CHAINED: A Motorcycle Club Romance (21 page)

For a moment, it looked as though the man wanted to argue with the girl, but he swallowed down his objections and shrugged. "Hey, it's your revenge," he said, turning back to James.

"I'm not scared of you," the millionaire lied as the man clicked the blade open.

"Really?" the man asked, raising one eyebrow as he locked the blade into the open position. "That seems surprisingly stupid of you. Now, let's see if we can get you to start talking."

And eventually, James talked.

He told them about the brothel, how he had acquired it from a couple of gangsters who were looking at moving out of the area. "Too many damn bikers around," they'd complained when they gave up the brothel to James.

That comment made the men standing guard in the back chuckle, although their faces still looked rather gray. One of them had gone running off when James's tormenter began using the blade, presumably to vomit, but had returned back, wiping off his mouth.

James kept on talking, after a bit of prompting from the man with the blade. He talked about how he had contacts to bring the girls in, how his men did most of the day-to-day running of the operation, but simply deposited the cash in one of the many accounts that he, as CEO of his branch of banks, both controlled and could mask from the authorities. He shared names, details, even information on some of the other illegal operations in which he played a part. The men listening to him exchanged another glance with each other when he mentioned that one of the truckers behind drug running operation had recently been robbed.

Eventually, however, even James fell silent, with nothing else to share. He slumped forward, breathing heavily as blood dripped down his face.

"There," he groaned, his voice hoarse from pain and exertion. "Now, what are you going to do with me?"

His tormentor stood up from the stool across from where James was still bound to his armchair. He stretched his hands up over his head, working out some of the stiffness that had settled into his joints.

"What am I going to do with you?" the man repeated, a bit of humor in his tone as he echoed the question back. "Why, nothing. I think you've answered all of my questions."

For a moment, James felt a little spark of hope flare in his bleeding chest.

"But now, I'm going to turn you over to Jenna, here," the man continued, nodding to the grim-faced girl standing beside him. "And, as I understand it, she's got quite the grudge against you."

James stared up into the girl's eyes, and he felt that little spark of hope extinguish itself. There was no hope in those eyes for him. He suddenly remembered all the torment he had heaped upon her during previous sessions together, how he had abused her body, like he had done to so many other girls.

The man beside her offered her the hilt of the knife, and Jenna solemnly took it from him. "Want me here?" he asked, leaning in to murmur the words to her.

She considered it for a moment, but then shook her head. "I think that this needs to be private," she replied. Her eyes locked onto James, and the hatred flared up anew, making her look briefly like an avenging angel.

"We've got a lot of history to discuss."

#

Sticking to his word, Cain stepped out of the warehouse. After a minute, he heard both Bucky and Talon follow after him. All three of the men stepped out into the warm morning air, feeling the sun warming their black clothing.

Talon was the first to break the silence. "You know, we're calling a lot of trouble down on ourselves with this," he pointed out. "This is going to attract law enforcement, the police, all of them. Even if we avoid their first sweep, there's going to be more eyes on the area for years, just looking for trouble."

"So what, you want to let him go?" Bucky burst out, spinning around to glare at the older officer. "Are you crazy? You saw what he did to those girls, heard what he told us! And even if we let him go, he'd still bring seven kinds of Hell down onto our heads-"

Cain laid his hand on Bucky's shoulder, cutting the man off. "I'm sure that Talon is just as angered over the offenses that man committed as you are," he said soothingly. "And Bucky's right, too. It's too late for us to give up now."

"Besides," he went on, "I'm not even agreeing it to because Jenna deserves vengeance. After all the evil that the man in there has committed, I can't even see myself making any other choice. It would be... wrong."

After a long minute, Talon nodded. The Iron Skulls might differ greatly in personal ethics from member to member, but they all held on to core values, values that forbid rape and torture of innocents and helpless.

As far as they could see, James Archon was neither innocent nor helpless - but his victims definitely were.

For several minutes, the bikers simply enjoyed the sunlight and the fresh air outside the warehouse; it was a welcome break from the lingering smell of death and the comparative darkness inside the building. Adding to that unpleasantness had been the smell of fear rolling off of James Archon, even before he guessed at his fate.

Just as they were about to turn around and head inside, the door opened once more and Jenna emerged. She looked a little stunned, wavering on her feet as though she was about to faint, and both Cain and Bucky rushed to support her in case she fell.

She leaned on Cain for a moment, but then stood on her own, waving the men off. "I'm okay," she said, after taking in a deep breath of the fresh air and breathing it out slowly and gratefully.

"How's the raping bastard of a millionaire?" Bucky asked.

Jenna took another deep breath. "He's not going to hurt anyone else, not any more," she said simply.

The men glanced at each other, and then nodded.

"And what about you?" Cain asked, after another moment of silence. "Are you going to be all right?"

Instead of answering him, Jenna turned and put her arms around him, squeezing her face tightly against his chest. She took several breaths, and Cain cautiously raised his arms around her as well, fearing that she was about to burst into tears.

When she lifted her face from his chest, however, she wore a smile. It was a faint and slightly watery smile, but it was a smile nonetheless, and it grew stronger as she tilted her face up towards the bright, clear morning sun.

"I feel all right," she said quietly, looking up at the blue sky above them. "In fact, I feel much better than all right - I think this is better than I've felt in a very long time."

Cain glanced back over his shoulder at the warehouse behind them, but Bucky and Talon both stepped forward before he could act.

"Don't worry about it," Bucky called out. "Wolf gave us some suggestions on how to make sure that everything vanishes. I don't think that we're going to have to worry much about someone stumbling onto Archon's body, or even realizing where he went."

"After all," Talon picked up with a grin, "what in the world would a respected millionaire businessman be doing in connection with an abandoned brothel?"

For a moment, Cain still hesitated, but Jenna reached down and took his hand. As he felt those smaller, slender fingers slide into his own, thought of the millionaire, of the murder he had just helped to commit, slipped away from Cain's mind. Along with them went concerns over what would happen with the girls still at his barn, with the inevitable investigation by the authorities that would soon follow.

Instead, he simply allowed Jenna to lead him a few steps away, out into the softly swaying grass in the field, into the warmth of the morning sun.

Jenna laughed aloud, turning around in the field, and Cain watched her, once again feeling that strange surge of emotion inside his chest. Love! Such a ridiculous concept, one he had thought completely beyond him by this age.

But he couldn't deny it - and couldn't hold back his own smile.

Chapter thirty-four - Epilogue

Three months later...

With a squeal, Jenna grabbed at the handlebars, eliciting a roar from the engine in response. The big machine between her legs bucked at the acceleration, and she nearly lost her grip and went tumbling backwards.

Standing next to her, Cain hurriedly reached out for the hand controls, silently patting himself on the back for the fiftieth time for having the foresight to lift the machine up and put it on blocks so the rear wheel didn't contact the ground.

"You need to be more gentle with it - it doesn't need a ton of pressure," he said, not for the first time. "You don't mash down the accelerator in a car all the way when you want to accelerate, do you?"

Even as he asked the question, however, Cain felt as though he could have chosen a better example. Jenna tended to handle cars in about the same way that she was attempting to learn to control a motorcycle - throwing herself into it wholeheartedly, not bothering with any concepts like caution or gentleness.

The girl's eyes were wide as she let go of the motorcycle controls, but he could see that she was already raring to try again. "Come on, I almost had it that time!" she insisted, reaching out for the handlebars. "I just have to be fast enough when I pull the clutch in-"

Her instructor groaned as he remembered how that had ground at the bike's gears. Thankfully, he'd also thought ahead enough to pick up a cheap little Honda for Jenna to practice with, instead of trying to put her on his Harley.

"Maybe we should take a few minutes' break, let some of the adrenaline leak out of your system," he suggested tactfully. "We could go for a walk, and then come back to the bike?"

Jenna tossed her hair in response, but then gave in and nodded. "Yeah, okay," she allowed. "But don't think that you're going to end up distracting me so I don't forget about this! I'm making it my goal to learn to ride a motorcycle, and soon I'm going to be going on rides with you!"

Cain nodded, choosing to keep his mouth shut instead of risking any further argument. Instead, he held out his hand and helped Jenna dismount from the stationary mounted motorcycle.

As they turned back towards his house, Cain couldn't help but shake his head as he took in the changes. In just the last couple months, the house had grown and changed, almost to the point where he had trouble recognizing it as still belonging to him.

He'd never bothered before with putting in any sort of lawn, instead preferring to just let the natural grasses grow wild and long. The house had risen up from the natural prairie grasses, its bleached wood blending in well and making it look natural. That appearance had suited Cain just fine - plus, it meant very little upkeep.

But now, the stretch of land in front of the house had been dug up, and small flowering bushes and plants distributed across it. Jenna had even brought in bags of mulch and spread them out across the exposed dirt between the plants. Cain had initially choked at the cost of landscaping, but Jenna leaned in and batted her big eyes at him and he'd found himself powerless to resist.

As they drew closer to the house, Jenna waved one hand as she called out to the workmen. "Hey Dave! Hey Ryan! How's the work going?"

The sweaty men in stained shirts and blue jeans standing around paused in their sawing and hammering and glanced up. "Ah, Mrs. Harnen, hello!" they called back, waving back to Jenna. "Work is good!"

Cain shook his head slightly, making sure that Jenna didn't see him roll his eyes. He'd only exchanged half a dozen words or so with the workmen hired to repair his kitchen, but Jenna had insisted on bringing out cold drinks to them, and she'd committed all of their names to memory. Now, she made sure to greet them and ask them if they were doing all right, and they always greeted her back with beaming smiles.

It certainly seemed to be helping their work, he did have to admit. The repairs on the house were actually ahead of schedule - a rarity in the construction world. At this rate, he'd have a brand new kitchen fully ready by the end of the month.

Flowers, a new kitchen, friendliness towards these laborers repairing his house... Cain shook his head again. In the last few months, Jenna had swept through his life like a tornado, leaving changes and destruction everywhere she turned her attention.

And yet, Cain couldn't muster up even the slightest feeling of annoyance or regret at folding her into his life so completely.

These days, he did have to admit that he felt a bit like a changed man. He could no longer fall asleep in bed unless he could feel the small but still comforting warmth of Jenna curled up beside him, and she never missed an opportunity to scoot in and press herself up against his body beneath the covers. When he woke up, she'd be there - except for when she rose early and returned, flushed and sweaty from her morning run but bearing two steaming cups of coffee.

When he roamed around the house, he felt astounded by the murals painted on almost every wall. During her free time, Jenna made good use of the paint remaining in his garage - and she often sent him out on errands to pick up more colors! But the artwork was all over, showing everything from scenes of the bikers, to scenes of nature and the majestic wilderness. Each painting seemed more vibrant and alive than the last.

Jenna had worked her way so smoothly into his life - but he wasn't the only one that she'd managed to change.