Misled (17 page)

“You planning on buying anything?” she asked.

“Yeah.” Ellen put in around her cigarette. “You think we like this shit?”

“It
seems so,” Meggie sniffed, nodding to the cargo hold of the van overflowing with their purchases. “For someone who doesn’t like this
shit,
you have no problem spending Christopher’s money.”

Ellen lifted a thin brow. “Christopher, huh?” She took another drag
of her cigarette. “I have no problem sucking his dick while he eats my pussy. I should have no problem spending his fucking money.”

Nausea churned in Meggie’s stomach and she looked away.

“Idiot!” Kiera chirped. “You know what Outlaw said, so shut up.”

Ellen
threw her cigarette on the ground and crushed it beneath her boot. She glared between Meggie and Kiera before grabbing her cigarettes again and lighting another one.

“Megan,” Kiera began. Though her tone was clipped and her features tight, her body language was
much friendlier than Ellen’s. “This isn’t easy. Okay? B-but he wants you to buy some clothes and he isn’t going to be happy if you don’t go back with new things.” She shifted her weight. “He would’ve brought you himself but he has…church.”

Meggie glared at her. “I know what that means. He told me.”

Kiera nodded. “So you know he has a lot of shit to worry about. He…he doesn’t want you upset.” She shrugged. “I don’t know if that means he’s keeping you. But I’d prefer not to upset you and still be allowed to be friends with Outlaw then him bar me from the club. You seem to be pretty nice, if a little young.”

“I’m eighteen.”

“Outlaw will be thirty-three in a month,” Ellen said around smoke and laughter. “Put jail fucking bait pussy on him and I guess his nose would open wide. Motherfuckers go crazy when you hit ‘em with that young, tender flesh. Suddenly, women his own fucking age ain’t good enough for him. Not when he has a sweet, tight pussy to fuck.”

“Shut up, Ellen,” Kiera warned, “or I’m telling on your crude fucking ass.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up, Ki. You know what I’m saying is for fucking real. He ain’t never fucked either one of us on our own. We always had to tag team him. Suddenly, he’s calling us to be her fucking babysitters.”

Meggie processed Ellen’s words and narrowed her eyes, thinking about yesterday. Unless Ellen had been hiding somewhere
—which she knew she hadn’t because Christopher had already told her—Kiera had been with Christopher on her own. Oh.
Oh.
Her gaze flew to Kiera’s and the other woman straightened. Kiera knew she’d guessed she’d crossed some line with Christopher that Ellen knew nothing about. But that was between them and Meggie wouldn’t pit one against the other just because Christopher had hurt her. She shrugged, a small, minute gesture she hoped conveyed the message to Kiera. At Kiera’s flash of relief, Meggie lowered her eyes.

“So that’s all I’m fucking saying.”

Meggie frowned. Ellen had continued talking while she and Kiera had gone through their silent exchange.

“Oh fuck,” Ellen snarled.

Meggie thought it was something else she wanted to argue out, but Ellen was glancing behind Meggie.

“Oh fuck,” Kiera breathed, her eyes traveling in the direction of Ellen’s attention.

Meggie decided she should turn around. When she did, her eyes widened.
Snake
. She hadn’t seen his face but she’d know those green and black reptilian boots anywhere. He halted next to Ellen, while five other guys, rigged out in cuts and leather, blocked their exit. Snake was a tall, intimidating figure and, when Meggie’s perusal reached his face, she did a double take, her breath catching. She swore she was staring at her father. A tremble passed through her. Her mind had to be playing tricks on her. It just had to be. He resembled Big Joe right down to one nostril being noticeably bigger than the other one. A ponytail queued his ponytail and his blue eyes held no warmth. Really, no anything. They were the eyes of a killer, cold and dead, as if his soul and conscience had been sucked away—if he’d ever had either.

Snak
e walked over—Boss’s swagger—and Kiera and Ellen flanked her.

She knew why
and she’d keep her mouth shut. She wanted to ask the identity of his father, even though his physical features screamed the answer. She should’ve lowered her lashes, looked away, and minimized attention. She couldn’t, though. Her heart and her head hurt. She’d always believed she was her father’s only child. And, she told herself, she still believed it. The only proof she had to any family connection with Snake were her eyes—and her instinct. He might’ve looked like Boss and walked like Boss, but he didn’t have Boss’s deceptively calm demeanor. One look at Snake and Meggie knew he had ice in his veins. She decided to keep quiet about her suspicions. She didn’t know how these things worked, but it might cause deeper animosity between him and Christopher if he discovered she was Christopher’s lover.

Something resembling a smile curved his mouth. “Who’s the new bitch?”

Kiera and Ellen glanced at each other.

“I’m Meggie,” Megan responded, raising her chin and folding her arms. She urged herself to proceed with caution, but her unhealthy curiosity
wouldn’t allow it. “Who are you?”

Ignoring her question,
Snake stepped closer and bent to eye-level with her. “You’re the bitch, yeah?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He grabbed her arms and shook her. “The bitch who survived. The bitch who saved fucking Outlaw.”

Ellen jerked her out of his grasp and shoved Meggie behind the wall she and Kiera now created. “Fuck off,
asswipe,” she snapped. “If Outlaw knew you were handling his old lady like that, he’d carve your fucking heart out.”

“Old lady?” Snake sneered, glaring through an opening between the two women’s heads. “So this young bitch has joined you two fucking whores?”

“No. Of course not,” Kiera said calmly, holding Ellen’s hand down. “She’s used to how we do shit, so he’s taking a break from us. She’s his.”

“And you know what the fuck that means, do
n’t you, reptilian?” Ellen said with a smirk. She pulled out her cell phone and waved it in his face. “Outlaw is a phone call away.”

Snake withdrew
a blade from inside his jacket and held it to Ellen’s throat. “Not gonna stop you from being any less dead by the time he reaches here.”

“Fuck you. Kill me. As a matter of fact, why do
n’t you fuck all three of us up?”

Meggie made a noise of protest in her throat. She didn’t appreciate Ellen so ca
sually offering up their lives.

“Just so you know
, you’ll be a dead ass walking,” Ellen spat. “Outlaw wouldn’t rest until he fucked you with a spiked pipe. So you can kill us and brag about it to Outlaw. Because you’re such a dumb fuck, that’s what you’d do. Or you can let us go about our day and have another day of your life to look forward to. Your choice, fuckhead.”

“Sooner or later, Outlaw is gonna get his. I won’t rest until he pays for what he did to my father,” he swore.

Those words again, Meggie thought. Snake swearing revenge for his father. A chill swept through Meggie. She couldn’t shake the sense of disaster, a hollow, bleak premonition of more blood and death.

“When I do,” Snake continued, “you bitches going down with him.”

“What would you have did?” Kiera asked.

Meggie was glad her mother wasn’t around to correct Kiera’s speech. The wild, random thought assured Meggie she was losing it.

“Shut the fuck up, Ki,” Snake snarled, his icy fury on the verge of erupting. “You’re in Outlaw’s bed now. Not mine anymore. So you lost any power you thought your pussy had over me when you let him in your shit.”

The image of
Christopher and Kiera in his office rose in Meggie’s head and she gritted her teeth against the jealous anger rising inside her. Needing air, she backed away from the other two women and spun on her heel, glimpsing a tall man with the look of a teddy bear and the heart of a demon, on the opposite side of their lane, staring at her. Thomas. She froze, her heart hammering.

Snake stepped in front of her and gripped her chin between his thumb and forefinger. He turned her head from side-to-side, ignoring Ellen’s demands to leave Meggie alone.

Snake grinned. “I can see Outlaw wanting to fuck you,” he breathed. “You’re one gorgeous bitch. If you didn’t have the look of Big Joe about you, I’d find a place for us to fuck.”

Meggie glared and opened her mouth to speak.

“At least you’re not that fucking perverted,” Ellen snorted.

“Shut up,” Kiera warned. “Snake, c’mon, baby. Leave her alone. She’s innocent. A real good girl.”

“Not so innocent if she’s fucking Outlaw,” he returned, still holding Meggie in his clutches. “Here’s a message to the whore, the cunt, and the innocent. When I bring Outlaw down, you three bitches are going with him.” He shoved Meggie away and she stumbled back.

One
small comfort—Thomas was no longer anywhere in sight. Although she doubted it, Meggie could only hope he’d been a figment of her stressed out imagination.

Snake backed away. But he stared at Meggie, through her, bitter hatred in his eyes, before he and his boys turned and stalked off.

Ellen drew in a deep breath and sagged against the bumper, just then losing the color in her face. Meggie thought Snake had stabbed her after all, but when she heard Kiera soothing her, she realized it was fear setting in.

Meggie r
emembered glimpsing a bottle of water in a cup holder inside the van. Grabbing Ellen’s keys from the bumper, she hurried and got the nearly empty bottle. There were no napkins available so she tipped the water over her fingers, then went back to Ellen and rubbed her brow and cheeks, hoping the coolness calmed her.

Both Kiera and
Ellen stilled and stared at her as if her caring gesture surprised them. Meggie sniffed, imagining it would surprise them. In their world, they’d just as soon stab her in the back and watch her bleed to death.

“This might help you to feel better,” Meggie said impatiently.

Ellen stared at her a moment longer, then a hint of a smile crossed her features. “Are you okay, babe?”

Meggie’s hands trembled. No, her entire body shook
. She’d never met a more vile man. She nodded, just wanting to get back to the club and lock herself in Christopher’s room. But, now, that might not be safe either. Snake might come after them. “I-I’m fine. You?”

Ellen
nodded, then lit up another cigarette. “Yeah. Why don’t we speed our day up? Don’t give us no more shit. Pick out a fucking wardrobe, so we can get the fuck outta here.”

“Shouldn’t you call Christopher?” Meggie asked. “Warn him? I-I mean Snake might go and try to do him something.”

“Take her, Ki. Let me alert Outlaw to what limp dick is up to.”

“Come on, Meggie.”

Meggie had even less inclination to shop now than she had before, but she wouldn’t be difficult. Or stupid. She needed clothes. She spent less than half an hour in the first shop, where she picked out panties and bras, a robe, and several nightgowns. When she went to the second store, Kiera helped choose items from the racks. Still, they spent nearly an hour in that store and Meggie began to regret her lackluster shopping earlier. She hoped she liked her purchases as much later as she did now, viewing them under duress with two madmen circling about. The last shop they went to before they piled into Ellen’s old, clunky utility van was a shoe store where Meggie bought two pairs of flats, a pair of pumps, and a pair of high, strappy sandals. On the way back to the club, they stopped at a drugstore, so Meggie could purchase her own soap, shampoo, new makeup, and feminine products. Although Christopher had brought her to a drugstore, he hadn’t asked if she needed anything and she hadn’t bothered to mention it. At the time, his injury concerned her more. He’d just walked out of the hospital so buying items had been the last thing on her mind. Now, though, not only did she purchase her personal items, she also loaded up on Milky Way candy bars. They were her absolute favorite and she hadn’t had one in weeks. She added chocolate milk to the basket.

“Hey,
the price of this shit’s fucking ridiculous here,” Ellen pointed out, indicating the milk and candy with a nod. “We can stop at a grocery store and get that shit and any other food you’d like.”

“We could? I-I thought…Christopher doesn’t have a fridge in his room.”

“And? Put your shit in the little kitchen. No one will fuck with it.”

“In that case, we can go to the store.” Meggie’s stomach growled and she
bit down on her lip. She really wanted a visit to the Pike Street Market. But it was in Seattle and she was here, so she’d have to settle for whatever grocery store she could find.

“Shit,” Ellen groaned with a scowl. “Fucking Outlaw is going to flip. You shoulda ate.”

Meggie decided to buy the milk and dropped it in her basket. She wasn’t sure where Kiera was, but Ellen trailed her as she roamed to the section with condoms. She stared at them, wondering if she should buy any. She couldn’t help but remember the condom hanging from Christopher’s penis when he’d been with Kiera. And, yet, he hadn’t used any with her.