Page 49 of Lost Soul

“Sorry ‘bout this, darlin’,” he says, tying my arms behind my back.

“Name’s Skid, Hayley may have mentioned my old lady, Carly, to ya.” He talks to me like he’s making polite conversation in a grocery store queue, not tying me to a chair in some creepy basement.

“Yes,” I nod. I do remember Hayley mentioning Carly. She seemed to really like her. If this guy’s married to her, he can’t be all bad. Can he?

“I wish I could tell ya not to be scared, but right now you need to really think about what you do next,” he starts. “Hayley must have liked you, hell she wouldn’t have taken that bullet for you if she didn’t. We already know the Bastards wanted you for something, you may be thinking they’re the bad guys. But we’re the ones who got you now, and up till now as a friend of Hayley’s you’ve only ever had reason to see our good side.”

I wouldn’t exactly call the bodies I’d seen piled up at the warehouse an example of a good side, but I refrain from telling him that.

“When Jessie comes back from wherever he is, he’s gonna come down here, and he’s gonna be wanting some answers. And if you have any idea what’s good for you, you will give him them.” His tone is soft, through a coarse voice, and I try so hard to be brave. “I’ll have Carly bring you down something to eat,” he tells me before he walks out the room, closing the door behind him. I look around, there are dark stains on the concrete that I try convincing myself isn’t blood, and I can’t even let myself think about what happened to the last person who’d sat in this chair.

There’s no sense of how much time passes, not when all I see is Hayley. I wonder where she is now. They couldn’t have left her alone in that warehouse, it’s getting dark. She’d be so cold and lonely.

I jump when the door clunks open, and my heart lifts from my stomach when Jessie steps inside. It quickly sinks back to where it came from when I sense the burning rage radiating off him. He’s still topless and covered in blood, his eyes so furious I can’t bring myself to look into them.

He unties me without saying a word, throwing something soft on to my lap when he’s done. Looking down I see a black T-shirt, the logo on the front is the same as the one on the back of his cut. The Dirty Souls MC badge.

“Get out those clothes and put this on,” he gestures to the shirt with his head, turning his back to give me some privacy. The shirt is baggy, and it smells like him. If I wasn’t so petrified, I would probably take comfort in easing it over my skin.

“I’m done,” I say feebly when I’m decent, and he turns back around. His eyes roll over my body before he speaks, the T-shirt I’m wearing may as well be non-existent because it feels like he can see right through it.

“You need to tell me right the fuck now what those men wanted with you?” his voice is a warning, and scary. I’ve seen him mad before, that night when Josh Tilsey tried to kiss me, and when Hayley had taken drugs, but never has his anger been directed at me before.

I chew on my bottom lip the way I always do when I’m nervous and shake my head slowly. I wish I could tell him, but I can't do that to Mom. I have to go with the small glimmer of hope that she’s still alive and do all I can to keep her safe. I flinch when Jessie throws the table at the side of the room against the wall and feel my pulse beat wild when he marches towards me, forcing me to back away from him until my back meets with the wall.

“Arms up,” he orders, keeping his fury flared eyes locked on mine, without even thinking I do as I’m told, raising my arms above my head. He takes the rope he’s just untied me from and binds my hands to the thick solid pipe above me.

“Jessie, please…” I beg, but he ignores me. His face angry beyond any recognition, he snarls as his forehead presses tight into mine, and the focus in his eyes petrifies me.

“I’m gonna go shower the blood of the girl I loved like a sister off me. The same person who just gave up her life to save yours. When I come back down here, you better have some answers for me or you ain’t gonna like the guy you see.”

I turn my head to the side, unable to stand the hate he’s penetrating a moment longer, and my whole body stiffens when his hand lifts between us, sliding up through my chest and wrapping around my throat. He clamps just tight enough for me to start to panic. “Don’t force me to become that person with you, Maddy,” he whispers inside my ear. And then he leaves me, his words of warning ringing terror throughout my entire body.

I head back up to the club, and instead of the usual chaos I’m met by a somber silence.

Prez sits at the bar with his head in his hands, he looks broken. Squealer doesn’t have anything clever to say, guess there's a first time for everything, and Skid is busy consoling Carly in the corner.

“She talk?” Skid pulls his attention from his old lady, looking up at me hopeful, and I shake my head. That’s when Prez gets up, charging at me like a bull, his phlegm flying at my face as he growls,

“Then you get the fuck down there and rip her open until she fucking does.” And for the first time in my life the thought of causing such pain makes my bones shudder.

“I mean it, Jessie, what the fuck you still doin' stood in front of me?” he shouts into the side of my face, and I focus forward, accepting the harsh way he’s speaking to me because I know he’s hurting.

I know because I’m hurting too.

“I’m gonna go take a shower. Then I’ll go straight back down to her,” I tell him, moving my eyes sideways on to his.

“You sure you got this man? It’s been a rough day. She’s only a little one, sure I could find a way to break her,” Squealer offers, and the cocky smirk on his mouth has me barging my own Prez out the way so I can get to him.

“Back the fuck off Squeal,” I warn him with a hard slam to his chest.

“’Kay man, I’m just trying to help a brother out,” he says showing me his palms.

“I’ll get out of her what we need to know. I always fuckin’ do,” I promise everyone in the room bitterly.

“Where is she?” my voice softens when I turn back to Skid. The thought of Hayley still laid amongst all that Bastard scum makes the blood itch inside my veins.

“Too much mess spread out at the factory for Grimm to clean up, so we’ve brought her home,” Skid informs me sadly. I nod back because there’s nowhere else I’d rather her be, except for right here beside me doing my fuckin’ head in and talking about mindless shit.

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