The old man had visited me, drunk. The sixty-some-year-old man wasn’t waiting until we were married to violate me. I fought him, but it didn’t matter. A struggle was just what he liked. I’d even made it to the door, and that’s when he cuffed me to the bed.
“Let me out of these cuffs, and I’ll play nice.”
“I’m not going to make the same mistake old Rusty made.”
Snakebite would let me out of the cuffs. He’d take care of me—I unexpectedly remembered that, too. After he let me go, I went and cleaned up. At least I had a bathroom with a sink and a toilet.
“Do you need any help?”
“No.” I practically took a bath in the sink, wanting all of that old man off me.
“Star, what happened last night?”
Instantly, I felt shame. I wouldn’t dare tell Snakebite about what happened when he wasn’t around. “That’s not my name, and it’s none of your beeswax.”
I wasn’t hungry, but I ate. If I ever were freed, I’d need all my strength. Plus, I needed my strength for what I was about to do.
When I finished eating, Snakebite kissed me softly on the forehead, like he always did before he’d leave. Only a few years older than me, he’d grown up with me. I remembered when he was young. The spiky haired boy always cared for me, but it was hard for me to think of him as anything more than a friend these days.
In the last five years, it seemed he grew up hard, becoming a big tough man. If I didn’t know him, I’d be scared shitless. His wild long hair, swelling muscles and devilish tattoos were intimidating enough, but it was his split snakelike tongue that frightened most people. Scared me, too.
Besides a few of the women, now that LuAnn had passed away, he was the only one to think to feed me, to check on me. Too bad he hadn’t cared enough to stand up to his brothers and Serpentine when they wanted their nasty way though. Nevertheless, I knew he still cared because unlike the others, he’d never taken me against my will.
“I love you,” I told him, clutching his hand.
It was a lie.
He was my way out, if he weren’t such a chicken shit. My eyes pleaded with his. Then I closed them and went in for a kiss, finding the bulge in his pants with my other hand. He responded, hardening as I unzipped his pants and pulled his warm erection out. I laid back, tugging him forward. “I want you to love me.” I felt tears sting my eyes. Part of it was true. I longed for some tenderness, but more than that, I wanted Snakebite to finally care about me enough to get me out of here.
He took his time and kissed me all over, my face, neck, shoulders and chest. This I could take, but still, I found silence. I set my thoughts out to far off destinations as he made love to me. He’d said he loved me, after all. I imagined his arms were the sun, warming me. Jumpinginto a lake, I swam in cool water when he entered me for the first time. His breath on my shoulder, his hands clutching tenderly, I started to come back to reality.
Snakebite’s face hung above mine as he stared into my eyes. “I want to take you away from all of this.”
“Please. Take me away, tonight?” I begged, clinging to him as he pumped.
He shook his head. “Star, there are men guarding this door. You don’t know what I had to do to see you. It’s not like before. Now that Serpentine has staked a claim on you… but don’t worry. I’ll get you out before your birthday, I promise you.” His lips crashed onto mine, and I let myself be in the moment. I let myself feel, something I haven’t done in so long. It felt like love as I had the first orgasm of my life. We laid with our arms and legs jumbled together. He was sweating. I wiped his brow, thinking if I could love anyone it’d be him.
Snakebite kissed my forehead again, but this time he cupped my face. Again, he confessed he loved me, his whisper giving so much meaning to the words.
“Halley, are you in there? I never wanted it to be like this. I swear I didn’t know anyone else dared to touch you. Why didn’t you let me know sooner?”
“If you ever loved me, you’d never let me rot for so long.”
He turned his back to me. “I knew you were in there somewhere. You know I promised him anything for your life to be spared. You know he sent me away. I should’ve had the sense to negotiate better. Don’t you realize as soon as I cross dad the other men think they can come down here and off you at any time? And I can’t make any claims to a prisoner.”
His mouth moved, but there was only one thing on my mind. “Please, take me away, tonight.”
“By the end of the week, I’ll get you out of here. I promise,” he stressed before he left.
“It’s either that or I’ll be your step mama,” I muttered under my breath.
Serpentine’s son, Snakebite going against his devil of a daddy, even for the love of a woman was a long shot, but tonight I was almost convinced.
Cowboy
In the early morning, I rolled out of Anarchy’s bed a happier man than the night before. We’d fucked like bunnies until the wee hours of the morning. I came three times, and she came four, because when a woman climbs on my saddle, I give her a ride to remember. And now, it was my turn to leave her while she was sleeping, like she had me a million times.
I stretched, staring at her naked body crashed on the bed. Fire engine red hair cascaded over her back, over her backpack. She donned the same tattoo of the Asphalt Gods’ MC three-piece patch as I did. Never mind she’d colored it in and surrounded it with a bunch of colorful Celtic knots and whatnot. I laughed at her tramp stamp of an anarchy symbol. That was new.
