Frustration built inside me. “We don’t have time for this. They have ten minutes, and that’ll be pushing it from here.”
“Did you stop to think this might be a trap?”
My gut tightened. No, I hadn’t thought of that. Just then several women started pouring out of the clubhouse. I saw guns slung over shoulders and some on belt clips.
“I’m thinkin’ we’ll be okay.”
Blaze and Princess came up first. “Let’s go.” She handed Ensley a handgun, and I gasped.
“You know how to work a gun?”
“Micah taught me. Now I feel better. Let’s go.”
I didn’t end up driving my car, but I did drive Blaze’s Tahoe. It was a nice vehicle, and I hoped like hell I didn’t damage it. So many of the Ravage MC ol’ ladies were either in this vehicle or the three others following us.
Princess, Blaze, Angel, Tanner, Bella, Shaina, Bristyl, Rylie, Austyn and Emery were the ones that I saw.
“Who’s with Remy?” I asked Ensley.
“Ma, Mearna, and Leah stayed back with her,” Ensley said with confidence, making me feel better.
It didn’t hit me until we turned into a long drive.
The crematory.
Where bad things happened.
Where Daniel kidnapped me..
Where things I’d never be able to forget resided, and here I was … once again.
“You okay?” Ensley asked, noticing my hands clutching the wheel.
“Just comin’ back here sucks. It’s nice that all these women are with us, though. It helps.” I’d never had this before. Ever. So many women ready to stand beside me and if need be, fight for others they didn’t know, but I did, so they were here. It was a truly humbling moment.
“We got your back,” Princess called from the back seat, hand holding her gun. She was ready.
Breathe. It’ll be okay. They got my back. That warmed me so much.
“Start lookin’ around. There’s a few trees, but I’m thinkin’ they’ll be hidin’ on the other side of the building since you can’t see it from the house,” Ensley said, and I didn’t waste time. I was going to scratch the Tahoe. A problem for another time.
Going through the dirt and grass, we headed to the side of the building. Two forms were huddled in the back corner. “There they are.”
I slammed on the brakes, put it in park, and Ensley and I jumped out.
“You’re really here,” Margaret said with amazement. She looked the same as the last time I saw her. Long hair up in a bun and clothes from top to toe showing absolutely no skin. Her eyes, though, were sad and void.
I remembered those days. Even the look in her eyes.
“Let’s go.” Daphne had tears rolling down her face. Something had happened to her, but I didn’t have time to ask questions.
Four trucks growled in the distance, heading our way quickly. I grabbed Margaret, and Ensley grabbed Daphne.
Princess and Blaze took over the front two seats as we heard gunfire. I threw Margaret to the ground and covered her. It only took moments, and we were in a standoff.
Women I knew, men who I didn’t on one side with guns directed at us.
The Ravage MC ol’ ladies on our side with guns pointed at them.
It was like an old Western movie.
The truck door opened and my mother, the biological one, came out. She was the same as always too. Every woman was the same here. There was no individuality whatsoever.
“Sybil and Cyrus. Why are you on our land?” my mother asked, walking toward us. I couldn’t help the nerves at seeing her. Even being out as long as I’d been still didn’t stop the pain of her never standing up for me or my sisters. Then the nerves turned to anger… She never stood up for us. What kind of mother didn’t stand up for her children?
“Bitch. I’ll put a bullet between your eyes, if you take another step.” That was Austyn’s voice. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree when it came to Princess and her daughter.
My mother stopped immediately, taking the threat seriously. At least that was good.
I rose and pulled Margaret with me then behind me.
“Margaret, get over here now,” my mother ordered, pointing her finger at the ground. “Daphne, you too. You are not going with these people.”
“Yeah. They are.” I believed that was Bristyl’s voice behind me, but I wasn’t a hundred percent on that one.
“No, they’re not.” Two of the men in the back of two different trucks hopped down. “That’s my wife,” One of them said. My stomach dropped to the ground. They’d already married off my sister? I hated that for them.
The two men weren’t bad looking, but after being around Dryerson and the rest of the Ravage MC men, these two didn’t hold a candle to them. With their chests puffed out, they thought they were the roosters in this hen house. Made me wonder if they were the new leaders. If they were, this place sure moved fast in that department.
“Wife?” Blaze asked, but it was directed at Margaret.
“Tomorrow. Both Daphne and I are supposed to marry these two,” Margaret answered, and my heart squeezed.
“Do you want to marry them sweetie?” Blaze asked Margaret.
Her head shook as she stated, “No.”
Blaze asked the same question to Daphne, and her answer was the same.
“I don’t care what they want,” Mother said. “They are gettin’ married tomorrow. We need babies since you degenerates murdered all of our men.”
I heard Princess chuckle, but it was Ensley who talked. “The men who tortured us? The men who bled out the elders just to get ahead? The men who almost killed us? Those men?”
“I wish they would’ve killed you two,” Mother sneered. You’d think that would hurt, but it didn’t. She was nothing to me. heck, I didn’t think she ever was. I was just a workhorse.
“Right. I’m done with this shit,” Princess announced. “Get in the SUV,” she ordered us, and I began to move Margaret back.
“We will shoot,” the man threatened.
“So will we,” Blaze said, her gun pointed at the man’s head. I had no doubt she would. She’d be protecting someone I cared about which was astonishing. No, none of us had ever had this kind of care. It wasn’t my sisters fault they were born into this life.
Shots began to ring, out and I tossed Margaret in the vehicle. Ensley did the same to Daphne on the other side, and they collided as we hopped in behind them. “Sorry.”
Princess hit the gas, slamming our doors shut all the while with a gun out the window shooting.
As she turned the SUV around, several others had guns sticking out of their windows, firing. As they turned, so did the guns and the bullets.
We were off, and I’d bet everything I had that all these vehicles were damaged from the bullets. I sighed loudly once we got out of the area and no one was following us partially relieved.
I turned in the middle seat to the back where my sisters now sat. “What’s goin’ on?” I asked them.
It was Margaret who talked. Daphne always was a quiet one.
“Since all the deaths, a new prophet came from Utah. He also brought all of his brothers and sons, who each had wives and children that also came. We were getting married off quickly to replenish what we’d lost.”