brushing her waist. With blue eyes, perpetually pink lips and thick lashes, she was a stunning bombshell.
I’d met her when she’d arrived with Jameson King’s previous club, the Chaos Kings.
She was pregnant when we met, which reminded me.
“Where’s Connor?”
Surely, they didn’t bring him with them.
Pen smiled. “Staying with Callie and Laura. They wanted to be here, but everyone agreed that it was too dangerous.”
“They’re right; I can’t believe you even came.” I flicked a quick gaze over to Silas who was watching me.
Penelope did the same, her gaze landing on her husband. “We didn’t know what sort of condition you’d be in. I suggested having a vehicle you could travel back in that didn’t put you at the mercy of the weather or being on the back of a bike.”
My best friend was a genius.
Her happy countenance fell when she saw the handcuff still connected to my wrist.
“Oh my god, Natty.”
Her whisper might as well have been a thunder crack. I wanted to go home. To my bed, my clothes, my safe room, protected by a club I knew. Besides, I already knew Silas wasn’t going to take me to Pyle. Fuck, he likely was never planning to come back and claim me in the first place.
“Let’s go home. I don’t want to be here anymore,” I muttered, pulling on Penelope’s arm.
She was about to guide me back when suddenly someone scooped me off the ground. I looked up and saw Silas, his expression grim and miserable as he carried me to the truck.
“You aren’t walking over all this asphalt and loose gravel without shoes.” His voice was all grit, holding just a thread of fear. His arms were so familiar and yet they weren’t because he’d opened them and let me go.
“Are you coming back with us?” I didn’t want to ask it for fear of his answer, but it would drive me crazy not knowing the whole way back.
Once we got to the truck, he set me in the back seat, letting his hands linger on my waist.
“I’ll be right behind you.”
With the click of the door, I watched through the glass as he stayed put, watching me.
I wanted to scream that I wanted him beside me, not behind me but I was too tired.
Emotions cracked and bruised my insides, forcing me into a tiny ball on the seat.
I felt Penelope crawl in on the other side and her soothing voice tell me it was okay.
My hair was moved from my face, but all I felt were the tears still streaming down my face.