Page 52 of Creep (Vulture Hollow MC #2)

He might as well have started choking me, because he’s planning to keep me locked up, just so he can use me whenever he feels like it.

Maybe it would be more productive to act all meek, suffering whatever indignities he’s planning to unleash on me tonight, so I get to be close and attempt to fish through his pockets for the keys, but my body can’t stand it.

I bolt straight into the open doorway that might lead me into a trap.

The last of the evening’s sun comes in through the tiny window, revealing two broken chairs standing in the middle, but Domino’s footsteps thud against the floor as if he’s a rhino about to charge, so I dash past the other door, entering a much smaller space.

My blood freezes at the sight of a bare mattress with a thin blanket tossed in the middle alongside a pair of leather cuffs, but I don’t get to chew through my fear, because the grizzly bear is coming, and if I don’t find a hole to hide in, he’ll rip me to shreds.

“You found your new home, I see. Don’t worry, I’ll get you something to read. Maybe even a TV, if you’re good.”

I can’t fucking breathe. Depending on where we are, he could keep me here indefinitely, and I’d just disappear.

There’s a hole in the wall, the brick visible where it’s crumbled, some of the debris still resting on the floor in the corner. Small, irregular, as if the person who started the work changed their mind mid-way, but when I hear Domino laugh, I drop to my knees and crawl.

Sharp bits scrape my knee and palms as I reach to the other side of the wall, brace myself, then use all the strength I have to drag my body forward.

There’s yet another door across the third room, and it offers me a glimpse of electric light, but just as I’m about to flee, a massive hand closes on my ankle and pulls me over the rough floor.

I don’t have to see my skin to know the friction made me bleed, but the hole is just a few paces ahead, and I roar, kicking back with my unrestrained leg.

The bear attempts to put an end to my struggle, but I twist, and the next kick has him howling.

His fingers slip from around my leg, and it offers me enough time to pass through the opening.

“I’m going to take your balls for this! It’s not like I need them,” Domino growls, and I hear him dragging himself up as I scramble to my feet and dash toward the lights.

A part of me hopes I’ll be able to flee and hide somewhere outside…

wherever it is we are, but the door spits me out between all the storage shelves I spotted earlier.

Breathless, I leap across the desk Domino snorted coke off moments ago and hit the door in hope that maybe he made a mistake.

That maybe it’s one of those doors that can only be locked a certain way, which he didn’t know, but when I press on the handle and pull it toward me, it doesn’t budge.

Pushing doesn’t work either, and I’m so frantic that by the time I notice the sound of Domino’s footsteps, it’s almost too late to make sensible decisions.

My vision feels unstable and blurry as I glance across the massive space dotted by pillars, but while darkness could hide the chance for an escape, I can’t risk it.

So I duck and crawl under the desk, then open one of the cupboards beneath the desktop and squeeze myself inside.

I don’t close the little door, worried Domino might hear its click, so I just settle with my head between my knees, squeezed into a tight ball, and try not to panic as he calls for me.

“Maybe it’s time to stop playing cat and mouse, huh? You’re not going anywhere, faggot, the sooner you understand that, the less painful it’s going to be.”

The position I’m in makes breathing difficult, so I focus on inhaling calmly, not on the pull in my back or the throbbing where I was injured. It’s dark, he’s coked-up, so there is a chance he’ll lose the keys, offering me a shot at escape.

“I’ll be fair. Soon enough, I won’t even remember you had that fuck’s dick inside you.”

I shudder, curling my toes, because in this moment it feels as if making myself smaller—in any way—can keep me safe. But then again, maybe I should get out, so he doesn’t get even more agitated? Creed will try to find me, I’m sure of that, and if I can last until then—

“Maybe it’s time to learn your place? Let’s face it, you’re not a real man .

Everyone knows it the moment you move or speak.

That’s why you’re so desperate to get on your knees, even for someone like Creep.

You know he doesn’t fucking care for you either, right?

It just so happens you were the first to give him the time of day, and he got hole-struck.

You’re both equally pathetic,” Domino continues, wandering close by, but with the sound muted by the wood around me, I’m not sure where exactly he is.

I never even considered placing a curse on anyone before, but my heart hasn’t known true hatred before this moment.

How fucking dare he? A pathetic meathead like him, who’s so cruel his own people don’t fully trust him, has no understanding of true affection, care, and yes, even masculinity. Who made him the judge?

If I had a gun—

The door of the cupboard is there one moment and gone the next. Thick fingers dig into my flesh like maggots about to eat their way inside me as the bear yanks me out of the cupboard under the desk, about to close his teeth on my head and maul me.

In that moment, the violent way he’s dragging me is a promise of death, and I know that if I don’t run now, he will be the last person to see me alive.

My teeth sink into his hand at the first opportunity, and while he slaps me, as if I were a horsefly, when blood spurts onto my tongue he lets go for long enough for me to flee.

I dash for the hole I crawled through earlier.

He’ll try to catch me from the other side, and once I hear him passing through the rooms, I’ll crawl back and run for the other end of the basement. Maybe there is another exit there?

I barely hear him over the noise in my head but once my brain decodes his growls, I stall, my heartbeat pulsing in my throat.

“Even if you run, you won’t reach him before I put a bullet in his head.

Is that what you want? Sacrifice the creep so you can leave?

I’ll bring you his head if you need proof there’s nothing out there for you.

” Domino laughs, not even bothering with the chase anymore, as if the result of this fight is already settled.

“If you want him to live, you better come back to me.”

He’s not bluffing.

The threat is real, and while Domino would be risking his freedom and another war between the local MCs, he’s enough of a bastard to carry out his threat, just for the sake of punishing me for the crime of defying him.

My feet weigh a tonne each as I stare at the hole that moments ago offered salvation. I can tell myself Creed is stealthy, smart, near-indestructible all I want, but could I live with myself if he died because of me?

A sob rips from deep in my chest, but I made my decision.

“You’re wasting my time,” Domino says in a hard voice, prompting me to spin on my heel and take long steps toward him.

I don’t feel like a real person anymore. No real person would have crawled back to Domino just to—

His fist slams into my face. Everything spins, turning into a smudge of colors, and as I collapse to the floor, with the world vibrating around me, I try to understand why I can’t feel the right side of my face.

Domino looms over me, his broad face twisted so much I can see it despite the blur in my eyes.

My body is drained, so I don’t protest when he picks me up and throws me over his shoulder.

Bloody saliva dribbles from my mouth and onto the back of his cut, staining the club logo, and while I’m terrified of what’s going to happen next, the joy of spoiling something he deems important is my small act of defiance.

Watching the floor pass under me as he takes me away is dizzying, so I close my eyes and only open them when he lets me fall.

A choked grunt escapes my lips when the springs of the old mattress punch me in the back, and I blink several times, trying to focus as Domino opens his belt.

My mind’s empty, as if he’s beaten any doubts, fears, and worries from my head with that one punch, but as he’s kicking off his boots, a loud ringing tears through the silence, echoing in my skull.

A twisted grimace passes over Domino’s features, but he plucks the phone out of his pocket and picks up the call. For me, this means a few minutes of peace, which I’m grateful for even if he’s about to punish me for whatever’s making him sneer while he listens.

I shudder when he roars the moment the phone conversation’s over, fully prepared for a kick in the stomach, but instead he jabs his foot at the side of the mattress in helpless wrath.

“You better be naked and ready when I’m back,” he roars and walks off like the embodiment of fury. I hear each of his angry footsteps, and even the click of the lock sounds like the key’s about to snap from the force Domino’s putting into twisting it in the hole.

Out of all the hopeless moments in my life, this one’s the worst, but I trust in Creed. If there’s the slightest chance I can walk out of here, it’ll be thanks to him.