ever made. But I meant what I told him. I gotta see her and I gotta talk to her. Gotta. It’s a physical need as bad as hunger or thirst. And I’m not gonna let a bunch of pissed off bikers stand in my way.
Brenda
A bright beam of white light shining directly into my eye and piercing my brain like a laser, so hot it almost doesn’t even hurt, wakes me. The throbbing in my head isn’t as intense, and it’s now concentrated mostly to a point on the side of my forehead.
The light enters my other eye and this time I scream out in pain, shutting my eyes and trying to get away.
“She’s getting better, but I don’t like that it’s happening so slowly,” a man says. “That was a hard blow. I still say it’s better she gets checked out, just in case. If you want to keep her.”
Monarch’s scowling face materializes before my eyes just as he shakes his head.
But then his plump lips extend into a smile, reminding me of a slug sliding out from a field of grass. Only slimier.
“How are you, Brenda? The headache not so bad today?” he asks as he approaches the bed. In the background, the club doctor, or whoever that guy with the flashlight was is leaving the room, closing the door softly behind him.
I shrug, not meeting his eyes as I sit up in bed and lead against the headboard. That’s something I can do now without too much pain. But even that little movement makes the bed wobble beneath me like I’m on a boat or something. I doubt I could walk two steps without collapsing. But I gotta get my feet back under me if I’m gonna get away. I gotta.
“Tell me where Josh is,” he says. “I swear I’m not gonna hurt him. Or you.”
A big fat lie. His are very dark, darker than they should be based on color alone. He’s still smiling, but not with those eyes of his.
I dreamed a lot since the last time he was here. Most of the dreams were of Josh’s lifeless body hitting the dust in the lot behind the Sinners’ clubhouse.
I gotta spin him a story. A story that won’t make him kill me on sight.
“I told you everything I know, Monarch, baby,” I say, trying to coo it, but it comes out a croak. Maybe it’s because I don’t even want to coo for any man other than Colt. Or maybe it’s just thirst and sleep.
The thought of Colt brings tears to my throat, making it even harder to form words. Will he look for me? Or will he just think I left him? How will he even find me?
“He seduced me and we left,” I say, fighting the lump in my throat. All that is useless thinking now. I’m on my own here. I got no one but myself to get me out of this mess. Story of my life, but at least I’ve had a lot of practice. “That was a terrible mistake. I never should’ve left you. I’m so sorry I did. We stopped in that backward town and that’s when I told him I wanted to go back to you. He got so pissed at that he just left me there. It was only later when the Sinners dragged me out of the motel room Josh left me in that I realized he settled some sort of debt with them by letting them have me. I tried to call you, to let you know where I was and to apologize, but they wouldn’t let me out of their sight.”
He’s listening, that’s a good thing I guess. But his eyes are still very dark and glassy. It’s impossible to tell if he believes me or not. But I gave him a little piece of the truth with the story. Josh was indebted to the Sinners, as were me and Stormi. He ended up dying for it. Me and Stormi almost followed him.
“How did you even find me?” I ask. “And why didn’t you come sooner?”
I’m glad my voice is toneless and coarse from my injury and disuse, otherwise, he’d hear how much I really didn’t want that to happen.
“You two were last seen partying with Roadside Sinner's MC members,” Monarch says, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. “It took me a long time to find that out, but when I did, I came straight away. To find you strutting about, free as a bird.”
I get