Page 57 of Riot’s Thorn (Sons of Erebus: Reno, NV #4)
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
PARKER
“ H ave you looked at what’s in these boxes?” I ask.
“No. It seemed pointless because there’s no way out.” Louisa’s voice comes from my right. We’ve managed to clear a small area, sitting in a tight circle, exchanging information.
“You never know what could help. Let’s look.” I get up and feel around until I find the closest stack of boxes. “The challenge will be getting to the top.”
I hear hands patting boxes, and I’m glad they’re on board with my idea.
Being taken made me realize I need to control my own destiny.
I can’t just wait around to be saved. I’m certain I’d still be pouting on Riot’s couch if I hadn’t felt out the situation.
I also wouldn’t have gotten to know the most incredible man I’ve ever met if I hadn’t put myself out there.
“I can’t climb,” I say after trying and realizing I’m too injured. My hand, wrist, ankle, and ribs send shooting pain through me each time I reach or grab. “I was beaten, and I’m pretty messed up.”
“I’ll do it.” Thea’s young voice is easily recognizable. It makes me sick to think about what she must’ve gone through before she ended up here.
“Come over here to me.” When she bumps into my side, I place her in a good position. The boxes here are staggered and will give her better footing. “Anne, can you come help, just in case she falls?”
“Sure.”
Thea huffs her way up until she reaches a box with nothing on top of it. “There are plastic boxes in here. Not sure what’s inside.”
“Open it up,” I say.
“It doesn’t feel like anything recognizable, but there’s a battery in here too, so it’s something electronic.”
“Come bring it down, and we’ll see what it is.”
Minutes later, we’re each trying to figure out what the hard plastic object is and how to get the battery inside. Two tubes are attached to make a T, but at the end of each tube are two knobs, almost like the end of a cartoon drawing of a bone.
“Ah-ha!” Anne cheers. “I got the lid open where the battery goes.”
“Good job. Here, put it in.” I place the battery in her palm.
We listen as she struggles, but after a few seconds, a loud squeak echoes through the container and a red light flashes. Then, out of nowhere, it stops. Anne fidgets with it, eventually slapping it against the ground. The sound and lights return.
“I think it’s a dog toy,” I say. “It activates when you throw it to the ground.”
“I think you’re right.” Anne hands me the toy. “Fat lot of good that does. It’ll annoy us more than anything. The lights aren’t even bright enough to help us see.”
“Why don’t we try another box?” I ask.
I don’t know how much time passes, but by the time we give up, we have the dog toy, a makeup kit, and, thankfully, some thick sweaters.
The later it gets, the colder it becomes in here.
I’m lucky that guard gave me sweatpants and a sweatshirt, but the other girls arrived in what they left in—hardly more than lingerie.
Our morale sinks to an all-time low when we allow ourselves half a protein bar each for dinner and just a couple sips of water. Outside, we can hear machinery but not one human voice. The girls said they’ve already tried screaming, but it did no good, so we don’t bother.
Talked out and tired, we cuddle together, both for warmth and because there’s no room to spread out.
Thea is snuggled into me, and I feel the moment she drifts off as her breathing becomes rhythmic.
Try as I might, I can’t do the same. My mind refuses to slow as I run through all the possibilities.
This is the second time in as many months I’ve been left not knowing the direction my life will take. It’s infuriating.
I don’t know what time it is when it feels like something drops on top of the container. It shakes as if there’s an earthquake, but then my stomach drops, the same way it does when I’m in an elevator. We’re being lifted. I didn’t think we were already on a ship, but this confirms it.
“What’s happening?” Thea cries.
I tighten my hold around her, praying the boxes don’t tip over onto us. “Cover your heads just in case.”
For what feels like an hour but is probably more like five minutes, we’re in the air. It’s an unsettling feeling, like a roller coaster you didn’t agree to be on. Then, we come crashing down. Some boxes fall down, but they’re mostly empty from us digging around in the contents, so no one gets hurt.
I’m panting by the time the container stops moving. I’ve been through some scary stuff recently, but this is the scariest. Not being able to see what’s coming or where we’re going was awful.
“Oh, thank god,” Louisa says.
“Everyone okay?” I ask, and four voices assure me they’re fine. “I guess it’s official. We’re going to Canada.”
“I’ve never been out of the country, so I guess I should look at this like an adventure.” Thea has the optimism only a kid can have, but for her to still be that way after what she’s been through inspires me. If she can be positive, I can avoid a nervous breakdown.
Then, we hear men’s voices. They sound like they’re at a distance, but it’s the first good thing to happen so far. If the machinery is this loud in here, I can only imagine how loud it is out there, but still, we yell and bang, making as much noise as we possibly can.
I have no knowledge of cargo ships and shipping containers, so it’s impossible to know what the sounds are, but there are ten to twelve distinct clanks before the voices grow closer. This cycle repeats until I’m certain they’re at our container.
We’re stuck in the middle, so we can’t bang against the sides, and I’m assuming the boxes are pretty well insulated from sound, but we try. While I’m unable to jump because of my injuries, the other girls do. They bounce, scream, and bang against the boxes.
That same clank I heard before now comes from outside our container. They must be securing us or doing checks, I don’t know, but they’re so close. I can’t decipher what they’re saying, but if we can hear them, shouldn’t they hear us?
For a moment, everything stops, and one of the men says something with a lilt at the end of his sentence, leading me to believe it was a question. Does he hear us?
“Someone in there?” a man calls out.
I scream at the top of my lungs, bent over in pain because the exertion feels like being stabbed repeatedly in the ribs. But temporary pain is a sacrifice I’ll make for long-term survival. Once I feel confident if he was going to hear us, he did, I allow myself to stop.
“Shh!” I hold my arms out to silence the girls out of instinct, only to drop them when I remember we can’t see shit.
Only our panting can be heard as we listen for any clue they heard us, but there’s nothing.
Did they move on? Then, the same clank we’ve been hearing comes from farther away—presumably the next container over—and my shoulders fall.
They didn’t hear us, or if they did, they didn’t believe their ears.
“No,” Louisa cries, plopping onto the ground.
“How could they not hear?” Anne’s tone is utterly defeated.
“Maybe one of them went for help,” I say, and even Thea huffs at that.
With nothing else to do, we settle back on the floor. But I’m so wired, there’s no way I can sleep now. Anne must feel the same because she asks, “Tell us about this man, Parker. What does he look like?”
I smile. “He’s tall, a little over six feet, muscular but not bulky.
He doesn’t look like any hero you see in fairytales, but he’s very handsome.
His hair is light brown, his eyes are nearly black, and he keeps a trimmed beard that constantly gives me a rash, but I don’t even care.
It’s sexy.” I close my eyes and picture him, remembering the way it felt when his beard rubbed against my thighs.
I leave that part out, but god, I’d do anything to feel it again.
“Oh, and he has tattoos. Lots of tattoos. A huge roaring lion across his right pec, geometric patterns on his shoulders, and the Sons of Erebus insignia across his entire back.”
“Sons of Erebus?” Thea asks.
“He’s in a motorcycle club.”
“So he’s a criminal,” Louisa says. “How is that any better than the men who did this to us?”
I don’t take offense because it wasn’t that long ago I thought the same thing. “I won’t lie and say he doesn’t do bad things, but the difference is, he doesn’t hurt innocent people. He stands up for what he believes in, and he protects what’s his.”
“And you believe him? You should know just by looking at where you’re at that men lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want.” Louisa is justifiably angry.
“I have every reason not to believe him. He killed my dad.”
Out of the four of them, it’s the quietest one who speaks up. Rosa hasn’t spoken a word to me, and I get the feeling she looks to her sister to take care of and guide her. “How could you fall in love with someone who murdered your family?”
I don’t correct her on the love part because if I’m not there yet, I will be the second I see him after this whole ordeal.
My man is a scary, slightly insane, badass biker who I know will never stop looking for me.
It drives me mad thinking about his mindset right now, and I hope he doesn’t do anything stupid in order to find me. Being rational isn’t his strong suit.
“I didn’t know some of the things my dad was doing.
” My lip quivers, telling me I’m not grieving for the man I thought he was.
It still hurts he could tuck his daughter in at night and then proceed to rape girls my age or younger.
What kind of monster does something like that?
“He threw parties like the ones you were at.”
“What the fuck!” Louisa bites out.
“I had no idea until Riot told me after he kidnapped me and kept me locked in his cabin.” I might as well be honest. There’s a good chance none of us will live through this.
“Did anyone ever talk to you about red flags?” Anne asks, making me giggle.
“I know, right? But that’s the point. Even after everything he did to me, I still know he’s a good man who only does bad things to bad people.”
“But you still think he’ll save us, right?” Thea’s small voice nearly breaks my heart, especially when she pats around to hold my hand.
“I know he will,” I say with conviction I have no right to feel.
“Then I think he’s a good man too.”
I give her hand a squeeze, feeling confident Riot is somewhere out there, getting closer every minute.