by Debra Kayn
He kissed her forehead. Yeah, he was more than okay. Being around Madison gave him a bigger high than Pack's killer bud on a Saturday night.
"How was your day?" He flinched wanting the question back. He had no desire to know what went on while she worked.
She grinned and lifted his arm where he held her phone in his grasp. He read.
"So much has happened and I have a lot to tell you. Questions to ask, too."
He chuckled, calming down, and his body steadied. For someone who couldn't verbally tell him about her day, she had no problem writing everything out.
"You were right. I practiced whistling anytime I had a moment to myself today, and it happened. I whistled. I sounded awful, and it was weird, but there was sound coming out of my mouth."
He raised his gaze to her, caught in her excitement and awe. To see her enjoying herself and whistling along with the music made perfect sense on why she'd asked him for lessons. The times she stared at his lips in concentration, she imagined herself making noise. He warmed and couldn't stop from kissing her again. She'd gone years without being able to voice her feelings, and now she could whistle along to music.
"Do it," he said.
She puckered her lips and whistled. He laughed at the way her brows moved up and down, showing off. Cocky in her new skill, she bounced in front of her, pointing at her phone in his hand.
"Okay, I'll keep reading," he said.
"I haven't talked since I was twelve years old. Whistling is the first sound that has come out of my mouth. I can get people's attention now if they're in another room. When I'm able to walk around the cities I work in by myself, I can whistle if I need help."
He never thought of her alone in a place around strangers and unable to communicate. His chest tightened, and he swallowed. What if someone attacked her? She'd have no way of saving herself. The disadvantages and circumstances for people who were mute angered him. There should be a way to make her feel confident in vulnerable situations besides whistling and hoping someone came to her rescue.
He forced himself to continue reading before he rearranged her life and kept her safe.
"I hope good things happened for you today."
"I had a good day," whispered Bear. "Don't think I've ever had anyone ask me that question before."
Madison smiled, putting her hand on his chest. He leaned down and kissed her. He could get used to having someone give a shit about his day.
She pushed him away, waving her hand at the phone, and stepped over to sit in the chair and wait for him to listen to her.
He leaned his hip on the railing and went back to reading.
"I overheard something today that concerned me. I understand Jeremy is the president of your biker club and honestly, I'm not trying to snoop into your business. Okay, I am. But, because of what I'm doing here at Red Light, I'm wondering if I should be worried. I overheard Jeremy tell Tiff he was leaving tonight to go to a prison and Tiff told him the sheriff would be here to control the crowd at Silver Girls. Are people questioning what the Red Light ladies are doing here?"
He rubbed the back of his neck. For someone who kept to herself and talked to others through her phone or used a notepad, Madison listened to those in her surroundings. He had no idea how much Tiff shared with the ladies of Red Light or if Madison had learned the connection between Moroad and what happened inside the Sterling Building.
Madison ended the conversation with a smiley face and an M.
He handed the phone back to her and pulled out his cell. "It sounds like we need to have a talk. You can send your questions to me, but you might want to hold off until I'm done."
Madison nodded in agreement.
He paced back and forth. Tiff would kick his ass after Jeremy killed him for spilling secrets about the Red Light business. He understood the need to keep the ladies who worked only three months here to remain safe, but Madison deserved to know everything. Mainly about him, and he couldn't explain things without bringing up his relationship with the Red Light via Moroad.
She deserved to know what kind of man wanted to spend time with her.
He stopped in front of her, lifted her out of the chair, turned and sat down plopping her on his lap. "Get comfy, sweetheart. You asked a loaded fucking question, and it's going to take me awhile to make sure you got a clear picture to understand what's going on."
She perched on his thigh and put her legs on top of his, facing to the side, she tilted her head at him and waited.
"I'm a member of Moroad Motorcycle Club." He strummed his thumb against her thigh. "I was recruited and patched in as a lifetime member when I was a felon at Idaho State Penitentiary. Before you ask, I spent a total of twelve years on the inside throughout my life. One for grand larceny with intent to do bodily harm and another sentence for distribution of narcotics. I've done other things, worse things, things my mom couldn't forgive me for, but I've done what I could to survive."
Madison tapped on her phone.
He wanted to grab her hands and stop her from asking, knowing the truth would end up being the breaking point on how far she allowed him into her life.
He read the message on the screen.
"Like me, you did what you had to survive."
He closed his eyes an extra beat. He hoped like hell she'd never lived through what he'd done.
"Maybe so." He exhaled. "We do what we need to do to keep living another day."
Madison nodded and picked up his hand, holding it between both of hers. He brought her forward, needing to protect her against what he would share with her and hoping he could soften the truth.
"Most of our club lives inside prison. Jeremy goes down to Boise once a month or so to meet with a designated member inside the state penitentiary to keep tabs on everyone. We keep things going, so the men in prison will remain safe, and the members on the outside have a way of earning a living." Bear pulled her head down to his shoulder, cradling her in his arm while she continued to lend her support by holding his hand.
"As for the sheriff, he's aware of what's happening with Red Light. Tiff has his support and is confident she can trust him to keep her safe from any Federal investigations." He kissed the top of her head. "Federal has a long history of prostitution going back to when silver mines boomed and on into the late nineteen-eighties. Because it's also a tourist town, nobody questions the traffic that comes and goes from the building, and the Silver Girls provide a cover for the Red Light ladies. Moroad protects it all."
Madison kept her head on his shoulder, and he fell silent. He'd said too much and waited for regret to hit him. Laying out his shit worked against him. Used to talking with the women kept by Moroad, he found it easier to talk to Madison. But, she was an outsider.
Usually, if he stepped away from the club and became involved with a woman, he kept everything about himself secret. His only goal was to get pussy and then go back to a lifestyle where his MC brothers accepted him.
He'd treated other women the way Madison's customers treated her.
Fuck him.
He deserved nothing from her.
"We're a hell of a couple, sweetheart," whispered Bear.
She lifted her head and studied him, finally tapping on her phone. He read the message while she typed.
"A couple?"
"Let me in, Madison, and I'll prove you can trust me." He stilled her hand when she moved. "I'm not asking for anything right now. Only your company. I know you've only got about six more weeks of working for Tiff, but let me take care of you."
She pulled her hand away and typed. "Slow down."
"I can't." He cupped her face and gazed into her eyes. "If I had my way, you'd be on the back of my Harley, and nobody else would ever touch you."
She thrust her phone in his face. "Men DO touch me."
He pushed her cell out of the way, lifted her face to his, and captured her lips. She belonged to him, even if she fucked other men. He was in too deep, cared too much, to walk away. "We all do things we n
ever thought we'd do. You said it yourself. We're survivors."
She shook her head violently, until he let go, and she stood from his lap. He followed her up. She slapped one hand down on the other and glared.
"I don't understand," he said.
She pointed over the railing and lifted her chin. The pain and hurt in her gaze wounded him.
"You want me to go?"
She nodded, holding up her phone, and then pointing at him. He damned the situation, wanting her to talk and put him out of his misery. If she wanted him gone, he'd leave.
"Right," he muttered.
She grabbed his arm, lifting his hand with the phone. Then she tapped out a message.
"I'm not sending you away, because of who you say you are or what you've done. You need to leave, because if you stay, I'll kiss you more, and then I'll want to do other things, and I promised Tiff not to have sex with you. I can't, because of my contract with the Network and because if we do have sex I want to come to you with nothing holding me back. I'm not even sure I know how to separate what I do with what I want to do with you. You need to go, Bear, please. If you stay, I'll want to..."
"What? What the fuck do you want?" He snapped his gaze up and stared at her.
She bowed her head, hiding her face, and typed on her phone. When she finished, she looked up at him in silence. Sadness stared back at him. Then she walked back into her room and shut the door.
He stood alone on the balcony. The music from Silver Girls filled the night. He looked down at his phone, read her last reply, and fell back on one boot, catching himself.
Madison: "I want one more day with you. Tomorrow, I'll want the same thing. I just don't know how to do this."
Chapter Thirteen
Madison stood beside the bed and waited for her last appointment to arrive. Anxious to get through her evening, she whistled softly. Bear texted her earlier and promised he'd show up after being gone two days on club business.
Tiff opened the door. Madison's customer strolled in. From the schedule she'd received at the start of her work day, the new customer's name was Gary. He requested missionary sex and paid for fifteen minutes.
Madison carried a condom to the man and smiled. He dipped his chin and accepted the protection. She turned her back to him and took off her robe. Aware of the clock ticking, she returned to the foot of the bed and sat down on the throw rug. The position he picked usually took the full fifteen minutes, and she'd need to hurry him along to make the time limit.
Gary approached her. His hand worked his cock, bringing it to hardness. He put a knee on the bed, and she flung her hands up in front of her to keep him back. She frantically looked around for the condom she'd given him and found it on the floor.
She scrambled off the bed and stepped away from him, pointing at the unopened condom.
Gary kept stroking himself. "I'm clean. There's no need for you to worry about anything, and since your other customers wear a condom, I want you without one."
She crossed her arms and shook her head. Each man coming into the Blue Room were told ahead of time about her muteness. Each one instructed about the rules.
No condom. No sex.
Gary widened his stance, and his eyes grew heavy with lust. She glanced down his body. He stroked harder, faster, and more intently. The guy got off on her refusing to have sex.
She stepped over to grab her robe and Gary moved in front of her path, blocking her from getting dressed.
"You want this." He breathed heavily, eyeing her body. "Is your pussy wet?"
She scooted back until her legs hit the mattress, and she careened her body away from his and hurried to the door.
"You're not getting away without letting me fuck you." Gary's voice grew closer to her. "I'll take you from behind if that's what you want."
She finally got the door open, ran out of the room, and scanned the hallway for someone to help her. Every door remained shut, and Marci and Tiff were nowhere in sight. She hurried down the hallway naked, hooked the door frame of the kitchen with her hand, and propelled herself into the kitchen, and practically into Jeremy's arms.
"Whoa." Jeremy held Madison's arms, righting her balance. "Tiff, you've got a problem."
"Madison?" Marci approached her from her left. "Are you okay?"
Jeremy dropped his hands from Madison's arms. "What the hell is going on?"
Tiff hurried around the table with a sweatshirt Madison recognized as Paige's U of W hoodie. She shoved her arms into the sleeves and pulled the material over her head, tugging the hem over her hips.
"Honey, breathe." Marci took Madison's hand.
"Jeremy, remove the customer from the Blue Room until I find out what is going on." Tiff guided Madison out of the doorway and into the room. "Marci, get Madison a piece of paper and a pen."
The warmth from the hoodie stopped Madison's panic. She inhaled through her nose and exhaled slowly. Her heart raced. Once a year or so, some man tried to bully his way into not wearing a condom. Each time, when she'd insisted, they'd concede to the rules of the house.
The customer came to her room with another purpose. She was not the lady to entertain him.
She had no voice to object.
Tiff placed a notepad and pen in her hands. Madison shook her head to clear her thoughts. Her hand trembled in frustration. Her penmanship was barely legible.
"He refused to wear a condom and kept coming toward me wanting me to agree to go without one. He wouldn't stop, and my silence turned him on."
Tiff squeezed Madison's arm and walked out of the room. Marci gathered Madison close and rubbed her arms. "Give them a minute to get the man out of your room and then he'll be gone. We won't allow him to come back."
Jeremy's voice came in the room. Madison turned and caught sight of him escorting the customer down the hallway.
"You can't kick me out," said Gary. "I never touched the bitch."
"Try me, motherfucker," said Jeremy.
Madison looked at Marci in shock. Everyone in the business understood the need to cater to the customers. Any sign of dissatisfaction put the bordello at risk. One phone call to law enforcement and not only would her job security be in jeopardy, but her freedom at risk.
Tiff strolled into the room and went right to Madison. "He's gone, and he won't ever be allowed back."
Madison put pen to paper. "I'm sorry. As soon as he refused to put on the condom, I should've come and got you. Maybe if I could've talked, he wouldn't have pushed the issue."
"No." Tiff shook her head. "He was an asshole. When Jeremy went to the room, he was jerking off on your bedspread. That behavior won't fly here and no one, no matter how important, will ever make one of my ladies feel uncomfortable. Do you understand?"
She nodded.
"Now, I'm going to escort the last round of customers out. Once they're gone, I want you to grab your clothes out of your room and use the spare bedroom, the one with the pink door. You can shower and change while Marci and I clean your room and put new, clean bedding on your bed."
Madison wiped a stray tear off her cheek and nodded. If she were a normal speaking woman, she could've handled the situation better and yet because of her muteness, everyone treated her as if nothing was ever her fault. Their kindness went above necessity. She should've left the room sooner or knocked on the door right away and grabbed attention before she caused more trouble. She could've even whistled, but when Gary came toward her and had that look in his eyes, she'd panicked.
She pulled the hoodie past her butt and walked down the hallway, hurrying before the other customers caught her. Averting her gaze from the bed, she grabbed a pair of leggings, a hoodie, and her underwear and bra. She escaped the room and entered the spare bedroom.
In the shower, she let the tears fall. Disappointed in herself, she wallowed in her failure to divert the situation and keep trouble from coming down on Tiff. The madam had been nothing but nice to her, even going out of her way to allow Bear to see her on the balcony.
> God, Bear.
He planned to come to her tonight and spend a couple of hours on the balcony with her behind the privacy screen. Maybe the best thing she could do was lay low and tell Bear she'd see him tomorrow. She needed to follow the rules and make Tiff believe in her again.
She hopped out of the shower, dressed, and brushed her wet hair down her back. The others would be in the kitchen eating dinner by now. She pressed her hand against her stomach. Her appetite fled the moment her customer decided to ruin her day.
She walked out of the room planning on making her excuses to the ladies and stay in her room for the rest of the night.
Tiff hurried down the hall and grabbed her hand. "Come with me."
She tugged to get Tiff's attention, but the madam ignored her.
At the end of the hallway, Tiff unlocked the door and ushered Madison to the top of the stairs leading down to where the Silver Girls danced. Was Tiff not even going to give her a chance to grab her clothes and pack her bags?
"You have a half hour until the dancers arrive. I'll come down and escort you back to your room in twenty minutes." Tiff rubbed Madison's arm.
Madison shook her head in confusion. She wasn't allowed downstairs, why would Tiff make her stay down here?
"Jeremy called Bear. I tried to stop him, but...well, there's no stopping him when it comes to Moroad members. Then I talked to Bear, and ended up promising him time alone with you, so he can make sure you're okay." Tiff smiled softly. "He doesn't believe me and wants to see you with his own eyes."
Madison, anxious to get down to Bear, reached out and hugged Tiff on impulse. Tiff's hug in return surprised her, comforted her, supported her, and helped settle her down. Bear, Tiff, Marci and even Jeremy made her feel wanted and protected.
"Thank you," she mouthed.
"I'm just sorry you had to go through a bad experience here at Red Light." Tiff sighed. "Go now, so you have time to calm Bear down."
Madison walked down the stairs and paused in the main room. She'd only been on the first level of the building on the night of her arrival. The lavish velvet wall hangings, deep red drapes, and gold-finished lighting screamed sexy and yet old fashioned as if rich men from years past enjoyed entertaining their mistresses here on the weekends.