That stuff’s not real; they were stories meant to keep us compliant. He must be speaking figuratively. Right?
Spider gives Dragon a nod. “Consider it done, Prez.”
While Dragon heads for the hall at the back, Spider walks toward the hall that leads to the bedrooms.
“Snake!” He roars out a few other unfamiliar names. “Meeting in the chapel!”
Doors open down the hall to the bedrooms. The door to the office opens and the man with the silver ponytail steps out with his arm around Dee. He gives her a deep, probing kiss and then playfully shoves her into a chair at a table.
So that must be Snake.
Spider returns to me and grabs my nape, pulling me to him. “I still have your panties in my pocket, Wildcat.” His hot breath tickles my ear. The hum that rumbles from his throat is pure, predatory hunger. “I’ve been thinking about fucking you all day. I’ll be back shortly. When my meeting is over, I expect you to be naked, waiting in my bed.”
The complacency in his tone galls me, but it’s the threat in his voice that fills me with real fear. He speaks as if he owns me, as if I don’t have a choice.
Oh, heaven help me. I’ve never had sex with a man before. The closest I’ve come is what he did to me last night. And if I don’t please him, he’s going to kill me?
My heartbeat fills my head. The man scares the life out of me.
I stiffen in his grip. “You can’t just—”
He puts his fingertips to my lips and brings his face close enough to mine that I can feel the heat of his lips. His skin is hot where his chest melds with mine, and his eyes burn with lust.
He’s like an animal after a fight, driven by a need to mate that threatens to reduce him to a mindless beast. An urge he intends for me to satisfy whether I want to or not.
“Shh. Take it easy, Wildcat. Be good to me. Don’t give me a reason to kill you.”
My eyes go wide and my heart batters my chest. My breathing comes in quick pants, but he either doesn’t notice, or he doesn’t care.
Spider turns and follows Dragon toward the back of the bar. On the way, he passes Pip sitting at his table. Pip stands up, opening his mouth as if to say something. Spider punches him right in the face.
Pip goes flying and slams into the table behind him. “Fuck, Spider I only took my eyes off of her for a second.” He wipes blood from his nose. “I—”
Spider ignores him, stalking to the end of the hall, where he, Snake, and a group of other men are disappearing through double doors at the end of it. The doors close, and Spider is gone without a look back.
Don’t give me a reason to kill you.
I close my eyes, my chest rising and falling fast at the thought of what he’ll do to me when that meeting is over. And what will happen if I don’t comply.
Forget soon. I need to get out of here now.
9
Last Chance
As soon as Spider leaves, I mean to hightail it to his bathroom and make a run for it, but no one gives me a chance to slip away. By the time Spider disappears into that room at the end of the hall, it’s going on noon. Casper’s is getting busier with the lunch hour rush, and Tequila and the other women keep me hopping.
To make matters worse, the room is now packed with bikers having their midday meals, and a lot of the men are armed. I see holsters on hips or hanging down against their sides when those leather vests move aside. Some carry blades in sheaths at their waists, or hilts stick up from the tops of boots.
I move between the tables, bringing trays of food and drink and keeping the place clean along with Sassy and a couple of other girls, all the while trying not to notice the firearms. That, or the danger that seems to pulse all around me just under the surface of friendly banter and joking around. Every time a man reaches for his gun or his knife, I tense, even when he’s only setting the pistol or blade on a table.
It shouldn’t bother me to see so many men carrying. The pastors have what they call soldiers standing at all entrances and doors to off-limit areas on the Colony grounds at all times, sometimes with shotguns in hand. But this is different.
In the Colony, although the threat of deadly force is very real, only the soldiers are armed, a small number of men trained to use them as a last resort. The actual use of the weapons is exceedingly rare. And for someone like me who knows no other life, the soldiers become part of the background, like statues we tend to forget about until someone gives them cause to remind us.
Here, nearly every man is armed with one deadly weapon or another, and some look like they wouldn’t need much provocation to use them.
It stands to reason that all of the bikers here know I’m being held here against my will. If I do anything to tip my hand, Spider will hear about it. If he does, I have no doubt that a repeat of last night will be the least of my problems. It’ll be curtains for me.
Twenty minutes pass while Spider and the others are still in that room, and every moment, I feel like I’m balanced on a knife’s edge. I keep my eyes peeled for an opening, the smallest chance to sneak off to Spider’s room, but no opening presents itself. Someone’s attention is always on me. Especially Pip, who watches me every second. Apparently, he’s not about to risk Spider’s anger again.
Without knowing how long Spider will be in his meeting, I have no idea how much time I have before I’ll lose what might be my only chance to escape.
I refuse to end up in his bed, naked, waiting to be subjected to his twisted desires.
A short time later, I’m helping out in the kitchen when I hear Spider’s voice drifting from the common room.
I freeze with what must be my tenth glass of water to my lips. His meeting is over. Time’s up.
I excuse myself to use the bathroom for the third time. The last two times I went, there’d been men outside that window. All I can do is hope there isn’t anyone out back now.
While the cook’s back is turned, I snag two bottles of water. They’re warm, but those bottles could be the difference between life and death.
Then, while Spider is talking to some of the other men, I slip down the hall to his bedroom.
My plan poses too many dangers to count. Not only might Spider happen to come in and catch me. Not only might someone have somehow realized what I was planning and told him. I might also get lost in the desert, dying of heat exhaustion or dehydration before I find another living soul. Or, I might run into Jacob, or one of Seth’s men, who will waste no time dragging me back to him.
I shudder. I have no choice. I can’t stay here, waiting to be used like a whore. Waiting until Spider decides that my time is up and he ends it all.
Heart hammering, I step into his bedroom and shut the door. It’s roasting in here. The heat provides an unwelcome reminder of the merciless inferno waiting for me outside, but I shove the thought down and scurry to the bathroom. I climb into the tub, say a silent prayer and open the window, looking out.
There’s no one out there. Not a soul.
Hope burns hot in my chest and I let out an almost squeal at my luck.
It’s now or never.
Tossing the water bottles out the window, I draw a deep breath, then hoist myself through, dropping onto the hardened sand below.
The heat hits me in a punishing wave. The flat, dry landscape that stretches in all directions has never looked so desolate.