by K. C. Stone
“You okay?” I asked, knowing her answer would be she was fine.
“Yeah, just a little clumsy that’s all, can I get you anything else?” she replies her laugh fades a little.
“No, thank you, this is perfect,” I say, tossing a wink her way. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. Something haunting is floating in them.
“I will check on you later then,” she says as she walks away.
I text Fitz that he should focus on the redhead, she seems easy to get information out of and something tells me that she wants to talk but is afraid.
I look over and he signals with a head nod. The club seems to get a lot of customers and they seem to only focus on the dancers. Occasionally one will meet with the owner, they head to the back but what really concerned me was how the dancers went out of their way to stay away from him. Some would even cower away from him, that was the most unnerving of all.
Toward the end of the night, I decided to head out so when the redhead came back, I closed out my tab. I handed her a napkin with my name and information on it, under it I scrawled anytime you need, just call. Now the ball is in her court, maybe if Fitz couldn’t get her to talk to him then I could at least reach out and help her.
It’s been two days since we went to the club and I haven’ heard anything from the waitress. It wasn’t until we were in church when there was a knock on the door.
I opened the door to find Cara standing there.
“I know that I’m not supposed to interrupt but we’ve a small problem, well actually a big problem,” she says and the look on her face is sadness mixed with anger.
“What is it?” I ask because, for her to knock, it must be bad.
“Um, you have a visitor,” she says, “but I don’t think it would be wise if I brought her in here. So, if you and O’Brian can come outside,” she asks timidly.
O’Brian stands and without a word comes outside. Standing in the hallway is the redhead from the club. She no longer has just a split lip, she’s now sporting a black eye and a bruise across her face, and a gash that spans both top and bottom, the bastard used her as a punching bag.
My anger flairs, I will kill him, no need to try and buy something from a dead man.
“Cara, love, I need you to go back in there and ask for Doc, please,” O’Brian asks.
“Yes, right away,” she says, turning and racing back into the room.
“What happened, who did this to you?” I ask, knowing the answer.
“You said I could ask for help,” she whispers, wincing when her lip pulled.
“Yes, I did. What happened?” I ask again.
“He called me up and said I needed to come up to the club because we had a customer that paid double for a private dance and I told him that I couldn’t. I was scheduled off today so I drove up to see my mother, he didn’t like my answer so he told me that if I didn’t show up, I would be out of a job and that would be the least of my worries,” she regales.
“Go on,” I say, wanting to hear what led to the beating she received.
“So, when I got there, I did my job and after, he called me into his office. That was when he hit me, he said that no matter what he owned me and he could end me,” she ends on a sob.
Cara was right there soothing her as Doc tended to her wounds.
“It’s okay, sweetie, nothing like that will ever happen again,” she croons into the girl’s hair.
The look she gives me breaks my heart and somehow, I love her even more.
“You don’t understand, he will keep doing this, he will destroy everything so that we have no choice but to go back to him in the end. That’s the way it’s been for the last six years,” she confesses.
“How old are you?” I ask.
“Twenty,” she says softly.
“I’m sorry, did you say twenty, and that you have been working for him for six years?” Cara asks completely blown away by the news we just received.
“Yes, I will be twenty-one next month but, yes, I have worked for Sean since I was fifteen,” she says shame lacing her voice.
“My mother has always been the one that had a problem and Sean fed that problem. When I was fifteen her habit got out of control and she was in debt, he said the only way she could pay it off was if I went to work for him, so I did and I have been ever since.” She has her arms wrapped around herself feeling exposed.
“Let’s get her cleaned up,” Doc says, wiping the blood from her nose. “That lip needs a couple stitches top and bottom and she can rest for a while,” Doc volunteers.
“Cara, will you take her to where the rest of the girls are? Try to keep her hidden, the least amount of people to know about her the better right now,” I say because now we need to come up with a plan to end that motherfucker.
“Sure thing. Okay, sweetie, follow me. Let’s get you some rest, you must be exhausted,” she says as they head out of the room.
“Okay, the bastard dies, he dies tonight,” O’Brian barks. He, like me, is so angry that shedding blood is the only way to quench that thirst.
“Church now.” He stomps his way back into the room.
“What happened, Boss,” one of O’Brian’s boys call out.
“A girl from that piece of shit club, you know, Fitz, the one we saw the other night, well she showed up here with the shit beat out of her. So, we will take the fight to him. Mac, I want you to stand guard with Cara and the rest of the family.” I nod slightly just to make sure he gets my drift. I trust Mac with my wife and kids, if I had to pick someone other than Dom to guard my side it would be Mac, more importantly he guards my family.
“With my life,” he says.
“Good, everyone on board?” O’Brian pulls a smoke out of his pack and stands. Just as we are dismissed, Fitz asks, “What do we do with the girls?”
“We treat them and then help them,” I say without missing a beat. There is no way in hell we could leave them in the condition that they are in.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cara
Opening the door, I am shocked to see a woman with long red hair, it trailed down to her waist. When she turned around my breath caught in my throat. I did everything in my power to not gasp, I didn’t want to frighten her any more than she was already.
“Can I help you?” I asked still in shock. Her face looks like someone used her as a punching bag, black eye, split lip and a prominent hand mark across her face.
“Yes, I’m here to see. . .” She looked down at the folded napkin she had concealed in her hand. “Sorry, I’m here to see Locke,” she says, holding out the napkin with his information on it.
“Come in, sweetie.” I wrap my arm around her shoulder careful not to squeeze too hard, who knows where else she’s hurt.
“I will take you to him and you can call me Cara.” The sadness mixed with relief in her eyes lets me know she rarely gets shown kindness. I’m angry for her and I’m pissed at who would do something so vile.
I know I shouldn’t interrupt them, but I needed Matthew and O’Brian, so I gently knock on the door.
Once they get her cleaned up and treated, I take her to rest. “Don’t worry you don’t have to go back there. You’re safe here,” I reassure her.
“I’m so sorry to have to drag you and your family into my mess, it’s just that your husband offered to help, and nobody has ever offered to help. Most people are scared of Sean or they want something from him so they look the other way when he hits us, mistreats us,” she says. She reminds me of a little bird just broken and beat down by life.
“Here are some clothes and the shower is right in there. Why don’t you go and get cleaned up?” I offer her the change of clothes to get her out of her bloodstained shirt, realizing that I have yet to ask her what her name is.
“Sorry, I never got your name. Everything was so crazy when you arrived, I didn’t think of asking.”
“Red” was all she gave me. Something tells me that, obviously, she’s scared to give me her real name. Hopef
ully, she will feel safer here to share that information.
“Well, Red, if you need anything, I will be right here,” I say, leaving her alone for some privacy.
“When you’re ready, I’m right next door just come on in,” I tell her, shutting the door in the hallway. My heart breaks for her, I lean back against the door and close my eyes. I could not imagine Jules having to go through that.
“Hey, baby, how is she?” I open my eyes to see Matthew standing in front of me.
“She’s in the shower right now, I gave her a change of clothes. Matthew she’s the same age as our daughter. The thought sickens me that one, a mother would allow her daughter to be treated like that at the age of fifteen and two, that a man would want a fifteen-year-old girl.” I want to beat the crap out of both of them. I’m angry for her and I’m angry for those other girls that have to endure shit like that.
“My woman has such a heart of gold,” he whispers, kissing each of my wrists. The red marks still linger there and that gives me an idea, but that will have to wait until later. Just then the door opens, and Red is standing there.
“Don’t worry, girl, we will take care of it; he will not hurt you or your friends anymore,” Matthew says before walking off.
“Come on, I will introduce you to my girls.” I lead her into the next room where the girls and Killian are. Maybe if she meets the girls here it will help her open up and give us some information so we can nail this bastard, that’s if the boys don’t kill him first.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Locke
The game plan was to take over the strip club nicely but after Red showed up beat to hell, we decided to go in guns blazing and really fuck shit up. We knew nobody would be there except the dancers at noon. So, we walked in and asked to speak to the owner, shithead Sean.
“How can I help you?” he asks.
“Yeah, we are here about a friend of ours, her name is Red,” Fitz says nicely at first.
“Yeah, she had an accident. I gave her a day off. She isn’t here, she’s probably with her fucking crackhead mother up on High Street,” he says like it was no big deal what was done to that poor girl.
“Oh, an accident. Well let’s have a seat at that table over there because I would really like to make you an offer you shouldn’t refuse,” I say, placing my arm around his neck applying just a small amount of pressure.
“Em, get us a round of drinks and hurry your ass over here,” he barks at a young girl standing by the counter. The closer she gets you can see the remainder of a black, green, and yellow bruise across her face.
“What happened to you?” I ask. It’s taking everything in me to not rip his motherfucking throat out.
“I fell trying to get a routine down on the pole,” she stutters. The way her eyes glance over to Sean, we know he had something to do with it.
“From what I see, this happens a lot with your girls,” O’Brian says, taking the drink from the girl.
“Some, the girls just think that they can do and say whatever the fuck they want, they don’t understand I fucking own them,” he spits out and the girl he called Em flinches back like that was not the first time she had been smacked around.
“So, Sean is it, well here is my deal, you sell my club your club and then you get the fuck out of Ireland or you will never live to see your next fucking birthday,” O’Brian offers.
Well, damn, just get right to the point then, I think to myself. “So,” I lean in, “what’s it going to be Sean, is it now our club or yours?” I give him the ultimatum if he had any fucking clue, he would have said ours.
“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?” He slams his fist on the table and the glasses we had just set down go tumbling to the floor shattering.
“Shit that didn’t take long.” I look over to Fitz. “Take the girls out of here, will ya?” I ask him. Honestly, they have seen enough violence in their lives that they don’t need to see more.
Once I see they are all out of the room, I grab the loudmouth fucking prick and slam his head on the table in front of us. “Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to? I will kill you and not think twice. We were nice, told you we would buy your piece of shit club out from under you but no you had to be a dick about it and laugh at the fact you like hitting girls.” See now I was pissed and the more the guy moaned that it hurt I was rubbing his face into the table. He was lucky it was not the floor in the middle of all the glass.
O’Brian leans into the guys face. “I hear you not only like to beat woman but sometimes they end up dead.” The guys eyes widen and his arms start swinging.
“Fuck you, who the hell do you think you are?” he spits out.
“I’m the guy that has your fucking head slammed on a table. I’m the guy that’s going to light your motherfucking world up, you sick bastard.” I press harder on his head, his sounds of distress made me chuckle.
O’Brian asks, “One more time, are you going to sell me your club?”
“No, this is my club, these are my girls, I will do what the fuck I want with them.” Before he could finish my knee came up and connected with the back of his, causing him to buckle. He lays there in a ball, what a fucking waste of space.
“See, that will not work for me. I have shit to do and you’re wasting my fucking time,” I bark, elbowing him in the face. My elbow makes contact with his nose, the crunchy sounds mixed with his cries means I hit my mark.
“You fucking bastard, you broke my nose,” he complains, wiping the bright red fountain pouring from his face.
“We warned you” was all I said before each one of us taught him a lesson, one fist at a time.
“I told you, I would get this club one way or another,” O’Brian tells him before he pulls out his gun and fires two shots, one to his stomach and one to his dick.
“That’s for beating women and making teenage girls strip, you fucking sicko,” I spit on him and we walk toward the back leaving him to bleed out.
“You think we should say something to the girls, that way they keep their damn mouths shut to the cops,” Fitz pipes up.
We walk toward the back of the building, not sure what we are looking for but we need to find the girls and address just how bad the situation is. When we open a door that leads us to a couple open rooms with poles in the middle of the floor and what looks to be mini couches in along the back.
“What the hell is that smell?” Fitz gags and we’re appalled at the smell of dirty pussy and sex, that jackass must have never washed anything.
“God forbid, don’t fucking sit on or touch anything in this hell hole,” I say, “and breathe out of your mouth as much as possible.” A shiver runs down my spine.
“You hear that?” One of the brothers grabs a door handle.
“Shit, bro, be careful, you can catch something touching stuff,” O’Brian joked but all laughing stopped when the door opened fully and six women are huddled in the corner of the closet whimpering.
“What the fuck,” I say. “Are you guys okay?” I ask but I get no response.
“Hey, you girls are safe, we will not hurt you.” I try and coax them out of there. I notice the girl in front was the waitress from earlier.
“Em is it, I promise it’s okay. Red sent us to help you ladies,” I say, holding out my hand. Slowly, they come out one by one. “You ladies okay?” I try and assess the damage but it’s just too much.
“Call Doc and have him come and bring as much stuff as he needs. Every one of these girls are banged up.” I look at O’Brian, who already has his phone out.
“Let’s grab them some blankets,” I suggest.
Doc arrives and we have six women all of them huddled in blankets. “What the hell happened here,” he says followed by Mac, Jules, and Cara.
“What the hell are they doing here?” I rush toward them. “They don’t need to be here,” I bark at Mac.
“True but they are more likely to calm the girls then any of us, you know that,” he says.
&
nbsp; “Matthew, I forced Mac to bring us. These girls need help and we can help them, what happened to them is awful and if it’s as bad as Red told us you’re going to need our help.” She places her hand on her right hip just asking me to trust her.
“Yeah, Dad what Mom said.” Jules caught me completely off guard, but her look was exactly like her mother’s, she knows what she’s doing.
“Listen you two, we will talk about this later, and don’t go out into the fucking main room,” I tell them both because right now I don’t know if I want to bust Cara’s ass or fuck her and Jules knows it just destroyed my heart, hearing her call me Dad.
Mac leans in. “She got you, brother,” he says only low enough for me to hear.
“You’re on my shit list right now, take some of the others and clean up the mess in the main room,” I order.
I turn facing the girls. “Ladies, this is my wife, Cara and my daughter, Jules,” I introduce them.
“We will help you and you can come to us for anything,” she adds.
“Let’s get them back to the clubhouse and we can finish up there. Cara, will you lead them out the back,” I tell her because I don’t need her to see what the main room looks like now.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Cara
I’m so angry, I can’t believe someone would treat people like that. When I look around all these women just look lost, broken, and beat down. I just couldn’t do it anymore. Sitting outside I watch mindlessly as the sun sets, the sky mixing oranges, pinks, and blue.
“What are you doing out here?” I look up to see Matthew standing over me. “It truly is beautiful here.” He sits down next to me.