“Who the fuck are you?” I hear. I know it's the man in front of me because I feel his back vibrate as he speaks. His voice is so low that the sound comes out more like a growl than a human voice.
“Oh, I... I’m looking for someone,” he stutters.
“A young woman, real short and curvy with super light blonde hair down to her bottom, big brown eyes, She's in her nightshirt and nothing else. She must be cold. Probably scared out of her mind. She's not used to so many buildings. I'm really worried about her. Have you gentlemen by any chance seen her around?”
The room is so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Then a few men start laughing.
“Did you just call us gentlemen?” one man asks.
The man in front of me chuckles.
“Ink, show this...gentleman where the door is then throw his ass out of it,” he says.
“Now you listen here you heathen...”
The man I'm cowering behind releases my hip and rushes forward. Before I can even get a small glimpse around his back there are two new men, wearing identical black leather vests as the first one, now standing in front of me. It happened so fast there is no way my captor saw me.
“I don't know who you think you are but let me tell you a little something about me,” the man's voice has somehow dropped even lower than before as he continues to speak. “My name is Bear, and I am the mother fucking president of the Infernal Sons, MC. You just barged in on a very important meeting I was having with my brothers. In the middle of the night. You have two options. Turn around and leave or I'll introduce you to Trigger. If you choose option two, then option one will no longer be viable because you'll have a hole between your eyes. I'll give you one minute to make your choice.”
I hear a thump and someone gasping for air.
“Please, I need to find her. She's never been out on her own before.”
“Thirty seconds,” the man I now know is Bear says.
“Okay, I'm leaving. If you see her, call me. It's not safe for her to be out here on her own. I'll leave my card on the table.”
I can hear him walking closer. Most likely to do what he says and drop his card on the table. The closer he gets the faster my heart beats and the shorter my breaths become. I'm about to pass out. I can feel it. I hear muffled voices, but it's drowned out by a high-pitched tone and the darkening of the room.
There’s a small bit of pressure on both sides of my face, and I hear a calm soothing voice calling for my attention. Eventually, the high-pitched noise vanishes and the world around me reappears. Bear is holding my face in his hands, and he's talking. I'm still not here enough to understand what he's saying but he does look a little worried. I wonder what caused him to worry.
Finally, I can hear his voice.
“Sweetheart, can you hear me?” Bear asks.
Not sure if I'm able to speak at the moment I nod my head.
“Good. That's good,” he says. “What's your name?”
Of all the questions in the entire world he could have asked me, why did it have to be that one? Why did it have to be the one question that breaks my heart open every time I think about it? My eyes water and the tears fall. I try to look down but Bears big hands are still wrapped around my face and he doesn't let me.
“Your name, what do I call you?”
Taking a deep breath, I answer the best I can with this lump in my throat. “Nothing.”
Bear's eyes go dark and I can see how hard he's trying to remain calm.
“You are not nothing,” he tells me. “But I really would like to know your name. Just your first name is fine.”
He doesn't understand. I swallow the discomfort and try to explain my answer better.
“I..,” my throat hurts. I try again. “I am... I have no birth name. I am called, girl.”
Bear releases my face and starts pacing back and forth. I don't understand why he's so aggravated. I run to the corner of the room and make myself as small as I can while I cower in fear. When he became angry it never ended well for me. I watch as Bear calms himself and his eyes roam the room. Spotting me in the corner, his face softens a small bit, and he walks over to crouch in front of me.
“We'll get back to that,” he says. “The man who chased you in here, who was he?”
I look up into the stormy blue eyes of Bear, and I answer him with the name of one of the two people I fear most in the whole world. The person who will stop at nothing to find me and take me back. The person who has held me captive for my whole life. Both of my cheeks are wet with tears when I take a breath and give Bear his answer.
“My father.”
Chapter Two
Bear
“Why exactly did we meet here instead of the clubhouse?” I ask.
“We have a rat.”
I close my eyes and run a hand down my face. Just what I need. My Vice-President, Chains, called me about an hour ago and said we needed to call church immediately. But, somewhere besides the clubhouse. So, here we are, well past midnight, the other club officers, and me, all sitting around the table at Lucky. Lucky is the local bar run and owned by the Infernal Sons. We had to shut down tonight to install a new security system.
After Chains is finished speaking the room goes deathly silent. I open my eyes and see five sets of eyes looking back at me.
“Well...what do you have?” I ask.
“I got a call from an old buddy earlier from Columbus. He says he overheard some guys talking about the Infernal Sons.” Chains pauses. “Prez, my buddy told me the exact plans for the Hernandez run we have scheduled two weeks from now.”
Fuck.
“How the fuck is that possible? There is a total of six people who know those plans.”
“That's why I wanted to meet here. I don't think for a second a single person in this room would turn rat,” Chains says, confidently.
I agree with him. I don't think any brother here would betray the club. That only means one thing.
“Someone was listening. The walls in our meeting room are soundproof. Once the door is shut not a single sound can be heard from either side of it. No one overheard our plans during church” I said. “The clubhouse has bugs.”
Just then the back door to the bar is shoved open and we all jump to our feet, chairs falling behind us. Before anyone can react, in runs a small female. She turns around so fast I don’t get a look at her face, and she shuts the door much quieter than when she opened it. She just stands with her hand on the door handle for a few seconds before she turns around.
The second she looks up and I see her face I know my life is about to be turned upside down. She is the most beautiful person I have ever seen. Her hair is the lightest of blonde and her eyes are so dark they're almost black. She's a short beauty with curves that can make a man’s mouth water. The only thing covering her smooth pale skin is a thin layer of fabric that stops just above her knees.
I'm about to say something when I hear a man’s voice yelling from outside. The woman's eyes grow wide with fear. My protective instinct rushes forward and I step toward her but stop when I see her running right for me. She runs until she is slightly behind me and the little slip of a woman plasters herself right against my back. Not even a second later the same door she came through is shoved open, with much more force, and bounces against the wall.