Gravel (MC Biker Romance) (21 page)

Rip pursed his lips as if he seemed
to agree with me but couldn’t say anything.

“I’ve been in this world for a
while now,” I said. “This MC world. I know how sick and twisted you guys are. I
know that us women are nothing but pawns.”

Rip placed his hands behind his
head and leaned back. He seemed to be listening to me.

“Do you have kids,
Rip
?” I asked.

“I do,” he said. “A son and a
daughter.”

“Yeah, well, I’m someone’s daughter
too,” I said. “What if someone did this to your daughter?”

Rip laughed. “That would never
happen.”

“Oh, yeah? Why not?” I asked with
my arms crossed.

“She knows better than to date a
biker or get involved with the gang,” he said. “Plus, I haven’t seen her in
five years.
She’s protected by another chapter out east
.
No one can get to her. No one will touch her.”

“That’s what you think. You just
can’t be sure,” I said. “Things happen.”

“Are you threatening my daughter,
bitch?” he asked as he leaned forward. His face suddenly grew serious.

“No, not at all,” I said with my
hands in the air. “I would never. I’m just trying to prove a point. People are
evil.”

I looked him up and down and he sat
back in his chair. I could tell this conversation was quickly becoming counterproductive.

“You know
Raze’s
not even in the Black Ice anymore,” I smirked. As soon as the words escaped my
mouth, I realized what a mistake I’d made. Now they’d know that he wasn’t under
any sort of protection anymore.

“Really?” Rip said as he leaned
forward. “Tell me more.”

“No,” I said, trying to think of a
way to backtrack as fast as possible. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I don’t believe you for one
second,” he sneered. “What do you mean he’s no longer with the Black Ice?”

“He’s on a solo mission,” I lied.
“That’s all I know.”

“A solo mission?” Rip repeated with
a winced face. “Never heard of such a thing.”

“It’s something new they’re doing,”
I said. “The gang is planting a bunch of sleepers all around the country.
They’ve got them everywhere.
Men just waiting for the call.
Men just waiting to be told what to do and who to do it to.
He recruits and trains them. They’re everywhere.”

I was proud of myself for thinking
so well on the fly, but I could tell Rip still wasn’t buying it completely.

“I’m just saying, you should be
careful,” I said. “You might think
Raze’s
alone, but
he’s not. He’s got all kinds of resources in just about every town in every
country in America.”

Rip laughed a hearty, belly laugh.

“Oh, man,” he said. “You just about
had me.”

“Fine,” I said, trying to hold my
own. “Don’t believe me. You’ll see soon enough.”

“What the
fuck
are
you two dim wits talking about?” Shark said as he walked out with a
towel around his waist. His blonde, frizzy chest hairs were soaking wet and laying
limp down his chest. Disgusting.

“This bitch is trying to say that
the Black Ice have sleepers all over the country, just waiting to attack when
they get the call,” Rip said as he pointed to me like I was some moron. “Like
they’re the fucking CIA or something.”

I glanced up at Shark to gauge his
reaction. He didn’t seem to buy it completely, but he didn’t make any kind of
snide remark like Rip did. I could tell it seemed somewhat believable to him,
or at least I hoped.

We were suddenly
interrupted by a rapping on the door
. I hoped against all hope that it
was Raze, ready and waiting to kick their
asses
and
take me away, but I knew that was unrealistic.

Rip stood up and peeked out the
peep hole
.

“It’s Rat Hole,” he said as he
unfastened the locks on the door and let him in. “Hey, man.”

A scrawny guy with facial tattoos
and a shaved head stepped in from outside. He was strapped in fifty tons of
black leather and looked about as mean as could be. He had a plastic bag of
something under his arm and his helmet under his other arm. He wore a cut with
the Marquis Devils logo on it and a bunch of other intricate patches and
symbols. I couldn’t make them all out from across the room, but I knew it meant
he was a
higher ranking
member. My guess was that he was
not quite presidential status but pretty close.

“This her?” he asked as he nodded
my way.

I took a step back and sat on the
bed as I watched.

“You got the stuff?” Rip asked.

Rat Hole tossed the plastic sack
towards him, and I watched as he rifled through it. I couldn’t tell for sure,
but it seemed like they might have been clothes. I hoped for a pair of jeans
and a t-shirt. A bra. Underwear. Anything. I had to get out of these dirty,
human-secretion stained pajamas.

“These will definitely do,” Rip
said as a sinister smile spread across his lips. “Good work.”

“I took ‘
em
from some of the other bitches,” Rat Hole said. “Asked ‘
em
for their nastiest stuff.”

I swallowed the lump that had
suddenly formed in my throat as I realized it was not jeans or t-shirts they
were talking about.

I turned around to see Shark
standing behind me, fully clothed now, and smelling somewhat decent.

“You got the stuff?” Shark asked.

“Yep,” Rat Hole said. “Was just
showing it to
Rip
. You guys definitely got a good little
plan going. Pretty genius if you ask me.”

“Yeah, tell that to Snake and Blue
Eyes, will
ya
?” Shark said. “Been trying to work our
way up for years.”

My mind raced as I tried to imagine
what sort of plan they had cooked up for me now. Then again, I was probably
better off not knowing. If I knew, I’d spend the rest of the day obsessing over
it and working myself up pretty bad.

“See you guys tonight,” Rat Hole
said as he nodded to each of them. “You know the place, right?”

“The Matterhorn Pub,” Snake said.
“Nine.”

“Right,” Rat Hole replied as he
left.

I had a tiny bit of information at
least. We were going out to a bar that
night
. At least
I assumed they were taking me with them. I couldn’t imagine them leaving me
back here all by myself.

My stomach fluttered with
anticipation
as I knew exactly what I would do in that bar.
I was going to scream and yell and make a scene. I was going to beg someone to
call 9-1-1. I was going to get my freedom and send those assholes behind bars
for kidnapping and assault. They were going down, and it was going to happen
that night. I was so sure of it.

The men said nothing after Rat Hole
left. We settled into a day of watching T.V., mostly in silence. As the hours
dragged on and early afternoon set in, we had watched hours of soap operas and
daytime talk shows, as well as a few episodes of Law and Order, ironically.

“
Welp
,”
Rip said as he stood up. “I think I better go grab some food. Little miss is
going to need some energy for tonight.”

Shark laughed and nodded, saying
nothing. My stomach rumbled at the mere mention of food, but I was afraid of
what was going to come after that. I sat quietly with Shark as Rip left. I
heard the rumbling of the truck outside the window and listened as he drove off
in the distance. I glanced at the sack of clothes across the room and wondered
what they were. I didn’t want to ask. My pajamas felt disgusting as they clung
to my clean skin. They were grimy and sweat-laced, and I couldn’t wait to get them
off, but at what expense?

Rip returned twenty or so minutes
later with a few bags of some sort of hot, fast food. He threw a bag at me.

“Here, eat,” he said. The bag
burned hot on my lap and the smell was incredible. It had been so long since
I’d had an actual warm meal. I tore the bag open to reveal a huge bag of French
fries and some sort of sandwich wrapped in wax paper.

I grabbed the sandwich first and
peeled the paper off. It was some kind of breaded chicken smothered in
mayonnaise, tomatoes, pickles, and lettuce amongst other things. I hated
mayonnaise, but I was going to swallow this entire thing whole if I had to. I
was starving, and it was a hot meal. That’s all that mattered.
 

I took a huge bite of the chicken
sandwich and tried to ignore the bursts of tangy, gelatinous mayonnaise that
escaped onto my tongue. It wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t as awful as I
remembered mayonnaise to be the last time I tried it. I guess being super
hungry just makes things taste better.

“Oh, here’s this,” Rip said as he
handed me a tall can of some sort of energy drink.

“An energy drink?” I asked.

“Yep, you’ve got a big night ahead
of you,” he replied. “Drink it all.”

I focused on the food, trying to
stay in the moment, and washed everything down with the energy drink when I was
all done. At least whatever they had planned for me, I wasn’t going to be
drugged up or passed out for any of it. I took what little comfort I could in
knowing I was going to be fully present and alert for everything that night.

“Good girl,” Shark said as he
watched me swallow the last sip.

The men ate their meals over by the
table, while I stayed seated on the bed. I had barely moved the entire day, and
my body was starting to ache and stiffen up. I stood up and stretched a bit before
heading to throw my garbage away in the bathroom.

“Where do you think you’re going?”
Shark asked.

“Throwing this away,” I replied.
“Is that okay?”

“I guess,” he huffed. He knew he
was being unreasonable.

“Hey, while you’re up, why don’t
you change,” Rip suggested with a sinister smile.

“Change into what?” I asked,
playing dumb.

Rip nodded towards the plastic bag
on the floor and kicked it with his outstretched foot.

I walked over and retrieved it,
taking it with me back over to my spot on the bed. It was the only spot I had
in that tiny motel room that was mine. My heart sank as I began to rifle
through it. It was just as I’d feared. Skimpy, trashy lingerie filled that
thing almost all the way to the top. There were endless options to pick from, as
long as I wanted to show off my tits and ass.

“What the fuck is this?” I asked,
displeasure all over my face.

“Tonight, you’re earning your
keep,” Rip said. “We’re putting you to work.”

“You’re pimping me out
?!
” I asked. It would’ve been one thing if those assholes
were just wanting me to strip for them or do stuff with them, but to pimp me
out to complete strangers was the worst thing they could possibly do. “I knew
you guys were a lot of things, but I thought you were better than this.”

“We’re a little short on dough,”
Shark laughed. I didn’t believe him for one second. “We’ve got to use what
resources we have. Right now, you’re our only resource for some quick cash.”

“I know that’s not true,” I said.

Rip and Sharked snickered and
exchanged looks. They didn’t care if I believed them or not. They knew I didn’t
have a choice in the matter.

“So pick something real
perdy
and try it on for us,” Rip insisted.

I felt sick to my stomach. The food
from earlier wasn’t sitting right all of a sudden.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” I
said.

“Bullshit,” Shark said. He seemed
to have very little patience for me. “Take those nasty ass pajamas off and put
on something from that
fuckin
’ bag. Or I’ll do it for
you.”

“Alright, alright,” I lamented.

I pulled my top off and slid down
my pajamas. I was naked before them once more. I thought each time would get
easier but it never did. I rifled through the bag and pulled out a hot pink
teddy. I laid it on top of the bed and pulled out a black, lacy bra and panty set
with a matching garter belt. I pulled out a third item, a purple polka dot
bustier with a purple thong and laid that down. Out of everything, the black
lace teddy covered the most, but it still didn’t cover a lot.