Bad Boy's Baby: Wicked Angels MC (23 page)

Jenny

When Darius left, a wave of panic hit me like a tsunami. I was so scared that I couldn’t even cry. My heart was pounding and convulsing in my chest and I didn’t think any amount of deep breathing would be able to calm me down. Phin was twisting and turning against his bonds. Every few seconds he’d let out a little whimper. The sounds had scared me at first but now they were almost reassuring because they let me know that he was still alive. I’d never been so afraid for me or my son.

Tristan can’t be dead!
I wanted to think, but I knew that in this situation I was going to have to be a lot more pragmatic than that. What if Darius had been telling the truth? After he’d left, I’d mulled over the scenario in my head. I didn’t think it was likely, but I knew he’d probably gone out looking for me after I’d left. That would have put him alone, and easy bait for Darius’s men to catch.

I shuddered, thinking of what Darius had promised. I had no idea if he was actually going to kill me, but I knew that I couldn’t take any chances. Without trying to attract any of Phin’s attention, I began clenching my hands into fists. After Darius had bound me, I hadn’t been able to move but I’d slowly been wiggling around until the bonds were looser. My hands hurt like hell and I could tell they were swollen, but after a few seconds of closing my eyes and straining as hard as I could, some of the life started to come back. I felt the blood flowing into my hands and I stretched and arched my back, desperately trying to loosen the ropes. Darius had bound us with a soft-corded rope, and it was almost slippery against my sweaty skin. I realized that if I could just calm down, take deep breaths, and try to relax, I might stop sweating long enough for the rope to be untangled.

“Mommy, what’s going to happen now?” Phin looked up at me. In the dim light of the basement, I could see tears reflected on his cheeks. With growing horror, I realized that the sun would start to rise in a few hours. I realized that if Darius meant what he’d said, I was really going to have to get away.

“Mommy’s busy right now,” I snapped at Phin, turning around and twisting my hands over and over. Even though the rope was smooth, it was burning my wrists raw and my eyes flooded with tears as I strained against the bonds. My back was aching and sore and my shoulder blades screamed in pain every time I shifted my body. Phin looked up at me again.

“Mommy, please,” Phin said softly. “Please, I’m scared.”

“Phin, I know you’re scared,” I said, feeling irrationally exasperated with my small son. “But we’re in this together, and Mommy has to work hard on trying to get out. You understand that, don’t you?”

Phin sniffled and nodded. “Is Daddy going to come save us?”

“I don’t know, sweetheart,” I told him honestly. Phin’s eyes grew wide and he gasped but he didn’t say anything else. Finally, as I shifted to the left, I felt the rope around one of my wrists give. Almost immediately, the struggle became easier. I groaned loudly and finally tugged one of my arms free. My shoulder popped audibly as I pulled my arms back around and started massaging some of the blood back into my mangled, swollen hands. Even in the dimness of the room, I could see the skin was a ghostly pale—both from the rope burn and lack of blood flowing.
Damn Darius
, I thought with sudden anger that I hadn’t felt before.
Damn him for hurting us and for scaring my son. Poor Phin
.

I felt tremendously guilty for the way I’d snapped at him before.

“Phin, I’m really sorry,” I said softly. “Come here.” Phin scooted closer to me on the floor and I picked him up with my aching arms and set him on my lap. His hands were bound behind his back and my fingers picked at the ropes. His bonds came free much more quickly than mine had, and in only a matter of minutes Phin was free.

“Do you think you can work on your ankles?” I was keeping my voice as low as I could.

“Yes, Mommy!” Phin cried loudly.

I shot him a sharp look. “We have to be really quiet. We have to be super quiet because we’re going to run away, okay?”

Phin nodded. I could sense again that he thought this was just a big adventure. I wasn’t even sure if he’d heard Darius when Darius had told us that Tristan was dead. Or maybe Phin just had more faith than I did. With a heart stopping pause, I realized that Phin hadn’t ever experienced death in his life before. Since we hadn’t grown up with the influence of my parents, he’d never experienced the typical “grandparent dying” that had been such a common experience during my elementary school years. By the time I’d been Phin’s age, I’d been to a handful of funerals. But Phin had no concept of death. We’d never even had a pet. He hadn’t even seen a
goldfish
die. I wondered if he knew that death was permanent, something that couldn’t be changed.

“Did you hear Darius?” I asked, closing my eyes tightly and hoping Phin would say no.

“Yes, Mommy,” Phin said solemnly. “He said Daddy is dead.”

“He lied,” I said firmly. “Daddy’s not dead, okay? So don’t even think about that right now.”

Phin nodded. Some of his light brown hair was standing straight up in the air and I smoothed it down with one hand. He was so fragile, so vulnerable. I closed my eyes and thought about how we could escape.

Maybe I could break the chair apart and storm the upstairs, threatening to hurt myself unless the men let us go. But that wouldn’t work. Phin was fast, but he was a little kid and I was sure the men would be able to catch up with him easily. No, we wouldn’t be able to escape together.

Looking at the window, I squinted as hard as I could at the glass. It was grimy and smeared with dirt, but even from where I was sitting I could tell that it was at least a few inches thick. There was no way I could break through glass that thick without something much sturdier than the leg of a chair.

A plan was slowly forming in my mind. I didn’t like the idea of it, but I was starting to realize that it was probably our only way out. I remembered how easy it had been to manipulate that friend of Tristan’s back when I was under “house arrest.” All I’d had to do was tell him that I needed to use the bathroom. I had a feeling whoever Darius’s guys were, they’d easily fall for the same lie. After all, a pretty woman in distress who needs to use the bathroom…they wouldn’t want to humiliate me. Even if they were thugs, they wouldn’t want to clean up my piss from the basement floor.

Phin looked at me, almost as if he could read my mind. “What are you thinking about, Mommy?”

“I’m thinking of a plan to get us out of here,” I said softly. “But we can’t go together. You’re going to have to run when I tell you to run, okay?”

Phin looked up at me with big scared eyes. “Mommy, I’m frightened,” he said. He squeezed my fingers with his tiny hands and a bolt of pain shot through my arm.

“Don’t be,” I said, gritting my teeth until the pain subsided. Having my hands bound for almost twelve hours had been incredibly painful, and I didn’t even want to know how swollen all of my fingers were by now. But the last thing I wanted to do was let Phin know how much pain I was feeling. I had a feeling he’d be even more terrified if he knew how badly I was hurting.

“Mommy, what are we going to do?”

I bit my lip. “We’re going to tell the men that Mommy has to use the bathroom,” I said. “And when they let me through, I’m going to hit one of them over the head. When they try to grab me, I want you to run up the stairs and run out of the house. Phin, this is very important. I don’t care what direction you run in, but you need to keep running. You have to promise me that you’re not going to stop or even turn around, okay? Even that will make you slow down.”

Phin nodded solemnly. I knew he would take my task seriously. He was the fastest runner in his class at school and he had some great, natural athletic ability.

“Remember what Coach Downs says?” Coach Downs was Phin’s gym teacher and he practically worshipped the man.

Phin nodded excitedly. He made a fist with one hand and held it in the air, striking a fierce karate pose. “I remember,” he said quickly. “I promise I’ll keep running, Mommy. I promise I won’t let you down.”

“We’re going to listen for a little while first,” I instructed Phin. “I need to count how many men are up there. Can you be quiet for Mommy?”

Phin nodded. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand. Even though I was starving and my blood sugar was low, the hunger I’d been feeling before Darius visited us had completely disappeared. It was replaced by something stronger, something more like adrenaline. Phin and I crawled over to the wall and leaned with our backs against the cold concrete. I closed my eyes and listened overhead.

There was one man stalking back and forth overhead—I could hear his heavy footsteps beating down on the floor like someone was dropping heavy groceries over and over again. Just as he walked away, I heard another, lighter footfall.

“I think there might only be two men,” I whispered, praying that the giant burly one wouldn’t be the one to come to the door. “I think we can handle that.”

More than anything, I wished I had a weapon. But I’d searched the room dozens of times, and the only thing there was that broken-down chair. Setting my lips in a thin line, I climbed to my feet and walked over to it. I wasn’t strong by any means, but the leg practically fell into my hands as soon as I grabbed it. Phin giggled and clapped his hands.

“Mommy, you’re strong!” he chirped, and I had to shoot him a look to silence him. “Sorry, Mommy. I forgot,” he added in a quieter voice. 

I shook my head. “You can’t forget anything else, okay, buddy? You have to remember what I said. What did I say?”

Phin puffed up, looking suddenly important. “I have to run,” he said proudly. “I have to run away as fast as I can! And I can’t look back or stop running!”

“That’s right,” I said, a glimmer of pride creeping into my voice. “Now, are you ready to go?”

Phin nodded. My heart was in my throat as I crept up the stairs, holding the chair leg at my side, hidden in the darkness.

I knocked on the door as loudly as I could.

“What is it?” The voice behind the locked door was gruff and cold. I shivered.

“I’m sorry, but I really need to use the bathroom,” I said softly. “Please, it’s an emergency. I don’t think I can wait any longer.”

“I don’t know, lady,” the voice said in reply. “Boss is gone. We ain’t supposed to let you out of the basement.”

I motioned for Phin to join me on the steps behind the door. He crept up behind me without a sound and the tiny bit of pride I’d felt exploded into radiance.

“Come on,” I begged. “Please! I really have to pee!”

There was a heavy sigh. “Fine,” the guy replied. “But this is our secret, okay? You can’t tell boss about this. He’ll kill me!”

Well, he’ll kill me if I don’t get out!
I thought in frustration. But I didn’t say anything, and before a few seconds had passed I heard a key jamming into the lock. The knob turned and the door slowly swung backwards and opened. I closed my eyes and swung the wooden chair leg up and at the guy with all of my might. He didn’t even see it coming, and it connected sharply with his skull. I darted to the side and Phin pushed past me, running through the house. I heard him screaming, followed by a gunshot, but Phin’s light footfall kept going and I knew that he’d made it out unharmed.

“What’s the big fuckin’ idea?” The guy looked at me, rubbing his head. I swung the wooden chair leg at him again and again until he crumped to a pile of muscle and fat at my feet. Elated, I tried to push past him.

Then, I heard a familiar voice and my whole body went cold.

“So, you thought you could run away from me?”

Tristan

As we rode, the wind whipped at my hair. The night had been black as anything a few hours ago, but now the sky was streaked faintly with pink and lavender—dawn was coming. My heart hardened in my chest. If we didn’t move quickly, Jenny would be lost and gone forever. And our son, Phin. If anything happened to him, I’d never be able to forgive myself. Jenny was a resourceful girl and I had to hope that somehow she’d managed to find a way out of this trap. But Phin would hold her back; even though he was strong and skinny for an eight-year-old, I knew he wouldn’t be able to run as fast as a grown man.

I shuddered. The end was coming, no matter how it went down. It was all gonna be over soon. Sensing that we were close to the farm, I slowed down and stopped on the side of the road.

Rod and Eric looked at me. “Boss, what’s going on?”

I couldn’t help but feel a small touch of pride when they called me boss, even though I’d stepped down. It was such a tremendous sign of respect and it meant so much to me. Between that and missing Jenny and Phin, I was feeling more emotional than I had any right to feel as a man. Leader of an MC or no, I was still a man. And my family, my kryptonite, was in danger.

“We gotta park our bikes here,” I said. “If Darius hears us ride up, who knows what he’ll do. You get that, right?”

They both nodded. Together, we wheeled our bikes off the road and covered them with some brush. The forest we were in was dark and dense, and thick with evergreen trees. As soon as we were past the road, it seemed darker than ever. I was almost glad for the early morning light.

Something sharp and fierce hurt my chest, causing me to suck in my breath. I realized what it was: the last time I’d been out at the old Wilson farm, I’d been with Jenny. Darius must have known. He must have known all along that we’d gotten back together and he wanted to rub it in my face. It was just like him to be so petty, to be unable to forget the past. I shook my head. I thought I’d had trouble moving on from Jenny, but now it seemed like Darius had even more.

He’d always been like this. He’d always had a chip on his shoulder; always felt like the world was out to get him. When Jenny smiled at me, I saw sunshine and diamonds sparkling. But when she smiled at Darius, he saw a hot girl who was his ticket out of the world. I shook my head in disgust. I had to believe that part of the reason he was attracted to Jenny was because of her background. When we’d first gotten together, he’d brought it up almost every chance he got.

“So, that girl is moneyed, huh?” Darius eyed me. He took a long slug of the beer that we’d stolen from his parents’ kitchen before passing me the bottle.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said, taking a long swallow and passing the bottle back. It was nearly empty at this point. I wasn’t used to drinking much, and I was already tipsy after sharing the whole six-pack. Darius had been sneaking beer since he was fourteen, but now we were seventeen and I still felt like a little kid next to him.

“The fuck it doesn’t matter,” Darius said. He belched loudly. “You realize that if somethin’ bad happens, her parents are gon’ bail her out no matter what. If you marry her, the same thing’ll happen to you.”

I laughed drily. “I doubt that’s ever going to be the case,” I said archly. “You know how much her parents hate me. They’d kill me if I proposed.”

Darius shook his head. “Don’t be such a fuckin’ pussy, man,” he said, passing me another, fresh bottle. “She’s your woman. You gotta take what’s yours.”

I frowned. I didn’t like it when he referred to Jenny as “mine,” even though that was how I thought of her sometimes. Our relationship was private, not something for my friends to dissect in front of me.

“That ain’t fair,” I said as I stood up and kicked at a clod of dirt. “If I told her that I was takin’ her away from her parents, you know that wouldn’t fly.”

Darius gave me a wicked grin. “Well, give them some incentive,” he said. “Break her heart. Then they’ll beg you to come back. They might even pay you off.”

I couldn’t fathom hurting the woman I loved like Darius was suggesting.

“That’s too much, dude,” I told him. “Lighten up. You’d get a girlfriend if you quit brooding around like an asshole all the time.”

Darius lit a cigarette and exhaled in my face. “I don’t want just any girl,” he said. “I have fuckin’ standards, man. And let’s face it, you have the finest pussy in town. What does she taste like, by the way?” He crudely licked his lips and I felt a shudder of revulsion. “Tell me she’s sweet, like candy.”

I laughed shortly, trying not to show my discomfort. “I ain’t talking about my girl’s pussy,” I said. “Now cut the shit, Darius.”

He stared at me. “You really don’t know how fuckin’ lucky you are, chump,” Darius said. He took a long pull of beer. “She’s yours and you don’t even question it. Look at her! That ass, those tits. Mmm…I’d be fuckin’ her every single night of the week and making her call me Daddy.”

I turned away. Jenny and I hadn’t had sex yet. We’d come close a few times—lots of heavy petting—but no actual fucking yet. I was dying to fuck her. I’d been dying to fuck her since I first saw her, but I knew that I had to respect her wishes and wait. After all, she was a virgin. And there was something about the thought of slipping even a finger into her tight little virgin pussy that sent me over the edge. I was worried that when we did fuck, I’d come too soon. And I couldn’t have my girl disappointed. Things had gotten so bad lately that I’d taken to jacking off before we got together, just in case there was a chance. It was like carrying a condom in my pocket: embarrassing, but necessary.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t gotten a taste of that snatch.” Darius looked at me, almost as if reading my mind. “I had no idea you were such a puss, Mayer.”

I rolled my eyes. “It ain’t about that,” I said sharply. “It’s about her choice, and I respect that.”

Darius snorted. “You are a fuckin’ faggot, man. You get that? If she were mine…damn!” He trailed off with a loud exclamation. “If she were mine, I’d fuck her every single night until she was beggin’ me to stop. She wouldn’t be able to walk right for a week after a night with ole Darius.”

The feeling of discomfort that had started in my chest was only getting stronger. I couldn’t help but feel like Darius was deliberately trying to make me feel like less of a man, like Jenny would eventually get bored with me and move on to someone who would fuck her all the time. Maybe he was right, maybe I was being too soft. Maybe I really needed to push for what I wanted.

That night, when I saw Jenny, I told her that I’d canceled our dinner plans and we were going on a drive. She flushed with nervousness and my cock stiffened in my jeans as I caught a whiff of her floral perfume. She looked great, too; she was in a pink minidress that was a shade too small for her. As she sat down hard in the seat of my car, her tits bounced. My mouth went dry. I wanted to lick and kiss every inch of her pale, long body.

“I’m so excited to see you tonight,” Jenny said softly. She reached out and twined her fingers through mine. I felt another surge of animalistic lust take me over. “I’ve missed you, Tristan. Vacation with my parents was so boring. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I thought about you all the time, Tristan.” Her blush deepened to a red and she looked out the window. “I even thought about you at night,” she added softly. “When I was lying in bed.” Blushing deeply, shit bit her plump lower lip.

The erection that sprang up in my jeans was so hard that it was painful. For a minute, I thought about pulling the car over and pressing Jenny to me, crushing her in a passionate kiss. Make Darius proud. But Jenny looked at me with such a guileless, open look and the urge passed. No, I couldn’t force myself, even if there was a chance she would enjoy it. I had to respect her, and her wishes.

Reaching across the seat, I squeezed Jenny’s hand. “Let’s go to dinner after all,” I told her, my cock softening in my jeans. “I’m starving.”

Shaking my head, I looked around. All the memories of years ago faded and I was only left with the realization that I was alone with my men in the woods.

“It’s this way,” I said, pointing towards a clearing I could just make out through the trees. “Keep walking. We gotta find the farmhouse before day breaks.”

Eric and Rod followed close behind, trusty as ever. I was so glad that they were with me, but part of me felt like facing Darius was something I’d have to do alone. After all, this was a long time coming. A very long time coming indeed.

Something moved in the corner of my eye and I whipped my head to the side. There was a small figure, running fast, and coming towards us. I frowned, trying to make him out. Suddenly, something clicked in my brain.

“Phin!” I called. “Phin, is that you?”

The little figure hurtled towards me and clung to my legs, sobbing loudly. I could tell he was out of breath and badly dehydrated, but it was Phin all right. Scooping his light frame up in my arms, I looked into my son’s eyes.

“Phin, what happened?”

Phin was sobbing and blubbering against my shirt. His face was wet with tears and snot and as he pressed his small frame against mine, I felt his whole body shaking with fear.

“Phin,” I said, as calmly as I could manage. “You need to tell me what’s going on. I can’t help if you don’t tell me. Try to take a deep breath, okay?”

Phin looked into my eyes and I saw, even in the darkness, that his irises were the exact same color as mine. A shiver ran through me. It was like it was hitting me for the first time that this kid really
was
my son. As we locked eyes, Phin’s small body relaxed and he took a deep breath. His skin was soaked with sweat and I could tell he’d just had the workout of his little life.

“Mommy’s in danger,” Phin said in a rush. “She…she did something to distract the men and I ran away. I ran so fast and I didn’t stop, just like she told me to!” His voice was growing excited and rapid again. “Mommy told me to run and I ran, Tristan! You have to hurry! She’s in trouble!”

Fear and panic flared in my heart but I tried not to show that to Phin. Poor kid had already had what had to be the scariest day of his life; he didn’t need things getting any direr than they already were. But now I was scared that in saving Phin, Jenny had gotten herself killed. Darius was a dangerous man and he palled around with equally tough guys—it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine one of them taking Jenny out after finding out that Phin had escaped.

“Rod! Eric!” The guys jogged over, closing the respectful distance they had maintained to give me some privacy with Phin. “We gotta get to the old farm! Hurry!”

“Phin, you be good. You stay here, okay?”

Phin’s lip trembled and I could tell that he was afraid of being left in the dark.

“Phin, don’t argue. Be a good boy and stay right here. We’ll be back for you, okay?”

Phin let out a small sigh and nodded. I could tell he wanted to argue but after a few seconds, he turned his big scared eyes towards me. “Okay,” he said softly. “I’ll stay here.”

Turning to my guys, I gave a curt nod with my head. “Come on. Let’s go.”

As we turned towards the old farm and started running, the panic rose in my body like a tidal wave.
It could be all over already.
She could be dead and cold, and Darius could be waiting to kill me.

“You scared?” Eric’s voice was low and comforting, like the hum of a radiator in an old house.

“Yeah,” I admitted as we ran faster. “I’m fuckin’ terrified.”