Chapter 19
NINETEEN
brOOKLYN
I tried to steady my heart as I stood a few feet from my door. I could hear Pike and Viper joking outside while continuing to bang on the door.
“Just a minute!” I called out, because I knew I needed more time before I could face them. I also wanted to give Gunner as much time to get away as possible.
“You don’t have to put on your makeup, sweetheart, it’s just us,” I heard Pike say, and Viper joined him in his laughter. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck standing up. My teeth were on edge. I was disgusted with them.
Now that I had met Gunner, I had seen the other side. I was reminded again of how I should have been treated. No matter what kind of support I thought they were giving me since Luke’s death, they had no right to treat me like I was their property.
I cleared my throat and took in a deep breath before placing my hand on the doorknob.
With one swift pull, I opened the door and saw that it was only Viper and Pike outside.
I’d pasted a forced smile on my face in the meantime, and I stared at them, trying as hard as I could to convince them that nothing was wrong.
All I had to focus on was getting them out of my building as quickly as possible and then finding my way to Gunner immediately after.
Wherever he’d gone, I knew he’d be waiting for me. He was the only person I could trust now.
Viper pushed past me into the apartment and Pike followed, smiling at me indulgently as they looked around.
“What took you so long?” Viper turned to me. Whatever bit of humor he was sharing with Pike was now gone. Once he’d seen me again, he was back to being the rigid asshole that he always was.
“I was sleeping. I didn’t hear you knocking,” I said with a nervous smile. Viper narrowed his eyes at me.
“We’ve been banging on your door for the past ten minutes, sugar,” he said as he came up close to me. Pike was hanging about in the back, tracing his fingers over my furniture in the creepiest way possible. I knew I needed to spend as little time alone with these two bastards as possible.
“Yeah, well I’m hungover,” I said. Viper looked over my face and my body then his eyes zoned in at the spot between my legs.
“You sure look it,” Pike said with a laugh behind us, and I tried not to show how enraged I was.
“What do you want?” I asked Viper, trying to not grit my teeth. He was still watching me, undressing me with his eyes, a different kind of naked I felt under his stare. Unlike with Gunner, my skin was crawling, like I wanted to hide.
“Nothing much, sugar,” Viper said, stepping closer to me now. I stepped back, but he grabbed my waist and pulled me to him. Pike only laughed in the background as my hands went cold.
“Look, Viper, if this is about last night…I’m very sorry.
I was drunk, and I didn’t know what I was doing,” I said, and to my surprise, he only smiled.
I couldn’t help but look at his slowly yellowing teeth with how close his face was to me.
He might have appeared to be decent looking some time ago, but these days, I couldn’t stand the sight of him. He was making me sick.
“You’re sorry, huh?” he said, his voice slithering over my skin.
“Just how sorry are you, sugar? You know you’ve been getting a little naughty these days.
Who’s been teaching you to be a bitch, huh?
What would your precious brother have to say about that?
” Viper continued. My legs felt weak, but I didn’t struggle.
I knew there was no point trying to wriggle out of his grasp. He was much stronger than me.
“I can bet money that he would tell her to suck your dick…you know, just as an apology,” Pike said with laughter in his voice as my blood ran cold.
“Yeah, that’s right, I agree,” Viper said, smiling at me.
And that was when we heard the shots being fired. Viper’s grip on my waist weakened, but he didn't let me go. I screeched in horror and watched as Pike went running to the window.
“What’s that motherfucker doing here?” Pike yelled as Viper dragged me to the window to look.
“What is it? Who is it?” Viper asked while I let out another yelp. He had caught me by the back of my head and it hurt with every pull.
“It’s that new BD recruit. What’s he doing here?
” Pike said. The two of them were looking out of the window while Viper kept a firm grip on me on his side.
Viper strained his neck to look then we heard more gunshots.
I wanted to scream out Gunner’s name. They had killed him!
He was dead! I didn’t know there were more of them downstairs.
I’d assumed Viper and Pike had come here alone.
The tears were gushing down my cheeks, and I couldn’t stop them anymore.
“He was in here. I saw him jump off the fire escape,” Pike said, and they both turned to me at the same time. I could see the rage in Viper’s bloodshot eyes.
“No! I can explain…” I screamed, and the last thing I remember was seeing Viper’s fist coming towards me.
It seemed to happen in slow motion. Their voices drowned out, replaced by white garbled noise.
I felt a sharp jab on the side of my head then I felt like I was falling. After that, there was only darkness.
When I woke up, I felt like I’d been sleeping, except for the throbbing at the back of my head, which was a sharper pain than when I felt hungover.
I blinked my eyes open and realized that wherever I was, it was dark.
It could have still been morning for all I knew, but there wasn’t a ray of light entering the room.
My vision took a few minutes to adjust to the dark, but I could sense that I was sitting up with my back pressed to a cold wall. I lifted my hands to my head and thankfully couldn’t feel any blood, fresh or dried, but that throbbing ache was still there.
I heard someone sniff so I looked around me. I wasn’t alone. There were a handful of other girls all sitting against the wall in the small dark room. Some had their eyes closed, some looked like they’d been crying and two of them seemed casual…like this was normal for them.
In a panic, I tried to sit up, but it had a dizzying effect on me. I fell back down to the floor. One of the girls who had her eyes closed, opened them and looked at me before giving me a lopsided smile. She found it amusing!
“What’s going on? Where are we?” I got the words out, but I didn’t even recognize my voice. It sounded like someone else’s. I could feel my mind swaying, and I was afraid that I had a concussion.
“In the warehouse,” said the girl who smiled when I fell back down.
“Which warehouse? Who brought me here?” I asked in the same broken unrecognizable voice. The girl exchanged looks with another one, and they both looked at me blankly without replying.
“Who are you?” I asked her, and she smiled at me again.
“They call me Candy,” she said.
“Who calls you Candy? What’s your real name?” I asked, feeling a sob rising in my chest.
“I don’t remember anymore,” the girl said. Then I noticed the bruises on her arms.
I looked from her to the other girls and realized that they were all dressed in the same way. Short skirts and dresses, fishnets, high heels, tons of makeup and messy bleached hair. They were wearing a lot of jewelry, but it looked cheap. I gulped, realizing that my throat had run dry.
The room was becoming clearer to me now, and I could hear drops of water dripping from the ceiling.
There was a musty smell coming from somewhere.
I tried to think hard. The last thing I could remember was being in my apartment.
Gunshots being fired. Pike talking about Gunner.
Viper hitting me. Gunner was…was he shot?
Was he dead? A cry escaped my lips, and I tried to get up again.
“Where do you think you’re going to go?” the girl said as I stood up unsteadily on my feet. I couldn’t even feel my legs. How long had I been here?
“I need to get out of here. There’s been some mistake,” I cried, beginning to walk while using the wall as support.
“There are no mistakes here,” another girl said. I turned to her and saw the deadpan blank look in her eyes. She was one of the girls who looked casual earlier, like she had resigned to her fate and wasn’t interested in putting up a fight.
“Who did this? Who brought me here?” I asked, and the girl rolled her eyes and looked away from me.
“Was it Viper? Pike?” I screamed at them. But none of them reacted. It was almost like they were feeling sorry for me…for being stupid.
“We have to get out of this place,” I said and finally found the door in the dark.
I turned the knob and pulled, but the door was made of solid steel, bolted shut.
It didn’t even budge. I tugged at the handle and pulled again, and again there was no movement.
I screamed and felt the tears rolling down my eyes.
“Just sit back down. There’s no point. You’re only wasting your energy,” Candy said, and I whipped around to her.
“There’s been some mistake. I’m Luke Jenson’s sister!” I screamed. But it was useless; she clearly didn’t know whom I was talking about.
“Listen, we don’t know who you are, but there’s no point in screaming and crying.
You’re making a fool of yourself. They appreciate good behavior.
You should just sit back down and do what you’re told,” the other girl said, but my tears didn’t stop flowing.
There had to be some mistake. If it was Viper and Pike who did this to me, I could put a stop to it.
The Dragon Knights were like family to me.
They would never do this to a Jenson! This was just some kind of cruel punishment for the slap…
for having a Bad Disciples member in my apartment.
I whipped around from them and tried getting the door open again.
“Viper! Pike!” I screamed, banging on the metal door.