Chapter One
Hawkeye stared at theTV screen, the colors and pictures flashing lights across his face not registering any more than the voices and sound effects loud enough to keep him from hearing whatever was going on in the rest of the clubhouse.He’d turned it on for background noise and to keep every sound on the other side of the walls of his space from distracting him.He’d quickly lost track of what was going on as he reviewed the last of the information he had found.
Now, hours later, Andy was safe with Dagger, but Hawkeye couldn’t forget what else he’d found out while looking for his treasurer’s woman.The Royal Crows were running hookers.That alone wasn’t enough to stir his interest, nor the rest of the club.It was how they were getting the women they were pimping out that would get the rest of the Fallen Angels to back Hawkeye when he told his brothers the Royal Crows needed to be taken down.But he wasn’t through with his hunt.He needed as much information as he could find so there would be no doubt when he filled in the rest of the club it had to be done.
The Crows were taking women, unwilling women, some sold by their families, some stolen off the streets, others who owed them money, and forcing them into prostitution.If the women were consenting adults, Hawkeye, along with the rest of the Angels would leave them be.But after what Taylynn had been through, Hawkeye knew if she heard about it, and that they’d let it continue, then she wouldn’t just make Raven, the Fallen Angels’ president, miserable.She would make sure the whole club knew how disappointed in them she was.
Taylynn wouldn’t have to yell or say anything nasty to anyone.All she would do was look slowly around the room, catching each man’s eye before shaking her head and telling them they’d disappointed her.She had come so far since they had found her on the side of the highway, every brother in the club was proud of her, and they all loved her.Mostly like a sister, a few like a mother figure, and none of them wanted to be on her bad side, ever.
After printing off what he needed, he stood, arching his back and lifting his arms over his head.He grunted as his back popped and cracked, then straightened and rolled his neck from side to side.He should have moved around more, but he’d lost himself in finding everything he could and lost track of just how long he’d been at it.But his muscles and joints didn’t hesitate to remind him.
He grabbed the stack of paper with all the things he’d printed and headed out to the main room of the clubhouse.It was time to let everyone else in on what he’d found.
Chapter Two
Delilah finished cookingthe evening meal, served all the men, then cleaned up.She had been there for several months, cooking and cleaning after a bunch of men.She knew it could be worse, but one of these men—strangers her husband had sold her to—said he’d encountered a woman from Jericho before.Viper, according to the patch on his vest.When she’d been dragged into the large building, Warren had kept a tight grip on her arm until he’d shoved her to the floor in front of him, giving her to these men.Viper hadn’t said anything until after Warren was gone.Then he’d stepped forward and spoken in a quiet but firm voice, said he’d encountered women from Jericho before.He’d said we were cold fish and would be worthless on the streets, but he had the perfect thing for her.He’d sent her to the kitchen and told her she’d better do a good job or she would regret it.
She’d taken one look around the large room where Warren dumped her when she’d arrived, and had been glad to spend all her time in the kitchens, even if she had to do it all alone.There had been more that happened when she’d arrived, not to her but to the other women in the room, but she didn’t want to think about that.She’d rather do all the cooking, physical labor included, as long as she didn’t have to participate in what she could hear going on in the other room even now, at almost 11:00 PM.The rhythmic slap of flesh smacking against flesh over and over made her wish she had some way to block it out.It wasn’t just the sounds.She’d seen enough to know there were people having sex in the open, all over the room.Not wanting to get cornered and added to the orgy, she shuffled into the large pantry where she stored the pair of blankets and pillow one of the men had carelessly tossed in her direction shortly after she’d arrived, and laid down on the floor.
Delilah had started sleeping in the pantry that first night, after seeing what was going on in the main room.She hadn’t wanted to cross the room and chance catching anyone’s attention.No one had complained.She wasn’t even sure they’d noticed.Either way, it let her get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep before she had to get up and start breakfast.
It only took her a moment or two to arrange the blankets, then she lay with her back to the shelves, facing the door so that if anything came through, she’d see it coming.She had no clue what she would do if it happened, only that she wanted to see whatever was coming her way.She closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe slowly.She only had a few hours, and she needed to get as much sleep as she could.
