Page 25 of Biker's Hostage

I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Did she know what was going on with me right now? I had no idea if her father told her. Did he intend to deal with me himself? I didn’t know, but I got the feeling that the two of us were close right now. She wasn’t far from me. It was like my system could sense her, and I would have done anything to have her in my arms, just one more time.

I should have opened up to her when I had the chance, but I had been stupid enough to shut it down whenever she got close. I just couldn’t stand the thought of her seeing through me, seeing the person I really was. It seemed too... dangerous. I feared that she would look at me and turn her back on me, the way so many other people had done.

Maybe it was for the best. This way, she wouldn’t see the other side of me, that side of me that craved closeness and connection, the side of me that felt like I had finally found it with her. That was a part of me I had fought to keep quiet from everyone else, and I doubted she would have liked it. She wanted me to be strong, dangerous for her, and the reality of it was that...

I heard the scrape of a door and lifted my head again, tensing myself for what I was sure was going to be another beating from her father. Fuck, maybe he would finish me off this time. Maybe it would have been a mercy.

Finish my family line right here and now, end it before it goes any further, put us out of our misery for good...

“Zane?” Her voice, whispered, came through the darkness of the dank room, and my heart skipped a beat.

“Chelsea?” I blurted out before I could stop myself. Was it her? Could it really be her? It felt as though this had to be some kind of hallucination because there was no way she was...

The light flicked on, and sure enough, there she was, standing in the doorway, hands clenched by her sides, her eyes wide as she fixed them on to me like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“Oh, my God, Zane,” she gasped as she pushed the door shut and hurried toward me. “What happened to you? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I replied as she reached out to touch my face. I couldn’t help but wince, and she drew her hand back at once.

“I’m sorry, I— did he hurt you?” she asked. I nodded. No point in trying to hide it. Her father hadn’t fucked around, and I was sure he had made it clear to her just how he felt about me.

“Yeah, he did,” I muttered. “Your dad, I guess...”

“Badly?”

I shook my head. She breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank God,” she murmured, pressing her forehead to mine. “I— I managed to convince him that he had to run it by Chuck first, the head of the Dogs, before he killed someone on our property. I don’t know how long it’s going to last, though.”

“At least he listens to you…”

“Not enough. He told me he was coming after you,” she confessed. “I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen to me. He just wanted revenge. Oh, God, Zane...”

She reached behind me to undo the rope wrapped around my hands, and I pulled her into my lap, wrapping my arms around her and pressing my face into her neck. I closed my eyes and breathed deep, inhaling the scent of her, reminding myself just how good it felt to be this near to her again.

“Fuck,” I muttered against her. I didn’t even know what I was cursing for, not really, but all of this... it seemed impossible. I had no idea how we were going to get through it, what we were going to do to come out the other side in one piece. If that was even possible. It felt doomed, like the weight of the world was pushing down on top of us.

She pulled back, clasping my face in her hands and gazing into my eyes.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her softly. “Does your father know—”

“No, of course not,” she murmured, shaking her head. “I snuck in here when he got back to the apartment. I figured they would be holding you in the compound. I just didn’t know if you would still be...”

She trailed off before finishing that sentence. Alive. That was what she was going to say. If I would still be alive. Because she knew, as well as I did, that it was a damn miracle I had made it this far. It was only a matter of time before that changed, before one of them came in here with a gun in hand and finished me off, once and for all. I gritted my teeth, trying to focus on the moment, not the horrors that I knew were going to come.

“You should go,” I told her, squeezing her close again. “I don’t want you getting caught in here. Your father, he would—”

“No, I can’t leave, not without you.”

Her voice was firm, certain. I shook my head.

“There’s no point,” I muttered. “They’ll find us.”

“You can’t think like that…”

“They found me at the motel,” I shot back. “They’ll find me again. And they’ll drag me back…”

“There’s something I need to tell you, Zane,” she murmured to me, cutting me off before I could finish what I was saying. I could tell from the tone in her voice that this was serious, whatever it was. I eyed her, confused.

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