Page 35 of Loss

Three more men pour out of the van and get Annabell and me inside the van. I watch as they toss my girl to the ground and she screams out in pain. Climbing over to her as the men laugh, I pull Annabell into my arms and hold her close to me. My arm is on fire from being jarred when I hit the floor of the van. Still, I don’t let go of my girl as she cries in my arms and I hold her as tight as I can without adding to the pain I’m already feeling.

“Tie them the fuck up or something,” one of the men yell, his voice barely audible behind the mask covering every inch of his face so no one can tell who he is.

“Fine,” another one grunts out as he helps toss one of the other men with them into the van with us.

I keep an eye on them as the fucker looks around the van for something to tie us up with. He’s cursing and tossing shit all over the place, getting angrier with every passing second because he can’t find anything. Apparently none of them put any thought into how they were gonna restrain Annabell. I’m sure they thought she’d just go with them because she’s a girl and won’t have the strength or determination to fight against them as men. Little do they know every woman under the Phantom Bastards gets taught how to defend herself and learns how to fire a weapon and take down an opponent twice her size. The only reason my girl was having a hard time is because they chose to come at her three at a time instead of one-on-one. It’s something we’ll have to work on when we get brought back from wherever they’re taking us.

With Annabell’s body in front of mine, I reach between us and press the button on the back of my belt. All of us have them. It will alert Buzz that something is going on and I’m in trouble. He can pull up a map and follow me if the guys don’t get outside the clubhouse before we leave here. And, we’re not going to because one of the guys gets in the driver’s seat and starts the van. He pulls away without the side door being shut or the rest of his men being loaded up. Something we’d never do. You don’t ever fucking leave a man behind.

“Help will come for us, Angel. I’ve alerted the guys that somethin’ is goin’ on and Chrome will see his truck sittin’ in the middle of the road. Are you okay?” I ask her, looking over her body the best I can.

“I’m okay. Sore, but I’ll be okay. How’s your arm feeling?” she responds, her voice a whisper as she tries to stop the tears from falling.

“It’s sore as fuck. I jarred it when I hit the floor,” I tell her, my voice as low as hers.

Before either one of us can say another word, I watch as the man in back with us picks up a pipe of some kind and slams it against Annabell’s head. She immediately slumps down in my arms and is unresponsive as I try to wake her up, yelling her name and glaring at the dead fucker while running my hand down her face as gently as I can. I try to fight back against the pipe hitting me, but with Annabell in my arms and my shoulder still fucked up, it’s impossible. I’m not about to let her go because then she’d hit the floor and I’m not gonna hurt her. So, I let the fucker hit me and I fold my body over hers as much as I can to protect her as I slip into the deep black void sucking me under.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Annabell

WAKING UP, PAIN is the first thing to register. My head is pounding and I can feel something sticky on the side of my head. I try to reach up, but my hands won’t move. Right now, I keep my eyes closed and try to use my other senses to figure out what’s going on. Trying to move my legs, they won’t move either. There’s a coldness covering me that leaves a chill straight down to my bones. Using every ounce of strength I have, I pry my eyes open and take a minute for the blurry vision to go away. It takes a minute but when my vision finally clears and I take in the room I’m in while trying to remember what the hell happened. I remember being out in my car and cleaning it out after moving to Pine View. The music was playing and I kept my car where it was because I was going to wait for Vault to get back before we went to a car wash or something to wash it and vacuum it out. Martin was on the gate and he was keeping an eye on me from the gate house.

Martin just stepped back in the gate house when I hear the squealing of tires. Startled, I look up to see a van park in front of the gate. Doors open and I watch as men jump out of the van with guns in hand. The bulletproof glass hasn’t been installed yet because there was some kind of miscommunication and it’s supposed to happen next week. With the guns in hand, Martin rushes out of the gate house to find out what’s going on. He says some words to the guys and they yell back at him. Since I’m in my car and the music is playing, I can’t hear exactly what’s being said as fear fills me to the point that I’m frozen. None of my muscles will move as my eyes are locked on the scene in front of me. Martin doesn’t back down as the guns point directly at him. It doesn’t take very long for someone to notice me in the car and the guns change directions so they’re all pointed at me. My breath stalls in my chest and my heartrate kicks up from the fear coursing through me.

My eyes are the only part of my body that will move as I watch Martin go in the gate house before the gate starts opening. I’m still frozen when one of the guys gets back in the van and drives through the gate the second it’s open wide enough for them to move through. The rest of the guys who jumped out are running through the gate straight for me. I want to close my door and lock it, but again, I can’t move a muscle. Before the last guy rushes through the gate, he fires a shot at Martin and I watch him drop to the ground. Martin doesn’t move and tears start rolling down my face as I wait for him to get back off the ground. He doesn’t.

“You’re fucking coming with us,” one of the men shout, stepping up to my car as I remain sitting in the passenger seat.

I don’t say anything even though it’s on the tip of my tongue to tell them to fuck off. They argue and shout at me when I don’t get out of the car. It’s not until one of the men finds his balls and grabs me before I start fighting. I thrash and fight against their hold with everything in me. I’m trying to remember all the moves I’ve been taught over the years, but my mind is blank. I just try to get the fucker’s hands to release me as I stomp, kick, and lash out any way I can. I’m surrounded by three men when I hear more footsteps racing toward me. Looking up, I find Vault running through the parking lot of the clubhouse. Rage fills his face as he takes in what’s happening to me.

Everything happens in a blur from there. Vault takes out the men holding me before three more jump out of the van and get their hands on Vault and me. We’re thrown into the back of the van. Vault does his best to cushion my fall, but I know he’s done more damage to the shoulder that was dislocated when he crashed his bike. The grimace on his face is all I need to see as I try to land to the side of him so all of my weight isn’t coming down on top of him. Vault sits up and pulls me into his arms, holding me. It doesn’t take long before I’m hit in the head with a metal pipe. My world turns black and I hope nothing happens to Vault while he tries to protect me.

I gasp with the memory of what happened. Looking around the room, I take in that there are no windows and the walls are cement. The floor is also cement, but it’s covered in so much dirt and other debris. A musty smell fills the air around me and I have a feeling we’ve been locked in a basement of some sort. My eyes linger on my body as I realize I’m no longer wearing my clothes. I’m in my bra and panties with nothing else covering me. The only light filling the room is from a hanging bulb dangling precariously from the ceiling. It looks as if it should be secured in the ceiling and it was ripped down by someone in the past. That can’t be safe. There’s nothing in here that will help us escape. No boxes filled with random shit, tools laying around on the floor, or anything else. Vault and I are going to have to rely on ourselves to get away from these assholes.

Looking around some more, I find Vault sitting in a chair across from me. His eyes are on me as I take in all the damage that’s been done to him. His face is covered in blood while his eyes are swollen so much they’re almost completely closed. Vault’s lips are coated in blood and I can see that he’s been hit to the point they split open. There’s more bruising on his neck and upper chest where his shirt has been ripped to reveal the skin to my eyes. Tears instantly fill my eyes when I realize this is happening to him because of me.

I’m laying in a bed with my arms and legs tied so I’m spread eagle. The mattress is lumpy and the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever laid on in my life. It’s also hard as fuck as I look at it the best I can. There are stains covering it and I don’t let myself think about what they could be from. A chill runs through me at the knowledge that I’m not the first one who’s been in this exact position. There’s no blankets or sheet on the bed and the frame is wrought iron so the ropes holding me have something to be tied to. The iron is discolored and it’s showing the age and being kept down in this damp, musty basement. Vault’s chair is metal and it’s definitely seen better days as rust covers what I can see around his body. It sags under his weight and one wrong move makes it look as if it will collapse to the ground under him. I hope that nothing more happens to him while we’re locked away here.

“Don’t,” he murmurs, his voice rough as his chest heaves with every breath he takes. “On them, not you.”

Nodding my head, I try to agree with him but I can’t. These men were at the clubhouse for me and now Martin and Vault have been hurt because they were trying to protect me. I don’t even know if Martin’s still alive at this point. My heart hurts thinking that he lost his life in a split second by stupid fuckers who think it’s okay to take another person against their will. I can’t stand that shit.

Pulling my hands again, I realize that they’re only secured with thin rope. Tank and my Dad taught me how to get free from rope. It’s been tied loose around my wrists which is a good start because it means less work for me to do. I start moving my hands back and forth. It doesn’t take me long to feel a slickness covering my skin and I know I’m bleeding. Tank warned me that I might depending on what kind of rope was used to secure me. Vault doesn’t take his eyes off of me as I continue to keep trying to break free from the ropes holding me in place. Once I get my hands free, I’ll be able to release my legs and then go figure out a way to get Vault free. I can’t tell how he’s secured to the chair from my position on the bed because his hands are behind his back and the bed obscures his feet from my view.

“I’m gonna get free, Vault. Then I’ll get you free,” I promise him, my voice coming out filled with pain as my head throbs and I try to continue taking in every detail of the room as I was taught while simultaneously working on freeing my hands.

“Stay safe,” Vault says, his voice broken with the pain filling his body as he continues to stare at me.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to get you out of here, Vault. We’re not gonna die down here because some stupid fuck decided to take me. Why the hell would you let them take you?” I question him, my voice filled with anger because he shouldn’t have put himself in harm’s way to save me.

“You’re worth it, Bell. I love you and there’s no way in hell I was gonna let them take you if I could stop it. Where was one of the guys? Why was no one outside with you?” he returns, every word causing him more pain as his head starts to sink lower to his chest.

“They were inside. No one thought I would be taken from the compound because we didn’t realize these idiots are fucking crazy. I hope Martin’s okay,” I answer him, trying to figure out how to make it so Vault doesn’t get mad at them for something none of us anticipated.

“Should’ve been with you,” he says, trying to put his anger in the tone of his voice but failing because the pain is even worse and overruling his body and intentions.

We lapse into silence and I try to figure out how to make my hands slip from the ropes as I continue working. There’s more than enough blood covering my skin and I know there’s no way Vault isn’t gonna be pissed as fuck when he sees the damage I’ve done to myself. If he could, he’d put me in a bubble and keep me safe from all harm every day of my life. All the men surrounding me are the same. They want to keep the women protected at all costs and will go to the ends of the Earth to ensure no harm ever comes to us. It’s not realistic, but they try their hardest every day of our lives.

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