Play You: A Second Chance/Single Dad Romance (Rebel Ink Book 4) Page 19

  "Motherfuckers," I scream around the gag, knowing that no one will hear me but feeling better for at least trying.

  After what feels like a year, I eventually manage to sit myself up and shuffle back until I hit a wall.

  I pull my legs up to my chest, wishing that I could wrap my arms around them in an attempt to keep warm.

  Dropping my head forward, I run through what I remember from the moment Cruz snatched me from the street, but all I can think about are his words.

  "He's been playing you, baby girl."

  I tell myself time and time again that it can't be true. The way he looks at me, the way he touches me. All the little things he's done over the past two weeks. It can't be fake. He's not that good an actor.

  Is he?

  Reality slams into me. Really, I don't know him anymore. The boy I fell in love with is not the man I met again by surprise two weeks ago.

  Fuck. Was it even a surprise?

  Has all of it been fake? A game to get revenge on what I did to him all those years ago?

  No. No.

  I shake my head, refusing to allow the thoughts to linger as tears burn my eyes. I don't want to cry; nothing good can come from my tears, but I'm powerless to stop them. Faster than I can control, they spill from my eyes and soak into the fabric that’s cutting into my mouth.

  I cry until I have nothing left. My body is spent, my head aching. I've no idea how long I've been in this dark and cold room for, but no one else has visited. No one cares.

  A sob rips from my throat.

  I thought I'd found everything that was missing from my life the day Dawson walked into Knight’s Ridge, but I fear that the reality is very different.

  It was just the beginning of the end.

  23

  Dawson

  "Is everything okay?" I ask Emmie when I return her missed calls while I'm between clients.

  I might get one missed call from her when I'm working—she knows I'll call her back when I can—but to find five from her? That gets my hackles up.

  "Um..." she hesitates. "I... I don't know."

  "Emmie," I warn, needing her to spit out whatever it is.

  "Piper left to go to the corner shop almost two hours ago." I instantly sit up straighter on my stool.

  "W-what? Are you sure?"

  "Yes, Dad. I can tell the time."

  "Sorry, that's just..."

  "Weird. I know. I told her I fancied nachos and she said she'd go and get the stuff. She took off but hasn't reappeared."

  "Have you tried calling her?"

  "I don't have her number. I've been calling you."

  Guilt washes through me that I didn't just apologise to my client and answer. I’d just assumed that Piper was there and things would be sorted.

  "Shit. Okay, I'm sure everything is fine," I tell her, but as the words fall from my lips, I know they're not true.

  Piper wouldn't just disappear. Especially not when she's looking after Emmie.

  "Are you okay?"

  "Yeah, Dad. I'm fine. It was nothing. I'm more worried about Piper."

  "Yeah, you and me both. I'm going to find her, okay? Call me if she reappears."

  "I will. Is this my fault?" she asks hesitantly.

  "What? No, of course not." It's mine. I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. " Order yourself some dinner. I don't know what time I'm going to be home."

  "Okay. Love you, Dad."

  "Love you too, Em."

  My blood races past my ears as I scroll through my phone and hit call on her number. It doesn't even ring.

  "Fuck."

  Leaving my room as it is, I rip the door open and race down to reception.

  "I need you to cancel all my clients, probably for tomorrow too," I bark at Biff as I pass.

  "Is everything okay?" she shouts back as I push through the front door.

  I pause, wishing I had an answer for her. "Honestly, I have no idea."

  "If you need us, just call." I don't hang around long enough to respond.

  I'm on my bike and flying toward her flat in the blink of an eye.

  I manage to blag my way inside when someone leaves and run up to her door.

  I know deep down that she's not here. I feel it in the dread that's wound its way around my entire body.

  Cruz has her. I know he does. It's why he was so weird with me earlier.

  He knows.

  And that phone call about Emmie played right into his hands.

  "Motherfucker."

  Despite knowing that, my fists rain down on her front door in the hope that she got side-tracked and ended up here.

  As suspected, there's no sign of life inside her flat.

  Spinning so my back rests on her door, I open the tracking app I synced her phone to.

  The last time it was seen was on my street, presumably as she left to go to the shop.

  I might be playing right into their hands if my suspicions are correct and Cruz and Dad are behind this, but right now, I don't give a shit.

  Climbing back on my bike, I head for a place I swore I'd never go again.

  The Royal Reapers clubhouse.

  The prospects at the door give me a double take when I pull up. I might not have been here for a long time, but that doesn't mean they don't know who I am.

  They both nod and open the gates for me.

  Driving inside, it's like I've been transported back to my childhood. Everything looks exactly the same. The same tired red brick buildings with dirty windows, the same broken signs and potholed car park. The only difference is the newer bikes and fresher faces.

  A few smile at me, but most of them just scowl, either in disapproval or confusion; I don't really give a shit. I'm not here to make friends.

  Abandoning my bike, I head straight for my father's office. My heart thunders in my chest as I picture what they might do to her.

  If they've got her, is she even still alive?

  I remember all too well the ferocity of his anger when he discovered what her father had done. I remember him swearing on his own grave that he would end not only the Collins family but the entire Devil's Brotherhood.

  And he did.

  Or at least he thought he did.

  My hands tremble with adrenaline as I wrap my fingers around the door handle and push it open. I don't bother knocking like I should. Fuck asking for permission, he has something that belongs to me.

  I storm inside, expecting to find at least my father behind his desk, pretending to rule the world. But it's empty.

  With a storm brewing inside of me, I set about checking every motherfucking room in this place.

  It's almost an hour later when I get to the other end of the building. I've been through every place I can think of that they might have taken her, and everyone I've questioned all give me the same story—one I was expecting—that they've not seen my father, Cruz, or a girl.

  It's bullshit. Utter fucking bullshit.

  No closer to having any answers, I find myself back at my bike, still with guys staring at me as if I don't belong here. And I don't. Not anymore. But I need some fucking answers.

  Pulling my phone from my pocket, I find a message from Emmie, asking me if everything is okay.

  Knowing that she's going to be worried, I hit call and lift my phone to my ear.

  "Have you found her?" she asks in a rush the second the call connects.

  "Not yet, no."

  "Dad." Her voice cracks on my name. "Something doesn't feel right here."

  "I know, Em. I'm going to get to the bottom of it, I promise."

  "O-okay." She sniffles and it rips my heart in two.

  "I'm coming home. I'll see you in a few."

  "Dad, no. You need—" I cut off her argument by hanging up.

  I look back at the clubhouse, feeling like I'm missing something. She's close, I know she is. But I need more. I can't just keep running around like a headless chicken. My father trained me better than that. I need intel, and I need a solid plan if I
'm going to get her out of this alive. Assuming that she still is.

  Dread sits heavy in my stomach as I start up my bike and head out of the Reapers compound. Glancing over my shoulder before I pass through the gates, I promise to be back. I refuse to play their little game. They have something that belongs to me, and they can be damn sure I'm getting it back.

  "Dad!" Emmie all but flies at me before I'm even through the front door.

  I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight. "It's okay, Em. Everything is going to be okay."

  "Where is she? People don't just disappear like that."

  I debate how much I should tell her. I've always kept her away from that life, and thankfully my parents and Cruz—albeit reluctantly—agreed to play the part to protect her.

  "Come and sit with me."

  I guide her through to the living room and we both drop to the sofa, but before I get to say anything, I'm reminded of the events that led to all of this in the first place.

  "Shit, Em. Your head." I gently take her face in my hands and inspect the wound.

  "I'm fine, Dad. It's nothing."

  "What happened?"

  She cowers away slightly, raising my suspicions.

  "Emmie?" I warn.

  "Some girls said some stuff. I retaliated. I know I shouldn't have done it," she adds in a rush, before I get a chance to say anything, "but they just rub me the wrong way and I wanted to show them that I won't stand for their bull."

  I wrap my arm around her shoulder and pull her into my side. I want to tell her off for fighting, but knowing the levels I'd go to right now to protect Piper, it seems pretty hypocritical.

  "Just... please don't let it happen again."

  "I'll try, but I really can't promise anything. I've never met such a bunch of vapid bitches. Everyone in my old school was either too drunk or high to care."

  I hold her tighter, relief once again washing through me that I'm able to protect her now instead of being forced to leave her with her mother.

  "What's going on with Piper, Dad?" she asks, her big, dark eyes gazing up at me and begging for answers.

  My heart twists. I can't lie to her. I respect her too much for that.

  "Your grandfather..." I start, dread racing through my veins that I'm going to tell her some of the truth.

  "Is the Prez of an MC, yeah, I know."

  My chin drops in shock.

  "How'd you..."

  "Mum." She rolls her eyes.

  Of course, it makes total sense that all these years I've sworn my family to secrecy, yet that bitch told her everything.

  "I overheard, if that makes it any better."

  I shake my head. "Piper's father was from a rival MC, and when we first met, first started... dating... it wasn't under good circumstances. Things were complicated. It got very, very messy and her parents ended up..."

  "Dead. Dad," she sighs, "I'm a big girl, you don't have to sugar-coat this for me."

  I nod, hating that she's so grown up. It's easy to think she's still my innocent little girl, but that’s far from the truth.

  "I thought Piper died alongside them. I had no idea her father had got her out. It wasn't until we walked into Knight's Ridge that I learned the truth."

  "That you still loved her."

  "Yeah, that too. Things didn't end well between us, and I won't lie, my intentions when I first saw her again weren't exactly honourable."

  "Dad," she breathes.

  "Emmie," I sigh. "She'd really hurt me back in the day. She betrayed me and my family. I'd loved her so much in one moment, and then the next I hated her more than anyone I'd ever met before. I was only a little older than you are now. It was a lot to take. Then to think she'd died... It was a mess.

  "But I never really hated her, and as the past few weeks have gone on, things have changed."

  "You really love her, don't you?"

  "Yeah, Em. I do. I always have."

  She smiles at me sweetly. "I knew the second you saw her. Your whole demeanour changed. The way you looked at her… I've never seen you look at anyone like that."

  "You're too perceptive for your own good, you know that?"

  "No, I just want you to be happy, Dad. You've lived here alone for, well... too long. You deserve to find someone."

  "You're a good kid, Em," I say, gently kissing her head.

  "Yeah, you're not too bad either, old man." She wraps her arm around my waist and silence falls over us for a few minutes. "So the moral of this little story, I'm guessing, is that Pops has her?"

  Ice floods my body at the mere thought. I know what he's capable of. I've witnessed what he's willing to do to the people he thinks have wronged him, let alone ones he knows betrayed him.

  "Yeah. I'm pretty sure Pops and Cruz have her."

  "They can't have too many places they'll have taken her. Do you think they'd hurt her?"

  "Yeah, Em. I do."

  Pushing from the sofa, I start pacing the living room while her eyes track my movements.

  It's over two hours later when my phone pings with an alert. My brows pull in at first, not knowing what the unusual sound is for, but when I pull it from my pocket, I find a notification that makes my heart jump into my throat.

  Piper's phone has been turned on.

  I open the tracking app and wait for it to load. And, sure as shit, when it does it shows the clubhouse.

  "I'm coming for you, you motherfuckers," I mutter to myself. "I'm just going out." I try to make it sound casual when I look at Emmie, who’s pushing the dinner I've tried to force her to eat around her plate.

  "You know where she is?"

  "I believe so. Stay in the house. Do not answer the door," I warn.

  "You think they'd..."

  "No, but I need to know you're safe in all this. I can't be worrying about both of you."

  She nods, a sad smile pulling at her lips. "I'm not going anywhere, Dad. Just... bring her back, please. I... uh... kinda like her."

  "Yeah. Me too, kiddo."

  Checking that I've got my knife, I head out the door and climb on my bike, ready to start a war if necessary to get my girl back.

  24

  Piper

  When my body starts to wake again, the first thing I realise is that I’m still trembling. My fingers and toes are numb, and I feel weak as fuck. But the next thing I notice is that my eyes are burning with the bright light that's searing through my eyelids.

  It takes all the energy I have just to pull them open, and when I do, I wish I hadn't bothered.

  "Piper Collins," the man on the chair before me drawls. "I never thought I'd see the day, seeing as I thought I put a bullet in your pretty little head all those years ago."

  Charles Ramsey.

  A man I'd recognise anywhere, no matter how grey his hair has turned or how many new wrinkles cover his face.

  Despite the changes over the years, his eyes are the same.

  The same soulless, cold pits of darkness bore into me with more hate than I think I've ever witnessed before.

  "Well, you clearly didn't," I spit, only now discovering that my gag has been removed. I'm not willing to cower down to him like I'm sure everyone else does. If he's going to kill me, I refuse to go down without a fight.

  My father taught me better than that.

  "Clearly. There will be no doubt this time, though. I'll cut your fucking heart out myself if it's what it takes."

  My stomach turns over at the visual. "Fuck you."

  "Thanks for the offer, but I don't touch lying, vindictive little bitches. I'm sure Cruz wouldn't need much convincing, though." At that, his youngest son steps from the corner of the room. "He can be quite the evil cunt when he wants to be."

  Cruz winks at me, but there's no playfulness to it. It's full-on evil.

  Fear skates down my spine, making my trembling even worse.

  "That's it, baby girl. Be afraid. It only makes my cock harder." Cruz cups himself through his jeans, and I gag.

  "He'll come for
me," I breathe, not really meaning to say the words out loud.

  I regret it the second both Charles and Cruz begin laughing.

  "You stupid, deluded little girl. No one is coming for you. No one cares about you. You. Are. Nothing."

  My teeth grind with anger as a storm brews inside me.

  "Have you forgotten what I told you?" Cruz starts. "D doesn't want you. You were just his way to a paycheck he needs. How do you think he's paying for Emmie to go to that school, huh? It sure isn't from tattooing. He needed you to get his inheritance. Now, you're nothing to him. He won't come for you. He doesn't want you. How could he, after the way you treated him? Treated us all? You dirty little snitch."

  Tears streak down my cheeks. I desperately will them to stop, not wanting them to know that their words affect me. But they do. Every vicious word that falls from Cruz's mouth rips me open that little bit more.

  I knew I should have been on my guard with Dawson. And I was, to begin with. But the young, lovesick girl inside me took over and clouded my judgment.

  I hate that they're right.

  Why else would a man who's hated me for the best part of his life, propose to me after only a couple of weeks of reconnecting?

  Of course it was a game. How could it be anything else?

  But even still, deep down, I don't want to believe it.

  Would he have let me get close to Emmie, knowing this was all fake?

  Fuck, my head is spinning.

  "Cruz," Charles instructs with a nod of his head.

  He reaches into his pocket and pulls out my phone.

  I watch as he powers it up and stares down at the screen.

  A sadistic smile pulls at his lips before he turns it around. "Cute photo, but look... nothing. He hasn’t called, hasn’t sent any messages. He. Does. Not. Care. So now he's had his fun, now he’s got what he wanted out of you, it's our turn to play."

  Cruz reaches behind him and opens a door. Two huge, evil-looking guys step inside the room.

  They come to a stop slightly behind Charles like two dogs trained to heel. I almost laugh to myself, because that's exactly what they are.