Outlaw (2 page)

Cole looked at her, and replied, “No offense,
darlin’.” He glanced back at Chuck, “But she ain’t worth two grand.”

Chuck stared at him. “I’ll get you the money.”

“Yeah,” Cole nodded. “You will.”

They stared at each other. Cole thought of how badly
he wanted to drive his fist into this guy’s face.

Wyatt leaned forward, and looked at Cole. “Can’t we
work something out, here? As a favor to me?”

Cole held Wyatt’s eyes a long moment, and then
nodded. “Okay. Fine. I’ll take the girl.”

Chucky exhaled. “Thanks, man. I’m glad we worked
this out.”

“You still owe me fifteen more.”

“What?” Chucky asked, stunned.

“You don’t think she clears your debt, do ya, Chucky
boy?” Cole smiled an evil grin.

“What do ya mean?”

“She just buys you two more weeks.”

“This is bullshit!”

“You rather I take your bike?” Cole bit back.

Chuck looked at Wyatt, and then back at Cole. “Fine.
I’ll have your Goddamn money in two weeks.” He got up to leave.

“Un-cuff her,” Cole ordered.

“I don’t have the key,” Chuck snapped back.

Cole looked at Wyatt, and back at Chuck,
incredulously. “You what?”

“You heard me.”

“So, what were you planning on doing with her?
Keeping her cuffed forever?” Cole demanded an answer.

Chuck shrugged his shoulders, and smirked at Cole.
“Didn’t figure I’d have a use for her for that long.”

“And then what? Dump her body in the desert when you
were finished?” Cole exploded out of his chair, and lunged at him across the
table. “You fucking piece of shit!”

He landed a powerful punch to Chuck’s face, knocking
him back over his chair. The girl scooted back further into the corner,
terrified.

Wyatt leapt to his feet. “Whoa, whoa.”

“Get this son-of-a-bitch out of my sight before I
kill him,” Cole snapped at Wyatt.

Wyatt hauled Chuck to his feet, and shoved him
toward the door.

Cole noticed something pink sticking out of Chuck’s
back pocket. “Hold on.”

Chuck looked back at him.

“What’s that in your back pocket?” Cole demanded.

Chucky wiped the blood from his lip with the back of
his hand, and spat out, “Her cell phone.”

“Leave it,” Cole ordered, pointing at the table.

Chuck pulled it out, and tossed it down on the table.
He looked at Cole. “Have fun. She’s a handful,” he smirked as Wyatt shoved him
toward the door.

Cole yelled after him, pointing his finger at him.
“You’ve got two fucking weeks!”

Wyatt shoved Chuck out the door, and followed him
out.

Cole took a deep breath to calm him self down. He
looked down at the girl, who still huddled on the floor in the corner. She was
staring up at him trembling.

He moved around the table.

Her eyes followed him as he walked over to the door,
and closed it, sliding the bolt into place. He turned back, and looked at her a
long moment, his palm resting on the door. She watched as his hand slid from
the door, and he walked slowly to her. She tried to pull her shirt together
with her cuffed hands.

Cole squatted down in front of her, and brushed her
shaking fingers aside. He began to fasten up the few remaining buttons.

She stared up at him, getting a closer look at him.
She noticed how his blonde hair was shot through with highlights, bleached by
the sun she imagined. She took the opportunity to study his face while he was
looking down at what he was doing. He had golden blonde facial hair that
covered his jaw line and mouth. His face was sunburned, and she noticed he had
some of the longest lashes she’d ever seen. When he was done with the task he
looked up, and she was caught by the startling blue brilliance of his eyes. She
stared, mesmerized like a deer caught in the headlights.

He spoke. “You okay, darlin’?”

She understood she’d just been given to this guy as
payment for a gambling debt. She’d heard what had taken place, knew he didn’t
want to take her, had to be talked into it, actually. And what was he going to
use her for? There was only one reason he’d want her. She knew that. How many
others would she be traded to? They all made her sick, and she let him know it
the only way she could think of.

She spit in his face.

His eyes flashed for a moment as his head jerked
back slightly. She realized her mistake immediately. Oh, God. Why had she done
that?

Cole reached up, and wiped his face with his sleeve,
his eyes never leaving hers. Goddamn. He sure as hell hadn’t expected that. He
grinned. She had spirit; he’d give her that.

She stared back at him waiting for the retaliation
she was sure was coming. Maybe he’d beat her to death, and this nightmare would
finally be over.

“You’re either really brave or really stupid,” he
said in a deadly whisper. “Don’t do that again.”

Suddenly, it was as if something inside her had
snapped. She swung her fists at him like she was swinging a baseball bat, and
clocked him on the left side of his face, the metal cuffs connecting with his
jaw. She wondered even as she did so, what possessed her to incite him like
this.

Swearing, he grabbed her upper arms, and jerked her
up to within inches of his face. “Goddamn, it! Quit!” He shook her. “Don’t try
to fight me. There’s nothing you can do.”

They stared at each other.

She trembled at the fury she saw in his eyes. And
suddenly he was pulling her to her feet. As he did, she caught a glimpse of a
gun in a shoulder holster under his black leather vest. She remembered that
Chuck had carried one like it.

She was breathing fast. Cole glanced down at her
heaving chest. “You’re a little wildcat, aren’t you?”

It was the distraction she was looking for. She
pretended to faint, and fell against him. As she did, she made a grab for him,
and managed to get her hands on the butt of the handgun pulling it free.

She could feel his body stiffen as his hands fell
away from her, and he moved backwards. She watched his eyes narrow when he
found himself looking down the barrel of his own gun.

He was careful not to move, seeing the resolve in
her eyes. He studied her. Finally, he asked, “You gonna pull the trigger,
darlin’?”

“I’m thinking about it.” She looked for any signs of
fear in his eyes, but saw none. They measured her carefully, almost
contemplatively.

“Well, while you’re thinking about it, you may want
to think about something else, too. Like how you’re gonna get out of here.”

“We can’t be too far from a
town or-”

“You’re in the Dead Souls clubhouse, sweetheart,” he
broke in.

He smiled suddenly, and she thought, almost
wickedly, showing a flash of white teeth. The grooves deepened on either side
of his mouth.

“Now I ain’t bulletproof, darlin’, so maybe you kill
me, but they’ll hear the shot.” He nodded toward the closed door. “Have you
thought about what’ll happen then? What they’ll do to you?”

She glanced toward the door, uncertainly. “Maybe
that’s a chance I’ll have to take. Are you prepared to take the chance that
I’ll shoot you?” She raised the gun higher, aiming it at his head.

He smiled, looking her in the eye, and replied,
“Baby, I’ve been takin’ chances all of my life.”

She held the gun on him, her hands trembling. She
chewed on her bottom lip trying to figure a way out of this.

He raised his arms wide as if inviting her to take
the shot. “Make up your mind, baby doll.”

She felt like crying with frustration. Why wasn’t he
afraid? Was he so sure she wouldn’t pull the trigger? And was he right about
her not being able to get out of here alive? She knew he told the truth. They
would hear the shot. And they would come running.

He watched the realization dawn on her face, and saw
her resolve falter. She slowly lowered the gun in defeat. He reached up
patiently, and gently took it out of her hands.

She watched as he replaced the gun in his shoulder
holster. “How did you know I wouldn’t pull the trigger?” she asked in a
whisper.

He raised his eyebrows, and shook his head. “I
didn’t.”

They studied each other.

“But I also knew the safety was on,” he added, a
smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

Her shoulders slumped, and she looked at the floor.
She waited for the blow she knew was coming. By now, Chuck would have taken his
fist to her. When nothing happened, she slid a quick glance up at him, and
finally whispered, “You don’t seem too mad about it.”

“It’s not the first time I’ve ended up on the wrong
end of a gun,” He ducked his head to look in her eyes, and he smiled at her.
“Just usually not my own.”

She looked up at him from under a lock of hair that
fell across her face.

“Darlin’, I’m not gonna hurt you.” He could see the
mistrust in her eyes. He exhaled slowly. “Look, I know you got no reason-” He
shook his head to emphasize the point, “…no reason at all to trust me, but I
just want to get you out of here.” His eyes searched hers. “I swear.”

“Why would you want to do that? I’m just payment for
a debt, right? I heard what happened here. I’m not deaf. You took me in trade
for a gambling debt,” she said, her voice escalating as she went.

Cole stepped closer, got right in her face. She
needed to understand this. “Darlin’, my whole purpose in getting him in this
room was to take you away from him. I don’t give a shit about that debt. I’ll
get my money, one way or another.” He looked right in her eyes. “I did all this
to get to you.”

That shut her up.

“W-what?” She took a deep breath, and swayed on her
feet. He could see she looked ready to drop.

“Here, sweetheart, sit down.” He guided her to a
chair, and pulled up another. He sat in front of her. He noticed she was
trembling, and glaring at him at the same time, her eyes flashing with emotion.
He reached to brush the hair back from her face, and she instinctively pulled
back. He hesitated only a moment, his palm suspended in the air a few inches
from her temple. Looking into her eyes he again promised, “I’m not gonna hurt
you.”

Her gaze dropped to her lap, and he softly brushed
the hair back from her face. The side of her jaw was bruised, her lip split. He
gently tilted her face to get a better look at the injury inflicted on her by
Chuck, and their eyes connected. “He beat up on you pretty bad, huh?”

She didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. He could see
the proof on her face, arms, and legs. He glanced down at her wrists, and
reached for her cuffed hands.

She sucked in her breath at the pain that shot
through her tender wrists, her eyes watching his hands.

“I know it hurts, baby. I’m sorry.” He carefully
examined her wrists. They were badly bruised, and the metal was cutting into
her skin so tightly that they were cut and bleeding.

He looked back at her face, his eyes running over
her features. She was still looking down. “We’re not all like him,” he told her
softly. She looked up at him then, and he was again struck by the beautiful
emerald green color of her eyes. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

She just stared at him, and he didn’t think she was
going to answer, and then she licked her swollen, dry lips, and softly said,
“Angel.”

His mouth curved into a grin. “Angel?”

She glared at him. People had teased her about her
name her whole life.

“Pretty as one.”

She looked away, and asked in a whisper, “Even after
what he did to my face?”

“How old are you, Angel?” he asked softly.

“Twenty-one.”

Cole exhaled. “Well, at least you’re legal, barely.”

She looked up at him sharply.

He smiled. “I thought you looked a lot younger,
that’s all.”

She looked away.

He watched her a moment, and then raised his hand,
and gently touched her jaw, and turned her face up to look at him. “There’s
something I have to ask you.”

She stared at him as he hesitated.

He searched her eyes. “Did he rape you?”

She pulled her face away from his hand.

Cole waited, but still she stayed silent. “Is that a
yes, then?” he asked softly.

She gave a barely discernable nod, but wouldn’t look
at him.

“Shit.” He ran his hand over her hair. “I’m sorry.”

She pulled her head away from him.

“Look at me, Angel.”

She resisted.

“Look at me,” he insisted, the tone of his voice
deepening.

Finally, she looked into his eyes.

“No one’s going to hurt you again. Not him. Not me.
That’s a promise.”