What Doesn't Destroy Us (The Devil's Dust #1)(55)

“Bobby, see if that store has surveillance,” Bull says.

“Got it, Boss,” Bobby responds, rising from the table.

“I'll go with him.” I need to clear my head. Sitting here thinking of shit that could be happening to Dani is not helping me. I know who has her; just have no idea where they've taken her.

We walk out onto the courtyard. Grabbing my helmet off the ground where I threw it earlier, I start putting it back on my head. The simple gesture sparks a memory of when Dani had such a hard time with her helmet. That was her first ride; the thought makes my lips curl into a smile. A smile I hadn’t had all damn day, not since I last saw Dani anyway.

“You going to be alright, man,” Bobby asks, climbing on his bike. I don’t answer because the truth is that if something happens to Dani, it will be earth shifting.

We pull up to Mom and Pop's store. Once inside, the smell of candy and bread invade my nose. I see Ma and head toward her. The club helps support this little shindig, so they know us well.

“Hey, Ma, you got your cameras on?” I ask her politely.

“I always got my cameras on, son; you can’t trust anybody these days. Why you ask?” she asks, her voice shaky with old age. Ma had to be in her late seventies, her and Pa have had this place since I could remember. I am pretty sure only Devil's Dust comes here, I haven’t seen anybody else.

“Just got a situation that took place earlier. I would like to see them if that’s alright.” I lean up against the counter, trying to control the urgency of my voice. I take a deep breath.

“Sure, follow me.” She walks into a door behind the counter, leaving me and Bobby to follow. She sits down in a rusty metal chair with a computer monitor sitting on a desk.

“What do you need exactly?” she asks, looking up at me.

“Go back to around the time Charlie was here,” I tell her. She knows who Charlie is because we send him after a lot of crap; bitch work. Considering what went down today, if he isn't kicked in the f*cking ground, he'll be doing a lot of bitch work for a while.

Ma starts rewinding and then stops. I see Dani and Charlie pull up to the parking lot. The sight of her makes my heart gallop. I'm determined to find her. Yet I see red and want to blow Charlie’s head off for having her on the back of his bike. When you have a girl on the back of your bike, she is your responsibility. Her being the president's daughter should make that more than a rule; it’s law. Instead he treated her as if she was Candy on the back of his bike. The thought makes me high with anger; this shit isn't over with me and Charlie.

I see Dani walk to the side of the building.

“You got cameras on the back lot?” Bobby asks.

She presses a button and an image of the back lot pops up. You can barely see Dani’s head at the bottom of the screen; the camera pointing toward the parking lot instead of her. Within seconds, I see Dani’s hands flailing around and a rusty blue, older style Maxima pull up into the view of the camera. I see a man with a mask on carrying Dani’s lifeless body toward the trunk. The thought makes me swell with anger. The man is having trouble putting Dani in the trunk; he seems familiar to me. Then I see a person getting out of the car to help the man.

“That's the junkie; my mother. I f*cking knew it!” I yell. She threatened to take Dani, I just never thought she'd have the balls to do it. That bitch is as good as dead.

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“What’s your name?” Cassie asks. I just look at her, her body completely taken by drugs long ago. I wasn’t telling her my name, screw her.

“Fine. I don’t need your name,” she says flatly. “Tell me about the club; they run guns? I know they have drugs being an MC, right? You being Adrian’s Ol' Lady, I’m sure you know.” She fires the questions rapidly, sitting on the stained mattress with me.

Why does she want to know this; telling her would make me a rat. Images of the articles on the computer I had found that night flicker through my head. The club takes care of rats in a way I didn’t want, they kill them. Even if I'm the president’s daughter, being a rat wouldn’t go unpunished; even I know that.

“She ain’t going to tell you shit,” Ricky rasps. Their voices are making my head hurt. The pain from my head, my busted lip, and sore ribs makes me see double. I just want to sleep, sleep in Shadow's arms; just one more time.

“Doesn’t look like Adrian is showing up with drugs or money. Now what?” Ricky asks, making me aware of Shadow's absence.

“We could call Poppy,” Cassie says, her smile so disgusting it rips at my skin.

“Ah, Poppy. I bet she would go for a pretty buck!” he says in astonishment, his smile mimicking hers.

“Who’s Poppy?” I ask, the name making my skin crawl as it slips from my lips.

“Now she wants to talk,” Cassie says, proud of herself.

“Poppy buys girls and sells them to men with lots of money. A girl like you, I bet, would go to a high bidder.” Ricky raises his eyebrows.

If I don't tell them what they want to know, they are going to sell me into sex trafficking, but if I talk, I am sealing my fate with the club. My heart thrums with alertness. I feel cornered; no way out. Why hasn’t Shadow come for me? He should have noticed I was gone by now. Sex trafficking means being abused, drugged, raped, and my soul branded into an object. I wouldn’t be a human; I would be owned. Shadow is not the beast he claims he is. This bitch he calls a mother is a beast. Men like Ricky and Poppy; they are beasts.