There’s no time to dodge it or even slow down. I still try and I’m flown from my bike when the van drives into me. The sound of metal-on-metal screeching fills the night, and I brace for impact as I hit the ground and roll repeatedly along the road. Long moments pass after I come to a stop and I’m afraid to move. It was clear it was intentional. I should be on my feet and shooting. Yet I take too long deciding to slowly move each part of my body, that is screaming out in pain.
Large hands firmly grip onto my arms and the back of my head, two people drag me up to my feet. I struggle to get my balance as they rush me across the tarmac. My feet hang heavily but they would work if I was given the chance to do it in my own time. I should be fighting back, attempting to get away, but everything is happening slowly, too slowly, or I hit my head? I’m flying again until my cheek lands hard on cold metal. I’m forced into a sitting position, and two men workquickly to tie me up before jumping out and getting back on the road. The driver of the van, sighs in frustration and climbs over the seat and digs my phone out of my pocket.
“Can’t have you gettin’ free and callin’ for help, can we?”
It’s the only words I hear as he blasts the stereo and wheel spins back onto the road.
The sound of the door opening sets my shoulders straight and I expect anything to happen. The tape is ripped from my eyes, and I quickly close them, shielding them from the intrusive light. I gasp in the fresh air and savor the sliver of sun on my skin.
Hopper sits his old ass on the back and lights a cigarette. “I’ve had this pain in my chest since I let Lily go,” he begins, exhaling his smoke. “It intensified after she went and killed herself, but it’s magically disappeared since I got my hands on you.”
Just like I saw at Lily’s funeral, he’s theatrical with a side helping of madness. I keep my mouth shut, the only part of me that hasn’t been tied down.
“Can I ask you a question?” I don’t answer, and he carries on regardless. “Did you see her before she ate all the pills? I wouldn’t have thought she would have had the strength to swallow so many.”
“I saw what you and your club did to her.”
“Ah, he speaks!” he boasts, then sighs. “She had never been as beautiful as she was the last time I saw her. Even her blood glistened beautifully under my club lights.”
My face contorts in disgust. “You nearly killed her.”
“Tut-tut. It was a club effort.”
I close my mouth and stare. The guy has lost his head. “I would have loved her to my dying day.” He sighs. “In all my years I’d never met a bitch like her, she was something special and I treated her as such.”
It’s hard to believe but I say nothing. If he needs to believe him and Lily were love’s young dream, that shit is on him.
“But then she left me, and I couldn’t have that. What would you do if your old lady left ya?”
I snort. “I wouldn’t try to fuckin’ kill her, that’s for fuckin’ sure.”
“You must not love her as much as you tell her you do.”
“I guarantee we have different concepts of what love is.”
He shrugs. “Maybe, maybe not. But your old lady wouldn’t disappear on ya, would she? She wouldn’t rob your cash and disappear in the wind. You never know what you’re capable of until you’re pushed into it.”
“I know exactly what I’m capable of, and I’d rather die than lay hands on my wife.”
His laughter is mocking. “Such a gentleman.” He clears his throat and continues, “Anyway, you’re probably wonderin’ what I’m up to?"
“Can't say I’ve given it much thought.”
He laughs and it turns into a hacking great cough. He pounds his fist against his chest, but it doesn’t help shit.
“From one president to another, I know ya lyin’.” He takes a hit from his cigarette, and I wish I had my own, but I'd rather burn in Hell than ask for one. “I thought about beatin’ and killin’ ya, but it’s so predictable.” I hate how theatrical he is. “When I want to break a man, I like to make sure they never come back from it. It’s why I’ve kept you waitin’. I have it on good authority that your VP and your daddy are at odds. Your VP and two others left shortly after I spoke with your dad and he was barkin’ out orders.”
Whose fucking good authority? After the chapters rode out of town, there were only a few of us left.
Hopper stands and flicks his half-smoked cigarette out of sight. “I’m feelin’ generous today. I’ve got a gift for you and one for your father.”
Fuck me if I want to know but again, I don’t ask. He leans into the van and drags me to the doors by my ankles.
For every time he’s touched me, for running me off the road, for tying me up like an animal, it will come back on him tenfold.
Now more than ever I keep my face straight and my mouth shut. I steel my temper as JJ, Mason, and Myles are shoved forward, each of them with their wrists tied.
“Ah, Leo. I thought you’d be happy to have some company,” Hopper declares.
