Chaos Bound (Sinner's Tribe Motorcycle Club #4)(34)
They hit the boat launch at a run and turned into the parking lot, the acrid diesel fumes overpowering the fresh pine-scented air.
“Let’s check if that one’s open.” Holt gestured to an SUV on the far side of the lot. The empty trailer attached to the hitch suggested the owner was out on his boat, but when Naiya looked out over the water, there was no one in sight.
“You’re going to steal a vehicle?” She pulled up short, stared at him aghast.
“You wanna live? You gotta take risks. You gotta be prepared to break some rules.” He scanned the beach behind them, checking for pursuit. “I think we’re clear for a bit. Their bikes won’t make it down the beach, and there’s no way they’ll leave them behind. There’s nothing more important to a biker than his ride.”
“Not even having to face Viper’s wrath?”
Holt shook his head. “A biker is nothing without his bike. They’ll have to backtrack and come after us on the main road. That means we need wheels to put some distance between us. We’ll dump the vehicle at the nearest service station and pick up something else.”
“I’ll never get a job if I have a criminal record, Holt. The security checks they do for crime labs…”
“I’ll do the driving, and I’ll take the rap if it comes to it, darlin’.”
Just like he’d done for his sister. He may have been an outlaw, but at heart, he was a good man.
“I’ll tell them I kidnapped you to lure Viper out of hiding.” He ran toward the vehicle and Naiya followed behind him.
“I couldn’t let you…”
“Survival,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
His words were like a punch to the gut. She’d survived those first few years living with her mom by doing what it took to keep safe, whether than meant breaking into empty houses to find a place to sleep at night, or lying to teachers about why she wanted to stay after school. But after that night with Viper, survival had given way to fear—fear of winding up back in Viper’s clutches, fear of becoming like her mom, fear of breaking any rule in case she was dragged so far down she couldn’t get up. She had set about controlling every aspect of her life so she didn’t have anything to fear, and yet fear was the one thing she couldn’t control.
She’d been afraid to live. But right now she had to make a choice. Live or die.
Holt stepped toward the vehicle, and Naiya’s training kicked in, making the decision for her. “Don’t touch it. Your prints will be all over it. And take off your shoes. They’ll be able to trace everywhere you’ve been from the dirt in the treads, and they’ll be able to tell your height and weight, unusual aspects to your gait, whether you walked or ran…”
Holt laughed and wrapped his hand in his shirt before rounding the vehicle to the driver side door. “Very useful skills. You’d be an asset to the club.”
She opened her mouth to tell him she hadn’t spent all those years in school to wind up right back where she’d started, when a hand wrapped around her neck.
“Look what we got here. Viper’s new bitch.”
Her breath caught when the cold barrel of a gun pressed against her temple. She didn’t have to turn around to see who had found her. She knew the voice of Viper’s second in command, remembered every detail of his sharp, angular features, pale skin and thin slash of a mouth. But more than his face, she remembered the enormous cruel power of his muscular body. That night in the clubhouse, Leo had been one of the men who held her down.
“Yo, Sinner,” he shouted as he pulled her away from the vehicle. “Look what I caught.”
Holt looked up, and his face tightened. He whipped out his gun and stalked toward them, his gaze fixed on Naiya and not the Black Jack behind her.
“That’s far enough.” Leo shouted when Holt was only a few yards away. “Put down the weapon and maybe I’ll let you watch me f*ck this bitch before I put you to ground.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Naiya snapped. “I belong to Viper. You can’t touch me.”
Leo smashed the butt of his gun against her head. Naiya’s vision blurred and pain lanced through her skull.
“What the f*ck, little mouse?” he murmured in her ear. “Never heard you mouth off before. I liked you better when you were quiet, hiding in the bedroom at your momma’s place, thinking no one could see you. Except with that body and that sweet face, we all saw you. Only reason you didn’t get to taste a whole lotta Black Jack dick is ’cause Viper laid claim to you. Told us all your virgin * belonged to him and he was gonna have it when you turned fifteen. That’s why he sent Jeff to get you on your f*cking birthday.”
No. She couldn’t imagine Jeff bringing her to the clubhouse knowing what Viper planned to do. Viper’s son had no love for his father. For the first few years after her grandmother died, she had hung out with Jeff and his sister, Arianne, and the other Black Jack club brats at the clubhouse when her mother was off on road trips with whatever biker she was sleeping with at the time. Although Jeff had turned to drugs after Arianne left the clubhouse, he’d always been friendly and kind to Naiya. She had no reason to doubt his motives when he called her up on her fifteenth birthday to invite her to a clubhouse party. Alone at home, and feeling sorry for herself, she’d made the mistake of accepting the invitation despite her misgivings.