Page 2 of Reckless Pawn

"Easy, Isabella. It's not like that here."

"Fuck you. You just said you wanted to punish me and I sure as hell am not your princess or anyone else's."

He lowered his hands and took a deep breath. "You're making assumptions. Punishment doesn't mean anyone is going to touch you. I may be an asshole, but I'm not a monster. But your incessant snooping needs to stop. The cameras in the clubhouse picked up your latest little break in and JD is losing his shit over it."

In another time and place I might have laughed. That someone like me could get through their security had unnerved them. But I'd had years of practice sneaking around my house and finding ways into places I didn't belong…

"Then give me something better to do. I'm tired of being cooped up in this cabin all the time. You have no idea how frustrating it is. I'm going crazy out here."

"We've been trying to give you space, time to heal from your ordeal. Maybe keeping you isolated here so long was wrong. But snooping through club shit is not going to get you what you want." Axel shoved his hands through his hair and turned to pace away from me.

"You have no idea what I want." My throat suddenly felt dry and my voice sounded hoarse.

"We all know what you want, sweetheart. More than you think I do. Every question you ask one of the prospect's guarding you is repeated to me. Every piece of paper you pick up in the clubhouse is caught on camera. Even I know how to put two and two together. You're fishing for information on a ghost and you need to let it go."

My body stiffened. My stomach heaved at the idea of my every move being reported to him.

"That's none of your—"

He held up his hand and stopped me mid-sentence. "Don't bother. Next time I need an excuse from you, I'll give you one."

I ground my teeth at his blatant arrogance. These men had that crap in spades and sometimes I wanted nothing more than to shove it down their throats.

"Give me some time and let me think on your situation. Whatever we decide, I'll take it to the club. Until then you keep your ass out of trouble and out of the fucking clubhouse. Shit goes on there you don't need to know about—you don't want to know about."

"I don't want to stay here anymore. I think it's time for me to move on. Put all of this behind me." I already knew that wasn't an option. No matter how many times they told me I wasn't a prisoner, I knew I was.

"Not gonna happen, Iz. There is a nationwide manhunt going on for you and every mercenary from here to Timbuktu is gunning for you. You go three feet outside this compound and you'll get dead—or worse." Axel took three steps towards me and stopped. "Trust me. You don't want to go out there. At least here no one knows where you are. The situation may not be ideal, but at least you're safe."

I wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. I could still imagine my father trying to hunt me down though. He didn't like loose ends in any situation. But we were talking months. How long would he bother?

All I knew for sure was that it was damn hard to stay positive when it felt like my whole life had been a lie. And with no freedom and no purpose, I was on the verge of going mad.

"I need something to do. Sitting around here all day with nothing more to do than watch television only makes things worse. It doesn't keep the bad memories away, nor does it make any good ones."

"Well, if you're looking for new privileges, you can start by telling me where you got the gun."

"I didn't steal it if that's what you're thinking."

"A brother?"

I clamped my lips shut. If nothing else, Ihadlearned about loyalty.

Axel shook his head. "This is exactly what I'm talking about. We need to work together not against each other. If it didn't come from a brother then it had to be from Patty since no one else has been here. JD is definitely not going to be happy."

I shrugged. "It's not as if you have to tell him about it. You've got the gun. What difference does it make now?"

"You'll learn pretty quickly we don't keep secrets among the brothers. That kind of shit will fuck you up every time."

I was tired of talking to Axel. It was pretty damn clear what I wanted didn't matter. Not to him, not to the club. Hence why I had taken matters into my own hands. I knew snooping through club business would get me in trouble at best, maybe killed at worst.

But anything was better than sitting here doing nothing. I leaned against the kitchen counter and took a deep breath.

"What about Houston? Am I ever going to get any answers? Is he ever coming back?" I hated myself for asking, but I couldn't resist. As hard as I tried, I couldn't let it go. He was everywhere I turned. My memories, my dreams, even my fantasies.

"You know I can't talk about that. Any information about him is on a strict need to know basis and only for club business. If that's what you're snooping around for, you might as well stop. You are wasting your time."

A hot flush crawled up my cheeks. Not because I was embarrassed that I'd been searching for information, but because I was angry he refused to tell me anything. "That's ridiculous," I spat.

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