Wild Child: A Skull Kings MC Novella (11 page)

“Then why keep Anna alive? Why not do her like you did my ‘compatriots’?”

The Boss quirked an eyebrow.

“To get me to come back,” I realized out loud.

The Boss snarled his upper lip, a chilling facsimile of a smile. “You’re certainly smarter than you give off, Lisbeth.”

“But why me?” I prodded again.

The Boss sighed impatiently, breaking his composure for the first time. “You know very well that nobody steals from me. The ones that do—” he tipped his head toward Jameson “—are made examples of.”

Suddenly, I felt a sharp blow at the back of my head. I cried out in pain and collapsed to the floor, my vision turned black. There was a heavy thud, followed by a burning sensation in my scalp as Jameson grabbed my hair. He yanked me back up, forcing me onto my knees.

I blinked a few times, trying to focus on the wobbling image of the Boss in front of me. When my vision cleared, I could discern a look of pure rage twisting his aquiline features.

“I lost a lot of money because of that shipment. Money that you couldn’t see in ten lifetimes. Money that you’ll never pay back, even if you had a thousand men lined up to fuck you.”

He gave some sort of signal to Jameson, who shoved me back to the ground. I landed on my cheek just before he kicked me in the ribs. I coughed as all the breath in my lungs left my body. Hot, bruising pain tore into my side.

I turned my face into the carpet.
Where are you?
I thought. I heard the distant chimes of a clock in another room. Fifteen minutes must’ve gone by since Jameson closed that door. How much time did Gabriel need?

I groaned, trying to catch my breath. Somehow, I had to keep the Boss talking long enough for a mutiny to happen. “I guess it wouldn’t help if I told you I had no idea what they were planning.”

“No, it wouldn’t help at all,” the Boss said, his tone deceptively calm.

I stiffened as I anticipated another kick. It never came.

“But rather than admit what happened right off the bat, you ran away,” he continued on. “Emotions dictate our behavior, Lisbeth, and your behavior suggests that you were feeling guilty.”

“Not guilty. I was afraid!”

Jameson kicked me again, this time in the shoulder. His boot collided with my bone. I felt a sharp crunch of pain followed by numbness. I bit into my lip until I tasted blood. I called out to Gabriel with my mind.

I had to keep him talking.

“Where’s Anna?” I asked again.

I curled up as I sensed Jameson rearing back for another kick, but the Boss clicked his tongue. After a few seconds of calm silence, I dared to lift my face off of the floor.

“We’ll take you to her right now, since you insist,” he said.

Jameson pulled me up by my hair again. My entire body ached, and I almost expected it to fall apart like a disassembled doll. There was no need for bindings; I was too limp to move as Jameson half-dragged me to the door and kicked it open.

The hallway outside was completely deserted.

I knew something was wrong when Jameson turned right rather than left, taking me deeper into the house. Everything in the house was silent, was lifeless. The flames on the candles were still, as if they were whispering conspiratorially with the air. There were no signs of any Skull Kings.

Even the Boss noticed.

“Where is everybody?” he wondered aloud as he followed us across the living room.

“Probably dicking around out in the desert,” Jameson muttered. “I’ll handle them after we take care of this.”

This.
Like I was a bag of garbage about to be disposed of. As Jameson stopped momentarily to open a sliding back door, I was flooded with a sudden sense of finality. A breeze rushed in as the door slid open, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was the last time I’d breathe fresh air.

One last time,
like that last kiss. Gabriel hadn’t been counting on seeing me again, at all.

He left me.

A million thoughts were roaring around in my head. I was all alone now. If I screamed, would it help? If I fought? Did I stand a chance at all?

Jameson pushed me out onto the back patio. I landed on a rough, granite surface and heard a soft cry. But it wasn’t my own.

I spotted Anna a few feet away, arranged on her knees with a rectangle of duct tape over her mouth. Her hands were bound in front of her chest. The phrase,
Say your prayers,
floated thinly through my mind.

Jameson dropped me next to her. I glanced at her face and saw nothing but sheet-white skin and wild, terrified eyes. My heart pounded. I began to shake.

“Any last words?” the Boss said in his razor-cold voice.

My skin felt hot and cold at the same time. I scanned the desert quickly, looking for light glancing off of leather and chains. I listened for a boot on gravel, the cock of a gun, but I heard nothing. I heard silence, the sound of abandonment.

“So be it,” the Boss snarled. “Hands on your head.”

Anna gave a helpless squeal, muffled by the duct tape. But I merely complied. It took all the strength I had left in my body to raise my arms. I was still shaking, but there was a cooling calm inside of my body. It was almost like relief.

I didn’t have to run anymore.

Part of me wanted to look behind me, at least see who was holding the gun. I didn’t dare to. That was the fear of mortality in me, and I had to let it go.

I closed my eyes.

––––––––

C
hop-chop-chop-chop!

My eyes snapped open.

The chopping sounds grew louder and louder until it drowned out everything happening around me, even the sound of Jameson’s cursing. There was a sudden sweep of air that blew back my entire head of hair, which was shortly followed by another, then another, then another.

My realization hit me in the face with the next wave.
A helicopter.

A spotlight beamed down on us from somewhere in the sky.

“This is Agent Fields with the FBI! Drop the weapon and put your hands up!” a strange voice boomed through a loudspeaker.

I thrust my hands into the air. Anna, unable to follow suit with her wrists bound together, just shivered stiffly beside me.

“Go, go, go!” I heard voices screaming on the ground.

Men in black uniforms charged toward us from out of the darkness. Toward me and Anna.

“No!” I yelped.

I collapsed backward and tried to crawl in the other direction. A man hoisted me over his shoulder and carried me away. A second man had Anna in his arms. I strained over my carrier’s shoulder just in time to see Jameson and the Boss putting their hands behind their heads and lowering themselves to the ground, following the loudspeaker’s directions.

Then, it finally hit me. We weren’t being captured.

We were being rescued.

* * *

“T
his was all I could get at this time of night. Hope it’s okay,” Carmen said.

I stared at the paper cup she’d put into my hands from the coffee vending machine in the lobby. The swill inside was a strange, cloudy brown. But when I took a sip, I instantly felt better. I’d probably needed something warm inside of me.

“Thanks,” I said, smiling gratefully.

We were in a motel somewhere in the middle of the desert, even older than the Paradise. Aspen was sitting cross-legged on the second bed, watching an old rerun of
I Love Lucy!
on a cube television set I was surprised to see working. Shadows passed over the thin curtains on the windows, evidence of the Canyon City Skull Kings doing their patrols outside. Liam was out there somewhere.

I had no idea where Gabriel was.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Carmen asked gently. She sat down on the bed beside me.

Aspen turned down the volume on the television set.

“Not really,” I said. “I just want to know if Anna’s okay.”

“Anna’s being debriefed right now,” Carmen said automatically. “She’s the number one witness, so they needed to talk to her right away.”

“And, they’re talking to Gabriel, too,” Aspen added.

“Gabriel? Why him?” I asked a little too eagerly.

“The Laughlin Kings,” Carmen answered, as if that explained everything.

“Ah...well, okay, then,” I said. There was no use just sitting around now that everything was settling down. Plus, I needed something to do, or else the girls would’ve been tempted to ask more questions. “Gee, I’m starved.”

Carmen hopped off of the bed. “I’ll tell the guys. Hopefully there’s a burger joint that’s still open around here.” She disappeared out the door, leaving me and Aspen alone in the small room.

“So,” Aspen thought aloud, “you seem really worried about Gabriel.”

My cheeks warmed, and I was glad we were sitting on two separate beds. “We’ve been through a lot together,” I said innocently.

“Uh-huh.” Aspen began playing with her fingers as she stared absent-mindedly at the television screen. “Just like me and Liam.”

I couldn’t help but gape at her, shocked. “No way. You and Liam are just...on a whole other level.”

Aspen laughed, her voice light and soft. Just the sound of it eased the ball of anxiety in my stomach. Then, she pulled a piece of hair behind her ear, and I saw something flashing in the light.

“Aspen,” I began slowly, “is that...is that what I think it is?”

It was Aspen’s turn to blush, but she couldn’t keep herself from grinning. “He asked me about a week ago.” She extended her left hand toward me.

I scrambled off of my bed and went to hers, grabbing her hand. The ring on her finger was just a simple gold band. Instead of a diamond, it was set with an enormous black stone.

“Liam must’ve picked it out,” I said.

We caught each other’s eyes and began laughing.

“I’m sorry,” Aspen said. “I didn’t know how to tell you, especially with all this going on.”

“Are you kidding? I’m so happy for you guys!
Something
good has to come out of this shittiness.”

Aspen’s eyes were shining. “So you’re okay with this?”

I realized our hands were still clutched. Afraid my face would betray my emotions, I pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m way okay with this,” I said.

I was, really. Somewhere deep down inside, I was excited to have another sister, even though my relationship with my two existing ones was tumultuous at best. Leanna and Lonnie. They lived down in Phoenix and played lots of golf. They’d left everything that they were ashamed of back in Canyon City, including me and Liam.

But I knew Aspen would be different. I fingered her new engagement ring with my thumb. It as a ring fit for a biker princess.

“You guys should do it inVegas,” I said. Then, I smiled. “It’s how the Skull Kings would want it.”

“Now, that’s a good idea.”

At that moment, the door opened. My stomach growled at the same exact time, and I turned with the smile still on my face, expecting to see Carmen.

But instead, it was Gabriel. His lips spread shakily, and he held up two grease-stained bags from a fast food chain. “I bring sustenance,” he announced.

Carmen and Logan slipped in behind him. I cleared my throat.

“Guys, can I have a minute alone with Gabriel?”

“Sure!” Carmen said loudly, reading the look on my face. “You know what? How about you guys just stay in here tonight?”

Logan’s face fell. “But—”

“Good idea! I’m sure we can bunk with someone else,” Aspen said, immediately sliding off the bed. She grabbed Logan’s left arm while Carmen grabbed his right. The two women had to drag him out the door.

“But that was
my
room,” Logan said morosely just before the door closed behind them.

We stared at each other awkwardly.

“One of those bags better be for me,” I said.

Gabriel’s face broke out into a shaky grin. “Here,” he said, coming forward. He sat cross-legged on the bed in front of me and handed me one of the bags. Inside, there was a burger with a side of fries. Instantly, I recalled our first night together after passing out those wristbands for Tim Hawk, eating on the curb, hinting at secrets.

Despite my growling stomach, I knew I couldn’t dig in until I had a serious talk with him.

“I thought you ditched me,” I said.

Gabriel’s eyes were sad. “I know. I’m
so
sorry you went through all that, but I didn’t ditch you.”

“What happened?” I asked, searching his face.

Gabriel gulped. “I was out in the courtyard with the guys. It wasn’t easy convincing them that the Feds were on their way, to tell you the truth. It was pretty much impossible without Jameson there. But then, Adrian showed up.”

I was stunned. “Adrian?”

“Apparently, he went back to Logan after seeing us off in that taxi. They cooked up a little plan of their own.”

“That little weasel,” I said.

Gabriel laughed at my words. “Seriously, right? Anyway, he just came up out of nowhere and told us the FBI was on their way, with a S.W.A.T. team and everything, and the crew had about two minutes to get out of there.”

I shook my head. “I thought they were going to wait until morning.”

“With you and me in that house, they pretty much had no choice but to move in right away.”

I stared at the garish bedspread under my legs.

“So...what’s your side of the story?” Gabriel asked carefully.

I picked at a seed hole forming in my sock. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“Yeah, okay,” Gabriel said, his voice strangely high. “I get it.” He reached out and took my hand.

I finally looked up into his eyes.

“Lisbeth,” he said softly, his fingers closing tight around mine, “the plan worked. Not like we expected, but it worked. Everything’s okay now.”

I nodded. In my mind, I knew that he was right. Everything
was
okay. But my body didn’t believe it. I was still on alert. I’d been ready to die, and now I was here in this tiny, brightly-lit room. I felt jittery, and my muscles were all coiled up, ready to bolt.

I shoved my food away. “I’m exhausted.”

“That’s perfectly fine, Lisbeth,” Gabriel said. He slid off the bed and cleared it off, giving me enough room to slip under the sheets. He crossed the room to turn off one of the lamps.