Outlaw's Ride: An MC Romance by Carter Steele (books recommended by bts .txt) 📕

think you're all three,” he said, the mirth drained from him like sand through loose fingers. “It’s my turn to ask you a question. What happened to you? Really?”

I sighed sitting back down on the couch. It was a hard thing to relive, but it also felt weirdly good to have someone take an interest. Maybe it was the quality of my uncaring clientele or that the other girls were too afraid to ask questions, but ever since I started working for Patrick not one person had ever actually asked me what happened. Wreck grabbed me a bottle of water and poured water in a ceramic mug for himself then sat next to me and patiently waited for me to gather myself enough to start.

“When I was fifteen one of my friends, Jen, and I started working for Patrick to make extra money. Jen, who was a few years older than me, had a car and drove us to the laundromat after school to clean part time for minimum wage. When I figured out the whole laundromat thing was a front for a prostitution business I started gathering evidence to use against him. My father always taught me that if I saw something wrong and did nothing then I was just as guilty as those doing it.” My hands slowed and became sluggish when I mentioned my father. He had his flaws but he was a good man. It was such cruel irony that a man like Patrick would take his place in my family after he was gone.

“Your dad seems like a good man,” Wreck added.

“He was.” I managed a weak smile. Wreck frowned at my use of the past tense. “He was in the army when his Humvee drove over an IED. They did their best, but...”

“Yeah.” Wreck exhaled putting a hand on my shoulder and rubbing it compassionately. He could tell it was a hard thing to talk about and didn't pressure me to go into it.

“Unfortunately what I didn't realize was that some of the local cops were also Patrick's clients when I went to file the report. I was so stupid!” I had to take a moment to unclench my fists. It was the biggest and dumbest mistake of my life, and had eaten me up since the moment it all happened. Why didn't I go to a non local precinct or the state troopers? Hell I could've even reached out to the Feds. I should've known better!

“A few days later Jen and I were pulled over by the police coming home from another friend's house. Patrick was with them. The cops were his clients and knew what would happen to them if word got out about what they were up to. Patrick strangled her in front of me while the cops held me down.”

An audible crack drew my attention. Wreck had been squeezing the ceramic mug so tightly that it broke. It didn’t shatter or anything dramatic, just a stressed induced crack that ran up the side. It was only when I looked at it did he realize what had happened.

“Sorry.” Wreck placed the now broken mug on the ground, cracked his neck to either side and asked me to continue.

“When Jen was unconscious Patrick turned his hateful gaze to me. He told me that my friend was collateral damage and that this was all my fault for going to the police. His eyes were wild in rage that someone had the audacity to try to ruin him. I knew that I was next, but to my surprise Patrick then gave me a choice. Apparently he’d done his homework on me the past several days and found out that I was high honors in both math and business. His offer was to help him run the business or die right then and there, yes or no. I was terrified. So I made the only real choice I had.

“Then he put his hands around my throat anyways and I thought that was going to be the end. When I woke up my voice was gone. And I had these.” I tugged down my scarf revealing the old scars. “The last word I ever heard myself say out loud was 'Yes'.”

When I lowered my head the floodgates opened and tears streamed down my cheeks at reliving the memory. I choked up signing the last sentence.

Wreck held me close for what felt a long time after that while I cried into his big arms. He didn't say anything. There was nothing to say. He just kept me safe and let me work through the pain. My body had been naked in front of men so many times, but never my soul.

“You don't have to continue if it's too hard,” Wreck said when I started signing again.

I shook my head, wiping my tears with my palms. No, I needed this. I had come too far to stop. This might be the only chance I’d ever get to tell someone what really happened to me. It didn’t matter how hard it was, I needed to keep going.

“The cops crashed my friend's car and burned it with her in it. They claimed we both died in a drunk driving accident,” I started again after several deep breaths. It struck me that Jen had now been dead for longer than I'd known her while she was alive.

“I didn't realize it at the time, but my punishment for trying to turn him in didn't stop at watching my friend die or losing my voice. I worked for him now fixing his books, and keeping both businesses running. I was a part of this world. In the eyes of the law I’m a criminal. To protect myself I have to protect the man who owns me, the man who stole away my whole life.

“When he feels extra cruel or just wants to remind me how things work he makes me turn tricks with the rest of his whores. The only real time off