CUT (New Adult Dark Romance)

by Cheri, Ann

  A soft silken blouse fell into my arms. It wasn’t really my style, but it was loose enough that it would fit over my breasts and that was all that really mattered. It’d beat sitting around all day in this beer soaked mess of a shirt. For a moment, I marveled at how well spoken this girl was. North Korea? How did she learn such perfect English?

  “I have some pants too, they might be a little tight.”

  I nodded as she went back to the closet, digging, pulling out a pair of jeans.

  “Kattlyn, I need to tell you something,” Mina said, handing me the pants. I held my breath, anger welling up inside me.

  “Jude…”

  I wanted to reach out, to pull her hair, to scream and yell, but then I saw the tears.

  “What did he do,” I asked, fearful of the answer?

  “He was bleeding. I stitched him up. He was drunk and he…”

  Mina was crying, her words choking in her throat. I reached out, my hands that so wanted to hurt her now drawing her in. I understood. I’d felt her pain. Mina fell into me as I dropped the clothing to the floor and held the sobbing girl. She didn’t deserve this.

  “I’m sorry…” I whispered, understanding pouring over me.

  “It wasn’t the first time,” Mina whispered.

  All the times Jude had left me at the apartment to deal with his new friends at the fight club… All the times he’d told me he was working… How many nights had he fucked me then run off to do battle in the cage and polish his night off with this poor girl? Jude had always been bad. He’d always been forceful, hard, angry, but I’d told myself I could handle it. I’d held onto him, and I thought I was saving him… I was saving the world from him, because he was my monster… How stupid could I be? I’d been used.

  “I do what I have to do… The Rampant gave me a home. I can’t go back to Hanoi.”

  “I’m sorry. I won’t let him hurt you again.”

  “Thank you…” Mina whispered.

  Leaving Mina behind was hard, but thinking about the coming tide was harder. I stepped back out of her small back-room apartment shimmying a bit to try and loosen out the jeans I’d been given. She’d been right, they were a bit too tight. The blouse worked a bit better, it was loose enough around the middle that I was able to fit in it, stretching the silken fabric to its limit. I looked good, but I’d never been so angry in my life.

  And Jude would be back soon enough. I was going to fucking eat him alive!

  I didn’t even know what I’d say to him. There was nothing to do but tell him I was leaving. It would be hard, but I could go home. My father would be disappointed, but he would understand… Maybe he could protect me… We hadn’t talked in years, but they would be happy to tell me they told me so. That much was certain.

  “Fuck you Jude, for putting me through hell,” I whispered under my breath, pacing the garage. “Fuck you for making me feel so dirty…”

  I drew three new lines across my upper thigh; cutting deep enough to make sure I’d remember them. When I was finished, I just cried… What the fuck was wrong with me? Why did I keep letting this happen? Why did I keep doing this?

  Hours had passed, and the day stretched on into the afternoon and finally into the night, but still the garage was empty outside of a few girls looking bored and Penny whipping up a small dinner. I approached her delicately.

  “I’m starting to worry about Jude.”

  Penny whipped around, body bouncing as she went, stirring a pan filled with a delicious looking mix of chicken and artichoke hearts. “I told you to keep your nose out of business. They’ll be back when they get back.”

  I frowned; it wasn’t the answer I was looking for.

  “Look Penny, I’m new at this. Jude’s out doing god knows what, and these… Kings?”

  “Don’t talk about the Kings in here Penny. Walls have ears.”

  “Look, I just need to know when I’m gonna see Jude again. I need to talk to him.”

  Penny smirked, throwing a hand on a hip. “Sure, talk, just like you did last night? Ooh, suck my cock, suck my cock Kattlyn! What’s the matter? Can’t be patient? Go diddle yourself silly, they’ll be back soon.”

  “Penny!”

  “What, not my fault I gotta share a bedroom wall with you! I practically had to finger fuck myself to sleep! You two are a couple fuck bunnies!”

  “PENNY!”

  “Shut up and feed your face already, precious Jude will be home soon,” Penny said, cutting off the conversation and shoving some of the contents of the pan into a plate and handing it over to me.

  I wanted to be annoyed, but Penny knew how to cook. My tongue savored the buttery taste of artichoke hearts and capers, my stomach suddenly reminding me how long it had been since breakfast. Walking back into the main garage, I slumped down into a chair, digging into the meal. It was incredible, every bite more delicious than the last. Penny came by with a couple of beers and sat down across from me, cracking them open and handing me a blue. Despite my usual avoidance of the stuff, I took it.

  “So Kattlyn, how’d you land that badass anyway? How’d you get Jude to make you his old lady?”

  I sighed, slumping back into the chair. It felt like so long ago…

  “I was looking for trouble and he found me.”

  Penny seemed to realize something was off. She stared at me, cocking her head to the side. “Something wrong in paradise?”

  The tears were welling up again. I couldn’t help it. Everything came pouring out. “He’s evil… He’s unfaithful… He’s dangerous.”

  “Join the club,” Penny said, waving around the room. “We’ve got a whole building full of em. Kat, in this world there’s bad boys and there’s girls like me. You gotta learn to separate your home life from the shit that happens here. Jude’s gonna get around baby. Just know he’s coming home to you. Hell, if you need a little strange maybe you can ask if he’d let you fool around a little with some of the other guys…”

  I was turning red. “I don’t want him to come home and I don’t want him out here raping some poor girl then forcing me to suck his lipstick wrapped cock!”

  “Sounds kinky,” Penny said, laughing. She was clearly not grasping the severity of my tone.

  “I WANT OUT.”

  The room echoed my words, and Penny stared wide eyed at me as I took in deep ragged breaths. It was the first time I’d ever really said it. All those nights I’d taken his bruises or let him have his way with me. Sure, I wanted every bit of it on some twisted level, but once you put it all together, Jude had went too far. It had been leading up to this for a long time. Why was I pretending anymore?

  Penny tried to open her mouth, but she was cut off by the sound of the huge metal roll-up door opening and the roar of a pair of big dark vans. I shivered in my seat as they came rolling in with Rampant pouring out each door. Partially, I shivered because I saw Jude.

  And partially, I shivered because he was covered in blood.

  ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

  “Oh my God… What the hell happened?” I screamed, running across the concrete floor toward the shouting men. Something inside me snapped. Jude was hurt, he was bleeding…

  “Stop right there,” Marcus Black said, leaping in front of me and cutting me off before I could make it to Jude. “Get his ass to Mina and let me know when he’s ready to fucking talk.”

  Jude was being carried toward the other side of the clubhouse where I knew Mina did the patching up in her little makeshift apartment and infirmary.

  “He’s not fucking fine, he’s covered in blood” I shouted! “Get the fuck off me!”

  I tried to pull myself out of Marcus’s arms but he held me firm as the roar of engines cut off around us. “He took a couple pellets in the leg. Most of that blood isn’t his. He’s going to be fine.”

  “I have to get out of here… We have to call the police!” I shouted. “LET ME GO!”

  Marcus threw me off, tossing me toward Acre. “Buckle her down until I get back. Make sure she d
oesn’t have a cell phone.”

  My eyes swept across the men, stopping as my eyes fell on another blood covered body, a man laid over the front seat of one of the vans. Nobody was hurrying to drag him away. It didn’t take long to register that he was dead.

  “Sorry about this babe, you need to come with me,” Acre said softly as he caught me, keeping me held tight so I couldn’t run. Marcus was walking away Jude, his boots slamming on the concrete loudly.

  My breath was coming ragged, and even Penny looked panicked as I stared back at her. Acre was pulling me toward the stairs again, dragging me further and further away from the trail of blood that led to Jude. I was starting to come down from my panic, and now, I had to know…

  “What did he do Acre?”

  “We had a meet with the Kings, fucker just started a war. Somebody set him off and he shot up the whole place. Marlo is dead. Lots of bodies. No Kings survivors, but you know what they’re gonna think when their men show up in body bags?”

  Some part of me knew Jude was always capable of this, but hearing it, knowing that it had happened, it put a weight in the pit of my stomach that I couldn’t take. I wanted to vomit. I was panicking again. What was Acre going to do with me? Where were we going? My mouth breathed a few words out, gasping as Acre pulled me along. “What’s going to happen?”

  “Black doesn’t kill unless he has to. Rampant have rules. We don’t fuck with citizens, we don’t fuck with women or kids, and we don’t fucking spill blood when we don’t have to. We’ll have a meeting in the morning, some of us think your man did the right thing.”

  The right thing… The words rattled around in my head. Jude had killed. How could that be right?

  “Where are you taking me?” I asked faintly.

  “Somewhere to wait until shit cools down.”

  I shivered as we swept past the door to the room I’d stayed in the night before. Toward the very back we went, until we reached the last door, gasping as I realized what it was.

  “A cage? You’re putting me in a cage?”

  I whimpered as Acre pulled the metal door open. The bars were thick, and the floor nothing but bare concrete. He shoved me inside without another word, slamming the door shut behind him. I stared through bars after him, shouting, but he never turned back. Voices echoed up from the main floor, but I couldn’t make sense of them. Anger, violence, it had none of the fun and laughter of the night before. Spinning, I stared at the only piece of furniture in my new prison. A small cot lay against the wall next to a toilet and a sink. Shivering, I laid down, curling myself into a fetal position and turning away from the door. Sleep didn’t come for me.

  ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

  “You all right in there?”

  My eyes snapped open. I hadn’t been able to sleep, but I’d cried enough that I didn’t want to see the world outside anymore. Penny was at the door, whispering.

  “Thought you might want breakfast.”

  The redhead curled a paper plate and shoved shoved it between two of the bars, setting it down on the floor.

  “Help me Penny… I have to get out of here,” I said, my voice hushed but still too loud.

  “They’ll let you out. Stop trying to run away. Black will be up here later, trust me.”

  For some reason her words were soothing, and the food she’d brought was even better for the soul. I ate greedily from the plate, sitting near the door and listening for approaching footsteps. There was nothing to do but wait and hope. Jude was a cold blooded killer now… I’d always known what he was capable of, but I’d never imagined he’d go through with it.

  The sound of boots nearly made me drop my plate. They echoed with every step, crashing down on the floor as someone approached. I set the plate down, standing up and straining to look down the hall, unable to see the approaching man…

  “Miss me baby?”

  My stomach dropped. It was Jude. He wasn’t smiling.

  “Heard your little outburst. You shouldn’t worry about me, you know I always come out on top.”

  His eyes were steel, just dead cold steel. He reached out, shoving a key into the lock as I backed away from the door.

  “I’m sorry they did this to you Kattlyn… I won’t let them do it again,” Jude said, stepping forward. Each and every muscle in his body was moving, a simple tank-top barely containing the tendons and movements of a wild beast ready to strike.

  “What did you do?”

  My voice cracked as I was stepping back even further…

  “I did what I had to do. Come with me, Black wants to talk.”

  “I don’t want to go with you Jude,” I said, mustering all of my strength.

  “I didn’t ask what you wanted. When all this is over, I’m going to teach you proper respect.”

  Jude’s hand lashed out, smacking me hard across the face. My body went limp, then cold. I stood back up, empty inside, and followed Jude down the stairs and back into the room with the long table. The men seated around the edge looked anxious. Nobody seemed happy to be there except Jude, who stepped round the table, sitting down and pulling me onto his lap. I let out a little gasp as he pulled my hand down against his thigh, pressing up against something hidden beneath his jeans. Something I knew all too well… It jumped at my touch like a trapped animal.

  “What the fuck is she doing here?” Acre said, nodding at me.

  “She’s with me, and after you assholes locked her in a fucking cell last night, I’m not letting her out of my sight,” Jude said coldly. “You want to challenge me on this?”

  Acre’s face went red, his fists curling on the wood, but he was stopped in place as Marcus spoke up. “Now that we’re all here…” he said, slamming a wooden gavel down on the table. I marveled at the intricate carvings across the wooden face, a pattern not unlike the one on the back of the Rampant vests, a shattered skull, carved straight out of the wood. As with Black’s jacket, I could see names carved into each little piece. The older man, Ash, stood at the far side of the table, digging into the wood with a carving tool, edging out a new piece of the skull as Black talked.

  “We’ve had a lot happen over the last few hours. The Kings are at war, and that means we’re at fucking war.”

  Fists pounded the table all around, I shook like a leaf.

  “We lost a brother,” Marcus continued, “Marlo was a man I’d trust with my life. He’ll expect us to raise some hell for him.”

  Fists pounded the table again. I stared at Ash as he finished digging at the table. In his hand, a small drill of some kind whirred as he drew it across the piece of skull he had just carved out of the wood. A name. Marlo. My eyes ran over the rest of the skull, staring at all the broken pieces, all the names. Dozens of them. It suddenly dawned on me that they were all dead… Every single piece of the skull was a dead man.

  “Sweetheart…”

  I stared up from Jude’s lap, frowning as Black addressed me personally.

  “I’m sorry about last night. I needed you to calm down before you went and did something stupid. We got away from the Kings and the last thing I need is FBI busting down the doors here. You feeling better?”

  “Yes…” I whispered, feeling as if I’d just lied through my teeth.

  “Jude…”

  Marcus stared across the table. Jude leaned forward, shifting me on his lap.

  “Yeah Black?”

  “You saved my ass back there. We could have been carving out most of this table today.”

  Jude nodded, grinning.

  “But you also fucked up.”

  “You saw the three assholes they had hiding in back with the shotguns. Do you really think they were going to let us walk out of there Black?”

  “We don’t know what was going to happen,” Black replied.

  Nobody said a word, the whole table was silent.

  “What, nobody going to speak against this? Don’t you fuckers even know what the Kings are up to out in LA? You’re all worried about the drug trade while those bastards
pull pretty girls off the street and sell them off! They’re filth better off dead, and you want to climb in bed with them?”

  “You don’t question the Black,” Acre growled.

  “I’m questioning all of you. Go ahead Marcus, put it to a fucking vote. Who here thinks sucking off the Kings is a good idea? I’ve been working the street for long enough to know who you can trust and who you can’t.”

  “Take off your cut,” Marcus said quietly.