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“I know it’s hard to believe me. I know that, but you have to try and understand that I was backed against a wall,” I told him. “My mother abandoned me and the only way for me to survive was to get into bed with one of those animals. They threatened to kill me on a daily basis and the only thing I had going for me was the fact that the leader wanted to sleep with me. If I thought I had a choice, I would have left a long time ago. I hate what I’ve done, I hate it so much and I want to be here! This feels like family and I want to be a part of that.”
As he listened, Damien’s gaze softened and he sighed, running his hand through his hair. “Alright,” his eyes flicked up to mine and hope welled in my chest.
“But you have a lot to prove, kid.”
Chapter Thirteen
We needed to act fast. Things could go very wrong very quickly, and just like Damien said, I had a lot to prove. I waited nervously in the room, feeling jittery and bouncing on the balls of my feet as my teeth chattered. The entire gang was gathered outside, drinking and chatting as if they were having a party. I would have expected more nervous energy, but everyone other than me seemed calm. I wondered how they could sit there so easily but I understood that if they showed any other emotion than that, the entire plan would implode.
I’d called Fang earlier in the day and while Damien and Ryder listened in on my call, I told him Damien’s club was having a party tonight. Since there would be drinks no one would be armed. I informed him of a back route to the camp that I hadn’t even known about until now. On paper it seemed like a good way to get in and out of the camp, but since it was the only way through the woods and hills, it was going to present a problem for Chaos Theory.
Damien planned on having his men sneak back around after Chaos Theory entered the camp and block-off the exit. It was going to be one hell of a trap. Once they realized that Damien’s gang was in fact armed, they would try to leave and get pinched in between the two groups. Chaos Theory would be outnumbered and they’d go down.
Damien made it clear to me that if I had any alliances or friends in this gang, I was going to have to accept that they were going to die. This wasn’t a situation in which Damien was willing to take prisoners. They had trouble with Chaos Theory before. They’d let them be for a while since they didn’t encroach onto their territory, but now that Damien knew the plan had been to take him out, he wasn’t going to leave any survivors.
My mother had wandered off weeks ago and I knew Fang wouldn’t risk bringing junkies to a fight; they were more of a liability than help. I understood that everyone from Chaos theory was going to be dead by sundown and part of me felt guilty. The guilt, however, didn’t come from a place of regret; it was borne from the knowledge that I wasn’t going to miss a single one of those assholes. I briefly wondered how awful of a person that made me.
I turned my Coke around in my hands, taking a sip of my beer as I glanced around the party. It was so strange how they could remain so damn calm. Ryder was leaning in a nearby chair, watching me with heavy eyes. I started to walk over toward him, but he got up and left before I could reach him. Even if I managed to win back Damien’s trust, I knew that the life I’d hoped to have with Ryder was gone. I’d ruined my only chance at happiness.
As the “party” wore on, I glanced at my watch and started to wander from the rest of the group. Fang wanted me to meet them just inside the woods so that I’d be out of the way. As I broke the tree line I could already see the faint shimmer of bikes in the light. They weren’t hidden well and that meant they weren’t thinking clearly. It was a very real possibility that they’d decided to do this raid high.
I jogged over to the bright chrome bike and Fang sucked a long puff off the end of a crack pipe. When I came into view he tossed me a grin and reached out, grabbing my arm and yanking me close.
“Well, well. If it isn’t our very own Trojan horse,” he hummed, leaning in to press a long, wet, sloppy kiss to my lips.
I winced and tried to turn away, but he had a tight hold on me and snorted when I tried to pull free. “What, Princess?” he whispered, his voice full of blatant disrespect. “Didn’t you miss me?”
“Of course,” I snorted, rolling my eyes. I couldn’t act too eager or he might get suspicious. “Let me down.”
“Whatever you want,” he said, a strange gleam in his eye.
I swallowed and started to take a step back, but didn’t make it far before he wrapped his hand in my hair and yanked me back towards him. “Where do you think you’re going?”
I yelped and tried to hold as still as possible. “I can’t be in this fight!”
“You too good to fight now?” he snarled, throwing me over the bike.
I was forced to wrap my arms around him as the bike roared to life and broke the tree line, heading straight for the camp. My throat was dry and fear was making my chest feel tight. I knew that Damien, Ryder, and the rest could hold their own, but I still feared for them. I didn’t want to see any of them hurt. A lot could happen in a gun fight and just because they knew it was coming, didn’t mean they were going to get out without any casualties.
As we got closer to camp Damien and his men drew their guns and I could see Fang’s eyes widen and his body tense. He turned to look at me, his lips pulled back into a snarl.
“You little traitor bitch!” he snapped, jerking his elbow back and catching my nose.
I heard a loud pop and crunch as my nose broke and stars exploded in my vision from the pain. As I tumbled off the back of the back I caught Ryder’s gaze and I was surprised at the emotion that I saw in his eyes.
He was genuinely scared for me.
Chapter Fourteen
I hit the ground so hard my ears were ringing, and when I managed to sit back up, they were already shooting at one another. While I felt guilty about this whole thing, I didn’t feel guilty enough to get caught in the cross fire. I had to survive long enough to ensure that Ryder was safe. Even if he hated me, I loved him and I had to know that he was okay.
I managed to dive behind the partial foundation of a house that was being built. A few bullets ricocheted off the concrete before the shooter turned their attention to Damien’s men. I took a deep breath, my eyes narrowed and my mind focused. I needed a weapon I could defend myself with.
Across the foundation there were rebar spikes that were used to reinforce concrete slabs. I army crawled across the ground, my arms and elbows scraping against the pavement as I moved, my eyes wide and focused on the rebar.
I could still hear bullets flying through the air behind me, but the sounds were fewer and farther between. Damien had probably taken out most of Fang’s men by now; they were better armed and had clearer heads.
My fingers finally wrapped around the rebar and I jumped up. I was about to rush forward when someone grabbed me and yanked me back around the one wall of the house that had been stabilized. I tried to scream but whoever had me, slapped over my mouth to keep me silent.
