Chapter Seven
Cassie just sat there. She didn’t break down and cry because she wouldn’t let them see her break.
She was used to not showing any emotions.
She’d grown up that way. But she did turn her mind back in time.
Something she swore she would never do again.
Her past was too painful to look at, to remember.
She had hated that time in her life and when she married Deke she swore she would never go hungry again, never think about that damn basement, she would never be tied up and left on her own ever again.
Now she looked around at the warehouse.
She also knew her only way out of here was not to lose her shit and depend on someone else finding her. She looked out the nearest window and saw that there were shadows out there. And in her mind Shadows only meant one thing, someone else was outside.
But was that someone part of the Screaming Falcons or someone worse? Yes, she saw Rodney’s cut and the name of this MC. She never heard of them but she felt that they were going to be famous soon. Dead but famous.
Only what if they decided to just kill her and hide her body? They might so no one would find out who took her. She had to consider the desperation they might be feeling now.
She’d seen how a couple of the older men had looked. Upset and panicked. It was apparent that they were not on board with what this Rodney guy was all about. Then the leader here just floored him.
So who could she trust here?
With the fearful thought that she may never see her children again, Cassie could feel her demons coming awake and she didn’t want them to fully awaken.
That hadn’t happened in years. Not since the day she’d met Sam Tory himself.
He had taken her when Deke had refused to meet with him, after he arrived in Troy.
The memory came right up on her despite fighting it off.
It happened years ago when she carried twins...
Cassie groaned as she woke up. She tried to lift her hands but she couldn’t. Opening her eyes, she saw the concrete walls around her and she began to panic.
“Hey, settle down,” Sam ordered. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
Cassie scooted back on the bed as far as she could go but it wasn’t far enough. Her belly got in the way and she brought her hands up to protect herself. “What the fuck do you want?”
Sam leaned forward. “I wanted to get to know you better.”
Cassie sneered. “Go to hell, you bastard.”
Sam frowned. “You aren’t exactly in the position to talk trash to me girl.”
Cassie twisted and tried to loosen her hands but the rope got tighter and the bite began to burn her skin.
“What did you do to me?” She moaned. “Where am I?” She glanced around the room in panic.
Sweat beaded her forehead and she was terrified.
She tried to pull her wrists apart but the ropes wouldn’t give.
Sweat rolled down on her forehead and the side of her face.
Sam frowned as he watched her struggle. He turned and grimaced at his men. Turning back to Cassie he said, “I’m not going to hurt you, so stop struggling.”
By this time, Cassie couldn’t hear his soft-spoken words. The inability to get herself free along with the concrete walls around her had plunged her deep into her worst nightmares. She began throwing herself back against the wall behind the bed.
Sam got to his feet and motioned for Sabbath. “Cut the goddamn ropes before she hurts herself!”
Sabbath came towards the bed and flipped his knife open.
Cassie saw nothing but the knife coming for her.
“No!” she screamed and brought her hands up to protect her belly.
She hit the knife and sent it flying, cutting her arm in the process.
She didn’t seem to notice the blood running down her arm as she curled herself up in the corner of the bed.
She feared for her babies and that fear took over.
“What the fuck is she doing?” Sam asked his men.
Sabbath reached for the knife again and tried to get close enough to cut the ropes on her wrists. She screamed again and tried to kick out at him. This time, the knife came down on her side.
She screamed again and Sabbath backed away. He turned to Sam and said, “I’m not going near her again. She’s crazy.”
“She isn’t crazy, she’s scared to death, you fucking dummy!” Raine told him. He stepped forward and knelt at the side of the bed. “Honey, please stop. I don’t want you to hurt yourself any more than you already have.” His voice was low and quiet.
“He was gonna hurt my babies,” Cassie whimpered.
“No, he wasn’t,” Raine told her. “He was going to cut the ropes on your wrists, so you could get free.”
Cassie looked down at her wrists. The skin around the ropes was raw and bleeding. The rope was so tight her hands were turning blue. “I can’t feel my hands. Why can’t I feel my hands?” She then snapped and everything went to hell.
Now here in the present, tied to a chair, Cassie shook her head as if to shake off the darkness.
She could feel Rufus inside her roaring as if he were willing to accompany her to the safe place but Cassie reached deep down inside her soul to grab something that wouldn’t take her back to that time in her life.
She barely made it from her safe place back then and she hadn’t needed to be rescued in such a long time.
She sure as hell didn’t want to go back now.
She knew she had to remain strong for Deke, for her kids, for the life she had barely begun living.
She reached inside to find one of the best memories of her life, she pulled at it to come and take the darkness away.
Think of Deke... remember when he had surprised you... with joy...
––––––––
Her head rose up as the bathroom door opened. She turned to look. Gasping, her hands came up to cover her mouth.
Out stepped Deke in an actual Tux. Well, it was a more casual one if a tux could be that.
Cassie stared and stared. If she thought the man looked yummy in just jeans and those tight t-shirts...THIS? She couldn’t even swallow.
Deke nodded at her. “What do you think?”
Cassie could only keep nodding and nodding as her throat seemed to swell shut.
Deke cocked his head. “What? Do I look ridiculous?”
Cassie released a long breath. “Hell no! Oh, my God, Deke. Now all I wanna do is take it off of you!”
Deke tilted his head at this. “Ok. I’ll take that as a yes, you do like it?”
Cassie started to laugh. “You are beautiful Deke Tory.”
He furrowed his brow. “Now you are just being plain mean.”
She kept laughing.
He grinned. “But I love hearing that laugh. I swear to God, I would wear a fucking bunny outfit just to hear it again.” He walked over and took her arm.
“And no one could be beautiful while standing next to you. You were right though. I just wanna rip that fucking dress right off that delicious little body of yours.”
They both laughed now.
Leading her out and down the hall, Cassie could hear people and other sounds and as they got closer, she could smell the food too. She stopped just before the double doors.
“What?” Deke asked.
She looked up at him. “How had Reva pulled off making all that food I smell?”
He shrugged. “Well, she didn’t. I had it all catered. It’s about time the woman got a break, don’t you think?”
Cassie shook her head at this, but she had thought the same thing herself many times But catered? Jesus that must have cost a small fortune.
He turned her to the double doors and opened them.
Cassie peeked in.
The room was simply unrecognizable.
It literally glittered.
The kids were all dressed in their finest. Jingle Bells was playing in the background.
The tree glimmered over in the corner like a batch of sparkling stars had been poured all over it.
That would be the beautiful ornaments that Phoenix had made by hand.
There were so many presents they didn’t all fit as they stretched out for at least four feet all around the base of the tree.
Cassie gasped and stood very still as her gaze swung all around.
The Morgans were all here and the Moores. Their kids were dotted all over the room.
Black Jack and Molly Moore waved at her.
She nodded and tried to smile but her disbelief suspended that as she spotted a Santa Claus or who she thought was one. It was Amos and he had some of the kids from Redemption House all lined up to sit on his lap.
The other men from the House all wore elf’s outfits.
She let out a giggle at this. That old man had even talked them into elves costumes? Then Cassie looked up.
Mistletoe and candy canes hung high above them, all along the beams of the ceiling. Strings of star lights hung there too.
Cassie turned and saw the massive three tables full of food.
She gulped and her body swayed.
Deke stepped up and grabbed her. “Easy there babe.”
She did not believe her eyes, nor her senses. This all had to be a dream she had once... long ago. She kept blinking her eyes.
The whole room looked and sounded like some Disney movie.
Deke leaned forward and whispered into her ear with that deep, sexy voice of his, “Merry Christmas, Cassie Tory.”