With a deep inhale and exhale, I pull the doors to the club open and for the first time ever; I’m met with silence. What’s going on? This early the cleaning crew is usually in and the humming from the floor buffer would hit me the minute I’d step inside, but not today. Today I’m greeted with silence, which has me worried.
Moving toward Ruben’s office there seems to be some sort of meeting going on as I can hear muffled voices through his door. Their words aren’t clear, but if I’m not mistaken Lucien is in there and maybe Ramon.
Instead of pussy footing around outside the door, I need to get in there with them before I run into Simon. On that frightening note, I raise my hand and knock on the door, rather than just go barging in, which is what I would normally do.
“Come in,” Ruben roars making me practically jump out of my skin. He doesn’t sound in a good mood today. Hopefully it isn’t because I left the way I did last night.
Pushing the door open, the smile I’d been wearing slowly slips when I meet the anger in Ruben’s eyes. The room is quiet with Ramon leaning against the back wall and Lucien slouched in one of the chairs opposite his brother’s desk. He doesn’t look too good.
“Um,” I swallow, which is difficult as my mouth has gone dry as sandpaper, “I can come back later.”
I need to find Hunter. Surely he hasn’t told Ruben about where I spent last night. It was completely innocent.
As I start backing toward the door, Ruben jumps up and shouts, “No,” startling me. I freeze with my hand on the doorknob.
“This is about you. I want answers.”
Frowning, I meet his gaze and my heart starts to shatter. All I see is anger behind his eyes, nothing more or nothing less. I haven’t done anything to warrant that look. My thought process has shut down because nothing is coming to me. I don’t know what he wants me to say or do.
“Why Rosie? Did they tell you to distract me by fucking me?” He snarls.
What?
“I don’t know—” He cuts me off.
“Oh come on,” he stands and walking around his desk he clenches his fists, “we know,” he whispers into my ear.
His cologne wraps around me and all I want to do is wrap myself around him. To hold on until he tells me this is all a joke.
“We found the sugar, Rosie,” Ramon tells me.
“Sugar? What sugar? I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”
I reach out to Ruben and slide my fingers between one of the gaps on his button down, but he knocks my hand away abruptly. “Don’t touch me,” he snaps and walks back behind his desk out of reach.
My wrist has started to throb with how roughly he pushed me away so I cradle it against my chest with my other hand. And that’s when I catch a glimpse of my Ruben—the flick of concern in his eyes. It doesn’t last though.
I’m starting to get angry myself. I’ve no idea what this is about. I’ve no idea what the hell ‘sugar’ is supposed to be. And this is just ridiculous. My emotions are all over the place right now, but I feel like stamping my feet as a child would.
“Okay,” I start, “for some reason you all think I know what you’re talking about, but newsflash here, I don’t. I don’t have a fuckin’ clue. It’s obviously something bad for you to stand there and accuse me of ‘fucking you’ so you’re distracted. You know me better than anyone and to say that...” He really hurt me with that comment so I take a few seconds to pull myself together. “And what the hell is ‘sugar?’”
I swipe at the few tears that have escaped and wait for one of them to answer me as I directed the last question at them all.
“Rosie,” Lucien says, “we did a locker search this morning and a small bag of heroin was found inside yours. Sugar or Brown Sugar. It was stuffed inside the toe of one of your sneakers.”
I gasp in shock. How the hell? Slumping against the door, I try and get my mind around what Lucien has just told me. I’ve never done drugs in my life and to be accused of this, especially by the man I love is more than I can take.
The tears I’ve tried to keep hidden flow down my face as I watch Ruben, watching me.
“Why Rosie?” he asks, resting his arms on the back of his chair.
Shaking my head, I keep my mouth closed. Why waste my breath? He already has me guilty so nothing I say will change his mind. All because Simon knows it was me who overheard what was going on last night. Simon is the guilty party and he’ll be responsible for placing the drugs into my sneakers. He’s the manager here so has access to pass keys. Why can’t they see that?
Ruben is now standing in front of me with a look of disgust on his face as my tears continue to flow. “I can’t look at you anymore. Here’s your stuff.” He thrust a bag at me, which I grab with my good hand. Slinging it over my shoulder while shock seeps through my body, I numbly stare at him, as he continues, “And I never want to see you again. I haven’t called the cops, but I will.”
This isn’t a joke. The man I love—loved—has just torn my heart to shreds.
“Go. Get out,” he says in a hard voice.
As I’m fumbling with the doorknob, Ramon asks, “Do you have anything to say Rosie, before you leave?”
I have the door open now, and Hunter is looming over me with a concerned expression across his face, until he spots the three McKenzies in the room behind me then his features tighten and he suddenly reminds me of a gladiator ready for battle.
Before he can do or say anything, I place my uninjured hand on his chest and turn to face the room. “Yes, I have something to say,” I try to slow my breathing down in hopes it will stop the flow of my tears enough to be able to see them, “You all know me. I’ve been treated as part of your family, and you,” I glare at Ruben, “you, I thought I loved. What hurts the most is that not one of you bothered to ask me if I was guilty. You all just presumed.”
Stepping out of the room and into Hunter’s chest, I let the door slam shut behind me while crying all over Hunter.
“Fuck,” he cusses and picks me up into his arms. “What the hell happened back there?” he asks, kicking the backdoor open with his foot.
“They found ‘sugar’ in my sneaker, which was in my locker.” He places me on the back of his bike. “I didn’t know what it was but they spelled it out for me.” I hiccup. “Hunter, I swear I—” He covers my mouth with his hand.
“I know you had nothing to do with that. I’d have known that even if you hadn’t told me what went on last night.” He places a helmet on my head and fastens it on. “Ruben’s a bastard for doing that to you, and once I’ve taken care of you, I’m going having words with him. There are a few facts he needs to be aware of.”
“I don’t really care what happens, but can you take me back to the hotel. I don’t want Liz or Ed seeing me like this.”
Without Hunter, I’m not sure what I would have done. It’s been so long since I had someone to rely on when I’m in need. My broken heart thought I’d have Ruben by my side always, and that he’d be there for me if I ever had a problem or to kiss away my worries, but not anymore.”
All the way back to the hotel, I cry silent tears while clinging to Hunter. My only hope is that I’m not cramping his bachelor status by staying here with him. Contrary to what he may think, I’m not blind to the glares we get as we walk through the lobby. He shrugs it off. The life of a true bachelor. Love ‘em and leave ‘em.
“Forget it. I wouldn’t touch one of them if you paid me. They aren’t impressed with you being with me because I’ve always rejected them.”
He pulls me back towards his chest. “Rosie, I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, okay? I need you to know that. I’m not going to defend Ruben because what he did was wrong. But one thing I will say is that he knows deep down that you aren’t guilty, but he’s jumping on the excuse because you have him running scared.” He brushes his fingers through my ponytail. “I bet the bachelor who is always used to being free has suddenly realized he isn’t free to act like he used to.”
I s
hake my head. “No. He told me he was going for it with me and that he was sick of pretending he didn’t want to be with me. Thanks for trying to make this easier, but the fact is his heart wasn’t involved with me like mine was with him.” As Hunter goes to say something else, I stop him. “Please can we talk about something else or nothing? In fact, I could do with a rest. I didn’t sleep too good last night and with everything this morning I’m exhausted.”
“That’s good,” Hunter says ushering me toward his room, “because I want to leave you here for a bit.”
He’s going back to Kenza.
“What are you going to do? Please don’t get in any trouble.”
“I won’t. I promise,” he says, kissing me on the nose. “Get some rest and I’ll bring some food with me in a couple of hours.” Then he notices my wrist. “What happened?”
“I grabbed for Ruben and he knocked me out of the way. I’ll take some Tylenol and sleep. I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”
“Okay. If you’re sure.”
“I am.”
I leave him checking his computer and pay a visit to the bathroom. When I’m done, I kick my boots off and climb into bed. Hunter comes over to me and tucks me in. At least he makes me grin.
“That’s better. Now get some sleep and don’t worry about anything.”
I watch him leave and pray he isn’t going to get himself arrested on my behalf.
Chapter 31 ~ Ruben
“What the fuck have we done?” Lucien mumbles behind his hands, which his face is buried in. “Surely there was another way to go about this. That was brutal. Did you see her face? She’s not even my girl and I wanted to drag her into my arms and tell her the truth.”
Since Rosie left, I’ve wanted to go and find Simon to beat the living shit outta him. I trusted him. Gave him a job when no one else would, only for him to betray me. Stab me in the back.
After Hunter rang me last night and filled me in with everything that had happened I’d wanted to grab my keys and get to Rosie, but Hunter had a better plan. One that even now I’m having trouble dealing with. It had taken him a while to convince me this plan would work.
Seeing Rosie looking so heartbroken in front of me has torn me in two. My heart feels like it’s been ripped out of my chest. And her wrist. I was angry that I have to do this to protect her. I never meant to hurt her—physically that is. My intention was to make her hate me so she’d leave, and hopefully stay the fuck away from any of us until this is over with. But seeing that I’d hurt her nearly had me caving, and taking her into my arms, and showing her how much I love her. Because I do. Love her that is. She has my heart even though I’ve just crushed hers. Hunter promised to look after her and to keep her safe, which he better do.
“I need a drink,” I say to the room in general.
“It’s not even mid-day,” Ramon informs me.
“Yeah, well it’s not every day I get to crush the woman I love, now, is it?”
Hunter walks through the door. “She’s sleeping. And what the fuck did you do to her wrist?”
Dropping into my seat, I bury my head in my hands. I’m not cut out for this.
“How is she? And I know you said she’s sleeping.”
“She’s about how you’d expect. With a broken heart and a swollen wrist.”
“Fuck! I knocked her hand away. Please tell me it isn’t broken.” I couldn’t bear to have hurt her that much. Hurting her enough to cause her wrist to swell is killing me, but to have hurt her enough that I’ve broken a bone will finish me off.
“It isn’t. Sprained probably.” Hunter sits in the chair next to Ramon. “I have a friend keeping an eye on the hotel. She’s safe. For now. Have you phoned Simon?”
“Not yet.”
Phoning Simon is going to set the whole thing in motion and I’m hoping it won’t backfire and send the people he’s working with after my girl. It turns my stomach to imagine anything happening to her. But hopefully Simon and his friends will show themselves here at the club now that Rosie isn’t around. After that, I can go and admit to Rosie that I never believed in a million years that she’d have anything to do with drugs. I’ll hopefully get the chance to admit that when we’d found the drugs in the locker that not one of us had believed she was responsible. We’d used it as an excuse to try and keep her safe. We hoped we’d be able to catch Simon with his guard down.
“You need to do it now. Just like we agreed,” Hunter states, sitting back looking relaxed. His right ankle rests on his left knee with his hands behind his head. He’s trying to look relaxed but not quite pulling it off.
“I’ll do it.” Might as well get it over with although it’s making me sick to my stomach. “You promise me that Rosie has someone looking out for her.” I point to Hunter.
He sighs. “Look, I like Rosie so there is no way I’d leave her alone at the hotel without someone keeping an eye on things. Just make the fuckin’ call. The sooner you do this, the sooner it’s going to be over and you can go and get your girl.”
“I’m going into the bar to see if I can rustle up some coffee,” Lucien says, standing and stretching, “and you can come with me,” he adds, looking at Ramon.
“What are we? A bunch of girls having to go in pairs,” Ramon mumbles, following Lucien out the door.
“Ruben.”
Fuck! “I’m on it.” Picking up my cell, I find Simon in my contact details and dialing him, I’m half hoping he doesn’t pick up.
“Ruben,” he answers.
There goes that wish.
“I’ve fired Rosie.”
“What?”
“I did a locker search this morning and found drugs hidden in her sneakers. I trusted her and she’s…betrayed me,” I spit the words out wanting to reach through the phone to strangle him, but catching the shift in Hunter, I continue, “betrayed the club. I wanted to let you know before you came down here. I also don’t trust Hunter so watch out for him. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had something to do with all this. Maybe he’s the one who’s gotten Rosie involved.”
My anger has picked up again with the fucker on the phone. He stays silent while I tell him everything we want him to know. Our plan is to hopefully keep Rosie safe at the hotel while some of Hunter’s friends come down to the club tonight to try and sniff out the guy who’s supplying Simon. The man responsible for all the shit going on at Kenza and from what Hunter has told me, other clubs around the area, some out of state.
“I’ll be there in a couple of hours. I’ve got some errands to do. Thanks for letting me know.” He hangs up.
I throw my phone across the room and watch as it hits the steel bar going from one side of the room to the other before shattering into pieces.
Does it make me feel better? Does it fuck!
“What now?” I ask Hunter who’s gone across the room to retrieve my broken phone.
“That was a good idea,” he comments, his voice thick with sarcasm.
I ignore him and begin pacing back and forth behind my desk. Sitting here and not being with my girl at the hotel is causing my agitation. My girl is there and from what Hunter has told me, this guy, Joe Abatangelo, isn’t someone to mess with. If this backfires and they end up staying away from the club and going after Rosie, I’m not sure what the fuck I’ll do.
Hunter thinks that they’ll ignore Rosie for now thinking she’s out of the way. What I don’t think he’s telling me is that they’ll go after her eventually. This Joe guy isn’t someone to be messed with and he won’t leave any loose ends. That’s why a friend of Hunter’s is babysitting Rosie at the hotel, just in case we have underestimated them and they show up there first, having tracked her down. My fists tighten the more I think about her.
They need more evidence than what Rosie witnessed before they can arrest and charge them with drug related offences. Fuck! I need to be with her. I need to let Hunter and my brothers deal with the problem here, but my conscience won’t let me. It’s my club so my problem.
Fuck thi
s! Making the decision to go to her, I grab my keys from the desk drawer and tell Hunter, “I’m leaving.”
He sighs and follows me out of my office and the club to the back where we’re both parked.
“What do you intend to do when you get there?” Hunter asks grabbing hold of my arm.
“I’m not letting anyone get near her. I shouldn’t have listened to begin with. If anything happens to her because of my actions.” I shake my head unable to go on. “I love her.”
I turn away not wanting him to see the emotion I’m trying to hide. This is so screwed.
“What’s your friend going to do to prevent anyone from getting to Rosie?” I question Hunter as I catch sight of Lucien and Ramon walking toward us.
“You can’t go in there fuckin’ everything up. She’s going to be pissed when she discovers you lied to protect her, and the fact that we have someone keeping an eye on her isn’t going to go down too well either. I know the guy who is watching Rosie. He won’t let anything happen to her, and he’ll do what he’s been trained to do to protect her. I wouldn’t have left her there if I didn’t trust him.”
“There isn’t anything wrong with going and ‘observing’ is there?” I open my truck’s door and jumping in, I start the engine.
“This is a bad idea,” Hunter mumbles before jumping into the back of the truck with Ramon. “But you’re not going without me.”
“As long as you keep your hands off my girl we’ll be cool.”
“We’re seriously not doing this again. You’re like a fuckin’ girl.”
I let Hunter’s comment slide, and the fact that my brothers seem to be enjoying themselves at my expense. Any other day and I’d have shut him up, but I can’t really think about anything else until I have my girl in my arms.
The drive to the hotel should only take us five minutes but fifteen minutes later we’re still crawling in traffic. This is ridiculous.
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