Page 21 of Nightmare’s Playground

Joy Cullen was a five-foot-nothing firecracker. She couldn’t be more than a hundred pounds soppin' wet. Small? Yes.

But fragile? That definitely wasn’t the word that came to mind when I thought of her.

Ruthless and Denali shared a look, doing that twin telepathy shit they did before Ruthless finally gave a curt nod. “Tell him.”

Everyone at the table stilled.

Denali blew out a breath, then put his bottle to his lips and took a long pull like he needed it to get through what he was about to say. “When Joy was a little girl,” he started, “Our Pop was still riding with the Renegade Bastards.”

I’d heard rumors about the RBMC. They’d gotten involved in human trafficking a few years ago. It was no surprise Denali and his men cut ties with them.

“Anyhow, the club had beef with a crew out of Kansas City.” His jaw clenched. “One of ‘em took Joy to send Rogue a message.”

My stomach dropped as a chorus of rumbles went around the table.

None of us could believe what we were hearing.

We might be outlaws, but we lived be an unwritten rule—at least most of us did—and that was that you didn’t fuck with women and children.

Ever.

They were off limits.

“Took her?” My voice came out rough.

Thinking about the Joy I’d been around, it was hard to believe darkness had touched her.

She was always smiling and laughing. And talking. God the woman never shut up.

“They didn’t hurt her,” Ruthless chimed in. “Not physically at least.”

I shook my head, not understanding. If they didn’t—“What did they do to her?”

Ruthless growled low in his throat and looked away.

“They tied her up and put duct tape over her mouth so nobody could hear her if she tried to call for help,” Denali answered.

Outlaw shook his head as Hoss got up from the table and walked to the bar.

I didn’t blame the Texas VP. What Denali was saying was hard to hear.

“How long did they have her for?”

“Three days.” Denali’s knuckles went white around the bottle in his hand and I feared the glass would shatter at any moment. “They had her for three-fucking-days before they called Rogue and told him she was in an abadoned house on the Eastside.”

My brows went up as the air whoosed from my lungs.

Fuck me.

They'd had her for three days?

I’d been in the hole once for seventy-two hours with no light and no sound. I was also a grown man who knew exactly where I was and why. I also knew the door was gonna open eventually.

Joy had been just a child.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

She must have been scared out of her mind.