CHAPTER 2: Faylinn

The door to the fighting cage opens, and I walk toward it, trying not to limp. The chick I just fought got the upper hand for a second and landed a swift kick to my kneecap. Too bad she ended up with a broken neck by the end of it.

"You want a smoke before we leave," Inferno asks, holding my pack of smokes out as his brothers surround me.

"Yeah," I say, reaching up to wipe the blood from my lip before taking a cigarette out and lighting it. I look like part of Devils Den MC to someone on the outside, but I'm not. After fifteen years as Inferno's prisoner, I've just learned to pick my battles. Saves me a lot of ass beatings from him or his Enforcer, Knuckles. We head out of the underground arena and meet the club VP, Dungeon, by the van. Inferno opens the sliding door, so I can sit on the edge and smoke, the brothers forming a semi-circle around me so I can't attempt to run off.

When they first started fighting me in the cage, they would bind and gag me until we were inside and again after the fight until we got back to their new clubhouse. The fact they had a second clubhouse was something my father, Wolf, VP of the Emerald Isle MC, didn't know. That's why by the time my family came for me, Inferno had moved me, and I've been lost ever since.

The first few years with Devils Den were hell. Inferno wasn't kidding the last time he spoke to my then-boyfriend and said he would break my spirit and then my bones. He broke my spirit alright— it just took a few years of being beaten and raped by every club member for it to happen. Once I stopped fighting, Inferno didn't let anyone have me except him or Dungeon— and the beatings went from the club members to fighting other women in the cage, for the most part.

It's the only reason I don't look like a prisoner. After winning my second fight, Inferno hooked a bag up in my cell and gave me training weights. Allowing me to become stronger made me a better fighter, and Devils Den has made a lot of money off me. Occasionally, I sleep in Inferno's room at the clubhouse— it's more often than I like. Dungeon takes me in there as well. But there's always an armed brother outside the door until I'm taken back to my cell.

I've made it fifteen years because I still hold on to the hope that I will get out of here one day and go home— to Da, my brothers, and Shamrock. Hell, he might actually have an ol' lady by now. A lot changes in fifteen years. I'm certainly not the little girl he remembers. That girl died the moment Inferno cut the tattoo from my back.

"Let's head back. I want you for a few hours," Inferno says as I stand. He reaches out and grabs my waist, pulling me to him as he kisses my neck and up to my jaw. I do the same thing I've done for fifteen years when a man touches me— I close my eyes and picture Shamrock. Finn, his real name, was the only man I ever wanted to give my body to. There's a reason I was a virgin when Inferno took me.

When he lets me go, I drop the butt of my smoke and climb into the van, followed by Inferno and Knuckles. They always ride in the back with me when I'm taken somewhere. Dungeon drives, and their Road Captain, Turbo, rides shotgun. Any other brothers that come are on their bikes behind us.

Forty minutes later, we pull up to the clubhouse and wait for their prospect to open the gate. Sometimes, Inferno lets me come out here and walk around late at night. Running around the gated compound keeps me in shape and gives me some freedom. It isn't much, but I take what I can get. Once inside, Inferno tells me to wait while he gets a drink. One of their clubwhores named Kicker comes over to talk to me.

She's actually not bad. I can tell by the look in her eyes she doesn't like what they do with me. She came here about a year after they took me. The first time she realized the brothers were coming downstairs to take turns fucking me, she actually tried to stop them. They beat her bad enough that she never tried it again, but weirdly enough, I've felt gratitude toward her ever since then. It meant that one person in this hellhole cared enough to try.

When Inferno comes over to me, I say goodbye to her and notice that as she watches me walk away, she's got this little grin on her face. I smile back at her a little, and she winks. I wonder what that's about. As we enter Inferno's room, I stop— Dungeon is sitting on the bed already. Inferno clicks the lock shut and comes up behind me, running his fingers over the scar between my shoulder blades.

"Take your clothes off and ride him," Inferno whispers in my ear.

I take my time pulling off my boots and leggings, taking off my sports bra last. Dungeon stands, removes his clothes, and sits back down. When I walk over to him, he grips my hips so hard I'll have bruises when we're done. Not that it's anything new. They're both rough to the point of being damn near deadly at times. As Dungeon enters me and Inferno comes up behind me, I close my eyes and go to my happy place. Usually, it's the last night I was with Finn. I remember lying in his bed, his fingers tracing patterns across my skin and how his lips commanded mine.

It's a good thing I still have such a stellar ability to imagine him because for the next hour, Inferno and Dungeon fuck and beat my body to the point I'm hurting from my scalp to my ankles. When they're done, they let me wipe myself down. I'd kill for enough time alone to take a real shower, but those are few and far between in this place.

As I leave the bathroom and put my clothes back on, Inferno is the only one in the room. There's a knock on the door, and he gets up to find Kicker. She says Dungeon told her to bring us drinks.

Once he takes them and shuts the door, he downs the beer she brought him and hands me the other. I drink it slowly. In the beginning, they used to make me drink so much that now, I don't like it much. Within fifteen minutes or so, Inferno is knocked out cold.

That's weird.

Getting out of bed and throwing my beer bottle away, I jump a mile out of my skin when his bedroom door slowly opens.

Kicker walks in and smiles at me. "Let's go, woman. We don't have much time."

"What?" I whisper harshly. "The fuck are you talking about?"

"I drugged them. Now move. I'm getting you the fuck out of here."

My heart pounds in my chest, and I take her outstretched hand without hesitation. As we leave the bedroom, I notice tonight's guard is lying next to the door, out cold too. Kicker leads me down to the basement, past my cell, to the back room. Far in the back, there's a door that leads to a hallway. She keeps hold of my hand, and eventually, through the blackness, I can make out a set of stairs that leads up again.

I trip a few times, trying to keep up with her. Once we're at the top, she lets go of my hand, and the unmistakable jingle of keys makes a smile spread across my face. When she throws the doors open, and we emerge into the night, I look around. We're in the woods through a trap door I didn't even know the club had— and we're just outside the electric fence.

"Listen to me, Faylinn," Kicker says quickly, keeping her voice down. "We're twelve miles outside Cascade Falls, just over the line of Blackwater Ridge. Go straight through the woods. Eventually, you're gonna come to the road. Go left down the road, and you'll dead-end into the north end of the town."

"Why are you doing this?"

She reaches up and touches the side of my face. "Because I can. Now fucking run."

She doesn't have to tell me twice. The adrenaline kicks in, and I turn away from her and take off like a bat out of hell.