Hiding Out (Hawks MC: Caroline Springs Charter, #2) (2 page)

"Sure you don't want to stay? He may offer himself up for your dirty ride."

Snorting, I said, "No. I think I'll keep him in my fantasy drawer."

"Have smoking dreams tonight, girl."

Waving over my shoulder, I said, "Oh, I will." I turned to wink, but didn't get there. Instead, I squeaked when I spotted Mr Sin himself standing at her counter. Lucia burst out laughing as I practically ran from the shop.

The bus ride home seemed to take longer than any other day. It didn't help that I was sweltering and the man next to me was enjoying being in my personal space, making me hot and uncomfortable. I contemplated if the air-conditioning on the bus was even working. I felt the beast of a man beside me look down at me once again. I didn’t want to meet his gaze in case he wanted to start up a conversation.

Oh. Snap. He shifted and a whiff of BO caught my nose, nearly making me gag.

Gripping my bag closer to my chest, I closed my eyes and rested my head against the window.
Come on, stop, come on.
The whole ride threatened to put a dampener on my good mood. Yet, I still couldn't wait to get home and tell my cousin I was moving out. I'd even found a small apartment in the paper that morning. I rang the realtor on my break and I would head there the next day to take a look. Everything appeared promising, though. A couple of weeks and I'd be on my own.

A smile lit my face. Yes, even with the scent of BO in my nose, I could still smile. It was as though nothing could take away my happiness.

Finally, my stop came. I squeezed past Stinky and felt a pinch on my arse.

Turning quickly, I pointed in his pudgy face and snapped, “Would you like to have babies one day?”

His eyes widened, but he nodded.

“Then don’t ever do that again to any female or one day, your balls will be sliced off by some pissed-off woman. You’re just lucky I’m in a good mood or it would be me.”

I made my way down the aisle and off the bus. Heck, the small breeze in the humid air was better than that rubbish bus trip.

Around the corner of the bus stop was Colton's house. Walking up the path, I reached the house and unlocked the door. Thick heat greeted me, letting me know my cousin wasn't home. Once I turned the air-conditioner on, I made my way down to my room and dropped my bag. After a quick shower in the bathroom at the end of the hall, I dressed in a sleeveless tee and denim shorts. Feeling more comfortable out of my work gear, I walked into Colton's study munching on an apple.

I needed access to his computer to transfer some money from my chequing account to my savings account.

His laptop was already open on his desk and with a quick wiggle of the mouse, it came to life. I logged in and smiled to myself. After today's wages, there would be exactly what I needed to make the move.

My apple slipped from my hand to the floor.

No.

Not again.

It was empty, except for fifty cents.

Where was my money?

My heart tightened in my chest. Tears formed in my eyes, but I wiped them away.

I searched through the transfer information and discovered Colton's name as recipient. There had to be an explanation. There had to be. He wouldn't do it to me, not after knowing what my parents did. He wouldn't. He couldn't be that heartless.

The one person I had left in my life I couldn't trust, either.

No
.
Hold out hope
. Something could have happened. There had to be a good explanation on why my goddamn money was gone. There had to be.

He wouldn't need my measly savings. He had an inheritance worth hundreds of thousands.

I searched through the help information, trying to see if there was a way to stop the transfer. Confused by the small print swimming before my eyes, I took the time to frantically search through his document files. I lucked out when I found his own bank sign-in details in a Word document.

A moment later, I stared at the screen and his bank balance. His account sat at zero.

God. I really,
really
was stupid.

It was then I heard the front door open. I pushed the chair back and strode from the office, down the hall and into the living room where Colton was shouldering his bag off.

"Where is it?" I asked, ashamed my voice quivered.

"What?" he asked with a smile.

"My money. Your money."

His face darkened. "You been in my study, woman, my account? What the fuck you think you doing in there? In my fucking business?" He stalked towards me.

For a second, fear clawed its way through me. "Colton, my account is empty, transferred to you. Your account is fucking empty." I kept my voice strong. "My money, where has it gone?"

Abruptly, just before he got to me, he stopped and smiled. "Don't you worry about a thing now. I have it all figured out. Everything will be fine, cuz." The gleam in his eyes told me everything would not be fine.

"I-I need my money, Colton. I'm moving out." My hands restlessly played with the bottom of my shorts to keep from picking the bastard up and throwing him out the window.

He laughed, shaking his head like I had said the funniest thing. "Sorry, cuz."

That didn’t sound good. "About what?"

His head cocked to the side and he smirked over at me. I watched as his hand went behind him and he pulled a gun free, pointing it at me.

"What? No!" I took a step back. My hands out and up in front of me, my heart beat erratically in my chest. I didn’t even know he owned a gun, or if he was smart enough to use it. "Colton, what's this about?"

Even when my heart was going haywire with panic, I wanted to wrap my hands around his throat and squeeze the life out of him. Better yet, I wanted to take that gun from him and shoot him in the balls. However, I did nothing but freeze.

"You see, I lost a bit of money. I like to gamble, and I gambled with the wrong people. I had to do something to save myself."

My stomach dropped. "What?" I whispered.

"I gave them all the money we had."

My arms went around my stomach. I gripped my sides as the hurt and betrayal bombarded me.

The only family member left on Earth turned on me for his own benefit.

Like my parents had.

I'd trusted him when he said he would support me.

He'd lied.

Like all my family seemed to do.

My money was gone. Colton's money was gone, and his fear was what brought my own fear on. Even though he looked smug, I could see the terror in his wide, twitching eyes. The people he'd played with were bad people.

"S-so, I'll, um, I'll just work harder and get some money back in." Like hell I would. I was out of there as soon as I could.

He sighed and shook his head. "My money and yours wasn't enough. I had to give them something else."

God.
I closed my eyes and my head dipped forward. I was too scared to ask.

It seemed I didn't need to though because Colton supplied it. "You."

I was going to be sick. I was going to throw up all over the carpet. My body shook with shock. Had I heard him right?

Lifting my head, opening my eyes, I asked in a quiet voice, "Me?"

"Yeah, cuz. Found a good buyer through some mates. They deal in slavery themselves, but when I showed them a picture of you, the biker wanted you for himself. Said he needed a good black bitch in his house taking care of shit." The sick shine in Colton’s eyes when he explained he'd sold me was enough to know my owner would bring new, darker times with him. "He'll be coming by in a couple of hours. You just have to be a good girl 'til then."

He gestured with the gun for me to walk down the hall. I started and he followed, still talking, "There ain't no use running and going to the cops. He's in with them. Pays them off. I didn’t want to do it. I was happy to help you out after your ‘rents died, but I have to look out for myself over anything. You just happened to be staying here when things went down for me."

He reached out, grabbed the back of my hair and yanked it. I screamed in surprise and stumbled back before he shoved me sideways into his bedroom. I gripped his wrist, digging my fingernails in as he kept pushing me forward with force. I then stumbled into his en suite. He slammed the door behind me. A lock was snapped into place before I heard Colton say through the door, "Don't worry, cuz, it'll all work out." He laughed. "Though, even if it don't, I'll be a happy rich guy once again. I’d do fucking anything to have money under my belt, always."

I banged and kicked the door, screaming, “Let me out, Colton!”

"Now, stay quiet and I'll keep you breathin' until he gets here. Oh, and in case you get a hair-brained idea, there's no escaping through that window. Your fat arse wouldn't fit." I listened as he walked off chuckling.

My life, my pitiful life, would no longer be my own.

I refused to let that happen. I just didn't know how to make it possible.

I wanted to live, to be free and be who I was inside and out. No one had the right to own me.

For a little while, I sat on the cold floor and cried. Never once had I cried when my parents passed or when my uncle died. Never until then. Sobs racked my body. They came hard and I shook from the force. My head thumped painfully at my temples.

My life seemed doomed and I let myself wallow in self-pity, let the turmoil in my stomach take over and fill me with dread. How could it happen? How could my cousin be involved with people who sold women? Had I been a trusting fool from the start? Regardless, I never saw the signs. How could I when we hardly kept each other’s company.

I wasn't sure how long I sat on the cold floor, but it was long enough to shake my stupid self and do something about my life
once again
.

I had to take the control back.

I had to try something, anything.

Fighting for my life was worth it. I’d done it many times. It was time to do it again.

With renewed energy, I stood from the floor and looked around and through cabinets but found nothing; he’d cleared everything out except for towels. I wasn't strong enough to take my cousin down forcibly when he would come for me, and no doubt, my
owner
would be there to back him up.

Instead, I looked to the small window again, and decided I had to try it at least. Turning on the shower to cover some noise, I quickly picked up the bath towel, wrapped it around my fist and punched the window. At first, I thought Colton would rush back in once he'd heard the glass shatter. However, my cousin, being the stupid fool he was, was probably sitting in front of the TV, drinking a beer with the surround sound up loud.

Moving quickly, so I could get as far away as I could before he noticed, I first placed my arms through the small window and wiggled my body against each corner, grazing it against the sides and shards that remained. Still, I didn't care. I needed out.

Standing on the toilet, I forced my body forward until my top half was out. Panic seized me as my hips got stuck. I prayed Colton wasn't right, that my arse wasn’t too big.

I couldn't give up, though. Shifting around, slicing more grooves into my skin, I managed to wiggle free. My body sank quickly to the rocky garden below the window, and I bit my lip to stop myself from crying out. I didn't have the time to take in the pain. I sprung up with determination and ran.

D
odge

Eight hours later

Three months I'd been at the Hawks’ Caroline Springs charter and shit had hit the fan. Not only were the Venom MC fuckers causin' hell, but we had our own problem within our own club. Nothing we could prove, but we had our suspicions of someone within the club working against us and helping out the Venom MC instead. If that was the case and we found the dickhead in our own goddamn club backstabbin' us and telling the Venom our every move, then whoever it was had better disappear before Dallas or I found them.

We were sick of our boss's nightclubs being ransacked, and wished to fuck Warden had already installed the cameras in the compound and garage. Then we could catch the bastards. But he was stuck in Ballarat dealing with his own shit. The Venom knew when one of Talon's nightclubs was unprotected. Or they'd draw brothers out from one club to another with false shit like the women being threatened, hold-ups or bomb threats.

Plans had to change. Brothers from the mechanical business were being over-worked while working backup at night at the clubs around our territory.

Things were in chaos. It was time to change it and take the control back.

It had been early when I walked into the compound. The mechanical business on the side of the building wasn't even open yet, which was good. Tired of fuckin' waitin' on Warden, I was doing my own little installing. We needed to catch the snitch before the Venom cunts ruined everything.

Memphis had given me the go-ahead and those we trusted—Dallas, Saxon, Pick, Billy and Dive—knew I was setting up cameras that morning in the compound and then the garage.

It sucked that it'd come to not trusting a brother of Hawks, but we needed to weasel out the prick running his mouth off to someone in the Venom club.

At least things had settled down for Pick and Billy. They'd been back in Melbourne for a month. They'd moved into their own place with Josie. She was back at uni and they were enjoyin' each other. Fuckin' strange to me, the three of them together, but each to their own. I guessed it was whatever floated their boat and, if the three of them together was it, then so be it.

How in the fuck did it work, though?

My imagination would provide me enough pictures to go through if they only starred Josie. She was fuckin' hot. But shit, I'd shut my brain down if it tried to get me to picture shit with her
and
my brothers. That crap was just not happenin'.

Switching on the last camera in the compound, I jumped down from the chair and placed it back where it belonged. It'd been a fucked-up day when Richard passed. It hurt people deep, and still so many were grieving for him. What made it worse was Talon had enough crap on his plate with his family's sorrow, and now he had all the shit in Melbourne on top of it. Which was why I was takin' some slack off him and Memphis.