“I’m going to go bleach my hands.”

  “I’ll be back. I’m just gonna go toss this in the dumpster.”

  “Sure...have fun taking the trash out. It’s okay, Julie. You’re a woman and allowed your kinks.”

  “Seriously? So help me I will give it to Link and tell him you want him to shove it in your you know what.”

  “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”

  “You’re impossible.”

  “I’m unforgettable, darling,” she mocks.

  I slip my furry boots and my hoodie on. I’m only going downstairs and back, but it’s colder than a witch’s tit out there. I hurry down the steps, the chill of the winter air nipping at my cheeks. The sky is gray. The weatherman gave a forecast of snow for later this evening. It’s a perfect evening to cook chili and curl up with Roane and watch a movie.

  We have so much ahead of us. So many new memories to make. A week ago, the thought of love seemed laughable. Now I can’t imagine anything but him. It’s all happening so fast, but I know he’s it for me. I had always thought about him over the years. Wondering what happened to him and if he had a family. I never thought he’d be a member of the same motorcycle club as my brother-in-law let alone be a biker at all.

  To be fair though he always had a bad boy edge to him. It’s what attracted me to him in the first place. Dark hair, even darker eyes. Warm tan skin and a mouth sweet like cinnamon sugar. He was my world then and he is quickly becoming my world now. A bolt of lightning shot straight through to my heart the moment our eyes met in the clubhouse.

  Lost in my thoughts of him, I don’t notice the tall figure lurking behind me until it’s far too late. Opening the lid to the green dumpster, I drop the bag in and the moment I close it, a thick arm snakes around my throat, restricting my airway. Before I can scream another hand presses a cloth over my nose and mouth. Eyes rolling back in my head, I slump into the man’s hold on me and before all fades to black I recognize the scent of his cologne. Woodsy with a hint of vanilla. Sam.

  **

  Coming to, I blink my eyes. My temples pulsing, throat dry, hands and feet bound together. Fabric covers my mouth, tightly fastened around the back of my head, biting into my ears. I roll to my side and there he is. Sam is seated at a table drinking a bottle of scotch and smoking a cigar. Lines of cocaine on the table. I still, not wanting him to notice that I’m awake. Fear lances through my veins. I don’t know what he has planned or what he is even doing here. Why couldn’t he let me go? He didn’t love me. He said so himself.

  It’s only been a week since I last saw him and yet he looks differently now. Had I been blind to the physical changes in him? How skinny he has gotten. How hollow his cheeks are? How dead his once vibrant eyes are. He’s not the man I cared about. This Sam is someone different. A man I don’t recognize. A man I want nothing to do with.

  I need to try and break free of these bindings.

  He takes another swig from the bottle and curses under his breath. Head swinging toward me, he mutters more unintelligible mumblings. I close my eyes and pray he doesn’t realize I’ve moved. He’s drunk and high. Which means he is also going to be one mean bastard. I focus on breathing evenly and wonder how long I was unconscious for. Has Pam realized I’m missing? Of course she has. My sister is a nut, though I know the minute she realized I didn’t return she called Link and Roane. They’ll be looking for me, but will they find me before it’s too late?

  Chapter 12

  Sam

  The minute that biker trash left my place with the fat whore’s things I got in my car and followed them. They had no clue. I followed them to West Virginia. I thought Julie would be at her sister’s place but turns out she’s been with some dumb bastard who doesn’t know what a stupid cunt he’s invited into his life. I watched them kissing and fawning over one another. Julie is mine. She belongs to me. I allowed her to go visit her skanky sister so she could see that I can be kind.

  It was meant to be her last visit. We’re not over till I say we’re over and I didn’t say. Julie is going to learn her lesson. No one questions me. No one tells me who to fuck and when. I’ve supported her fat ass for years. She was skinny when we first got together but as the years went on her hips got wider. I bought her gym membership and she wasted it. Said the place made her uncomfortable because the men stared at her body and hit on her. That was the point. I wanted them to look at what they couldn’t have. See what I had. I need a beautiful woman on my arm when I make my run for office. She ruined those plans. I couldn’t marry her. She wouldn’t do. I needed to find a replacement for her and when the time was right, I was going to sell Julie to Mikal Cortez to pay off my debt. For some reason beyond my comprehension, he thought she was worth something.

  I’m still going to make the deal but not until I’ve had my fun with her first. She has no clue how many times I’ve done this to her while she was sleeping. Drugged her and had my thrill. I’ve even let my old man have a go at her a few times. She’d wake up disoriented and sore, having no clue it was because I did whatever I wanted with her. I prefer her unconscious but this time I want to hear her screams. I want her to remember my face and feel my hands around her throat. I’d kill the bitch if I didn’t need her as payment.

  I snort two more lines. My nose burns and my eyes water as euphoria travels through my brain. I drink my scotch, hoping to be able to stomach seeing Julie naked again. It’s pathetic that I have to get drunk and high to want to fuck her. I look over at her. Bound on the bed. My cock barely twitches at the sight. Shoving my chair back, I grip the edge of the table. My head feels swimmy. I shake the sensation off and go to her, undoing my pants to stroke myself in an attempt to get hard. I leave my pants to the floor of the cheap motel room and get into bed with her. She doesn’t budge and I flip the Tv on and rent a movie to get me in the mood to play with her.

  I watch the erotic film and touch myself. Now that I’m getting hard, I shake Julie to rouse her awake. “Wake up, bitch.” I go up on my knees and smack my dick across her face. “There you are,” I coo when her eyes pop open. “Did you really think you could ever leave me?” I laugh and remove the handkerchief I had tied over her mouth to gag her.

  “You know they’ll kill you for this,” she hisses.

  “Who, your biker trash?” I squeeze her face. “They’ll have to find us first. I would tell you to suck me, but I don’t trust you with your teeth. So you’ll just have to lay there for what I have planned.” I go in for a kiss and the dumb cunt tries to bite me earning her a punch to the face. She cries out and I get harder. “That’s it scream for me, Julie. No one can hear you.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Oh, I’m going to fuck you and then I’m going to give you to a friend who will use you up. Put you to work in one of his whore houses overseas. You’ll be so drugged up you won’t know your own name.”

  “What did I ever do to you, Sam? What happened to you? This isn’t you. You aren’t a rapist or woman beater.”

  “You don’t know anything. Do you know all those times you woke up feeling like shit, it’s because I drugged you. Even let my old man fuck you a few times too while I watched.” Her face goes ashen and I smile. “That’s right. All those times you felt weird around him. Felt his eyes moving over your body. Every time he licked his lips while watching you, it was because he was remembering how you tasted. Personally, I don’t know what he found so appealing about your fat ass.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “Am I, Julie? Am I? You think long and hard about that.”

  “You’re sick.”

  “Enough of your mouth.” I ball the handkerchief up and shove it between her teeth. I won’t get to hear her scream, but her muffled cries will have to suffice. I flip her onto her back and push her shirt up. “You always did have nice tits.” Her body jerks but she’s not going anywhere, and neither am I until I get what I came here for.

  To teach this cunt a lesson she’ll never forget.

  Chapter 13

  “How the hell you ask a bitch to be your Old Lady and move in with you after one night?” Crawl shakes his head at me.

  “Brother, when you meet the one, you’ll understand.”

  “It’s true,” Link agrees with me.

  “Shit, does Pam have another sister?”

  “Nope.”

  “Of course she doesn’t.” He takes a drink of his beer then lights up a cigarette.

  Link’s cell phone rings and he frowns. “It’s Pam.” He grunts and shoves back from the table, answering her call. “You never call me. What’s wrong? Slow down I can’t understand you. What do you mean Julie disappeared?” He holds the phone out from his ear, and I jump up at his words.

  “What’s she saying about Jules?”

  “I’m putting you on speaker phone. Yeah. Roane is right here. Go slow and talk clearly.” He puts it on speaker, and we all listen in.

  Pam is hysterical and it’s hard to make out half of what she’s saying. “Julie walked outside, and she never came back.”

  “The fuck you mean she never came back. Where are you?” I growl.

  “Your apartment. I was in the bathroom and she was taking something to the dump. She said she’d be right back her purse and keys are here.”

  “What about her cell phone?”

  “I tried calling it but no response.”

  “Fuck. We’re heading that way now.” I look at Sleeper. “Get someone to that apartment and see if that fucker left town.”

  “On it,” he says, pulling his phone out.

  “I’ll let Prez know,” Crawl starts down the hall to Murder’s office.

  “I told Pam to get Jules’ cell number to Prodigy. He’ll find her.”

  Murder comes rushing out of his office. “Let’s go get the son’bitch.” He’s thinking the same as I am. Her ex made a move. One that is going to cost him his life.

  My brothers and I ride out. Some to my place. Some are going to scout locations he may have taken her to. I don’t know why but something tells me he hasn’t left the area with her. It’s a gut feeling I have.

  When I get to my apartment Pam rushes into Link’s arms snotting around. I don’t pay her no mind. I am eager to pull up the security footage in the shop. I have cameras on the front and inside, but I also have them monitoring the back door to my business and my apartment. It doesn’t take me long to find what I want. On one of the back cameras, I see everything. Jules’ hurrying down the steps with a plastic bag. As she is throwing it away the fucker jumps her from behind and drugs her before she has a chance to fight back or cry for help. I watch powerlessly as he drags her to his car. The way it’s parked I can’t see the tags, but I know the make. I fire off a text to Prodigy.

  My phone rings back immediately with a call from him. “What you got?”

  “Got a ping on her phone. South side of the city. I’d bet my life he took her to Super 8.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  “Anytime. Go get your...” I end the call before he finishes. I’m already walking out the door.

  I lift my chin to Link. “Super 8, south side.”

  Pam tries to come with us, but Link tells her to stay put. “That’s my sister! This isn’t the time for your macho club shit. I need to be there.”

  His gaze snaps to her. “Woman, stand your ass down so we can do what needs to be done. Don’t make me spank your ass. You won’t like the act of it this time.”

  Pam’s mouth snaps shut for once. She knows her man means business. We don’t need her coming along and being all hysterical. We don’t know what we’re riding into.

  Murder joins up with us on the ride over along with Viking and Crawl. This motherfucker is going to regret the day he ever messed with what’s mine. I roll to a stop a block away. I don’t want the prick to know I’m coming though if he were smart, he’d be expecting me.

  “This is your rescue, son. We’ll follow your lead,” Prez tells me and I give him a chin lift.

  Our group enters the lobby of the motel and the short, fat, balding man swallows hard. “I don’t want no trouble.”

  “There won’t be any as long as you tell me what I want to know. I need the room number for a Sam Mueller.”

  “I’m not supposed to give that out.”

  I take a step forward and so do my brothers.

  The man shrinks back. He clicks something on his computer. “Room 115.” He slides a door key across the counter and Link pulls out his wallet. He tosses a few hundreds on the counter.

  “Thank you for your time. You never saw us. Understood.”

  “Yeah. Yeah. Never saw you.” He hurries to slip the money in his pocket.

  It doesn’t take long to find the room. It’s down the hall on the first floor. My first instinct is to the kick the door down. Rage fills me when I hear moans echoing from the room.

  “Easy, brother. Could be the wrong room,” Murder tells me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

  “Harder,” a voice filters through the door followed by an even louder moan.

  I shake my head and listen closer. “It’s not her.” I insert the plastic card into the door and when the green light flashes, I push it open.

  I go in first followed by my brothers, I draw my handgun from my boot and train it on Sam. I recognize him from the security footage. He’s naked from the waist down, wrestling on the bed with Jules. A porno flick is playing on the Tv. Sick fucker is going to meet his end at my hands. Her knees draw back, and she kicks him in the stomach. The two of them haven’t even noticed the rest of us filling the room. Sam rolls off the bed, and I step over him to press the barrel between his brows.

  “Don’t move, you sorry sack of shit.”

  “Fuck you. Do it. I’m dead either way.” He must be talking about his debt to the cartel.

  “You don’t get to take a coward’s way out.” I nod to Viking and Crawl to restrain him. They get ahold of him while I tend to Jules. He’s put his hands on her again and just for that I’m going to make his death very slow and fucking painful. I’ll drain the life from him so damn slow he’ll pray for my mercy but never receive it.

  Chapter 14

  Roane caresses my cheek and I flinch at his light touch. It’s been a few days since Sam kidnapped and attacked me. He left me with a busted, lip, bruised cheek, and blackened eye. Once my man knew I was battered but okay I thought he was going to beat Sam to death. It took Murder, Crawl, Link, and Viking to pull him off him and then Link went after him.

  I don’t know what became of Sam, but Pam told me it involved a chain and a motorcycle. She also said they handled his father. Whatever happened I’m simply glad he’s gone—that they both are gone and that it’s over. He won’t be coming back, and Roane and I can move on with our lives. Maybe that makes me seem cold and unfeeling, but Sam had no love for me. He had no problem hurting me.

  I am only glad that my cell phone happened to be in the pocket of my hoodie and that Roane’s brother Prodigy was able to track it so quickly. If not for him I may not be here on the couch with my man. He’s been so attentive. So loving. Sweeter than I could have ever hoped for in a man.

  “Can I get you anything?”

  “I’m good. I have you. That’s all I need.”

  “You sure you’re up for the party tonight? Everyone will understand if you want to stay in.”

  “No way. I want to go. We need some fun. I’m ready to get to know the club and thank the guys who helped you rescue me.”

  Roane smiles and gives me a gentle kiss being careful not to hurt me. I’ve been a bit jumpy the past few days after what happened and the things that Sam said to me. I have no idea whether he was telling the truth or not. I keep telling myself he only said those things about his father to scare me. If I believe otherwise I will only spiral into a depression. I don’t want that. Some people might say it’s unhealthy to ignore it and try to forget what he said. Maybe it is but I only want to look to the future.

  I have a bright one ahead of me.

  “Good. Go get ready.” My sexy man gives my ass a squeeze.

  We haven’t had sex since the attack. I know it’s only because he worries about me, but I want him. I’m hoping if I get him relaxed enough, he will stop treating me like I am going to shatter whenever he touches me. I appreciate him being delicate and sensitive to my needs I do. But I have other needs too and I miss him.

  What can I say? I’m addicted to Roane.

  I pull his face back to mine and claim his lips. When he moves back, I gaze deeply into his eyes, and I know that he’s my forever. A part of me has always known he was my one.

  All it took for both of us was one kiss to seal our fate.

  “I love you, Roane.”

  “Love you too, baby doll.”

  I go to the bedroom and lay out my clothes on the bed. My sweet nutty sister unpacked everything for me. She was feeling guilty because she was here when Sam grabbed me but neither of us had any way of knowing he would show up and do what he did. In the bathroom I get the shower ready and undress.

  I’m not under the spray of water long before my man is stepping in behind me. “Holy shit, woman. What are you trying to do melt my balls off? Fuck that’s hot.”

  “It’s not that hot.”

  “The hell it isn’t. Satan himself would be sweating.”

  “You don’t have to shower with me,” I point out, but I adjust the temperature a smidge.

  “And miss out on seeing you all soaped up and naked. Not happening. I’ve missed you, Jules.”