I chastise myself for even thinking that. Because I have no claim on Mason. No matter how much I seem to want too. God, this is going to drive me crazy. I quickly wash from head to toe before getting out. I dried off and put on my deodorant and a black see-through lace Babydoll bra and panty set. I pull out my blow dryer and start drying my hair.
After I'm done, I lean over and give my head a little shake and comb it back with my fingers. My hair is naturally wavy, so I don't have to do anything else to it. I pull out a pair of black ripped hem denim shorts, a red tank top, a pair of black mid-calf low heel boots and my leather jacket in case it gets cold. I put on a pair of skull earrings, the choker that matches, and two diamond rings.
I pick my dress and heels up off the floor and put them in my bag along with my blow dryer. I get my makeup out. I put on a glittery bronze eye shadow, mascara, black winged eyeliner, and a glossy ruby red no smear lipstick. I take one last look in the mirror before I walk into the bedroom. Sitting on the bed, my eyes go back to the photo of Mason and I. I can't believe he still kept that picture for so long I wonder how long it's been sitting there.
I've been waiting for about fifteen minutes, and he still hasn't returned. So, I decided to go wait at the bar. I'm sure I'll have time for a drink. It'll help calm my nerves. I pick up my coat and purse before opening the door. I start to walk off, but remember he had his door locked. So, I open the door reach for the doorknob and lock it before closing it again.
I'm walking through the commons area to get to the bar when I feel eyes on me. I turn to my left and see it's the same blonde from earlier. The one that was giving me the evil eye. I ignored her and continue on to the bar. There's a man behind it wearing a kutte that says prospect. I lay my coat and purse on the bar before taking a seat. He gives me a wink and asks what I'd like to drink.
I ask him what did he have, and he starts naming off the different types of liquor and the only two beers he has. A couple of years ago, I was dating a bartender, and he got me to start drinking beer. It was nasty at first, but kind of grew on me. Now I keep it in my refrigerator. I tell him to give me a shot of Tequila and a Bud Light.
He fixes my shot and hands me my beer. I down the shot and start to pick up my beer to take a swallow, but a hand grabs it before I can. I look up to see that it's the same blonde that's been giving me the evil eye. I shake my head and ask the prospect for another beer. He puts it in my hand this time instead of on the bar.
The girl takes a seat beside me and starts staring, but I ignore her. She huffs and says, excuse me. I shake my head and turn towards her, asking, "How may I help you?" She looks at me and says, "I know you." I tell her, Ok. That's good to know. I look at the prospect and ask him if he knows when their meeting will end? He shakes his head, no.
I grab my coat, purse, and beer and move to an empty table. I sit, and as soon as I get comfortable, the chair beside me scrapes across the floor, and the blonde from the bar flops her ass on it. I raise a brow in her direction. She sneers and leans into my space before saying, "You know I had him first. He's mine, and he's always going to be mine. You were nothing to him but an easy lay-in high school. I thought I'd gotten rid of you already. You just couldn't stay away."
I have no idea who this bitch is, but her words had me asking who she was in an instant. When she told me her name was Izzy, I knew exactly who she was. And why the first words out of her mouth were, I had him first. What threw me off was the getting rid of me part of that statement. What had she done to get rid of me?
She was shaking her head back and forth while muttering to herself about finally wearing someone down and needing to make a call to get rid of something. While she was busy talking to herself, I was about to get up to leave the table. As soon as I stood up, she turned her deranged eyesight on me and attacked.
CHAPTER 9
Mason
When I finally got to the meeting, I was the last to get there. I walked in and closed the door. Turning around, I see that everyone in the room has their eyes trained on me. I raise an eyebrow, but they all just smirk. I shake my head and look towards Demon as he starts to talk.
We go over the details for the run we're making in a few weeks. So, I guess they finally decided on a route to take. We spend about Thirty minutes going over maps and deciding who would be going and who's staying. I'll be going. I'll have to do as much as I can to make sure Kelly's here when I get back. I'd hate to come home and find out that she's left again while I'm on a run.
We then get to my altercation with Izzy. I tell them the essential parts of the story and what I think she's doing. A club member named Shadow speaks up then and says, "That she had condoms and he was with her not even an hour before I showed up to the clubhouse." So, it looks like she was trying to trap just me into a relationship with her. Great, just what I need a crazy bitch trying to sink her hooks into me. I make a face of disgust before telling the brothers I want to vote her out.
I can already see some of them shaking their heads. I'm guessing they are going to vote to keep Izzy in. We call a vote, and a lot of hands go up but not enough to have her kicked out. I want to yell out in frustration, but I keep my cool. I'll just have to stay away from her. Demon says he'll put her on probation for a month, and if she does anything wrong, she'll be kicked out.
I was hoping this was the end of the meeting, but our V.P. Ghost spoke up. He asked, "How my girl was doing and why she was crying earlier?" I forgot most of the guys here didn't know our story. So, I went ahead and filled them in. You could practically feel the anger rolling off them when I finished. I told them that I think me holding her immobile against the bar might've triggered something.
They asked if it was the same Steven that is running all illegal dealings around here. I told them yes. They then asked if she knew he was out of jail? I didn't have an answer for them because she has been gone for ten years. So, she probably didn't know. I'm not even sure he knows she's back in town.
Demon calls the meeting to an end, and me, Stryker, Justice, Ghost, and Demon are the first to walk out. We make it about halfway down the hallway before we're hearing yelling. We start running, and I can hear other footfalls behind us. We turn around the corner and stop taking in the scene. There's a table, some chairs and two beer bottles lying on the floor.
I'm about to ask what happened when I look up and see Kelly standing there. I do a quick once over before a figure picks itself up off the floor with a roar and runs full speed at my girl. I'm about to step forward when just before the figure reaches her, she sidesteps and sticks her boot out and trips the girl. I look down towards the girl that just landed face-first on the floor and realize its Izzy. I look up to Kelly and see her staring at me.
I raise my brow, and she smirks at me, shrugging her shoulder, mouthing I've got this. I nod and walk over to the bar. The prospect hands me a beer, and I sit on a barstool to watch the show. Demon, Stryker, Justice, and Ghost doing the same thing. I look to Demon, and he's smirking. He looks around the room and tells us this should be good.
I ask the prospect what happen, and he says, "He thinks Izzy was trying to run my girl off." With a nod, I turn back to the show. This time when Izzy gets up, she has a busted lip, and she's bleeding from the nose. She calls Kelly a bitch and says, "He's mine you can't have him. I've worked too hard to get where I am, and you think you can just walk back into town and take him from me. I didn't come here and fuck all these men for nothing."
That seemed to get everyone's attention. Everyone was paying more attention to the altercation going on in front of us. The room was quiet as Izzy continued on her little rant, not realizing we were in the room to witness it all. Then she said something that had me seeing red, and if Kelly hadn't gotten to her first, I would've beaten her myself. Club rules be damned. Because she deserved the ass beating, she received.
She looked Kelly in the eyes and said, "Instead of fucking Steven and convincing him to fuck you so Mason could see and break up with you, I should've just hi
red someone to kill you. But that's okay because he plans on finishing the job for me anyway." After hearing that, the grip I had on the beer bottle was so tight that it broke. She heard the glass break and turned her feral eyes in our direction. Seeing us standing, there was enough for her to come back to her senses, but the damage was already done.
And before she could open her mouth to say another word, the roles in their fight were reversed, and Kelly became the predator and Izzy the prey. Kelly's face went from amused to menacing in an instant. Izzy must've seen something in Kelly's expression because she started backing up with her hands up in the air. Hell, even we were taken aback by the look. Kelly took cold, calculated steps towards Izzy as the girl looked like she was about to turn tail and run.
Izzy didn't get far. She turned to run but tripped on one of the beer bottles on the floor and ended up on her hands and knees. Kelly walked up beside Izzy, wrapped the girls' long bottle-blonde hair around her hand before pulling her up by it. Then she punched the girl in the face three times. The last hit had to be powerful because there was a loud crunch that followed.
After the last punch, Kelly let go of her hair, and Izzy was sprawled out on the floor. It was quiet in the room. No one made a sound. Just staring between where Kelly stood to where Izzy was knocked out. Kelly stood over Izzy's body, her chest heaving from the altercation for another minute. She turned in my direction, and I held my arms open for her. She was in them the next second.
Her arms tightened around my waist, and her body shaking from the sobs that were now coming. I wrapped my arm around her and held her close to my chest. Picking her up and I started walking towards my room but stopped and turned back to look at the girl on the floor. Then I turned my gaze to Demon. He knew what I wanted, and he nodded his head. Before I turned to leave, I see Ghost and Justice pick Izzy up by the arms and take her out the back door. Hopefully, to the shed.
CHAPTER 10
Kelly
I feel protected in Mason's massive arms. Like nothing can touch me. When we get to his door, he hands me his keys to unlock it. I open the door, and he closes it with his foot. He walks over to the bed and deposits me in the middle before going back and locking the door.
He turns and leans back on the door, just looking at me. I sit up so I can look him in the eyes. He doesn't say anything for another minute, but then he asks if it's ok to join me on the bed. I say yes, and he sits down beside me. He starts to touch me but stops at the last minute. So, I reach over and place my hand in his.
He smiles at me and looks down at our joined hands, and his smile turns into a frown. I look down to see what he's frowning at and see that my hand is covered in blood. I start to pull my hand away, but his grip tightens, and he pulls me towards the bathroom. After turning on the light, he led me to the sink and proceeded to wash the blood off. I watch as the water turns from red to pink and from pink back to clear.
He removes my hand and uses a hand towel to dry it off. My fingers are starting to swell, and he has a hard time getting my rings off. After getting them off, he puts them on the counter and leads me back to the bed. I lay on it, and he tells me he'll be back in a minute. He leaves the room with me, wondering what he's up too.
When he comes back, he has a bag filled with ice. He places it on my hand and walks into the bathroom. I hear the shower come on, and a minute later, I hear his clothes hitting the floor. The knowledge of knowing he's just a room away and practically naked has my heartbeat kicking up a notch. It would be so easy to just walk through the door, get undressed, and join him. Yeah, it would be easy, and I'm sure he wouldn't care, but I would.
Instead of doing that, I turn over, trying to get the images of writhing naked bodies out of my head. Which wasn't too hard because Izzy's little rant was running on a loop in my head. She said, "He was going to finish the job." did that mean Steven was out of prison. And if he is, why hasn't anyone told me. My heart starts beating faster, and my breath comes out in pants. I think I'm about to have a panic attack.
I'm locked in my thoughts, so I don't hear the shower cut off or Mason walking up behind me until his body wraps around mine. He starts whispering in my ear and telling me it's going to be ok. That everything's going to be ok. He tells me to breathe in and out when he does. A few minutes later, I'm back to my usual self.
I know I need to ask about the comment Izzy made, but I'm scared of what his answer will be. And what that will mean for me. What if he comes for me again? Will he rape me again? Will I be able to defend myself this time? God, the not knowing is driving me crazy. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and ask the questions I need answers too.
Well, at least I thought I was going too. But instead, I asked, "Are you dating Izzy? Is that why she's here?" And what was she talking about when she said, "I didn't come here and fuck all these men for nothing." Was she cheating on you, and you didn't know it? And if she slept with all the men here, how is it that you didn't know? I find it hard to believe because a woman who fucks that many men have got to be loose down there.
I was so focused on my thoughts that my brain to mouth filter was nowhere in sight at this point. I mean, they were all valid questions to me. After I finally stopped asking questions, I realized the bed was shaking. Furrowing my brows, I look over my shoulder and see Mason silently laughing. I huff and go to get up, but his hands tighten around me, and he kisses my nape.
A little sigh escapes me, and I know the only reason I asked those questions was that I don't want to ask the one question that matters. I lift Mason's arm and turn to face him. I look into his eyes and ask, "Is he out? Is Steven Out of prison? I need to know if it is him, she was talking about who's going to finish the job.
He at me like he doesn't want to answer the question. But with a deep breath and an audible sigh, he kisses my forehead and finally responds with a yes. He tells me how Steven got out five years ago and tried to join the club. He was denied from joining. Mason tells me about the beatdown he'd giving him for the second time.
I asked him when was the first time, and he told me it was the day I left his house after telling my side of the story. I didn't comment on that because I cried for days after that scene at his home. I barely slept because of what happened, and I had stopped eating. I was a mess for a while. The way he's acting now, I don't think he'd be able to handle all the details of what went on after everything that went down.
We laid there both of us lost in our thoughts. I decided to ask about Izzy. I wanted to know if she was still here. He said she was still here and that they were holding her for questioning. He said there wasn't much that they could do because they didn't condone violence against women. So, I asked if that just meant they didn't punish females? He said, "Yes, but some clubs didn't care if you were male or female.
I didn't feel the same way because she hurt me. She might not have physically hurt me, but what had happened to me was because of her. That being said, I felt like she deserved to feel a little more pain. Because the pain she caused me was way worse than what she might have felt from a few punches. My eyes were getting heavy, and sleep was calling me, but I held it off long enough to let Mason know I wanted justice for her role in what happened to me. And if they didn't want to hurt her, I had ten years of pent up anger I'd love to vent out before they let her go.
CHAPTER 11
Mason
I laid there with Kelly wrapped in my arms another hour after she finally fell asleep. I couldn't take my eyes off her. Even with the mascara line's running down her face, she's still beautiful. I kissed her forehead and slid out of bed. I hear her make a noise in the back of her throat and reach for me, so I put my pillow in her arms.
I see her sniff it, and a smile crosses her lips before she burrows into it. I grab a pair of jeans, a shirt and a pair of socks from the dresser, and get dressed. Putting on my shoes, I pick up my phone before walking out the door. On the way to the commons area, I call Kelly's dad Jerry to let him know she won't be home tonight and that she's st
aying with me. He tells me to make sure nothing happens to his daughter. I tell him I'd protect her with my life.
I hang up the phone and walk over to the bar where Demon and Justice are sitting and talking. When I get there, the prospect hands me a beer. I take a seat and think about all that happened with Kelly and Izzy. I hang my head because everything I said to her back then comes back to me in a flood of vivid memories. Memories that has haunted my life for the past ten years.
I shake my head and turn to see that both Demon and Justice are looking at me. Justice asks, "How Kelly's doing with everything that happened?" I tell him she's asleep now but that she didn't seem to know that Steven was out of jail. I tell him that she had avoided talking to anyone from here for so long, that no one was able to get ahold of her to tell her about him. So, she was completely blindsided by that bit of information from Izzy.
I tell them Kelly is worried about what Izzy meant about him finishing the job. Then I ask where they put Izzy because I had a few questions of my own. I also tell them what Kelly said about venting out ten years of pain on Izzy since we don't hurt women. Demon gets a broad smile on his face. I could see the twinkle in his eyes and the wheels turning in his head.
I couldn't help but wonder if telling him that was a good idea or a bad one. He looks at me and asks if I thought Kelly would like to be there for questioning Izzy. As much as I want to say no, I know, I can't take this away from her. I was about to say, "I'll ask her in the morning," but the words never came out. I caught a glimpse of her in the mirror above the bar coming straight towards me.
Mason Page 4