“Bet he wants you to pay him by spreading your legs.” She sneered at the door. “Nasty fucker. He’s a psycho.”
“I think the whole club is like that.”
“Not Zook.” She shook her head. “He’s good to me.”
I didn’t want to argue with her, so I nodded, and she moved out of the way, both of us lost in our thoughts.
A few days later I was sleeping in after closing alone. Sasha had gone on a date with Zook and it had been a long hard night. I never remembered my head landing on the pillow. I’d been dead to the world. The sound of buzzing slowly brought me back into awareness.
Groggy, I reached for my cell and dropped it. Wouldn’t you know it? Shit like that always happened when it was inconvenient. Groaning, I was forced to crawl from bed and locate my phone. Someone was persistent as hell as it vibrated again in my hand. I yawned and answered without looking at the display.
“Yeah?”
“Trish?”
“That you, Sasha?” Suraya never called. She usually texted.
Sasha’s voice was so low that I wasn’t sure if it was her on the line or not until she continued. “Yeah. I’m in trouble, babe. I need you.”
Shit. “What’s the matter? Where are you?”
“A payphone. Listen, I don’t have long. I’ll have to hide soon. Write down this address. I might be a little off on the location but I’m pretty sure it’s accurate enough that you can find it.”
I did as she asked, snatching a pen and paper off my dresser. “I’ll be there as quick as I can.”
“Don’t honk. I’ll watch for you.”
“Okay.”
“And Trish?”
“Yeah, babe?”
“Don’t panic when you see all the blood.”
Fuck. “Alright. You stay safe.”
“Will do.”
It took about an hour to locate Sasha on the outskirts of Hawthorne. She was splattered in bloodstains and her clothes were torn. There was a wild look in her eyes, and I was afraid my friend had been sexually assaulted. Dried tears left a salty path down both of her cheeks while her dark makeup had smeared underneath both eyes. She was a total wreck. I’d never seen her look like that since we met.
She jumped inside when I pulled up and we sped off, scared to death we were being followed. I should have called Grim the second I knew something was up, but I didn’t. It wasn’t my secret to tell and I was burdened with guilt about it. Dating Grim as long as I had, I finally overheard some of the Royal Bastards talking about Acid and Razr. Brothers in the Scorpions MC. A lot of things fell into place after that like why Razr showed up at the pool party and why Grim was so overprotective.
I brought Sasha home and she showered. Later, we burned her clothes and everything from that night in a trash can in the backyard. I was terrified for my friend. She kept shaking and I sat next to her on the couch, passing a cup of hot tea with honey into her hand.
“You’ve got to lay low. Call off work for a few days and say you have the flu. I don’t know if the Scorpions are going to show up or not.”
“Yeah, that’s probably best. Zook never picked me up from here. Just the bar. I’m hoping none of them know where we live.”
“Yeah, probably not. Moby has never been here either.” I sighed softly, reaching out to pat her hand. “What happened, Sasha?”
“I guess you have a right to know since your ass is on the line for helping me.” She took a few sips of her tea and placed the cup on the end table. “Zook picked me up from the bar for our date like usual. That’s why I went in early to snag a few extra hours. Acid and Dawg were waiting for Zook when we arrived at their clubhouse last night. It was the first time Zook brought me there. I didn’t know it, but I was being set up. Zook planned to share me with Acid and Dawg.”
I sucked
in a big breath of air and squeezed her hand. “Shit.”
“It didn’t make sense at first. Zook was so cold and detached. I was shoved into a room with a locked door and a bed. The three of them cornered me. I can’t explain where the strength came from to fight back. Maybe,” she faltered, “Maybe I knew I was going to die. I don’t know.” Trembling fingers rose to push a loose tendril of hair behind her ear. “You remember that small pocketknife you gave me? Zook never thought to search me or he would have found it.”