Withstanding Me (16 page)

He chuckles. “I know this is straight forward, but would you like to go grab some coffee or one of those fancy lattes with me?”

I look around, hesitant to give him my reply.

“Look, we can go around the corner to the college café. Totally your territory.”

I laugh. He’s got a point. What’s the harm with walking around the corner to the café? Plenty of people around, the campus is a busy one.

“Sure, I’d like that.” I say, shutting down my laptop and shoving it into its case. I stand and introduce myself. “I’m Apple, by the way.”

“That’s a pretty name.”

I swoon because every single person I’ve ever met has always had a smart comment to go along with my name. “Thank you,” I reply as we walk.

“How old are you, Apple?”

My name sounds so sweet coming from this man. “I’m eighteen, you?”

“I’m twenty two. And you’re just a young little thing.”

I halt on the sidewalk next to a bunch of cars. I hate when people say that. I wasn’t too young to take care of myself when my mother was too drunk or too involved with social activities. “I may be young, but I can assure you, I’m not naïve.” I huff, turning to walk away.

Good looks aren’t that important. First impressions are. Who is this jackass?

His hand grips my shoulder as something digs into my lower back. “But Apple, you are naïve.” His voice, daunting and evil, sends chills down my spine. “Don’t try screaming or running away, my young little Apple. I’ll shoot you before you can finish a word. Keep walking.”

I want to scream for help. I walk beside him as his gun aims at my body. I try to give off ‘help me’ looks, but everyone is oblivious to the tears streaming down my face. Everyone is walking by laughing or talking on the phone. I want to scream ‘don’t you see this man is trying to kidnap me’. He’s stops me at a black four door pickup. “Up you go.” He chuckles as the door swings open and someone grabs me from underneath my arms.

“Let go of me!” I scream as the door shuts behind me. I pound on the window, screaming for help. The stranger that lifted me into the truck smacks me on the side of the head with something, and everything goes black.

The air from my lungs whooshes out of me as the man that once said my name was pretty stares at me with a blank expression. I don’t think he recognizes me.

“What? You don’t remember my friend?” Winter growls. And it’s the first time I notice she’s in the room. “Her name is Apple. You remember picking up an Apple from a college campus, don’t you?” Winter’s voice is laced with something that sounds like vengeance. It’s scary as hell. I look back over to the man who ruined my life and watch as his blank expression turns.

“Oh shit.” He says, and the voice causes me to back up until I hit something rock hard. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Mason. It’s Mason, and he’s growling, straight up growling. I slowly turn around until my face is digging into his leather cut. His hand cups my chin, forcing my attention to his. “Listen to me baby. I’m gonna take care of this, and you’re gonna go back to the other building with Winter.”

“Yeah, okay,” I answer him, knowing my voice sounds small right now.

He bends down, kisses my lips lightly, and runs his thumb over my nose stud. He has this fascination with it. I always catch him staring at it.

“Hey Belov-Breaker,” He growls. “Can you walk her home?”

I turn around to look at Winter, automatically knowing ZZ used her Russian name to scare the shit outta my kidnapper more than what he already looks to be scared.

“Sure I can.” She smiles sweetly at ZZ before turning her attention back on my kidnapper. “Oh, that’s right you little fucktard. Let them eyes get real big and let the piss continue to drip down your leg. Fuckin pussy.”

As Winter walks over to me, I place my left hand on Mason’s chest in the shape of the letter L. His eyes snap to mine, and he bends down kissing me quickly on the lips again and nodding for me to follow Winter.

***

Chapter 21

ZZ

I’m on fire. I swear I’m a man on fire right now. It took everything I had not to fuckin kill this prick in front of her. I don’t want Storm seeing this side of me. She knows this shit goes on; she’s not an idiot. But I just don’t want her thinking about me that way when it’s just us. Of course, I want her to feel protected, but scared of me? No. Fuck that. I’ll carry my demons by myself.

When I hear the door shut and I know the women are outside making their way to the new building, I slowly walk towards the fucker that ruined Storm’s life.

“Your call ZZ,” Pyro says to me. He’s the acting President right now and also the VP, so he just gave his blessing to use the club, the brothers, and everything we have to ruin this fucker.

“It’s like fuckin Christmas,” I chuckle. “Bag him,” I say as I light a cigarette. I don’t want this fucker tainting this place any more than what he already is.

I watch as my brothers stand him up and cover his head with a black bag. Shadow comes walking up with a rope and ties it around his neck, forcing the bag tighter around his head. Good, I hope the motherfucker has a hard time breathing.

The door opens, and Rap comes rolling through in his wheelchair. Poor bastard has two broken legs from trying to keep Storm safe. “Look what I found in this asshole’s car,” he says, handing me a briefcase. “Look inside brother. You’re gonna be pissed.”

I look at the briefcase and grin when I see the pry marks around the lock from Rap’s knife. I know having him as a patched brother is gonna work out in the long run. He’s meant for the MC. I throw it onto the bar and open it up. There’s a bunch of shit, but the thing that catches my eye is a photo album. I flip it open. Pages and pages of Polaroid’s of girls beaten and tied up.

“Third page in, ZZ.” Rap tells me.

I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and reopen them, flipping to the third page. The second Polaroid on the left is a beaten and bloodied up Storm.

How smart is this fucker? He can’t be that smart to be walking around with evidence of his fuckin kidnappings.

I start to turn around when Rap speaks up again. “Nope, page 15 and page 17.”

Oh Jesus Christ. What now? I do as he says and flip to page 15. Haley. Beautiful, shy Haley with a tie around her arm from her being forced to take a hit of snowball. Looking at this photo makes even me sad. She was fuckin killed after we saved her from this shit. Fuck that pisses me off. I hurry and flip the page, and there sits Piper, naked with the saddest expression on her face as a gloved hand grabs her bare chest. Sniper growls from beside me. I act too slow as he draws his gun and fires a shot into this fucker’s leg.

I shrug, glad he didn’t put a bullet into the fucker’s head. It’s good for him to suffer before I kill his ass. I start flipping through the rest of the pages, and notice a lot of these girls that we sent home after we raided the peepshow house.

“Now look in that folder,” Rap points to a folder stickin’ outta one of the pockets.

I’m thinking ‘what the fuck now’? And when I open it, my mouth spews out fast, “Call the Prez.” We’ve messed with the Russians human trafficking without even fuckin realizin it. We thought they were Snake’s girls and they weren’t. FUCK! There’s something we’re not seeing here. I hate to say it, but we need Winter down here. This is the shit she came from. I dig out my phone and dial Winter. She answers on the first ring. “Yeah?”

“You need to get down here now,” I growl and hang up.

It takes her no time to be standing at my side.

“What is it? You wanted me to stay with Storm.” She says breathless as I hand over the file. “Oh shit! It’s in Russian.”

Yeah, no shit!

While the guy groans in pain, Winter quickly scans over the documents, her face turning white as a fuckin ghost. Shit you not. White as a motherfuckin ghost.

“Get me my fucking laptop,” she screams, her fingernails digging at the small chip taped to the folder. She sits down on a bar stool, flipping faster through the paperwork. Whatever it is, it’s scaring the fuck outta her, and she doesn’t scare easy. “I can’t believe it.” She chants over and over again.

“I have a fucking sister. A full-blooded sister. God dammit where is that laptop?”

That’s great for her and all…

“Winter what’s the fuckin connection?”

“I don’t know. I don’t fuckin know okay. But the trafficking part is from my Russian family. Why this asshole has information on a sister I didn’t know about…” she trails off as she begins to read some more. Sniper comes back up to her with one of the club’s laptops, and she quickly makes work with the USB chip. “This makes no sense. I came here to get away from my Russian family, and apparently they are fucking everywhere!”

That’s it. It’s time for answers. I walk over to the bagged fucktard, cut the rope, drag the bag off his head, and kick him to his knees. “HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW THE RUSSIANS?”

This bastard is a pussy; he’s done pissed all down his leg. He doesn’t let the words stop flowing from his mouth once he starts talking.

“I work for them. For the Russians, I mean. I find girls and traffic them. I noticed Winter Belov a few months back and knew the Russians were looking for her. When you guys broke up that stable of girls Snake was holding for the Russians, I called them. I was told to stick around, make sure Winter didn’t leave town. Then her father came here and bloodshed happened, and I had more orders come from her uncle. He’s… oh just fuck it. I’m dead anyways. Her uncle wants her dead. Word is Winter and her sister are the sole beneficiaries of her father and uncle’s fortune. You should know that they hired that Travis dude to seduce your daughter.” He groans, probably from a shooting pain. Pun very intended.

“Winter. Does this shit make any sense to you?” I snap. I’m not even shocked those fuckers are the ones that have Travis after my daughter.

“The sister part, no. The fortune part, yes. My uncle wants me dead because his money is basically mine since it was my father’s first. The legit legal money anyway. I think he played me because he’s trying to locate my mother. He doesn’t know she’s coming here. You need to get rid of him.” She points to fucktard that fucked up all these women’s lives.

“Babe… did you honestly think I was gonna let him live?” I chuckle.

“Oh god,” fucktard groans.

“He ain’t listenin to you sweetie,” Winter laughs.

“Pack it up, let’s go.”

***

It’s only Pyro and me out here in this blistering as fuck sun getting rid of this idiot. The rest stayed back to watch the family. On the way out, Pyro grabbed a fifth and some darts and brought them with us. We give the idiot a little bit before we start to have our fun. We’ve got him nailed up to a giant piece of plywood. It’s kinda symbolic for what happened to Eagle, his head chopped off by the Russians and stuck on a tiki torch because of this fuck.

“So, was it worth this pain?” I ask the idiot while I gulp some whiskey.

“No… I… I deserve this.” He cries.

“Yeah, ya do. Still not gonna stop though,” I laugh, picking up another dart and flicking it at him. It lands straight in the middle of his forehead.

Pyro hands me another, and I read it. This one says Haley and baby. I twirl it around with my fingers. And her name floats across my lips as I flick it, landing it perfectly into his cheek.

He hands me another, and I read it. Lana. I hand it back. I don’t think he noticed he handed me hers.

“Thanks.” He says as he stands up and walks over to the fucktard, jamming it into his stomach.

Pyro lets out a breath, his shoulders loosening their stiffness as he walks back and sits down, taking a swig of whiskey. “Too bad that didn’t make me feel better, brother.

“I’m bored,” I mumble. I wanna go back to Storm.

“Fuckin a man. Let’s do this shit already.”

“I’ve got me a massive fuckin headache goin. I don’t wanna hear him scream. Let’s just shoot him in the head and then cut him up and burn the pieces.” I moan rubbing my damn temples. This is what happens when you drink out in the blistering ass Nevada sun.

“Ready?” Pyro asks the dipshit.

Dipshit nods his head the best he can with darts sticking out everywhere and closes his eyes. The man ain’t stupid. He knew he was gonna die. I cross my arms, and watch Pyro raise his gun, point it at dipshits chest, and fire.

“Still don’t feel any better,” Pyro mutters under his breath.

“Well, let’s hack him up and burn him. We’ve gotta go.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

***

Chapter 22

Storm

Winter and I had to get off the compound, and in order to do that, we had to come to work at Club Sated. To say it’s not heavily guarded would be an understatement. We’ve got Russians just waiting for the guys to slip up and leave one of us unintended. Right now, everything is still tense with the club and Braxxon’s absence. Mason has been sleeping in my room for the past few nights. He just barely cuddles me. I’m not gonna push him right now because the man is stressed enough and he’s strung up tight. When he came back after disposing the man who kidnapped me, he asked if I wanted to know what he did. All I said was,

“His own blood is on his own hands; he caused his own death.”