“I dunno, any of your men bored? We could set up another play date.” I raise a brow at her, toying with her, not my smartest idea, but I do find it kind of funny I took down two of her guys. Lip would be proud.
“You put two of my men in slings, you think that shit’s funny?”
I laugh, putting on a show that I am not afraid, but deep down I’m having a hard time keeping my shit together. I want to beg for my life, offer this bitch anything she wants… but I’m stronger than that. I just have to buy my time until my family finds me.
“Rad was supposed to take someone important from the Devils if things went wrong. Like Dani or Cherry,” she continues, insulting my very existence. “But, he took you.” Her face twists into a look as if she ate a bad apple.
“Poor you.” I roll my eyes. “Let me go and I’ll make sure to give my club the memo that Dani’s presence is needed,” I continue, a sinister smile curling my lip. Dani would annihilate this bitch.
“We could kill her, that would get a rise out of them,” Rad informs from the doorway. I didn’t even know he was standing there. His words race down my spine like a cup of ice water in the middle of July, making my body tense.
“Mmm, maybe,” she mutters.
“Nobody would miss her, I mean. Not for very long anyway. Sluts aren’t loved like real people.” Rad stabs me where it hurts. He’s always been so nice to me, I can’t believe that’s what he really thinks of me. I hope Saint puts a bullet in his head.
“How’s the truck coming?” Candy implores, her tone suggesting she’s not happy Rad brought it here.
“It’s being parted, but they found a Lojack on it, it’s being handled,” Rad informs.
Lojack? What the fuck is that?
Candy looks at me, her head tilted to the side. She’s trying to decide what to do with me.
“Do you think they’ll give the gavel over for her?”
Rad shrugs, and I laugh hysterically. This bitch is delusional.
“If you know anything about the club, you know they have resources, other clubs, and gangs. Even if you get lucky and take the club name, you won’t last a second on the streets.” I cackle, amused that she thinks she has this all figured out. Clubs have rules and standards. They aren’t just going to let this crazy bitch take me in exchange for an organization.
Her perfect brows narrow in, realization that she doesn’t have full control over the situation finally sitting on her pretty little head.
“Yeah, fuck it. Kill her.” Candy waves Rad forward, and I buck up off the bed. My eyes wide. Is she serious? What the hell does she think she’s going to get if I’m dead? Rad flicks out a switchblade, his eyes dilating from the boundaries he’s about to cross. He fists the knife with purpose, his strides across the room smoother than a cheetah.
Screaming for my life, I stand on the mattress, trying to get as far away from him as I can but the fucking handcuff keeps my distance limited. He fists my shirt, dragging me down onto the bed, I try and kick at him but he’s quick to press the cold blade amongst the skin of my collarbone, I still for the fear of moving might slice my throat. I lose all confidence and let the sob I’ve bene holding sweep through my body.
“I’m pregnant!” Escapes with my cries before I can grab the words back. Hoping if they know I’m with child, they’ll think of the baby and not just me.
“Wait!” Candy suddenly snaps, raising her hand, Rad stills as if he’s trained on command. Her face is cold as she looks me over, her mouth parted with disbelief. She looks like a woman who was just taken to a jewelry store, her eyes feasting on a gift she’s only dreamed of. I take the chance to slowly let out a ragged breath, careful not to press the skin of my neck any harder onto the knife.
“So what? Let’s do this,” Rad insists, applying pressure to the blade. I wince, stretching my neck as far away as I can.
Candy pushes herself off the trunk and shoves Rad away from me. Her hands press into the mattress on each side of my head, her blonde hair falling onto my face as she hovers over me.
“Pregnant? That changes things,” she mutters, her perfect face void of concern as I silently cry. She thumbs a tear running down my cheek, tilting her head, she gazes upon me, mystified by my emotions. Thank God she sees me as a mother, a woman like her. Relief floods my body so hard I feel the need to pee on the blanket beneath me.
Candy smirks like a cat that just ate the family’s goldfish and any ribbon of hope that I was hanging onto, threads away.
“They’ll look for you for a while, but you’ll eventually become old news,” she whispers to herself. Her eyes fall to my stomach and my heart skips a beat.
“A baby,” she whispers with astonishment as if she knocked me up and just found out we’re having a baby. I squirm beneath her, a different kind of fear resurfacing in my chest. She has to be joking. Why would she want a baby, she has her own kids.
“Mom, the plan is to use her to take the club over, not for some baby,” Rad growls from behind her. “We’d get territory, the respect…”
She stands straight, shoving up the sleeves to her leather jacket.
“I love you, Rad, but when I had you, I couldn’t have any more kids.” Her face takes on a sad look, a memory in her past that broke her and she can’t move on from. Did something go wrong with the pregnancy? Was Rad as much a monster in the womb that he is now?
“Everyone out there.” He points to the window, a dozen people of all ages living and working. “They’re your kids!” he shouts, his tone wrapped in jealousy that they’re not enough. “You promised them something more!”
“It’s not the same. They all came to me practically adults, with problems of their own. I want a baby.” Desperation heavy in her voice scares me. “I want the infant smell, cute clothes, and the innocence that comes with it,” she murmurs, never taking her eyes off of me.
“More than the club?” Rad’s red in the face, a blood vessel popping through the sun-kissed skin on his forehead.
“Maybe, that club owes me and I won’t be satisfied until I get everything I want. When I was pregnant with you, Bull didn’t care that Locks was your dad, he banned me even after I gave everything I had to that damn dump!” She side-eyes him, her hand waving about in the air angrily.
“You know she was with a black guy, the baby isn’t white.” He points out the baby’s race as if it’s a bad thing. My jaw ticks with rage. Racist fucker.
“So what, mixed babies are so damn cute,” Candy coos, her eyes fixated on my belly as if she’s picking out a puppy from a breeder.
She turns to look at Rad, hand on her hip as if she’s not a mother but some young woman with more sass than she knows what’s to do with.
“Besides, if you kill her, what the fuck would we use her for anyway?”
Closing my eyes, I can’t help but shake with fear. I’m going to be their prisoner for nine fucking months. Even if they manage to deliver my baby safely, they’ll kill me. I know it.
Opening my eyes, I swallow the vulnerability like cheap vodka.
I’m going to give them hell before I let them take my life. They want a fight, then that’s what they’ll get.