Page 35 of Liberator

Chapter 25

The punishment was harsh,worse than I’d endured when I’d actually been a prospect. Over the years I’d earned the respect of my fellow Serpent Sinners and grown used to being treated as an equal among them. Now, I was nothing again. It hurt far worse to be on the lowest rung of the ladder when I’d once been near the top. The brotherhood I’d counted on was determined to show me where my quick temper had gotten me. They were cruel despite the friendship and family feelings they’d once declared.

I knew deep in my heart they were trying to teach me a valuable lesson about what my rage was doing to me and to the club, but I wasn’t in the right mind to learn it at first. Everything they did just seemed to make my rage worse, so the punishments and humiliation got worse too.

Each degrading thing I was commanded to do held a trap within it. Something was always planned to humiliate me further than the actual task did by itself. Yet, through all of it I neverstopped worrying about Vikki and wondering what horrible things she was enduring.

She was on my mind while I carried a bag of kitty litter into the garage space where all the work was done on our bikes and trucks. I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings as I tore open the bag and lifted it to dump on the oil spill it was intended to soak up. A sudden shove from behind was such a shock that I lost my balance and the control of the big bag. I landed face down in the oil spill and sent the entire bag of litter in an arc across the garage where its dust and pellets covered the floor and all the vehicles inside the large area.

“Sorry, the bike got away from me,” Rod said from behind me. “It looks like you have a bigger mess to clean up now. You’re going to have to wash all the bikes and trucks as well as clean the mess up off the floor. I’d hurry if I were you. Prime expects to inspect the garage in about three hours. Good luck, bro.”

I stood up quickly. Oil was running down my face and I was spitting it out of my mouth. I raised a fist ready to rumble before I realized Rod wasn’t alone. Doc and Colt were with him. All three were more than up to the task of taking me down to prove a point, so I backed off, kicked a nearby tire, and punched the side of a truck knocking off the side mirror.

“You’ll be fixing that as well,” Rod declared.

So far my temper wasn’t any better, nor was it doing me any favors.

Two days later I was scrubbing the grout of the bar’s bathroom floor with bleach and a toothbrush on Stretch’s order when Ditch came in to use the urinal. Instead of choosing one at the end of the row and as far from me as possible, he chose the one right over my head. Even though I was expecting him to miss and let his urine puddle on my clean floor, I didn’t expect it to spray all over me.

I came roaring up off the floor, but practically knocked myself out when I hit my head on the porcelain urinal and fell back into the nasty mixture of piss and bleach.

“What’s it going to take to make you understand that rage only makes the situation worse?” Ditch asked.

I wasn’t sure I knew how to answer that or even if there was an answer. I only knew that my quick temper had gotten me into this mess and unless I learned how to stop it from rising I’d never be given back my privileges or my rank. Without those I had no chance of rescuing Vikki which was why I didn’t try to put Ditch’s head in the toilet.

I realized I was making some progress at controlling myself when I was forced to do grunt work at Colt’s boxing gym. It was my job to empty the buckets of spit and blood from the ringside while the boxers were fighting. One particularly large mouthful of bloody spit landed in my face as I was switching buckets. It sickened me, but somehow I held back my anger, wiped my face on my sleeve, and only glared at the man who’d dared mark me. My normal reaction would have been tossing the entire bucket into the fighter’s face.

Not even the hoots and hollers of the bikers in the bar when they spied me acting as a server set me off that same night. After a week of suffering at their hands I’d finally gotten a grip on my temper, at least as far as my punishment was concerned.

However, at night when I was alone in my room the rage resurfaced. It had nothing to do with my humiliation, but everything to do with how long Vikki had been gone and in the hands of the filth who’d damaged her in the first place. I’d used thoughts of what she was enduring in order to shut off my own despair when the Sinners said or did something I hated just as Prime had told me to.

Every day I asked Prime what he knew about Vikki, and I was never any closer to learning much of anything. She was alive.That was the usual report. He believed she was safe because she continued to send in snap shots and videos on a regular basis. That wasn’t as reassuring to me as it appeared to be to him and Petrov. She could have been beaten, starved, and living in squalor for all they knew. My strong, brave Vikki would still send the information even if she was on her death bed.

Three days later as Doc was checking my ribs which had been bruised after I’d been kicked down the stairs while scrubbing them there was an argument in the hallway. Zoe had returned and she was shouting at Prime.

“She ditched the phone. I know and so do you! Why else would it not have moved for twelve fucking hours? Did you see how much video she dumped right before she went dark?” she shouted.

“We can’t be positive of that. She might be laying low to keep from getting caught,” Prime replied.

“You sound just like my father! He says we have to wait a few more hours since eight of the twelve her phone has been in the same place could be attributed to her sleeping. You are both wrong! She does not sleep much, and she always sends something every four hours even if it is just a message to say she is okay. Get your head out of the sand, Prime!”

I stumbled out into the hallway and saw Prime standing stiffly in front of Zoe. For once his gaze wasn’t worshipful. It was full of concern. His jaw was tight, and his cheek twitched, meaning he was desperately trying not to show how upset he was.

“We’ve got to go in and get her,” I demanded. “She was promised she’d be rescued if she dumped the damn phone!”

Prime ran hand through his hair and tugged at it in frustration. “I can’t go in without Petrov and he’s not ready. My hands are tied until he gives the go ahead.”

“I knew this would happen!” I screamed. “You trusted that asshole to keep his word and now he doesn’t give a fuck about one woman who means nothing to him!”

“My father can be trusted. He does give a damn. He is being cautious. It makes me angry too and freaks me out. I want to rush in and get her, but he says if she is still doing her job we could get her killed and some others as well,” Zoe explained.

“So now you’re defending him? Just a second ago you said she was in danger, now you’re suddenly on Daddy’s side. Of course, you are. You’re Daddy’s fucking darling! What he wants he gets because he holds the damn purse strings! Grow up little girl. Your daddy doesn’t care about anyone but himself and it seems you’re the same,” I declared.

“You better back off, Rage,” Prime said in a steely voice that was far more dangerous than a shout. “Zoe came to me for help. She’s been watching over Vikki as closely as she can. She feels responsible for her. Don’t you dare challenge her motives. She’s here despite her father’s demand that she not tell us anything yet. She sent me all the videos from Vikki’s last communication so I could watch and see if there was anything in them that would help us know where she was and how to get her out. She’s defying direct orders. If you want to view them with me then I suggest you show her some respect.”

“I’m sorry, Zoe. I know this isn’t your fault. I’m scared, that’s all. Vikki could be dying while we’re standing here doing nothing. I’m sick of feeling helpless. She deserves better than what we’ve given her. Right now, I don’t think we’re any better than the fucking cartel. We’ve been using her the same as them. I’m as guilty as anyone. I should have known something was wrong the last night she was here, but I missed it. Otherwise, I’d have stopped her,” I replied.

“I wouldn’t have allowed you to stop her. This assignment was too important. You’d have fought me, but I would have lockedyour ass up if necessary. This would have happened no matter what,” Prime answered solemnly.

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