Chapter 3: Reaper's Clubhouse

"Wait!” Stacy’s loud voice caused everyone to stop in their tracks.

Chad’s brows furrowed in annoyance as Stacy dug her heels and planted herself on the ground. “What now?” He asked, visibly not very happy about the disturbance.

“Just, let me say my piece of mind,” Stacy pleaded. She stared at Chad with hope. Seeing that he neither acknowledged her request, nor did he ignore her, she continued on, “I’m really not a Viper. I arrived here this afternoon and went there for a drink. There was some clashing with this guy and I took his jacket. I don’t know who he is and what he's done. I won’t be of help so can we please pretend that none of these happened and let me go in peace?”

She went on and on. None of the men said a word. After she thought she'd said enough, she stopped. None of them said anything still, leaving an awkward silence lingering in the air.

After a few beats, Chad finally broke the silence. “Done talking?” He asked. Stacy was speechless. “Yes..?” She managed that one word in her confusion since she was expecting another response.

Immediately, Chad turned and continued towards the bikes. Stacy’s brows furrowed in confusion before realization struck her. This guy never intended to let her go! She was pleading for nothing. Anger bubbled up inside her. How dare he make a fool out of her!

She jerked her right arm backward, tugging the cuff Chad had been holding on. “Yah! Can you be more reasonable while I’m still being nice?” She yelled while struggling against Zalen’s hold on her.

Chad took a deep breath and turned to face her. “Alright. Look, we need you to follow us back to the clubhouse for a bit. We are investigating a murder here. Would you just cooperate?” Stacy rolled her eyes. ‘Just cooperate? Who does he think he is?’ “Why would I? Who do you think you are? Are you the police?” She retorted sarcastically.

That got a few laughs out of the men around them. Chad sneered, “the police? Do you seriously think that they are of any use in this town? Here, the Vipers are the authority. You didn’t know that, did you? Seems that you’re honest when you said that you’re new here.” He eyed the Viper emblem on her jacket before saying, “those Vipers are bad people. You better stay away from them.”

Stacy studied the man in front of her. ‘He doesn’t seem that bad. Is he looking out for me?’ She quickly shook the thought out of her mind. Bad people are everywhere and nobody should be judged by a simple act. “Noted with thanks,” she said with a flat tone, “can I leave now?”

“Leave?” There was amusement in Chad’s voice. ‘She seemed honest but we shouldn’t be too quick to trust. She is the only clue we have so far. No matter what, I need to get her back to the clubhouse until we get any other clues,’ Chad thought.

“Not a chance,” he said with a smirk. He enjoyed watching Stacy’s face twisting in fury. ‘She wears her emotions on her sleeve. This kind of straight-forward person doesn’t seem like a spy sent by the Vipers. She could be used by the Vipers, or she might be acting this whole time. If she’s that sly, she is indeed a frightening person,’ he thought.

Just as that thought popped up in his mind, Stacy’s face relaxed and showed no emotions at all. Chad’s heart skipped a beat. ‘She’s finally showing her true face!’

Suddenly, she smirked. Chad’s heartbeat sped up involuntarily. He got his senses on alert, keenly observing his surroundings. ‘She might be stalling time and getting the Vipers ready for a sneak attack on us. What a clever method!’

THUD!

A sharp pain shot through Chad as Stacy’s leg whipped out and her ankle connected hard to his manhood. “JERK!” She shrieked. Everyone was shocked. They didn’t see her as much of a threat and thought the attack was coming from elsewhere so they didn’t pay much attention to her.

Chad’s body bent and he jerked backward while wincing in pain. Stacy, who was halfway through forming her smile of victory, slipped out of Zalen’s grip due to the impact and lost her balance as Chad was still holding the cuff connected to her wrist. Both of them fell to the ground with Stacy landing on top of Chad.

Everything happened really fast. Everyone was still in shock, including both Chad and Stacy. They both looked up and realized what happened at the same time. Stacy can’t help but blush. He was one of the few guys she met in her life that she was attracted to. The only difference between him and the other guys she was attracted to was that he didn’t have a murderous aura and Stacy didn’t sense any bad intention from him.

Realizing that they were too close, she quickly tried standing up while awkwardly stumbling as Chad was still holding on to the cuff.

When both of them finally got on their feet, Stacy mumbled, “that’s why I said the cuff was a bad idea.”

“Actually,” Chad started, “it’s not a bad idea at all.” With a click, he clasped the other cuff to his own wrist. Stacy’s eyes widened in shock as he pocketed the key. “What the..” she managed before Chad threw her over his shoulder and marched towards the bike.

“Hey! Put me down! You jerk, I said put me down! Are you deaf?” Stacy screamed and thrashed.

“Sweetie, you better stay still because I’m trying my best not to spank this ass of yours. You’re definitely not helping with all these wiggling,” Chad warned. She immediately went rigid. That made Chad smirk. ‘Well, that worked.’

He put her on his bike and the group started riding toward the clubhouse.

Stacy was quiet the whole ride there. ‘I must find a way to escape before they put me in that clubhouse of theirs,’ she thought.

Before long, they arrived at the clubhouse. Stacy looked at the building in front of her, her mind reeling with ways to escape in one piece.

“Well, welcome to our clubhouse,” Chad voiced out. Stacy remained silent. ‘What a great welcome,’ she sneered in her heart.

Chad started walking into the house, dragging Stacy behind him. Stacy tried planting herself on the ground and grabbed the door at the entrance. No matter what, she wouldn’t let herself in there. God knows how hard it would be to escape once she set her foot in the clubhouse.

“Well, here we are! You can let go of me now,” she said, hoping that he would uncuff them. He looked at her before smirking and continued striding inside. Stacy couldn’t grab the door much longer and had no choice but to follow him in.

‘I guess it’s alright to see the basement of the Reaper’s clubhouse. I’ve seen the Viper’s when I was a child. I’m sure nothing could scare me anymore,’ she thought.

She steeled herself, prepared to face anything that would happen to her in the clubhouse. She had seen horrible things and with her experience, she was sure that nothing they planned to do to her would be new. ‘The same old routines. Just sit through it,’ she took a deep breath and followed after Chad.