Only time will tell.

Past

Mackenzie

"You're doing good, darlin', just a little longer." The man who held me close to his chest for fifteen minutes in the back of a van keeps repeating his rea.s.suring words.

"Hurts so bad." I wince when he picks me up and then lowers me down to a sofa in a house, sending a sharp pain through my chest.

"I know, darlin'. We're gonna have you looked at," he tells me. His voice is deep and husky.

"What's your name?" I ask, needing to know what to call him.

"Beau," he answers instantly and it sets me at ease. He's good-looking in a rough, biker kind of way. His dark hair is pulled back away from his face in a low ponytail. Blue eyes and tanned skin hidden by a beard covering most of his face.

I've never understood the fascination with men and long hair, I always just thought it was strange, but staring up at this stranger, I can see how it might be appealing to some.

"Beau, where are we?" I'm not sure if I can take much more of this pain. I need something. Anything.

"We're at a safe house. There's been a change in plans."

"What? No. I was told we were heading out of town. I can't stay here." I start to fight as much as I can, but it doesn't get me far. My muscles tire and my eyes drop as I begin to slip away.

"You can and you will. Trust me. You need a doctor. We can't drop you off at the next stop until you've been checked out. Sy and I are going to take good care of you," he promises, but I don't know him or Sy. How can I trust he won't send me back to the pits of my own personal h.e.l.l?

"Hurts so bad, Beau," I whisper again just as the darkness takes me.

"Darlin', you with me?" Beau's voice breaks through the heaviness around me and pulls me back.

"Yeah?" I manage past my lips. I open my eyes, fighting past the blurriness.

"How're you holding up?" He's sitting in a chair next to me, not touching me, but still somehow comforting me.

"Okay, how long have I been out?" I wheeze. My chest is still heavy, and my discomfort is increasing in waves. The small lulls giving me false hope of an end, do nothing to calm me.

"About thirty minutes." He leans down and brushes some hair off my face.

Thirty minutes?

"We need to leave, Beau. He's going to find me." Panic threatens to overwhelm me knowing I'm still in town.

"No one is going to find you. This wasn't in the plan, but we're gonna work with what we have." Beau tries to a.s.sure me, but it doesn't help.

"You don't know Chad as I do. He will find me. He did this because I tried to leave him." I whisper.

"Listen, Mackenzie. We'll do everything we need to do to get you out of here safely, but we have to have this arm set. It's too badly damaged to move you to the next drop off. We have the connections here. I promise you he won't get to you."

A car pulling up into the gravel drive takes his attention.

"Did the doc call?" Beau stands and moves through the cabin.

"No, he said he'd call five minutes out." The other guy picks up two guns, handing Beau one.

"Whatever you do, don't make a sound," Beau places his finger to his mouth. I nod, my eyes locking on his gun.

"Move her to the back room, Sy," Beau tells the other guy as he walks to the front window.

"It's him. I know it is," I cry, not listening to Beau's command. I knew I wouldn't get far.

"Woman, be quiet," Sy orders, coming to stand over me. I nod, silent tears clouding my vision. "I need to move you. It's gonna f.u.c.king hurt, but you can't make a sound, you hear me?" Sy leans down into my s.p.a.ce.

"Okay." I nod, my breath coming out choppy.

"Bite down on this." He hands me a clean towel. "Okay. One, two, three," he counts then picks me up over his shoulder. Shooting pain burns in my ribs but I bite down to m.u.f.fle my screams. "Good girl," he whispers, placing me down on the bed in the back room. "Hang on." He steps up to a freestanding closet and pushes it aside.

"What's going on?" I remove the towel from my mouth.

"Whoever is out there is not meant to be here. We have to hide you 'cause if it's the police, they're here for you." He flicks the lock on the secret door hidden in the wall.

"I can't go in there." I shake my head, looking at the small, dark s.p.a.ce. Fear p.r.i.c.ks my skin at the thought of being trapped.

"It's either in there or back to your husband. What do you want?"

A dark, scary hole sounds like heaven compared to Chad. Even with the apprehension and the fear of someone being outside to take me back to him swirling around in my belly, I know what I have to do.

"Okay." Slowly and painfully, I stand from the bed and walk toward him. "But, please don't leave me in here long," I plead as he helps me down to my knees to crawl in.

The room is no more than six feet wide. It's dark, dirty and musty.

"As soon as we get rid of whoever is out there, we'll be back," he promises, closing the door. The darkness closes in on me, blanketing me in a new kind of h.e.l.l. I hear the sound of him dragging the closet back into place and I sit and wait.

Wait for an unknown future.

Fourteen.

Beau I hear the shower turn on the following morning and I can't help a groan from leaving my mouth.

f.u.c.k, not again.

My c.o.c.k stirs to life, images of her standing under the spray of my shower play out in my mind. My hand travels down my stomach and wraps around my now hard c.o.c.k.

Jesus, I'm going to h.e.l.l.

Deciding not to fight it like I've been trying to, I fist myself. Rough to begin with before loosening my grip and stroking my hand up and down my shaft. Ignoring my dry callused palm, I imagine what her grip would be like wrapped around me. Would it be soft and unsure? Or would it be firm and confident? I can almost sense it, the touch of her delicate fingers wrapped around me.

Resting back onto my pillow, I pick up my speed and imagine Kenzie in the shower. It doesn't take long for my mind to put me in the bathroom with her.

She looks up as I walk into the bathroom, her body slick and wet.

"Join me," she whispers as she squeezes a healthy dollop of soap into her hand, spreading it all over her t.i.ts.

f.u.c.k me.

I strip out of my boxers and waste no time joining her under the spray of the water. My c.o.c.k stands hard between us, throbbing in antic.i.p.ation. She hands me the bottle and I squeeze the liquid in my palms.

"I'm really dirty, Beau. I need to be washed again." She pushes her t.i.ts forward, an invitation for me to get to work.

I don't need to be told twice. I reach forward and coat her t.i.ts in the soap. Her nipples pebble, the rose pink buds begging for my attention.

"Harder, Beau." She moans my name and I comply, twisting and pulling her nipples between my thumb and finger.

Her hand glides down my body, her soft grip wrapping around my aching c.o.c.k.

"I think you need to be cleaned." Her grip tightens, and I jerk at the touch. "Do you need me to clean you, Beau?" She drops to her knees. I nod, words lost on me.

Her pink tongue flicks out and swipes at the tip, lapping up a small bead of pre-c.u.m.

"f.u.c.k, baby." I moan. Her hot breath and wet tongue almost have me blowing my load right there.

"Put it in your mouth, darlin'." I push my hips forward, needing more.

She doesn't disappoint. Her mouth encases my length, her suction soft and gentle.

"Yes, suck it good, Kenz," I encourage, pushing my c.o.c.k to the back of her throat. She takes it all, her head bobbing up and down with wild abandon.

"Jesus, f.u.c.k." My head falls back as she takes my b.a.l.l.s in her hands, rolling them between her fingers. She knows exactly what I want. What I f.u.c.king need. My b.a.l.l.s grow heavy and I know I'm about to f.u.c.king blow. She senses my impending explosion and picks up her pace. A low growl vibrates over my c.o.c.k and it's the catalyst to push me over the edge.

"Mackenzie!" I shout my release. My warm c.u.m covers my hand, breaking my visual of Mackenzie on her knees and bringing me back to my room. Back to reality.

"f.u.c.k." I sigh, coming down. I slow my strokes, milking the last of my o.r.g.a.s.m.

A bang from Mackenzie's room has me stilling.

f.u.c.k. Please don't tell me she heard me. I listen carefully for more movement but don't hear anything else. Pushing the thought out of my head, I reach for my shirt and clean myself up.

This is what it's come to. Me jerking off every morning while she showers.

Yep, I'm f.u.c.king sad.

"Thank f.u.c.k you're here, another minute of this daddy day-care bulls.h.i.t and I was about to lose it." Jesse stands when I walk into the clubhouse the following morning.

"Says the man who stole my daughter from my arms the minute I walked in," Kadence quips, not letting Jesse play his bulls.h.i.t.

"Whatever," he dismisses and hands Low back to her.

"Where the f.u.c.k you been? And what the f.u.c.k happened to your face?" Nix walks out, coffee in hand.

"Slept in, and got in a disagreement," I tell him the same thing I told Hunter and Kenzie as I follow him into church with the rest of the guys. This morning is our weekly club meet. I'm only five minutes late, but judging by everyone's mood, I may as well have been an hour.

"You have an alarm clock, a.s.shole?" Sy takes a seat in his chair next to me putting his own two cents in. Jesus Christ, what the f.u.c.k is up everyone's a.s.s today? If anyone has a pa.s.s to be p.i.s.sed off, it's me, I screwed up last night. Lost my s.h.i.t at Mackenzie, then told her everything I've been dreaming about doing to her since she came back to me. My tight grip on keeping everything platonic is slipping. I don't know how much more I can keep denying this.

"You have a problem, Sy?" I force all thoughts of Mackenzie out of my head and give Sy the same att.i.tude back.

"How about you both shut the h.e.l.l up so we can get this s.h.i.t over with," Nix cuts off Sy's reply and addresses the table.

"What's gonna p.i.s.s me off this week?" He starts the meeting like he always does, going around the table and checking in on the business side of things. Brooks runs the bar Fireside, Jesse runs the club, Liquid, and Sy mans and runs the tattoo shop, Ink Me.

A couple of months back, Kelly and I put it forward to Nix and the boys our plans for opening a women's shelter in town. With me taking over from Tiny, I wanted to change some areas. Not all cases run the same. Not all women want or need to leave town. A local women's shelter in town will help cut down on unnecessary runs, and still keep the women safe. We were going to go ahead with or without the club's input, but we wanted them in on it since it's gonna take up a lot of time for both me and Kelly.

Our goal for the shelter is to provide safe accommodation with twenty-four-hour emergency support, but also community support. Along with shelter staff and volunteers, we will be able to a.s.sist women with job training and hunting, housing, medical, and legal services. The length of time a woman or family can live there will be based on their individual needs and goals. Some may come through for emergency housing, others may stay on for over six months.