Chapter 14—Harlow

My insides were numb; my heart only beating to pump blood throughout my body. It had no other function. The bullet wound and head have healed, but that wasn’t what hurt. My boy had been missing for two weeks. Two weeks and nothing. Not a word from Mel, and not a trace of the fucking car.

I laid in bed curled up in a ball. It’s where I’ve been since I got out of the hospital. I didn’t look at anyone or talk. The only time I did was to ask Cruz about our boy. I totally closed him out. His comfort no longer working. At this point, he could be fucking every whore in this place, and I wouldn’t give two shits. My heart was hollow. Empty.

My shoulder hurt like a bitch. Doc came in the other day and said I needed to keep moving it around, or it would lock, but I didn’t listen. The throbbing actually helped me feel something. The pain was just a reminder that I should have saved Cooper, that it was all my fault.

When I first started this mothering gig, I never expected the pain to cut so deep. I never thought that something could hurt this much. I was dead inside, and I might as well have been in reality. I didn’t want anything to do with food, and I only took a shower when Cruz forced me. I didn’t want anything to do with anything, except my boy.

When my cell rang, I groaned reaching for it on the night stand. I’ve only answered when it says Cruz or Pops. When a number popped up with a different area code, I tossed it to the side of the bed burrowing my head in the pillows. The phone rang again, and seeing the same number, I reluctantly picked up.

“Yeah,” I said not wanting to talk to whoever was on the other end of the line.

“Well, well, well. She lives.” The voice on the other end was one I didn’t think I’d ever hear again.

“Mel?”

“Ding… ding… we have a winner.” Her sarcasm was not lost to me.

Sitting up quickly, “Where’s Cooper?” Fury mixed with panic flushed my body intently.

“Listen to you, pretending to be all protective of my son.” Anger won as it boiled uncontrollably. I tried to hold my shit together. She wanted something, and I needed to find out what it was.

“Is he hurt?” I asked not beating around the bush.

“I’d never hurt my boy,” she clipped, but I knew that was a lie since I saw her grab him right before my eyes. My stomach dropped; she’d better not have laid a fucking hand on him.

“Can I talk to him?” I heard the pleading in my voice even though I wasn’t trying to show it, but damn if I didn’t want to hear the little guy’s voice.

“I tell you what. Give me what I want, and I’ll give the little shit to you.” I’m gonna rip this fucking bitch to pieces one limb at a fucking time. Once my hands got on her, she was fucking dead.

“I want a hundred thousand cash, small bills. You get on that little bike of yours and head north on I-95. In two hours, I’ll call you back. Don’t bring the guys, or I’ll kill Cooper.” Mel recited her demands as if she practiced them over and over again, but I didn’t give a shit.

“Don’t you fucking hurt him,” I growled.

“Oh, there you go again. Look I just want the cash, then you can have him back. Done. Talk to you in two hours.” Mel hung up the phone sharply.

Throwing on my jeans, t-shirt, boots, and rag, I ran out into the clubhouse to find Cruz. I knew by the loud music there was a party going on, but fuck if I cared. Seeing the blonde whore trying to straddle Cruz’s legs while he was talking to the guys, set me off. I knew I said I wouldn’t give two shits who he fucked, but I lied. Grabbing the bitch by her stringy hair, I yanked her further away from my man. “Get the fuck away.” Cruz stared at my rags.

“Back to the living.” As the anger flooded through me, I needed to release it. Grabbing the blonde bitch on the floor, I gave her a few punches to the face. Making me feel a little better, but not much. “I take that as a yes.”

“Mel called,” I barked at him as everyone in the clubhouse froze.

“Out! Everyone who’s not patched in, get out, fucking now!” Cruz growled as he stood up barreling towards me. The brothers proceeded to get everyone out of the clubhouse and locked it up tight. “What’d she say?”

“I’ve got two hours to get a 100k. Need to start riding north on I-95, and she’s gonna call me for the drop off. Said no brothers.”

“Fuck her if she thinks I’m staying away.”

“I know Cruz, but she said she’d kill him.” The color drained from his face at my words. “We need to play this smart.” I needed the brother’s help, and there was no way that I’d go coldcocked doing this shit on my own. Too much was at stake.

“That fucking bitch. I will end her.”

“Not if I get to her first. Can we get that much cash in small bills?” I questioned him.

“Got it. Diamond?” He looked over at Diamond, who nodded snapping his finger at Becs, who ran off.

“I know you don’t want me in this, but I have to be. I’m the one she wants to come. If you guys go, it has to be inconspicuous.” Ol’ lady or not, I was the one she wanted.

“I know Baby. Let’s go get our boy.” Cruz pulled me tight to his chest as I breathed for the first time in weeks.

“If you fucked someone while I was down and out, and I find out, I’ll cut your dick off,” I whispered.

“I knew you would, and I didn’t.” I nodded my head, trusting him. It was time to find our boy.

* * *

Two hours later, I was on Sting with a backpack of cash strapped to me, riding. The night air was cool, so I wore my full out lid to block the wind from my face and all my leathers. I rode the speed limit making sure not to fuck up along the route. With my gun in my back holster and two in my boot holsters, I didn’t want to get pulled over and waste time.

If this bitch thought for one second that she was getting away with this, she was sadly mistaken.

The guys were following behind in a couple of cages. A few had their rides parked inside the bigger one, but we wanted to be as quiet as possible. Having several pipes humming would be a dead giveaway.

I could see the cages a few cars back. They were doing good at keeping their distance, not that I thought Mel had the power to have me tailed the entire way. About an hour into the trip, I pulled over checking my phone and sure enough there was a missed call with no voicemail. Calling it back quickly, “Mel.”

“I figured you’d be calling soon. You got any guys with ya?”

Keeping my voice as void as I could, “No.”

“How’d you get the money?” Bitch was smarter than I thought.

“Pulled money out of Studio X,” I lied.

“Good. Keep going up I-95 to exit 107. About four miles down the road will be a hotel off to the left with some flashing pink sign. Come to room 18.”

“Got it,” I snapped.

“You’d better not be fucking with me about the brothers.”

“I’m not. What do you think I am stupid? I want my boy,” she laughed. That fucking bitch. I couldn’t wait to beat the living shit out of her.

“Good. Get here quickly,” she said in a nauseatingly sweet voice as she hung up. Calling Cruz fast, I relayed all the info. He said he had brothers from another chapter making their way towards us and that he’d call them and have them get into position.

Riding into the parking lot of the hotel, it was eerily quiet. Only a few cars lined the rooms, but for the most part it was a dive hotel that probably sold the room by the hour. Watching my mirrors, I saw the guys parking. I didn’t know where they were gonna be, just knew they were around.

I knocked on room 18 as the door slowly crept open as if the latch was broken and hadn’t caught the closed door completely. Mel sat in the far corner of the room holding a gun pointed directly at me, but the room was empty. “Where’s Coop?” I asked quickly.

“Not here,” she said smugly.

“Where is he?” I growled, my anger reaching new heights as I clenched my fists.

“With a friend. See this is how this is gonna work. I have someone that really wants to see you. Guess you pissed her off pretty good. Whatever. She wants you. So, I’m delivering.”

“You fucking set me up?”

She laughed. “And you fell for it, you stupid bitch.” She waved the gun. “Come in and set the bag on the bed. Along with your guns.” Taking off the book bag, I placed it and one of the guns I had in my boot on the bed. “Where are the others?” I reached slowly to my back pulling out my baby, putting her on the bed, too. “Any more?”

“No.”

“Lift it all up so I can see.” I slowly lifted my shirt getting closer to her in the process, but not enough for her to notice. “Good. Now lie down on the bed face down and touch your hands to your ankles.”

Really this bitch was seriously stupid, she thought she could tie me and hold the gun at the same time? I laid exactly as she told me, waiting, biding my time. “You know Princess. Cruz sure is a great fuck.” Anger surged through my body. “He’d lick my pussy, making me scream over and over for him.” With my head turned to the side, I watched the bitch grab the brown rope from a bag on the table. As she stepped closer, she barked, “Don’t fucking move.”

I felt her hands trying to tie the rope and took it as my chance. Darting my leg out as quickly as possible, I kicked the bitch backwards as she smacked her body hard into the wall. Flipping over, I grabbed the gun from my boot aiming it at her hand that held the gun, shooting. Her gun fell out of her hand as the hole I just shot into it poured out blood. The door was kicked open as Cruz, and some of the brothers came barreling in with guns drawn.

“Where is he?” Cruz yelled.

“Not here. This bitch says he’s with a friend. He was never here.” I smacked the bitch across the face with the butt of my gun. Her screams were annoying the shit out of me. But I needed her alive to tell me where Coop was. “I need some stuff to stop her bleeding. She has information.”

Cruz barked, “Get her some towels,” to Becs, who rushed over to the bathroom bringing them quickly.

I leaned down into Mel’s face, “Don’t worry, Bitch. I’ll let you bleed out soon enough.” I wrapped the towels around her hand not wanting her to die just yet. “Tell me who’s got my boy.”

“I’m not telling you shit!” she yelled.

“Cruz, can you please hand me the backpack?” I asked as it was thrown to my feet. “Thanks.”

I pulled Mel up to sit in the chair next to her as I grabbed the rope that she was going to tie me with, wrapping it around her arms and legs and tying her to the chair. “Wh… what are you gonna do?”

“Oh. Not so tough now, huh? Well, since your ‘not gonna tell me shit’ then I guess I’ll have to make ya.” Grabbing the bag, I pulled out a small pouch in the front pocket. As I rolled it out on the nightstand, Mel’s eyes widened. “Cruz. I have to do this.” I stared into his eyes. I really needed his approval on this. As he nodded, I smiled. I could kiss him right now.

“Princess, you sure you want to?” G.T. asked as I glared at him. I hadn’t spoken to him about Casey, but that was a topic of discussion for another time.

“Dead sure.” Grabbing the scissors, I cut the shirt and bra off of Mel’s body. “Look at those tits boys. Nice huh? You know Cruz, before you got here Mel was telling me how you’d eat her pussy and make her scream. I’m not gonna eat that rank pussy, but I do promise to make you scream.” I smiled sardonically.

“Boys, clear the rooms around us.” Cruz said as the guys nodded leaving the room quickly. The only ones who stayed were Cruz and G.T.

“Let’s start with these.” I said holding out the pliers. “Hmmm… should I do your teeth or your nails,” I said walking around to her chair. “You know they’ll both make you scream, but if I start on the teeth, I may not stop. You know once upon a time; I wanted to be a dentist. Hmm…” I smiled to myself as the color left her face. “Oh shit, let’s just start here.” Taking the pliers, I grasped one of her nipples twisting it hard as she screamed, and blood trickled down.

“Now. Tell me who has my boy!” I was turning into a crazy bitch, but I didn’t care.

“I told you. I was supposed to give you to Babs. She’s supposed to call me in forty-five minutes with the location.” I smacked her across the face as I heard Cruz yell “Bitch!”

“Yeah. I forgot to tell ya, Baby. That’s what she was doing with me, and the stupid bitch thought I wouldn’t put up a fight.” Removing the pliers, I reached the other nipple giving it the same treatment, as she screamed repeatedly. I pulled back, not wanting her to pass out just yet.

“Tell me who you were with when you came and got Cooper.”

“I can’t. She’ll kill me,” she said, shaking her head back and forth.

“What the fuck do you think I’m gonna do with ya?” I said, smacking her across the face again, her head snapping to the side quickly.

She hesitated as tears rolled down her face. I didn’t feel the least bit sorry for this bitch. “It wasn’t supposed to go like this.”

“Oh yeah, and how was it supposed to go?” I asked, trying to pry as much information out of her as I could, and if this where the dumb bitch wanted to start, so be it.

Sucking in a deep breath, she explained, “I was to get the money and give you to Babs. Then she was gonna give Cooper back to me, and I’d give him to Cruz, cause I didn’t want him. I was gonna disappear.”

“Too fucking bad that didn’t work out for ya, huh?” I barked. “Who was with you at the shop? Who shot me?”

She sobbed. “Babs’s girlfriend.”

I felt as if I got sucker-punched, and Cruz must have, too. “Girlfriend?” he asked her as we looked at each other with the same puzzled look.

“Yeah. She was helping Babs get Princess.”

“And who is this girlfriend?” Cruz’s voice turned utterly menacing, and Mel heard it too as her eyes widened to him. He popped his knuckles back and forth.

“Liv.”

My world stopped for a moment as fireballs seemed to have fallen from the sky, pounding the ground around me, but I couldn’t move. Cruz stepped in speaking the words I so badly wanted to leave my mouth. “Liv from Studio X?”

Mel shook her head yes. “Is that who has Cooper?” He asked as she shook her head again.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! I looked at Cruz, pleading with him with my eyes. My mind tried to revert to the helplessness I felt just a few hours ago before the call, but I tried to fight it. I needed to stay strong, but there’s only so much a person could take.

Cruz saw the pain in my eyes as his eyes softened to mine. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, I clutched the gun in my hand, wondering what the hell we were gonna do next. I didn’t need to think; Cruz was able to do it for me.

“Here’s what you’re gonna do, Mel, and if you give any part of it away at any time, I will blow your fucking brains away.” She didn’t move as I listened with her. “When Babs or Liv calls, you play it off as if you have Princess tied up and ready for them. You get the drop off location and time. Then you’re gonna drive with a gun pointed at the back of your fucking head to the location with Princess in the backseat.” I stared at Cruz wondering how the hell this was all gonna play out. It always sounded good in theory, but in reality—not so much.

“I don’t like it,” G.T. clipped in.

“I don’t give a fuck what you like,” Cruz said, turning to him.

“You’re gonna put my sister in the line of fire? Not gonna happen.”

“G.T.,” I said finally finding my voice. “We need to get to Babs so we can get to Cooper. It is what it is. I can take care of myself.”

“Since when does an ol’ lady get involved with club business?”

Cruz didn’t hesitate, “When that business involves her and her family.”

“Shit,” G.T. leaned against the door. “You sure about this Princess?”

“If it means getting my boy back, I’m ready.” My voice sounded steadier than I really felt.

“I’m gonna need to rough you up a bit. There’s no way that Babs is gonna think this bitch overtook you. She already looks like she was in a fight, gotta give you some marks, Babe.”

I nodded.

* * *

As far as we knew, Babs bought the bait. We even added me yelling some choice words through the phone muffled by a small towel to emulate being gagged. I gave Mel my leather gloves after padding her hand up with a towel, she bitched and complained that it hurt, but I didn’t give a shit. It was stupid of me to cut her fucking shirt, but luckily she had a bag of clothes in her trunk to change into.

Laying in the backseat of Mel’s car, I held on tight to my gun. If anything went wrong, I’d shoot to kill in a heartbeat. Babs wanted Mel to bring me to an old warehouse about ten miles off the beaten path. Already giving the location to the brothers, Cruz said he’d have all the guys in place. I had a towel to tie around my mouth, and when we got closer I was to put the gun at my back and slip my hands in the loose knot that Cruz made for me.

We just needed to see Cooper, and then the guys could come in. I just needed to buy a little bit of time. “Don’t do anything stupid, Mel, or the guys will find you and kill you in a heartbeat. You follow what we tell you; you’ll walk away alive.” I was full of shit, but she didn’t know that. For some reason, she trusted me; maybe thinking she was smart was a dumb idea.

“Will I get the money?” I rolled my eyes. What the fuck?

“Yeah, Mel. You can take the money and start off somewhere new, but don’t contact Cooper again.” I threw in the last part to edge the knife home, but it didn’t faze her.

“Got it.”

“You’d better not set her off, Mel. I mean it.”

“I won’t. I swear.”

As the car came to a stop, I placed the towel back inside my mouth, put the gun away, and laced my hands behind my back slipping it into the knots. I even squeezed out a few fake tears to add to the blood from my cut cheek, courtesy of Cruz.

The door flung open as Babs stood their laughing. “I didn’t think you’d pull it off, Mel. I thought she would have killed you by now.”

“Nah, I kept the gun on her and made her get rid of hers.” Mel’s cocky attitude was working well.

“Looks like you two got into it,” Babs said skeptically more than likely knowing I could take Mel in a fight hands down.

“She tried to get the gun away, but I hit her in the back where Liv shot her. She went down for the count.” Well played Mel, well played.

Babs seemed to have bought her replay of events as she began to look around. “Brothers around?”

“Nope. She wanted the boy so damn bad; she came alone.”

Babs laughed hard. “For an ol’ lady, you sure are a moron.” Babs pulled my arm having me climb out of the car. My mind wandered to how she knew I was already an ol’ lady. She must have better Intel on me than I thought, but just as that thought came into play, Liv popped into my head. Liv must have been feeding her information. I wondered for how long.

As we entered the big building, the smell of mold and musk invaded my nose. With my head snapping alert, I searched around as far as I could see to find Cooper, but when I didn’t see him anywhere, my stomach dropped.

Babs threw me into an old chair in the middle of the room as I continued to search every dark corner around.

“Can I have my boy so I can go?” Mel asked like she was pissed off having to wait.

“Sure. Go through those doors. He’s right there.” Mel walked to the doors opening them wide. Two shots rang out through a silencer, as Mel fell to the ground, dead. “She really is a few bricks shy of a full load.” Babs walked over to Mel and began pulling her by the arms, dragging her to the end of the room. My eyes stayed focused on the door where Mel was supposed to go through. “Clear!” Babs yelled as Liv walked through the door holding Cooper.

“Mommy!” he yelled, my eyes softening to him. But when my eyes landed on Liv, her once beautiful face was void of emotion. It was as if the person looking at me was someone I’d never met, let alone let run my studio or trust.

Babs started laughing. “That will be the last time he calls you that. See Liv, and I are gonna take him as our own. You’ll never see him again. Well that and you’ll be dead. But I don’t want to scare the poor boy.”

“Surprise,” Liv said with a deadpan. “You think I was gonna let you come back and take everything that I worked so hard for these past two years. Bitch. If you’d have just stayed the fuck away, none of this would have happened.”

This bitch was fucking crazy. I didn’t take jack shit from her. It wasn’t hers to begin with.

With my mouth still loosely gagged, I stared Babs down. She must have seen the questions rising from my eyes. Babs began talking, as she walked around the chair I was sitting in, gun pointed at me. I kept my eyes trained on my boy, but I was aware of where she was at all times.

“You remember Luke?” I stared in confusion racking my brain with the name, but nothing came to mind. She laughed. “Yeah. I didn’t think you would since you whore yourself out all around town so bound and determined not to fuck a brother… yet you fuck anything outside making you exactly that. Including my man.” Her man? What the fuck is she playing at?

“I can see by your wrinkled up little forehead that you’re trying to piece the puzzle together. So let me help you.” The butt of her gun slammed down on the shoulder that was shot a couple weeks ago, sending shooting pains throughout my arm, but I didn’t move or make a sound. Inside I wanted to scream like bloody hell, it was healed, but still tender.

“Luke was a bartender at Damon’s.” My mind instantly knew who she was talking about. The brown-haired, brown-eyed hunk of a man I fucked in the back room of the bar a very long ago. He was barely a blip on my radar. How the hell did I know he was her man? It was a onetime gig. “I see you remember him. He’s hard to forget.” Her fist collided with my stomach, but I remained impassive. Cooper, on the other hand, began to squirm. I just needed to wait for the right time, so Babs was in front of me instead of behind.

“See, he was actually my fiancé when you decided to fuck him. And you want to know how I know it happened?” She continued pacing, rage seeping out of her. “Because he fucking told me. He said he didn’t want my pussy anymore… that you’re ‘vice grip’ pussy was what he wanted,” she barked out. How the fuck could he want me after one time in my fucking pussy. Seriously?

But she wasn’t done. “Said he knew a buddy of his that was a hang around for the Ravage MC. Said since you were the Princess over there, he was gonna join. I couldn’t let that happen.” I stared at her. “He had to be dealt with.”

The pieces of the puzzle started falling into place, but they seemed minuscule in the grand scheme of things. I fucked her finance; she wanted to get back at me, so she created this elaborate scheme to do so. This chick was fucked in the head, more than I initially thought.

She walked around to the side of the room and clutched her gun in her hand. I took this as an opportunity to loosen the rope from my wrists.

As she walked towards Cooper, I halted, watching. “See, Liv here.” She ran her hand over Liv’s face lovingly, making me want to puke. “She and I had common ground. Hatred for you. Although her hatred is purely professional, it’s still there.”

As she walked towards me, I slowly grabbed my piece; I was done with this dog and pony show. In one swift move, I aimed and shot Babs right between the eyes as she dropped into a heap on the floor.

Liv screamed as Cruz, and the brothers came barreling through the doors from every direction. I aimed my gun directly at Liv. “Give me my boy.”

“Fuck you. I’ll kill him before you have him,” she snarled, clutching the gun that just shot Mel.

Cruz didn’t waste any time. Shots rang out as Cooper fell to the hard ground screaming. I ran grabbing him tightly pulling him away from everything that was about to happen.

“Mommy!” he cried, grabbing on to me tightly. I clutched him hard, not wanting to let go of him, ever.

“It’s all right, Baby. Mommy’s got you. You’re safe.” I rocked him back and forth as his tears poured into my shirt. I heard shuffling and Liv’s screams but ignored them clinging onto my boy.

“Babe?” Cruz knelt down to the ground in front of us, wrapping his arms tightly around us. “He okay?”

“I haven’t looked him over yet, but he feels it.”

“How about you?”

“Better now. She gone?”

“No,” he said kissing Cooper’s head and standing up.

“What?” I yelled shocked. “Why the fuck not?” I picked Coop up off the floor and stared at the woman lying on the ground in a puddle of blood. From the rise and fall of her chest, I knew she was alive. The few shots on her legs were not life threatening.

“Club business,” he clipped as I glared at him. Normally I’d let that shit slide, but this time, it was taking everything in my power to hold it together.

Liv laughed, lying on the ground in her puddle of blood and dirt. “What the fuck are you laughing about?” I asked as Coop’s head buried into my neck.

“You killed Babs, now someone will kill you.” G.T. slammed his fist hard into her jaw. I could hear the bones cracking at the contact.

“Wh… what’s she talking about Cruz?” My voice was unsteady. I thought this shit would be over, but it was becoming to be far from it.

Cruz looked across the room at the brothers who all nodded to him. “Babs put a hit on you if you killed her. Right now the only one that can place it is Rabbit. So we need to get to him before he finds out. We’re gonna use Liv here. She, after all, has been fucking his ol’ lady.”

Liv’s body went still, all the cockiness from her little confession gone at those words. “You can’t tell Rabbit. He knows nothing about me.” Her voice shook.

“That’s what I was banking on,” Cruz said as he nodded to Dagger and G.T. They tied her arms and legs and gagged her, dragging her off.

“Cruz, what’s gonna happen?” I knew that in our world having a price tag on my head meant everyone would be after me. Everyone would want the chunk of the money. I’d be a sitting duck just waiting to die.

“I take care of you. Trust me.” I nodded my head because if anything was certain, it was that I trusted this man.

“Thank you,” I whispered to him.

“For what?”

“For getting my boy back,” I said, squeezing his little body into mine.

“Babe, you did this. You brought him home. I’m just here for back up.” I smiled up at him knowing he was only partially right.

“Can we go home?”

Cruz looked over at Diamond, who nodded to us. “Yeah, Babe. Let’s go.”

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