I wanted to slap him. Hard. Instead, I bit down on my tongue and remained silent. I couldn’t let him rile me. Veronica knew where I was. If I didn’t text her in thirty minutes, she was going to launch into action. I just had to survive until then.
My stomach clenched. Did I really think this had come to life and death? I looked up at the sneer on the leader’s face, and I knew that this man was capable of anything.
“Where’s Zoe?” I asked.
From the corner, Grace Vasquez scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell her anything, Wreck.”
His name was Wreck. Even in my dire straits, I noted how appropriate the nickname was. Wreck turned to me and ran his cold eyes up and down my body. I wanted to throw up.
“I commend your commitment,” he said. “But you should really know when to give up.”
“I’ll drop the case,” I said. “Zoe and Hector will be legal adults soon anyway. It will fade away. I swear, I’ll never come near your club again.”
I shrugged and tried to look like I could care less. When in fact, if I managed to walk away from this, I was going to do everything in my power to burn Las Balas to the ground. But it was a very big “if.”
Wreck let out a soft little laugh at my bid for freedom.
“Sweetheart, I don’t believe a word out of your pretty little mouth,” he said. “And trust me, you’re much more useful to us right where you are.”
I furrowed my brow. Wreck leaned in close and picked up a strand of my hair and ran it through his fingers. His scent was sweet like rose flowers, making me gag.
“After all, what do you think Pin would hand over if he knew we had you?” Wreck asked.
My eyes widened. Pin had access to the Outlaw Souls’ funds. He knew everything about the club and their territory. If Las Balas managed to blackmail Pin, that was pretty much the nail in Outlaw Souls coffin.
My self-control snapped, and I spat directly into Wreck’s eye. I would have head-butted him if I hadn’t been sure it would just end with my concussion. But seeing the glob of spit land in his face was satisfying enough.
He cursed and reeled back.
“You bitch,” he hissed.
I saw stars when he backhanded me across the face. The pain stung, but I breathed through it. Spitting on him had been a mistake. I was going to have to control myself better if I wanted to get out of this.
“Watch her,” Wreck snapped.
His cronies stepped up and leered down at me, while Wreck regained his composure.
“I’ll be back, Claire,” Wreck said. “And I hope you’ll treat me with a bit more respect.”
He bared his teeth in a smile one last time before turning and heading out of the room. I kept my head down in a gesture of defeat.
But I wasn’t defeated.
No one was going to come rescue me. I had to get out of this on my own.
Twenty-Five
Pin
“Fuck,” Moves said.
I watched as my friend paced back and forth in the back room of the Blue Dog Saloon.
“Fuck,” he said. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
For the past five minutes, he had said little else.
I had told him everything. I texted him and drove straight to the Blue Dog Saloon. The whole story had poured out of me: Claire’s investigation into missing teenagers, her notes on the Outlaw Souls, our fight, and how I was pretty sure Las Balas were the real culprits.
