by Sam Crescent
“What?”
“Winter. The nights are the worst. During the day, she’s like this kickass girl. Nothing will bother her, and she’s so strong. I forget what she’s been through. There are no long stares, or vacant looks, or fear in her eyes. She’s normal. At night, it’s when that fear grips her, and there’s nothing I can do. I want to hold her, comfort her, but she’s so fucking afraid, and in the morning, I see the guilt. She’s just surviving, man. She’s not living. She’s trying to.”
Brass had seen the evidence of what her father had made others do to her. It was sick, twisted, and there was no way a woman could handle all that. Yet, Winter seemed to take it in stride. Winter, Maya, they were the same person.
“You just got to be there for her. Take your time, and eventually she will come around.”
“It’s a never ending battle. A hard won one. There are times I don’t even know what I’m doing.” Landon sighed. “Oh well. We got to keep this shit moving, right. Onwards and upwards. That’s our motto.”
“I think it’s more a ‘step out of my way or I’ll fucking kill you’ kind of motto.”
“Either one works. You coming or what?”
“Yep.”
Brass jumped up into the truck, and headed out to do the day’s work. The Trojans MC was not about sitting down on your ass all day being waited on by the club pussy, and shouted at by the old ladies. They had work to do to keep the money rolling in. Sure, they did shit that wasn’t entirely legal. Drug and gun runs mostly, but it was all just for the money, the rush. Also, if they didn’t do it, someone else would, and they wouldn’t give a shit about who they hurt in the process. For the Trojans, they had to keep Vale Valley safe. It was where they had kids, women, their very lives, and all of them wanted it to be clean.
“So, how is it going with your sexy woman?” Landon asked.
“Great.” He thought about Eliza, and it made him want to fucking groan. There was pleasure, and then there was a fucking headache. He wanted her to stay with him, but he didn’t know how to actually ask her without sounding like some kind of pussy. It bothered him that there was still a guy out there who was going to marry her. This was the last fucking shit he needed.
“Trouble in paradise already?”
“Yeah, no, it’s fucked up. There’s a guy out there who is supposed to marry her, and I think if she leaves this place, then she’ll do it.” Over the past few weeks, he had seen that she had absolutely no confidence. Her father would break her down, and Brass would lose her.
“Why don’t you knock her up, or better yet, why don’t you ask her to stay? Would that be really hard?” Landon asked.
“Asking is for pussies.” He rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his mind.
“You’re an asshole. You don’t think Duke, Pike, Raoul, and the others haven’t done a lot of asking in their time? Just ask her to stay.”
“This was supposed to be easy, Landon. Just some fun that is all I offered her.” And boy, had they had fun. He had licked her pussy out until she begged him to stop. They had done everything but anal, and that was because she wasn’t ready. When he was near her, he couldn’t keep his hands off her.
A text buzzed on his phone, and he frowned. Glancing down he saw it was from Mary. All of the club old ladies had their numbers so it wasn’t that strange to get a text from one of them.
Mary: u heard about Eliza’s asshole father!
Brass: Duh, yeah.
Mary: She’s broke, Brass. He’s taken her money, and I’ve offered her a job.
Eliza had warned him that he would try to make her life difficult to get her to go back there. Fuck!
He didn’t want to lose her.
Brass: I’ll be there to pick her up.
Mary: Do you love her?
Brass: I’ll be there.
“Will you drop me off at Mary’s house? I’ve got some business to take care of.”
“Sure, no problem. You know if you want to own her, you can just get us to help.”
With the problems simmering between Russ and Duke, Brass didn’t want to start causing trouble, or even asking for help.
“Everything will be good.” A few minutes later, Landon pulled up outside of Mary’s house. “You sure you’re okay finishing this off for me?”
“Dude, I’m dropping shit off, and then heading to the clubhouse. I’ve done this as a damn Prospect. I can handle this shit.”
“Fine.” Brass slammed the door, and headed toward the door. There was no need to knock, so he entered Mary’s house calling out. He found the two of them in the kitchen. Eliza was standing behind the camera flashing away as Mary was putting the finishing touches to whatever cake she had made.
“Ah, Brass, you’re here,” Mary said. “I texted him so don’t think anything bad.”
“Oh,” Eliza said, smiling. “Hey.
“Hey.” Why was it always like this between them? He didn’t know what he did wrong, or even if he did anything wrong. Crap. All he wanted to do was go toward her, touch her, tell her everything was going to be okay. They had known each other on a complete physical level and had talked for hours. He had never been open with anyone else.
“Wow, the tension, people,” Mary said.
“I want to talk with Eliza. Can I take her?” he asked.
“Sure. Go ahead. I’ve already typed my number into your phone. We’ll catch up soon.” Eliza nodded, grabbing her bag and jacket, following him outside.
He lived about thirty minutes away from Mary and Pike by foot. Taking hold of her hand, he locked their fingers together, trying to figure out the right words.
“Mary is nice. I like her.”
“She told me that your father has emptied your bank account.”
“Yeah. The money I had with me has gone, and because I’m not back, he knows I’ve used the money he paid me.” She sighed. “He’s not going to stop. All my life he has had to be in control, and I hate it. I hate feeling this way.” She squeezed his hand. “I feel like I can’t breathe. He’s everywhere.”
“He’s not in Vale Valley, babe. You don’t have to depend on him.”
“I don’t want to turn into one of those girls that use you, Brass.”
He stopped, and faced her. “I want you to stay.”
There, he’d said it.
“Stay?”
“Here with me. I want it to be something more than fun. I want you to rely on me, and not because I’m fucking you. I want you to rely on me because that’s what we are. We rely on each other.” He stroked his thumb across her hand. “I know the Trojans, and I’m not some fancy assed businessman. I’ll take care of you, and you’ll never have to worry about your father again.”
He saw tears filled her eyes. “It has been three weeks.”
“I don’t give a fuck. I know that I love having you around, Eliza. If, after a few months we want to end it, then we’ll end it. No pressure. I’ll help you. I’m not an asshole. I won’t toss you out on your ass.”
She smiled. “No, you’re not an asshole.”
“I’m not good with words, or fancy shit. I usually know what I want, and go for it, no questions asked.”
“You’re doing all right, Brass. Really, you are, and I’d love to. I want to work for Mary and Holly, and there’s something else I’d like to do.”
“What?” he asked, already willing to do whatever it took to keep her at his side.
“When I was younger I wrote, and I got accepted for publication. Anyway my dad found out, and went completely crazy. I’d like to start writing again.”
He held his hand up, and grabbed his cell phone.
“What can I do for you, Brass?” Raoul asked.
“I need you to get me a decent laptop or a computer. Actually, get me both. I want it around my place in two hours.” He glanced at Eliza, seeing her mouth slightly open. “Make it three.” There were a lot of things he wanted to do to that mouth. Hanging up the phone, he pulled her toward him. “Whatever dream you have, whatever
you need, you come to me, and I will do everything to make sure you get it.”
Before he could even demand a kiss, her lips were on his, and to Brass, everything was more than right in the world.
****
Matthew blew out a lung full of smoke, and stared across the abandoned parking lot, wondering what was going on at the club. It wasn’t like his dad to pull him away from college, especially with how much he wanted him to find his own path.
Each time he did, he found himself coming back to the Trojans MC. Sure, college was great, and he loved learning, but each spare moment he thought about the Prospects at the club. He wanted to make sure that he could hack it, as otherwise he was screwed.
Three Prospects had already come and gone in a matter of weeks, not being able to handle the pressure. He never realized how many boys and men thought they wanted this life. Only the strong could hack it, and it had no room for the weak.
“You okay?”
He jumped out of his skin, and spun around to see Luna. Fuck. He dropped his cigarette to the floor and stubbed it out. Why did she have to be the one to find him sitting on his ass thinking? He and Luna had a lot of history. She was the girl he thought for a few weeks that he had knocked up, only to discover that she wasn’t pregnant. She was a chubby girl, but he didn’t see her weight. No, he loved her curves and knew what they felt like in his arms.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay.” He’d also gone from hating the thought of being a father, to wishing she had been pregnant. He was so fucked up in the head about this girl it was unreal. “Why are you in Vale valley?”
“I had no choice but to come home.”
“Oh, why?” She sighed, and that was when he noticed her waitressing uniform. “You work for Mac?”
“Yeah, I don’t have much of a choice. The scholarship I won got hit by some kind of fraud thing, or the company behind it. My scholarship got taken away, and there’s no way for me to continue. My folks can’t afford it, so I’m back at home. I’m enrolled at the local college. It’s not the same, but it’s better than nothing.”
“Shit, I’m so fucking sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s not like you could do anything about it.”
“But it’s what you always wanted to do.”
She shrugged and smiled at the same time. “I can’t stop what’s happening, Matthew.” She pointed at the ground. “What’s with you smoking? Even when you were a cool kid you never smoked.”
“I’ve decided to take it up as a hobby.”
She chuckled. “Those things can kill you, you know, more than a gun.”
“I don’t know, I think I’d take the gun at this point.” Damn, she looked so incredibly beautiful. She had dyed her hair since the last time he saw her, and it was a deep red color.
“Anyway, I better go. I don’t want to be late.”
“How about I drive you? I’m not doing anything but sitting around on my ass.”
“You should be studying.”
“And now I’m going to drive you to work.” He rushed around to the passenger side. “Climb in, princess.”
She sighed. “Fine. Fine.”
“What was the name of your scholarship again?” he asked.
She told him the name, and this time he smiled.
Luna would be going to college. First, he needed to talk to his father.
Chapter Three
“Oh fuck,” Brass said. He stared down and watched as Eliza took his dick to the back of her throat. The moment they entered his place, she hadn’t been able to keep her hands off him, not that he could deny her. She was fucking perfect.
His dick was covered in saliva, and she ran her hand up and down the shaft, removing her lips from the tip.
“Do you like sucking my cock?” he asked.
“Yeah, I do.”
She was completely naked, and there wasn’t a mirror in sight so that he could see her. In the past three weeks, he had already had mirrors installed in his bedroom so that he could see her in every single fucking direction.
“You’re good at it.”
She giggled. “You’re just saying that.”
This was what he found most baffling. When they were fully clothed, and had been apart for a few hours, everything seemed awkward, and wrong. Put them in a room, naked, and everything came out in the open.
“I’m not.” He winked.
“I like Mary. She’s so sweet. My dad is a complete asshole. I want to work, Brass. I don’t want you to think that I’m here because you’re paying my way. I’m not … easy.”
He reached down, stroking her cheek. “I know you’re not easy.”
“It’s not that. I just … for so long I’ve wanted to be independent of my father. I felt for the first time in my life that I could be, and now, I don’t know. It’s like I’ll never get away from him, and that terrifies me. I don’t want to marry Darcy, Brass. He’s an asshole, and he’s mean as well. I don’t like him, and I don’t want to go back to that way of life. I know a lot of people see me as a pampered princess and everything, but I don’t want to be that. I want to just be Eliza, and nothing else.”
Brass reached out and pulled her into his lap. He ran his hand down her thigh, loving the feel of her curves pressed against him. “I know you’re not a pampered princess.” Every time he came home he noticed that his place had been thoroughly cleaned. There was so much more to Eliza than just her name, and yet from the sounds of it, her name was the only thing that everyone has ever wanted from her. “While you are here, I will protect you.”
She kissed his lips. “What about when my dad finds out?”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s not the kind to let things slide, or to leave it alone. He will come here, possibly with Darcy, and when he does, he will cause problems.”
“You’re worried he’s going to ruin some of the businesses of Vale Valley?”
“Yeah. It’s what scares me about Mary and Holly’s blog. He could ruin that.”
Brass licked his lips and leaned back. “I’ll take care of it.”
“That simple?”
“I’m not going to lie, it’s not going to be that simple, but leave it to me. I’ll deal with your father, and with that asshole who thinks he can control you. I’m a Trojan, babe. I’m resourceful.”
She chuckled, moving to straddle his lap. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, and started to grind down on his dick.
Eliza was so wet that he felt her cream on his shaft. He wasn’t wearing a condom, and he knew they were both clean. He wanted to take her without a condom, and thought about Landon’s little insight. If he did get her pregnant, he’d be able to keep her in Vale Valley forever.
Don’t fucking do it, man.
Don’t turn into Crazy’s whore.
His fellow club brother Crazy had been caught by a club whore who had used her pregnancy to manipulate the brother. After she gave birth to Strawberry, she’d made Crazy’s life hell until he met Leanna. Then everything changed.
What he was thinking right now was no different from her.
Grabbing Eliza’s ass, he groaned, wanting nothing more than to slide into her wet cunt.
“I want you, Brass,” she said, sinking her fingers into his hair.
The sound of the doorbell was a welcome relief even if it was a hated sound.
She gave a little squeak.
“Your future is here,” he said, getting to his feet. He handed her a shirt and his boxers to cover herself, while he slid his jeans up his body. Only when he was sure she was covered, did he go to answer the door. Raoul, Landon, and Diaz were on the other side.
“You ask, and I deliver. It’ll cost you, buddy,” Raoul said.
“This shit is legal, right?”
“Of course,” Diaz said. “All of it is fucking legal. I wouldn’t do that to my Trojan boys. I value your business far too much.”
“What is all this?” Eliza asked, coming up behind him. Her h
air was all over the place, and she looked thoroughly fucked.
“This is so you can take up writing again.”
“But my dad?”
“I’ll take care of it. You can do whatever you want.”
“Who is this young lady?” Diaz asked, staring at her. Of course he knew who she was. When she first came into town, they had run her name through the system via Diaz.
“Eliza, it’s nice to meet you.”
“The name’s Diaz, lady, and whatever you need, you just give me a call.” He handed her a card, and Brass took it away.
“She won’t be needing any special product or shit. She’s mine.”
“She is?” Diaz asked.
Raoul slapped Diaz around the back of the head. “We’re friends, but that doesn’t mean you can sell on our turf.”
“I know. I know.”
Brass wrapped his arms around her shoulder, pulling her in close. “He’s a friend of the club. You want to make some drinks? I’ll get them to set this shit up for us.”
“You’re too good for me,” she said.
He watched her go, knowing in his heart of hearts that she was too damn good for him.
Following Raoul, Landon, and Diaz into his office, he’d already cleared a desk so they could set it up for her.
“She’s nice,” Diaz said.
“You’ve spoken to her once,” Brass said.
“Yeah, and the bitches I know would have taken that card, and asked for a bag of coke. Believe me, a good woman is hard to find, and in my line of work, they’re all fucking druggies.”
“You sell the drugs,” Brass said.
“Yeah, so? You sell guns, but you don’t want an old lady shooting up your shit, do you? I know the shit that goes into the product I sell. I’ve seen what it does, and I don’t want any of it near my family. Call me a fucking old school kind of guy. I want a lady.”
Brass was amazed. He would never have guessed it from Diaz. The guy was heavy in drugs, and his crew was known to be the worst around. Raoul was a close friend, and so through the two of them, the Trojans had formed an ally. It kept them close with information, and the shit off the streets.
While they were setting up the computers, Eliza came through with their drinks. He loved seeing her dressed in his clothes.