Hard Roads (30 page)

“How you doin’ back there, Munch?”

I didn’t want to tell him the truth and say that I was scared shitless I’d never see him again. I didn’t want to admit that images of bikers being ripped apart and my body being raped in the blood were flashing through my head. I didn’t want to worry him, so I just said, “I’m good.”

He had to know I was lying, but he didn’t call me out on it and I was okay with our unspoken agreement to pretend like everything was going to be fine.

By the time we’d crawled off the bike and walked around enough that we’d regained feeling in our legs, Henry had come back from around the back of the house with a look of absolute horror in his eyes.

JD reacted immediately, noticing the same thing in Henry’s eyes that I was hoping I hadn’t really seen. “What’s wrong?” He’d dragged up me beside him, not letting me go. His entire body was rock solid from the tension in his muscles.

Henry just shook his head, swallowing hard to find the ability to tell us what he’d seen. However, as soon as he opened his mouth, a familiar voice shouted out above the chaos I could hear coming from the backyard.

“Baby Girl? Is that really you?”

The three of us turned to see my father stepping out from the shadows around the side of the house. My eyes glanced back at JD’s bike and I was wishing like hell I’d grabbed his other gun when I still had the chance. I didn’t want things to go south for us when my dad laid eyes on JD, so I broke away from him stepping in the direction of where my father had emerged.

“Hey daddy.” I forced my voice to not tremble, but my fear was thick over my words. Walking more quickly, I tried to reach him before he noticed JD standing with Henry on the other side of the house. Finally reaching him, I ducked my head when he reached out to take me into a big hug and I returned the gesture hoping like hell that he’d had enough to drink that he was in a good mood. As usual, his white beard hung low from his chin and his matching white hair fell down his back. He’d put it back in a ponytail at the base of his head and he wore his standard white t-shirt, with a cut over it and dark jeans that fell over his thick black boots.

After he’d hugged me for a few more seconds, he pulled away, holding me at arms length so he could look at me. “You look good, Baby Girl. I’m surprised. I don’t know what I was expecting when I saw you again. I don’t even want to admit what I was expecting, but you look good, not like anything has happened to you since you’ve been gone.”

Attempting to buy his approval and kind will, I replied, “Yeah, well Henry and JD have taken real good care of me. Couldn’t have asked for better people to be around.”

He grunted at my words. “Henry, I can believe, but JD deserves a bullet in his brain for what he fucking did to you.”

I kept my voice low, hoping like hell that JD couldn’t overhear us. “Yeah, well, he saved my life, daddy, and that’s all that should matter, right?”

His hands gripped my shoulders so tight that pain shot through me. I knew he was angry, but I wouldn’t react because I was afraid that he would direct his anger at JD. “You wouldn’t have been in that position to begin with if it wasn’t for that man.”

It grew silent between us and I could hear Henry and JD’s boots as they approached. My father looked over my shoulder at the two men and his face took on an expression that was lethal. He didn’t say anything, simply releasing me and stepping back to pull the gun from his waistband.

“Daddy…” I jumped forward trying to stop him, but Henry caught me from behind before I could reach him.

The gun was pointed to JD’s head within a split second and my heart stuttered in my chest. Tears burned at my eyes, but they wouldn’t fall. Every part of me felt frozen when I looked at the barrel of my father’s gun, when I realized that the man I could never again live without had a bullet pointed at his brain.

With narrowed eyes, my dad looked at JD, his finger pulled tightly over the trigger of his gun and his hand shaking from the amount of alcohol that was undoubtedly running through his blood.

Henry broke the heavy and tension-filled silence. He voice was calm and soothing when he said, “Now, Joker, JD brought your daughter back to you in one piece. You made a deal and JD has held up his part which means you have to hold up yours.”

“My daughter was TORTURED because of this asshole! He killed two of my fucking men! I think I have every fucking right to kill him.” He was screaming.

“You’re right, Joker, but we’ve already been over this. You agreed after finding out what JD had done. He hasn’t done anything since then but protect your baby girl while she got better.”

Friend to friend, Henry spoke to my dad, but all I could do was stare in my father’s empty eyes. My words failed me and I refused to move for fear he would pull the trigger if he startled. Silent prayers screamed from my head that Henry would be able to diffuse the situation.

Finally, after what felt like hours, my daddy responded to Henry. “I know Mad Dog. I ain’t going to kill the kid. I just want him to understand what’s going to happen if he ever comes around my little girl again.” Directing his full attention on JD, he said, “This girl here is my property.” He nodded his head towards me. “You come near her again and your brain is going to be sprayed over whatever surface you happen to be standing in front of. I’ll let you live this time on account of who your daddy is, but my friendship with him only goes so far when it comes to my daughter. You get me, boy?”

My first reaction was to object to what he was saying, the anger in me building to a point of boiling rage when I realized that my dad didn’t fault himself for anything that had happened. Who the fuck was he to think he could keep me away from JD? I wasn’t staying here. Biting my tongue, I bit back my reaction. It wasn’t a good idea to poke at him when he was a pull of the trigger away from killing the only person I truly cared about.

JD never responded to my dad, never said a word. Glancing to my side I could see that he was standing with a stoic expression on his face. He didn’t have his hands raised in surrender because he wasn’t the type to back down, but he also wasn’t challenging my father.

Finally lowering the gun, my dad looked over at me. His voice was soft when he spoke, completely opposite of what it’d just been. “I heard what happened to you, baby girl. I’ve got something I think will make it up to you.”

Henry stepped around me, pushing me back in such a way that my father wouldn’t notice. JD stepped back with me, but didn’t touch me, not while my father still had a gun in his hand.

“Joker, I don’t think…”

“Shut up, Henry. She’ll love it.” Pointing his finger up in Henry’s face, my father’s voice took on a tone of maniacal pride and humor. “You don’t know my girl. She’s the toughest woman you’ll meet in your life. I made sure of it. I didn’t go around picking her up every time she cried. I let her pick herself up and she’s a stronger woman because of it.” His voice got louder with each word. “What I have out back will be easy for a girl like her. She’ll feel better because of it.”

He turned to me, the flash of insanity obvious in his eyes. “I’ll even let JD watch so he can see what a real man does for his daughter or any other woman in his life. That pathetic piece of shit beside you can leave here knowing what a REAL biker can do.”

Moving around Henry, my dad reached out to grab my arm, dragging me over the pebbled lot and to the back of the house. I was stumbling over my own feet because of how quickly he moved.

“You’re going to love this, Holly. I’ve held onto him for two days, but it was worth it to give you this.”

One word stuck out in my head more than the others. I pulled back to try and slow him down, but he was tugging so hard that he practically dragged me out where I could see the tall bonfires in the backyard. Four men stood around, poking at something close to the fire and laughing as they did so. Music blared in the background and the sight was like something you would see at any wild party.

“What do you mean ‘him’? My voice was loud and I was hoping he could hear me over the music and laughter.

It didn’t matter anyway, because the painful scream I heard boom out of the yard answered my question for him. Looking over at the fire, I finally noticed what it was that the men were poking at and my jaw dropped in response.

“I got him for you baby. I got Hector. Fucker came sniffing around here the other night, not knowing that it was me who was in the house. We killed four of his men and buried those fuckers out in the desert, but I saved him for you. I’m going to let you get even with the sonofabitch for everything he did to you.”

I heard every one of my daddy’s words, but I still couldn’t believe what he’d done. Fear gripped me hard and my body hurt from how tightly I was strung. Everything came rushing back to me at once and while I was caught in the terrifying grip of my memories, Hector’s screams tore out over the distance.

Time stood still and I didn’t notice when Henry and JD had walked up beside me.

“Daddy, I don’t want…”

“Oh yes, baby girl, you do.” He grabbed my arm again and dragged me closer to the fire. My stomach was already messed up from the fear and tension I’d been carrying the entire day, but it was all I could do to keep from throwing up when I got closer to that fire.

Hector was barely recognizable as the man who’d held me in that stained white room. Every minute I’d spent there flashed across my thoughts and I focused on his face, noticing how his skin was pink and his eyebrows and hair and been singed off. Glancing down at his body, I saw that his clothes were missing and his body was even redder than his face. They’d stripped him of everything, tying him up so close to the fire that it was slowly cooking him. He writhed in agony and the cuts and bruises from where they’d beat him were obvious against the angry color of his skin. But it wasn’t until I looked down even further, that I was brought to my fucking knees.

They’d sheered him of his cock and balls, leaving nothing between his legs besides the dried blood from the massive amount that he’d lost.

“Oh my god…” My voice failed me and my words trailed off. Tears leaked from my eyes and for the first time I noticed the faint stench of burning flesh in the air. The men standing around Hector poked at him with sticks, the tips sharp enough to tear into his skin. Because he was practically cooked, the skin fell away from the muscle where they struck him.

Turning to look at my father, I saw a broad smile on his face. He truly believed that this would make me happy and I realized that he was just as insane as Diablo. He was so far gone, in fact, that he couldn’t see that what he was doing was disgusting and wrong.

“Daddy. I want you to kill that man right now, okay. Just shoot him and get it over with.” My voice shook with apprehension.

He looked down at me with confusion in his wild eyes. Shadows danced over his face from the flames that roared up in front of him.

“No. I won’t. ‘Cause you’re going to do it.” While pulling his gun from his side again, he reached down to grab me and bring me to my feet. He placed the warm metal against my palm, smiling as he handed me the weapon. Reality snapped back in place and anger rolled through me more violent and dangerous than the worst kind of storm.

Gripping the gun in my hand, I stepped back in the direction of where JD and Henry were standing. My father looked at me, his eyes glancing over my shoulder at the two men before looking back at me.

“Well, aren’t you going to do it? KILL THE FUCKER! He turned you into a fucking whore or don’t you remember that?”

I was shaken to the fucking core by what he was doing. His words were intended to hurt me, to make me so angry that I lost my head and killed Hector as they tortured him. My dad stood there, clueless to the fact that he was reopening every wound that I had worked so hard to close. My stomach wretched and my hand shook as I raised the gun in my dad’s direction. His eyes widened and I fought to steady my breath. My heart thumped fast and strong in my chest and I felt JD place his hand on my back.

“Holly. Think about what you’re doing. You need to put down the gun.” JD spoke softly behind me.

Reaching up with my other hand, I steadied the gun on my father. His men turned around from where they were torturing Hector, immediately going for their own guns when they saw where I’d pointed mine.

My dad extended his hands out, turning and calling out to his men, “Put them down. None of you motherfuckers better even THINK about pointing a gun at my baby girl.” When they listened to him, he turned back to me, begging me with his eyes not to shoot him.

“Holly, baby, you’re pointing that gun in the wrong direction. The man who hurt you is over by the fire. I’ll catch the other fucker too if you want. I won’t let anybody hurt you ever again.”

I don’t know where my voice suddenly came from and I don’t know who the hell was talking through me, but every bit of fear, anger and pain I’d felt over the past two months was suddenly flooding out of me on venomous words that I screamed in my old man’s face.

“YOU are the fucker who hurt me. Not JD or Diablo or Hector or anybody fucking else! It was YOU! You are the reason any of it had to happen at all!” My hands shook and the gun waved around in front of me. “If you hadn’t gone around fucking people over, none of them would have wanted me. I would have been safe!” I took a step to storm towards him, but JD laid his hand heavily on my shoulder to prevent me from moving forward.

“Baby?” My dad’s voice faltered, fear breaking that one word apart.

“Don’t ‘baby’ me! Don’t do it. I’m not your fucking baby! I stopped being your baby when my mother died because of you and you left me the fuck alone and stopped caring about what happened to me.” My throat hurt from the volume in which I screamed, but I had to get this out, had to make him understand that I wanted nothing more to do with him. Henry’s words rang in my head, but despite the fact that I still loved my father, I couldn’t believe that he cared anything about me.

“I’m leaving, daddy. I’m heading out with JD and I’m never coming back to this fucking hell hole of a life you’ve given me. If this is what a ‘real’ biker can do, if this is what you think life should be like, then I don’t want it.”