Filthy Secret

SLOANE

Alexei left me alone after the hospital. I cracked my eyes open and realized I was untied and lying in the bed. The hospital staff explained that I was dehydrated, with early-pregnancy bleeding. I wasn’t supposed to be moving.

I wanted to ask for help at the hospital, but being in this small town, people would call him. I didn’t need him to come to my rescue. In fact, it would be great for everyone involved if the MC stayed far away from me and my captor. The doctor may have ordered for me to stay still and on bed rest, but I couldn’t. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice. This was the perfect time to take off.

I sat up, and the room spun before me. That wasn’t going to stop my plan. See, I’d learned a long time ago how to lie without giving anything away. I’d been lulling Alexei into a false sense of security.

Maybe he believed he’d broken me, but he hadn’t.

First of all, I was made of stronger stuff than that. I also had people I could rely on, and I hadn’t called in a favor owed to me in a long time.

Wobbling as I grew light-headed, I climbed off the bed. Bile bubbled into my throat, but I swallowed it down. I was pregnant, but I could still move, and while I stumbled on my first step, I didn’t let that deter me. I could lose my child trying to run, but I had to try.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I made my way out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. The keys to the only car Alexei had were right on the countertop, not hidden at all.

Dumb move, old man.

I swiped them and made my way to the car. It took longer than it should to get to the vehicle, because I didn’t have shoes on. I tried to dodge as many rocks as I could, with some degree of success.

I unlocked the car door manually and clambered inside, wincing at the pain. I locked all the doors before I started the car, knowing it would alert Alexei but having no other choice.

A shout in the distance alerted me that he was coming. I put that fucker in reverse and floored it out of there. Alexei came from behind the cabin, running towards me with a gun drawn. A ping sounded, and I swerved in surprise.

“What the fuck?” I screamed over the squealing tires. I turned to look behind me and Alexei had a look of regret.

I’d thought he wasn’t going to hurt me.

He knew I would run, right? He had to have known. Who in their right mind would stay?

He was a psycho. Maybe even worse than my ex. Even knowing that, part of me stayed behind with him as he gave up and watched me drive away.

“Just breathe,” I told myself.

I was relieved when he was no longer in my rearview mirror. Fuck, that was close. I headed down the mountain into town. It was time.

After parking by the little blue house, I climbed from the car, slower than before. The pain almost made me woozy, but I sucked in a breath and made my way up the stairs. I lifted my hand to knock, but before I could, the door swung open, and I almost fell inside.

Megan gaped at me. “What the fuck, Sloane?” She yelled, “Josh! Josh, get out here! It’s Sloane!”

Josh was her boyfriend. I didn’t want anything to do with him, since he was involved in the Devil’s MC, but at this point, I didn’t have anywhere else to turn.

“What the fuck is she doing here?” he growled before looking closer at me. “Sloane? Are you alright?”

Josh used to be my friend. He’d also fucked me a lot, until I caught the eyes of his president.

Then, I was off-limits.

“Get her inside,” he snapped at Megan.

He hated me, but he wouldn’t turn me away if I were in trouble. He owed me, and so did Megan. I leaned heavily on Megan so I could enter their house.

“The car needs to be moved,” I whispered.

Josh looked over at me with a glare. “What have you got wrapped up in?” he demanded.

I took a breath. “Not what-who.”

Josh didn’t move to make the call to the boys.

“I was taken in front of my job by Alexei Petrov.” Of course, as soon as I said his name, all hell broke loose.

“The fuck? We asked that asshole about you. Prez told everyone you were missing, but most of us thought you skipped fucking town to get away from him.”

“I would’ve if I’d had enough money saved up, but I didn’t, so I couldn’t. Now, this guy kept me for god knows how long, and I need to get the fuck out of Dodge.”

Josh tilted his head and looked at me. Really looked. I saw a spark in the back of his eyes that said he had some kind of mischief planned.

“I know a place you can go.” He gave me a lecherous smile that didn’t help his face at all.

“No, absolutely not. I came here to get away from that monster, not get in bed with another,” I snapped, irritated that even now, when I needed help, he would choose his fucking club over me.

“It’s too late. I texted the boys; they’re coming for that car . . . and you.” His words were ominous.

I shot a panicked look at Megan, but she was staring at the floor. Of course she wouldn’t make eye contact. They knew. They absolutely knew I couldn’t go back.

“You are condemning me to death,” I choked out, my eyes glazing over with tears. This had been my only hope.

I’d been better off with Alexei.

Megan wasn’t moved. “You chose to leave, and we let you. Now you come in here, looking the way you do, like we’re going to let you cash in a favor. Naw. ‘Prez wouldn’t like that, and I’m not sticking my neck out for you again. Not after last time,” she snapped, hands on her hips.

“I know it was fucked up, what I did, but you don’t understand.” I tried to plead with her.

“You betrayed us!” Josh yelled, his eyes wild with rage.

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“I’m pregnant. I can’t go back,” I whispered brokenly.

“Does it belong to the Prez?” Josh asked. His tone was wooden, like he didn’t care one way or another.

“No, of course not,” I snapped. There was no way I’d stay pregnant with his president’s child. I would never have gotten out of that life. He wouldn’t have let me leave.

Josh sighed and sank onto the couch beside me. “Look, ever since you left, Prez has been fucked up. He hasn’t been himself. It wasn’t until he realized you hadn’t shown up to work for two weeks that he sent us looking for you.”

While we were talking, Megan left us alone. She did not want to be in the middle of club shit. Not that I was a part of the club anymore, but she still knew the score. She was on the outskirts more than anyone else. Not a sweetbutt, but not an old lady, either.

“Y’all left me alone for so long, just watching from a distance, I thought he’d let it go.” I knew that was naive, but fuck me, I wasn’t trying to be.

“What you did doesn’t go unanswered. It’s only because you were the prez’s woman that he allowed you to leave. He promised to stay out of the diner, but that was it. Now, here you are, crawling back. You have no one but yourself to blame.” He was as hard as ever.

Fuck, I should’ve never run from Alexei. This situation was much worse–out of the frying pan and into the fire. The sound of bikes could be heard in the distance, and I gulped.

“Looks like the boys are here,” Megan said, after briefly looking out through the curtains.

I couldn’t run anymore. I knew there was nowhere else for me to go, and I had no funds. I stood up on shaky legs.

Fuck if they’d catch me off guard.

“Piece of advice,” Josh drawled. “I wouldn’t tell prez that Russian fuck knocked you up. He’d either beat you so bad you couldn’t move or cut the baby out of you. Either way, you’d pray for death.”

I nodded, knowing he was right. His president was the meanest fucker I’d ever met, and I didn’t want him to know about the baby. I could tell him about Alexei, even if the thought of doing that made me want to vomit all over the floor, but I couldn’t tell him about the baby.

I wouldn’t.

Even though it wasn’t made out of love, forced inside of me by a psycho, I still wanted to keep it. I could picture a small child with dark, curly locks and blue eyes, running in a field of daisies.

That daydream was quickly snuffed out when the bikes cut off.

His boots always drew my eyes. They were shined up, reminding me that prospects cleaned his boots all the time, like he was a drill sergeant. I only stole a glance at his body. I remembered everything underneath that fucking cut; I didn’t need any reminders. Then, my eyes locked onto his.

They were dead, soulless. He smiled, but it held no fucking mirth.

“Hello, sweetcakes.” He flicked the toothpick in his mouth out and strode towards me.

“Hello, Damon,” I said, nice and clear when he got within a foot of me. I gulped but didn’t move a fucking inch. It was how he liked to play, but I wasn’t going to show him any fear.

Not this time around.

We were breathing the same air, and no one had died.

Not yet, anyway.

I could only hope and pray that I kept my head attached to my neck, but, knowing my luck, I’d be dead before sunrise.