Gravel (MC Biker Romance) (24 page)

“Won’t be long,” Rip said.

I’d never seen Shark’s head whip
around so fast when Rip said that. I saw him shoot Rip a dirty look, as if to
tell him once again to shut the fuck up. In my head, I knew it could only mean
two things. Either they were going to kill me or they were going to sell me to
someone. I’d heard of human trafficking before, but I never imagined it would
happen to me. The thought of being with men a million times worse than Rip and
Shark sent chills throughout my body. I’d rather be dead.

“What the
fuck
are
you doing sitting up?” Shark said as he caught a glimpse of me
through the corner of his eye. “You know you’re supposed to lay down back
there, bitch.”

“Sorry,” I said as I
laid
down slowly. So much for going unnoticed again. I
rested my head against the scratchy upholstery and closed my eyes. I wanted to
black out. I wanted to pretend like this was all just a really bad dream.

Several hours later, I opened my
eyes. I kicked myself for falling asleep, but I knew it didn’t matter anyway.
It’s not like I could sit up and see where we were going. I heard the grumble
of the truck pulling off the highway and turning left. I watched as the night
sky lit up little by little. We seemed to be driving to some town with an ounce
of civilization, which could either be really bad or really good.

“We need to get some gas,” Rip
said. “
Gettin
’ low.”

“I’m starving,” Shark said. “Could
go for a couple cold ones too.”

They pulled into a gas station, and
the fluorescent lights filled up the truck, illuminating all of us in its
garish glow. I stared up and out the window, watching the swarms of hundreds of
thousands of bugs that called the lights home.

Rip stepped out and stretched his
legs, while Shark stayed in the truck with me. He glanced back at me, shot me a
look, and took in our surroundings. As soon as Rip climbed back in, Shark
hopped out.

“I’m going to run inside and grab a
six pack,” he said. “Watch her.”

“Yep,” Rip said.

I stayed lying down, like a good
girl, and wished more than anything that he’d find it in his heart to bring me
back something to drink as well. My mouth was parched, and I knew I was
becoming dehydrated. Even my eyes were dry. I didn’t think I could cry again
even if I wanted to.

Shark returned a few short minutes
later with a
six pack
of icy, cold beer.

“Let’s go get some grub,” he said
to
Rip
. “We should probably feed the girl too. She’s
got a long night ahead of her.”

My heart sank. They really were
going to pimp me out and make me pay for fucking up their little plan.

Rip started up the truck and we
rumbled out of the gravel parking lot and back towards the highway. I looked up
through the windows as I watched fast-food joint after fast-food joint pass us
by.

“There,” Shark said as he pointed
towards the right. “Let’s go there.”

The truck pulled up to a drive thru
and Rip and Shark bickered over what to order. I tried to tune them out.
Sometimes they were as bad as an old married couple. They, of course, didn’t
ask me what I wanted, but I heard them order an extra cheeseburger, so I
assumed it was for me. They pulled up to the next window to pay. The sound of
music from the 1950s or 1960s pumping out of some outdoor speakers filled the
air. It must have been some type of old-fashioned burger joint.

My mouth started watering as best
it could at the thought of chomping down on a juicy cheeseburger.

“Guys,” I said meekly from the
back. “I’m thirsty too.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Shark said. “We
ordered you a drink.”

I was shocked. It was one of the
nicer things they’d done for me. Maybe they were starting to soften up a bit?

“Pull back there,” Shark said as he
pointed towards a dark area of the parking lot. “We’ll eat there.”

“Street view,” Rip said. “I like
the way you think.”

“No, it’s just more secluded,”
Shark
said. He seemed to be annoyed with Rip, and a little
more agitated than usual the entire day. I wondered if he was nervous about
something or if he was just super pissed at the way I’d thrown a huge wrench in
his master plan.

“What time are we…” Rip asked
Shark, purposely not finishing his question.

“In about an hour,” Rip replied.

I knew then and there that
something major was about to go down in an hour.

Rip dug around in the paper bag and
pulled out bags of French fries, sandwiches and napkins. He threw a
cheeseburger wrapped in wax paper back at me like I was some sort of dog.

“There
ya
go, princess,” he snickered. He unwrapped his sandwich and shoved half of it in
his mouth all at once. He was so disgusting.

The burger smelled charbroiled and
the cheese was perfectly melted. The bun was soft and fresh, and much to my
surprise, there was not an ounce of mayo anywhere on the thing. I took small,
manageable bites. Hoping to make it last as long as possible. I knew if I
inhaled it, I would be left just as starving as I was before.

Shark reached down and grabbed a
couple cans of beer from his brown paper bag. He cracked one and handed the
other to Rip, who cracked his and gulped it loudly, burping between each drink.

“Did you get my drink?” I asked.

Shark said nothing and handed me a
cup of soda and a straw. I unwrapped the straw faster than I ever had in my
life, stuck it in the cup, and took a sip. The cool, refreshing, citrusy drink
told me it was none other than Mountain Dew. They were giving me more caffeine.
It wasn’t quite an energy drink, but the night was starting off like it had the
night before. I tried to focus on how good it felt to wet my whistle and have a
warm meal in my belly. That was about all I had going for me in that moment.

I sat in the back of the truck,
quietly eating my sandwich and slurping my soda, while Rip and Shark got drunk
in the front. Rip turned on the radio and the low lull of depressing country
music filled the speakers. I could tell the sound had been moved to the rear
speakers, which drowned out the conversation going on in the front seat. I
couldn’t have made out what they were saying if I tried.

I watched their expressions and
tried to get a read on them. They were up to something. Shark looked more and
more agitated by the minute, almost as if he was on edge. Or maybe he was on
high alert. Rip seemed like his idiotic, relaxed self. He mostly nodded to
whatever Shark was saying to him.

“I’m going to go take a piss,”
Shark announced loudly as he climbed out, nearly stumbling to the ground. He
was clearly feeling those beers he’d just downed. I watched as he stumbled
towards the inside of the restaurant. It was just Rip and
me
now.

“So what’s the plan?” I asked him,
trying to seem casual.

Rip reached up and turned the music
down until it was nearly silent.

“Huh?” he asked. I couldn’t tell if
he was playing dumb or buying time to try to think of what to say without his
brains, AKA Shark, there to think for him.

“What’s going on tonight?” I asked
again.

“Already told you,” he replied.
“You’re earning your keep. Making us back the money you lost us last night and
then some.”

“You know, you could probably make
a lot more money by selling me back to Raze,” I said, trying to think on my
feet. “Like a ransom.”

Rip raised his eyebrows as if to
agree with me.

“Had you even thought of that?” I
asked.

“Well then what would be the point
of that?” he asked. “That’d be no fun.”

“I didn’t realize this was about
having fun,” I said with my arms crossed. “I thought this was about you and
Raze.”

“Oh, trust me, sweetheart,” Rip
snorted. “It is about us and Raze.”

I figured they got some sort of
sick satisfaction by pimping out
Raze’s
girl. That
was the only thing I could think of. I knew Raze would stop at nothing and pay
any price to get me back if they put a ransom on my head.
It
wasn’t about the money
,
I was starting to realize
.
It was about power and control.

I leaned back in the seat and
sighed. I was getting nowhere with Rip. He may have been dumber than a box of
rocks or it may have all been an act, but I was still getting nowhere.

My head began to pound and throb,
and I could feel a massive headache coming on. Probably from the dehydration, I
figured. I hoped the caffeine from the soda would kick in soon and take care of
it. The last thing those assholes would get for me would be any sort of pain
reliever.

I looked around the parking lot.
Shark should’ve been returning soon and then the night was sure to really get
started. It was getting later and later. I figured it was only a matter of time
before they’d take me to some local bar and get things going.

Completely out of nowhere, I heard
the click of a door handle and Rip went flying out of the driver’s side of the
truck. I popped up, startled, and scooted over to look out the window. Rip was
lying on the ground and some man was pounding and pulverizing the shit out of
him.

“
Agh
, ah,
ugh,” I heard as Rip took punch after punch to the face and back. His body made
a sick thud as it landed on the gravel. Rocks were flying everywhere.

The man was dressed in black
leather and wore a black ski mask, which was unusual for summer. I couldn’t
tell if it was a random mugging or a planned attack.

Rip was drunk enough that he didn’t
have an ounce of dexterity to even fight back. I saw splatters of blood all
over the white gravel parking lot, and Rip’s shirt was quickly tattered and
torn. Under the pale glow of the moonlight above, I could see Rip’s face
turning growing black, blue, and swollen. Blood dripped from his nose and mouth
as he put up his hands to block the swinging punches that seemed to continue
without any sort of relent.

Soon Rip was completely passed out.
That or he was dead. I wasn’t completely sure. My blood suddenly ran ice cold
as the man turned towards the truck and locked eyes with me. In the dark night,
I couldn’t see his face, but he had honed in on me. I wondered if I was next
and what he wanted.

He took a step closer to the truck
and swung open the door, climbing inside.

“
Wh
-who
are
you?” I stammered.

He took a look around the parking
lot before lifting up his ski mask
part-way
. I saw the
most amazing sight I’d ever seen in my entire life. It was Raze.

“Raze!” I exclaimed as my heart
raced. “Oh, my god!”

“
Shh
!” he
said as he lowered the mask back over his face. “Act natural.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw
Shark returning to the car. Thank goodness he couldn’t see Rip’s limp and
possibly lifeless body lying next to the driver’s side of the truck. Shark
wrestled with the door handle, still drunk as a skunk, and climbed in the
passenger seat.

“Glad to see you didn’t do anything
stupid,” he snorted to me. “Got big plans for you tonight.”

He reached down and fished around
for another beer in his paper sack and then groaned as he realized they were
all gone.

“Well, fuck,” he said. He leaned
back in his seat, sighing loudly in frustration.

I sat in the back, frozen like a
block of ice, as I waited for Raze to make a move. Somehow Shark hadn’t noticed
that it wasn’t Rip sitting in the driver’s seat. It was nothing short of a
miracle.

I heard the cocking of what could
only be a handgun, and I closed my eyes.

“What the-” I heard Shark say.

“Don’t move,” Raze said in a low
growl. It didn’t sound like Raze at all.

“What fuck is this?” Shark said
with a
smart ass
laugh. He was trying to act like he
wasn’t intimidated at all.

“What the fuck do you think it is?”
Raze growled back. “Don’t move or I’ll blow your fucking brains out all over
the inside of this truck.
”

“You wouldn’t,” Shark said.

“Try me,” Raze said. “Seriously.
Try me.”

Raze held the gun mere inches from
Shark’s temple, inching it closer and closer until it was smack dab against his
left temple. Shark winced as the cool, smooth metal made contact with his skin.