Chapter 17
Ember
Both Tico and Daemon give me barely there nods and I take that as permission to proceed.
I release Sunny and before she can scramble away, I backhand her so hard she falls and lands on her ass on the floor.
She cries out in pain as her hand flies up to her split, bloody lip.
I straddle her and with one hand, I hold her hands above her head while the other hand tightens around her throat.
“I should fucking kill you right now, bitch,” I seethe.
“The information those assholes are spewing is wrong on so many fucking levels. Do you know what the Chrome Vipers do to women?” I ask her and her eyes widen in fear at the venom in my voice and she shakes her head.
“Women are mere possessions to them. They rape them. Beat them. Break them. Make them slaves. Sell them to sick fuckers who will do unspeakable things to them before killing them when they cease being useful. My sister and I ran when they reneged on an agreement to keep their hands off my sister because our dad was going to sell us both for his profit. And you just told those fuckers where to find us.”
Sunny’s face pales and tears form in her eyes. “I…I didn’t…I didn’t know…I swear,” she whimpers.
“You’re right. You didn’t know, because you didn’t ask.
You assumed you knew the type of person I was.
When you saw me with Tico and him declaring me as his, you decided to betray us to get me out of the way.
” I pause, squeezing her neck tighter for a moment before I ease up on the pressure. “Tico?”
“Sunny, you’re confined to your room until I say otherwise.
Meals will be delivered to you, but you’ll be under lock and key.
We’ll be having a long chat tomorrow after Church.
The only reason your ass isn’t being dealt with tonight is because of the fight.
” He pauses and I release Sunny’s throat before standing and yanking her up with me, gripping her arm hard.
For once, Sunny doesn’t fight me. “Daemeon, escort Sunny to her room. Have a Prospect stand guard. Church is at ten tomorrow morning.”
Sunny looks over at me as Daemon leads her across the room, her eyes are filled with guilt, but I don’t feel sorry for anything that bitch has coming to her.
Tico snakes an arm around my waist, pulling me into him. Looking up, I’m not entirely surprised to see his eyes filled with worry.
“Vicious…about your offer earlier…I need to know how far you’re willing to go otherwise I’ll need to call in mi hermana (my sister) to help with this.”
Placing a hand on his chest, I lean into him. “As far as needed, and yes, that includes the very end. Even if this doesn’t work out between us, the offer still stands because Daemon is my brother and the club is his family.”
His lips slam down on mine and I moan, leaning into him. Once again, cat calls ring out and we both break the kiss, chuckling.
“If it’s alright, I’m going to head upstairs to meditate and do my final prep.”
He squeezes my hip. “Yeah, Vicious, that’s fine. Let me know if you need anything.”
Three hours later, I click off the tablet and stretch out on Tico’s bed.
My body feels limber and loose. My mind feels clear, focused on tonight’s fight.
Well, as clear as it can be while worried about Sunny’s betrayal and that Dad, Uncle Ryan, and Scooter will show up.
Sighing, I try to push those thoughts to the back of my mind.
Tico told me that they had informed Banshee, her manager, and her trainer of the change but that he requested the information stay confidential until it was time to inform the bookies for the fights.
I hope tonight goes smoothly, but with those three, you never know what they’ll do. Especially when they feel threatened.
Standing, I walk over to the dresser. Tico had cleared out a couple of drawers so that I could store some of my stuff in them instead of living out of my bag. The rest of my stuff is taking up an embarrassingly small amount of space in his closet.
With a sigh, I pull out my best sports bra plus my favorite black shorts and cross the room to the bathroom.
Turning on the shower, I strip but then my gaze catches on the mirror.
My fingers trace the scar on my face. Then, my gaze lowers to the scar along my ribs.
Both came from the night I ‘betrayed’ Dad.
It was the day after Mom was buried. I was nine at the time and Pyper was two.
Dad drags me and Pyper to the clubhouse, but instead of going inside like usual, he takes us to a building nearby.
When he opens the door, my stomach sinks.
There are rows of bunk beds packed into the room and there are small dressers in between each bunk.
Pieces of conversations I’ve heard in the past suddenly click into place and I know exactly what this place is and what it’s for.
“This will be your fate eventually,” Dad sneers down at me and my stomach rolls in fear.
I glance around and notice that the women in here look like shells of themselves. Their eyes are vacant and they’re all thin. And I don’t mean a healthy thin, more like a ‘not enough food kind of thin’.
Dad rips Pyper out of my arms and shoves her towards a woman I later learn is named Theresa.
I move to go after Pyper but Dad grips my arm tightly before dragging me into another room.
A woman who is dressed in a thread bare dress is kneeling on the cement floor.
Her feet are bare, her hands are tucked in her lap, and her head is bowed.
A moment later, Uncle Ryan and Scooter come in behind us.
Throughout it all, the woman doesn’t lift her head or react to us entering.
It’s then that I notice there’s a chair bolted to the floor in the center of the room.
Dad shoves me toward it and I stumble, catching myself.
Uncle Ryan slaps me hard, dazing me long enough for him and Dad to each grab my arms and shove me into the chair before tying me to it.
Panic rises in me and I struggle against the ropes, trying to get free.
“Time to learn your place, you little brat. Your worthless mother isn’t around anymore to protect you. Jezabelle here will train you. You will listen to her and learn your place. There will be no more playing. No more friends. No more nothing.”
“B-But what about school?” I ask, trying to keep my voice from trembling. I don’t want any of this, but I don’t know how to get out of it.
Dad’s lip curls. “If we could get away with it, you’d be pulled out of that fucking school but that would bring unwanted attention from the pigs. If you say a fucking word about any of this to anyone, you’ll be in a grave next to your worthless mother.”
“But…I have a game coming up—”
Dad backhands me so hard I taste blood as I cry out.
“I don’t fucking care what that bitch signed you up for. There will be no soccer. No friends. No slumber or birthday parties. Nothing. You will go to school, come here, and you will listen to everything Jezabelle tells you to do.”
My stomach sinks. I know what Dad wants me to learn from her and I want none of that.
I had overheard Dad yelling at Mom one night not too long ago.
The women here are practically slaves. They cook, clean, and tend a homestead.
They get beaten if anything is done wrong.
Sometimes, they get beaten for no reason at all.
But the worst of it is that they can’t say no when one of the men wants to have sex with them.
I may be only nine but because of growing up around the club and my father, I’ve known about sex for years.
Just last week Mom had pulled me aside after Dad had stormed out of the trailer.
I think she knew something was going to happen soon, maybe even knew her days were limited, because she told me I had to be strong for Pyper.
That I had to protect her. Mom then warned me that if anything ever happened to her, I had to be careful around Dad and the club.
She said that the less I fought, the less pain there would be.
I didn’t know it then, but I do now. She wasn’t just talking about Dad’s beatings for doing something ‘wrong’.
She was also referring to this. The homestead and these women.
Panic claws at me. She must have known that if she ever died that this would be my fate.
That I’d end up like Jezabelle and the other women and girls in the other room.
“No! I don’t want to. You can’t make me!” I cry out as I struggle against the rope.
I feel the pain before I hear the smack. My cheeks throb as Dad slaps me again and again.
“This is going to be fun,” Uncle Ryan says as he chuckles. I look over at him only to realize he is actually excited. Why is he so excited?
“You will do as I say, bitch! I made you so I own you. I can do whatever the fuck I want with you. In fact, I think we need to teach you a little lesson. Ryan?”
Dad walks over to a cabinet and Uncle Ryan steps behind me. I turn, trying to see what Dad’s doing but Uncle Ryan grips my chin hard, forcing me to face forward. His other hand lands heavily on top of my head and holds my head still.
My body trembles when Dad and Scooter both approach, each of them carrying a knife.
“No, please, don’t,” I plead as tears roll down my cheeks.
Dad grins darkly down at me. “This is what happens when someone disobeys me.”
I cry out as the blade slices into my skin. Fire spreads throughout my face as he drags the blade lower, just narrowly missing my eye.
“This will teach you to think you’re actually worth something,” Scooter sneers as his blade sinks into my skin.
“You. Are. A. Nobody. You are the property of the Chrome Vipers MC. We can do whatever the fuck we want with you.” He pauses and leans in close.
“And I personally can’t wait until you’ve grown up. ”
He straightens and grabs his crotch through his jeans. Bile rises in my throat as I realize what he means. Uncle Ryan’s hands suddenly disappear from my face and I cry out again as pain blooms along my ribs. It’s only then that I see Uncle Ryan holding a knife that’s now dripping with my blood.
“It’s time you learn that I am the one in control, you little brat. You will listen to me or your next punishment will be even more severe,” Dad sneers in my face before he steps back. “Jezabelle, clean this up.”
I blink out of my thoughts to find the shower steaming and I step under the spray.
Jezabelle had cleaned and stitched me up that day. She couldn’t give me anything for the pain unfortunately since Stitch, the club medic, heavily monitors its use. He had looked sincere when he told Jezabelle that he was sorry, but my dad had ordered that I wasn’t to be given anything.
The next few days, I was allowed to stay home.
I think Dad realized he’d messed up by doing what they did.
I heard him muttering a few times that my scars would bring more questions.
When I finally did go back to school, I had to lie and say that I fell.
I don’t think they believed me, but after that, Duncan and his uncle Wrench tried to protect me as much as possible.
They were furious at what Dad, Uncle Ryan, and Scooter had done, but there wasn’t anything they could do about it.
I shake my head, trying to push the memories back. As I wash my hair and body, determination fills me.
If Dad, Uncle Ryan, or Scooter try anything, I will make them pay for everything they’ve done to us.
And taken away from us.