Page 39 of Laying it Bare Biker Style: Ryder

Sporadic gun shots, yelling, cursing,and fists pounding flesh filled the next several moments, as we hadto rely mostly on sound at the moment. Stray bullets whirred overmy head and shoulder as I ducked and gave chase to vermin who hadmade it past our main area. Less than ten minutes later, the gunfire had almost completely ceased and our enemy lay in pools oftheir own blood across our floor. With the conflict ended, we wereable to get some windows open to allow the smoke to escape. Takingin the condition of the two rooms, I released a deep sigh. “Deadbodies will need disposed of and the ones who are still breathingdumped somewhere remote. And we’re going to have a lot ofremodeling and repairs to do over the next several days. I’mheading back to grab the girls and then we can quickly come up witha plan to take care of the trash and then restore our club.”Practically sprinting behind the bar area to the hall that led tothe office, I shifted to a full out run when the open office doorcaught my attention. “I told you girls not to open this door for –” My words died in my chest as my heart clenched. I raced over towhere Angel was slumped on the floor, a gash in the back of herhead still oozing blood. “Grayson, Gage, get back here now!” Shewas still breathing so I cut a quick glance to Misti who was curledin a corner, but when my eyes didn’t spy Sage anywhere in the room,I roared. “FUCK!”

Grayson and Gage barreled into theroom and their eyes widened at their discovery.

“Fuck. They busted the doorin, Ryder. Shit what did they take? Hey, where is Sage?” Graysonrushed over to Misti, his eyes scanning the rest of the room. Butno Sage; only her discarded purse lying in the corner.

“This was a fuckingdiversion. I bet Wasp has her or had someone grab her.” Rushingback out to the main area, I stopped in front of Axel and Boots.“Head back to the office and get Angel and Misti to Doc. I need toget Sage back. Did anyone see any vehicle leave our facility? Ineed to know which way they went.” My chest was caving in as panicbegan to smother me. What if he didn’t stop and just continued onout of the state? I needed a moment to get a plan together, butfeared I couldn’t afford that loss of time. Forcing myself to takea deep breath and shove back the panic, I had to keep my head so Icould rescue Sage.

Grayson and Gage joined me outfront.

“We need to figure outwhere he took her. I can’t let her get too far away. I’ll never seeher again. Change in plans. We’ll hash out what to do with the clubafter I find out where Wasp took Sage, kill the mother fucker, andget her back.”

Grayson glanced at his phone. “Prez ison his way here now. He has Intel from Pip that might help uspinpoint where Wasp and his fuckers are holing up.”

“She doesn’t have her gunwith her. And the longer she is gone, the harder it’s going to beto find her. I don’t have the ten minutes it’s going to take him toget here.” I growled. Fuck. And then another ten minutes to hashout a plan. “We only need one guy to take care of the survivors.Everyone else is coming with me. We’re going to waste every one ofthose bastards.”

“As soon as we get theIntel, we’re out of here. We need an idea of where to go or we’regoing to be wasting precious time checking out places that aren’teven possibilities. Every available man will be going with you, butwe need a plan first. We’ll get her back, Ryder. Sage is smart andtough. She’ll buy us the time we need to be successful. Plus we cantrack her from the app on her phone, if she has it with her andit’s turned on. Let’s see if it lights up and we’ll work on thatwhile we hash out a plan.” Grayson slapped me on theshoulder.

His words were rational andlevelheaded, two things I was not at the moment. But I trusted himand I trusted my club.

We’d get her back.

I repeated those words in my head as amantra to keep me from losing my shit as the minutes ticked by andshe still wasn’t in my arms.

Eight

~Sage~

When I started to come to,my first conscious thought was that I was being dragged somewhere,but I had no idea where. My second realization was connected to mymemories as they came rushing back. Wasp had busted in the officedoor, beat the shit out of Misti and Angel and then grabbed mebefore delivering a blow to my head that had me seeing stars beforecomplete darkness swallowed me whole. A wave of terror washed overme. Fuck. I hoped he wasn’t planning on burying me alive somewhere.That was a terrifying thought. And I needed to stop watching scarymovies. They drudged up horrifying imagery I did not need to bethinking about at a moment like this. But before I could workmyself into hysterics, I realized that was highly unlikely. Ididn’t believe he wanted me dead because for some reason hewantedme. But toreassure myself I was not in the woods or in a grassy field, Ipeeked my eyes open to merely slits to catch a glimpse of mywhereabouts. Getting a hint of my surroundings, I discovered I wasbeing dragged down a long hallway.

Okay, not about to be buried alivesomewhere, my dread simmered slightly. However, I was still in abit of a panic because I never wanted to find myself in Wasp’shands again.

Keep your head, Sage. Youneed to be smart about things if you are going to find a way out.Deep breaths, Girl. Keep your thoughts rational. No more scarymovie flashbacks.

After a few moments of measuredbreathing, I was able to get myself under some semblance ofcontrol. I needed to come up with a plan and not let on I was awakejust yet. And above everything else; I had to force him to keep mehere. Wherever here was. If we kept moving, Ryder would never findme and if we left the state – hopefully we hadn’t yet – it would beeven more impossible for me to be rescued.

That lasted all but a fewmore seconds as I found myself being shoved into a chair. AfraidI’d lose my balance and crash to the floor, I popped my eyes open;released a yelp; and grabbed the seat with my hands. I took a quickmoment to study my surroundings. Boxes were neatly stacked on metalshelving units along most of the perimeter of the cavernous room. Ascuffed wooden table sat off center with a few metal folding chairspositioned around it.Was I being held inthe Brutal Demons’ storage warehouse?

“I figured you were awake.You were a little less dead weight there at the end.” His smirkmade my stomach roll. “As soon as the rest of my brothers return,we’ll be hitting the road again. You’re coming back with me to myhometown. It’s time I got myself an Old Lady.”

“I’m already someone’s OldLady so you’ll have to choose someone else.” I locked my eyes onhis dark cold ones, refusing to cower.

Wasp’s fist rushed at my face before Ihad a chance to flinch. His responding hit rocked me back on thechair. “Just because you’re wearing his vest doesn’t mean shit. Ihad you first and he stole you from me. You’re mine.”

My cheek stung but I refused to givehim the satisfaction and rub it. “I guess you need to review yourMC rules. That is exactly what his vest on me means. You took meagainst my will. And I’m not a possession; I don’t belong to you.And you won’t have me again.” I was shocked he didn’t strike meagain for my backtalk.

“I love your confidence.But he has no idea where we are. We’ll be long gone before he getshere. Besides, I don’t recall you fighting back.” He sneered. “AndI have you now.”

“I won’t be yours and I’llfight you the entire time.” Hopefully my sass brought along somepower to back up those words. But if anything else, engaging him ina battle of words or hands, I’d hopefully keep us here for a littlewhile longer.

Raising his foot, he kicked at mystomach, but I twisted at the last possible moment and his blowlanded on my hip. Wrapping my arms around my belly, I crashed tothe floor.

Standing over me, he lifted his leg todrive his boot into me again. Curling my belly away from him, hiskick landed in my kidney and I cried out.

His cruel laughter released somethingprimal in me and I swept my legs under his feet.

His huge body collapsed to the groundwith a grunt. But he recovered quickly. Grabbing me by my throat,he stood up taking me with him, my legs dangling from the height.“I might prefer the feisty version of you rather than the docileone.” He ran his tongue up my neck and along my cheek.

The contents of my stomach almost shotout. “You mean drugged one.” My retort rasped out since he wascrushing my windpipe. “You wouldn’t have had my body any otherway.” Clawing at his face, I dug my nails into his cheeks, tryingto gouge out his eyes.

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