Page 44 of Eden's Joker

The near darkness of the back of the van helped. His presence did not. I ignored him and he gave up trying to speak to me after a few failed attempts. He then became just part of the darkness. Like he already always was. The darkness that will be my life now.

How could I have been so wrong about him?

He warned me so many times to stay away. Evenrejected my advances. And like a total idiot I just kept pushing and pushing harder.

I should’ve known this was his plan all along. What guy that looks like him would ever be as interested in me as he pretended to be? Liking all the books I liked, taking me to see old black and white movies, smiling and laughing at all my weird ways?

I should’ve known it was all a lie.

I wish he was here now so could I tell him I know all that now and that I hate him.

But at one point the van stopped and he left me alone back here. I lunged after him and almost made it out to freedom. Right before he grabbed me and placed me back, laughing and telling me there’s nowhere to run anymore.

I hate him worse than I’ve ever hated anyone in my entire life. It passed through me like a surge of white-hot electricity, and if my hands were free, I’d gouge out his eyes. Or worse. Even if it were the last thing I ever did in this world.

I’m still seething that I didn’t get the chance to do it.

What I saw of the world when the van door opened told me nothing about where they were taking me. It was just an empty, desolate stretch of road, surrounded by desert and arid hills in the distance. We could be on our way to anywhere.

Once we were moving again, I tried kicking out thevan’s back lights and calling for help by sticking my arm out, just like I was taught to do.

The lights won’t budge though, and I don’t think it would do me much good besides. I can hear the roaring of bikes all around us. It’s all those rough and gruff men that were in that parking lot with him. His MC brothers.

How could I have been such an idiot?

He showed all the signs of being an asshole and yet I naively believed he was harmless.

The next time I see him, he’ll also know I’m not as harmless as he seems to think I am.

I can be a killer too. Just like my father is. I just need him to let me out of this cage first.

Is this how my dad felt when he was held captive all those years? He’d been abducted too, made to fight in a cage for years in underground MMA fights and championships. He was the best of the best in those fights. But no one knew he wasn’t free to walk away. Until the Devils saved him.

They’ll save me too.

Knowing that is what’s keeping me from freaking out completely. Ruin saw who took me. Ariel did too. They’ll find me. They can find anyone. They always do.

And then they’ll give me Tyler’s head on a platter.

If I don’t take it for myself first.

The van slows, and the smooth road isreplaced by a bumpy one again. My headache threatens to return by the time we roll to a complete stop.

The setting sun in the distance is a gorgeous bronze gold blanket over the horizon and its last rays pierce my darkness-acclimated eyes like jets of fire.

“Out you get,” Tyler says and helps me along by grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the edge of the van. Not hard, but not exactly gently either.

The ground beneath my feet is desert sand and dust is settling all around, sparkling in the golden light. We’re atop a hill, next to a two-story whitewashed Wild West-type wooden house, complete with a wraparound porch and curtains blowing in and out of windows.

Beneath us, a small town stretches into the distance. The town is surrounded by hills and the ones in the distance have snowcapped peaks. It’s some old gold rush mining town, it’s gotta be.

“Welcome to your new home,” he says, watching me watch the town. “How do you like it?”

I’ve never seen one so pretty and I hate myself for thinking that. All the leather-clad bikers walking along Main Street down there do take away from the quaintness of it all, but not by much.

Instead of answering, I just give him the ugliest look I can muster.

“Still mad at me? Maybe seeing the inside of the house will change your mood,” he says and drags me towards the porch by my arm. “It’s not quiteWuthering Heights level of fancy, but it’s a pretty nice house.”

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