Page 1 of Reckless Pawn

Chapter One

Izzy

"Bitch, you need to get that fucking gun out of my face."

"You need to not break intomyplace, Axel."

He lifted a single brow as he stared back at me. As much as I knew what a warning that was, I simply didn't care.

"Break in? You mean with this key?" He waved a shiny silver key in front of my face, reminding me that he had every right to come and go around here as he pleased, whether I liked it or not.

"Not to mention this isyourplace only at the pleasure of the club."

I lowered the gun and stared at Axel, the VP of the Sins of Wrath motorcycle club, also my current keeper.

Ever since my brief affair with the elusive Houston Reed ended with my kidnapping by a crazed psychopath and subsequent rescue by said badass and his band of merry biker brothers, Axel seemed to be in charge of my every movement. The situation was getting old fast.

For a while I hadn't cared.

I'd been in a bad place when they brought me here and it had taken a few weeks to get me half-way back to normal. Not that normal really meant normal around here because how the hell did I know what was normal.

Since then I'd simply gone through the motions of day-to-day life, never leaving the cabin I had been assigned to. Although as far as cabins went in the middle of nowhere, this one seemed pretty nice. It reminded me of one of those tiny houses I kept seeing on television where there is one bedroom and the rest of the home is just another small room. Small but functional kitchen in the corner and living room/dining room taking up the rest of the space. It was a far cry from the McMansion that I grew up in, but for what I needed now, it felt just the right size.

At least until it didn't.

Patty, old lady to one of the MC members, had been nice enough to clean up the place for me. Apparently, these cabins were often used for guests who visited on club business and based on what I learned from Patty, anything could and probably did happen in here.

Now I had a nice clean sofa she'd brought in from her house and she'd purchased a brand new bed for me to sleep on. There was also a small dinette table and two chairs in the open kitchen area for my meals and a big screen television to watch if I desired. I didn't.

At first I cared about nothing. I wasn't even sure a pigsty would have phased me. My head was pretty fucked up from what Marco and his cohorts had done to me, even more so than what the drugs and the beatings had done to my body.

The bruises healed, the cravings for a fix waned…but my mind?

That was another issue entirely.

I knew I was supposed to be devastated by the things that happened in the house they imprisoned me in, but for some reason I wasn't. Those memories were locked down tight and I was more than happy to leave them there—undisturbed for as long as I could.

To my surprise and utter frustration it was the betrayal of Houston that shredded my dreams night after night. It didn't seem to matter that after a few short nights together he owed me nothing. Or that he had rescued me from a sex slave ring nightmare I might not have returned from if not for his timing.

That I now knew my father was involved in or at least knowledgeable of my kidnapping didn't seem to hurt as much. Although this going from one prison to another was far from ideal, at least in this one no one seemed to want anything from me. Until now I'd been content to be left alone.

Now I wanted more. I wanted freedom.

"I thought this place was supposed to be my private sanctuary?" I hated the idea he could come and go as he pleased. Or that any of the brothers and old ladies had more say so about my own life than I did.

"Privacy here is a privilege not a right. You were good to go until you started acting like a brat. Now tell me where you got the gun." He grabbed my hand and pulled me close, removing the pistol from my other hand at the same time.

I jerked my hand free from his grasp. "I don't have to tell you anything."

"You do if you don't want to be punished."

I felt some of the blood drain from my head at his words. Was he serious? After everything I'd been through he was going to come in here and threaten me? My head was about to explode. I gripped my temples and backed away as the room began to spin.

I'd done my best, with Patty's help, to overcome what had happened to me. But stress and anxiety were still a thing. Not that I planned to admit that to anyone.

"Relax, Princess. I was mostly joking. No one here is going to hurt you." He tried to grab my hand again and I jerked away before he could touch me.

"Get away from me," I yelled. I never wanted to hear that nickname again.

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