I'm not too up on the latest biker bullshit though I'd heard stories before I came here and had done some research on my own to get some idea of what I was walking into. There's some shit that these people do that I can never wrap my head around, but one thing I know, if a seller has a buyer lined up, then there were talks of a deal.I walked outside, where some of the men were still milling around, no doubt talking about what just happened with Sam. I saw the only Billy in the group that I'd met so far. A middle-aged beer gutted man with a dirty grey and brown beard who looked like he hadn't seen the inside of a shower in ages.I knew from the way he reacted when I called out his name and started walking towards him that he knew precisely why I was coming after him. His eyes jumped around like a cornered rat looking for an escape. There is none.I saw my two shadows move away from the wall where they'd been standing and follow behind me. I stopped right in front of this specimen, look
I looked up at the roof of the building where one of my guys was lounging, waiting for some action. I didn't want to yell up to him or give his position away, so I pulled my phone and hit the number three. "Where did he go, Wolf?" I swear that fuck sniffed the air."He just crossed the town limit; why?""Bring him back, but not here, you know where. And Wolf, I want him alive!""On it!" I barely saw his shadow on the side of the building across from where he'd been as he leaped to the ground about twenty feet below and took off at a sprint. "Use the car, Wolf, or grab a bike; this isn't the desert."I heard him stop even though I could no longer see him. "Oh, yeah, okay." I shook my head and hung up as I heard an engine roar to life somewhere on the other side of the lot. Finally, I was getting somewhere. I worked the kinks out of my neck and headed back inside.I felt eyes on me as I walked but paid no attention to the men who were lounging about in the yard. Some of them, the ones I'
Since I'm not used to nor have I ever been in the habit of explaining myself to anyone, I wasn't about to start now. So when Silla asked me once again why she and her mother couldn't go back to the clapboard house they lived in, I didn't give her an answer, and she didn't push. I'm not sure if that was because of me and my standoffish air or because her sperm donor had beaten her into submission so often that she was afraid to speak up.I didn't like that one bit; I didn't want her associating me with such things in her mind. Then again, maybe it's for the best. Perhaps it's best she keeps her distance out of fear. That pain in my chest grew stronger with the thought, but I ignored it this time as I heard my shadows come back in and stand outside the door, just in time."Sebastian, Garret, come in here, please." They opened the door and walked in, making the two women jump. They have that effect on most people since no one ever knows that they're there until they're ready for them to.
I walked into the middle of the yard and waited and was just in time to see Wolf dragging in his prey. I guess he conveniently forgot that I told him not to bring him here. Most likely, he's doing it so the others can see and know fear. For someone who likes to live his life in the shadows, he can be a real showoff. I didn't show my exasperation at his tactics when he came to stand in front of me with his latest catch hogtied and fit to be tied. No pun intended."Hello, Sam!""I thought you told me to get out of town; I was on my way when this…" He looked at Wolf with a healthy amount of fear. I didn't bother asking what he'd done to him because I know my Wolf can do a lot in a matter of seconds."Wolf, did you drag him back here like that?" I looked at the rope he had tied around the older man's girth with its intricate knots that kept him pretty much from moving everything but his feet and head. He smiled at me in that way of his that I've grown used to."No, I kicked him part of the
"Mace, we'll be having two more for dinner, and they'll be around for the next little while. Have your staff fix up the two guestrooms for them, will you." I found my chef and Jack-of-all-trades in the kitchen concocting some shit that was bound to make me feel like a grazing animal. This fuck had gone to some convention for kitchen hacks like himself and came back with new ways to torture my ass. Some days the shit he puts in front of me passed off as healthy eating makes me wish I'd left his ass to die in the desert instead of saving his life.One selfless act almost seven years ago had gained me a lifelong sidekick and one of the few people I trust. "Who? I refuse to take care of that riffraff you've taken up with. When are we getting out of here anyway?" The six-foot-four African American man glared daggers at me as he chopped something green and no doubt tasteless."I told you before; we'll be here for a while. As to who's coming here, it's a young woman and her mother. Her old m
"He just came out of the bathroom. I guess he's finished his call.""Did we get the trace?""Working on it now, boss.""Good, keep me posted. By the way, I don't think we should get rid of this one just yet. He seems to be the link we were missing.""I think so too.""Have you boys started working on him yet?"'" Nope, we thought we'd let him sweat a little bit first, let his guard down, and that's exactly what he did." Yes, he did. I hung up the phone and sat back in my chair in the home office at dad's place. It never ceases to amaze me just how fucking dumb the criminal element truly is. Then again, no one here would expect me to take the measures I have.All phones had been cloned and tagged. Any calls going in and out were recorded. Like the one Billy just made in the bathroom. Even the bathrooms were bugged for sound, but only where it wouldn't infringe on anyone's privacy in a court of fucked up law. I don't need to hear the men taking a shit or pissing. But I am very intereste
Unlike mom, I was able to escape him for a time during the school day when I was younger. It was there where I learned that everyone did not live the way we do, where I was able to make friends who introduced me to the world beyond our little town and was my escape into the world-wide-web.Maybe that's when it started when I started pushing back against the unnecessary restraints. When I started wanting more for mom and I. Or was it when I started questioning everything about our lives? Things that I had long just gone along with that no longer made sense.Like the fact that I didn't like Sam or him me and that we were nothing alike in appearance or actions. Or the fact that mom didn't seem to like him even a little bit. There was more fear between those two than love, a fear that had led me to ask questions, which no one ever paid any heed to.I still didn't have any answers since Sam's only way of communicating here of late was with his fists. But I can't forget the look of terror on
"How'd she get the black eye?" Mace, the thirty-one-year-old yenta, looked around the kitchen island at Sebastian, Garrett, and I, like one of us had done it."Her sperm donor did it.""Is he dead?""Not yet."I guess that wasn't good enough because he slammed the cleaver down on the cutting board. I ignored him; of course, I'm used to his theatrics, but the other two likes to egg him on. He had a lot to say about me going soft among some other colorful things, and I was in no mood for his shit."I need to get something out of him, okay.""From the looks of it, he's been thumping on her and her mama for a while." Now he's an expert on domestic abuse. I'm not sure how he came by that conclusion true though it was, because there were no obvious bruises on the mother."Looks like. This is the third time since…" The cleaver came down even harder this time, and I felt the heat of his gaze on the side of my head. I didn't lift my head up from reading the business report my assistant had sent