Chapter 15
Storm
“You know if she was in there, she’s dead now. We lit that place up,” the asshole tells me as he shoves his finger into the hole in my leg. I scream from the pain as he laughs in my face. If they did set her house on fire, I didn’t see them do it. Not that I could have with that hood over my head.
“You’re all dead,” I hiss. He laughs and goes about his torture. He pours salt into every fucking wound I have, and I scream every single time. After a while, though, I passed out.
When I do wake up, I’m covered in sweat and alone in the dark, my wrist chained to a pole. I don’t know where the fuck I am, but I know I’m in a basement.
My mind doesn’t focus on the here and now.
It focuses on Kenzee. If they did set her house on fire, did the guys make it there in time?
Did they get to her before it burned? I can’t imagine her being locked in that chest and burning alive.
I know these assholes didn’t find her. I heard them bitching about it, too.
They wanted her, and I have no doubts that they will go after her again if she’s alive.
If she isn’t, the only thing comforting me is that she’s with her dad, and now he’s holding her in his arms just like when she was a kid.
I let my mind drift to places it shouldn’t.
Places that could never be. Like Kenzee and me in the future, if there ever was one for us.
Maybe that’s just wishful thinking. I doubt that there would be a future for us.
This life isn’t for her. When she said she didn’t want a man in the club life, she was right.
She doesn’t need this shit. She doesn’t need this fear in life every day.
She doesn’t need the worry of what might happen.
I shake my head as sweat drips down my temples.
The heat down here is ridiculous. The assholes haven’t said what the fuck they want, but I know who they are.
It was the same asshole that I pulled the gun on when Kenzee beat his old lady’s ass.
I know what this is about, but I wonder if they know just how deep this runs.
I’m guessing not. Or maybe they do. Who the fuck really knows at this point?
I hear boots hitting the stairs, and I shove myself up to sit against the wall as I watch one of them coming down. He walks over with a knife in his hand and an apple in the other. He carves off a piece and places it in his mouth before squatting in front of me.
“So, you came after one of my guys.”
“You know why, too.” He nods his head.
“Old drama, yeah? You know, when we killed Ethan, it was because he was in our business. He stepped out of line one too many times for my likin’. He had to be dealt with.”
“What did he do?”
“You were just a kid back then, yeah? You don’t remember much of what happened. Let me enlighten you. Your boy Ethan was playin’ both sides of the field. He was a patched member of the Soulless Bastards, but he was workin’ for us.”
“No fuckin’ way. He wouldn’t do that.”
“Wouldn’t he? You know who that girl's mother is?”
“What girl?” he laughs.
“Let’s not play stupid, Storm. Your little piece of ass. You know who her mother is?” I shake my head. I don’t know. From what I was told, her mom left her when she was born.
“She left her.”
“Not by choice. She was one of us. Seems Ethan was dippin’ his cock in everything he could includin’ my old lady.” Fuck. What if what he’s saying is true? What if this isn’t a lie?
“So what? Couldn’t keep your old lady satisfied?” I smirk at him before his knife comes to my cheek. I feel the burn as he drags it along my flesh. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from making a sound as he slashes me.
“You’re a real smartass for someone in your position.”
“So you what? Killed Ethan because he stole her from you? Couldn’t you just find a new one?” I snap at him.
“I could have. Didn’t want to. Now she’s as dead as Ethan. May they rot in hell together.” Fuck. Her mom’s dead too.
“So what is it you want then? Huh? You took him out!” I roar this time. This bastard laughs in my face before standing to his feet.
“I want what was supposed to be mine, Storm. I want what was promised to me! I want my daughter!”
“She isn’t yours,” I remind him.
“She should have been. If that motherfucker wasn’t in the way, she would have been,” he growls.
“So you want someone else’s kid?” I laugh now. “That’s a little sad.”
“I want her kid. Not his. That baby should have been mine, and now that Cara is gone, well, I want that piece of her.”
“A little late for that, isn’t it? She’s an adult. Why the fuck didn’t you go after her sooner?” He paces the floor, not wanting to answer me, but I can see the look in his eyes. He’s going to.
“I’ll be honest with you since you’re not leavin’ here. I didn’t know about her. I knew there was a baby, but I didn’t know when or where until recently.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“No, it doesn’t, but this is the hand I was dealt, and now I’m gonna get my daughter back. You’re gonna help me.” Now I fucking laugh, and I laugh hard. There’s no way in fuck that I’m going to help him get Kenz. I’ll die first. As will the rest of the club.
“You’re crazy if you think that’s gonna happen.”
“I’ll kill her.” Now I laugh again.
“No, you won’t. You see, I went to prison with assholes like you.
You want somethin’ so much that you’re willin’ to threaten it but you won’t harm it.
That’s what she is. Somethin’ you want that badly.
But you should also know that I’ll fuckin’ die before I let you touch her.
” He laughs as he walks back and forth in front of me.
“I figured as much. But I’ll be honest, I don’t like the idea of you fuckin’ my daughter.”
“You’re fuckin’ delusional! She isn’t yours. She’s mine!” I roar louder this time. He doesn’t care, he just laughs.
“You can think that, and I’ll let you think that up until I have her here. Then she’s gonna watch me take your life the way Ethan took mine when he had her.”
“You’re crazy as fuck.”
“Comin’ from a man like you, I’ll take that as a compliment.” With that, he turns and walks off, heading back up the steps. I roar, I scream, and I tug at the fucking chain on my wrist. This can’t be happening. This isn’t right. Was Ethan playing us both?
Was he really like that? Really doing that? I can’t remember ever thinking anything about him back then, but I was just a kid. The others wouldn’t have gone for it, though. None of them would have let that fly. There’s no way. No fucking way that they knew about this shit.
I lean my head back against the wall and take a few deep breaths. I need to figure out a way to get out of here. I need to get out and go to her. I need to make sure she’s safe. I need to warn the guys.
This is a complete fucking mess, and as far as I can see, there’s no fucking way out of this.
I glance around, taking in my surroundings and trying to get a lay of the basement.
I wonder what’s upstairs. I wonder if this is their clubhouse or what the fuck it is.
Either way, I need to find a way out of here.
He wants my help to get Kenzee, and I probably could have used that to my advantage if I hadn’t opened my fucking mouth the way I did.
I could have played it off like she didn’t mean shit to me when in reality, she means everything to me.
I don’t know how all that happened in such a short amount of time, but it did. I also know that she doesn’t deserve this life, and if I get the fuck out of here alive, I’m going to make sure she doesn’t have to live it either.
There’s only one set of steps that lead upstairs, but the rest of this basement is basically useless shit. Some mismatched furniture is thrown around, a table across the room. I sigh knowing there isn’t much of anything that’s going to be of use to me down here.
I close my eyes and rest my head against the wall, trying to come up with anything at all, but I keep coming up blank.
This is fucked up. I can’t stay here. I can’t keep sitting here knowing that she might be out there, and there’s no way for me to get to her, and these bastards are looking for her.
Cracking my neck from side to side, I sigh, knowing that this might be it for me. This place might just be the end of me. I’m going to die in a fucking basement.
“Such fuckin’ bullshit,” I mumble to myself when the basement door opens, and someone else comes down. This time it’s a girl. A younger girl carrying a plate of food and a bottle of water. She walks over and sets it all down on the floor in front of me.
“Hey,” I say. She looks at me, but turns, ready to walk away without saying a word. “Listen, I know you don’t wanna be here. I can help you.”
Slowly, she turns to face me, and I can see the pain in her eyes. Fuck, I was right. She doesn’t want to be here.
“You can’t. They killed my family.”
“I can. You just have to help me out here,” I tell her, raising my arm with the chain attached.
“I can’t do that.”
“Yeah, you can. I can help you,” I tell her once more. She glances over her shoulder at the steps before looking back at me.
“You’re not the first one that has said that,” she says softly.
“What’s your name?”
“Jenny.”
“Jenny, I’m Storm. If you can help me, I’ll help you. I promise. You have to trust me. If you can get me out of this,” I say, raising the chain once more. “I can get us out of here.”
“He has the key. There’s no way I can get it.”
“What about makin’ a call? Can you do that?” She shrugs her shoulders, and I sigh. “Just one call, Jenny. My guys will come, and we’ll get you out of here.”
“Will I have to be what I am here?” She asks, tears falling down her cheeks now.
“I don’t know what you are here.”
“I’m nothing here. Just someone that is beaten and used,” she says, covering her mouth quickly when a sob nearly escapes. I shake my head.
“No. You won’t have to be what you are here. I promise. I just need you to make that call.”
She looks over her shoulder once more at the steps before slowly dragging her gaze back to mine.
“I don’t know if I can.”
“You can, Jenny. You can do this,” I tell her.
I rattle off Patch’s number before she turns and heads back up the steps.
As soon as she’s at the top, I hear someone yelling at her.
Asking her what took her so long. Then I can only assume that it was her body hitting the wall.
I cringe internally knowing that it was my fucking fault.
I shouldn’t have kept her down here that long. I shouldn’t have kept talking. I could have waited a little while longer. Fuck me! I should have waited.
I bang my head against the wall, pissed at myself for whatever is happening to her up there right now.
Then I become even more worried when all I hear is silence.