Page 49 of Jackass

“Night, brother!”

“Night, Gunner.”

I sat at the bar for another few hours, talking with brothers as they came and left. When the last brother I had been talking with had gotten up and walked off, Amber sat down next to me.

“I don’t have the patience to put up with anymore shit from you, Amber,” I warned.

“I’m sorry, Jack. I shouldn’t have come at you the way I did,” she said before shouting, “Hey, Billy, can I get a beer?”

So that was his name. I should try to remember that. Billy, the prospect, handed Amber a beer, and she took a long sip.

“What you said hit a nerve with me. When you called me a whore because of daddy issues—”

“Amber, I shouldn’t have said that—”

“No, Jack.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I satthere and waited. She needed to get something off her chest.

“You weren’t wrong. Well, not entirely. I do have daddy issues, but not from him being absent. More like him being a littletooattentive.”

Fuck.

“Does King know?” I asked, knowing my president wouldn’t put up with knowing that shit and not doing something about it.

“He does. He offered to take care of him for me.” She chuckled. “I already took that son of a bitch out myself,” she added, shocking the shit out of me.

“Good for you.” I tipped my bottle toward her, and she clinked hers with mine.

“When I left home at sixteen, I put myself in some undesirable situations. Then one day, I met a guy. He wasn’t quite my father’s age, but he was older, and said he wanted to take care of me. The relationship was great in the beginning. He spoiled me with affection, with clothes, jewelry, anything I wanted. Being young, I didn’t know those things came at a price. That price was not just my body, but my dignity and self-respect.”

She paused and stared at the bottles on the shelf behind the bar. Watching her, I realized she was staring at herself in the mirror behind the bottles.

“We were together three years before the physical abuse started. That was when I realized how bad things really were. He didn’t isolate me like so many abused women are. Being young and living on the street was isolating already. I had been alone until him. He showed me off to his friends. I thought he was proud of me. Thought he was bragging about the girl he had. Instead, he was advertising me. I learned he was making plans torentme out to his friends. The day I confronted him was the first time he hit me.”

I sat there quietly. Amber wanted to share this with me. I didn’t know why, but I wouldn’t stop her from unloading her pain.

“For two years, he pimped me out. One of his friends took a special interest in me. Told me he loved me. Told me he wanted to take me away from the life I was living. He said I deserved better than what Dan was offering me.”

Now I had first name. All I needed was a last name and I would have Nav track this guy down.

“He bought me from Dan. He liked to remind me he paid a hefty price for my freedom.” She scoffed. “What he called freedom was my personal hell. He isolated me. In his personal sex dungeon to be exact.”

“Jesus Christ, Amber.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This woman was my age, and she had been through hell.

She turned to look at me and smiled.

She fucking smiled.

“Don’t worry, Jack. There is a happy ending, I promise.”

“Fuck, Amber. I don’t think you understand the word happy.”

She laughed at that. “I’m happy here, Jack.”

“How? These guys use you for sex.”

“I like sex, Jack. And they don’t use me. I willingly give myself to them. I never thought I would get away. Then one day, these guys on bikes showed up. The Golden Skulls MC. They had been working with the Feds to bring down sex traffickers. I was one of the lucky ones. I got out. I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for them.”

“I read about them. They brought down a huge ring.” It had been all over the news a few years ago.