Page 82 of Trick or Treat

The show was over and Lindsey was heart sick. She fell to her butt and turned her back on the television. She pulled her knees up, settled her elbows on them and dropped her head into her hands. She cried silently, not wanting the men behind her to hear how upset she was.

Kurtis came back out five minutes later telling the men to get her dressed and loaded on the truck. He placed his hands on the cage and leaned into them as he asked how she liked the show. “Did you enjoy the show?”

“You are such a sick motherfucking asshole,” Lindsey growled through clenched teeth. “A complete monster.”

“Whoa-ho. Such foul words coming out of your elementary school teacher’s mouth. Must be the influence of that criminal biker.” He took a step back like he was going to leave, then thought better of it. “You know, now that I think about it, I bet you’re a dirty little whore now that that biker got his hands on you. Am I right?”

“Fuck you,” Lindsey whispered harshly. She was so mad, she could barely sit still. She needed to keep Kurtis talking. The longer he talked, the more time she would be buying Trick and his club to find her. She knew beyond a shadow of doubt that they would find her, she just wasn’t sure in what condition that would be.

“Original, Lindsey. So very original. You think all these other women haven’t said the same exact thing?” He waved his arm to include the whole warehouse.

She shook her head. “How long have you been doing this?”

He scratched his chin and appeared to think about it. “My first year in Denver.”

Six years! How many women had he kidnapped and sold? Where did all those women end up? What kind of man buys women? “Who do you sell the women to?” Not that she thought he’d answer.

“Anyone with the money to buy them. I’m not picky. If they have the cash, I can get them their women.”

“What? Like they order these women from a catalog or something?”

“No. No catalog. They call and tell me what they’re looking for—redhead, brunette, blonde, tall, curvy, approximate age—then I go out and find them. Simple.”

“Why take me?”

“Why did I take you? Because I got sick and tired of you ignoring me or choosing some loser over me!” He ended on a shout. “Did you honestly think I tutored you in chemistry out of the goodness of my heart? It was to get close to you.” He threw his hands out to his sides. “Why do you think I always told you when Doug was cheating on you?” He gripped the heavy metal cage and shook it in frustration. “I took you because never have you ever looked at me one time the way you look at that fucking biker! I tried to get you to see me in a new light. I bought the fancy clothes and car and got myself in top shape. And for what? Nothing! You still don’t see the new me. What does a man have to do to get your attention?!”

Lindsey didn’t know what to say. She’d known that Kurtis had a crush on her years ago, but she had no clue that he’d done everything he’d done to impress her. The thought of how he’d gone about it made her physically sick.

“See! Even now, you have nothing to say.” He ran both hands through his hair, leaving it uncharacteristically disheveled. He stomped back over to her cage. “You know what I’m going to do with you?” He didn’t wait for her to guess. “I’m going to fuck you out of my system and then sell you to the next man needing a redhead. And if you even think of fighting me, what I did to Amy will look like child’s play compared to what I’ll do to you.” Finished with his rant, he stormed off toward a glassed-in office, slamming the wooden door in its frame.

Lindsey released the breath she’d been holding, dipped her head to her knees and broke into tears. She prayed like she’d never prayed before for Trick to find her before Kurtis decided to follow through with his threat.Please, Trick, find me.

Trick watchedas Tuck kept a steady supply of snacks and Pepsi flowing for Kylie. From what he’d told them, once she got her teeth into a project, she often forgot to eat which led to bouts of hypoglycemia or low blood sugar. If she didn’t keep her tank topped off as she liked to call it, she would start to get foggy headed, then cranky, then super fucking cranky, then shaky and unable to function. He assured them that she’d only gotten like that a couple of times that he’d known. As long as they kept an eye on her and made sure she ate healthy snacks along with the easy to grab sugary ones, she’d be fine.

With nothing to do but wait for Kylie to come up with something, Trick had called to check on his kids. He felt bad abandoning them already to someone else’s care after getting them away from their mother. Calliope assured him that they were fine to stay with her and Ryder. She said not to worry about them so he could put all his energy into finding Lindsey. Keegan had gotten on the phone after that and basically told him the same thing. He wanted him to find Lindsey and bring her home.

Sitting at the bar, he drank coffee, the idle time and waiting were killing him. He racked his brain trying to figure out who would have been stupid enough to take a woman under the Sons of Redemption protection. Was it just a random act or was it someone specifically targeting Lindsey? He didn’t think any of the Sons enemies would be stupid enough to do it because they would know it meant instant war. Everyone had been laying low for a while and they had heard no rumors about anyone wanting to make a power play. That left Lindsey.

Who would she have pissed off? Michelle for one, but after her initial bid to get her fired, his ex had backed off. He couldn’t see any parents having the knowledge or balls to pull something like this off. So who?

It was closing in on midnight and they still didn’t know much. Kylie had found out that the license plate on the van had come off a 2012 Cadillac in Boulder. The white panel van was one of thousands in the state and would be nearly impossible to find. Right now, she was currently running through traffic cameras, trying to trace the van’s movements, starting from where Lindsey had been taken.

“Trick!” Tuck was at the end of the hallway, motioning for him to follow him to the office. “Kylie wants you to come look at something.”

He set his half-empty coffee mug on the bar and hurried behind Tuck, Jackson close on his heels. Entering the office, he found Kylie in the same position he left her in; her back against the couch, legs crossed under the coffee table, her head bent over her laptop. “You got something?”

“Maybe. Come look at this.” She turned her laptop toward Trick as he took a seat on the couch and leaned forward to get a closer look. “Do you recognize this guy?”

He sure as hell did. “That motherfucker,” he growled. “I should’ve known.”

“Who is he?” Race asked from his seat behind his desk. Trick was so excited at having a possible lead, he hadn’t noticed his prez sitting there so quietly. Of course, he wouldn’t want to leave an outsider alone in his office for long.

“His name is Kurtis, I think. We ran into him at the grocery story not long ago. I was in one aisle and Lindsey in another and this jackass cornered her and was giving her shit. I ran his ass off, but he was definitely pissed off that she was with me.” He pulled his phone out. “Hang on.” He scrolled through his contacts until he found Cami’s number, hit send and waited for her to pick up.

“Trick?” Her voice was raspy from sleep as she greeted him.

“Cami, tell me everything you know about Lindsey’s friend Kurtis, starting with his last name.” Part of him felt bad for being so gruff with her, but the other part knew he didn’t have time to shoot the shit. He needed answers and he needed them now.

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