Page 30 of Cash

The patch above it saidVice President. I would have assumed he was the treasurer based on his name.

The Nyght Nymphs didn’t stand on the same ceremony like most clubs. We didn’t generally wear cuts, not wanting to make our presence known. What we did required more anonymity.

I crossed my arms and scrutinized him.

“Is it?”

He fixated on my mouth when I asked the question and then said, “Is it what?”

I squeezed my legs together at the idea that I caught him off guard. He clearly hadn’t been paying attention.

“Is it private property?”

I took a step forward. I didn’t know what I expected. But him taking a step back wasn’t it. I didn’t want to admit that his threat to haul my tiny ass to the ground had made me wet. The thought of him ripping my clothes off and taking what he wanted had stirred something inside me that I couldn’t put words to.

If I did, it would be something like shame.

The Nyght Nymphs helped women every day get free from the controlling, abusive men in their lives. And all I could think about in this moment was how much I wanted him to defile me. How much I wanted him to overpower me and use me.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts before turning away.

I walked toward my bike, not waiting for him to answer. I had to get away from him before I did something stupid.

“What’s your name?”

I peered over my shoulder. I had a choice to make. It only took a second before I answered, “Rose.” And that answer was the reason I ran.

I stayed away from the mountain for almost a week. I didn’t know what had possessed me to give him my real name. I never gave anyone my real name. The first few mornings, I spent on my bike. Riding everywhere I could but up that path. The next few days, I spent walking around town.

I had breakfast with Trudy each morning. People came and went. One woman I recognized as an old lady, though I’d never seen her at the clubhouse. I only knew she was an old lady because her husband wore the same cut Cash did.

She came in with two little girls, and her protruding belly said she had another baby on the way.

“Good morning, Miss Trudy!” the older of the two girls called out as they entered the bakery.

“Good morning, Chrissy. Good morning, Tabby.”

The little girl just smiled. She carried a small brown teddy bear that she hugged in her elbow. I had a similar bear when I was little. It got left behind when me and Thorne left home after mom disappeared.

I closed my eyes briefly, pushing away the memory and telling the monsters to shut up. It never worked, but that didn’t stop me from trying.

“Morning, Ellie, how are you feeling?”

“Tired,” she answered. “Junior here kept me up half the night.”

“And I bet his daddy kept you up the other half,” Trudy said with a wink, and Ellie blushed, returning a small smile that said Trudy wasn’t far off.

I thought about Cash. Was he the type of man to keep his woman up in the night? I squeezed my eyes shut, telling myself it didn’t matter. I would never find out.

“No school today?” Trudy asked as I stared out the window, pretending not to listen.

“Nope,” Chrissy said. She sounded disappointed. I had hated school. Val made me go. She said education was important. When I told her I could learn what I needed to know from her and the other women, her answer was that part of education was learning to do things and deal with people we didn’t like.

She wasn’t wrong. I learned how to deal with a lot of people I didn’t like. The day I graduated was the best day of my life. It meant I could finally do what I wanted. Make my own rules.

Only the monsters made the rules now.

They dictated what I did. What I wore. Who I talked to. How I felt. They controlled everything.