Chapter 37
Ember
It’s been three days since I’ve been here and while someone has come each day and each night to take Lena out of the room for a few hours, no one has touched me.
They’ve spewed insults and sick promises of what they want to do to me, sure, but they haven’t touched me.
Each time Lena comes back from a ‘session’ as they call it, there’s less light in her eyes and more of her soul seems broken.
Besides Lena, the only things that have kept me sane is working out periodically and knowing that Tico will come for me. However, that hope is dwindling fast.
Today’s the day that The Collector is coming for me.
I flick the empty plastic bottle in the air, catching it, and repeating the action as I sit on my cot and lean against the bars.
The thud of multiple boots coming down the hall has my body tensing and then I force myself to relax. A moment later, the heavy metal door opens and Stitch, the club’s Medic steps in along with Tread, one of their Prospects.
“Time to get up, girlie,” Stitch sneers at me. “It’s time to make sure you’re in peak condition for your buyer.”
I continue flipping the bottle in the air, not looking at him. “Well, I can answer that for you easily. I have been touched so you can tell The Collector that I am no longer a virgin. I gave that gift to my Ol’ Man the same night I was kidnapped..”
“Fuck,” Tread mutters as he shoots a panicked look at Stitch who silences it with a glare before turning back to me.
“You just made a fucking stupid mistake, girlie. You are Chrome Vipers property. Your virginity was not yours to give away.”
I hum. “Yeah, no, asshole,” I say as I catch the bottle and stand up, pointing at him. “It’s my body. Mine to choose what to do with it and I sure as hell am not submitting to any of you or the fucking Collector.”
Stitch smirks. “You think that cut will protect you? The Royal Bastards are pussies. They’re probably celebrating being free of your skanky ass.”
I return his smirk. “You stupid fucks kidnapped a President’s Ol’ Lady.
Even you should know you don’t mess with someone else’s Ol’ Lady, but especially a President’s Ol’ Lady.
Personally, I’m looking forward to when they hand you your asses.
And you know as well as I do that MC’s take matters like this into their own hands. ”
He takes a step forward and then stops, most likely realizing the hell he’d pay if he does force an exam on me. Doubt streaks across Stitch’s face for the first time, but I say nothing more on it.
Let them learn the truth when the club rains down hell on them.
Turning on my heel, I walk back to my bed, laying down and continue tossing the bottle in the air.
Stitch snarls and slams the door shut, locking it again. When the sound of their boots fade down the hallway, I hear Lena shifting in the dirt.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” she whispers and I sit up again.
“Maybe, but I also wasn’t going to make any of this easier on them. All I can do is try to delay things until the club comes.”
“You still think they’ll come? It’s been three days.”
Worry churns in my gut, but I push it down. I cross my cell and sit down next to the bars, leaning against the wall. A second later, she does the same. We started doing this whenever we wanted to talk quietly in the hopes that the camera’s wouldn’t be able to pick up our voices.
“I have to believe they’ll come. Tico and Daemon and the rest of the club won’t let me fall into The Collector’s hands.
They know what he’ll do to me if it does happen.
” I pause, looking in the direction where the clubhouse is.
“No, I think they got here the same day I did and have been watching and making a plan. They want to stop their operation and I’m betting it will happen after The Collector gets here.
They’ll want to cut off as many snake heads at once as they can. ”
Lena reaches through the bars and I clasp her hand.
“I hope you’re right.”
A few hours later, or at least it seems like a few hours since there’s no fucking clock or windows in here, the sound of multiple boots comes from the corridor.
Lena bolts upright in bed, her eyes wide with terror and then she scrambles into the darkest corner of her cell, curling herself up as tight and as small as she can.
I sit up in my cot, leaning my boot against the rail and draping an arm over my knee, feigning nonchalance.
The heavy lock disengages and the door is thrown wide open.
My stomach clenches when The Collector and The Shadow step through the door followed by Scooter, Rocco, several other club members, some unfamiliar faces that I’m assuming are Oasis members, and finally, Drone, my dad.
My gaze roams over his bruised face and body.
I’m not sure if they’re from when I pummeled his ass before leaving or if the club took out their aggression on him for me leaving.
The Collector steps up to my bars and my lip curls in disgust as his beady little eyes rake over my body. Behind him The Shadow watches me almost warily, but every now and then, his eyes soften when our gazes meet.
“So, you’re the bitch who thought she could run away from me.
I bought you. I own you. I am your Master.
I will be the first to claim you per my contract and you will learn to obey me,” he says as he pauses and a dark, almost excited look crosses his face.
“Or I’m going to have a lot of fun breaking you in. ”
I quirk an eyebrow at him as I snort. “You aren’t my anything.
I don’t give a fuck what deal you think you had with the Chrome Vipers, but they do not speak for me.
I am my own person and I decide who I give myself to and who I want to create a life with.
You aren’t included in any of those options.
My life is with the Royal Bastard’s and my Ol’ Man, Tico.
The same man who I gave myself to for the first time the other night. ”
The Collector’s eyes darken with rage at losing out on what he was promised and then his gaze drops. He finally noticed my cut. I stand and his gaze darkens even further when I do a little spin so they can see the back of my cut.
“As for your little deal with my father and the club, I know all about it. I know you ‘paid’,” I say using air quotes, “for a month with me and then you’d hand me over to Scooter.
” I pause, smirking as I stop just out of their reach.
“But you were never going to hand me back over, where you? You were going to keep me until you used my body up and then you’d dispose of me, just like you have done to hundreds before me. ”
The Collector’s gaze narrows at me and my smirk deepens.
“Your little birdies sang quite beautifully after Bug broke onto club grounds and tried to kidnap me.”
Scooter rounds on him, his face red with rage. “You fucking think you can cheat me out of my share? You didn’t pay for that kind of access,” he seethes.
The Collector spears me with a look that promises retribution for spilling his little secret. Then he turns his anger on Scooter. “I also paid for her fucking virginity, but you assholes couldn’t even hang onto her long enough to prevent her from giving it to someone else, now could you?”
The Collector pulls out a gun and shoots Scooter in the shoulder. Scooter falls to the ground, crying as he clutches his shoulder.
Lena trembles in the corner and I pray like hell that they don’t notice her there, though I am proud as fuck of her for not screaming when the gun went off.
The Collector waves his gun at my cage and turns to the men I’m assuming are from Oasis. “Unlock the door and bring her out.”
I barely suppress a smile as I back up a few steps and keep my hands loose at my sides.
Rocco unlocks the door and one of the goons steps inside, stalking forward toward me. When he gets in range, I swing, breaking his nose and send him staggering back a few steps.
“You broke my nose!” he screams as he clutches his nose.
I swing again, striking him on the temple with the full force of my fist, dropping him onto the dirt.
For a few seconds, everyone stares at the goon on the ground and for a moment I freeze when I see The Shadow’s proud little smirk at what I’d just done. What the fuck?
My gaze snaps back to the door as two more goons rush in, but I make quick work of them and soon, they’re also lying unconscious on the floor.
Just then, an explosion rocks the compound.
“What the fuck was that?” The Collector yells as bits of concrete fall from the ceiling.
I grin darkly when his panicked gaze lands back on me.
“That would be my Ol’ Man and the Royal Bastards coming for me.”
Like the little snake that he is, he panics and runs out of the room, his goons trailing behind him while the Chrome Vipers all look to Rocco for orders.
“Find them,” he seethes as he glares at me.
The club members damn near run out of the room, guns drawn, but Rocco stays behind.
“You think you’ve won,” he growls as he slams my door shut again. “I hope those three wake up soon and make you pay for what you’ve done. And when they’re finished with you, I’ll make sure you’re chained to a bed where you will never see the light of day again.”
He locks the door but then freezes as The Shadow places a gun to the back of his head.
“Unlock the door,” The Shadow grits out.
“What the fuck? You are going to pay for double crossing me,” Rocco hisses.
The Shadow leans forward so that he’s right by Rocco’s ear. “No, you’re going to pay for trying to harm my daughter.”
I freeze, staring at The Shadow in shock.
What the fuck?
What did he just say?
The Shadow looks over at me and nods. I look closer at him and my eyes widen when I take in details I hadn’t noticed before.
The same strong jaw and cheekbones.
The similar build, though neither Pyper nor I got his height.
The same emerald-green eyes.
And if you changed his hair from black to red, we’d damn near be twins with the only differences being the obvious masculine/feminine ones.