Chapter 14
Ashlyn
I woke with a fright when I heard laughter, I gazed around the room not sure of where I was until I noticed our bags in the corner of the room. I sighed in relief when I realised we were at the Leicestershire Crusaders clubhouse. I jumped out of bed, ran my fingers through my hair, yanked open the bedroom door and headed towards the bar. Once I rounded the corner, I stopped, the bar was full of members, Old Ladies and club bunnies.
“Hey, darlin’.” Drake smiled as he held his arm out for me as he spoke to Rooster and his Old Lady, Violet. I ambled towards him and as I stepped into his side, his arm came around, pulling me in tighter.
“Ashlyn, it’s lovely to see you again.” Violet beamed. I smiled at her, it was nice to see everyone again but not under these circumstances.
“We’ll leave you to it.” Rooster grabbed Violet and they headed out of the room. Drake turned his body towards mine until I was pressed against his chest; I looked up at him.
“Where’s Amber?” I looked around for her but couldn’t see her anywhere.
“She’s not here, darlin’.”
“Why isn’t she? What about Switch? He was the one who hurt her. Have there been other girls?”
“Hey, calm down.” He placed his hand on the side of my face. “A couple of the guys are going to check on her, if she is in any danger they’re bringing her back here.”
“I think she needs to come back anyway so we can protect her.” I looked into his mesmerising eyes and all of a sudden, I had the need to kiss him. I stretched up onto my toes and gave him a lingering kiss. He deepened the kiss and both of his hands gripped my sides and I felt his thumbs graze just under my breasts.
We broke apart when someone cleared their throat, I tried to take a step back but Drake kept his grip on me.
“Drake, put her down.” Denise laughed. “You hungry, Ash?”
“Starving,” I admitted.
“Come and get some breakfast.” She nodded her head towards the kitchen and I looked back at Drake.
“Go and get some breakfast, I’ll be here if you need me.” He slumped down into the worn looking sofa and grabbed the remote control. I blew him a kiss and he winked at me before I hurried to catch up to Denise.
I walked into the kitchen and Violet was sitting at the kitchen table eating some toast and flipping through a magazine.
“Do you want tea? Coffee?” Denise asked. “Have a seat.” She pointed to the table where Violet was sitting and I sat down opposite her.
“Tea would be great, thanks.”
“We wanted to talk to you,” Violet said as she closed her magazine and folded her hands on the table in front of her.
“Oh?” I asked.
“Yeah, we want to know what you know about this Switch guy and his men.”
“Violet,” Denise hissed at her as she set a cup of tea and a bowl of sugar in front of me. I grabbed the spoon and dished two, heaped, spoonfuls into my drink.
“What? We need info.” Violet shrugged her shoulders and then her eyes landed back onto me.
“Um… I’m not really sure what I can tell you. Aren’t the guys sorting all of this out?” I squirmed in my seat, feeling under pressure by Violet’s stare.
“We just wanted to see if they missed anything, that’s all,” Denise said in a calm voice, placing her hand on my shoulder.
“Ok…” I took a sip of my tea, trying not to spill it as my hands shook. I really didn’t want to relive anything about Switch but if it helped then I would. “He wasn’t the one to kidnap me, that was a guy called Preppy, he was well dressed with slicked back hair. He pressed something over my mouth until I passed out. I woke up in a cold, damp room. I had been stripped naked and had just a bed sheet to cover myself with.” I swallowed the lump in my throat and willed the tears to stay back. They both sat in silence waiting for me to continue. I tried to distract myself by looking at the features of the kitchen, it had a large stainless steel oven, matching kettle and toaster and funnily enough a fish tank in the corner of the room that I had never noticed before. “I heard them talking, saying they had the wrong girl. I was no use to them, no one was looking for me. They couldn’t use me as a bargaining chip against the club they wanted to take down. So they… they used me as a play thing. To rape, to slap around, to cut, to watch other men hurt and abuse me.” I angrily swiped away a tear that had leaked from my eye. I had shed enough tears over what had happened to me there.
“Oh god!” Violet sobbed as she covered her mouth with her hand. “I’m so sorry.”
“Are we done here?” I asked, climbing to my feet. I knew no emotion covered my face, I could feel the darkness settling in. I had the need to hide away, I didn’t want to talk or see anyone. This was what my life was like now and just another reason why I couldn’t let my family see me this way, they would try and help me but it would only make it worse. I needed to try and find a way to deal with this on my own.
“Yes, do you need anything?” Denise asked as she climbed to her feet too.
“To be left alone,” I muttered as I turned around and walked out of the kitchen. I dropped my head forward, letting my hair cover my face, if I didn’t look at anyone then they couldn’t engage me in conversation.
“Darlin’?” Drake called after me, I ignored him and hurried to our room.
Drake
I was confused when I saw Ashlyn hurrying from the kitchen with her head down. I jumped to my feet and followed after her. I pushed open our bedroom door to see her laying on the bed on her side with her knees tucked against her chest.
“Darlin’?” I asked as I rounded the bed and crouched down in front of her, she didn’t answer, she had a vacant look on her face as she stared past me and over my shoulder. I ran my hand over her head and down her side, no reaction at all.
“Ashlyn, please talk to me.” Still nothing. I stood up straight and her eyes never left the spot on the wall she was staring at. What the fuck had happened? Last I saw her, she was headed into the kitchen with Denise.
“I’ll be back in a minute, darlin’.” I kissed the top of her head and stormed out of the room and marched into the kitchen. It was empty. I was like a bull in a china shop stomping through each and every room until I came to the Prez’s office. I banged on the door and tried to calm down, there was no use in letting my temper get the better of me and us being kicked out of here. That wouldn’t help Ashlyn in the slightest.
“Yeah!” Prez called out. I opened the door and stepped inside to see he was behind his desk, smoking, and Denise was sitting on the small sofa to the left hand side of his desk. “Drake, what can I do for you?”
I wanted to demand that Denise told me whatever happened between her and Ashlyn but I knew I’d get in trouble speaking to an Old Lady that way when I was just a prospect from another charter.
“I wanted a word with your Old Lady,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Oh?” he asked, stubbing out his cigarette.
“Yeah, I wanna know what it was she said to Ashlyn.” I stood still, looking at her and crossing my arms over my chest.
“Denise? What did you say to Ashlyn that would cause Drake to be in here like this?” He waved his hand at me, clearly seeing the frustration and anger that was coursing through my body.
“Nothing, we just asked her some questions.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“About what?” Prez asked. I was glad he was grilling her and not me.
“Switch.”
“Fuck!” I swore under my breath.
“Drake?” Prez asked, looking at me, eyebrows raised.
“She’s in our room, laying on the bed, not talking, blank and dazed. You’ve made her dig up a hurtful past.”
“I’m sorry, we…”
“We?” Prez cut her off her, asking silently who ‘we’ were.
“Violet and I.”
“Bloody hell woman. Leave this to us, it’s our job,” he scolded her.
“Well, you’re n
ot doing a very good job!” She snapped, jumping to her feet. Prez’s jaw clenched as he looked at his Old Lady. He pushed his chair back and stood up, rounding the desk until he was stood by the door, he opened it and looked at me.
“Thanks, Prospect. Go and see to your woman.”
“Prez.” I nodded as I hurried through the door. He slammed it behind me and then I heard him shouting. I felt bad for Denise but then maybe this was what she needed, to stop her interfering.
I was about to head back to see Ashlyn when I was stopped in my tracks by Rooster calling my name. I looked at him over my shoulder and he lifted his chin telling me that he needed to talk to me. He was well over six foot tall, had dark messy hair, green eyes and a slight crooked nose, that I assumed had been broken at some point and not set properly once it healed.
“Where’s Ash?” he asked.
“She’s resting.”
“There’s some chick here to see her.” He nodded his head towards the bar.
“Who is it? Amber?”
“Na, we haven’t been able to track her down yet. Some woman named Belinda, said she would only talk to Ashlyn but I think she’s a junkie, man.”
“Let me talk to her first.”
“Of course.” He slapped me on the back and I followed him down the hallway and into the bar. A woman with dirty, mousy brown hair scraped back into a ponytail with loose fitted jeans and a hoody sat at the bar sipping on what looked like whisky. Did she know it was only nine in the morning?
“Can I help you?” I asked as I stopped in front of her and crossed my arms over my chest. She looked me up and down and then her eyes landed on Rooster.
“I said I was only going to talk to Ashlyn.”
“Well, she is having a lie down. She’s my Old Lady, so whatever you need to say to her, you can say to me.”
“Nope.” She swivelled on the bar stool and held her glass out to Chase, the prospect who was standing behind the bar. He looked at Rooster and he nodded his head, telling him to fill her glass up.
“Can you at least tell me what it’s about?” I asked through my clenched jaw.
“Nope.” She carried on sipping her drink, not looking at us.
“Go and get her,” Rooster said as he squeezed my shoulder. I nodded, not taking my eyes off this woman. If she was here to hurt her then I wouldn’t be held responsible for my actions.
I sauntered out of the room, down the hallway and into our room. Ashlyn was still laying in the same position, I just hoped that I could get her to come with me.
“Darlin’?” I said as I crouched down on the floor in front of her again. Her eyes didn’t meet mine. “There’s a woman out in the bar that insists on speaking to you.”
“Amber?” she croaked.
“No, darlin’. Some woman who says she will only speak to you. Do you want to come and see her? Or shall we just chuck her out?”
“No.” She shook her head. “It may be important. I’ll see her.” I stood up straight and she joined me. She slipped her hand in mine and held onto my arm with her other hand, enclosing it around my bicep and leaning into me. If she needed me for support then that’s what I was going to do.
We stepped into the bar and all eyes fell on us, Rooster stood at the bar with Wiz, and Chase was still standing behind it, refilling her drink once more. Belinda gulped down the brown liquid and climbed to her feet.
“I have a message for you. From Switch.” Ashlyn’s hand gripped my arm tighter.
“What the fuck?” Rooster yelled.
“He wants you back, if you don’t hand yourself over to him, then he can’t be held responsible for his actions. A gift will be delivered here, for you, in two hours. Then the same time every day until you are reunited.”
“How… How do I get in contact with him?” she asked quietly. What the hell was she thinking?
“Someone will be waiting here, at this address.” She handed her a piece of paper. “At two in the afternoon every day, until you come back to him.” She turned on her heel to leave.
“Grab her,” Rooster demanded as Drum walked into the room. He held hold of Belinda’s arm, she didn’t struggle. She looked over to Rooster.
“If I’m not back to him within an hour, the gifts will be doubled.”
“Let her go,” Ashlyn mumbled.
“She’s coming with us,” Wiz said. “We can get info out of her.”
“I said LET HER GO!” Ashlyn screamed. The room went deadly quiet and my stomach dropped at what punishment she would receive for talking to the brothers that way. Rooster nodded his head at Drum.
“Get the fuck out of here.” He sneered at her as he released her arm and shoved her towards the door. Drum was a large, threatening looking guy; I hoped that she would be too scared to return.
“Oh, and if you go to the address not alone, there will be consequences. He said not to even think about trying to grab his guy for information. He’ll be watching, he’s always watching.”
“Out!” Rooster roared and she turned on her heel and flounced out of the room.
Chapter 15
Ashlyn
I had a firm telling off from Rooster about talking to the club brothers like I had but he said that he would let it slide this once as he knew what kind of stress I was under.
I was now pacing the bar area, worrying my bottom lip between my teeth and clenching and unclenching my hands. That woman, Belinda, said a gift would arrive in two hours and it was now almost eleven in the morning. I had a bad feeling and didn’t know what I should do.
My head snapped up when the Prez left his office and headed for the main doors, Rooster, Wiz, Henry and Drake all followed him and it took me a moment to get my feet moving again, I hurried after them only to be stopped by Denise.
“No, you can’t go out there.” I was stunned by what she was telling me and it took a moment to register.
“I need to see what it is.” I went to step past her and she blocked my path. “Denise.”
“I’m sorry, no.” I went to dodge her again when large hands clasped around my waist and lifted me off my feet. I looked over my shoulder to see that Drum had picked me up and was carrying me into the bar. He placed me on the sofa and Denise sat beside me.
“Please, just wait for Drake to come back in, ok?” I nodded, not taking my eyes off the door.
“It’s another woman, isn’t it?” I asked, taking my eyes off the door to look at Denise and the answer was clear as day on her face. Her face full of make-up couldn’t hide it from me.
“Darlin’?” Drake called out. My head snapped around and I launched myself off the sofa and threw myself at him.
“Is she alive?” I asked into his chest, where my head landed.
“No, I’m afraid not,” he whispered quietly to me. I nodded my head and after a few more seconds, I stepped back and looked at him. I really did love him so much. I gripped his face in my hands and kissed him with all the passion in the world.
“I love you. I love you so much,” I told him, resting my forehead against his.
“I love you too, darlin’.” I stepped back from him and looked him in the eyes.
“I have to go.” He looked at me blankly. “I have to go to him.”
“No!” his voice boomed loudly. “You are not going anywhere.” He stepped towards me and I stepped back, out of his grasp. If he touched me, then I would crumble.
“I have to, I can’t be responsible for any more women being hurt. I just can’t. It’s not fair on them, on their families.”
“What about your family?”
“I’ve been gone for ages, they aren’t looking for me.”
“How do you know that? What about me? Cammie? Heather? We’re your family too.”
“I’m sorry Drake.”
“He’ll kill you, Ashlyn.” He took another step closer to me and I wasn’t quick enough to take one back before he grasped both of my hands in his. The warmth from his hands made me realise that I was freezing cold and trembling. The t
hought of being anywhere near Switch made my stomach turn so actually being near him again had me terrified.
“So, it’s ok to let him carry on killing innocent women? He may not hurt me.”
“So that’s how you want to live the rest of your life? Being with a man that may or may not kill you, that may or may not let his brothers rape you and that may or may not injure you. You’d just be existing, not living.”
“Drake,” Denise scolded him as he spoke to me.
“No, she needs to hear this,” he defended, not taking his eyes off me and tightening his grip on my hands when I tried to pull them free. “I can’t lose you,” he whispered the last bit to me.
“This isn’t about you.” I yanked my hands out of his grip and poked my finger at his chest. “This is about saving the lives of innocent women.”
“And how do you know that he doesn’t already have a room full of twenty women? That he plans on hurting them whether you go back or not. He won’t let them go free.”
“Dray, I can’t do it.” I hung my head and placed my hands flat on his chest.
“Do what?” He raised my face up so I would look at him.
“I can’t run anymore, I’m tired. I don’t want to live my life like this.” Tears ran down my face and my fingers curled into his t-shirt, holding on tight to him. I didn’t want to leave him but I just didn’t know what else I could do.
Drake
My heart broke when Ashlyn said she wanted to go to him, she would always want to do the right thing and she would always protect other people first.
“Ok, we’ve got a day to come up with a plan,” I said looking around until my eyes landed on the Prez. “Church?” I called out and he nodded.
“You heard him, everyone in here, now!” Prez demanded.
“Darlin’, I’ll sort this, I promise.” I pushed her back to look in her eyes that were red and wet from her crying. “I won’t be long.”
“I’m coming with you,” she stated.
“No, club business, remember?”
“I don’t give a shit, this is concerning me. I’m coming.” I looked over my head at the Prez and he nodded his head.
Forbidden Love (South Coast Brothers Book 4) Page 9