Harmony (The Club Girl Diaries Book 1)

by Jane, Addison

  I heard the door swing open, but took no notice as I continued to study myself in the mirror. Kit would help me through this. He would find the guy, sort him out with the help of the club and I’d go home.

  I snorted, knowing I was kidding myself. Kit had made it perfectly clear what he wanted – me. And while I was independent and strong-willed, telling myself I didn’t need a man to watch over me or stand up for me, I felt safe with him. Safe in a situation that I would never admit to anyone scared the crap out of me.

  “Harmony Jones.” My head shot up, the deep masculine voice sending shock waves through me.

  I turned to find two men. One standing in front of the bathroom door with his arms folded across his chest, the other standing closer to me, a smug look plastered on his face.

  Suits. They were both wearing suits. Designer suits. Not just ones you rented for a wedding, but ones that wealthy businessmen owned and wore on a daily basis.

  “It’s so nice to see you again.”

  I recognized him immediately. The man from the coffee shop. The one who had started this whole journey. My stomach turned and my throat itched. I wanted to yell, to scream for help. But I knew that the boys were all out the front of the store, and they wouldn’t hear me.

  I steeled my shoulders and glared at him through my dipped lashes, feigning confidence that I knew I didn’t have. “And you are?”

  He held his hand out, searching for a handshake. “Daniel Ashley.” I looked at his hand, scrunching up my nose as though I was thoroughly disgusted, as opposed to scared out of my mind. He held it there for a few seconds before withdrawing it with a light chuckle. “You know, it’s polite to shake a man’s hand when he offers it to you.”

  “I’d say I’m sorry, but that would be a lie,” I shot.

  I saw his eyes narrow slightly, but he covered the slight bout of anger quickly with a smile. “I just wanted to come and introduce myself to you.”

  “At a gas station in the middle of nowhere?” I scoffed. I knew what he was doing, I wasn’t stupid. This man was proving a point. He knew where I was and who I was with and he wanted to show me that he could get to me.

  “Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to catch you alone lately,” his word emphasis was not lost on me and my body instinctively took a step away from him. He followed, his step a lot larger. He was moving closer and with his man standing guard at the door, he was backing me into a corner. “I needed your friend, Chelsea isn’t it? I needed her for a business deal. It was unfortunate that you had to come along and ruin that.”

  His hand flew out, slapping me across the face and forcing me to the wall. The hand dryer hit my back and my legs threatened to cave. With my back against a wall, I felt like a caged animal waiting for a predator to strike. And he didn’t disappoint.

  “I thought I’d get some of my men to grab you.” He gestured to the buff guy standing at the door who smiled devilishly. “I just wanted to have a chat, maybe teach you a few things about manners. But you ruined that also. How’s your shoulder by the way?”

  “Fuck you,” I sneered.

  His hand shot out and gripped my sore shoulder. I tensed, trying not to show this man how much pain he was causing me.

  “As much as I would love to do just that. That is not my job here.” He pressed his thumb directly into my bullet wound and I screamed out as a jolt of pain shot through my body. I tried to move away from him, but he just stepped further into me, his hand and the pain keeping my body immobile. I could even hear and feel the stitches popping and breaking. “At first I just wanted to show you some respect. The way you talked to me was unacceptable, Harmony. A woman needs to know her place, and it’s obvious to me that you don’t.”

  Tears burned in my eyes, but I forced them down. I wouldn’t show this monster any sign that he was winning. “I said…Fuck…You.”

  The backhand to the face caught me off guard and I stumbled, falling against one of the toilet stalls. I gripped a hold of it before I could fall, attempting to keep my balance. I looked up at him, and the darkness in the eyes shining back at me made me want to cower. He cleared his throat and adjusted his cufflinks casually like he hadn’t just smacked the shit out of me.

  “You’re strong, Harmony. I’ll give you that.” The pain in my shoulder and face was excruciating, but I’d held my shoulders back and stared him in the eye, refusing to let him see me vulnerable. “But everyone has their breaking point and I would’ve taken so much pleasure in breaking you. But then a client of mine heard about you, he became very interested and was adamant that he must have you for his collection.”

  I frowned, confused by his words.

  “I know who you are! I know where you’re going! I know everything about you!” He smirked, dusting off his hands as if when he hit me he may have contracted some sort of disease. “I’ll let you have a little time with your friends because where you’re going, you’re going to need the happy memories to make it through.” Then he turned and strolled straight out the door, as though he hadn’t just threatened me. Almost like it was just another day at the office.

  My body gave in and I slid to the floor. Things were escalating very quickly, my mind couldn’t keep up, his words replaying over and over again.

  He must have you for his collection.

  Where you’re going, you’re going to need the happy memories.

  I would’ve taken so much pleasure in breaking you.

  I heard a gasp and looked up, my eyes now clouded with tears.

  “Oh, my dear! Are you okay, honey?” The older lady moved toward me. She crouched down and reached out to brush my hair away from my eyes. I cringed and turned away from her. “Is there someone I can get for you? Are you here with anyone?”

  Kit. Get Kit.

  “His name’s Kit, he’s one of the bikers outside,” I whispered. Hiding my face behind a curtain of hair, not wanting to see the look of pity on the woman’s face.

  “Okay, I’ll get him.”

  She rushed out and I let the dam loose. The waterworks were on, only relieving a little of the pressure that was now building in my head.

  This was bad.

  So, so bad.

  I knew Harmony wasn’t going to make it easy on me. The drive down south back to Troy was tense to say the least. Harmony acknowledged me with grunts and yes’s and no’s, but other than that she barely said a word.

  I followed my boys into a gas station about an hour and a half out of town. It wasn’t a long ride and we could have done it easily without stopping, so I was curious so see why they had pulled off.

  “Need to use the bathroom?” I asked Harmony as we pulled into a parking space next to my Brothers.

  She nodded and climbed out of the car without another word.

  I sighed, wiping my hand down my face in agitation before jumping from the cab onto the ground. “We stop for any particular reason?”

  Mix blew out a puff of smoke and nodded toward one of my boys Grease, who was pulled up at the garage connected to the gas station. “He said his bike’s been running weird since we left. He thinks maybe he’s leaking something. Just went to borrow some tools so he could check it.”

  I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t the most mechanically minded with bikes, leaving that shit up to the boys in the garage that we owned. But we all knew the basics and I was hoping it was something simple so Grease could fix his shit and we could get moving.

  I needed to have Harmony back at my clubhouse and in my room, so we could finally start a path toward making her feel comfortable. I want her comfortable, and not fighting me every step of the way. Harmony was a complex creature. Definitely not the kind of girl I was used to. Being in an MC had given me more than my fair share of women. I’d been fucking since I was fourteen. Girls wanted that bad boy, whether it was because they thought they could tame him, make him settle down or whether they just wanted a moment of rebellion. Every girl at some stage in their life wanted to ride on the wild side.

  I’d even se
en that side in Harmony. She loved being at the club. She loved drinking and partying and having sex with men that scared the shit out of your average normal person walking down the street. She didn’t want to tame them. But she also wasn’t in it for a short spurt of being a bad girl. She did it because she loved it.

  I was glad she was happy within the club, but I wanted her to want more. I just didn’t know how to convince her that she did.

  “How’s she coming?” Tie asked, throwing me a cold bottle of water. I held it up in thanks before taking large gulps. The weather was definitely getting colder with summer slowly worming its way out, but shit was still hot as hell if you asked me.

  “She hasn’t tried to leap from the car while we’re doing ninety miles an hour. So I’d say we aren’t doing too badly.” The boys all chuckled. “She’s strong, I’ll give her that.”

  “She’s gonna need to be to get through all this shit,” Mix muttered, drinking from his own bottle of water.

  It was true. Optimus had informed us just before we’d left that they had identified the dude that had been in the café that day with the girls. Daniel Ashley. Well known associate of some very high profile slave traders and drug dealers. From the info that we’d gained he was their scout. These men gave him lists of specifics that their clientele wanted – blondes, blue eyes, tall, short, age, ethnicity – he went out and found the girls and then they disappeared into thin air.

  I had no doubts that he had approached Chelsea in the café that day because she was a perfect match for someone on his list. What was still a mystery was why he’d sent his goons in to snatch Harmony. It was clear to them all that day that she was the target, not Chelsea. I needed to know why?

  “This dude is ruthless, man,” Mix said, his eyes dark.

  I raised an eyebrow. “You know about him?”

  He nodded. “I got some friends down the line. You know he actually sold his own daughter, just to prove himself? That’s how he got into the business, offered his own little girl on a plate to one of his little buddies.”

  My stomach churned at the news. Mix had gotten his road name through his ability to mix with all sorts of people. The guy had friends everywhere, from men in politics to meth heads in the gutter looking for their next fix. He’d done almost any job imaginable, gathering his long list of acquaintances along the way, and they would all help him out at the drop of a hat because Mix was one loyal mother-fucker.

  “That’s sick,” Tie said with a frown on his face.

  “Dude’s got serious mental issues, which makes him very unpredictable and very dangerous,” I said, checking the time on my phone and wondering where Harmony was.

  How long does it take a woman to pee exactly?

  “Um, excuse me?” an older lady interrupted our small group. I could tell she was nervous as she shuffled slowly toward us, eyeing each one of us cautiously. “Is one of you named Kit?”

  I stepped forward. “That’s me. Why?” my voice was rough and sharp, causing the lady to jump slightly.

  “There’s um…there’s a young woman in the bathroom…um…she seems quite distraught and asked me to find you.”

  I muttered a quick thank you as I shot past her and into the small store. My eyes darting around for a sign that would point me toward the toilets. My Brothers were hot on my heels. Finding it, I thundered toward the door, instinctively pulling my piece from the back of my jeans before shouldering it open.

  I spotted her immediately. She was sitting on the dirty floor next to the basin, head down and cradling her hurt shoulder in her hand. She’d opted to take the sling off in the car, much to my protests. I slid to my knees in front of her and gripped her chin in between my finger and thumb, lifting up it so I could see her eyes, but she averted them.

  There was a small split in the center of her bottom lip which was now puffy and swollen. Anger bubbled in my veins and I must’ve squeezed her chin a little too tightly as she winced and her hand flung out, slapping against my chest. I didn’t move though. I was too busy taking inventory of her body. The front of her shirt was ripped and there was blood seeping through from the bullet wound in her shoulder, which could possibly mean she’s pulled the stitches out.

  “Babe…Harmony…What happened?”

  Her eyes finally found mine. There were tear streaks down her cheeks, but for now they had stopped. “I want to go now.”

  “Not until you fucking tell me what happened.”

  “He was here,” she said quietly.

  My shoulders straightened and my body tightened. I was pretty sure I knew who she meant, but I needed her to clarify it before I lost my shit in some dirty little gas station bathroom. “Who was here?”

  I saw her look quickly over my shoulder, knowing my Brothers stood in the doorway, stopping anyone from entering. “The man in the suit from the café,” she ground out. I knew she wanted to throw shit and sass me, but I admired her for being able to keep her shit together in front of my Brothers. Even though, I knew I was facing hell when we got back to the compound and I had her alone.

  I wiped at her wet cheeks with my thumbs, fully aware that she didn’t want me to touch her right now, but throwing a fuck you into the wind and trying to calm her anyway.

  “Baby,” I said softly, watching her body slowly release a bit of tension. “Baby, what did he say to you?”

  “I know who you are. I know where you’re going. I know everything about you.” I saw her lip tremble a little, but my girl held firm, repeating what the asshole had told her, word for word. “He said some guy wanted me for his ‘collection.’”

  I ground my teeth together and gripped both sides of her face in my hands as gently as I could with all the raging emotions running through my body. “He won’t get to you.”

  She looked directly into my eyes and I saw the pain shining in them. “He already did.”

  The words cut through me, and boy did they cut deep. She was right. This was strike number two. I’d been standing right outside the damn doors and he’d still gotten to her.

  If I thought it was going to be hard to get her to trust me to protect her before, now it was going to be like mission impossible.

  Didn’t mean I was going to stop trying though.

  He’d walked straight into the bathroom behind me. There were half a dozen Brothers by Blood bikers standing out the front and he had just used the backdoor.

  Daniel Ashley! He’d introduced himself even.

  He was charmingly put together; well-dressed, well-spoken and easily enraged. But Chelsea and I had learned that fast during our first meeting.

  He’d hit me, even before I’d told him to go fuck himself. He clearly wasn’t afraid to use force to get what he wanted. I’d even go as far as to say that it was his go-to tactic. But I hadn’t shied away. I’d been strong for too long to let a man think he can put his hands on me and have me begging at his feet.

  “You’re strong, Harmony. I’ll give you that.” The pain in my shoulder and face was excruciating, but I’d held my shoulders back and stared him in the eye, refusing to let him see me vulnerable. “But everyone has their breaking point and I would have taken so much pleasure in breaking you. But then a client of mine heard about you, he became very interested and was adamant that he must have you for his collection.” His words resonated in my head, chilling me through to the bone and causing my body to shiver.

  “You want me to turn the heat on?” Kit asked as we flew down the highway, bikes surrounding us on all sides. His eyes were obviously on me, even as he drove, catching every flinch or sigh or movement that might alert him to how I was feeling.

  “No.”

  I saw his grip tighten on the steering wheel, but he didn’t say anything more. He navigated the city streets which were unknown to me. I had never visited this city before, even though it was so close. After traveling so much during my younger years, once I found the college I wanted to attend, I’d stuck with it and the only reason I left was to visit my mom. Other than that
, traveling no longer appealed to me.

  It was well after 1:00 p.m. Kit had offered to stop and get me something to eat, but my stomach was turning thinking about my bathroom encounter. Not to mention the pain that throbbed through my shoulder and my lip. Food was the last thing on my mind.

  “One of the boys’ Old Lady is a nurse. She’s going to meet us at the clubhouse. Looks like you’ll need new stitches in that hole,” Kit explained, his eyes not deviating from the road. “She’s cool, I think you two will get along.”

  I nodded, knowing that he’d catch the movement in his eye.

  I wasn’t exactly angry, but I was upset. Me coming with Kit was supposed to be so he would protect me. Something he’d failed to do for me only yesterday. He’d made out like being his meant I would be safe, I would be looked after. And look what had happened. I knew things were dangerous before, but now they’d stepped up to a whole new level. How was I supposed to trust someone to watch over me and keep me from harm when they had already failed to keep that promise twice already.

  It just reaffirmed in my head that I didn’t want to be owned. I didn’t want a man to tell me all this bullshit and never be able to step up and do it. I didn’t need a man to watch over me before, and I sure as hell didn’t need one to do it now.

  We exited the city and drove a little further until we came to the small township of Troy. We pulled into an industrial area. There were factories and large buildings with high wire fences. I caught some of the signs as they moved past slowly. Packing companies, food processing, wreckers yards, scrap metal. Then we stopped at the highest fence of them all, the club colors displayed proudly on the large metal gates. Two young guys in prospect cuts waved us through with a small salute to their president.

  This place was huge! There were just no other words to describe it. It was more than likely twice the size of the old hotel that we used in Athens. It was an old factory, but the guys here had done well at keeping it looking up-to-date and pristine. We drove past what I assumed to be the front of the building and around the side, where there was a long line of shiny black and chrome bikes parked, and three large open roller doors. I watched the guys who had made the trip with us park their bikes alongside the others while Kit pulled up in front of one of the large doors.