Ryker (Kings of Korruption MC Book 1) (9 page)

Charlie is still staring past her, eyes locked on mine.
 
Anger fills her face before she swallows, giving her head a quick shake.
 
“Anna.
 
We need to talk.
 
Now.”
 
Peeling her eyes off me, she looks to the waitress.
 
“In private.”

It’s not until the waitress nods and moves to pull her out of the room that I pull my head out of my ass.
 
“Charlie?
 
Baby, what the fuck happened to you?”

Charlie ignores me, avoiding my eyes as she tugs on the waitress’s arm.
 
The waitress has a different idea.
 
She looks pissed, standing beside the doorway, glaring at me.
 
“Baby?
 
Did you just call her baby?”
 
She rips her arm out of Charlie’s grasp and turns on her, hands resting on her scrawny hips.
 
“What the fuck, Charlotte?”

Charlie’s eyes fill with tears and she opens her mouth to reply, but I cut her off.
 
Clearly this bitch needs a lesson.
 
Charlie is standing here bleeding and crying, and she’s pissed that I called her baby?
 
Who the fuck is she?

“Charlie!
 
Answer me.”
 
What I meant to be a demand came out more as a plea and her eyes shoot to me.
 
The tears start falling freely down her cheeks and the thought of my Charlie being hurt almost brings me to my knees.
 
I rush to her, ignoring the fuming waitress, and take her in my arms.
 
At first, she resists so I lean in closer to whisper in her ear.
 
“Babe.
 
It’s ok.
 
You’re safe now.”

Her body relaxes slightly while she clutches me like I’m a lifeline.
 
Her hands clutch the back of my shirt while she buries her face deep into my chest.
 
The sobs that escape leave her gasping for air, and she trembles as I hold her tighter.
 
Smoothing her hair back, I try my best to soothe her but I’m desperate to find out how she ended up beaten and bloodied, standing in the door to the staff room of a seedy bar.
 
Her arms are cold, and I realize that her trembling may not be entirely from fear.

Without a thought, I whip off my leather cut and remove the long sleeved shirt I’m wearing.
 
Pulling it over her head, I cover her before yanking my cut back on, over my bare chest.
 
That done, I pull her back into my chest and hold her while she cries.

The waitress wisely takes a step back, glaring at us while I try to calm my girl down.
 
When Charlie sniffs a couple more times and slowly pulls away, wiping the tears from her cheeks, the waitress pounces.
 
“Charlotte Elizabeth Daniels!
 
You mind telling me why you’re here, crying all over this guy five seconds after I had my fucking hand wrapped around his cock?”

She flinches and her face pales as her eyes shoot from me to the waitress once again.
 
Shaking her head quickly, she takes a couple steps back from me, putting too much distance between us.
 
“Anna, it doesn’t matter.
 
Ryker’s just someone I met at work.
 
What does matter is that we need to talk.
 
I have a message for you.”

Anna’s face goes from annoyed to instantly terrified.
 
“They found me?”
 

Charlie nods.
 
“Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no oh no.”
 
Anna is backing farther away, hands over her mouth, freaking right the fuck out.
 
I’m still stuck on why Charlie looks like she’s been in a brawl and what the fuck she means about me being just a guy she met at work.
 
I mean I am, but fuck ... I’m more than that, and she knows it.

“Enough!”
 
My command makes both women yelp and turn their frightened faces towards me.
 
“Charlie, you’re gonna tell me what the fuck happened to you.
 
Now.”
 

She sighs, tears forming in her eyes again.
 
“Ryker, I …” She pauses and takes a deep breath.
 
“I appreciate your concern, but this is between me and my sister.”
 
She motions towards Anna, who is still in the corner of the room, having what appears to be a full blown panic attack.
 
My mind flashes back a few moments, to the part where she said this bitch is her sister.
 
Not good.
 

“Bullshit.
 
Baby you’re standing here in front of me, after crying in my arms, looking like someone went at you with a god damned baseball bat.
 
That automatically makes me involved.
 
Now what the fuck happened?”
 
My fists are clenched tightly and it takes everything I have in me not to wrap her in my arms again and make those tears go away.

“I’m fine, Ryker.
 
Anna and I just have to talk, and then we’ll be leaving.
 
I appreciate your concern, but I’m ok.”
 
She attempts to smile but quickly changes her mind when she remembers her swollen, busted lip.
 
Wincing, she covers it with her hand, but holds my eyes with a determined look on her face.

“My concern?
 
Again, woman, you in front of me, half-dressed and bleeding is definitely my concern.
 
Now, I’m not gonna fucking ask you again.
 
Tell me what happened.”

She sighs, her shoulders slumping in defeat.
 
Looking around the room, she moves to close the door, shutting herself, her sister and me into the drab, little staff room.
 
She then looks over to the small couch Anna and I were making out on, wrinkles her nose in disgust and moves over to the chair in the corner.
 
Anna moves and sits on the couch.
 
There’s no way in hell I’m going to sit next to that bitch so I stand, arms folded over my chest and wait.

I wait some more while Charlie sits there, staring at her bare feet.
 
Finally, I can’t take it anymore.
 
I need to know what happened to her and who hurt her.
 
The anger I felt when I first saw her battered appearance is growing to a full on rage.
 
I take the couple steps between us and kneel directly in front of her, lifting her chin until she meets my eyes, making an attempt to keep my voice calm and soothing.
 
“Baby.
 
I know somethin’ bad has happened, but you really need to tell me what it was, and then I need to get you cleaned up and into some warmer clothes.”

She nods before looking over at her sister.
 
“I got off work tonight and walked home.
 
I felt like I was being watched again.”
 
Her words cause me to still and my rage grows.
 
What the fuck does she mean “again”?
 
Someone’s been watching her?
 
“When I got home, nobody was there, but when I was in the bathroom, I heard someone in the apartment.”
 
Charlie fists her hands tightly in her lap.

“I tried to get to my room so I could lock myself in and call the police, but he caught me before I could.”
 
She pauses, then looks to her sister.
 
“Anna?
 
It was Krueger.”

“No!” My back is to her, but I can hear the fear in Anna’s voice.
 
Krueger?
 
I only know of one Krueger, and the guy is a fucking nightmare, worthy of his name.
 
I’d met him on more than one trip to Toronto, and he gave even me the creeps.
 
He’s fucked in the head and had raped more than a few club whores that had been stupid enough to wander into his path.
 
One of whom, he’d enjoyed taking his knife to.
 
But he’s a Devil.
 
There’s no way my Charlie’s messed up with the Devil’s Rejects.
 
Is there?

Charlie nods her head slowly at her sister.
 
“It was, honey.
 
He grabbed me, roughed me up a little and demanded to know where you were.”
 
My eyes still locked on her, I can hear her sister’s gasp of fear from behind me, and Charlie hurries to finish her story.
 
Balling up my fists, I remain silent, waiting for the rest of it.
 
“I didn’t tell him.
 
I didn’t.
 
That’s what pissed him off.
 
He was so angry.”
 
She inhales a shaky breath.
 
“He said you owed him money, and that you had a deal he was here to collect on.”
 
Her voice softens to a whisper. “That’s when he tried to rape me.”

I spring to my feet and drive my fist into the wall.
 
That fucker had tried to rape her?
 
Had dared to lay a greasy finger on her?
 
I’m gonna rip his fucking balls off and feed them to him.
 

My entire body shakes with rage.
 
Anna is crying behind me, but now Charlie’s looking at me.
 
Trying to soothe me.
 
Suddenly, Charlie’s reaction to Reaper last week makes a whole lot more sense.
 
She’s had issues with the Devils.

“He didn’t though.
 
I managed to get ahold of a vase in my bedroom and hit him over the head with it.
 
It knocked him to the floor and then I kicked him in the balls and ran.
 
He didn’t rape me.
 
I’m ok.”
 
Her words don’t help.
 

She grabs my hand and stands in front of me, placing her free hand on my cheek while I attempt to lock down the anger.
 
“Ryker.
 
I’m ok.
 
Really.
 
Now Anna and I need to talk, and figure out what we’re gonna do because this guy will be back, and there’s no way he’s getting his hands on my sister.”
 
She stares up at me confidently.
 
The look would be reassuring if it weren’t for the bloody nose, black eyes and split lip.

I grab her shoulders, looking directly into her eyes.
 
“Charlie, you and Anna aren’t going anywhere.
 
This guy ain’t coming back, ‘cause I’m gonna fucking find him, and then, I’m gonna kill him.”

Chapter Seven

Charlotte

Shit!
 
This whole night just keeps getting worse.
 
I’d come to the tavern to get my sister, so we could come up with a plan to keep her safe.
 
Walking in on her and Ryker … my heart clenches just thinking about it.
 
How long have they been sleeping together?
 
I have no right to feel this way.
 
Ryker was never mine but …
God
.
 
Watching Anna pull her hand out of his pants, while I stood there staring at them in shock, had made my already racing heart shatter into a million little pieces.
 
Jealousy is a new feeling for me. I’m going to have to work hard at not reacting to the pain I’d felt when I found them about to make love.

While I was telling Anna and Ryker what happened, he’d been pissed – worried even.
 
He was likely freaking out that there was a maniac out there, looking for Anna.
 
He’d growled at us both that he would be right back and to stay put.
 
Storming out of the room, he closed the door behind him, finally giving my sister and me a much needed moment of privacy.

“Anna.”
 
She’s still sitting on the couch, fear her only expression.
 
Her hands are pressed over her mouth, while she rocks back and forth.
 
“Anna!
 
Look at me.
 
Honey, we need to go.
 
We need to get our stuff and go!”

Letting out a keening moan, her face crumples and she sobs.
 
“Oh Char.
 
I am so sorry.
 
I didn’t think they would ever find us, but now …” She takes a deep breath and jumps to her feet.
 
“You’re right.
 
We need to go.
 
We need to be separate though.
 
They’ll keep tracking me down, and I can’t ask you to keep uprooting your life.”

“Honey, you’re my sister.
 
We’re in this together.
 
Now, let’s get the hell out of here before it’s too late.”
 
I grab her hand and we start for the door, just as it swings open.

“Going somewhere?”
 
Ryker stands in the open doorway, arms crossed on his chest, two of his “brothers” standing behind him, looking angry and, quite frankly, terrifying.
 
One of them is Reaper.
 
The other one I’d seen around the nursing home visiting Smokey.
 
It was hard not to notice him.
 
He’s almost as beautiful as Ryker.

“Ryker, we really need to get out of here. I –“