Bed of Roses (16 page)

She pulled up to the old warehouse, noticing the broken windows and litter that was strung all around. The parking lot was packed, making it difficult to find a place to park so she could get in and get out without a hassle. She wanted to be close enough to make a fast get away if need be, but didn’t want to put a target on Raven’s car either. If they decided to take out their teenage daddy issues on the little sports car, Rose would have to just give up and pray for death. There was no way in hell she could ever pay off a car like that. She found a spot close, but between nicer vehicles so didn’t stick out like a sore thumb, and hopped out, locking the doors. As she walked to the huge roll up doorway, people grew thicker. Kids having sex…people smoking dope…drug deals…a fight… By the time she made it inside, she had seen more shit than had went down at the Savages’ party. Men came up to her, offering her drinks that no doubt had a little extra somethin’ somethin’ in them to insure they had a one sided good time, all overly touchy for her liking. She turned on her charm switch and flirted her way through the crowd, using it to find her hellion sisters. Instead of dropping the bastards that barged into her personal bubble and grabbed her goods, she swallowed the puke that rose in her throat at the danger that surrounded her and continued her search for her soon to be extremely grounded and possibly bruised sisters. After a good thirty minutes, she finally found one of the girls’ friends she recognized.

“Jessica, where the fuck are Lacey and Alice?” She didn’t bother pretending to like the girl. She had been the instigator for half of the shit her sisters got into, with Rachael being the cause of the other half. They didn’t seem to have a brain cell between them to think for themselves. When Jessica cocked her hip out and went for the bitch pose, Rose was all over that shit. “Don’t even.” She cocked an eyebrow at the teen, getting her point across.

“Back there.” She pointed to the far back corner to a hallway.
Of course they would be in the darkest most dangerous spot in the damn building. Fuck.
She turned back to the scantly dressed kid and pointed her finger. “I want you home before I get in my car. Do you understand?” The girl nodded, getting the seriousness in her voice loud and clear. She waited, narrowing her eyes. “Go!” The girl took off toward the main door. Everywhere she looked, there were underage kids drinking and doing God knows what with men old enough to be their father. Girls hung on them like they were some sort of superhero for giving them attention, and the guys ate it up. She had to fight her motherly instincts not to call the damn cops and have every one of them tossed in jail.

As she made her way to the back of the room, more and more colors were worn, their colors flying bright from the bandanas of light brown, navy blue, and white to the tats that ran from their necks down to their hands. She squeezed past a group of them; discretely checking out their tats to see who she was up against if something happened and gasped. The party that her unruly heathen sisters picked to go to was ran by the damn Diablos! “Things just got complicated,” she mumbled, too focused on seeking out the girls that she missed two of the Diablos’ penetrating glares. It wasn’t until one blocked her path that she realized she had been noticed.

“What’s this
punta
? A Savage, in our house? Someone has a death wish, Holmes.” His Mexican thug accent was thick, making sure his finger scraped painfully over her fresh tattoo, digging into the tender flesh, drawing the attention of several others who crowded around her in a circle, trapping her. She tried to step out, but they would only push her back.

“I’m not here for trouble…I’m just here to pick up my little sisters. I know having underage children wouldn’t look good on the Diablos overly credible reputation.” She squared her shoulders, showing no fear. Men like this fed off fear. If she stood any chance at getting out of there unharmed, she needed to hold her ground and put on one hell of a show, even if she wasn't feeling too brave. Instead of buying her time, it only bought her a bigger audience. More of the gang began to migrate their way, including the their own group of bitches. She wanted to rip the faces off the cunts that glared at her grinning. A couple of the females who weren’t in a drug-induced stupor, looked at her with pity, knowing better than to step in the way.

“What do we have here? Aww…it looks like one of the dirty Indians found their way off the reservation. Pity. Be careful, she might have fleas.” A slutty dressed Latino woman snarled at her. For being a minority, the bitch pitched racial slurs without realizing how stupid it only made her sound.

“Ahh, yeah but maybe she is smart like Trick and came to get a real man up in her. You want some of my burrito, baby?” One of the rather large skumbags slurred, casting the strong stench of alcohol up her nose. He grabbed her hand, pulling it down over his crotch. She tugged to free herself from his grasp but that only egged him on more.

The woman she assumed was Trick cackled, raising the hair on the back of her neck. The long legged brunette rubbed up on two of the guys, sloshing around unable to remain upright. Her eyes were gone, hollowed into her face like death had already set in and time was ticking down. Whatever drug she was on wasn’t kind.

“Stop! I just want to get what I came for and leave. Let me go!” The man had ahold of her by the waist, shoving his hand up her skirt. She fought, panicking as the others laughed and groped at her. Rose faded into survival mode. She threw elbows and fists, hitting anything and anyone she could. They laughed, tugging her in different directions, passing her around the circle from one to the other as they touched, squeezed, and pinched her body. When something cold and metal shoved against her temple, she froze. One of the guys held a gun to her head, laughing.

“Ooooh, I got your attention now, don’t I, you little bitch. Let’s see how well you can suck cock when your life depends on it.” He grabbed her and threw her to the floor, kicking her a few times with the toe of his boot. She let out a scream, hoping that by some miracle someone would rush in and save her before they killed her. When she fought and refused to do as they said, the beating turned brutal. The one with the gun yanked her off the ground by her hair, pressing the gun in her mouth. “Suck this, you little slut!” He stuck it down her throat, cocking back the hammer. She closed her eyes, awaiting for the inevitable.
This is it. This is how I die.
There weren’t a million thoughts flashing through her head, nor did she see her life flash before her eyes. Instead, she felt the calmness in the storm, smelling the dirty bodies of her attackers and tasting the acidic metal that caused her to gag. The shouts and verbal attack the group tossed at her seemed to recede, humming faintly in her ears. Time seemed to stop.

Then, she was being lifted. She opened her eyes, the room nothing but a blur. Faces were blank, her brain only registering bodies. Gunfire rang out and she jumped, not expecting to hear or feel anything, assuming that she had been shot, and her brains now painted the dirty concrete floor. When she was carried toward the door, it registered that she wasn’t dead, but in fact in the arms of…Twelve Gage?

*****

Twelve Gage had been keeping an eye on Rose the entire night. When he had heard Tonto and Sandman discussing she had been found in the arms room, his distrust only grew more justified. He had been pissed she was bounced in so fast and not required to go through the year probation that everyone else had to do. Tonto and Sandman were his priority, and his brothers. He knew all too well how the power of pussy could fuck a man up firsthand and refused to let them, and the club, pay the price.

He had been escorting two less than model citizens out when Rose had took off in Raven’s car in a hurry. His curiosity had gotten the better of him, so he followed. What he hadn’t expected was to find Rose in the middle of a damn hornet’s nest.

“Stop! The girls! I have to get the girls!” She wiggled to free herself from his hold but it was useless.

“We gotta get you out of here. Now.”

“No! My sisters are in there! Let me down!” She thrashed her arms and legs, relieved when he sat her on her feet.

“Wait, what?” He finally stopped to listen to her.

“Lacey and Alice are in there. I have to get them out of there before it’s too late!” She took off back toward her tormentors but he stopped her.

“No! You go to the car now! Lock the damn doors and if anyone comes toward you, get the fuck out of here. I’ll go get them.” He didn’t give her time to argue, shoving her through a thick crowd of people and disappeared through the ocean of bodies that were clueless to what was happening around them. Minutes ticked by like hours and her heart threatened to explode. She had no idea what to do. If she went back in and they had succeeded in rescuing her sisters, she would only put them all in harm's way again. If she remained here, she couldn’t help and would never forgive herself if something happened to any of them. Just as she made the conscious decision to go back in, grabbing a knife she found in the glove box of Raven’s car, Twelve Gage came barreling toward her with both of the girls in tow. They were bauling but appeared uninjured. She let out a relieved breath and unlocked the doors to allow them entrance.

“Here. Get them home, then get back to the Pit.” Twelve Gage didn’t seem phased by what he had just witnessed, his demeanor unchanged from his norm. She knew better than to question and didn’t want to think about what her future held. The important part was she had her girls, safe and sound.

The entire way to her house, she didn’t speak. The tears had ceased somewhat from the back seat, and despite the anger she felt at their stupid dangerous actions, she couldn’t scold them. Not now anyway. She was merely relieved they were alive, and no worse for the wear. As the car rolled to a stop outside their tiny little rundown home, she felt the night’s events catch up to her. Unknowing what awaited her at the Pit, she turned in her seat. “We will discuss this in the morning. I’m just glad I got there before something happened to either of you. I love you girls.” They looked first at each other then her, unsure if it was a trap. When she didn’t yell or say anything else they said they loved her and hauled ass into the house, flipping off the lights before she pulled away.

*****

Tonto couldn’t believe the call he had just received. When he had told Sandman of the whereabouts of their newest member and woman, his old friend had revealed finding Rose snooping around in the storage room. Normally, loads were stored at the Pit only long enough to secure that no one was following them and unloaded at their warehouse the next day. The best place to hide things was in plain sight, or so he thought. The room had been reinforced with solid steel, and locked with enough locks that Houdini himself couldn’t gain entrance. So, how the hell had she gotten in? More importantly, why? As much as he didn’t want to believe it, the evidence was stacking against her. Could she be the snitch who had been giving information of their shipments? He thought back to the time he had taken her to the office. He had been prepping the schedule before they had met, and instead of locking up the paperwork, he had left it knowing that the room was locked. Had she been trolling for information while they seduced her? He wouldn’t be played a fool…not in his own damn house. It was time their little Rose coughed up some answers, and quick.

*****

Rose walked cautiously back into the Pit, unsure what her fate held. She knew that it didn’t look good, but if they gave her a chance to explain, maybe they would see that she hadn’t been running over into enemy territory willingly. Her adrenaline pumped through her veins, numbing the pain that had already began to set in. Her ribs were tender, but what faced her ahead would hurt more.

Clueless to what had gone down at the Pit in her absence, the sight that met her when she walked in made her choke back a scream. On one side of the empty room lay Nic, one of the Prospects she had spoken to a few times, dead. There was a wound in his chest; big enough that whatever caliber had done the damage was larger than most common handguns she was familiar with. Smack dab in the middle the others were gathered, all staring in her direction. As she neared, she noticed the hostages tied and bound. The Diablos were stupid for thinking they could get away with this. They might be known for their lethal ways, but they held nothing up against the Devil Savages.

“Good. Now that we’re all here, let’s continue. Blade, let’s see some of your handiwork,” Sandman instructed, not peeling his eyes off Rose. Blade unsheathed a long knife, running its edge along the Diablos’ face, fileting it open. Muscle and fat folded out, showing the cheekbone through the gush of blood. As the man screamed, he moved to his next cut. Rose almost vomited as the tip of Blade’s knife dug in the man’s eye socket, carving out his eyeball. He stabbed it, removing it from the guy’s head and yanking until the string that connected it tore in two. He flicked it onto the man’s lap with his finger, laughing.

“This is what happens when you fuck with the Savages. You steal from us, sell drugs on our turf, and harm our family, we return it tenfold,” Tonto growled. He pulled out a hatchet, grabbing one of the other Diablos’ by the head of the hair. With a perfected swipe he cut a strip of the man’s scalp off, tossing it onto one of the other three unharmed Mexicans. What scared her more was the fact that after he had sliced off the dude’s wig, he stared directly at her as if sending a message to her. She didn’t know what to make of it, or why, unless he seemed to think she was somehow involved. The morbid torture continued, and she was forced to stand there and watch. After a dick had been added to the lobbed off body parts pile and she held her hand over her mouth to prevent the puke that erupted in her mouth from exploding all over the floor, Tonto crooked his finger at her. “Come with me. Now. Boys, find out what I need to know.” He turned and walked away, not waiting for her to catch up. Sandman followed, intentionally not making eye contact with her while a few of the others circled around the hostages. From the looks the brawly men gave, anything left after they were done would be able to be carried out in a lunch box.