Page 28 of Mimic

“Yeah, well, he can kiss my ass. I was the one who found her.”

“Finding her doesn’t do any fucking good if she gets away.”

The three voices faded as they walked back the way they came. I waited until I heard the bikes roar away before I chanced a look into the hallway.

Sure enough, her door was broken. Taking a quick peek inside, everything looked the way it should, so I went back to Derek’s apartment. Now I owed this asshole.

Indie sat where I left her on the couch. Her eyes unblinking as she stared at nothing. I pulled my phone out of my cut and took a deep breath. I dialed King’s number and prayed I survived long enough to find out what was wrong with Indie.

“Why the fuck are you calling me from your room?”

“I’m not in my room, Prez.”

“Where the fuck are you?”

I turned to look at Indie again and swallowed loudly enough that King heard me.

“I swear to God, Mimic, if you are where I think you are, I’m gonna fucking kick your ass.”

“I won’t apologize for disobeying an order, not when I just saved her fucking life.” I was taking a chance that he would gloss over the‘disobeying an order’part and concentrate on the‘saving her life’part.

“We’re on our way.”

King hung up the phone, and I sat on the couch next to Indie, wrapping my arm around her. That seemed to shake something loose, because she slid to the floor and reached for my belt.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

The sound of my voice finally broke through the haze, and Indie looked up at me and then down to where her hands were. She fell back on her ass, her hands covering her mouth.

“Oh my God, Mimic. What are you doing in my apartment?”

Chapter Eleven

Indie

“Indie, wake up!”

My eyes flew open as a hand covered my mouth. My body started to shake with fear.

“It’s me, baby. We gotta go. Don’t scream, okay?”

I stared at the figure above me. I didn’t recognize anything about them. Their face was hidden by shadows, and their voice was a harsh whisper that was hard to decipher between a man and a woman. New people were the worst. We never knew what to expect. What they expected of us.

“Indie, baby, wake up!”

The hand left my mouth, and I froze. Their hands on my body sat me up. I stared ahead as they helped me into my robe. Normally my clothes were removed, not added to. This was something different, uncharted waters.

I knew not to move until I was told what to do, so I sat on the edge of the bed and waited. Strong arms lifted me and carried me through the room. The feel of his body told me it was a man who had chosen me today. He set me down by the door and looked through it.

There were voices in the hall. Angry voices. Someone was being punished. I was thankful it wasn’t me, which made me feel worse than I already did. The man tugged me into the hallway and toward another room. He sat me on the couch, and I waited for my instructions.

The sound of the lock engaging was a signal. I sat on the couch with my back straight, my eyes cast down, and waited. I closed myself off to everything around me but the man who had brought me here.

Muffled noises and conversations swirled around me, but I focused on the sound of his voice. He was talking to someone. He saved someone’s life. I guess I was his reward. The next moment, everything was quiet. His feet shuffled across the floor. My eyes caught on his boots. I recognized them. They were boots bikers wore. I closed my eyes as he sat down beside me. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close. He never gave me any instructions, so I did what I had been taught to do. I slid to my knees in front of him. My hands moved on their own as they went to his belt buckle.

“What the fuck are you doing?” He grabbed my hands, and when I looked up, everything changed in an instant. The Trick Pony disappeared, and the face of the man in front of me became clear.

“Oh my God, Mimic. What are you doing in my apartment?” I fell back on my ass, and my hands covered my mouth. I was going to be sick. I scrambled to my feet, but as I looked around, nothing was familiar.