Page 31 of Hell Yes
Val ignored the flirty comment. “I borrowed them from Sage. In fact, they seem too tight.”
The heat in her face spread to her neck and chest, and good Lord, she was acting a fool. Biting her lip, she turned back to the freezer, scooped out a large serving of ice and dumped it in the glasses that Dante had set out on the counter.
Dante poured coffee over the ice and added milk and sugar. Four glasses and yes, one for her. She took a long sip and that first hit of coffee was desperately needed. Letting out a low moan of appreciation, Val finally felt herself calming down.
Until she noticed that the room was silent, and Val stopped drinking.
“What?” she asked.
“Don’t mind them.” Dante motioned to Jesse and Xander. “They try to act cool, but they have no game when it comes to dealing with women. Or, at least, not with you.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Jesse hissed and gave Dante the finger.
“Me?” Xander scoffed and ran a hand over his stubbled jaw. “I’ve got more game than all of you guys combined.”
“Right.” Dante smirked. “That’s why you just put salt in your coffee.”
Xander looked down at the shaker in his hand, and sure enough, he’d poured salt into his drink.
“I meant to do that,” Xander snapped. “We walked for over two hours last night, we need electrolytes.”
Val suppressed a laugh, but barely. Which was insane. These guys weren’t funny, and neither was the situation she was in. So, why was she charmed by them? Probably because they didn’t play games. They said what they meant and did what they wanted. They lived by a different set of rules and made no bones about it. There was no hypocrisy.
Dante chuckled in response and Val took in the sight of his smile. Now she understood the appeal.
Then Dante’s phone rang and he left the kitchen.
“Enough joking around,” Jesse muttered. “Gage wants us at the clubhouse for a meeting.”
“I’ll stay here and clean up,” Val offered.
“No way. You’re coming too.”
She knew there was no point in arguing. Grabbing a plate, she scooped up some eggs and began to eat. Who knows what was coming next or when she’d get her next meal. She should be scared as hell, and yet, she felt safer here then she did when she was living back in Mosley.
Looking back at her childhood, Val realized that the years of quiet obedience, the mental and physical abuse, and the repression of all outside contact, made life in Mosley unbearable. And being under the constant watchful eye of the leader, Simeon, always gave Val a sense of unease. She didn't know what it meant as a child, but she certainly recognised what it meant today. He was manipulative, a narcissist, an abuser. Gaslighting and terrorizing the women in the church to keep them under his control.
At least with the Hellraisers, from what Val could see, people like Rochelle and Sage had a say in what was going on. And Avery hellion was a full-fledged member of the crew. A woman that Val saw in town, riding her motorcycle. She also managed the local bar. Avery was, from everything Val had heard, just as tough as her brother, Jesse, and her boyfriend, Sonny.
Then Val thought about the letter. What would happen when she left the compound?
“Are you all right?”
Val nodded. “I’m fine. It’s just been a harrowing few days and I’m still running on adrenaline.”
“You work with us, and everything will work out,” Jesse suggested as he got up and walked around the island, standing close to her. “But there's no going back from here. Do you understand what that means?”
“It means I have to keep my mouth shut. Pretend like nothing happened. Pretend I don’t know you or what you do.”
“It's more than that,” Xander replied, and followed Jesse, getting up beside her. All three of them were now standing together, so close Val could feel their body heat and the scent of their spicy soap. Val stared into Jesse’s brown eyes and then Xander’s blues. “It means you're a part of us, like it or not. You've been in our compound, and you’ve heard our conversations. You can’t go back to your quiet little life.”
She put her hands on her hips and stared at them. “So, what, I have to work here now? Is that it? You’re going to imprison me, just like the religion I grew up in?”
“No, not like that. We’re all about personal freedom. But once you know our secrets, we can’t trust you won’t let them out.”
“Who am I gonna tell? The postman? The retired miner who comes in every day to the diner? Please.”
“That’s just it. You might say something, on purpose or not. You tell one person, they tell another. Next thing you know we got caught cops crawling all over the fucking town. We can’t have that.”