Page 5 of Liberator

“You’re delusional, Rage. Prime won’t find the idea appealing. He’ll laugh in our faces. So will all the other guys. The Serpent Sinners and all the clubs like them are men’s clubs. The women around them are just there as decorations, useful in their own way, but unimportant. Most of them are whores, available to screw so they can hang around the members,” I told him.

I’d observed a lot in my few days at the club.

“Not all of them are whores. Flame isn’t. Some of them are what we call old ladies, which means wives and girlfriends. We give them respect and keep our hands off them,” Rage explained.

“Don’t you understand? I’m none of those things. I’m not a girlfriend or a wife. I’m not even a tough chick like Flame. And regardless of what I said earlier, I don’t intend to be anyone’s whore ever again. You’re grasping at straws. I thank you for that, I really do. You’re a good man, despite the fact that you’re kind of scary to look at. I swear I’d stay if I thought it made sense to do so. It just doesn’t.”

I took a long, drawn-out breath to calm myself and added, “Prime may be open minded according to you, but that’s not what I saw and heard. He wanted me left behind. There’s no way he’s going to want me to be a prospect. I don’t have a man behind me, and he’ll be quick to point that out. No Rage, this isn’t the solution, though I wish it was. I’ve got to leave. I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“Let’s compromise for now. I can’t just let you walk out there in the dark knowing the cartel wants revenge,” Rage said.

“Other girls have been walking out all night. They didn’t take bodyguards, and nothing happened to them. I can walk out just as easily. It’s all good. Take care of yourself, Rage. Don’t die when the cartel comes for a fight, okay?”

“Listen to me! The cartel knows your face. Liz was okay to go because she wasn’t alone. They weren’t going to attack a family to get one woman back, especially one that wasn’t young and fresh like you. They sold you already. They took money for you and the man that paid them will expect his goods to be handed over. Hell, they’ll owe him restitution for the kid, so they’re going to want you back. You’ve got a damn target on your back. Stay!” he demanded.

It was getting harder and harder to resist and give him reasons. It was strange that he was determined to keep me here. And not to use me. There was a hole stuffed full of distrust inside of me now, but I couldn’t make it latch onto Rage.

He was the exception.

Funny, since I knew he’d probably killed people.

“How long can I stay without wearing out my welcome? I can’t just sit around and take without giving something back in return. I stayed this long because Sweet and Jemma wanted me at their wedding. Well, it’s over now. I wish I could’ve found a way to pay all of you back, but that wasn’t possible. I won’t take anymore charity. I’ll give you two days, and I’ll work at something to pay my way. If the cartel doesn’t show their faces during that time, I’m out of here,” I retorted, as the frustration and a bit of anger grew inside me.

There. I couldn’t feel guilty about leaving now. I made a shit deal, knowing there was nothing I could do in two days.

“That’s not enough time, or a big enough compromise. The cartel is biding its time, waiting for us to stop watching so carefully for them. They want our guard down before the trouble starts,” he answered.

I opened my mouth to protest that if that was the case then why wasn’t it safe for me to leave. He held a hand up to stop my rant before it began.

“They wouldn’t see taking you as starting trouble. Just like you, they think we don’t give a shit about what happens to you. If you walk out of here on your own, they won’t expect us to care. They’ll snatch you and figure we’ll never hear about it. Sadly, they’d be right about us not hearing. We’d care, but we wouldn’t know where you were,” Rage explained.

I blew out a loud sigh and said in a resigned voice, “Then, what is a good compromise according to you?”

Why was I even agreeing to hear him out?

“Stick it out here for a week, seven days; not five. Observe what goes on around here and let me soften up Prime. Make some friends, especially Flame. I’ll help you get a job at the bar to earn your keep. You can clean tables and mop floors or something. If nothing else, then Flame can show you how to work the register and make change. You’ll have some experience for a job when you leave, that is, if you find it’s necessary still to do so. I’m hoping it’s not.”

Those last words bothered me. Rage washopingI would want to stay.

Something in me burned as his eyes bored into me, and I wanted to open a window and jump out. What the hell was I getting myself into?

Chapter 4

Vikki

It was difficult tomake friends. I’d never been good at it, possibly because every time I switched foster homes, I also changed schools. I’d quickly learned it was easier to be a loner than to have to let go of people as well as places.

At the Serpent Sinner’s clubhouse, I’d had Liz to talk to and she’d dealt with the people around us, allowing me to stay away from them as much as possible.

Only Jemma had forced me to be sociable. She’d popped into my room to see that I was okay and hold the baby. She gave us pointers on caring for an infant. We took her word for everything since she was a mother with experience and Jackson was such a good kid. By the time Liz left, she was getting the hang of it. I wasn’t as good at any of it because I did less for my daughter than either Jemma or Liz. I figured it was best not to get too attached since I wasn’t keeping her.

That showed how foolish and naïve I was because I was attached even before she was born.

For the last couple of days I’d been forced to learn how to be sociable. Rage had done as he’d promised and gotten Prime to give me a beginner’s job in the bar. It wasn’t much, but it was a start on my future. I cleared tables, wiped them down, swept, mopped, and when we weren’t too busy started to learn how to use the register. I had to fix a smile on my face and speak whenever I was spoken to. Men liked to joke with me, flirt, and often touch me whether I said anything to them or not.

Although Flame made me nervous and she kind of scared me, she was good at her job and taught me how to deal with the men who got out of hand. She gave me a list of things I could do and say to make them back off.

It came in handy several times a night when I was unable to think of the right words on my own. I had a tendency to freak out too much to think. After the experiences I’d lived through I couldn’t stand to be touched by strange men.

---