CHAINED: A Motorcycle Club Romance (17 page)

It had been Jenna, surprisingly, who had taken charge. Fisher and Vlad didn't recognize her, didn't know her name until she announced it to the assembled girls, but there was no way to miss the fire that flashed in her eyes when she stared around with her hands on her hips, when she issued orders to the other girls. Jenna claimed to be just another freed captive, but even that day or two of freedom had dramatically changed her personality and had uncovered some source of inner strength.

Now, still staring at the Asian girl in the back of the truck near him, Fisher tried to rack his brain for some way to strike up a conversation. He edged closer, but he saw the girl draw away - and her hands tightened up into fists.

She thought that he meant to hurt her, he realized. In a flash, before he'd even considered the repercussions of his actions, Fisher was fumbling at his belt for the knife that he kept tucked away there.

The eyes of every girl in the truck widened when he finally tugged it free, and a couple of the more fragile appearing ones began to sob and wail once again. For a moment, Fisher thought about trying to calm them back down, but if he hadn't managed it before, he'd definitely fail while clutching a blade.

So instead, he turned the knife around in his hand so the handle extended outward - and then offered it to the Asian girl.

For a moment, she just stared at it, as if she didn't comprehend what the gesture symbolized. But then, moving with surprising delicacy, she reached out and carefully lifted it out from his hand. Her eyes stayed locked on his the entire time, as if she suspected that he was about to spin around and stab her after all, but Fisher kept himself still until the blade was no longer held between his fingers.

"See? I promise, we're not going to hurt you," he repeated, once the girl held the blade. "Now, can you at least tell me your name?"

She blinked those slanted eyes at him, and although she didn't move in any closer to him, he saw some of the tension leave her shoulders. Most of it remained, but a little drained away, as she reevaluated the situation.

"Mika," she said, her words clear even despite the whipping, howling wind. "And what is your name?"

"Everyone calls me Fisher," the biker replied, breathing a little more easily. Now that she knew his name, maybe she wouldn't turn out crazy and start stabbing at him.

"Fisher," Mika repeated, still staring at him. Fisher could see some sort of thoughts churning behind those big, dark eyes, but he couldn't tell what she might be considering. She kept on holding the knife, but her eyes no longer seemed quite so angry and distrustful.

The rest of the ride back to the house passed in silence, after that, with most of the girls still staring between Mika and Fisher, trying to guess what their uncertain future might hold. But Fisher kept on looking at Mika, feeling as though he was trying to commit her face to memory for some reason. And Mika, still holding that knife, kept on relaxing, little by little, until most of the tension seemed to have finally left her body.

The young biker didn't have much experience with the thoughts racing through his head, so he was forced to try and sort through them one by one, as they came.

Some of the emotions were definitely anger, and Fisher knew those ones well. Hell, those had been some of the strongest drivers to push him to join the Iron Skulls in the first place. But that anger, usually a generalized rage towards most of the world, or at least the parts that seemed to have it out for Fisher, seemed to have tightened into a spear.

The target of that spear still looked indistinct in Fisher's mind, but it had a name:

The fuckers who did this to Mika and the other girls.

There were other emotions, as well, suddenly linked to this girl crouching across from him, almost naked but still holding his knife. Fisher suddenly realized that the woman was no longer pointing the knife at him, but instead simply outward, away from herself. The knife wasn't a sword, but a shield against whatever in the world wanted to hurt her.

Fisher wanted to reach out for her, to sweep up this vulnerable but still somehow, incredibly, defiant young woman into his arms.

He knew that he couldn't.

But when their eyes next crossed, he risked a tiny little fragile smile - and felt his heart skip a beat as, for just a fraction of a second, she smiled back.

Chapter twenty-seven

Another hour passed once the bikers returned, and although the activity was different, this one was just as busy as the previous.

Fortunately for both the girls and the bikers, Cheery met them out on the front porch as they returned, her hands on her hips and her expression imperious enough to rival any ancient European queen. She'd managed to find a shirt and a pair of jeans, but even in the rather pedestrian garments, she radiated easy command.

The van pulled up first, with Cain, Bucky, and Talon all crammed into the front seat. They pulled off to one side, climbed out, and then opened up the back to reveal Jenna and the other dozen or so girls they'd fit inside.

Instantly, Cheery was there, helping the girls out, giving commands. "Welcome back, and thanks for all the heads-up about the two dozen new visitors to our lovely, humble abode," she called out in tones dripping with sarcasm. "Cain, we're putting them up in the barn, since there's literally no free horizontal space in the entire house. Can you go in there and check to make sure that everything's closed up and as insulated as possible?"

As Cain headed off, at least temporarily compelled into following orders by Cheery's imperious tone, the woman next turned to Jenna. "And you! You're the one who knows these girls best, so you need to join them, move among them and reassure them that everything's going to be okay."

"You two, don't think that you can sneak off!" Cheery called out to Bucky and Talon, who froze, looking guilty as they attempted to do exactly that. "I need you two to head inside and commandeer as much clothing from the girls inside as you can get your hands on without causing a scene." She held up a finger. "And that doesn't mean taking it off of anyone else's body! Don't think I can't read your dirty minds!"

Talon managed to maintain a poker face, but Bucky's wide eyes revealed that he'd been considering just that idea. The two quickly hurried off to the house before Cheery could get another chance to further berate them.

By this point, Vlad and Fisher's truck had also returned, adding another dozen girls to the confusion. Through shouting and pointing, however, Cheery quickly got these extra young women also headed in the direction of the barn, many of them wide-eyed but without any full breakdowns.

"And you! What do you think you're doing!" she snapped at Fisher, who was attempting to move along with the crowd.

The young prospect froze. "Er, going with them," he stammered out, reverting to honesty in his confusion. "That girl, Mika, she's got my knife."

"And you think she's about to go running off with it?" Cheery fired back sarcastically. "Come on, you don't need to scare these girls any further-"

"No! It's okay. I'm not scared of him."

The other girls, Cheery, and Fisher all turned towards Mika, who had spoken out. She blushed furiously at the focus, and her eyes briefly dropped, but they came back up blazing a second later. "He isn't going to hurt me, I know," she said, trying to hold her head high even in the ragged, revealing clothing. "I trust him."

Cheery opened her mouth with some quick reply but then stopped herself before spitting it out. "Well, he'll be here tomorrow morning, and you can come see him as soon as you get up," she finally said, relenting a little and softening her tone. "But for now, we need to get all of you girls out of sight and somewhere that you'll all feel safe - and for now, that means no boneheaded bikers."

The tone of those last couple words communicated clearly to Fisher that the argument was over. Giving Mika one last little smile and wave, he trotted up to the house, following after where Vlad had already been smart enough to make an early escape.

Once the men were out of the way, at least for the moment, Cheery turned and followed the girls as they moved in a confused mass towards the open doors of the barn. Before their arrival, Cheery had at least thought ahead enough to turn up the lights, so at least the rather homey interior looked somewhat welcoming.

It took some time to get the girls all settled down, but fortunately few of them appeared willing to put up any sort of argument. Cheery made sure that they had plenty of water, and Jenna even managed to salvage some snacks from the aftermath of the party inside the main house, despite the destruction of the kitchen.

By the time that the Iron Skull officers returned with the extra clothes, most of the girls were already bedded down, and Cheery could see drooping eyes everywhere. She chose to take the clothes off of the men and distribute them between the rows of sleeping girls, figuring that they'd find the new clothing when they awoke.

Only once she'd checked on each girl, making sure that they were sleeping peacefully and they didn't appear to be in any pain or discomfort, Cheery finally extinguished most of the lamps and followed Jenna out of the barn, pausing only to pull the barn doors shut behind her. Once outside, she turned around - and then saw Jenna watching her closely.

"You were nice to them," Jenna said, jumping straight to the point.

Cheery nodded, feeling as though the girl's eyes could see much deeper into her inner motives than the older woman would prefer. "It isn't fair, what they've had to put up with," she hedged. "I just wanted to make sure that they were treated fairly, that they at least got some kindness."

But the other woman was already shaking her head. "You know what I went through," she said softly, stepping forward towards Cheery. "You know that they've been through just as much."

After a moment, Cheery gave in and nodded. "I haven't told them," she said, not needing to specify that she was talking about the bikers.

"I know," Jenna replied. "They would treat me differently - and I don't want that. I'll tell them when I'm ready."

The girl shook her head, reaching up and rubbing at her wrists where she'd been tied to a chair just a couple of hours earlier. "But these girls - and me - we won't be safe, not until this whole thing is over," she said, looking off into the distance beyond Cheery. "I've heard the men talk about how much money they made. Mr. Archon, and everyone else who's at the top of this whole thing, they won't just let it all go and give it up. They'll keep trying to recapture us, to restart the whole business, until they succeed. It's too much money for them to ever think about stopping."

Cheery stepped forward, reaching out. The older woman hesitated for just a minute, but then went ahead and put her hand on Jenna's shoulder in a comforting gesture. Jenna tensed for a fraction of a second, but she didn't pull away, and then relaxed.

"There's one thing that you're forgetting about, hon," Cheery said, her tone soft and soothing.

"What's that?"

When Jenna turned to look into the whore's face, she was surprised by the savage grin she saw looking back at her. "You're forgetting about just how bone-headed and stubborn these bikers can be," Cheery told her.

Jenna shook her head. "What do you-"

Cheery spread her arms around, taking in the whole house and the dozens of motorcycles still parked around. "These men, why do they come out here and make such fools of themselves? What drives them to turn their backs on society and instead come run with these gangs?" she asked.

"It's because they have ideals, ideals too strong to ever bend knee to how polite society functions."

When Jenna still looked a little confused, Cheery sighed. "If you can convince these men to fight for a cause, they'll never give up," she said slowly. "When they disagree with something, they'll move hell or high water to fight against it. And when they support someone or something, they're even willing to lay down their lives for it."

"Hell, that's how they got me out here in the first place," the whore sighed after a second, lowering her head and shaking it ruefully. "When I was younger, I swore that I was always my own woman, that I'd never have any sort of allegiance to any man or cause."

"And then what happened?" Jenna asked, wide-eyed.

"And then I met the Iron Skulls," Cheery said simply. "I helped them, and they decided that I was one of them. And from that point onward, they did everything they could to help and protect me. Without any hesitation or second thoughts. If I needed help, they helped."

"One day, I belonged to no one but myself. The next day, I was one of them, and I owed the Iron Skulls everything. It was as simple as that."

After a moment, Cheery looked back up from her internal musings, smiling at Jenna. "And if I'm not mistaken," she finished, "you're one of us now, too."

Cheery pretended not to see the tears in the corners of the younger woman's eyes before she turned and headed back into the house.

Chapter twenty-eight

Cain was nearly asleep when he heard the door to his bedroom slowly open.

The big man carefully held himself still, not giving any indication that he was still awake. His eyes remained closed - but his ears were on high alert, craning to capture every little sound in the quiet of his bedroom.