Forbidden (Star Crossed MC Lovers, #1) (15 page)

"What?" I read it again and thought about texting him back and giving him hell. I wasn't in the mood to go anywhere. I was hungry and it would be dark soon. The only place I wanted to be was with Lucky, and since that wasn't a possibility, I'd take a warm meal and my bed instead.

Or not.

I walked out of my room and jogged down the stairs as Mateo walked in the front door.

"Where you headed, Lena?" He held the door open for me.

"To do something for Daddy. Save me a plate." I rolled my eyes and walked out before he could start a full conversation with me. He was a chatty Cathy and while most days I didn't mind, I had no time for that shit tonight.

Elec glanced up again, but didn't say anything. The way his top lip twitched into a nefarious smile, I had no doubt he already knew where I was headed, and unlike me, what was waiting for me there.

The ride went quickly and thanks to the GPS on my phone, I didn't get lost. Pulling up to the old warehouse, I glanced around, not seeing any 'fires' to put out.

Several cars were parked out front and the sound of someone using a welding machine filled up the darkening night. I tucked my phone into my back pocket and walked around to the large opening on the backside of the metal building.

Concern rolled over me. I paused just outside the door, trying to get my bearings and understand better what the fuck I was doing there.

A burly guy with more tats than skin and dark eyes glanced up from beside the car that was getting some body work done on it.

"What do you want, toots?" he barked at me.

"I was told to stop by here by a friend." I glanced around and shrugged. "Not sure why, to be honest."

"Did your friend give you a message to give us, or give you any instructions?" The guy under the car rolled out and stood up, taking off a large welding mask and turning his head to the side as realization rolled over his face. "Delgado?"

I took a step back, not liking the predatory way he looked at me. "Yeah. My father is the kingpin."

"Wow. My lucky day." The guy laughed and glanced toward a lanky greaser who had moved up to my left. "Grab her, Caleb. The stars have turned in our favor."

I turned and fought against him, finally laying a punch to his jaw which afforded me a few minutes. They would get to me before I could get to the bike, but I only needed a minute. I tugged my phone from my back pocket and hit 9-1-1, sending it to Lucky before dropping the device into the front of my pants. I prayed like hell that whatever was going on, my father would ride in before these guys found the phone. If that happened, I would never forgive him.

Two strong arms wrapped around me and lifted me off the ground. I screamed and kicked as the guy from under the car pressed his face against mine. "No, no, my pretty. Someone hand delivered you to us, and we're going to have a great time fucking you up and sending you back to your daddy."

"Let go of me, motherfucker." I waited until his face was at the back of my head to jerk back and slam into him. "Bitch!"

I fell to the ground and scrambled up, running for the door before finding a behemoth with far too much facial hair and a need for a good tooth brush in front of me. "Where you going, pretty girl?"

"Why am I here?" I took a step back as the third guy, Caleb, from what I could recall, wrapped me in a bear hug.

"Watch your face, old boy." The large guy chuckled and turned to talk to the one with the bloody nose. "Why did you let the cunt get one over on you? Dumbass."

He pressed a rag to his nose and turned an angry glare on me. "That's going to cost you."

I tried to jerk away from him as he moved toward me, fury in his gaze, but his friend only tightened his grip. My arms were trapped to my sides, but I kicked out, catching him in the gut once and the face the next time.

"Hold the bitch still, Caleb. Fuck." The guy moved up and swung at me before I could turn my face. His fist connected with my cheekbone and pain laced my cheek.

I screamed as dizziness rolled over me. His laughter caused my stomach to turn upside down and bile to rise up my throat.

Hot tears burned my eyes, but they had nothing to do with the promise of getting beat up and possibly raped. All because of
who
sent me into the vipers’ den. Why my father would do such a heinous thing was beyond me. Testing someone was one thing, but threatening their life on multiple occasions and putting them in impossible situations? He was a sadist. I had no doubt.

"You thought you were just going to come up in here and put a bullet in our heads? Huh, bitch?" He slapped me on the other side of my face and I grunted, working hard to get lose from the idiot holding me.

"Fuck you. I was told to come here to help put out a fire." I spit blood at him and jerked back again, busting the guy holding me in the face as well.

He cried out and dropped me. I rolled and got my footing before finding a tire iron and chunking it with all my might. It hit the big guy in the face and he turned, screaming.

A gun. I needed a gun. Surely I was going to die if I couldn't find one.

"You fucking bitch. You're gonna die now. An eye for an eye, Delgado. Your daddy wanted to feed drugs to my baby sister and watch her die... we'll be returning the favor." The leader of the group moved toward me about the time I saw him pull out a gun.

I reached for it and lifted it to his face as he stopped in front of me with a sick smile.

Caleb pointed a gun at me. “Should I shoot her?”

“Hell, yeah!” the other guy said. “Do it now!”

“Please!” I said. “Don’t hurt me. I don’t want trouble. Just let me go.”

He cocked the gun and my heart raced.

“Just let you go? I’ll
let you go
back to hell,” he said.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I begged. 

Caleb fired at me but missed. I aimed the gun at him to show him I wasn’t playing.

"You silly little girl. You're not going to do shit with..."

He aimed again, and right before he pulled the trigger... He didn't get the words out of his mouth before I turned and put three holes in his chest. The skinny boy fell to his knees and dropped over as I shook.

I couldn't force myself to stop shaking violently. I was going to die. I had no doubt. Killing them was my only option and yet it seemed impossible to do.

"Shit. You killed him." The leader turned as tears filled his eyes. "Your dad killed my older brother and my sister, and now you've killed my younger brother. I'll hunt every last one of you down and slit your throats." Glaring, he aimed the gun at me. 

I pulled the trigger twice, the first bullet hitting him in the chest, and the next in the shoulder. Blood covered the ground around us, and I took a shaky step back as I horrible cry left me.

Something inside me died, and I knew without a doubt I’d never be the same. Lucky wouldn't want me anymore. No one would. I was my father's daughter and there was only one thing left to do.

I turned my gun on the last guy as he held up his hands and started to cry.

“I’m not going to kill you,” I said. “Your friends were about to kill me! I just defended myself. I just wanted to leave, but you wouldn’t let me.”

"Please. We didn't do anything to deserve this. Your father did this to us. Whoever sent you here is the one you should be pointing the gun at. They knew what we'd do to you because of what was done to Jack's sister." He nodded to his friend on the floor.

The voice that left me didn't sound at all like my own. "What happened to her?"

"She was drugged and sent into the forest naked. They all came after her, taking turns raping her, only to have them send her running again. She hoped she would live through it, but she didn't. She was shot by the last Delgado waiting on her."

"Who?" I whispered as horror washed over me in nauseating waves. My knees began to shake and the scream building up inside of me was terrifying.

"The crazy one. The one that no one will mess with. Please, miss. Don't take my life. I won't tell nobody what you've done."

Elec. He had to be the one that killed the girl.

I turned and looked around the room, realizing that I'd taken two lives and the guy in front of me was the only witness. It was self-defense. I knew forensics would prove my story.

He must have noticed the look on my face. "I promise. I won't say nothing."

Maybe he wouldn't... “Just go!” I said.

“Thank you!”

A pair of arms grabbed me from behind and the large guy laughed, moving toward me and raising his fist to hit me with all of his might.

"We'll make sure your daddy gets your corpse."

His fist connected with my face again and I lost consciousness.

Lucky

"W
hat happened to you up there, boy?" Rusty patted me on the back and sat a beer down in front of me.

"Just froze I guess." I shrugged and took his offering, grateful that the testing period was over and I was officially a prospect.

"Well, you pulled yourself out of it, so that's all the fuck that matters. Right Stone Wolves?" Blade turned and lifted his beer in the air as warmth filled my chest. "To our newest prospect. We couldn't have chosen a better man to take this journey with us."

Man. He hadn't referred to me as anything but 'boy' my whole life. All of them had made sure to keep my age at the forefront of everything, but it seemed like things were changing.

They all grunted their congratulations and moved in to hit their glasses against Blade's. Beer sloshed all over me, but it was part of the tradition. I just sat quietly, drinking my beer and enjoying the attention.

The only thing missing was my baby doll. I'd have to take a picture of myself covered in beer and show her later that night. I needed her with me to celebrate. It wouldn't be a true accomplishment until I spanked her ass for switching out my notes and made love to her a few times.

"So this was the easy part, you know..." Animal threw in his two cents and I could tell by the look on his face that he was butt-hurt over not getting pulled up to being a prospect yet, but his time was coming.

"If it was easy, why ain't your ass celebrating it with me? You still got a ways to go, huh?" I smiled at him, trying to let him know that I was just pulling his chain.

"Fuck you, Luck." He winked and took a long drink of his beer. "Besides, I like to take my time, to work hard for the buildup. You like to jump in, squirt twice and get out."

I laughed and the other guys joined us. The bastard might be slow on getting his position in the club, but he was quick on his feet in his ability to come back with a witty response.

"What's the rest of the night looking like?" I asked, trying to figure out when I could get some time to myself to call Selene.

"This, actually." Knife lifted his glass as a waitress walked by. "More, baby. Keep 'em coming."

"I'd like you to keep
me
coming." She laughed as he swatted at her ass.

"Speaking off..." Blade turned his attention to me. "You need to enjoy yourself tonight. Most of the women in this bar would be happy to help a young buck like yourself celebrate in true Stone Wolf style."

"Yes. Now all we need is a sweet butt or two for our boy." Viper moved in and wrapped an arm around me. The thinnest member of the club reminded me of a snake, and as such his name was given.

"Naw... I'm good. I fucked a girl from town this afternoon." I took another swig of my beer and almost choked as the guys moved back and three beautiful women moved in to sit in my lap and on the table before me.

"Come on, guys, let's let our boy have some fun with the ladies." Blade ruffled my hair and left with the rest of the guys.

The girl in my lap turned and slid her hands over my neck, pulling me in toward her.

I jerked back and laughed. "Whoa, sweet thing. I'm good with my beer and some conversation. No need to get naked for me."

"But we wanna," the blond on the table in front of me purred. The girl was on her knees and her shirt was open at the top, showing me plenty of her creamy white breasts. Before finding out there was a chance with me and Lena, I'd have spent the night proving my manhood to all three of the girls, leaving each of them exhausted and singing my praises.

Not anymore.

The dark-haired one behind me tugged at my chin, forcing me to look up at her. She pressed her lips to mine before I could turn my face. Her tongue lapped at my mouth and I gently moved, picking up the girl in my lap and setting her down.

"I'd love to spend the night with you girls, but someone's stolen my heart. It's not  fair to her to do much more than wink at you and tell you that you're beautiful." I reached out and touched the blonde's chin. "Thanks for the congrats. I'm stoked."

"Awww... you sure, Lucky?" The brunette moved up beside me and slid her arms around my waist. "I love spending the night with you. You're so damn generous."

I laughed as heat brushed up my chest and coated my cheeks. "I'm sure, sweet girl. Maybe another time."

There would be no other time, but I couldn't tell the girls that. After letting them whine a minute more, I slipped off into my room and tugged off my boots.

"You wanna come here to me, baby, or me come to you?" I pulled out my phone to text Selene as I spoke to the emptiness around me. Her 9-1-1 text from three minutes before almost stopped my heart.

I jerked out of bed and called her number while I fumbled to get my shoes back on. "Pick up. Pick up."

The call went to voice mail and I screamed into the phone. "Pick up!"

I tried again while I finished getting my shit kickers tied up. I grabbed my keys, tucked my pistol in the back of my jeans and jogged out of the room, running down the hall and out into the warm summer night.

The guys were standing around a large bonfire and several of them called out to me, but I ignored them. The call went to voice-mail again and terror rose up from the pit of my stomach. If anything happened to my woman I was going to massacre the town.

I dialed the only number I knew to dial. Dane.

"Hey buddy, what..."