Page 147 of Girth (Marked Skulls MC 1)
“What is it? Who is it?” Viper asked, while I let out another yelp. He had caught me by the back of my head and it hurt with every pull.
“It’s that new BD recruit. What’s he doing here?” Pike said. The two of them were looking out of the window, while Viper kept a firm grip on me on his side. Viper strained his neck to look and we heard more gun shots. I wanted to scream out Gunner’s name. They had killed him! He was dead! I didn’t know there were more of them downstairs. I’d assumed Viper and Pike had come here alone. The tears were gushing down my cheeks and I couldn’t stop them anymore.
“He was here. I saw him jump off the fire escape,” Pike said and they both turned to me at the same time. I could see the rage in Viper’s bloodshot eyes.
“No! I can explain…” I screamed and the last thing I remember was seeing Viper’s fist coming towards me. It seemed to happen in slow motion. Their voices drowned out, replaced by white garbled noise. I felt a sharp jab on the side of my head and then I felt like I was falling. After that, there was only darkness.
***
When I woke up, I felt like I’d been sleeping; except for the throbbing at the back of my head which was a sharper pain than when I was hungover. I blinked my eyes open and realized that wherever I was, it was very dark. It could have still been morning for all I knew, but there wasn’t a ray of light entering the room.
My vision took a few minutes to adjust to the dark, and I could sense that I was sitting up, with my back pressed to a cold wall. I lifted my hands to my head and thankfully couldn’t feel any blood, fresh or dried, but that throbbing ache was still there.
I heard someone sniff and that was when I looked around me. I wasn’t alone. There were a handful of other girls all sitting against the wall in the small dark room. Some had their eyes closed, some looked like they’d been crying and two of them seemed casual…like this was normal for them.
I panicked, trying to sit up but it had a dizzying effect on me and I fell back down to the floor. One of the girls who had her eyes closed, opened them and looked at me before giving me a lopsided smile. She’d found it amusing!
“What’s going on? Where are we?” I got the words out, but I didn’t even recognize my voice. It sounded like someone else’s. I could feel my mind swaying and I was afraid that I had a concussion.
“In the warehouse,” the girl said, the one who smiled when I fell back down.
“Which warehouse? Who brought me here?” I asked, in the same broken unrecognizable voice. The girl exchanged looks with another one, and they both looked at me blankly without replying.
“Who are you?” I asked her and she smiled at me again.
“They call me Candy,” she said.
“Who calls you Candy? What’s your real name?” I asked, feeling a sob rising in my chest.
“I don’t remember anymore,” the girl said and I noticed the bruises on her arms.
I looked from her to the other girls and realized that they were all dressed in the same way. Short skirts and dresses, fishnets, high heels, tons of makeup and messy bleached hair. They were wearing a lot of jewelry but it looked cheap and I gulped, realizing that my throat had run dry.
The room was becoming clearer to me now, and I could hear drops of water dripping from the ceiling and there was a musty smell coming from somewhere. I tried to think hard. The last thing I could remember was being in my apartment. Gunshots being fired. Pike talking about Gunner. Viper hitting me. Gunner was dead…was he shot? Was he dead? A cry escaped my lips and I tried to get up again.
“Where do you think you’re going to go?” the girl said as I stood up unsteadily on my feet. I couldn’t even feel my legs. How long had I been here?
“I need to get out of here. There’s been some mistake,” I cried, beginning to walk while using the wall as support.
“There are no mistakes here,” another girl said and I turned to her and saw the deadpan blank look in her eyes. She was one of the girls who looked casual earlier, like she had resigned to her fate and wasn’t interested in putting up a fight.
“Who did this? Who brought me here?” I asked and the girl rolled her eyes and looked away from me.
“Was it Viper? Pike?” I screamed at them but none of them reacted. It was almost like they were feeling sorry for me, for being stupid.
“We have to get out of this place,” I said and finally found the door in the dark. I turned the knob and pulled, but the door was made of solid steel and was bolted shut. It didn’t even budge. I tugged at the handle and pulled again, and again there was no movement. I screamed and felt the tears rolling down my eyes.
“Just sit back down. There’s no point. You’re only wasting your energy,” Candy said and I whipped around to her.
“There’s been some mistake. I’m Luke Jenson’s sister!” I screamed but it was useless, she clearly didn’t know who I was talking about.
“Listen, we don’t know who you are, but there’s no point in screaming and crying. You’re making a fool of yourself. They appreciate good behavior. You should just sit back down and do what you’re told,” the other girl said, but my tears didn’t stop flowing. There had to be some mistake. If it was Viper and Pike who did this to me, I could put a stop to it. The Dragon Knights were like family to me. They would never do this to a Jenson! This was just some kind of cruel punishment for the slap. For having a Bad Disciples member in my apartment.
I whipped around from them and tried getting the door open again.
“Viper! Pike!” I screamed, while banging on the metal door.
“Hey! I was sleeping here!” another girl called out to me but I didn’t want to listen to them. I would have felt sorry for them, I would have wanted to do something about these girls, but right then, all I cared about was getting out of this place. I wanted to know what had happened to Gunner. If they’d killed him or if he was still alive.
“Viper!” I screamed again and tried to get the door open. Nothing was working. I leaned my forehead against the cold metal door and cried, the tears flowing freely down my cheeks.
“This is a mistake. Let me out!” I cried, but it felt like nobody could hear me. Even though I was in a room full of other girls, to me it felt like I was completely alone in the dark.
***
I still had my forehead against the door when it began to open. I heard the bolt being pulled and I stepped away from the door. This was going to be my chance to get out of this place and figure out what the hell was going on.
The door slid open and a woman stepped in, promptly shutting the door behind her. I heard someone outside bolting the door shut again. All my plans of slipping out through that door were now ruined.
“Who are you? I want to speak to Viper or Pike!” I thundered at her. The woman had empty looking deep dark eyes and she seemed like she was a little older than the rest of us. She was dressed in the same way as them though.
“You can speak to me. My name is Nancy,” she said while I glared at her. She had an expressionless face, like she didn’t care how much I screamed or cried or yelled.
“There’s been some mistake…I want…” I began to say but she interrupted me.
&n
bsp; “We heard you screaming, you need to stop and do what you’re told,” she said and then grabbed me by my arms. She wasn’t being aggressive but her grip on my arms were strong. I tried to wriggle out of her grasp but she wasn’t about to let me go. She was looking at me from top to bottom, assessing my face and body, measuring me for size with her expert eyes.
“This will have to do for tonight. Tomorrow we’ll have to get you a skirt or something. You need to put those legs on display,” she said and let my arms go. I noticed that she was carrying a bag on the crook of her arm and now she bent down to the floor and unzipped it. She started rummaging through it which seemed like it consisted of rags and cloth and makeup.
“What are you talking about? What is going on? I need to go home,” I said and placed my hands on my hips in protest. I still thought I could talk my way out of this place!
“You need to look presentable for tonight honey. The less you resist, the easier it’ll be. The clients don’t like to see us putting up a fight, do they?” Nancy said and then I saw her throwing Candy a look.
I knew what was going on. I knew it from the moment I’d woken up. A room full of girls, all dressed in that particular cheap sexy way…I knew it. Gunner’s words rang cold in my ears. I just hadn’t wanted to accept it. I just couldn’t accept that Viper or Pike, or anybody from the Dragon Knights would ever use me for prostitution. They wouldn’t do that to Luke’s sister!
Nancy stood up, leveling her face with me and she had a damp cotton cloth in her hands. She brought it closer to my face and I jerked away from her.
“Just cleaning you up, honey,” she said, in an oddly kind voice and I stood there shivering as she wiped the grime and dirt from my face. I wasn’t crying anymore. I was angry and furious and the truth of my situation was just beginning to sink in.
“Nancy, please, if you let me speak with someone from the Dragon Knights…just let me speak to someone. It’s all a huge big misunderstanding,” I pleaded with her, as she wiped my face and my neck. Nancy stopped and turned a blank expression to me.
