Now I really protest. He can’t take my job away from me. He can’t do that!
“No.”
“No?” he mimics me.
“No. I’m not quitting my job. I like working here,” I tell him, standing my ground. Doesn’t matter to him. He doesn’t care. He’s a man on a mission, and as soon as I turn to start heading toward the back, two of his guys step out and grab me. One on each arm. I fight, of course I do, but it doesn’t do me any good. They’re stronger than me.
“Looks like you have a situation here,” he mocks as he steps closer to me. I ignore him, trying to look anywhere but at him. He grabs my chin in his hand roughly, forcing my gaze to his.
“Play time is over, Harley. I’ve got big plans for you.”
“What plans?” I hiss.
“None of your goddamn business but you’re gonna bring me a pretty penny when this is all over. Now shut up and don’t make them hurt you,” he says.
This monster is my father. This is what hell I lived in until I was able to get out and now I’m being forced back into his world. A world that I want nothing to do with.
Chapter Nine
Devious
“I said are you him!” the little girl screams again. I tried ignoring her, but she just won’t go away. Turning my head, I stare at her a long minute. It’s Angel. It’s Harley’s friend.
“Where is she?” I ask, nodding toward her window where the curtains have been closed for a week. A goddamn week of not seeing her has nearly sucked the air from my lungs. I’ve been there, but she isn’t there. I don’t know where the hell she is, and it’s got my nerves worn down.
“Are you him? The guy she always talks about?” Her questions could go a few ways and I’m not sure I want to answer them. I want to know where my girl is, but she could be helping the assholes hide her.
“Am I who?”
“Stop playing stupid! I know about you. She’s my best friend. She tells me everything. I just need to know that you can be trusted,” she nearly cries.
“I can be trusted.”
“But are you him?”
“Yeah, I’m him. Now where the fuck is she?”
Angel blows out a breath before walking closer and sitting on the edge of the roof.
“Her dad took her. I’m only allowed to see her once a week. I’m just another club member’s kid, I have no rights to anything, but I do know they are auctioning her off. I heard my dad,” she says, tears filling her eyes.
I shake my head and run my hand through my hair before moving to sit next to her on my rooftop.
“What do you mean, they’re auctionin’ her off?”
“I heard him say the highest club that bids on her gets her.”
No. Fucking. Way.
“Why the hell would he do that?”
“The club has nothing. They’re broke. They steal what they do have. Honestly they are about to be ruined without some kind of income.”
“So he uses his kid?”
“Can you get her back or not? I can get you in. I can get you whatever you need. Just please get her out of there. You don’t know the kind of people that will bid on her,” she begs.
I chuckle. She’s asking me, a rival MC, to save her goddamn friend from being sold to men just like me!
“I do know what they’re like. I’m one of them!” I roar. She jolts but doesn’t say another word. She sits there, staring up at me with wide begging eyes. How do I tell her no? How do I turn my back on something that I claimed a long time ago? This primal need seems to eat away at me until I’m nodding my goddamn head and agreeing to a fucking war over a girl.
“I’ll get her back.”
“What? You will?”
“She’s mine.”
“She’s not yours,” she snaps, crossing her arms over her chest. Oh, little does she know.
“Oh, she is mine, and after I get her back I’m claimin’ her ass. She’s gonna wear my goddamn patch all over her body. She’s gonna be my old lady. She. Is. Mine.” A slow, soft smile curls Angel’s lips as she peers up at me.
“What’s the plan?”
“There is no plan. I’ll wait ‘til the word goes out about the biddin’ and then we’ll bid.”
“You can’t do that. What if you don’t win.”
“I always win.”
“Are you really trusting that line of shit? You could lose!”
“You don’t know me, Angel. I got this,” I tell her as I walk past her and toward the door. She’s right behind me, trailing along like a lost puppy.
“You can’t be the richest MC if you live here,” she adds, taking in the hallway.
“You aren’t the brightest girl, are you?”
“What the fuck?” she snaps at me.
“I mean it. Just because I live here, you think I don’t have money? You wanna know why I live here?” She shrugs her shoulders. “She’s why.” That shut her up. I had thought about moving a time or two but how the hell could I give someone else the satisfaction of seeing my girl every day? I couldn’t. She’s mine and has been since the day I first laid eyes on her. Something about Harley calls to me, and now I’m going to make her mine regardless of what it costs me.
“Are you sure about this?” she asks once more. I nod my head, open my apartment door, and head for the fridge to grab a beer. Angel follows me in. Popping the top off, I take a long pull before I turn and face my girl’s best friend.
“What about you? You need out too?”
She doesn’t answer, just sadly shrugs.
“I’m no one to fight over.”
“I got boys that would say differently. You don’t think she’s gonna want her best friend by her side when this shit goes down?” I ask.
“I’ll never leave her side.
