Precarious(14)

“Throw her in the SUV,” someone orders. “We need to get the fuck outta here before anyone witnesses this.”

Witnesses?

My head spins as I’m placed onto a cold, leather seat. Somebody reaches in, pressing a cool cloth to my eyes, wiping them. Pain shoots through my head and I find myself crying out, louder and more shrill this time.

“This is a bad fuckin’ idea.”

A low growl. “Just fuckin’ trust me.”

The door is slammed closed, and the car lurches forward. Panic seizes me, and I want so desperately to push myself up in a poor attempt to escape, but there’s no hope. I can’t move my body to even try to help myself. I’m in shock; I’m sure of it. Either that or I’ve got a serious back injury.

I blink my eyes a few times, attempting to open them again. This time I get a blurry picture. I can see the back of a seat and just over, a leather jacket that is wrapped around a very large man. He turns and looks over to me, and a strangled gasp leaves my throat. Beau? I shake my head from side to side, panic rising.

“Ash,” he says, his voice low and husky. “Not how you expected this to go? Should have listened to me. Oh, by the way . . . I’m Krypt.”

That’s when I pass out.





CHAPTER SEVEN


I wake to the sounds of low, murmured voices. I’m in the back of what I’m going to guess is a van. White panels of metal that lead to a roof are all I can see. There are no windows and it’s stuffy. I’m bouncing just slightly, as if we’re going over a dirt road. I move my hands to wipe my eyes, only to find them cuffed.

This can’t be good.

I blink rapidly, trying to clear my vision so I can get a better picture. I turn my head to the left, crying in pain as a sharp stabbing sensation radiates through my skull and travels down my neck. My entire body is stiff, and I can feel dried blood on my face so thick it makes moving my mouth slightly painful.

There’s not a lot to see in here, just an empty space. I stare over at the back doors and see some chains. They’re loose. I shift my body over to them, taking them in my bound hands. These could do damage, if I wanted them to. It’s worth a damned try. If I have to stay here, bound and sick, I’ll probably die. I’ve been taught some great lessons in fighting; I have a chance, even if it is only slight.

I pull the chains closer as the van continues to bounce. Then we come to a screeching halt, sending me rolling towards the back with a shout. Jesus. Ever heard of breaking slowly? The front door slams and I shove to my hands and knees, clutching the chains. I’ll have to make this hurt for it to be successful. I have no idea what I’m going to face when these doors are opened, but I can’t go down without a fight.

I just hope they don’t kill me.

The door rattles and I brace myself, moving as close as I can get. I tighten my hands around the chains, holding them out, ready to lunge. The back door swings open and I don’t think: as soon as I see the flash of a leather jacket, I leap out. My body screams in pain, agony ripping through me.

I land on a tall, solid man. I hook my arms and the chains around his neck, pulling back tightly. I’m half on his side, half on his back. “Motherfucker,” he curses, reaching up with thickly ringed fingers and taking hold of the chain. It’s at that angle I see the tattoos on his knuckles and realize it’s Beau.

“You can’t take me against my will,” I growl, tugging back tighter. “I won’t go down without a fight, you son-of-a-bitch!”

“Fuck, Rhyder, get this fuckin’ woman off me.”

I tug as hard as I can, causing a bellow to leave his mouth. He throws his head back, jerking his body, trying to flick me off. A large arm goes around my waist, pulling me backwards as Beau shoves the chains off his neck, and I’m thrown to the ground with a thump. I cry out, pain ripping through my body. It takes me a moment to roll, and I’m so angry when I do. How dare he? How fucking dare he steal me and think he’s just going to get away with it?

“And to think I—”

I roll all the way over, ready to abuse Beau, but stop abruptly when I see around about twenty bikers staring down at me with angry expressions on their faces.

“Oh boy,” I breathe.

“Yeah,” Beau growls, leaning down and hurling me up. “Oh fuckin’ boy all right.”

He shoves me towards a large cabin and a huge shed that is behind the group of bikers. They part as I step through, some of them baring their teeth at me in not-so-nice gestures. I put my head down. That was a failure on my behalf, it would seem. Beau . . . or Krypt as he calls himself, keeps shoving me, forcing my aching feet to move.