Caged: The Underground

But instead of peppering me with questions, she turned and left, locking me in again.

I breathed a sigh of relief, if only for the short reprieve.

An hour later Juanita returned with her man. I still didn’t know his name.

He was eyeing me like a wolf slavered over a juicy sheep.

“And here I thought you was just good for whorin’. Then my lady tells me you’re related to someone actually important.”

I tried to remain brave. “That’s right. And my brother will cut your balls off if you hurt me.”

“Yeah, yeah, that sounds about right,” he agreed, rubbing his chin in thought. “But here’s the problem…I already got you booked, baby girl. I got money on the line. My reputation is at stake. I have to deliver.”

The blood drained from my cheeks. And here I’d thought I’d missed a bullet.

“Your life isn’t worth a few bucks,” I tried reasoning with the man. “I’m not joking when I say my brother will hunt you down and strip the meat from your bones. He’s…unreasonable when it comes to what belongs to him.”

“You belong to him?” Juanita repeated, tittering. “Twisted.”

“Not like that,” I muttered. “But I’m his only living relative.”

“So, he’d probably pay for your safe return?” the man said, thinking out loud. “Maybe even more than I could get from that sweet pussy.”

I cringed, hating the entire conversation but I had to keep it up. “Yeah, probably.” Actually, Butcher would probably just feed Juanita her man’s balls and then shoot her in the head. Or have someone else do it for him. But there was no sense in telling these creeps that. “Let me call him.”

“Ahhh, hell no, sugar. I will be handling the negotiations. These things is delicate.”

I wanted to scream but I held the urge in check.

“In the meantime, you just sit back and enjoy our hospitality,” he said with a wide grin, exposing a rotten tooth. He motioned to Juanita. “Get the girl something to eat.”

No thanks. I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

So when Juanita returned with some gloppy gunk poured over a chicken fried steak, I didn’t go near it. No telling what that crazy bitch had put in the gravy.

I wasn’t taking the chance to find out.

Chapter 13

Cason

True to his word, Tito arrived fifteen minutes later, which meant he hadn’t been far.

“Who would take her in?” I asked. “Who would be willing to help her?”

Tito thought for a second, shaking his head. “This place isn’t big on Neighborhood Watch, if you know what I mean. Half the houses are abandoned anyway. The only house still regularly occupied is down the street…I think he’s a pimp of some sort.”

I didn’t like to think of Holly falling into the hands of someone like that.

Not that she didn’t deserve it for ditching me but even I wasn’t that depraved.

“I’ll go check out that place, you go the opposite direction and watch the roads in case she’s still walking. I’ll call you if I find her,” I said, grabbing my leather jacket. I hopped into my car and drove the short distance while Tito hopped his motorcycle and tore off down the road.

The house looked like a crack addict lived there.

Busted porch, peeling paint, overgrown weeds choking the yard…yeah, real homey.

I exited the car and went straight to the door.

I banged hard, nearly busting the aged door in two.

The door opened and a frazzled black woman with hard eyes answered, giving me the look from hell. “What you want?”

“I’m looking for a redhead, about this tall,” I indicated Holly’s petite height “with big tits and a fat ass. You seen her?”

“Nope.”

She started to close the door but I shoved my foot in the way. “Think real hard.”

The woman glanced down at my intruding foot and returned to me, her gaze narrowing. “Maybe. I think I saw her walking down the road. She your girl?”

I smiled coolly. “Yeah, she belongs to me.”

“Sorry…she ain’t here.”

I didn’t believe her. My gut told me, this woman was lying.

“Mind if I take a look around?” I asked.

“Fuck you. You ain’t comin’ in my house, motherfucka. What you think this is? Better Homes and Gardens or some shit? Get the fuck on.”

She kicked at my foot to free the door but I shoved it against her face, slamming into her nose. Stumbling back with a screech, she swung a punch but missed as I dodged.

“Reggie!” she hollered, wiping at the trickle of blood from her mouth. To me, she said, “You dumb fuck. You gonna regret that.”

A wiry man with a belly appeared with a gun, pointing it straight at my dome.

“You messing with my lady?” the man taunted, waving the gun at me. “I don’t much like that.”

“You have my girl.”

“Says who?” the man asked, feigning innocence but I could see the covert glance at a closed door to his right. I was good at reading people. Holly was in that room. “We don’t want no trouble. Go on, get out, and I won’t blow your motherfucking balls off for insulting my woman.”

“Give me Holly and I won’t kill you,” I countered simply.

“This girl ain’t nothing but trouble,” the woman cackled, shaking her head. “I never seen so many people getting riled up over one fat white girl.”

My gaze narrowed. I didn’t like this crack whore calling Holly names. Something burned in my chest at the insult. “You got five seconds to make a good decision for your health and welfare,” I growled.

“Or what? I got the gun, shit-for-brains,” the man reminded me.

“I don’t need a gun.”

“Well, hell, I like your spirit but finders keepers, you know what I’m saying. She going to make me some cash and if there’s one thing I don’t mess with — it’s my cash flow. Sorry bud.” The man cocked the gun. I had milliseconds to react. I grabbed the woman and thrust her toward the gunman just as he pulled the trigger.

The bullet ripped through the woman’s gut but his momentary shock gave me the time I needed to bury my fist in his teeth multiple times. The gun scattered from his grip and I kicked it away from his scrabbling fingers as he hit the floor.

I didn’t hesitate and stomped the shit out of his hand, breaking bones. He howled in agony as his woman bled all over the carpet, eyes staring sightlessly. I grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt to growl, “You should’ve made a better choice.”

I dropped him and stalked to the door, kicking it open.

Holly, pressed into the furthest corner of the room, yelped as the door banged open but when she saw me, her relief quickly turned to dismay and for that, I didn’t blame her.

She’d lost her chance to play nice.

Now, she was just my captive.

“You just made things a whole lot worse for yourself,” I warned, striding to her, grabbing her by that thick reddish hair and yanking her toward me. Holly gasped, stumbling after me without choice. Hauling her up, I made her look at the dead woman, blood everywhere. “See? This is your fault. Now get your ass moving before I leave you here to deal with him.”

I shoved her into the car and wasted no time in splitting the scene. Wiping the blood trickling from my cut lip, I I ignored Holly to give my rage time to cool but I made a quick call to Tito so he wasn’t wasting time looking for her.

Tossing my phone, I shook my head, pissed.

“For a smart girl, you’re pretty stupid,” I said, my eyes never leaving the road. “What were you thinking? Did they look like the kind of people who could be trusted?”

“I was just trying to get away from you,” Holly spat but her voice trembled. “I gambled and lost. Don’t you think I know that already? You don’t have to beat me over the head with it.”

“Just like a Brannon…no responsibility taken for how you

’ve put things into play. A woman is fucking dead because of you.”

“She was trying to whore me out,” Holly said in her own defense. “It wasn’t like she was Mother Theresa.”

“Yeah, well, I hadn’t been planning to commit first-degree murder today,” I replied caustically. “Thanks for that.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t plan to be kidnapped and then sold into sexual slavery either. I guess bad things happen everyday.”

I wanted to pull the car over and slap the stupid out of her. Not only because I was angry over what’d happened, but because I knew full well that if I’d been late finding Holly…she would’ve been ruined forever. As much as she talked a big game, Holly was as soft as a freshly baked sugar cookie.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere I know you won’t cause any trouble.”

“And where is that, exactly?”

I growled, cutting her a sharp glance. “Enough with the questions. Just shut up, all right?”

Holly must’ve sensed the danger in my tone. I was riding the edge. I couldn’t stop the rage that welled inside, threatening to splash over and contaminate all my carefully laid plans.

I needed to stay focused, stay calm.

But Holly drove me crazy.

I’d never in my life met a woman I wanted to beat and fuck at the same time.

But I promised myself, I’d do neither.

She was the key to my revenge.

I wouldn’t be so stupid as to lose my advantage.

Not when the stakes were so high.

Chapter 14

Holly

I couldn’t stop shaking. As Cason drove, I snuck glances his way. I was grateful to be out of that house but I had a feeling that I may have gone from the frying into the fire.

I kept seeing Juanita’s dead body, lying on the dingy carpet. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the woman deserved what she got but I wasn’t cavalier about death.

The truth was, this was the kind of stuff I was glad to be free from.

Butcher had made sure that my life wasn’t touched by his business dealings, even though I knew my brother probably did terrible things.