BEAST (A Coyotes of Mayhem MC Novel) (Motorcycle Club Bad Boy Romance) (3 page)

Fully dressed, all that was left to do was wait for the rest of the people in the group to exit so I could blend in with them. The other group in the locker room must have known each other because they stood around blabbing forever. I wanted to walk over to them and tell them to hurry the fuck up, but the last thing I wanted to do was bring any attention to myself. Instead, I just stood there and clenched my teeth while listening to them talk about God knows what. I couldn’t understand a fucking word any of them were saying. Finally, they all gathered their things and started making their way towards the door. I followed closely behind, giving the impression that I was just another person in the group.

§

Getting onto the ship was much easier than it had any right to be. If you sit and think about it, it should make you uneasy. We wonder why terrorists are able to breach security to pull off attacks on our country. Well, it’s doing simple shit like I just did. We might as well have been invisible. There were massive lines of passengers having to go through a couple of different checkpoints and metal detectors. All of us, on the other hand, simply walked along the side of the wall and nobody batted a damn eyelash.

Once I was on the boat, I was completely fucking lost. These things look huge from the outside but they’re like a whole other world once you’re inside. It felt like being downtown in a big city that you’ve never been in before. All I could do was stand there and look around, trying to figure out my best option to hide. I must have looked out of place because some preppy dude in a white blazer walked up to me.

“Hi there. Is everything okay? You look a little confused,” he sounded concerned. I had to think fast.

“Oh yeah, I'm all right. I’m new here. This is my first day and I’ve never been on one of these before. I’m just taking it all in before everyone else starts to get on,” I fought the urge to knock him out.

“That’s understandable. I did the same thing when I first started. These things are amazing. Well, if you need anything, feel free to come find me. The name’s Benjamin.”

He stood there waiting for me to introduce myself, but I had already made myself more visible than I had wanted to. I needed to get out of sight and stay that way. I knew that these boats had lower levels that went far below the water and figured that’s the last place people going on a cruise would want to hang out. I set out in search for some staircases and descended down them as fast as I could.

The doors at the bottom couple of floors were old and dingy. I didn’t open them as I suspected they went to boiler rooms or something like that. If anything were to happen on the ship, it would be one of the first places people would come. Didn’t need that. Three levels up from the bottom, there was a door with a small window. Inside was a hallway with a series of doors on each side. That was the type of place I was looking for.

Upon entering the hall, it occurred to me that the rooms on each side of me were guest rooms. I found it funny that people were spending so much money on this cruise and this hallway looked like an ordinary hotel hallway. Glancing back and forth, each door had to be opened with an electronic key card. I hate that shit because I don’t know how to pick them. All the doors in the hall were the same. I thought I was going to have to go up to the next floor when I spotted a door to my right. There was no key card access there. It used a regular key in the doorknob. It took me about ten seconds to get inside, locking the door behind me.

When I turned on the lights, I was surprised by what I saw. Since the door was so different, I figured it would lead to a broom closet or storage space. Instead, it was an actual room. Granted, it was dusty as fuck and hadn’t been used in ages but it was still a room. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the fact it was dusty was a good thing. It must have been a room that the cruise line kept just in case they should ever need it. I figured they probably had dozens more just like it. It smelled like it had been sitting empty for months, which was exactly the type of privacy I was looking for.

The best thing about the room was the bed. I knew it would take a couple of days before the ship got to Honduras but didn’t figure I’d have a bed to sleep in until I got there. The trip from Arizona had exhausted me and I planned to sleep as much as I could until the ship docked at the next port. I stripped off the ship employee’s clothes and threw them into my duffle bag. I pulled on my blue jeans that I’d worn before I choked out the dork at the locker. I didn’t want to get too comfortable. You never know what is going to happen and I had to be ready to move at a moment’s notice. I climbed into bed and fell right to sleep.

§

I had only been asleep for about twenty minutes when I heard the last sound I wanted to hear. It was the distinct sound of keys jingling as they were being placed into the doorknob. I jumped out of the bed quick as shit, grabbed my bag and ran into the bathroom. The only place to hide was the shower so I climbed in and closed the curtain behind me.

For some reason, I was holding my breath. I figured the best case scenario was someone had seen me go into the room and knew I wasn’t supposed to be there. If that were the case, I would deal with that fucker later. Snitches get stitches. The worst case scenario would be the cops discovering where I was hiding out and coming to make an arrest. I listened closely, making sure I was ready in case I needed to fight my way out of the mess.

I didn’t hear anything at first, but soon heard a woman’s voice. I thought she was having a discussion with someone but it turned out she was only talking to herself. She was thinking out loud about how dusty her room was. I kept listening for a male voice. I figured most women must take cruises with their significant others but no other voice spoke. She was all alone.

As she was busy putting her things away, I peeked out of the shower to size her up. She was a small girl, especially in comparison to me. I’m not big on becoming physical with a lady but I would be able to overpower her easily. I would make sure she wouldn’t be a problem for me.

§

Waiting for the right opportunity, I watched her finish unpacking her bags before walking into the bathroom to put her toothbrush and shit away. While she was facing away from the shower, I threw the curtain open and grabbed her from behind. She started to scream so I covered her mouth with my right hand.

“Shut up! Shut the fuck up!” I said, trying to control her as she wiggled around, attempting to escape from my clutches. She looked up into the mirror and caught her first glimpse of me. I don’t know if it was my size or what but she stopped struggling almost immediately.

She had a look of horror and confusion in her eyes. It was a look that I had seen a million times before. A combination of fear and trying to figure out exactly what the fuck is happening. From out of nowhere, she started shaking and I could see tears beginning to form in her eyes.

“Look, lady, the last thing I want to do is hurt you. I won’t hurt you unless you leave me no other choice. Do you understand?”

She nodded her head.

“Good. I’m going to take my hand off your mouth. If you scream, things are going to get dangerous very quickly. Are you going to cry if I take my hand off your mouth?”

She shook her head back and forth.

“Okay, I hate to be the one to ruin your little vacation but you’re gonna be in this room a while. Nobody goes in or out that door until we get to Honduras. At that point, I’m getting off this ship and you’ll be free to do whatever the fuck you want.”

CHAPTER 4

PAIGE

Holy shit! That was the only thought that my mind could make any sense of. Sure, there were plenty of other things happening inside my brain but it was all just a blur at this point. This was supposed to be a relaxing vacation. It was supposed to be my reward for dealing with years of being treated like shit by the man who was supposed to love me. Now I had to wonder if I was going to meet a far worse fate. I had no idea who this man was or how he got into the room I was going to be staying in. All I knew for sure is that he was huge and I didn’t want to do anything to anger him. I remained as still as humanly possible, not wanting to alarm him. The last thing I wanted to do was make an sudden involuntary movement that would freak him out and cause him to do something drastic.

“I promise I won’t scream. I’ll do whatever you say. I don’t want to cause you any problems. Please, just don’t hurt me,” I pleaded with him.

The realization hit me. When you see these types of situations on television or think about them in your head, you always tell yourself you would act differently than the person being attacked. You also think that you wouldn’t just sit there and take it. Normally, you’d say to yourself that you would refuse to be a victim and that you would fight back against the attacker. Things change when you are actually in the situation. All I could think to do was be a good girl and follow his directions. Hopefully, he wouldn’t hurt me—or worse, kill me!

After telling him I wouldn’t be a problem for him, he held onto me for what felt like an eternity. He was staring me in the eyes through the mirror. It was like he was trying to get a read on my body language and figure me out. I must have sounded sincere enough because he led me back out into the main part of the room and released me from his death grip. I was so scared, but I was determined not to show it. If I had any chance of surviving this, I would have to act like what was happening wasn’t a big deal. I know that sounds ridiculous now, but that’s the way my mind was working.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and lit up a cigarette. We were in a non-smoking room, but I wasn’t going to be the one to bring that to his attention. It’s not like it would have mattered anyway. I hoped that maybe someone would smell it and come to investigate. Of course, that could backfire on me and get me hurt.

I spotted a chair over in the corner of the room and slid down into it. I was not about to sit anywhere near the bed because I was afraid the huge tattooed monster would try to rape me. My fear became even worse when I spotted the pistol holstered on his hip. I wondered how he managed to get it onto the boat.

§

As the day passed, I felt as if we were in a staring contest. Every time I looked up, he was glaring in my direction. I wanted to talk to him so I could try to come to a realization of what his plans were
,
but I thought better of it. I figured if he told me too much information, he might realize that I know more than I should and he would have to get rid of me, even if that wasn’t in his original plans. The longer we sat there, one thing became perfectly clear. He was exhausted. He appeared to be physically drained. I was drained as well, but my problem was more on an emotional level. I started forming a plan in my head. If I could hold out until he fell into a deep sleep, I would be able to sneak out and seek help from security.

It took a couple more hours of sitting there, staring at each other before he finally started to relax. He laid back on the bed, propped up on one arm for a while but eventually he fell asleep. He was a snorer, just as I suspected he would be. It would be impossible for someone with such a thick neck not to snore as he slept. I couldn’t help but watch this behemoth of a man as his neck veins pulsated with each breath in and out. As much as I hated the sound of snoring, it was perfect for my situation. The sounds would provide the perfect backdrop for my escape.

Wanting to ensure he was sound asleep, I waited for an hour before I put my plan into action. Slowly, I raised myself up out of the chair as I held my breath, cringing when the leather creaked beneath me. I instantly froze in place, but his slumber continued. Step by step, I inched my way toward the door. Taking one last deep breath, I reached down and turned the knob. The clicking sound echoed through the room, causing my captor’s eyes to pop open.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

“Oh, uh, I just thought I heard something in the hall. I was going to check it out to make sure everything was okay.”

“Bitch, I’m not some big stupid oaf so you can stop treating me like I’m a fucking idiot. What part of nobody goes in or out of this room until we get to Honduras did you not understand? Do I have to do something to make sure you don’t try this shit again?”

“No, I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” I apologized, realizing that I messed up badly. I was completed defeated. All I could do was let myself slide back down into the chair and wait it out. I just hoped that the dumb decision I had just made wouldn’t come back to haunt me later.

I was staring at the ground as I felt his gaze on me. He was watching every move I made. There was little chance that he was going to risk going back to sleep after I the stunt I just pulled. He would be watching me like a hawk and I knew it. There would be no getting out of the room unless he decided it was going to happen.