Chapter 16
Nora
The van stops and a few seconds later the driver turns the engine off. We’ve reached our destination, but I have no idea what kind of place this is. I don’t recognize the landscape or the building. Stripe and my brother look pleased with themselves, which doesn’t bode well for me.
They zip-tied my wrists in front of me. Although the skin around the straps is getting rubbed raw, at least my fingers aren’t going numb.
My shoulder hurts from Brave’s rough handling.
The thing that keeps circling in my head is the little pinch of pain in my stomach.
I worry about what that means. I just need to keep my wits about me, since I’m thinking for two now.
The van door slides back. Cold air swoops in, chilling me. A flood light blinds me, but I recognize the familiar voice of the man who comes to greet us.
“Welcome home, Nora. Get out of the fuckin’ van.
Now.” My father’s voice is sharp and irritated.
I scramble to do as he says because I fear him more than Stripe.
My father is the known variable. I know he’ll backhand me if I don’t move fast enough, speak up when he talks to me or piss him off.
Stripe is an unknown variable, in that I don’t know him well enough to predict his behavior.
I stumble out of the van and fall back against the sliding door. When my father reaches for me, Spark steps up. “I got this, Pa. You’ve got better things to do with your time than worry about our lost little club princess.”
He takes me firmly by the arm and walks me across the storage yard of derelict, junked vehicles.
To the untrained eye, it looks a lot like a salvage yard, but I know better.
There are rows of cars and trucks of every make and model imaginable.
Some even look new. That’s because they’re all stolen.
This must be part of their chop business.
When I shiver, Spark curses under his breath. He slides off his jacket and drapes it over my shoulders. I hold up my zip-tied hands. “Can you remove these, please?”
“If I did, you’d just try to escape. I’d have to run you down and punish you in front of everyone, in order to save face. So, no. I don’t think that would be a very fuckin’ good idea for you or for me.”
“Why are you so angry?” I ask, even though I have a pretty good idea what the answer is.
“Why do you fuckin’ think I’m angry? I asked you to come home. I sent you that little warning so you would know we could get to you if you didn’t. And you made us force the issue anyway. It was a huge waste of time and resources.”
Bringing my hands back down, I respond tersely, “Sorry to be a bother, I know how busy you all are now that you’re in good with the cartel.”
He glances ahead to see our old man and Stripe walk into the building. Then he hisses, “Shut the fuck up about club business. I swear to fuckin’ God, Nora. Sometimes I don’t think you have any instinct for self-preservation at all.”
“I don’t want this life Dad’s forcing on me,” I tell him, lowering my voice.
He gestures around the lot in frustration. “You think I do? How about Brave? Do you think he enjoys being the big scary thing our old man throws at every problem?”
I just glare at him. Our brother has always been an asshole.
“Yeah, you might be right about that actually. But look, Sis, none of us had a choice about being born into this life. We either adapt or die. Hell, maybe Brave is the fuckin’ smart one, instead of me. At least he adapted to reality, unlike you and me.”
“Don’t lie,” I tell him. “You’re the golden child, Dad’s right-hand man, and the brains behind most of his really good ideas.”
“About that. Believe it or not, my damn dream in life wasn’t to hook up with the cartel and operate a chop shop using stolen merch.”
I stop my slow walk towards the door and ask, “What was it that you wanted to do with your life, Spark?”
“What does it fuckin’ matter? What matters is keeping our family alive, making sure you don’t end up with twenty fuckin’ lashes from a whip for running off to ride Rager dick. What the hell were you thinking, Sis?”
“I wanted out and he was the first bike that came along.”
“Now who’s lying? I saw the drone footage of you kissing that Rager, lookin’ all happy and content.”
Anxiety swirls in my gut because if Stripe or our old man sees that, my life is going to get exponentially more complicated.
As if intuiting my worry, Spark explains, “Don’t worry, Sis. I deleted that shit before anyone could see it.”
Swallowing thickly, I fight through my emotions to tell him, “Thanks, Spark. I appreciate that you thought to do that.”
Spark presses his hand to his chest and looks at me earnestly, “I’m not your enemy. You do know that, right?”
“You’re wrong about that. Stripe bought me. Money exchanged hands. From where I’m standing, you’re helping them traffic me. You can fancy it up all you want but those are the facts.”
He looks away, staring blankly into the distance. “I know I always sound like I’m supporting Pa’s choices, but I begged him not to sell you to Stripe. He wouldn’t listen and said it was the only way to move the club forward.”
“He sees women as expendable,” I say, my voice sounding broken.
“There’s no way out for any of us, Nora. I tried everything I could think of. Nothing worked.”
“You overlooked the obvious, though.”
I can tell he knows what I’m referring to because he gets a wary look on his face and his lips press into a firm line.
“I’m not gonna challenge our old man for leadership of the club, Nora. That’s crazy talk.”
“Yeah, but he’s going to get us all killed if he keeps going like he is. You know that and I know it as well.”
My father’s gruff voice yells from the building, “Spark, get your ass in here. We’ve got shit to deal with.”
He rushes me inside. I realize that although it doesn’t look like one from the outside, it’s a warehouse, or rather they’re using it as one.
There are wall-to-wall steel shelves stacked with crates of God only knows what.
Some of the boxes have Spanish on them. They’ve got one of their long workbenches with drone parts laid out down both sides.
Both the Hyenas and the Sons love their damn drones.
It’s the one and only thing they have in common that I can see.
I guess MCs are adapting to the modern age.
My father levels one of his disapproving stares at me as we approach. “Brave tells me that you fought him when he rescued you.”
My eyes flash to Brave. He’s sitting there with a proud expression on his face. He’s acting like a man who proved his worth tonight. He smirks at me, “I said she tried to fight me off.”
“Hey, Brave,” I say, bringing my bound hands up to push a strand of hair back out of my face. “You’ve got blood on your collar. Did I do that?”
His eyes narrow on me, because we both know I clawed him hard enough to draw blood. It wounds his ego that now the other brothers know.
My father’s eyes drop to Jinx’s property cut. “Those Ragers must have taken a real shine to you if one of them put you in his property cut.”
Spark interjects, “I already mentioned that her little episode of playin’ biker princess with the Ragers was a stupid thing to do. Runnin’ off like a brat was a waste of our club’s time and resources.”
“Spark is right, Nora. You shouldn’t have run,” my father says, clearly disappointed with his only daughter. “I told you we were coming for you.”
“Because I didn’t want to marry Stripe.”
My father shoots Stripe a meaningful glance before saying sternly, “Stripe is a righteous brother. I’ve already made the arrangements. You’re gonna be his wife, and I don’t wanna hear any more nonsense about the Ragers. They’ll be dealt with soon enough anyway.”
During this whole conversation, Stripe doesn’t speak to me.
He just sits there while my family tears me down and forces me into being with him.
Finally, he stands up and walks over to me.
His expression is unreadable as he reaches out and peels Jinx’s property cut back and off my shoulders.
I force myself to stand perfectly still as he drags it down my arms, until it’s hanging off my still bound hands.
Then he takes out his knife and slices through the cut, rather than the zip ties.
Pulling it away, he tosses it carelessly aside.
“Won’t be needing this,” he says.
“You’ve put on some weight,” he comments.
“Your daddy thought you’d pitch a fit. I told him you’re smart, and smart girls settle.
” He looks down at me. “We’ll be married by Sunday, you and me.
You’d best get used to that idea because nobody is coming to save you.
Those fuckin’ Ragers are in complete disarray.
Plus, they don’t even know this site exists. No one does.”
“You’re forcing me,” I point out.
He chuckles, “Yeah, of course I am. No pretty little club princess in her right mind would hitch her apple cart to mine, if she had a choice. I plan to win you over after the fact.”
When his gaze drops, I realize where my bound hands have drifted.
The same place they’ve been drifting a lot lately, particularly when I’m anxious.
He stares at my hands resting flat against my stomach, silently protecting the innocent baby growing there.
After a long moment, his eyes lift to mine.
“It doesn’t matter who plants the seed, only who nurtures it. ”
My blood runs cold when he steps back and every pair of eyes in the room is drilling into me. They know the thing I wanted to keep secret. I stand there struggling to keep from having a panic attack. It seems as though nothing will keep Stripe from wanting me, claiming me, and forcing me to be his.
My father sounds disgusted when he speaks. “Brave, take her upstairs to get some rest. Cut the zip ties and make sure the doors and windows are locked down tight. We don’t have time to go chasing after her again.”
Brave nudges me along from behind. “You heard him. Get a move on.”
He takes me to a room upstairs. When he opens the door, I realize that it’s not a bedroom. It’s more like a big empty room with a long sofa and a table with snacks and water on it. He gives me a hard push over the threshold before taking out his pocketknife and cutting the zip ties.
“Sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up. You’ve caused us enough trouble.”
Rubbing the red skin of one wrist, I know exactly how to get even with my cruel brother. “The Hyenas did well tonight,” I tell him casually. “The plan was great. Spark’s plan, I mean. The fire, the smoke, and the timing were pure genius. Dad must be proud of him.”
Brave goes still. “What do you mean by saying it was Spark’s plan?”
“Wasn’t it? It was complicated and well-coordinated, just like all Spark’s plans.
His intelligence is why dad refers to him as a bright spark, right?
” I say innocently, pretending to be the dumb little sister who just doesn’t understand the biker world.
I continue twisting the knife. “You were the muscle, Brave. You’re always just the muscle. ”
“Time to shut that pretty little mouth of yours, sis. You don’t know what in ever-loving fuck you’re talking about.”
“Whatever you say,” I respond in a polite tone.
He slams the door closed and stomps back downstairs.
Within seconds I hear him and Spark arguing loudly.
A nice person would feel guilty about triggering a fight between the two of them.
Unfortunately, my family has rubbed the niceness right off me over the years.
In my mind, they fall squarely in the category of enemies at this point.
I go over and sit on the sofa, drawing my legs up underneath me.
That’s when I start to spiral. I wrap both arms protectively around my waist and sit there shaking with anxiety and fear for I don’t know how long.
I feel naked without Jinx’s property cut, like I’m missing the protection it extended to me.