I’m shocked that I dozed off, and I feel a little sick waking up. It takes me a minute to remember where we are and what happened before my stomach sinks.
Someone is coming to get me.
My mind races through the possibilities, each one worse than the last. Selling me again. Selling my daughter. Keeping us and… My God.
I tighten my hold on Aurora and kiss her sweaty head. No matter what happens, I will go to my grave fighting for this baby. No one has ever laid a hand on my daughter, and the only way anyone is going to hurt her is if my cold, dead corpse is buried six feet deep.
She is all I have, and she is all that matters.
No matter what these people intend, I’ll do anything—and I mean anything—to keep my daughter safe.
As soon as the driver leaves the vehicle, I weigh my options. And surprise, surprise, I have none. I could run—but how far would I get barefoot and carrying an infant?
I don’t know where I am or what’s going to happen to me now that I’m here, but I sure as hell can’t make any decisions until I know what they expect of me. I try not to think of my mother, but I can hear her voice in my ear telling me to fight like hell, run like mad, do whatever it takes.
Mom wouldn’t believe it if she knew how my life had gone downhill since she passed.
I blink back tears and thank the heavens Momma isn’t here to see me fall apart. To watch me let my daughter down in ways that she could so easily have done with me. But my mother was different. She was talented and free. She raised me alone like it was easy,even though I know, behind closed doors, she suffered and struggled. She just never fell this low.
If I were half the woman she was, I would have left Anthony the moment I got pregnant. But I believed his lies. I naïvely hoped… Well, it doesn’t matter what I hoped. I tell myself I am strong enough to do whatever it takes. Even if I hardly believe it.
“Are you Claire?”
A woman’s voice breaks me out of my thoughts. I lift my head from the cushioned bench seat and see a stunning woman. She looks a little older than me, but her smile is warm and inviting. Just seeing her makes me nearly light-headed with shame. Her long brown hair is styled in beachy waves that fall past her shoulders. She’s wearing a little bit of glittery eye shadow and gloss on her full lips, and her nails are painted a pale, summery pink. I know that because her hand hovers over a very pregnant belly.
A pregnant woman? What the hell are these guys into? I didn’t think anything could be worse than Anthony and the Hellfires club, but this woman looks amazing. There’s no way she’s here against her will… Is she?
I must look confused as hell because the woman’s face practically melts as she opens the door a little wider. Her eyes land on my daughter, and I instinctively clutch Aurora tighter. She will not take my child. She will not hurt my baby, no matter how pretty she smells.
But the woman makes no move toward us at all. Shejust smiles again, beams of literal sunshine streaming from her bright teeth, and she waves. “Oh, hi there, sweetheart.”
She babbles away like we’re meeting at a summer barbecue and not like I’ve just been bought off some bikers in an arms deal. “Is that your baby?” she asks. “What is she…six months?”
I nod and swallow down a whole encyclopedia of emotions: fear, dread, and, worst of all, shame. I try not to think of what my filthy feet and matted hair must look like to this woman. Her kindness is setting me a tiny bit at ease—not that I trust her. She must have kids of her own, though. She figured out Aurora’s age to the day. Aurora just turned six months last week.
Right before Anthony…
“Your little one must be hungry or at least thirsty.” The woman gives me another one of those smiles that is so bright and welcoming, I almost feel a little better. She seems sincere, but I need to be wary.
No one is ever what they seem.
At least, not in my world.
“I’m Poppy, Phantom’s wife.” She pats her belly, affectionately rubbing a hand over the expensive-looking floral maternity dress. “I have a son, he has two daughters, but this little butterbean is our first together.”
I process what she’s saying. “I don’t know who Phantom is,” I mumble, instinctively reaching down to smooth Aurora’s hair. I catch a whiff of a sour smell and realize she needs a diaper change.
Poppy grins. “I would say he’s the mean-looking one, but they all look pretty scary at first.” Her face darkens a little as she looks over my black eye.
To me, these men don’t just look mean, they’re fucking cruel. The shame rises up yet again, and my throat burns.
She rushes on. “Phantom is the president of the club, the Hurricane Heat. He’s that one.”
She points to the trio of motorcycles that are pulling up beside the truck. One man, a dark beard covering his face and dark tattoos covering his arms, gets off his bike and heads toward us. I shrink down a little lower in my seat without even realizing I’m doing it. There’s no hiding, though. Nowhere in this pickup truck to bury myself and pretend none of this is happening.
As much as I want to melt away and disappear, it’s obvious by now that’s not happening. If I could go invisible at will, I would have done it years ago.
“You know, honey, it’s going to be okay,” Poppy says softly to me. “You’re completely safe here.” She turns then, and a massive set of arms circles her. A man holds her close and murmurs in her ear before giving her a long, passionate kiss on the mouth. His hands snake down to cup her rear end through the light, flowy dress she’s wearing, and for a minute, my heart shatters into so many pieces, I don’t know how I’ll ever pick myself back up.
