Page 16 of Ivy’s Poison
Assessing my situation, I felt my wrists and ankles were cuffed to chains attached to the table. Leather straps were buckled across my chest and thighs. I tried to move to break free but was shocked to feel how bad it hurt to move.
The woman pushed down on my chest. “Easy, big guy. Easy.”
I had no choice but to take her advice. My body was demanding rest.
She had shorter blonde hair and had the appearance of being ridden hard and put away wet. Not only did her older body look used, but so did her ghosted expression. Haunted. This woman was a haunted female who had seen far too much.
I was in a darker room that felt cold and damp and smelled of bleach. There were no windows. Four fluorescent lights hung from a high dropped ceiling made up of square tiles. It was no surprise there were old blood stains on the ceiling. And it was also no surprise I had been taken to the motorcycle club’s torture chamber. My “ride” was far from over.
I asked the woman I hadn’t seen before, “Who are you?”
The woman glared at me slightly before answering, “The deceased VP’s wife.”
Blinking in confusion, I looked to Ivy. “Your man had a wife?”
Ivy tied a knot at the end of the thread now embedded in my skin, then set the needle down before taking the washcloth from the stranger, rinsing it in a little bucket of bloody water. The stranger took the bucket to a sink to dump it out and refilled it with fresh water while Ivy tended to my face. She winced as she pressed the wetness to my bottom lip. That is when I finally registered any pain.
Exhaling to bear the throbbing, I asked, “How long I been out?”
Ivy rinsed the rag in the fresh water brought to her. “Only a few hours.”
Besides the bloodied white apron she was wearing, she looked incredible. Her hair was all done, and her clothes had been changed. I asked, “Got a hot date?”
The stranger rolled her eyes. “And as impossible as you claimed.”
Ivy blotted my lip again, but she smiled. “Yeah. He’s a true pain in the ass.”
“That why ya got me tied up?”
Ivy’s eyes welled with tears that she couldn’t seem to muster the courage to let fall. “No. Pops has you tied up.”
Stranger claimed, “It took six men to carry you in here. They aren’t interested in you waking up, pissed, and free to swing again.”
My chains rattled as I jerked, disappointed in my lack of restraint. “Again?”
Ivy dabbed at a cut under my right eye. “You don’t remember breaking the ties behind your back and going berserk?”
“Not a bit. How do you know?”
As if unable to voice her memory, she whispered, “My bedroom window is next to the courtyard you were in.”
I swallowed. “Did she see?”
The VP’s wife thumbed her chest. “Me?”
My stare couldn’t leave Ivy’s. I, instinctively, knew she would understand.
Ivy’s expression softened with an affection that wouldn’t be seen often. “He means Jade.”
Sharply, I inhaled. Jade.
Ivy’s expression hardened as she tossed the cloth into the bucket. She grabbed a glass of water before helping lift my head from the table. I gulped the liquid as she told me, “Yes. Jade because her mama is jaded.”
As the VP’s wife rested her hands on Ivy’s shoulders in a motherly fashion of concern, I started to comprehend what VP was to her. About to ask for confirmation of my suspicions, a door flew open. Ivy released me immediately, secretly handing the other woman my water.
The president strolled in as if he didn’t have a prisoner tied up at his disposal. “Oh! Look who is awake for more.” His studious eyes that I’d experienced in the club’s parking lot were gone. His silent aggressiveness I recognized in the alley two days earlier was also not present.
Eight men followed him in, all staring at me with deep hate burning from their souls. They each had either black eyes, busted lips, or bruised jaws. I guess Ivy wasn’t exaggerating. I had gone ballistic, and these pissed and injured faces were ready for more revenge. Fan-fucking-tastic.
