Death Ride (Blue Bandits MC Book 5) (6 page)

“Here, put this on,” Bam had said, holding out a shirt to her, but she was shaking too much to take it from him. Bam sighed and moved towards her slowly when she didn’t take it from him. Jamie could remember flinching before cowering against the headboard, sure her assault was going to begin all over again. Only Bam had gently pushed the shirt down over her head and helped her stick her arms through the holes.

“Stay in here and lock the door. Don’t come out till morning. I’ll let one of the other girls know where you are. Lissa will come looking for you tomorrow so just stay in here. Even with me taking most of Slither’s homies with me, you shouldn’t chance one of the others trying what he did.” Bam’s hand brushed her hair off her face and chucked her gently under the chin.

Jamie couldn’t find her voice to answer him and her body was cold and felt like it was numb as she sat on Bam’s bed. She managed to nod and tears began to slowly slip down her cheeks. Her hands shook as they clung to the bedding, trying to hide them from Bam. She didn’t know him and she wasn’t sure he was safe.

“It will be all right, kid, just tell your brother what happened and I guarantee he will make sure it won’t happen again.” Bam had grimaced a little before he grabbed his weapons and headed out the door, pausing only to tell her to lock the door behind him. Jamie couldn’t remember a lot of details from that night other than the way Slither had smelled of cigars and stale alcohol and the feeling of his hands on her body, but not much else before Bam rescued her.

Shaking off those memories, she refocused on the thought that had plunged her into that dark memory. She wasn’t mad at Jenny for thinking she was the pretty princess with better things to do than watch a bunch of five-year-olds because since that night her brother took over-protectiveness to new heights. She was actually the reason his current group existed; it was all because of that night. After what happened, he’d decided she needed more people to protect her and his ragtag group had formed around that need.

“Jamie, hello, Jamie. Where’d you go?” Jenny asked with a frown.

“Sorry. I was just thinking.”

“Well those weren’t pleasant thoughts if that look was any indication,” Jenny said, snapping the lid on the bin she’d been putting everything into.

“Yeah, they weren’t. As for having better things to do, it’s actually the other way around I’m afraid. I never have anything to do other than help Lissa with the cooking and organize stuff for the bonfires. It’s becoming maddening but I can tell you that I don’t want to help out with the kids again,” Jamie said, a little grimace twisting her lips.

“I figured. I almost started laughing when I came back after five minutes and they’d run roughshod over you in that amount of time,” Jenny said chuckling.

“Hey, watch it, sister. I was here to help you with those little mongrels and I don’t appreciate you getting your kicks from this,” Jamie replied with mock reproach.

“Sorry, I can’t help it. Little Kate screeching she had to pee and the others running around like wild animals while you looked like your head was going to explode was freaking funny.” Jenny stored the bin back in the closet she’d removed it from, a wide grin on her face.

Jamie stuck her tongue out at the other woman before she helped Jenny finish cleaning up. It took about twenty minutes and she was glad to see that everything was exactly as it had been that morning when she’d arrived so she didn’t have to feel bad about the room being a mess when Mary returned tomorrow.

Jamie waited till Bam opened the door to enter Death’s room with the tray of food. Bam shut the door behind her as she walked towards the bed.

“Where the hell have you been?” Death demanded, his voice little more than a gruff growl.

“Good evening to you too, Death,” Jamie replied, unfazed by his anger.

“Don’t get snappy and tell me where you were.”

“I am pretty sure that you’re not the boss of me and I don’t have to tell you anything about where I was if I don’t want to.” Jamie set the tray down on the dresser with a slight rattle of the dishes. She wasn’t in the mood for his temper tantrum after dealing with the ones she’d already had to experience today. He didn’t even have the excuse that he was a child to back his behavior up. He was just being an asshole.

Jamie turned to see Death was frowning darkly at her. She didn’t care if he wasn’t pleased with the tone she was using or the way she refused to give in to his bullying. She would be damned if she would allow him to get it into his head that he could order her around. She might feel bad about being the reason he was here but that didn’t mean she would allow him to treat her poorly. She didn’t bother to speak, she just stared back at him with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Just give me my damned food,” he grunted as he pushed himself up and motioned for her to place the tray into his lap. Jamie rolled her eyes at his typical male behavior. When they didn’t get what they wanted, men tended to be petty and slightly sulky. Death—it appeared—was not different from any other male in her experience.

“If you’ll ask nicely, I’ll be happy to,” Jamie muttered.

“Please,” Death snapped, anger evident in the way he said it between clenched teeth. Not willing to argue further, she shrugged and lifted the tray, setting it down across his lap. Normally she would stay with him but the day she’d had and his attitude prompted her next action.

“I’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?” Death asked, but she ignored him and exited the room without responding. Her jaw was tight and her fists were clenched as she walked out the door headed toward her room. Bam looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Everything okay?” he asked, watching her carefully.

“It’s fine. I’m just not in a good mood,” Jamie told him and kept walking.

She entered her room a few moments later and grabbed some clothes before taking a shower. When she was done twenty minutes later, she felt better. Her body didn’t feel so sore and her mood had improved. Jamie headed back to Death’s room to get the tray but as she neared the door, she saw that Evert was waiting nearby watching her silently.

Great, just what she needed.

“I heard you were upset,” Evert stated, cutting right to the chase. That was one thing she liked about her brother—he wasn’t one to beat around the bush—he wanted to know something, he jumped right in with both feet.

“It’s fine. I just had a bad day.”

“Ah, not cut out to be a teacher, huh?” Evert asked with a little snicker.

Jamie wanted to slap him because she realized he’d set her up today. She should have known he was being an ass as soon as he came to her with the sob story about not having anyone else available to give Mary a break today. Jamie found herself gripping the doorknob extra hard. Sometimes her brother tried to manipulate her to see things his way. Her assignment today had been about showing her that she didn’t want a job. Evert didn’t want her to work and today had been a bid to prevent her from asking to be allowed to get a job.

Jamie was an adult and should be able to do whatever she wanted but respect for her brother and a healthy dose of fear of Headhunters trying to retaliate against her brother were holding her back. She knew that Evert could find her something to do where she would have the protection she needed as well as be independent but he didn’t want to. She didn’t think it was motivated by anything except fear. He was afraid if she were allowed to get a job that she would move on and he’d lose her. Jamie knew that no matter what happened in her life she would always need her brother, but life had taught him that people who were set free so to speak ended up gone forever.

“No, but there will be something I can do. I just haven’t found the right job yet.” Jamie saw the way Evert’s eyes narrowed and his lips tightened.

“Great. But why did you look upset when you left this room earlier? What did he say or do that upset you?” Evert demanded. Jamie rolled her eyes; he was being her overprotective brother again.

“After the day I had, I was just in a bad mood. You’re the one who wanted me to bring him his meals and what we discuss is none of your business. You knew he would be an ass at some point and it’s part of the reason you haven’t been in to see him so don’t act all innocent now. I know you’re up to something with sending me in there to feed him—I’m just unsure what your true motive is—but I will figure it out eventually. You, in the meantime, can deal with not knowing what’s going on.” Jamie didn’t bother waiting on his reply, she just opened the door and stepped inside, effectively ending the conversation.

Death glanced at the door, a frown on his face as he watched her come closer. “I didn’t mean to be an asshole earlier. I was concerned something had happened to you,” Death grunted when she was about a foot from the bed.

“Commands don’t work well with me,” Jamie replied as she took the tray and stood holding it for a moment, glad at least one male in this place showed some signs of being decently human today. Death watched her silently for a long moment, seemingly evaluating her carefully. Jamie felt uneasy at the intense stare she was receiving from him and she heard the rattle of the dishes on the tray.

“I gathered that when you walked out,” he finally said after another long moment. She nodded and turned to go but as she took a step away he spoke again, making her turn to look at him over her shoulder.

“Are you going to tell me where you were?”

“Nope,” she said, snapping her head around to face the door because a sly grin was covering her lips. Not telling him would make him realize that he wasn’t going to be able to manipulate her even if he had almost apologized. She knew men like him; she’d been raised by about sixty of them and he wasn’t about to get his way after the attitude he’d given her earlier. “See you tomorrow,” she said, and tapped on the door with her foot so Evert or whoever was close in case something went wrong opened the door. 

Death stared at the closed door seething. Not only had she not told him where she’d been, she hadn’t even stuck around long enough for him to assure himself that she was okay. It annoyed him that he even cared. He ripped his eyes from the closed door she’d escaped through and glared towards the window instead. Where the hell was his crew? They should have come after him by now; it had been four days.

He didn’t know what to think about them not showing up to rescue him. As he jerked uselessly on the chains encasing his wrists, he felt a growl of displeasure bubbling up inside his chest. Something had to be going down with them or he knew Reaper would already have freed him from Blade and his cronies—unless they were dealing with something big.

Death’s eyes moved to the wall where the chains connected, anger burning inside his stomach as he thought about what could be going wrong with his MC. Blade better hope that wasn’t the case because if even one of his men died because Blade had trapped him here, he was going to rip the man’s heart out. Closing his eyes, he was suddenly thrust into the past and a memory he wanted to forget.

Death was about twenty when he’d learned to hate the Headhunters and now at thirty-three, he didn’t question if they were bad or good. He could still remember standing in the street watching as they ripped Lily from the sidewalk. He’d been a prospect and too far away to do anything except watch. Lily had screamed as they’d shoved her into a cage while several Blue Bandits had run to help, but no one had been close enough.

Three days later they’d found Lily’s body beside the road, her eyes staring sightlessly at the sky. Death remembered the bruises and the way he’d reached out to touch her cold hand. Lily was black and blue from her head to her feet with nothing covering her naked body. If she’d been alive when they dumped her, she wouldn’t have survived for long because it was the middle of winter and she would have died of exposure. He had even hoped that she’d already been dead when they dumped her because lying in the snow slowly freezing to death after being raped and abused seemed worse than if they’d just killed her. Reaper and he had looked at her body with only anger burning inside their souls. That night was the last time he truly remembered feeling human because after that he became hard and a little cruel.

It wasn’t the way Lily had been left that burned the hatred into him so deeply. No, it was the blood that coated her body and the fact that she was his baby sister that truly made his life alter in that moment. Lily had never done anything to deserve the pain the Headhunters had inflicted on her. When she’d laughed, it was like the world was made of pure joy. When she’d teased him, it felt like he was invincible but when she was gone, the world turned cold and colored with blue like her lips as she lay there on the cold ground covered in a light layer of snow. Death could still remember her eyes being swollen shut, her body covered in dirt and cuts all over her chest and stomach. That was the moment when his humanity left him, as he’d climbed on his bike and headed out with two other prospects to murder the men responsible for Lily’s death.

Reaper and Mack were the prospects who’d gone with him to kill fifteen men that day. While the president had hemmed and hawed about what to do, they’d taken care of the problem without allowing club politics to affect their decision. It had started a war that Gator hadn’t been ready to start but they hadn’t cared because those men had to pay for what they’d done to Lily . Death was sure that was when he first began to earn the respect of the club because none of the senior members wanted to sit back and think about what to do while the men who’d brutally murdered his eighteen-year-old sister had gotten away.

Death stared at the ceiling wondering why he was thinking of his sister now when he hadn’t thought about what happened to her in years. He didn’t know but he wasn’t too happy about the thoughts filling his head when he needed to be thinking up ways to get out of here. Maybe he could get them to let him take a shower. After all, pretty soon he was going to start stinking. He’d already been in the bed for four days and was likely already starting to get rank. He closed his eyes as the thought began to take root and he thought of ways to get them to allow him free from these chains for long enough that he could break the fuck out of here. Only trouble he could see was not knowing where Becky would be, unless he could convince her to bathe him.

He felt a smile slide across his lips at the thought of her soft hands on his cock again. His body thickened and he shifted slightly on the bed.
Fuck, lotta good getting turned on was going to do him with his hands chained to the fucking bed
. Frustration had his teeth clenching and his hard-on softening but he still couldn’t get the remembrance of her hands on his cock out of his mind.

Death stared towards the door that she’d exited through, wondering if tomorrow he might get to feel those hands touching him again. He fell into a fitful sleep a few hours later dreaming of Becky and her sweetness.

After leaving Death staring at the door in dumbfounded fascination, she headed to the kitchen with the tray, ignoring Evert who followed her. She could almost feel her brother’s disapproval hovering in the air around her like a dark cloud looming in the sky.
Great, this was sure to be an interesting conversation.
Knocking the swinging door open with her hip, she entered with the tray seeing Lissa standing at the sink washing the dishes. Jamie smiled at her friend, who glanced over her shoulder at Evert with narrowed eyes.