Page 23 of Taken By Her Two Savage Bikers
But what if I look deeper?
Her closet was surprisingly large considering her apartment in general was fairly small. Neatly stacked along the top shelf was shoe boxes, some odds and ends of no real consequence and then a couple of scrapbooks and photo albums. Pulling them down from the shelf, I walked over to the bed, threw them on the bed and opened the first scrapbook. The first thing that appeared was a magazine I’d never heard of with Gabriella on the cover in a skimpy black bikini.
Not bothering to waste time thumbing through the magazine, I flipped pages to see photos of her on the runway and what looked like professional photoshoot stock images printed out.
This looked like Gabriella, but I knew for a fact Gabriella had never modeled. She’d been with Raven for years, close to a decade if I were to wager a guess, and ran the club hand in hand with him even though Raven pretended he alone was the boss. Putting down the first scrapbook, I grabbed the second. The second had a lot of family-oriented photos with a few newspaper and internet clippings. Lola Hastings got third place in the local spelling bee when she was in middle school.
Fuck…
I thumbed through the other two photo albums, but I had what I needed in the two scrapbooks.
“Brother, I don’t think she’s Gabriella,” Phoenix said, entering the bedroom.
“No fucking shit. How in the hell could this have happened? How did Raven not recognize his own wife? That’s fucked up.”
“Her – Lola Hastings that is – high school diploma is framed on the wall in the living room. And there’s quite a few pictures of her with what appears to be family and maybe past boyfriends. Photos that appear to be done on a professional photoshoot. She’s a high-maintenance woman. Gabriella isn’t. At least not to the extent the woman we have locked at the cabin is.”
I tossed the scrapbook onto the bed and ran a hand through my hair, releasing a loud huff of air. “What in the fuck do we do now? And where the fuck is Gabriella? It’s evident that she’s not with Raven otherwise he would have called our bluff.”
“I don’t know.” Phoenix reached behind his neck and gave it a squeeze. “What do we tell Talon? Fuck man. She was our way of giving Lily her life back. We’re out of leverage at this point.”
Standing, I put the photo albums back in the closet, then tucked the scrapbooks under my arm. Talon was going to want evidence to see for himself. The scrapbooks should be enough evidence to convince him. “Ready to roll and face the music?” I asked, not really expecting an answer. The last thing I wanted to do was face Talon with this news.
“Yeah. This does have one advantage though.”
Stopping, I turned and looked him. “What’s that?” I needed a little good news right now; if he could see a bright side I was all for it.
“It means she’s no longer off-limits.”
I stared at Phoenix, left dumbstruck for a moment before a roar of laughter erupted from me. “Good point.” Leave it to Phoenix to find that silver lining.
~*~ TT ~*~
Lola
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, eyes closed, I had almost gotten myself into a place of Zen, which was fucking hard considering the circumstances, when I was ripped from my state to the sound of voices in a heated argument. My eyes sprang open and I stared at the closed door, attempting to focus on the conversation happening on the other side. Despite their voices being elevated I still couldn’t clearly hear what was being said.
Unfolding my legs, I was in the process of sliding from the bed when the door was unlocked and swung open to reveal Ash. Our eyes locked, bringing about the feelings he’d invoked within me the previous day when his hand came in contact with my ass causing heat to color my cheeks.
“Come on.” He waved for me to precede him through the doorway.
“What’s going on?” Walking past him and into the hallway I noticed the voices becoming louder and much clearer.
“How in the fuck do you make a mistake like that? If you weren’t my old lady’s brother I’d fucking kill you right here and now!” The voice belonged to Talon.
I hesitated in my step, causing Ash to bump onto my back. Inhaling sharply, I got a whiff of his aftershave, causing my body to tremble. If things had been different then the man at my back could easily have had his way with me.
Time and place. I sighed. “Not sure I want to go out there,” I whispered to him over my shoulder.
“It’ll be fine.” Placing a hand at the small of my back, Ash urged me forward.
Immediately I noticed his change in attitude toward me. The hand at my back gently nudged me instead of demanding my obedience. Had he been as shaken up as I had been over what happened last night?
Not entirely sure what was going on, I decided I had no choice but to trust my captor and carry on forward. As we turned the corner there were three men. Phoenix, who immediately came to join me and Ash at the back of the room, was the first person I spotted. Then there was Talon, tearing a chunk off a man who’d be a little younger than me that I’d never seen before. My eyes scanned his vest to come up with the information that his name was Eddy and he was a prospect.
Phoenix came to stand beside us. “Miss us, Lola?” he said, nonchalantly crossing his arms over his chest and going back to keeping an eye on the argument between the president and prospect.
Whoa… Wait… What? Did he just call me Lola? I could barely believe my ears. Though as I watched Talon tear a strip off the younger man I realized that he wasn’t just trying to goad me. Somehow they’d verified who I was. Had the real Gabriella come back? What would happen with the deal between Talon and Raven for Lily’s freedom? There was so many questions racing through my head that I could barely think.
