I scan the apartment while Throttle prowls on him, kindly reminding him of the cash he has yet to pay back. There’s trash everywhere. Old food containers, cups, and the smell is horrid, but I dull it from my senses. The stench is going to take forever to get out.
At the far end, a woman is passed out on the only furniture in the place. It’s a fucked-up couch with cigarette burns lining the stained material. Not to mention the needles carelessly lying around on the floor. There’s a tourniquet wrapped tightly around her arm that’s turning blue because that damn thing is cutting off circulation. How long has that been there?
A thud sounds from across the small apartment and Throttle has our guy against the wall. I’m usually the one who does the enforcing but looks like he’s got the situation handled.
I remove the band off the unconscious woman, checking her for a pulse. It’s faint but there. A wave of emotion attacks me, but I press it back down.
Not now!I shout from inside my head.
I give her arm a shake. “You gotta wake up for me.” My voice comes out in a soft demand not even sure she can hear me.
After another shoulder shake, she grunts and lolls her head to the side. At least she’s coherent.
I wait patiently for Throttle to be done scaring Grizzly into the next century and when Throttle gives a final blow to our guy’s gut, he goes down.
Now we’re finished.
“No more loans, Grizzly. Get your shit together.” Throttle points to the semi battered body on the floor.
Grizzly holds his right side, groaning. He’ll be fine. Throttle barely touched him and from what I can tell, it’s more drama than anything.
Honestly, it’s not about the money. We can’t look weak attracting targets on our backs.
My turn.
I meet him down on his level. “When you hear us leave, you call an ambulance for your woman,” I order him sternly, but my voice isn’t as loud or echoing as Throttle’s.
These jobs take everything out of me mentally and it has nothing to do with the interrogation side of it.
When outside and bundled back up, Throttle gets in his truck first letting me know he’ll see me back at the clubhouse, but I hang back waiting for the first sound of help.
At the sound of the distant sirens, I start up my Harley and head back to the clubhouse. The sirens will play in my mind for days after this, haunting me like the same nightmares.
TWO
Danika
Winter is my favorite. Always has been. There’s something about the snow I couldn’t wait for. It’s cozy. Like being wrapped in a warm, fluffy blanket. Everything is quiet. Peaceful. And with each flake falling, it drowns out the world.
The busy.
The chaos.
Fills the soul with a sense of calm. Especially after the Christmas rush is through and all that’s left is time.
I descend the stairs, but wince when the immediate, throbbing pain pierces me like a knife. Certain movements or at random times I’m left remembering what could have been. Softly, I rub the letter permanently burned into my skin. A constant reminder. The cage. The room.Him.I was almost fated with a future of doom and torment. I can’t imagine what would have happened if I was sold to the man this letter belonged to. What being sold on the illegal market would have been like.
Agony. It would have been unbearable agony if Tequila’s boyfriend and his club hadn’t saved us.
It’s been almost three months, and Iamhealing. Slowly. But some weren’t so lucky. Mya wasn’t so lucky. She was too young and innocent to die. If she’d only stayed back and waited for them to save us. Instead, she ran out of desperation, and I’ll never forget the image of her being shot to her death right in front of me.
Her and I were held captive together until the monsters brought Tequila in. Regardless of it all, I’m glad we made it out. I liked Tequila. Even though her nickname is ridiculous, I chuckleat the remembrance, I’ll always be grateful for her and what her friends did for me.
The positive? I stopped crying myself to sleep. At least that is something.
When I step out onto the sidewalk, the frigid air hits me and I make sure to wrap my scarf tighter. Luckily, the diner I work at is across the street from my apartment. Since I don’t own a car, I’d have to take a cab, Uber, or a bus. The cost alone would wreck me, not to mention being alone with strangers gives me the worst sense of panic.
If the ambulance wasn’t racing down the street at the same time, I would have noticed the motorcycle coming from the opposite direction sooner.
