Twisted Steel: An MC Anthology: Second Edition by Elizabeth Knox (top 5 ebook reader txt) 📕

“What?” I demanded. His next words shouldn’t have had such a profound effect, but they further destroyed me.

“Hailey left.”

Goddamn it.

17

Hailey

“The Hunted”—Saint Asonia (feat. Sully Erna)

Disbelief initially held me frozen outside the locked bathroom door. I’d stood there staring at the marred wood feeling like my entire world was crumbling. I kept telling myself I was in a nightmare and willed myself to wake up.

When I heard the water start in the bathroom, I knew he was ignoring me.

After stumbling on the sheet that dragged behind me, I’d caught myself on the edge of the mattress. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and a sob broke loose.

I’d blindly pulled on clothes and shoved the few things Luke and I had packed the night before into my small tote.

Had it really only been twenty-four hours since I’d climbed in his truck? Twenty-four hours since I’d tried to play detective? Unreal.

“I’m not crazy,” I whispered to myself as I shoved shoes on my feet and wiped away my tears. “I haven’t been with anyone but him.”

Head bowed, I left the room without a backward glance. I’d made it down the hall and through the main area of the clubhouse before I’d seen anyone. When one of them had called out, I’d given a wave but essentially ignored them and kept moving.

I’d gotten lucky when I went outside. There was someone in a truck parked at the entrance to the clubhouse. The driver was laughing and talking with the guy manning the gate, allowing me to slip through the dark shadows of the building to where Luke had one of his guys park my vehicle.

Sitting in the dark interior, I debated what my next move should be.

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll figure it out as I go,” I said before I briefly rested my forehead on the steering wheel.

As I started my car, I fought crying again. No one had come after me, but I didn’t expect it. I followed the truck out of the gate with a friendly wave to the guy standing there. The truck went right, I went left.

“There’s no way he had a vasectomy. What a crock of shit! The nerve of him. If he didn’t want to step up and be a father, he should’ve just said so,” I muttered nonstop as I drove toward town. “Fuck him and the horse he rode in on.”

When I got to my house, I quickly packed a suitcase, dragged it out to my car, and heaved it into the trunk. It had been less than thirty minutes since I’d left Luke behind. Despite his behavior, I already missed him.

Since I’d already called into work, I figured I might as well head to my parents. At least until I could come up with a plan. What sucked was that I had to hide from Chet even though I didn’t actually have any proof against him. Yet thanks to my irrational decision to leave Chet’s house with that damn phone, he would be gunning for me. Luke was right about that.

I’d almost made it out of town when flashing lights lit up my rearview, and my heart went into overdrive.

“Shit!” I reluctantly pulled over, thankful that Chet worked days.

As the officer approached my car, I rolled down my window.

“Step out of the car,” the officer said, shining a light in my face. My stomach bottomed out at his voice, and I debated slamming it in drive and taking off.

“Don’t do it,” he said, reading my mind. My hands shook.

Chet pulled my door open and motioned for me to get out with the barrel of his gun.

“It wasn’t a request, Hailey. Get your ass out of the car. Right fucking now or things will get really ugly for a lot of people.”

“Chet, I wasn’t even going that fast,” I said when I stood in front of him, trying to play things off.

“Let’s not play stupid. We both know what the deal is. Shut your car off and let’s go.”

My mind was racing, trying to think of a way I could leave a clue or call for help. Except I was coming up blank. Luke had destroyed my phone to prevent Chet from tracking me and I hadn’t thought I’d need another one so soon. It wasn’t like I had a lot of options.

Stopping by my back tire, he pulled out a knife and shoved it into the tread of my tire.

“Get moving,” he demanded, and I reluctantly shuffled to the cruiser with the flashing lights. He opened the back door and motioned for me to get in. Panic clawed at my throat. Who knew how long it would be before someone found my car or reported me missing. No one would be expecting me at work. Luke thought I was a liar.

Justine was the only one who might miss me, but only if she didn’t call my office and find out I was “home on a family emergency.”

The slamming of the door once I was inside was symbolic of my coffin closing. The thought of my life ending, and that of my little bean that I’d barely had time to wrap my head around—too much.

Unable to stop myself, I started to quietly cry. After silence for several miles, I finally couldn’t stand it. “What are you going to do with me?”

“It wasn’t supposed to go like this. That stupid club was supposed to take the fall for it after we planted Danielle’s clothing in their clubhouse! Then you had to fuck it up,” he muttered. “Why the fuck couldn’t you leave well enough alone?”

“I was supposed to let you continue to exploit the kids in the program?” I asked in absolute disbelief at his thought process and the fact that he had framed Luke’s club.

“None of those kids mattered! I made sure to only take the ones that wouldn’t be missed!” he screamed at me like an utter madman.

Astonished that he could say that