Chapter Twenty-Three
Dylan
I was surprised how difficult it had been to walk into that kitchen and face three of the women I used to know as sisters. Especially considering speaking to them had been my biggest motivator for the past year.
I guess it was partly the guilt.
The responsibility I felt for what they went through.
Even if I understood it wasn’t my fault.
I just hadn’t been there at the time.
And if I had, who was to say the same fate wouldn’t have been mine?
Aside from that, though, I think some part of me intrinsically knew that we weren’t the same women we’d been the last time we saw each other. Time and circumstance had changed us all in fundamental ways.
I was never going to feel ready to see those changes.
But I owed it to them to stop being so chickenshit.
So I sucked in a breath and stepped into the room.
It was somewhat like I remembered it: dark wood cabinets, ancient, peeling linoleum, tile countertops, and ancient appliances.
I remembered the day before I left, standing in that kitchen making coffee and talking to a few of the girls about all the changes we were finally going to make when I came back. A full gutting of the kitchen and bathrooms, paint for the walls, new appliances.
“We’re finally going to make this feel more like home.”
Except, just a few days later, our home would be stolen, occupied, and turned into a prison.
Diana stood near that same coffee machine, her arms wrapped around herself.
I’d seen her outside, of course. What had almost happened to her had switched on a rage inside me that made this whole massacre happen.
But I don’t think I really took her in.
She was skin and bones. Her elbows and knees were knobby and too prominent. Her cheekbones had hollowed out. And there were track marks in her arms.
I swallowed hard and forced my gaze over to the table to find the pixie-cut blonde Saint had mentioned.
It was Megan. And when I’d seen her last, her hair had been her pride and joy, falling down in gorgeous white-blonde waves to her waist. She was obsessed with it.
There was no way she’d cut it willingly.
Sitting beside her was Emma, who’d always had different colored hair, tattoos, and piercings.
Except there were no piercings anymore.
And there was a scar running down her earlobe.
Where someone had pulled her earring forcibly out.
A shiver worked down my spine at the idea.
“Dylan,” Emma chirped, tears flooding her eyes.
“Hey, guys,” I said, surprised by the rush of tears in my own eyes.
For once, I didn’t blink them away.
I let them flow down my cheeks.
Because if there was ever a time to cry, it was right then.
“I’m so sorry,” I choked. “I… I kept trying. I promise. But he had the place locked up and… and…”
“And we told the cops we were here willingly,” Megan said, wiping a tear from her cheek.
“He got us hooked,” Diana said, unable to meet my eyes. “We didn’t even try to leave.” She sniffled hard. “The things we did for them…” Shame dripped from her words. Even though there was nothing she’d done to be ashamed of. Predatory men had kidnapped, drugged, and abused them.
“None of this is your fault,” I said, walking over to her. “It doesn’t matter what you did. You were just trying to survive,” I told her, sliding my arm around her.
“They’re dead, right?” Emma asked, a fierceness in her eyes that reminded me of the girl I’d always known.
“Yeah, they’re dead.”
“Good,” Emma said, her eyes hard. “I hope it hurt when it happened.”
“Well, I gouged out one of their eyes, so I can confirm that hurt,” I told them, getting a wicked smile out of Emma. “And judging by the blood covering everyone, there was a lot of pain.”
“Who are they?” Megan asked. “The guys. Syn and the others.”
“Well, I was stalking Roach one night,” I told them. “And these guys were doing a deal with him.”
“Drugs?” Megan asked.
“Guns,” I clarified. “It was going sideways, and one of Roach’s guys was going to shoot the tall, bearded guy. So I shot him. And… a partnership of sorts was formed. They wanted revenge for the attempted murder. I wanted revenge for what they did to you guys.”
“They’re bikers too?” Megan asked, likely thinking of the cut Syn had on.
“Yeah. But not the bad kind,” I explained. “Can I ask what happened with the other girls? I know they’re in the cities. But why—”
“Are we here?” Diana finished for me. “We’re the favorites,” she said with a cold smile. “We got to stay.”
“Do they ever come back?”
“No,” Megan said. “We wouldn’t even know they were still alive if we hadn’t overheard them talking about them.”
“Well, they’re not all alive,” Emma said, her eyes dark.
“Who?” I asked, my stomach dropping.
“Abby overdosed,” Megan supplied. “And we don’t know what happened with Kate. But she’s gone too.”
My heart cracked.
I was too late for them.
They’d never know I hadn’t given up on them, that I was trying to save them. They wouldn’t feel free again and have a chance to rebuild their lives.
“I helped them,” Diana said. “I helped them do all of this. Locked you out of your accounts. Helped forge documents…”
“You did what you had to do to survive.”
“What happens now?” Megan asked.
“Well, a lot of cleaning, it seems,” I said, glancing out of the kitchen at the blood on the walls.
“You’re not… starting up this club again, are you?” Emma asked, horrified.
The only reason I would have considered it would be if they wanted it. Because I’d known from the second I was dragged inside that it wasn’t, and never would be, home again. But if they needed that from me, for healing, I would have done it.
“I think this place should be left to rot,” I admitted. “A few years of good times we had doesn’t undo all the awfulness before and after.”
“What happens to us?” Megan asked.
“Um, well, I think… I think you guys might need to consider rehab. The others too, if we can talk them into it.”
“I never wanted this,” Diana said. “But after that first time, just one time, I couldn’t think of anything but the next high.”
“I know. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There is help. I’m sure it won’t be easy, but rehab and therapy will help. The guys, they have some friends—women—who have been through some really bad shit too. They’re coming to talk to you guys, discuss next steps.”
“What about the others?” Emma asked. “They need help. And they’re still being kept.”
“We’ll deal with the rest of the bikers. And we will do everything we can to get the other girls help.”
“What about after rehab?” Megan asked. “Our lives are over.”
“No. They’re not over. They’re… different now. But you can start again.”
“And do what?” Megan asked. “All we ever did was con men, then suck and fuck these bastards for our next hits.”
My gut twisted.
Bile rose up my throat.
But I had to stay calm, rational.
“That’s not who you are. Those are things you’ve done.
But I know you guys. I know you have a lot to offer.
Passions you may have pursued if we hadn’t been running the cons.
Diana wanted to be a yoga instructor. You were amazing at doing everyone’s hair.
And Emma is a crazy good artist. When you’re ready, I can help you turn those things into a future. ”
“What have you been doing?” Diana asked. “For work and just… doing?”
“I had some money that wasn’t stashed here.
I’ve been living on that. But I was… sick for a long time.
Then I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and I’ve been…
learning to manage that. It’s what took me so long after the initial tries to get the cops involved in getting these bastards out.
That was when I got sick. And everything… changed.”
“Are you okay?” Emma asked.
“God, I haven’t been through anything like what you guys have. I’m fine.”
“You, the control freak extraordinaire,” Megan said with a little twitch of her lips. “It couldn’t be easy not to be in control of your body anymore.”
“It wasn’t. But I should have… come sooner.”
“How? By yourself?” Emma asked. “We love you, and you’re a badass, but you didn’t stand a chance against all of them. You would have been dragged in here with us. Then we never would have gotten out.”
There was a lot of commotion going on outside the kitchen as the guys, I imagined, moved bodies.
“He seemed nice,” Emma said.
“Who? Syn?” I asked.
“Yeah. I mean, he’s young, but he was sweet. Kept holding up his hands like we were rabid dogs.”
“Kinda felt good not to be underestimated all the time,” Megan admitted.
“They’re good men. We’ve been coming every night to the woods to try to get information about these bastards.”
“I knew I saw cameras!” Diana said, looking at the girls like I told you so. “I thought Roach was getting suspicious that we were going to make a break for it or something.”
“That was us. We have been staying at a hotel and coming over at night. Once we had enough information, we were going to get reinforcements and come in. But then I saw Diana…”
“She flew at Wayne like a wolf pouncing on prey,” Diana told the others, a soft smile playing on her lips.
It was right then that I was sure she was going to be okay. Was it going to be a hard road? Was there going to be a fuckton of healing and therapy? Yeah. But she was going to be alright. I’d make sure of it. I’d make sure all of them would.
We talked for a few more minutes before I excused myself to ‘check in with the guys’ when what I really needed was a minute.
To think, sure.
But more so, to say something to Colter I’d been keeping to myself.
He’d been just as happy and, yes, relieved as I thought he would be, wrapping me up in his big arms and squeezing even though it hurt both of us.
“What do we do while we wait?” I asked. “Should we take the girls back to the hotel? It feels wrong to make them stay here.”
“We only have our three motorcycles,” he said.
“No, we don’t,” I said, smirking as I gestured toward the driveway where all the club bikes sat. Never to be ridden by their owners again.
“Can the girls—”