“Oh, my God!” I exclaimed.
I caught myself with my hands as dozens of others propped me up. My stomach had barely touched the ground of the van, but the force of the shove placed an ache in my lower back that I couldn’t shake. Several pairs of hands helped me turn over before they eased me onto the ground. And as my wide, terrified eyes tried to take in the scene around me, all I saw were equally terrified eyes staring back.
Before their eyes dropped to my stomach.
“What are you guys doing here?” I asked breathlessly.
A girl off in the corner that I hadn’t seen before started talking. “We’ve been abducted. What are you doing here?”
Another girl clicked her tongue. “Jesus, Josie. You’re gonna scare the shit out of the poor girl.”
I peered back toward the girl in the corner. “Your—your name is Josie?”
She leaned forward enough for me to see her stoic face. “Yeah. What’s your name?”
A girl beside me raised her hand. “Well, I’m Raven. I’m with Brooks.”
Josie clicked her tongue in the corner. “If we’re going that route, then I’m Josie, and I’m with Archer.”
I shook my head slowly. “I’m not sure I—”
Then, a hand thrust itself at me. “And I’m Astrid. I’m with Porter.”
I shook her hand mindlessly. “Forgive me, but I’m trying to figure out why the hell I’ve just been pushed into a van with a bunch of girls that I don’t know, who are rattling off names I don’t recognize.”
Josie finally scooted out of the corner. “You don’t recognize our names?”
Astrid furrowed her brow. “Or the names of the guys?”
Raven whispered in Astrid’s ear. “I thought you said this was the girl Cole couldn’t keep his mouth shut about.”
And that perked up my ears. “You guys know Cole? How?”
When the girls physically gawked at me, I knew I was in trouble. I mean, I knew there was still a lot I had to learn about the man whose child I was carrying, but this seemed like a really big thing I was missing.
I didn’t enjoy feeling that way, either.
I sighed as the girls continued to stare at me. “I don’t mean to be rude, but if someone could start filling me in on what I don’t know, that would be really great. Thanks.”
Josie cleared her throat. “We are the girlfriends—”
Raven raised her hand. “And fiancées!”
Josie shook her head and giggled. “Yes, we are the girlfriends and—in Raven’s case, the fiancée—of men that Cole runs with on a daily basis.”
“The name ‘Dirty Mifits’ ring a bell?” Astrid asked.
Someone banged metal from somewhere and a booming voice told us to shut the fuck up. And while it startled me so much that I shrieked, Josie lunged forward and clapped her hand over my mouth.
“Never show fear,” she whispered, “it’s what they feed on.”
I nodded my head before she slid her palm away from my lips and the girls scrambled to get close to me.
“Who are the Dirty Misfits?” I asked.
Raven took my left hand in hers and linked our fingers together. “Don’t freak out, okay?”
I scoffed. “A bit too late for that.”
Josie leaned toward me. “And keep your voice down.”
I nodded and lowered my voice to a whisper. “So, who are the Dirty Misfits?”
Astrid sat down to my right and started rubbing my back. “They’re a motorcycle crew that claims their territory in the Santa Cruz area.”
I blinked. “You’re kidding.”
Josie shook her head. “Nope. We aren’t. Our men are part of that crew, as is Cole.”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “That explains the designs on all of his leather jackets.”
Astrid patted my back before taking my right hand. “Yep, that would explain it.”
My eyes slowly fell open. “So, we’ve been taken by…”
Josie sat at my feet. “Probably a gang called the Black Flags. They’re the rival gang to our guys, and they’ve been making a mess for a while now.”
Astrid sighed. “Did Cole really not tell you any of this?”
My eyes crested with tears. “No. He uh, he really didn’t.”
The girls fell silent for a little while before Josie changed the subject. “So, we need to come up with a plan. What’s our next move?”
Astrid snickered. “To wait until the guys come for us.”
Raven cleared her throat. “And what if they don’t? What if they can’t find us? What then?”
Josie pointed at her. “Raven’s right. We need to come up with our own plan of escape and survival if we ever want to see the guys again.”
I blinked away my tears. “Wh-wh-what—are they going to do to us?”
Astrid patted my hand. “Well, neither of us are bound or tied up in any way, so that’s a good sign.”
Raven clapped her hand over her mouth as she started giggling. “I’m sorry, you guys. But not tying us up? What the hell were they thinking?”
“Shh!” Josie said through her own giggles. “You’ll make someone pull over and do just that.”
Astrid shook her head as she continued stifling her laughter. “Holy shit, we have no idea what the hell we’re getting ourselves into sometimes, huh?”
But the laughter quickly died down once the van came to a stop.
“Where do you think we are?” Astrid asked softly.
Raven shrugged. “Probably a stoplight. We haven’t been traveling for—”
The van lurched away, speeding down the road and toppling us all backward. Someone crashed against my stomach and I groaned out in pain, feeling my sweet baby boy kicking around in fear. I turned myself onto my side and cradled my stomach, praying to any God that might have existed to keep us all safe during this absolute nightmare.
But once I sat up, all three girls were looking at me with a proud and triumphant face.
“What?” I asked.
Josie leaned forward. “How good of an actress are you?”
I blinked. “I don’t—I don’t know.”
“Were you a good liar as a child?” Astrid asked.
I furrowed my brow deeply. “I guess—I mean, I got away with some stuff, sure. But—”
“What kind of stuff?” Raven asked.
I shook my head. “Does someone want to fill me in on what the fuck’s going on?”
Josie grinned. “She has a mouth.”
Astrid snickered. “She has to have one with Cole around.”
I clenched my jaw. “That backstabbing, two-faced asshole hasn’t been around for months. He fucked me twice, dumped me on our second date, and that’s the last I saw of him until about an hour before I was tossed into this van. For all I know, he’s the reason for it. So, why don’t you girls fill me the fuck in before I take matters into my own hands and throw myself out this back fucking door. Yeah?”
They all slowly looked around at each other before Josie whistled softly to herself. Then, Astrid took the reins and stepped up to fill me in.
“Well, we were thinking about ways to try and distract these guys long enough to catch them off-guard. And we were thinking that if you faked like you were going into labor, the other three of us could grab whatever’s in the back of this van and beat our way out of this place.”
I blinked. “And you think we can take on an entire crew like that?”
Josie shook her head. “Not an entire crew. At best, there’s two guys up front and two guys tailing behind. And I know I’ve felt at least two crowbars back here. Those damn things do some damage.”
Raven whispered in my ear. “We were thinking of doing it when the van stopped again, so we need to know if you’re on board.”
And like clockwork, the van came to a halt before the damn thing stopped moving altogether.
Josie passed around crowbars and anything we could use to defend ourselves. Me? Well, Astrid was hanging onto a pipe for me as I leaned against the wall, wondering if I could pull this off. But a thought crossed my mind. One lingering, soft thought that caused me to start wailing and gripping my stomach.
The thought of never meeting my sweet baby boy pushed me forward.
“Oh, shit! This fucking hurts, you guys!” I exclaimed.
I groaned and whimpered out in pain as another one of the guys banged on the van from somewhere.
“Keep it the fuck down, you bitch!”
Josie shot her mouth off right back. “She’s in labor, you fucking nutsack! Have a bit of compassion!”
I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed my stomach. “Holy shit. Lamaze class doesn’t prepare anyone for this. I need a hospital. Holy fuck! Aaaaaahhhhh!”
The van lurched before the sound of grass and twigs sounded underneath the tires of the van. Josie looked at me and twirled her finger in the air, telling me to keep it up. So, I did. I cried out in pain and got onto my knees, rocking back and forth like I had been taught in my child birthing classes. And as heavy footfalls sounded around the van, the back doors flew open.
Revealing two tall, lanky men in black leather jackets with confused looks on their faces.
“What the fuck’s going on?” Thing One asked.
Raven started rubbing my back. “She’s in labor, you idiot. Can’t you see that?”
Astrid sighed. “You shoved her too hard into the van. You’ve sent her into early labor. She’s not even full-term yet!”
Thing Two chuckled. “She looks full term.”
Josie shot him a heated look. “Yeah, and if we don’t get her somewhere, you’ll have a dead mother and child on your hands. Think your boss will like that much?”
I grit my teeth and dipped my head toward the floor of the van. “Holy fuck is SOMEONE GOING TO GET ME A DOCTOR!?”
Thing One and Thing Two ran off somewhere, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that they were the only two guys with us. There was no one bringing up the rear, there was no one following the van on motorcycles, and no one else rushed up to help us. It was the four of us against the two of them, and I liked those fucking odds.
“You guys,” I whispered. “It’s only them.”
Josie rubbed my back. “You’re doing a great job. Just keep it up.”
Then, Thing Two re-emerged. “Okay, there’s a warehouse nearby that we’ve been instructed to go to.”
Josie glared at him. “Good. Because we’re going to need hot water, warm towels, a clean floor, sterilized scissors, and twine. Got that?”
Thing Two blinked. “Wait, what?”
I growled out in pain. “Will someone just DO SOMETHING, PLEASE!? MY BABY IS COMING!”
The guys scrambled to get back into the van after closing the doors on us once more and they took off down the road. We weren’t even driving for five minutes when we pulled off onto a gravel road that rumbled beneath the tires. I kept up my fake labor sounds, trying my best to make it sound real as the van came to another stop.
Then, the guys got back out, threw the back doors open, and stared at Josie.
“What was that list again?” Thing One asked.
As Josie barked out orders, the men scrambled around to find anything and everything they could that might substitute well. I kept rocking and moaning. I even got out of the van and leaned against it, crouching and telling them I was “trying to use gravity to help.” Getting myself out of the van enabled me to see what was around us, and while I didn’t see much it was what I heard that provided some comfort.
Because we weren’t far enough away from Santa Cruz to get away from the smell of the ocean.
While Josie ran the guys on pointless errands, we finally found our chance. Both of the guys were inside searching at the same time for something, and Astrid quickly scrambled into the driver’s seat of the van. She slid open a small set of windows that led from the back of the van to the front of it, and through the small opening she slid guns, ammunition, and magazines the size of my fucking forearm.
And as they all pieced their guns together, I found myself not only lost, but useless.
I’d never fit in with these people. Ever.
“Keep going,” Josie hissed.
I quickly got back to my sounds of labor and doubled over outside. And when I did, I found something remarkable. Taped to the undercarriage of the van was a massive shotgun, and while I wasn’t sure if it was loaded or not, the damned thing looked intimidating enough. I heard boot falls rushing up behind me and I made a split-second decision. I heard the girls getting into their places as I ripped the duct tape off the shotgun.
“Hey, what are you doing!?” Thing Two called out.
And just as the men rushed up to me from behind, I ripped the shotgun from beneath the van and aimed it right at them.
Before cocking it like I had always seen in the movies.
Holy shit, that actually works.
“Good job, Molly,” Josie said as she aimed her gun at Thing One.
“Keep it pointed right at them,” Astrid said as she looked down her sights at Thing Two.
But off in the distance I heard the dull roar of a sound that had quickly become familiar to me. I heard the dull roar of bikes traveling in our very direction, and as we kept the guys there with their hands held high, we all heard the lone bike pull into the warehouse parking lot.
Before another asshole wearing a black leather jacket grinned at us.
“Told you so. I knew you guys weren’t the right guys for the job.”
I swiveled and aimed my shotgun at him. “And who the fuck are you?”
The guy chuckled as he swung his leg over his bike. “You don’t have the balls, trust me.”
I grinned. “Sure about that?”
The guy nodded. “Girls who spread their legs and get pregnant by a guy they’ve only known a few days never have the balls. Right, guys?”
Thing One and Thing Two chuckled and nodded their heads, but the instant I heard one of their guns cock, I held that damned shotgun up against my shoulder and took aim.
Before shooting that absolute fuckwad that had just rolled up on his bike… in his fucking knee.
