-:- KNUCKLES -:-
Slowly waking, I rub the pain in my forehead and slowly open my eyes. I’m lying on something hard and feeling with my hand it’s definitely not my bed. Forcing my eyes that bit extra to see where the fuck I am, I’m shocked to see I’m in a fuckin’ cage.
Sitting, I note as much as possible, keeping calm so I can catalog anything that will help me work out what the fuck is going on.
The room is dark, with a single light above but not in the cage itself. One door, but no furniture that I can see in the shadows around the room. Staggering to my feet, I turn and rush forward when I notice Jo, laying in a fetal position in the cage’s corner.
She’s not an overly large young woman, around 143 pounds I would guess. She has curves in all the right places but hides them under baggy clothing. Kneeling, I quietly shake her, “Jo, wake up. Come on, wake up, open your eyes for me.”
Slowly, Jo moves, and I can see a bruise on her temple where she must have hit her head on the passenger side window. Moaning slightly under her breath, Jo lifts her hand and touches her head before wincing and slowly opening her eyes.
Blinking a few times to get her vision back squarely, I can see when she recognizes me in front of her. “What’s going on?” she whimpers as she holds her head once more.
“I don’t know, Jo. We were run off the road at the cross junction. The truck flipped, but I remember nothing else.” Turning, I look around, trying to see more in the shadows around the room.
I can feel Jo panicking when she realizes we are in a cage and have only a bucket in one corner. “Oh no, no, no, no.”
“What’s wrong?” Turning back to Jo and placing my hands on her shoulders.
“He’s got us. Tommaso, he’s got us. This is bad, Knuckles, this is really bad.” I can see the panic rising on her face.
“I’ll keep you safe, no matter what happens, Jo. Always stay behind me, so I have room to maneuver. I’ll do everything I can to make sure we get out of here safely, together. You hear me?”
Nodding, but still with a panicked look on her face, I draw Jo onto her feet and standing I pull her into my arms, giving her the comfort that she needs. But the whole time, my mind is racing about how the fuck we are going to get out of here.
“We need to watch everything, see if we can find a weakness when anything happens, and something will happen, I’m sure because we are here for a reason. I can’t see anything beyond this damn cage we’re in. It’s all darkness and shadows.
“Fuckers didn’t even give us a chair or a mattress for you, just dumped us on the concrete. I’ll kill the fuckers with my bare hands if I get a chance.” I snarl, and Jo grips me around the waist tighter.
“How are we going to get out of here?” Jo whispers into my neck.
“We’re going to watch and look for a weakness, any weakness we can use against them. But my brothers will look, your brother will, and I’m sure Nell will get the Don to look. We just have to make sure we stay alive until they find us.” I kiss the top of her head and feel her nod in agreement.
“We have to do anything necessary to stay alive and get out of here. Jo, you’ve got to be brave and take any chance you get that could lead to you getting out of here.” I move her back slightly from my chest so I can look into her face. “If I have to kill someone to get you or both of us out, I will. My priority is keeping you safe.”
Jo’s eyes are glistening with tears. She nods, then surprises me when she swallows hard before replying. “I understand, and if I can do anything, I will. This man is evil and Lincoln told me if he ever got his hands on me, I had to do whatever I had to do to stay alive.”
“Okay, we do what we need to, but we’ve got to stay together if we can. If they separate us, I can’t protect you.”
Hearing footsteps approaching, I gently push Jo to the back of the cage and stand in front of her. In the darkness, in front of us, I hear a lock turning, and light enters the room as a door opens. Good, now I know where the door is. My eyes flick around the room and I see a window up high, but it has bars on, so it will not be a route out if we ever get out of this cage.
A man in a black suit, probably middle fifties in age, got a gut on him from lack of physicality. He thinks he’s someone special by the way he walks in here. Two men behind him, muscle, that’s okay, I can handle fucking muscle with my eyes shut.
“Well, Jolene, here we are. Are you going to come to me now? Be a good mistress?”
Jo grips the back of my Henley because my kutte was on the back seat of the truck. I place my right hand behind me and on Jo’s hip, giving her the only comfort I can. But I give this fucker a stare he’ll never forget because I’ll never drop my eyes first.
I can see my stare is unnerving him, and he turns his head to one of the muscle. “Show him what he’ll get if he doesn’t bow down.”
The muscle on the right lifts a shock stick and I grin because I’ve had dealings with these before. I’ll shove the fucker up his ass and light him up. I maintain the stare at this asshole, showing he’ll have to do more than wave a fuckin’ stick at me.
“So, what do you say, Jo? You’ve got to say something, or are you going to hide behind your brother and this goon, forever?”
Tommaso is stepping nearer the cage, but I keep my stance and hold Jo against my back. Jo, however, surprises me when she steps to the side and grips my hand, linking our fingers.
“I’ll never be your mistress. Go home to your wife where you are wanted. This is my man, and I’d never walk away or betray my man, unlike you, who’d cheat on his wife.”
I can see the tick in Tommaso’s cheek. He doesn’t like the reply Jo gave him. Surprising me, he laughs, throwing his head back at what he finds amusing. Jo squeezes my hand a little tighter but I remain ready, but I’m thinking please open the door and I’ll kill all of you.
“My wife does as she’s told when she’s told, or she pays the consequences. She’ll be more than happy that I’ve got a new toy to play with and will be leaving her alone for a while.” Tommaso is a sick fucker. The grin on his face shows he’s finding this amusing. What worries me, however, is the look in his eyes. He’s showing some kind of crazy.
Neither Jo nor I make a move or respond to his crass comment about his wife. But what he’s said has me feeling sorry for whoever the woman is that married him. When Tommaso realizes he’s not getting a response he deflates somewhat, then turns to leave the room.
Before the door closes, he chuckles, “You’ll come around. No food, no water, nothing but a bucket will have you coming to your senses in a few days, I’m sure.”
The door slams behind him, and we hear the lock turning. Jo leans into my arm and I lift it for her to wrap herself around my body. Looking down at her to check how she’s coping. I’m surprised to see she has a determined look on her face.
Jo is looking back at me, then grins. “I don’t care about what happens now, Knuckles, but I’ll never be his. I’ll die before he gets me, and I’ll be more than happy about that if it spites that bastard.”
“We’re not going to die. We need to stay vigilant, keep watching, look for opportunities, and act when we can.”
“Okay. I noticed a window, but it has bars on. There is a dining chair in the far-right corner of the room. If we can get out of here we could break it and use it as a weapon, maybe? I know nothing about weapons, but a smack around the head has to at least stun someone,” Jo mumbles and bites her fingernail as she steps away from me and squints her eyes, trying to peer into the shadows.
“Let’s sit back here a while. You’re swaying a bit, Jo. That knock on your temple must have been pretty hard.”
Sitting and leaning against the bars at the back of the cage, I pull Jo between my legs so she’s leaning against my front with her back. I wrap my arms around her and lean my chin on top of her head.
“We’re not getting out of here soon, are we, Knuckles?”
“I don’t know Jo. We have to wait for our opportunity, then grab it with both hands.”
“What’s your real name? Can’t be Knuckles, and why are you called Knuckles, anyway?” Jo asks, and I can’t help the grin that crosses my face.
“I am called Knuckles because I’ve always been a fighter. I had nothing except my hands, and that’s what I’ve worked with. I’ve fought my way through life and I’m more than happy to do whatever I’m needed to do for the club. They are my family, and Jo, they’ll be looking for us.
“My real name is Peter Collinson, but I don’t recognize myself as that person anymore. I’m Knuckles of the Raging Barons MC.”
“Peter, it suits you. But I think you’ll always be Knuckles to me.” Sighing, Jo rests her head on my chest and I hear her murmur to herself. “Knuckles of the Raging Barons MC.”
Resting my head back, I close my eyes, allowing my body to rest, but keeping my mind alert enough to hear anything that may be threatening. Everything is quiet, and I realize it’s deathly quiet. The window with bars is high up, so that’s got to be above ground. Meaning we’re not too far down if this is a basement of sorts, but from what I could see, it’s not a basement as you’d see in a house.
The hours tick by and when Jo wakes needing to relieve herself, I turn my back so she can do what’s needed. I don’t give a fuck, and piss in the bucket whether or not Jo looks.
All we can do is wait and hope an opportunity arises or someone finds us. But for now, it looks like we’re left to suffer without heat, light, food, or water.
