Page 71 of Vengeance

“No one’s adopting him except me,” Ty snaps.

Matty pulls back and looks at him. “What?”

The words come out before he has a chance to process them, but he knows it’s the truth. “One day, I’m going to adopt you, Matty.”

“I think I found a place he might have taken her,” Grayson says, pulling everyone’s attention.

Releasing Matty, Ty stands. “Where?”

“About fifty miles south.”

“Let’s ride!” Shep shouts.

Lex shakes her head, and Ty gapes. “Why not?”

“If he hears motorcycles, he’ll...” she says and looks down at Matty. “He wants to prove you can’t stop him.”

“We’ll take my car,” Grayson says. “We just have to stop at my place to grab my gun, but it’ll be quick.”

Jennings hurries into the Chapel and comes out with a .45. “Here.”

“We’ll call if we need backup,” Ty says and hugs Lex. She may have just saved Tara’s life. “She’s okay, right?”

“Just get to her, Ty.”

South of Griffin’s Beach

Tara

Waking up, Tara finds herself tied to what should be a bed. Instead of a mattress or cot, she lies on rough plywood, and slivers dig into her back. She remembers driving her car after Billy took the trackers off, and when they pulled up to a falling apart old farmhouse, he hit her.

Looking down, she sees she’s completely naked, and she worries about what he plans to do to her. Nothing good can come from being stark naked and tied up to a board designed to give her splinters in the worst possible places. Billy is nothing if not sadistic.

“You really thought you’d get away with it,” Billy’s voice calls, and she turns her head to see him sitting in a dark corner of the room.

“Get away with what?” Her eyes throb, and she wonders if she has a concussion. She should know after the many Billy gave her in the past.

The house doesn’t have electricity, and even if it did, she sees no lightbulbs in the fixtures above her. He stands and walks over to her, his hands running over her skin. He touches her the way he used to when he wanted to make love, and she forces herself to be as still as possible even though she’d like nothing more than to pull away from him.

“You thought you could get away with ruining my life.”

“I didn’t ruin your life, Billy.”

“I went to prison for five years!” he shouts, spit hitting her face as his hand slides up her chest until he wraps his hand around her throat tightly. “I was forced behind bars because of a bitch like you!”

Tara holds herself together because he doesn’t fully cut off her air supply, but he could. He wants to assert dominance, and he wants to see her scared. “I wasn’t the one who called the cops. And I didn’t want to press charges, but the state had to. It wasn’t my choice.”

“Bullshit!” he shouts and releases her. “Bull-fucking-shit!”

His hands move to his pants, and he slowly unbuckles his belt, sliding it through his belt loops at a torturous pace, making her fear the worst. When he doesn’t remove his jeans, she feels relief. Almost as much relief as she did knowing he wouldn’t kill her in front of Matty. He’d never be able to get over that.

“You have a sexy little body still,” he says and stares down at her. “You were never that big on top, but you have an ass I loved to squeeze. You never let me take it, though.”

He’d asked her twice, and she said no both times. It’s the only time she’d ever told him no where he listened. “Not my thing, Billy. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Your tight little pussy was enough. Although, I have a feeling you’re not so tight anymore. Not after you’ve been whoring around with a motorcycle club. Tell me, do you have to let them gang-bang you in their clubhouse like I read about? Did they all get a chance while you laid covered in their seed?”

Nothing she can say will help her, so she opts to stay silent and only shake her head no. Based on the look on his face, he doesn’t like that decision.

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