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Nova shifted on the top bunk, peering out around the black curtain through the bar-covered windows. “Holy shit. There’s a bunch of guys on bikes out there. More down the road, I think.”
Georgia yanked the curtain from her grasp. “What are you doing? Hayden said to stay away from the window!”
Nova yanked it again. “Fuck that! I’ve been watching the road for days, and nobody ever comes down here. I’m hailing these mofos down and asking for a lift.”
Winnie’s eyes went wide. “Nova! You can’t! We have no idea who they are!”
“They’re a motorcycle club,” Vivienne said quietly, staring out over Nova’s shoulder. “Well known around here. They aren’t the knights in shining armor you’re hoping for. Trust me.”
Nova glanced over at her. “Knights in cracked black leather then? Gotta be better than being kept prisoner in this fucking hellhole.”
“What if it’s not?” Winnie wrung her fingers. “Nothing bad has happened to us since we were brought here. We’re fed. We have shelter.”
Nova gaped at her. “Is that your standard for living the rest of your life? That you’re fed and have a roof over your head?”
Winnie dropped her gaze to her lap, her voice suddenly hard. “It’s more than I had before, Nova. So fuck off.”
I blinked. Winnie had been nothing but soft and sweet and a mother hen since I’d arrived. I hadn’t expected the F bomb. Or the sad admission about her life prior to coming here. My heart ached for her, that this was an improvement in her mind.
But similar worries plagued me. “What if they’re worse than what we have? What if they split us up?”
Even Nova fell quiet at that.
Trauma bonded people.
I’d been trying to keep my distance, knowing this cozy arrangement wouldn’t last forever. That eventually one of those men out there would come in and take whatever they wanted from us. Hurt us. Rape us. Sell us to other men who would do more of the same.
That inevitability seemed a little further away when Winnie was fussing over me and Nova was being a smart-ass.
“So what?” Nova eventually said. “We just sit here and do nothing?”
“Yes,” Winnie said firmly. “Better the devil you know.”
Nova threw up her hands. “Let’s vote then. Whatever we do, it should be majority rules since the decision will affect all of us. Hands up if you’re with me?”
Georgia raised her hand to join Nova’s waving one.
She sighed when I didn’t move. “Hands up if you’re with Winnie?”
Vivienne raised hers.
I still did nothing.
“Kara!” Nova snapped. “You have to choose!”
I opened my mouth, but a round of shots exploded. All of us dove for the floor, the girls all burying me and the baby, now squawking in terror in my arms. Another round of shots came from somewhere, and Winnie’s keening wail filled my ears.
“No, no, no. Don’t let them take me.” She repeated it over and over again, rocking in place, her arms wrapped around her legs.
It was a shock to see her like that. She’d been so calm and steady when I’d been having the baby.
But we all had our triggers. Our own deep-rooted fears that couldn’t be pushed down. I moved the baby into one arm and put the other around Winnie’s shoulders, drawing her tight to my side. “Shh, it’s okay,” I murmured, the reassurances for both my daughter and the woman next to me. “It’s going to be fine.”
The door swung open, and Hayden stormed in, eyes like fire, a gun shoved into the waistband of his jeans.
I cringed away at the sight of it, terrified he was going to put a bullet in each of our brains, just to save the guys outside from doing it.
But he went to the window and peeked around the curtain. “Fuck!”