Page 48 of Priest

“What happened to you, Priest? Who made you this way? All hard, rough edges with no curves or nothing soft.”

“Nobody.”

“I mean, I know someone hurt you at some point. Tell me what led to the man who sits here today,” September encouraged.

I grabbed the remote off a side table and held it up to the television.

“You talk too gahdamn much. Shut the hell up and finish my hair,” I demanded.

I searched through the channels and finally settled on the Roku channel.

“Sorry, I didn’t expect you to get in your funky feelings,” she muttered.

I turned on an assassin movie and turned the volume up to drown out her voice and the thoughts that troubled me.

FRIDAY NIGHT (3 WEEKS AFTER ABDUCTION)

“You really knowhow to start a riot, don’t you?” Kyte asked as she sipped from a fruity drink.

“What did I do?” I asked.

Bell giggled. “Only upset the top whore in the MC. She’s been bitching ever since whatever went down between you, her, and Priest last weekend,” Bell explained.

“Nothing went down between Priest, her, and me. Maybe something went down between the two of them, but I hardly paid her any attention. She’s not someone I have to argue with or fight.”

“Try telling that to her. She’d fight for Priest if she knew that it wouldn’t get her ass kicked out of the club,” Kyte shared.

“Girl, please. I think she’d risk getting kicked out of the club if she thought fighting for him would keep him in her bed and every other woman away,” Bell announced.

Kyte shook her head. “No, she wouldn’t. If she was kicked out of the MC, she’d be kicked out of his life. Staying here allows her to still see him and to try and manipulate him into returning to her bed.”

Bell tilted her lips down and angled her head. Holding up a blue drink, she conceded the point. “You’re right.”

“Right or wrong, I’m not fighting over any man, especially one who doesn’t belong to me,” I replied. “I’m only here for a little while, and then I’ll be going back home to my life, to my father, and my fiancé.”

“Yeah, I heard about that. Do you think that Priest is gonna let you go that easy?” Kyte asked.

“He doesn’t have a choice.”

Both ladies turned their lips down and looked away.

“What?” I asked.

“Just saying. He does have a choice. You’re here now, and you don’t want to be. Right?” Kyte asked.

I didn’t say anything.

“Exactly,” she replied.

“I did hear that you were engaged to Daniel Usher. What’s going on with that? I know that man has enough money to get you back. Whatever they’re holding out on, they haven’t told us because they don’t share club business with the whores or the old ladies. But we’re not dumb, either. There’s a reason you haven’t been given back, and I bet it’s not because Daniel isn’t willing to pay for you.”

“Honey, her daddy is Chris Morgan. He ain’t shit to sneeze at, either. He’s got a pretty penny in his bank account. He could have gotten her back by now too. Whatever it is, it’s on Priest’s end. He’s holding the bag,” Kyte declared.

“No, he said that he would return me as soon as they returned his… property.” I hedged for a moment, not wanting to say his “guns.” If these ladies didn’t know, then I didn’t want to be the one to spread the rumor about what this was over. If it got back to Priest and the women weren’t privy to that knowledge, I would be the one punished in the end. I’d suffered enough sincebeing here. I wasn’t willing to make my plight any worse than it already was.

“Girl, please. That’s what he’s telling you. I’m telling you; there’s something more to it, and Priest is the one calling the shots,” Kyte declared.

I sipped from my own fruity blend of vodka, raspberry puree, and pineapple juice. It was their road captain Knuckles’ birthday, and they were hosting a big party for him. I had been dragged along, but it was only more proof that Priest was starting to trust that I wouldn’t run away. The thought still popped up in my head from time to time. It just didn’t take precedence over everything or consume my every waking hour.

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