Unplugged: A Bad Boy Rockstar Romance (36 page)

“
Indeed,
”
he said. He stood up and dropped a long,
slow kiss on her lips.
“Be
just a minute.”

Jase headed to his kitchen and
immediately put the kettle on. Yawning, he dug
out
the coffee grounds and French press from his cupboard. Ever since Will had
convinced him to try it instead of the shitty brew from a drip maker, Jase had
been hooked. He started gathering cups and additives.

“
I think I
’
m out of smokes,
”
said Maggie i
n
a faraway voice from the bedroom.

“
There
’
s a pack in my right saddle bag,
”
said Jase. He peeked into the fridge for
any sort of creamer or milk to offer. Maggie never did like her coffee black.

Maggie walked out of the bedroom in some
jeans and a tank t
op, and Jase made a disappointed
noise.
“
Hey, what
’
s with the clothes?
”

“
Your saddle bag is on your bike, and
your bike is outside,
”
she
said in a mocking sing-song voice. She unlocked and pulled open the front door.
“
Unless you want me to put on a show fo
r your neighbors.
”

“
They didn’t buy tickets,
”
said Jase with a shake of his head.

Maggie laughed and blew him a kiss. From
the stove, the kettle started its high-pitched song.

Jase was pouring the boiling water into
the press when he heard Maggie scream,
and the
chilling report of two deafening gunshots. He fumbled and dropped the kettle,
spilling hot water all over his bare legs and feet. He roared in pain and
kicked the kettle aside as he rushed for the front door screaming Maggie
’
s name.

From the doorw
ay
he saw two men in masks dragging Maggie
’
s limp and unconscious body into the
back of a dark black van. A third held his bleeding left arm and cursed them
loudly as he scrambled around to the passenger seat.

Jase leapt off the porch and charged
towards
them, not giving a second thought to the fact
that he was completely naked or the pain from his burning legs. The men in the
back yelled at the driver until he slammed on the gas. Tires squealed in a
smoking fury as the van shot away from Jase
’
s driveway a
nd
down the street, back door still swinging on open hinges. In the driveway,
tinted glass had been scattered like black candy.

For a split second Jase stared in
impotent horror as he watched the van charge away. He turned back for his bike
and dug out the
spare ignition key he kept in a small
pocket in the saddle bag. On the ground nearby, he saw Maggie
’
s Bersa 9mm. He picked it up and kept it
tucked under one of his naked legs as he started up the bike and tore after
them.

I never should have let her ste
p one fucking foot outside.
Jase
’
s mind raged as he swerved through the
neighborhood at insane speeds, trying to catch up to Maggie
’
s kidnappers. He caught sight of them
heading towards the heart of LeBeau, their position given away by the shattered
back w
indow that Maggie must have hit when she tried
to fire on them. She had her gun on her and she tried to use it. She
’
d done exactly what they had told her to
do. But he had failed her.

The chase got complicated as the van
swerved through streets already bu
stling with people
up early to enjoy their summer weekend. More than once Jase had to lane-share
or ride down the middle of the two-lane roads to get around cars in his way.
From the sidewalks, he heard people yelling and screaming as the chase passed
by,
pulling each other out of the danger zone.

Don’t
give up, you piece of shit
…

Up ahead, the van was about to hit a
stoplight with three cars already waiting. Jase expected the driver to see he
was trapped, and slow down or take a detour. He let out a curse
when the van sped up, swerved into the oncoming lanes, and
barreled into the intersection. Horns blared and brakes squealed as the
cross-traffic swerved to miss it. One of the cars turned just at the nick of
time, missing the van, and crashing instead int
o a
post office box on the corner.

“Fuck!”
Jase shouted. He tried to follow the van
’
s path, but four other cars sat stalled
in the intersection, and witnesses had already started crawling out of their
own cars to investigate. Several of them shouted very
choice
words at the naked biker trying to callously maneuver through the scene of the
accident.

By the time Jase got past the
intersection, he couldn’t find a sightline on the van. Desperate, he followed
the road without turning until it came to the mount
ain
and merged with the highway. All manner of cars sped past his quiet little
town, but none of them looked like the black van.

Maggie was gone.

~
FIFTEEN ~

Maggie
’
s hands had been deep in the saddle bag
of Jase
’
s bike when the van squealed up to a
haphazard stop on the sidewalk. After that, everything happened fast. The rear
doors on the van flew open before it had even come to a full stop. She saw
limbs come tumbling out in a rush, and suddenly men in masks were
bearing down on her. She didn’t remember screaming, but
she did remember the feel of the Bersa in her hand when she pulled it out of
her waistband. She had it cocked by the time the first one reached her, but he
couldn’t stop her squeezing off two wild sh
ots. One
of them shouted over the sound of busting glass. A man
’
s big hand twisted cruelly in her hair
and Maggie
’
s vision spun as he yanked her
backwards. She heard the crisp sound of electricity buzzing. Then something
painful dug itself into the flesh o
f her shoulder,
and the world went black.

When she came to, Maggie couldn’t move.
They had bent her legs and arms back and zip-tied them together. She laid on
her side, helpless, as they maneuvered her around the van
’
s space with little concern for her co
mfort. Since she couldn’t see through the cloth bag on her
head, every touch came as a shock.

“
Is he still behind us?
”
one of them said, breathless.

“Fuckin
’
dude is crazy!
”
said another in a much harsher voice.

Maggie groaned in pain.
“
You motherfucking
cowards
…”
she
spit out as she wriggled pointlessly in her binds. Her arms were already
aching, pulled back in such discomfort. Despite being dressed in a tank top and
jeans, she had never felt so vulnerable or exposed, and it enraged her just as
much as i
t frightened her.

One of the men responded by pressing a
monstrous hand around her neck and squeezing hard enough to cut off her air
supply. Maggie choked and sputtered a few seconds until he released her.
“
Why don’t you just keep your mouth shut,
you stup
id bitch, before I shut it for you.
”

“
Here, use this,
”
said one of the other men. There was
faint rustling. Someone lifted the cloth over Maggie
’
s head just a bit, and roughly stuffed a
white cloth into her mouth before putting the hood back down. Maggie cried
against the gag until she felt another hand around her neck.

“
I mean it. Shut the fuck up. Don’t make
us give you something to cry about.
”
The hand around her neck disappeared and one began groping
her breast with harsh fingers. Maggie clenched up and whimpered as tears began
to soak the black cloth hood over her head. After the hand lifted, she took a
deep thankful breath. She tried to quiet
her crying
as the van jostled over rough bumps and around sharp highway curves. Wherever
they were taking her, it wasn’t
in LeBeau.

When the van finally came to a stop,
rough hands yanked Maggie out onto the ground. Someone cut the ties on her legs
and f
eet, allowing her to walk but with her arms
still immobile. She bit down on the cloth gag in her mouth every time she felt
her feet slip on the blind walk. A few times her captors let her fall to the
asphalt before they pulled her back to her bare feet and
pushed her forward. Judging by the laughter, they were clearly enjoying
the entertainment. She felt clumsy gropes at her ass and legs a few times when
she was
‘
helped up
’
.

They entered some building big enough to
produce echoes, and someone took Maggie
’
s
arm the
entire walk from the front door, keeping her on what was probably a narrow
path. Wherever they were must have been industrial, dangerous if she fell. The
hand around her arm gripped tightly enough to hurt and cut off further
circulation, but she w
as too scared to struggle. She
let them lead her through a dark maze and into what sounded like a smaller
room, where she was tied to a chair and left alone for several minutes.

The room was quiet and muffled enough
that she could hear the racing of her o
wn heart. She
couldn’t believe her life could end like this, especially now. She had finally
begun to heal her greatest wound, her biggest regret. Of course it would be now
when the reaper decided to come calling. She felt cursed, like her father felt
curs
ed. And as fearful as it was, her heart was
equally wrenching in pain for Jase. After all of this, was he just going to
have to bury her? Pick out some stupid dress for her cold corpse to wear for
eternity? What had she done? Maggie started crying again, w
ishing she had never come back to LeBeau.
I should have let Evan kill me in
Eagleton. I should have run anywhere else. I destroy everything I touch.

Her thoughts cut off quickly when the
big metal door into the room creaked open. She jumped at the sound. F
ootsteps, many footsteps, entered the room. More men than
had been in the van in the first place.

“
Nice work,
”
said one of them.
“
And the invitation has already been
sent. Shouldn’t be long.
”

“
It better fuckin
’
not be, after all this,
”
said another.
“
Alrea
dy got a
guy with a bullet in his arm and this shit ain’t even finished yet.
”

Someone approached her and Maggie tensed
up as if it would protect her from being touched. Rough hands removed the black
hood from her head and pulled out the cloth gag. Pain fro
m the sudden brightness stung Maggie
’
s eyes, and she squinted as she breathed
freely for the first time in hours.

“
Hello there, darlin
’
. I sure am glad to see you.
”

When her eyes finally adjusted to the
light, Maggie opened them to see Evan
’
s cruel smile in front of her face. He
bent down right in front of her, his gaunt face cut sharply in the harsh light.
Around them stood a bunch of men with weapons, whose faces and shaved heads she
didn’t recognize. The blood drained from her stomach.

“
I
don’t remember giving you the idea that
our arrangement had an opt-out clause,
”
said Evan, smiling, his tone suggesting everything was
sunny. She supposed it was, for him.
“
You hurt me real bad when you took off, babe. You always
thought you were so much f
ucking smarter than me, but
not smart enough to realize I’ve had a low-jack on that car of yours since the
first time I fucked you.
”
He reached out and ran a hand through her hair. When she
instinctively tried to pull away from him, his touch became tangle
d talons yanking her back to look at his face.

“
Now, now, you
’
re coming home,
”
said Evan, whispering close to her. He
held her head still while he hovered over her, his lips brushing against hers
with increased force. He licked his tongue across her close
d mouth.
“
No need to fight it. I already have a long list of new
friends for you to meet.
”
Evan
kept his face close to hers, breathing on her. His hot breath on her skin
smelled like cheap beer. He panted on her while he trailed a hand down her jaw,
her ne
ck, and her chest, before crudely molesting her
breasts. He stared at her face when she tensed and sucked in a breath, wanting
to fight but helpless to do so. He loved watching her realize she had no
control.

Evan made a little moan against her and
she fe
lt sick. She closed her eyes when his hand
dropped between her breasts, snaking down her stomach towards her center. She
felt his fingertips on her mound when one of the other men in the room
interrupted. 
“We
don’t fucking have time for this.
”

Immediately
Evan stood and removed his hands from her body. Maggie released the breath she
realized she
’
d been holding and tried with great difficulty to hold back
her tears.

“
Fair enough,
”
said Evan. He walked up to the man who
had spoken. Maggie realized then that
everyone in the
room except Evan had his head shaved or buzzed down to nothing.
“
I just feel like a kid on Christmas,
that
’
s all.”

The apparent leader of the other men
seemed impatient with Evan.
“
There ain’t gonna be a Christmas for nobody if her old man
don’t pay up like you promised.
”

“
He will, he will! It
’
s his only daughter, of course he will
pay,
”
said Evan.

Maggie listened with interest as the
pieces began to fall into place. Evan must have trailed her from Eagleton
somehow, and when he saw that Ma
ggie had the
protection of the MC, he probably did what he was best at: recruit someone else
to do the hard work for him. Whatever ransom they were trying to extort from
Henry and the MC would no doubt be the payment to the thugs he had hired.

And then Ev
an
would drag Maggie away with him and disappear into the underground, and Henry
and Jase would be left double-crossed, ransom paid with no hostage. Or worse
—
the thugs would simply murder them for
the cash at the exchange.

Maggie began to cry at the though
t that Jase, and her father, were about to meet their doom.
“
Evan, please. I’ll go with you without a
fight if you just promise not to hurt them.
”

Evan turned from his conversation to
face her. His expression was one of cruel amusement.
“
Oh, sweetheart.
Will you really?
”

“
Please, I
’
m begging you,”
said Maggie. Her vision blurred behind
tears.
“
Just leave them alive. Don’t kill them.
”

Evan leaned over in front of her again,
face to face.
“
You keep getting these ideas that you
’
re in some position to negotia
te, and I just can’t figure out why.
”
He laughed for a few seconds, and then
he whipped a vicious backhand across Maggie
’
s face. The sting tore through her
nerves.