Page 106 of Intertwined Souls

He nods. “You guys only have six months until graduation and you all turning eighteen, and then you will be prospects. Things have worked differently for you guys than they have for others, so I am okay with you slowly adjusting to more club things now. And if you’re going to be successful with us, you have to learn to control your anger in situations like questioning someone who makes your blood boil by even looking at them. So, I want you to go and watch Stone and Blade.”

“Sounds good to me.” I grin. Definitely didn’t expect that but I’m definitely okay with it. I love getting my hands dirty.

“Alright, Grayson, are the offshore accounts ready?” Rage asks, turning to him.

Grayson straightens. “Yes and no. We know who our targets are for switching the accounts over to other names, but the bigger issue now is we don’t know where Tammy is. With her being in the wind and not knowing how deep her involvement runs in all of this, or if she has some hidden information on the club that could get us in deep shit, it’s not a good idea to set that up now. I think we have to wait.”

“The bitch really just vanished?” Noah spits out the question.

Nodding, Grayson says, “Yeah. Nerds and I were looking for any trace but have come up empty. I’m going to keep looking and see what I can dig up.”

“We can help you,” Harley tells Grayson, and I nod.

“Alright. I’ll try to think back and see if there’s anyone I might be able to contact from my past that could have any ideas or information about Tammy,” Rage adds. “So, in the meantime, we need to continue looking into everyone else we were tracking. Now that the warehouse is gone, we’ll watch and see if someone steps wrong or leads us to the people who are running this whole thing.”

“Do you remember those pages we found at Tammy’s?” Harley asks.

When Rage says yes, she continues.

“Tia said she was taken from an afterschool program. And those were like face sheets for kids from the rec center. I think we should look more into that place too because it was a place Tammy went to often.”

“I’m so sorry. I just—can I say something?” a small voice says from the entrance to the kitchen. Glancing over, I see Oakley standing there, and Raven pops her head out from behind her.

“Hey, sorry, I didn’t know you guys were having the meeting out here, and I wanted to get Oakley out of the room for a bit,” Raven explains.

“It’s alright. What did you want to say, Oakley?” Rage asks softly.

“I heard you talking about the rec center, and I’ve heard about other people coming from there. I was at the warehouse often because a lot of the people who purchased girls wanted virgins or didn’t want to deal with the drug problem.” Tears gather in her eyes, but she blinks them away. “Anyway, I heard the guards talking a lot. And when I would get locked in the, uh, closet room where you found me, it wasn’t fully soundproof, so I heard things.”

She clears her throat, clearly uncomfortable yet still wanting to help. She has strength like Harley does.

“I want to help and give you that information. I think I’ve been to the place where the main players run things from. And I know about the Black Night.” Goosebumps rise on her arms, and she wraps them around her waist, scratching at them.

Raven places a hand on her arms, stopping her. “It’s okay. You don’t have to keep going,” she reassures her.

Oakley shakes her head. “No, I want to. I want to help. Please.”

Rage takes a step towards her. “The only way you can help right now is by getting sober. Go to rehab and do the work. When you are sober and we see you working to get to a good place, then we can let you help. But right now, you are too clouded and driven by drugs. Okay?”

She nods fervently. “Yes. I’ll do the work. I swear.”

He gives her an encouraging smile. “I know you will. You’re strong.”

Raven gently nudges her back towards the kitchen, but before she can leave, Cade speaks to her. “Were you a part of one of the Black Nights?”

Oakley pauses and turns her head back towards the table. “Yes. It’s a place of nightmares. It not only humiliates you in ways you couldn’t possibly imagine, but it also dehumanizes you, and the longer you spend there the less human you feel,” she answers so quietly it’s hard to even hear her words, but with the silence in the room I know we all heard her.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Harley

“Alright, that’s everything. Guys, we will have church in a few hours. Remember that we were very careful with everything we did over the weekend and there isn’t a way to trace what happened at the warehouse back to us, but still be cautious. No going out alone,” Gabe orders as he finishes off the meeting.

After Oakley left, we went over what will happen next, which is basically going back to what we were doing: waiting, training, researching, and watching people.

“Hey, let’s go,” Ryker says to me, Grayson, and Cade.

We head upstairs and into his room, where we all sit on the bed. Well, they sit and I flop down in the middle of the mattress on my stomach and bury my face in the comforter.

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