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Mandy admired Mitzi’s simple logic, but she couldn’t shake the wonky sensation skittering through her.
Her phone buzzed, and she jumped.
“Geez, you have to calm down.”
“Hi, what’s up?” Odd that Ajax would be calling her an hour before the fight.
“I need you to come to the clubhouse and get me. My fuckin’ car won’t start.”
“All right, Mitzi and I were just leaving. We’ll pick you up on the way.”
“Nah, come alone. I don’t feel like listening to her yapping the entire ride over there.”
“Fine.” Mandy wasn’t about to argue with him an hour before getting in the cage with a man he hated—a man with who she was quickly falling in love.
She swiped away the call and turned to Mitzi. “I have to stop by the body shop and pick up Ajax. Something about his car not starting.”
Her eyes widened. “Great.”
“He wants me to come alone, and I didn’t want to start anything.”
Mitzi’s face fell. “Okay, I’ll take my car, but don’t be too long. Party in the parking lot.” She fist pumped, but Mandy couldn’t share her enthusiasm. She wanted to get this fight and this night over and behind them.
A few minutes later, Mandy headed to the Marauders’ clubhouse, her mind flitting in a million different directions. She’d talked to Mamba earlier, and like Mitzi, he assured her that nothing bad would happen and that after tonight, everything would be better than ever. Then why were her palms slick against the steering wheel as her heart tried to break through her ribcage?
Ten minutes later, she pulled up to the Marauder-owned auto-body shop where Ajax and the rest of them hung out. They used the shop as a front for storing stolen goods, and most of the cars and parts were hot. So many times she made excuses and ignored the illegal acts her brother committed, but from now, on she would stand up to Ajax and confront him as she had the other morning. Her days of being an innocent bystander in her own life were over.
Mandy parked on the side of the building and texted him that she was there. She waited and, when he didn’t answer, went in through the back door. The front of the shop was dark, but light illuminated under the office door. Since most of them were probably already at the fight, it was quiet. Eerily quiet.
She knocked on the door, and when no one answered, she turned the doorknob and entered. A light shone on the desk, but the room was empty.
“Ajax?”
“I’m right here.”
She spun around as he entered the office. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah, just let me see your phone for a minute. Mine died, and I wanna make a quick call.” He held out his hand; she dug through her purse, then handed him the device.
He palmed her phone, then quickly headed for the door, slamming it behind him. Mandy stopped short as the door almost hit her in the face. The lock clicked, and she grabbed the knob.
“Ajax?” She banged on the wood. “What are you doing?”
“Showing you what happens when you disobey me.”
“Let me out of here,” she screamed. “Now.”
“Maybe now you’ll learn your lesson.” Ajax’s rough rasp filtered through the door. “You think you’re so smart, but after tonight, that thug Mamba will regret messing with me or the Marauders.”
“Please let me out,” she pleaded. “Let’s talk before you do anything.”
“I’m done talking.”
“What are you going to do?”
“What I should’ve done a long time ago.”
Mandy banged on the door again and yelled out for him even as the body shop’s back door slammed shut. She pulled at the knob and kicked the door, but it was no use. Then she whirled around, searching for a way out of the windowless room, and frantically rummaged through his desk drawers in search of a random key or something to pick the lock, but there was nothing. Suppressing the urge to scream out her frustrations, Mandy slammed her fists against the wooden desk instead.
