by K. J. Dahlen
Pulling out some fresh clothes and tossing them onto my bed, I sat down on the foot of it to put on my socks. I looked at my broken-reflection staring back me in the bedroom mirror. I was a bruised and swollen mess. My torn clothes looked more like those of a homeless man. The front of my shirt cut open and stained with blood, a slash down my chest and another large gash ran across the side of my face, my hair dishevelled. I tossed my bloodied shirt and stuck on a quick bandage around the gash on my arm. But it wasn’t just my ugly wounds that I despised. I hated myself so much it was torture even to look my own reflection. A woman like Chloe and a monster like me didn’t even belong in the same town, let alone the same bed.
I threw on a fresh pair of jeans and a shirt, feeling completely naked leaving the apartment without my biker’s jacket. That jacket was sacred to me. And that too, had disappeared at the docks. When I finally lumbered my body downstairs and out of the building, I got onto my bike and took a breath. The muscles in my body felt too spent for any kind of defense. But I’d never surrender. I cranked the engine to the beautiful sound of the beast roaring alive, and I tore out of the parking lot and down the highway under an angry looking sky.
When I reached Mandy’s Diner, Dino’s bike wasn’t outside yet. I tossed the cigarette butt on the ground, and walked over to the entrance; my body felt even heavier now with the weight of the conservation I was about to have with Chloe’s mom.
Through the glass exterior of the building, I could see the place wasn’t too busy. Sheila, Chloe’s mom, stood behind the counter waiting to take orders from new customers.
Her eyebrows rose, and her face lit up in surprise as she saw me opening the door to the joint. “Jaxson! Oh, honey, it’s so lovely to see you. Did you bring Chloe down here too?” she asked in a chirpy tone as she craned her head over my shoulder, left and right, looking for Chloe.
“No. Not today,” I replied as I approached the counter.
When I got up close to Sheila, her happy expression dropped when saw the gash and bruising on my face.
I leaned across the counter. “Mrs. Mariano…. Can we step out back for a few minutes?” I asked.
“Jax. What’s wrong? What happened to your face? You’re all beat up,” she said with concern.
“Not here. We should talk, Sheila. Alone,” I said, keeping my voice calm.
“Sure.” She nodded with a nervous smile, as she led me into a back room behind the counter.
In the back room, I sat her down and looked at the ground, unable to meet her eyes. “It’s Chloe,” I said.
“What?”
I glanced up at her as a crease formed between her brows and her eyes rounded with fear.
“Did you—I-I. Don’t suppose you got a call or text from Chloe last night?”
“A text? No, nothing. She has been sending me a message to say she’s okay before bed, but nothing last night. Why? What’s happened Jax?”
“She’s—she’s been taken,” I stated bluntly.
She put her elbows on the desk beside her and ducked her head with her hands over her ears. “No. No. No. Do you know where she is? Who’s got her?” Sheila still didn’t look at me, and I could just barely look at her.
“I’ll bring her back. I promise you, Sheila. I’ve got an idea of who did it. And I’m about to find out where they have taken her.” I leaned down to her and took hold of both her hands. I bowed my head in respect and kissed them. When we met each other’s eyes, the pair of us had tears welling up.
Sheila stood up to get air into her lungs and pulled her long blonde hair back out of her face. My eyes grew wide at the sight of the dark bruise that had been hidden at the back of her jaw. She’d tried to conceal it under a thick mask makeup. But I’d seen it all before from Antonio’s girls.
Holy shit. Not a-fucking-gain. It was no time to be changing the subject, but if this woman was in danger, I needed to know about it.
“Sheila, your face,” I said, as my instincts barked loudly in my head to find and kill that bastard, Roy, for having beat Chloe and her mother like goddamn animals. I knew it had to be him.
“Umm—well, I-I walked into a—it was an accident,” she stuttered. Sheila was terrified and breathing heavily.
“Don’t lie to me, Sheila. Who did it?” I asked, firmly.
She stared at me but didn’t say a word
“It was the son-of-a-bitch again, wasn’t it?” I hardly needed to ask. He’d hit her before, and he’d done the same to Chloe.
Still, Sheila shook her head. “It’s nothing. I can handle it,” she insisted.
I didn’t like how she was downplaying it. Why is she trying to protect this scum? “Why didn’t you come to me, Sheila? You know I’m always here for you and Chloe.”
“Jax, please. Don’t do anything to him….I need to find a way to resolve this,” she said, with tears streaming down her face.
“Resolve what? I’m not leaving until I hear the truth, Sheila. And every minute I’m in here with you, I’m not out there looking for Chloe.”
“I always knew he was an addict. The alcohol, that time with the drugs. I should have seen this coming!”
“Sheila, what the fuck’s going on?”
“Roy’s in debt. Gambling debt. He used to tell me he was going out bowling every Friday and Saturday night. It was all goddamn lies, Jax. The whole lot of it.”
“And he hit you because you confronted him. Like when you confronted him about Chloe?”
“No. It wasn’t him. He ran up those debts in my name. Over 100k is owed in my name, Jax. Even over a few years, I couldn’t even save a tenth of that on my salary.”
That motherfucking, cock-sucking pile of shit. “Well, if Roy didn’t hit you then who did?”
Sheila shut her eyes and turned her head for a moment as though the thought of what had happened pained her to her core. “Some guys came round last night.” She took a breath. “Anyway, they attacked me.”
“Who were they, Sheila? What did they do?”
“There were two of them. I thought it was Roy. I thought he was home from work, so I flung open the door to tell him to go to hell and they just sort of barged in. Said if I didn’t pay up the first quarter by next week Friday I’m finished; said they would find me, Jax.” Sheila broke down.
“That bastard! We’ll fix this, Sheila.” I’ll fix this. I clenched my fists until my knuckles turned white and could feel my veins throbbing in my neck.
“Roy said he loved me. He asked me to marry him for Christ’s sakes. Now I’m starting to think he was only interested in money. Or rather, passing off more debts onto me and fleecing me for what little money I do have.” She wrung her hands for a moment then said, “And now this thing with Chloe.”
“Sheila, he’s a scum of the earth piece of shit that needs to be taken care of.” I looked at her. “I saw Chloe yesterday. I saw the bruises and scratches he left on her arms. I know she was almost raped by that fucker.”
Sheila hung her head. Looking more defeated than I’ve ever seen her before as she admitted, “I guess I should have known that all along. Roy isn’t a nice man but Jax, you can’t hurt him not yet. I need to get the debts transferred back over to him somehow. If he’s dead, I’ll be dead for sure.”
“I’ll sort it, Sheila. I swear. Right now, I need to bring Chloe back, ok?” I whispered as I held her in my arms.
“I trust you, Jax. And I see how much my daughter loves you. Don’t let anything to happen my Chloe. She’s all I’ve got left of Jesse.” She hugged me and nuzzled her face into my chest.
“I won’t. I’ll do whatever it fucking takes. That’s why I need to get going, ok?”
A small spark of hope entered her eyes, and she nodded her head.
“But you need to listen to me. I don’t want you at work for the next few days. Whoever came to see you at your place will probably know where you work. He would have made sure they knew where to find you. I don’t want you staying there
anymore.”
I reached around to my back, under my shirt and pulled out a white, rectangular envelope that I’d tucked into my jeans. I grabbed hold of both her trembling hands and cupped them around it. “This is enough cash to live on and get you a decent apartment for the next few months. I’m putting an end to this bullshit right now. No man touches a woman like that. No man treats women like that on my watch. Not ever. You and Chloe deserve so much more. I need you promise that you’ll go home right now, pick up your things and leave for a while. Find a small apartment for you and Chloe until this all blows over.”
Her eyes locked onto mine, the joy and relief on her face warmed my heart. “I promise, Jax. Thank you—for everything you’ve done for us….”
I shook my head and interrupted, “I ain’t no saint…But I need to do what is right for you, and right by Chloe.”
“Well…. You work hard to hide it, but yes, you are Jax. Please, bring her back?”
I squeezed her hand tightly and placed my other hand on her shoulder. “Don’t you worry, I’ll bring Chloe back,” I said with sincerity in my voice.
Her eyes darted over my face in fear as I stood stoically. “Thank you, Jax.” She smiled, softly. “It just—I lost the love of my life to an MC Jax. I made a hell of a lot of mistakes raising Chloe, but I sacrificed everything I had to give her a life that could be something better. Don’t let me lose my daughter too.” He eyes were wide, steady, and welling up with tears again.
“I’ve got this.” I stared into her eyes with confidence.
We broke our hold, and I turned to the door. Just as I was about to walk out, I paused. “What time does Roy’s repair shop close?” I asked.
“5:30 at night he closes up shop and his mechanics clock-off. He usually hangs around for another half-hour or so after that before he heads home.”
“Make sure you’re out of your place before he gets back there then. Thanks, Sheila.” I gave her a final smile of reassurance before I placed my sunglasses over my eyes and walked out the door.
Back out front, Dino sat at a table waiting for me.
“Fucking hell, Jax! Are you all right?” Dino called at me before I reached his table.
I didn’t respond. There wasn’t time. When I reached the spot where Dino sat, I rested a hand on the table. I leaned over to him and spoke in a confidential whisper, “Somebody’s taken Sheila’s daughter. And I have a clue where she might be, but we’re about to find out for sure.”
“Holy shit. But what about the shipment, Jax? I just heard about it from Marco. Aren’t you scared that Bruno’s gonna kill you?”
We shared a look for a moment as though reading each other’s minds. My fuck-up with the whiskey shipment would either be the end of me or the end of the club when Antonio got the presidency by default tomorrow. I let out a heavy sigh and shook my head. “No. I need to find Chloe first…Sheila’s daughter and there may be a link to the heist and her. The guys who have her were in on it. Will you help me or not?”
“Of course, brother. But who’s got her? What are you going to do?” Dino asked.
“I’ll explain more on the way out; we don’t have any time to waste.”
Dino jumped up about of his seat and followed me outside.
As we headed for our bikes, he asked, “Why would someone take Sheila’s daughter? Wasn’t her kid out of town anyway? I was sure she had mentioned it one time. College or something…”
Amid a flurry of Dino’s questions that would remain unanswered, I interrupted. “Look, Sheila’s fiancé is Roy Harris. She knows Roy owns the automotive repair shop in Tijuana that is used by the Bloods. The Bloods have taken Chloe. I just don’t know where. And Roy is the only direct link between Chloe and the Bloods’.
“Hold on. Sheila’s dating that drunk-ass-motherfucker?”
“Apparently… they were engaged. I doubt they are anymore though, not after what he just pulled. But I’m real worried about Chloe. We need to find out where she’s been taken before anything happens to her. I’m sure Roy has something to do with it.”
Still fairly confused, Dino nodded. “You gonna kill him?” he asked as we mounted to our bikes.
I knew in my heart that if I killed Roy like I wanted to, I would put Chloe’s mother’s life at an even higher risk than it already was. I pained me to know that I couldn’t even beat Roy up for what he’d done because I knew I wouldn’t have the willpower to stop. A person like Roy could turn me into a monster of a man which I promised myself I would never become. “He’d be a waste of a bullet. But we’ll see. That fucker has a lot to answer for first.”
Chapter Fifteen
(Chloe)
“Stop! Stop! Stop!” I cried out.
I woke from a horrifying dream to the sound of ominous footsteps thudding up the stairs. There was no light in the room even though I’d been sure I had fallen asleep with the light on. When the footsteps reached the top of the stairs, I prayed the person wouldn’t turn left toward my room. But the footsteps were getting closer and closer toward the door.
I felt disorientated, as though I’d woken form a coma. My body hurt from the night before and the bruise on my face throbbed with pain. I sat up in the bed, and brought my knees to my chest – positioning my body in the corner of the walls.
The door crashed open, snapping me out of my groggy and confused state, but there was no flood of light into the room from the outside. Nothing at all. I squinted my eyes in the direction of the door, but they couldn’t adjust to the lack of light fast enough.
A man, his appearance hidden in shadow, sat down on the bed opposite me. I sensed that there was somebody else in the room as well.
“Chloe Mariano?” a familiar voice said.
“Yes. Who are—”
The man cocked a gun, cutting me off.
I was certain this was the same distinctive voice of the man who’d kidnapped me last night. If I was right about that, then I had already seen this man’s face. Whoever was the other presence in the room was the reason the light was off. “Yes. Yes, that’s me,” I replied.
“Why are you here?” he asked, leaning toward me.
“Honestly. I’m not entirely sure—”
“Who is Jaxson Coltrane to you?” He cut me off again before I could think.
I don’t know how many times I’ve asked myself this is the past three days.
I knew what I had wanted…For Jax and me to be together. I had thought Jax wanted that too. But after he told me he was to blame for my father’s death, I didn’t know what I wanted or who I could trust. All I knew for sure was that I had to make sure I kept myself and Jax alive. I pursed my lips as I imagined Jax being shot to death by the Bloods. I was sure it would be my fault for breaking the law of my father’s club and entering a relationship with a member of the Black Devils. It had to be the reason I was taken.
“He’s a—I mean…We’re just friends. I met him through a dating app. That’s a-all,” I shuddered in fear, and my vocal chords felt raw from all the crying I’d done in the past few days. It left my voice weak and my lie unconvincing.
I started to spin a lie in my mind; anything to try to protect myself and Jax. I had asked Jax when he took me home to stay him that first night whether there could be consequences for doing so. But I knew the answer. Jax should never have taken me into his home; it was against club law. I wanted to ask the man where Jax was and what they’d done with him but I was terrified that they could use that against one of us.
“A dating app?” the man asked, but his voice didn’t sound convinced.
In any case, I was sure this man had no proof of who I was. None of the Bloods’ had seen me since my mother and I had left Tijuana, and even if they had, I’d been away at College for the past three years. And I’d grown up a lot since then. “I know… I was surprised myself, I mean, it’s not like me, but I mean, sometimes you’ve just got to put yourself out there you know? And it’s hardly as though there’s anyth
ing I have to lose but just try—”
The man held the gun against my forehead.
Fuck! I closed my eyes.
“Why. Are. You. Here.”
“I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. “The truth is he’s my best friend.”
“Oh? Your best friend? Ask yourself this, Miss Monero: Has Coltrane ever said one thing to you that you can prove to be true?”
I didn’t know what to say. Jax had lied to me for the past ten years about the death of my father. And he had lied to me when I had asked him if it was ok for me to stay with him with the MC clubs.
“What have you heard of the Black Devil’s MC election for a new president?”
“I don’t know anything about that. Jax has never said a word about the…uh...election...whatever.” But I knew everything about it. If Jax didn’t get the role it would destabilize the MC’s entire operations…the club and Coronado would be at risk.
“Yet, you have been with him the past three days. Three days ago, Jax was given strict instructions to hand you over to us. But he never showed. He deceived you, Chloe. He’s not with them. He’s with us. I needed to bring you here for your protection. You’ll be safe here.”
I could hear his mounting fury.
“If Jax cared so much about you then why did he leave you last night for his club?”
How did this man know Jax was out on club business? Was he supposed to tell me that or had he just slipped up? I got the sinking feeling that Jax had been set-up. Whatever he had left to do was set up by this man and his gang.
“There’s one last thing I need from you, Chloe. Put this on.” He tossed an item of clothing at my chest. “All my girls wear a uniform.”
When his footsteps left the room and the door slammed shut, I turned on the light. With the gun away from my head, I let out a long held sigh of relief. But it was to be short-lived.
It was a small silver dress.
“In fact, come downstairs when you’re through. You can pour me a drink in that thing. I’d like to see what I’ve got to work with tonight.” He snickered through the door.