“You can trust me, Boo,” he whispers. “Help me get out of here, and I promise, we’ll get you out too.”
I want to believe his words with every fiber of my being, but that rescue hinges on someone being stupid enough to leave their phone both unattended and unlocked. I haven’t seen anyone do that once. Not even Alan. When he takes me to his room, he locks his phone and gun in the drawer next to him with a passcode. It’s impossible to crack. Believe me, I’ve tried many times.
“I want to help, but like I told you, finding a phone isn’t going to be easy.”
Another bang outside the locked door to the hallway. Someone’s coming, signaling that my time is up. Getting caught in here, talking to Priest, isn’t going to help either of us.
“I have to go,” I mutter, skirting away and rushing down the hall toward the sound. I peer back at Priest over my shoulder before closing the door. A hopeful, almost pleading look is on his face as he watches me.
I’m placing the key back on its hook when a voice observes, “Been in there a while,” causing me to nearly jump out of my skin.
The prospect who’s usually so nice to me is there, sitting on a stool propped up against the wall outside the entrance to the cells. I stay silent, unsure of what to say, so I opt for saying nothing at all and head back to the main room. Alan’s eyes lock onto mine as soon as I step inside. He stalks toward me, an unreadable expression on his face.
“Was he awake?”
“No,” I lie. “I just dropped off his food and left. He was still asleep, I think. Didn’t move.”
“Good,” he grunts. “He won’t be taking up your time here much longer.”
My heart plummets, but I stop my reaction to his words before anything shows on my face. “Is someone else going to be taking over?”
“No,” he says with a dark chuckle. “Get going on your chores.” His fingers move up, playing with the solitary braid hanging over my right shoulder, like an enamored boyfriend would do. “I have plans for us tonight. I’ve missed my little mouse.”
I shiver at the thought. I’ve had a reprieve the last few days with the club’s business taking his attention. I’d been able to sleep in my own bed—well, pallet—and I haven’t been woken up by his disgusting evening pursuits with my body. Part of me has held out that he’d lost interest in me, and that they’d brought in another girl he liked better. But naivety was never one of my strong suits. His disinterest isn’t fleeting.
With a painful slap to my ass, Alan sends me on my way.
I tackle cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast, stealing a few scraps off some of the plates as I wash them in the large kitchen sink, all while playing Alan’s words about Priest over and over in my mind.He won’t be taking up your time here much longer.What did he mean?
Most of the girls are making themselves scarce this morning. Judging from the sounds I’d heard coming from the club’s rooms last night, they’d been busy. Tammy is the only one looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning, slinking out of Big Dick’s room with a sly smile on her face. Instead of doing her part of the chores, she’s been attached to Big Dick’s side, nestled up on one of the large sofas in the center of the room.
Every time I leave the kitchen to gather more plates from the tables, she shoots me a surly grin. She’s happy to be used. How she can be okay with her situation makes zero sense to me. I know there’s something called Stockholm syndrome, which is something someone can get when they’re in an unsafe situation. Self-preservation, they call it. But she’s been here only a few more months than I have. I hadn’t broken, but maybe she had.
Spying one last pile of dishes on the far away table, I move to grab them, but watch from the corner of my eye as Alan joins Big Dick on the couch. Tammy’s face falls when they dismiss her, and she stomps off toward our rooms. Trying to focus on the dishes, and seeing that I’m still doing my chores, I move a little closer to them.
“Anything new today?” Big Dick asks Alan.
“Not a fucking thing. Motherfucker hasn’t said shit since last night.”
“Bastard,” Big Dick mutters. “If he’s not going to be useful to us alive, he will be when he’s dead.”
Alan grins. “What do you think they’ll do when we send his body back to them, wrapped up in a pretty bow?”
Big Dick’s laughter is loud and quick, startling me as I wipe down a nearby table. “They’ll finally know who they’re messing with. I’m gonna get my boy back one way or another, and dismantle that fucking club one member at a time, starting with Cora. I’ll make that big bastard she’s with watch as I take back what’s mine.”
Alan nods. “Can’t fucking wait. Austin is primo territory. We take the mother chapter, the others will have to fall in line.”
“Damn right,” someone adds to the conversation. “Fuck the Black Hoods.”
The rest of the men echo the same phrase together. Alan notices me, his eyes narrowing as I work, pretending like I’ve heard nothing. But I did hear. I heard it all.
Priest’s life is going to end if I don’t do something fast. If they kill Priest, his blood will be on my hands too, because I could have stopped it.
I’ll stop it. No matter what, I will stop it.
Silently, I return to the kitchen to finish the dishes, my mind racing to come up with a plan that won’t get both Priest and me killed. I come up with nothing.
Several minutes later, knowing I don’t have much time to collect the laundry, I turn to find Alan standing silently behind me, his large body leaning against the counter by the door as he tracks my every move.