Page 26

Lacey

E dward had driven me all the way to his house, right into his garage, and closed the door before hauling me out of the van. I opened my mouth to scream, and he was ready for me. Before I realized what was happening, he stuffed something into my mouth and began dragging me into his house and down to the basement.

By the time he threw me into his home gym, I had managed to get whatever rag he’d stuffed in my mouth free.

He ended up shoving me down onto a sofa and handcuffing me to an old radiator. Trying to look on the bright side, I told myself that at least it wasn’t a warm radiator. Thank goodness for that small mercy.

“Much as I’d like to be the perfect host and entertain you, I’ve got places to be.” He then grabbed the handcuffs and gave them a nice hard yank. It really hurt, but I didn’t let him know it. Turning to me he said, “These are solid steel. No matter how hard you try, you’re not getting out of these until I use my key to get you out. Do you understand?”

I nodded, realizing it was pointless to object. “Yeah, I understand.”

Motioning around the room he said with a grin, “Yell as loud and long as you like. I built this as a rumpus room for my kids when they were young. It’s soundproof. Even those little windows along the top of the room are double-pane glass. They don’t open and as you can see, I made sure no one could look in on me by adding a dark protective coating.”

Great, I was for all intents and purposes in a dungeon.

Coming to his feet, he stared down at me. “The bottom line is you can’t get out, so don’t hurt yourself trying. I wasn’t planning on treating you so harshly. But then again, you being a belligerent bitch wasn’t on my bingo card for today either. You always used to do what I asked. We’ll hash this all out when I get back in an hour or so.”

“I don’t want to be with you. Please just let me go.” I said the words although it was pretty clear he didn’t care that I didn’t want him. To him, I was an object, a pretty trinket to wear on his arm and help him run his business. My thoughts, feelings, and desires didn’t matter one little bit to him.

“Like I just said, we’ll talk about this when I get back.”

I watched him stomp off back up the steps. Then he stopped and came back. I held my breath wondering what he was going to do. But instead of touching me he went to a minifridge and took out a bottle of water. Unscrewing the cap he set it down on the table beside me, and said, “Never let it be said I don’t know how to treat my house guests.”

With that he headed back up the steps. Once the door closed, I didn’t hear anything else. No sound of the front door slamming, nor his van starting up. He clearly wasn’t joking about this room being cut off from the outside world when it came to sound, but I had to assume he’d gone out.

I glanced at the bottle of water. It was only a small one, so I hoped that meant he wouldn’t be long. Then again, maybe I’d be better off dying of thirst here, than whatever dark shit he had planned for me when he got back.

***

I must have been sitting and contemplating my fate for around half an hour, when a noise from the window caught my attention. Suddenly it came apart from its cement housing around the edges and was tilted and pulled sideways through the hole it had formerly sat in. I saw a hand reach up and try to wrench it open. My heart raced as I realized that someone was going to rescue me. But then I had another thought—it couldn’t have been Rebel, as he wouldn’t have gotten here so soon. Was it a rescuer, or had I inadvertently ended up being caught in another break-in?

My questions were answered when a young man, maybe in his early twenties, suddenly poked his head and one shoulder through the opening. My mouth fell open when I saw that he was wearing a black leather vest, and he was clearly a biker.

He gave me a boyish grin and said, “I’m Corey, one of the Dark Slayer’s prospects, I heard you were in a spot of bother. Rebel said I was supposed to tell you that you will always be protected by the long reach of the Dark Slayers MC and he’s on his way to rescue you.”

My chest was pounding, “Is that supposed to be some kind of joke?”

He responded cheerfully, “I can see how you might think that, but I think he’s just a lovesick fool who thought his message would give you strength during your time of need.”

Despite my predicament, I found myself smiling at his delivery. Finally able to breathe again, I told him, “Well, if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather get the hell out of here now rather than later. Can you bust me outta here?”

“Dusty doesn’t like it when I do illegal shit. I already disabled this crazy dude’s security alarm. Breaking in might be a bridge too far.”

“Thanks anyway, I suppose,” I said morosely.

“I’m joking. I’ve got another guy I know coming with some equipment, but he’s thirty minutes away,” Corey said as he tried jiggling the window again. It was partially open, but there was no way that he could squeeze himself in. I might have been able to get out, but I was currently handcuffed to a radiator.

“Edward said he’d only be an hour, he might be back by then,” I said.

“Maybe I could help you get out of here on your own?”

I lifted my leg to show him the handcuff that barely fit around my ankle.

He nodded, “Yeah, I saw that.”

“He took the key with him. I’ve tried pulling but the radiator won’t move.”

Corey slid his hand into his pocket and pulled out a key. “Good thing I carry a master key. Might not fit the handcuffs that cops use, but for cheap shit that evil fuckers buy, it should do the trick.”

I jolted forward and held out my hands, “Toss it down.”

He carefully threw it, so it landed practically in my lap. I grabbed it and gleefully began unlocking the cuff from my ankle. When it clicked open, I glanced up at the young prospect and exclaimed, “I can’t believe it worked!” I stood up and stretched my legs. Then I headed across the room and jumped onto my tiptoes to hand it back to him. “Thanks for showing up here and helping me.”

“You’re welcome. I have my bike here, so we should be able to make a quick getaway.”

“Great. Do you think I could fit through that window?”

His eyes ran down my body, but not in a lecherous way. It was more like a doubtful scan for size. “Maybe, but it’s gonna be a tight squeeze.”

“I’ll take body compression and pain, over staying in this situation one minute longer than I have to,” I told him as I reached up and we clasped hands firmly. He started heaving me up and the minute I was within reach of the window, one hand came out to grasp the opening and I pulled myself forward. I was halfway through the window when something that felt like a bottle of water hit me on the butt.

“Ungrateful fucking whore!”

When had Edward gotten back? Had he actually gone out or had he been waiting upstairs? I had no time to consider this, because two big hands started tugging on my legs and I was getting pulled back into his basement.

It was around then that all hell broke loose. I heard the roar of motorcycles and voices I recognized shouting. Corey could clearly see what was happening through the window and he was shouting to his club brothers to get inside quickly.

“Lacey, I’m here babe,” the voice I most wanted to hear in the world called out.

The angry hands were torn from my body, replaced by the gentle ones of the man I loved. When Rebel helped me to the ground, and I turned around, I saw that Edward was curled up in a ball while Storm and Celt kicked him mercilessly.

Celt was yelling at him, “Ye think it’s cute to abuse women? Bet ye didn’t ever think we’d track yer dumb ass back home, did ye? Ye thought ye could just do as ye liked with this poor, innocent lassie.”

“Well, the joke’s on you, asshole,” Storm added with a few kicks of his own.

I probably should have felt some way about seeing a man being held down and beaten like that, but when I thought about what he could have done to me, I found it hard to feel any sympathy.

Edward yelled, “Lacey call the police, I’m being assaulted!”

Storm responded, “No way. You played stupid games by abducting one of our old ladies and now it’s time to collect your stupid prize.”

Celt muttered, “Yer pretty feckin’ ignorant to abduct one of the Dark Slayers’ old ladies.”

Edward groaned as he flailed around on the floor.

Storm snarled and gave him another good kick. “It means she’s untouchable for a dirtbag like you.”

I spoke up for myself, “He forced me into his van and tied me up on the floor. I begged him to let me go, but he said I’d either end up in his bed or I’d be a loose end to be tied up.”

Rebel’s head snapped around to glare at him.” Oh he did, did he?”

Edward pushed himself up, stumbled forward and made a grab for me. “You shut the fuck up, bitch. I was planning to treat you right, but you fucked it all up you—”

He didn’t get a chance to finish whatever he planned on saying, because Rebel casually backhanded him so hard he flew back, landing on top of the coffee table and rolling off onto the floor again.

Storm and Celt saw that for the prime opportunity it was and began kicking the shit out of him again. Between him trying to get at me, and discovering he planned to kill me if I didn’t let him rape me and use me as his office slave, the beating ramped up considerably.

“Stop,” Rebel finally told them. “Bring him up to the garage and handcuff him inside his van, just like he did to my Lacey. We’ll put my bike inside. I want to take my time with him. Grab all his electronics and everything out of his safe. If he gives you any trouble with the combination, beat it out of him.”

I had every confidence that Edward would tell them everything they wanted to know. He was the type of man who abused women and clearly feared other men.

“I’ve got a better idea,” Celt said. “My cousin and I will put our bikes in there and take him to the clubhouse for ye. Ye and yer lassie can ride together without having to look at this fecker’s ugly face. Ye can meet up with us when ye get your old lady settled down.”

When Rebel looked down at me, I nodded. “Let’s ride together. I’ve had about as much of Edward as I can stand for one day.”

He jerked his chin towards the door. “You got it, ladybug.”

I kicked my feet for him to put me down. The second my feet hit the floor, I ran over to Edward and gave him a couple of good kicks of my own. “That’s for putting your hands on me and thinking for one single second that I would eventually come around to the idea of being your fucking sex slave and office drone.”

Rebel wrapped one arm around my stomach and tugged me away. “Come on, save some of this asshole for me to deal with later. By the time that I’m finished with him, he’ll be sucking his food through a straw.”

Strangely, after everything I’d been through, I liked the idea of Edward finally getting his comeuppance. Rebel helped me out of there and put me on the back of his bike. I’d be lying if I said my body wasn’t sore from the injuries Edward inflicted on me. There was a nasty bruise where he’d handcuffed my ankle and then jerked on the cuffs, and I felt bruised from trying to get through the window. Still, I was alive. I hadn’t given in at any point, and I was in the process of rescuing myself when Rebel and his club brothers showed up.

As we rode away, I tightened my hold on him. The fact that he’d tracked us all the way to LA was impressive in itself, and that he’d sent one of his club brothers to rescue me, made me feel safe and protected. I thought back to when I’d told him that I thought property cuts were ownerish. But now I saw them for what they were. As long as I wore his cut no one could hurt me.

When we stopped for gas, Rebel noticed how sleepy I was getting. “Do you want me to rent us a room? We’ve got another couple of hours riding yet,” he asked.

I shook my head. “I can hold out for as long as it takes, I just want to get home.”

He put me right back on his bike and got me home at record speed. I didn’t even care about having a shower, I just wanted to crawl between the sheets, close my eyes and drift off into a blissful sleep.