Harmony (The Club Girl Diaries Book 1)

by Jane, Addison

  I heard a scream, a female scream. My body launched itself up the stairs, following the noise.

  “Freeze!” I stopped, checking over my shoulder to find one of the armed guards standing behind my boys in the open doorway. They slowly turned, and we all held our hands up in the air, but still clutching our guns. “Slide your weapons across the floor to me.” They did just that. The guy was good, he managed keep an eye on me and my Brothers. What he didn’t expect was for Tie to slide across something else.

  “What’s that?” the man demanded.

  “You wanted our weapons,” Tie shrugged. “Just being helpful.”

  “Oh shit,” Wrench muttered. The light on the small device shone red and my Brothers all dived, scampering across the floor behind doors and freaking house plants. I jumped up to the landing and hit the deck, not knowing how far these things could reach. The guard didn’t know what to do as we all scattered, he just stood and stared.

  Then all hell broke loose. Vases were shattered, windows were broken, tears in the curtains appeared. I heard the odd scream, but it was Daniel’s guard that took the brunt of the attack. When the room was completely silent, I looked up from my hiding spot.

  “Tie, you little mother-fucker,” Wrench called, standing from his hiding place and holding his junk. “One of your little things hit me in the balls,” he groaned, walking across the now devastated room like he was a cowboy who’d ridden for a week straight.

  I heard Tie chuckle, Optimus too.

  I didn’t have time to laugh though. Hearing another scream from the hall which led to my left, I ran. I didn’t even wait for my Brothers to give me backup.

  I kicked the door open, holding my gun out and ready to shoot any mother-fucker who got in the way of me finding Harmony.

  “Ah, Mr. Cranshaw. How lovely of you to join us.”

  The asshole stood against the wall, his fist buried in the dark hair of a woman – a woman that wasn’t Harmony. The bald man who had joined him for our first meeting stood at his side, his gun zeroed in on me as I held my aim on Daniel the scumbag.

  “Where is she?” I demanded. He pulled harder on the hair of the girl at his feet. She let out a whimper. She was only clad in underwear, some lacy shit. I couldn’t see her face, but I did notice the drops of blood that dripped from it, staining the cream colored carpet.

  “Harmony?” he asked like he was completely clueless to as why I was here. “Oh, she was picked up this morning. The client was euphoric. It's a shame you didn’t take me up on that deal.”

  My blood boiled.

  She was gone.

  “Who took her and where have they gone?”

  “I don’t ask for those kind of details. They are private.” The jerk had the nerve to smirk at me. “Although I do have this girl here you could have.”

  He yanked her head up and her eyes met mine. She was pretty, even with blood streaming from her nose. Her eyes were a light blue, her hair almost black. She had a fierce look on her face. A look of defiance and anger. She wasn’t my girl, but I’d take her when all this is done, help her to escape this madness.

  I heard gunshots echoing in the expansive house. Men yelling, people screaming in pain.

  Daniel shifted slowly to the side, another door just a few steps away through which I presumed he thought he was going to escape.

  “Kill him,” Daniel ordered. He picked the girl up and held her in front of his body as protection. Now my shot was blocked and he knew it. He knew I wouldn’t hit the girl and risk her life.

  The man in the dark glasses beside him grinned, his gun aimed at me and his finger rubbing at the trigger. With my focus on Daniel and the girl, I knew he would get me before I could switch my aim to him.

  The door behind me burst open and several shots went off.

  My ears rang.

  My head hurt.

  There was so much noise.

  Yelling.

  People asking if I was all right.

  Was I hit? I hadn’t felt it, but sometimes with the amount of adrenaline sweeping through your body, pain takes a backseat in your mind.

  “Kit?” I looked up to see Tally standing over me. Why was I on the floor?

  The dude in the suit who had been ready to blow my head off was slumped against the wall, his head hanging unnaturally. The young girl was pressed between the corner of the wall and a large tallboy dresser, her eyes staring down at the floor by my feet, wide as saucers.

  My gaze shifted down to the body that was crumbled on the carpet. His eyes were wide open, but staring at nothing. Dead man’s eyes.

  “Caleb,” I said quietly.

  “Hit you with the door when he decided to barge in here like a hero. Took a bullet, and still managed to shoot the fucker between the eyes,” Tally said sadly, crouching beside me and offering me his hand. He pulled me up and I finally took note of all the Brothers that stood in the room, staring at their fallen comrade.

  “Pick him up,” Optimus ordered, but I heard the sadness that drenched his voice. “We gotta get outta here.”

  I silently thanked the kid as I watched him be carried from the room, swearing to do right by him for saving my ass. Daniel Ashley may have escaped me today. But he’d keep.

  “I don’t have a father, you must be mistaken.”

  He laughed. “Oh, I’m sure that’s what your mother told you.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Who are you?”

  He walked toward me, his stature showing that he thought very highly of himself. Shoulders back, chin lifted. He held his hand out to me, predicting I would shake it.

  I didn’t.

  I saw his face turn from amusement to anger, quick smart. “My name is Edward Keaton.”

  The name sounded familiar like I should know it from somewhere.

  “Owner of Keaton Records. One of the biggest recording firms for musical artists in the United States.”

  My eyes widened. Keaton Records. Now I knew why his face and name sounded familiar. We had taken a short class on recording artists, agencies, and firms. They taught us about what it took to get to that stage. And what we needed to do if that was the path we decided to take with our music, which was the case for many of the students in my class. They all wanted to be famous, I just wanted to play and since Kit had started playing with me, he had fueled a passion for teaching that I didn’t know I had.

  “Ah, so you do know.” He smiled smugly.

  “I study music, I’ve heard of you.”

  He nodded. “Of course you would study music. It’s in your veins, your bloodline, just like it is mine.” He paced the room, but it was in confidence, not because of nerves. He looked like he was standing in front of a boardroom full of people. “You sing? I heard you before, your voice could use some conditioning, but you could be very good.”

  I tried not to take that as an insult. Kit had told me he loved my voice. “Not really, I play guitar. Have since I was little. Traveling with Mom I was around a lot of bands. Fell in love with the guitar.”

  He nodded. “I remember your mother very well. She was stunning, independent.” He screwed up his face like the words left a sour taste in his mouth. “It was only by chance I was looking for a new maid and your face popped up. I couldn’t stop looking at you. There was something familiar so I requested your details.”

  It didn’t sound like there was a lot of love lost between him and my mom. He didn’t seem heartbroken and she had spent the last twenty-three years of my life keeping the knowledge of this man from me. There was obviously a reason.

  “Where exactly did my face pop up?” I frowned.

  He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter now. You’re here.”

  “It does matter. I didn’t ask to be here. I would actually like to go home now.”

  I watched as his fists balled up at his sides. The anger that was on his face made me want to crawl into a hole. He was livid.

  “I have rights. You are my daughter,” he said, pointing his stupidly well-manic
ured finger at me.

  “I am twenty-three. You can’t hold me here, father or no father,” I growled.

  “That’s where you’re wrong, child of mine. I want to get to know my only child and you will be staying here until I see fit.” He adjusted his suit now his temper had receded. “I’ve also been informed that you are spending time with a well-known motorcycle gang. That will also be ending. I will not have any child of mine mixing with the likes of them.”

  “Motorcycle…Club. They are not a gang,” I gritted out between my locked teeth as I climbed off the bed and stepped closer to him, ready to defend my family.

  He laughed softly. “They are criminals.”

  “And you’ve kidnaped me! What does that make you?” I yelled.

  My face jerked to the side, my body following it with the force of the blow. I steadied myself on the bed, my head spinning and pain shooting through my jaw. Silence filled the large room. After a moment, I managed to gather my wits and pushed myself back up, turning to face him.

  “You will never speak to me like that again.”

  I don’t know what came over me, but I started to laugh. He stared at me like I’d gone crazy. Maybe I had. I was locked in a house, with this man who was claiming to be my father. A very rich man. A man who could possibly tear the club to shreds if he had the right contacts, which I assumed he did. I wasn’t sure how long I had been gone. How many hours had it been? How many days?

  But what I did know was that Kit would be looking for me – the whole club would be. I needed to control my emotions, keep myself in check until they found me, but I also refused to be weak and cower under his extreme actions. Edward Keaton was powerful, he was dangerous and as he had just shown, he wasn’t afraid to use force if need be.

  “I can’t wait,” I said, my laughter slowly subsiding. “I can’t wait until the club find out who you are. Men like you, you have something to lose, a reputation to uphold. The club doesn’t. They will do what it takes to bring you down. The joys of hanging out with criminals.”

  He stormed toward me, not even stopping as he wrapped his hand around my throat, lifting my feet off the ground before forcing me back onto the bed. “Learn your place, Harmony. I don’t want to have to warn you again. Learn it, and learn it fast, because next time I won’t be so forgiving for your ridiculous outbursts.”

  He tightened his grip on my throat, squeezing the last little bit of air from my lungs and causing my head to feel heavy like a brick. He held me like that until I slowly started to see black spots clouding my vision. At first they were small, but they grew as they joined with others. It was kind of a mesmerizing thing to watch as you felt the life slowly slipping from your body, your brain not getting enough oxygen and starting to close down. It was only then he released and my lungs strained as I gasped for air. I coughed and spluttered, rolling onto my side in the soft blankets of the bed and lifting my chin, attempting to open my airway again.

  Oh yes, he was a pro. He knew how far he could push to make the pain feel, oh so real, and then when to pull back. It made me sick to think that this man’s blood could be running through my veins. That he was a part of who I was. I guess it was that same old argument, nurture versus nature.

  Edward stepped back and I forced myself to stand, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing me lying down and scared. My legs wobbled, but I gripped one of the large posts of the bed to steady myself. I caught a silent smirk pass over his face before his glare once again returned.

  “Dinner will be in a few hours. I will have some things brought up for you to wear.” With that, he turned sharply and left.

  My body sagged, sliding down the post of the bed and landing with a light thump on the floor. My mind couldn’t compute what was going on.

  Why the hell did he want me here? To force his awesome parenting skills on me? To make us into one big happy family?

  I scoffed.

  I looked around the room, once seeing it as beautiful, gorgeous even. Now I did see that dark, damp cell. It was just disguised with frilly curtains and floral patterns.

  The Athens’ clubhouse was quiet. It was eerie, especially considering the fact that there were twice as many Brothers packed into the space. But no one had time for talking. We’d lost a Brother today.

  Caleb was a prospect, but a Brother none the less. He’d saved my ass – whether purposeful or not, by barging into that room. I would be forever in his debt. And I would make sure he got the send off that he deserved.

  Optimus said he had a family, but that they couldn’t care less whether he was dead or alive. He’d made friends with one of the club kids at school and had come around a few times for family gatherings. The second he hit eighteen he was here pleading his case to prospect. Caleb was clumsy, and not the brightest spark, but he had a heart of gold. It surprised me that the club girls were probably hit the hardest by his loss.

  “We weren’t allowed to sleep with him. It gave us time to develop a friendship that we possibly didn’t have with the fully patched members,” Chelsea explained from her perch on Optimus’ lap. “He was sweet, funny too. Harm loved him, they were always giving each other hell.”

  I nodded. Optimus gripped his girl a little tighter as she sniffled. His body had been left with Doc, he had connections at the morgue and would get done what needed to be done, without the police or anyone else asking questions that we would refuse to answer.

  “Even after he shot her, Harmony was still protective of him,” I agreed.

  Chelsea chuckled. “Yeah, but she was planning her payback. I think it involved something like an ice cold bucket of water while he was sleeping though, as opposed to a bullet through his chest.”

  I shuddered. A bullet that was meant for me.

  “Any ideas about what happens now?” Wreck asked as he plonked himself into the seat beside me.

  I shook my head. “Mix and Wrench are on it, they’re trying to find a different angle. Hopefully, they’ll hit something soon.”

  “Your girl is hardheaded and strong, Kit. She’ll hold on,” Optimus assured me. Chelsea following with a very serious nod.

  “I’m gonna head to Harm’s room. Get some rest. Let me know if something comes up.” I knew rest wouldn’t be easy, but I also know that since I got the news yesterday, I hadn’t slept a wink. I needed it if I was going to find my woman and bring her home.

  “Yeah, Brother.”

  Harmony’s room was basically untouched. No one had been in there since she had left the previous day. The bed was unmade and her guitar and school books were left lying in the mess of blankets. A little over twenty-four hours she’d been gone, but I hadn’t seen her for almost a week. I missed her like hell. It had been a rough ride for the both of us. Me trying to convince her she could trust me, her fighting it the whole way.

  Stubborn ass.

  Now I’d let her down again. Three strikes and you’re out? Isn’t that how it went?

  Even if she refused to see me after all of this, I would still fight for her. I’d prove one day that I was good enough, and that she was safe. If I made it in time.

  I stripped off and curled under her covers, her smell attacking my senses and alerting my body. It didn’t matter who you were, or how long you’d known someone, the reality was that when you found that person who was your perfect fit, nothing else mattered. Not time, not age, not even occupation or the color of their hair. You took that shit, threw it out the window and held onto that person like your life depended on it. Because it possibly would.

  Now I had found my other half, seeing a future without her just looked like a black haze – ultimately not worth the effort to fight through the darkness.

  At some point during the night, I must have drifted off. A strange ringing woke me, the sun streaming through the open curtains making it hard for me to open my eyes. The ringing stopped. I checked my phone, but I had no messages or missed calls.

  You’re fucking dreaming. Then it started again. I climbed up and att
empted to follow the noise around the room, holding my ear to different things. When I found Harmony’s school bag tucked under the bed, I remembered that Rifle had said he’d found it in the car and had one of Optimus’ boys throw it in her room.

  The ringing stopped, but I pulled the bag out, searching through the contents until I found her cell phone. Checking the missed calls I found five from her mother. I sighed, this wasn’t really a conversation I was awake enough to have, but I guess nothing could make me feel as useless as I do right now, even a reaming from her mother.

  I pushed the call button and sat down on the bed, scrubbing my face and attempting to wake myself up.

  “Harmony? Oh my goodness, thank God. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for two days.” Helen sounded frantic. I knew they had a good relationship, but I didn’t know she’d be this panicked.

  “Hey Helen, it’s Kit,” I grumbled.

  “Oh, Kit. Sorry. I’ve just been calling and calling and was starting to get worried.”

  Yeah, probably for good reason too. “Yeah, sorry.”

  “Kit…What’s going on…”

  “Look, I’m not really sure how to explain this to you –”

  I heard her gasp. “Oh God, he did it. He found her.”

  “Excuse me?” I said, completely stunned. Harmony had told me she wouldn’t be discussing what was going on with her mother. Apparently she could be a little over-bearing. You don’t say.

  “I rang Harmony last week because I had a strange phone call. I didn’t have time to explain to her what it was about…Well…I could have, but I chose not to. Thinking it wasn’t that serious.”

  I tugged on my jeans and threw my cut over my naked chest, storming from the room in search of Mix.

  “Tell me? I need to know anything that could help us right now,” I demanded. My mind in full-blown attack mode. Mother or not.

  “Is she in trouble?”

  “I need to know who that phone call was from, Helen,” I said, neither confirming nor denying anything.

  I heard her sniffle, but she took it in her stride and continued. Like mother like daughter.