Chapter 1
Destiny woke up early, slipping quietly out of bed so as not to wake Ed up. Her face still hurt from the slap he had given her. There was still pain down below from his sexual assault on her when he came home stinking drunk from spending the evening at the bar. Stepping into the shower she let the hot water flow over her body as she scrubbed herself clean. If only she had kept quiet about him being drunk he might have gone straight to bed. When she complained about the smell of booze on him he went into a fit of rage, grabbing her by the hair he slapped her so hard she saw stars behind her closed eyelids. He then dragged her into the bedroom, screaming obscenities as he ripped off her nightgown and pushed her onto the bed. He was rough, making her cry out in pain as she begged him to stop.
Drying off she looked at herself in the mirror and wondered what happened to the girl looking back at her. She had always been so strong, so independent, now she was weak, afraid to look anyone in the eye. When she moved here a year ago and started working in the town’s only diner she met Ed. He was so sweet and gentle, making her feel like a princess. For four months they dated before moving in together, that was when the trouble started. She had witnessed his anger with others, but never with her. There were rumours that he was a bully, but he never showed that side of himself to her.
It started off slowly at first, he would complain about her friends, saying that they were hitting on him and talking bad about her behind her back. Then he would complain about the clothes she wore, saying that she was dressing like a whore and men were saying things about her so he started picking out her clothes. Then things progressed, she couldn’t go anywhere without him except to work. Her paychecks went to him, even the tips she earned and was only given enough money to buy food. When he’d come home from working at the feed mill he expected dinner to be on the table and if it wasn’t he’d fly into a fit of anger, trashing the place. It got to the point where he started beating her and forcing himself on her.
She attempted several times to leave, even sneaking away in the middle of the night and taking a bus out of town. But with the help of his brother who was the town’s Sheriff, they found her and brought her back where she was severely beaten. He warned her that if she tried to leave again he’d kill her, and she knew he meant it. With no money and no friends she was trapped, the only way to stay alive was to keep quiet and do what she was told. In the last few months, he started drinking more, staying out late and kept losing job after job. He would sit around drinking and eating, putting on weight and had grown a potbelly.
The people at work felt bad for her, knowing what was going on but were too afraid of the Cilpins to do anything about it. They ignored the black eyes and the bruises, pretending not to notice. Her boss Carl, an elderly man knew that she wasn’t getting enough to eat at home and would feed her when she was on her breaks. Well, that was when Ed wasn’t around. It broke his heart to see her having to walk the two miles to where she lived on hot summer days or in the dead of winter. But for her to accept a ride, especially from a male would end up with both of them being beaten.
The small town was run by the Cilpin boys, Ed the youngest, his older brother Jack and the oldest Ralf. Everyone was afraid of them so they all did their best not to antagonize anyone of them in fear of payback. People who had gotten on the wrong side of them lived to regret it.
She put on her waitress uniform and applied make-up to help cover up the bruise on her face and was glad that he was still asleep when she left for work. For being early it was hot out as she made the two-mile walk into town. She walked into the diner and felt the cool air from the air-conditioner hit her. There were only a couple of customers inside eating their breakfast, they glanced at her and nodded before going back to eat.
Judy, one of the other waitresses was busy filling the sugar containers when she looked up, giving Destiny a warm smile but frowned when she saw the shape she was in. “Lord have mercy, what has that bastard done to you now?”
“It’s nothing,” she said, picking up some menus went over to the couple who walked in and sat down in her section. After taking their order went and hung up the slip of paper for Carl so that he could see what he needed to make. She avoided looking at him when she saw the way he was staring at her face.
“I wish you could get away from Ed, that man is going to end up killing you one of these days,” Judy said, touching her arm, letting Destiny know she was worried about her.
She looked at the other woman with tears in her eyes. “If I try to leave him again then he will kill me. Her eyes widened in fear when she saw Ed walk in with his brother Jack. She hated it when he came into the diner, and he never paid for his food, saying she would from her tips. There were many times she didn’t make enough in tips but Carl always let it slide.
Pouring two cups of coffee she takes them over and sets them down.
“Give us two of the early bird special baby,” Ed said, giving her ass a smack when she walked away. It wasn’t a light slap, it was hard and stung like hell. Jack was just as bad, he never tried to hide the fact that he kept staring at her breasts. It made her sick the way he kept checking her out and how he kept trying to get close to her whenever he came over to their home to drink with Ed. She would always go to bed after feeding them, hearing the crude remarks he made about her.
When they finished eating he got up, leaned over the counter and shouted out to Carl. “Destiny will pay for our breakfast.”
Suddenly there was the loud sound of motorcycles approaching the diner and stopping. Everyone looked out the window and saw eight bikes, the riders got off and walked into the diner.
Her eyes went to one guy, he was tanned with dark hair and blue eyes. Her heart started to pound wildly inside her chest when he looked back into her eyes. He was drop-dead gorgeous with that bad boy aura. The eight bikers and three women who were with them went and sat down in her section. Picking up the menus she walked over on legs that felt like jelly, her hands shook when she started to write down their orders. They were rowdy and she felt nervous until the dark-haired one spoke.
“OK boys and girls, keep it down and treat the lady with respect,” he said, looking into her eyes he smiled at her. “I’ll make it easy for you Miss, we’ll all have the breakfast special and coffee all around.”
She bit down on her bottom lip, she wanted to speak but no words would come out so she just nodded and walked away. Judy helped her to deliver the coffee, both nervous about having a biker gang there. They had heard stories of how biker gangs raped and caused havoc in small towns.
After they were served their food she went back behind the counter, standing next to Judy. “I wonder where they’re from?” she asked, curious about the strangers.
“I have no clue,” Judy answered. “But that one guy is really hot. If only I was ten years younger,” she said, sighing. “Oh, here he comes now. You see what he wants, Carl is calling me.”
The stranger sat down on the stool and placed his cup on the table. “I wonder if I could get a refill?”
She nodded, turned around and grabbed the pot she poured coffee into his cup. “I could have come to the table.” She dared to look him in the eyes but quickly turned away. There was something about him that got her body feeling things that she hadn’t felt in a long time.
“How did you get that mark on your face? It looks like someone hit you pretty hard.”
Her hand went to her face, touching the spot where Ed had slapped her. “It was an accident. Do you want anything else?”
He was about to answer but stopped when she looked towards the door, her face turned pale and she looked scared to death. He turned his head and saw the man he had passed coming in and he had the sheriff with him. They were walking toward him, and the blond waitress backed away.
The sheriff, chewing on a straw and his belly hanging over his belt looked down at him. “Where are you and the others heading to, boy?”
He leaned his back against the counter. “We’re just passing through, sheriff. But we’re having some problems with a couple of our bikes so we may have to stick around until they get fixed. Is that going to be a problem?”
“We’re a nice quiet little town and we don’t want any trouble. Keep your noses clean and don’t cause any trouble or you’ll be run out of town.”
“Don’t worry sheriff, my gang and I won’t cause any trouble.”
“You better not,” he said, nodding to Destiny he looked at Ed. “Let’s go,” he said and headed to the door.
Ed saw the way the biker was looking at her so he grabbed her hand. “I’ll see you at home baby.” He pulled her closer and spoke quietly into her ear. “Don’t even think of talking to him or I’ll make you wish you were never born,” he said, giving her a kiss on her cheek.
When he was gone the biker stared at her, he could tell she was scared of the man. “My name is Diego Sanchez, what’s yours?”
She swallowed the lump in her throat and checked to make sure Ed was gone. “Destiny Knight.”
Getting to his feet he asked for the bill for his gang’s food, he looked at it and taking out some cash laid it on the counter. “Maybe I’ll see you before we leave town,” he said, smiling at her.
She picked up the money and looked at him. “You have twenty dollars too much here,” she said, trying to hand it back to him but he refused to take it.
“Keep it, it’s your tip.” He looked over at his gang and let out a whistle. “Time to go, guys” As they were walking out he stopped to look at the cute blond behind the counter. There was something about her that had him wanting to take her into his arms and kiss her. He also felt she needed rescuing from the jerk that kissed her cheek. It was obvious she was being abused.
Getting on their bikes Freddie leaned over to Diego. “Don’t even think about it, we don’t need any trouble.”
“I haven’t got a clue as to what you are talking about.”
“The blond waitress, I saw the way you were looking at her. It’s clear she has a boyfriend who appears to be close to the sheriff. Man, let it go, don’t get involved.”
He took his dark sunglasses from his pocket and placed them on his face. “She’s being abused, I can’t just walk away without doing something about it. I’ll be sticking around after the bikes are fixed, you and the others can leave.”
Freddie revved up his bike and turned to look at Diego. “We’re a family, if you stay we all stay,” he said and pulled out of the parking lot with the others.
Diego looked back at the diner, he knew he’d be back to see her when he saw her looking out the window at him. He took off, catching up to the others as they headed to the woods where they were going to camp.
