32
Ryder
Maddox drives about thirty over the speed limit the entire way, but I still feel like it’s not enough. Trick sends a text when we’re about halfway there.
Trick: Got Tucker. The girl is fine.
His words don’t ease my worry.Finecould mean a lot of things. It doesn’t mean she is unharmed. It just means she is alive.
Me: Stay put. We’ll be there in twenty.
We ride the rest of the way in silence. It isn’t until we are parked in front of the rundown convenience store that Maddox opens his mouth again.
“Remember what you’ve promised. I need you to go through with it. End this.”
“I will.” I nod. I know what I have to do, not only for the club’s sake.
We walk through the kicked in front door, and I can already hear the voices of our brothers coming from the back room. I force myself not to run back there, pacing my steps instead.
I enter the room, and my eyes fall onto Penny. She is sitting on a mattress in the center of the space. Her legs are drawn up to her chest, and her arms are wrapped tightly around her knees. She looks so small and helpless right now.
Trick, Bradley, and three more guys are standing around her while Tucker is hogtied on the floor a few feet away.
“Let’s take this piece of shit back to the club,” Maddox orders. “We’ll have a nice room available for you in the basement.”
The guys chuckle, knowing exactly which room that is, one we reserve for special occasions when someone is going to die very slowly and very painfully.
“Ryder, you go take care of her. We’ll wait for you to start,” Maddox glances over at me and hands me his keys. I take them, and I give him a nod.
Walking over to Penny, I lean down and pull her up by her arms. “Come on.” When I pull her arms from her body, I realize her shirt and bra are cut away, and she is flashing her tits to the entire room. Fuck! I have to swallow a possessive growl.
To my relief, her dainty arms come up, and she crosses them over her chest. Once she is covered, I snake my arm around her back and lead her to the front door. Her body is stiff, and her knees seem weak, so I hold on to her as we walk outside.
I put her in Maddox’s car and take in her disheveled clothes. She is still wearing her pants, but I can’t be sure that she was when the guys got there. I should ask her how far it went, but I’m too scared of the answer. If she tells me he fucked her, I will lose it.
I know that makes me a pussy, but I just can’t handle this right now without losing it. I’d rather torture it out of Tucker later. That way, I can let him feel my hate right away.
“Take that off,” I order, pointing at her shredded clothes. She doesn’t make a move until I pull my hoody off and hand it to her. She quickly strips out of her tattered shirt and slips into my sweatshirt.
“Where are we going?” she asks when I start the car.
“I’m taking you home, and this time, you’re going to stay there.”
“Home,” she says the single word almost like a question as if she is unsure where home really is for her.
“I’m taking you to your parents’ house, and you will remain there. This…” I point between her and myself. “Whatever it is between us ends today.”
“But–”
“No buts,” I interrupt before she can get more than one word out. “It’s over. I don’t want to see or hear from you ever again. I want you out of my life for good. You’ve caused me enough trouble.”
I glance over at her. She still looks like she wants to say something, and that’s when I dig the knife a little deeper. “Just sit there and keep your mouth shut until we get to your house; your voice is getting on my nerves. I should have just sent you to the basement with Tucker and the guys.”
She flinches away from the words like they physically hurt her. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her turn away from me to look out of the window. I grip onto the steering wheel tightly, feeling the need to hold on to something… something to ground me and keep me from reaching for her.
She doesn’t say another word for the rest of the drive, and I keep having to tell myself that this is the best way. She’ll be safe now. She’ll have a normal life. She’ll be okay.
The real question is, will I?