Tess

Squeezing my wrist tightly, Viper leads me out of the room. My heart sinks when I hear Sam yell, “Don’t leave us!”

“You’re hurting me,” I cry as he pulls me around a corner and we pass some men. I recognize some of them, but there are also new faces around. Obviously the standard of their appearance is the same, though—there are no standards.

We make our way down another corridor, and when we reach a door, Viper opens it and shoves me inside a room, causing me to almost fall once again. I rub my arms, feeling the coolness of the room. Viper turns on a gas light that’s on the floor, and fear hits me when I realize I’m now alone with him. Trying to distract myself from those thoughts, I glance around the room, rubbing my wrist where Viper had gripped my hand tightly. There’s nothing but concrete walls and a mattress on the floor, one that’s soiled and looks like it’s been picked up from the back alleyway.

A click echoes throughout the bare room, and I turn around to discover Viper has locked the door. My stomach falls when he turns to face me with a sickening smile—one that takes me back to a time I’d seen that exact same smile. A twist of his lips that lets me know exactly what he’s going to do to me—and how—and unfortunately I haven’t forgotten what that feels like.

“Oh, Teresa, you have been gone for too long. All the things I want to do to you for leaving, for hiding out, and fucking that other biker,” he spits out, taking a few steps closer. I swallow hard, my mouth suddenly dry with the growing fear creeping up my spine. “But I found you, didn’t I, wifey? And now that my business is finished up here in New York, I’m taking you back home with me. I’m sure your father is waiting to see you.”

Don’t cry, Tess, he doesn’t deserve your tears.I take a few steps back as he nears me, until my feet hit the edge of the mattress. I panic, looking around at the room desperately for a means of escape or something I could use as a weapon, but there’s nothing. Viper’s eyes go wild when he sees the panic in mine. He gets off on this, me being scared, and I should know better than to show him my fear, but the look on his face alone has me wanting to crawl out of my skin in terror.

He reaches me and grabs my arms, holding me tight and keeping me still. I cry out when his hold gets even tighter, making the pain unbearable. “Please don’t do this,” I beg, but it only turns him on even more, his tongue snaking out of his mouth and licking over his lips, making my stomach burn with the acid rising inside me.

I don’t know what gets into me, but before I know what I’m doing, I spit in his face, yelling, “I hate you!”

He smirks, then the tip of his tongue comes back out to lick my saliva off his lips where it landed, causing my stomach to roll and real nausea to set in. I wait in anticipation, wondering what his next move will be, and then it happens—he leans in and viciously butts my forehead with his, causing me to crash back on the mattress, my head hitting the wall behind me as I fall with a jarring jolt. My vision blurs with the agonizing pain shooting through my skull, and my head feels heavy, so much so that I can’t lift it.

I blink, trying to keep the darkness threatening to overtake me at bay, then I feel him move on top of me, but I can’t seem to focus on what’s happening. “Please… stop…,” I manage to get out, but then he lifts my head up by my hair and slams it against the concrete wall. Stars burst behind my eyelids and a lightning bolt of pain shoots through my skull, stealing my breath away. Images of Amy and Sam flicker across my mind before everything goes blissfully dark.

* * *

I wake up to something heavy on top of me. Pain, so much pain. I try to open my eyes, but my head is throbbing with an excruciating pain, and the warm, wet feeling underneath my head is likely responsible for the copper tang of blood scenting the air. When I finally do manage to open my eyes and keep them open, I come face-to-face with Viper, who is dripping with sweat as he moves roughly inside of me. The pain steals my breath as he thrusts roughly with no lubrication to ease the way. I want to cry out but find I can’t, the mere thought of it causing my head to hurt even more. And who would help me, anyway? I have no one.

In one swift movement, I’m turned and thrown onto my stomach, then one of his hands reaches out and pins my wrists together in front of me. I scream out as Viper leans over me and brutally enters my ass. The pain is unbearable, and he doesn’t hold back, fucking into me hard and fast as I cry out with each agonizing thrust.

Tears run down my face, the salty brine of them bitter on my tongue as I realize no one is coming to help me. I give up then and take my mind to another place, one I’m all too familiar with. There’s no point in fighting him, I only know too well what will happen if I do.

Blocking out all the sights and sounds and scents of Viper and what’s happening to my body right now, I retreat to the place in my mind where I feel blissfully numb. My gaze lands on some writing on the wall in front of me, and I try to make out the words—Jaxon and Harvey. I focus on them like a lifeline as Viper continues to thrust for what feel like hours, until a loud knock sounds at the door.

Viper ignores it, his hand releasing my wrists, only to grab on to the back of my hair and start riding me like a fuckin’ horse. Again, there’s another knock, but this time it’s the loud thumping of a fist hitting the wood. “Open up, Viper. Our delivery guy is here.”

Viper pulls out suddenly and painfully, and I don’t realize he’s already finished off and come in my ass until I feel his release dripping out of me. I make out the sound of a zipper and a belt being done back up, and then the thud of footsteps heading toward the door.

I stay stone still, too sore for any attempt at moving and not wanting to gain his attention in any way. I take my mind back to my place again, focusing on the words on the wall, and the pain as my body deals with what just happened soon has me to blacking out for the second time tonight.