His posture was rigid, hands tucked into his jeans pockets. “Don’t ask questions, Alyx. Just…just cooperate. Don’t try to be brave.”
“I have to be. I have to be brave. Otherwise, how will I survive all of this? How will I survive your brother?” My eyes burned, tears threatening to show weakness. But I swallowed, clenching my jaw as I willed them away.
Blue irises stared back at me, a face much younger than his brother’s. “Listen, Alyx.” He stepped closer. “Don’t fight it, okay? Fighting it only makes it worse. And you’re not strong enough,” he held up his hands, “and I don’t mean that in a bad way. I mean you haven’t been in our world to be strong enough to handle all this shit with a fight. You feel me?”
“Yeah. Ifeelyou.” My words were laced with sarcasm, the smirk on his face proof he picked up on it.
“I give you my word, Alyx. Cooperate, do as you’re told, and you will survive.”
“How am I supposed to trust your word when you’re holding me captive?” It was a legitimate question, and by the way he rocked backward and forward on his feet, he knew it too.
“Believe me, if I could tell you more to help set you at ease, I would. But I can’t.” He roughed a hand through his dirty-blond hair. “I know you have no reason to trust me—to trust any of us. Just don’t fight us. Soon all this will be over, and if you don’t fuck everything up by trying to be brave and stupid, you’ll be back to your perfect little life dancing at that fancy school of yours.”
A low, sardonic laugh left my lips. “I don’t think your brother plans on taking me back to my perfect little life, as you put it.”
He gave me a sidelong glance while keeping his head still. The silence around us gave me the confirmation I needed. Onyx knew just as well as I did there was a good chance I wouldn’t return to my life.
“Alyx,” he started, “I like you. I really do, and I wish I could make this easier for you, but I can’t. Not right now. You just need to trust me when I say this will all be over soon.”
The tears escaped. Not just one or two. It was like a fucking river ran down my cheeks, and I couldn’t keep it in anymore. “Nothing is going to be okay.”
“It will be.”
“Then help me. Help me understand him. Help me get inside his head so I can figure out what the hell it is he wants from me.”
Onyx grabbed my shoulders. “Then what, huh? If you have the answer to that, then what?” He gripped tight, fingers digging into my flesh as he shook me. “You’d still be here against your will. You’d still be in the middle of this. Answers won’t mean shit to you right now.”
“I want to go home. I just want to go home.” Sobs wracked through my body, desperation weeping out of me. “I’m so scared, and I just want to go home. Please!”
“Well, you can’t!” His voice erupted from his throat like thunder, silencing me instantly. With teary eyes, I stared up at him, his hands still tight on my shoulders. “You can’t go home. Not yet.”
With a hard tug, I jerked free from his hold, taking a step back. I shook my head while glaring at him. “He won’t let me go.”
Onyx pulled his lips in a straight line, not saying a word. At that moment, he couldn’t even look at me.
“Your brother won’t let me go.”
“Listen, Alyx—” He moved forward, but I stepped back.
“Granite wants me here, whether I want to be here or not. I’m not stupid. I know it’s not simple, and there’s something else going on. But whatever it is, your brother won’t let me go. Of that much, I’m sure.”
Onyx shook his head, hands resting at his sides. “Let’s see how this all plays out.”
“Easy for you to say.” I wiped tears from my cheek with the back of my hand. “It’s not your life hanging in the balance.”
“Are you kidding me?” Onyx’s brows almost touched his hairline. “You think my life ain’t in danger here? You think none of our lives are in danger?” His face turned to stone as he approached me. “Our lives are in danger every goddamn day. Every time we walk out these motherfucking doors, we don’t know whether it will be our last.”
“That’s your choice.” I clenched my jaw. “Me being here is not my choice.”
“You think it’s a choice? Newsflash, Miss Green. We’re just playing the cards we got dealt, just like everyone else in this wretched world. And this club is all we got. The only family we got.”
I bit my lip, not liking what I was hearing. Even though I believed we were the makers of our own fate, I was in no position to judge. Not with me dancing to my mom’s tune—pun intended.
Onyx stared at me, a grave expression on his face paired with an unnatural stillness. Granite told me his reason for taking me, said I was his to take. But something told me there was more to it than mere obsession. Especially after Onyx gave me the impression something more was going on. Perhaps, apart from being Granite’s girl in the window, I was a bargaining chip as well. Collateral. Something to be used for personal gain in the sordid games played in the underground of this city. Truth was, I had no idea how ruthless these motorcycle clubs could be, so I could not put anything past them. But one thing I was sure of, there was no way Granite was taking me back to my life. Not until he had taken from me what he wanted. I might have been scared and desperate, but I wasn’t stupid. It was written all over Granite’s face whenever he looked at me. The promise was right there in his touch earlier, the vow made when he pressed his lips against mine.
“Your brother is not planning on letting me go. Even after you’ve used me for whatever reason…I’m not going anywhere. Not until he’s used me for his own personal reasons.”
One of his eyebrows slanted inward. “You seem sure of that.”