by M. T. Ossler
He’s going to lose his shit shortly when he hears how hurt Bella is. Blaze, hurry your ass up, brother.
He promises her he will, while clenching his jaw so tight I can tell he’s trying to calm himself.
She starts to sob harder again, hearing them rockin’ through her body as she says the worst imaginable words possible. My heart aches for her, and I want to comfort her. I don’t even know this chick, and I want to take her agony away and hold her. I never hold chicks.
“Anton, violentata her in the most brutal way possible for a vergine. She almost hemorrhaged to death because of that bastard. He beat her up too.” I don’t hear the rest of her statement as I watch my brother closely and look for the other.
I may not know Italian, but I can figure it out. He raped her, just as I suspected, and she was a virgin another suspicion of mine.
As I take in her words, so does Beast. I watch his every move cautiously, waiting for him to blow.
She continues, saying some shit about Antonio marrying her and taking her away.
Oh, shit, Blaze, where the fuck are you? This is bad, brother, very, very fuckin’ bad.
I can see the guilt and heartbreak written all over his red face. He believes this is all his fault.
He drops his phone on top of the bar countertop and just as I suspected, all hell breaks loose. Beast goes ballistic destroying anything and everything in his path.
I’ve never seen my brother this... broken. So fuckin’ broken inside.
Our brothers gawk at him in dumbfounded silence, along with all the Club whores. They are all in utter shock and disbelief. No one has ever seen him this way, except for in the ring against an opponent. Unfortunately, this fight is with himself.
I grab the phone with my heart pounding in my chest and in a calm tone – which is the exact opposite of how I feel – I say, “Jules, darlin’, this is Ace, Beast, I mean Gio’s friend. We’re going to help you, but first I need to calm his ass down. We’ll call you back soon. We’re gonna fix this, darlin’, don’t you worry.”
“Thank you,” she replies in a broken, angelic voice.
I hang the phone up just as Blaze enters the room and sees Beast acting out of sorts.
“Help me calm his ass down now, before he destroys this whole place,” I yell to Blaze.
Beast, is yelling in Italian, cursing, and throwing beer bottles, chairs, and tables. My brother is crying and his hands are all cut and bloody. I have to get him out of here and on his bike, fast.
We tag team him, tackling him to the ground and then drag him out front. He calms down, somewhat, taking deep breaths.
When I let my guard down, he darts back inside the building and straight to his room. I watch him from his door as he hacks her hospital medical records.
I want to stop him, I know I should, but I can’t. This is somethin’ he needs to do, and this is his girl, essentially. This is his personal shit, and I can only be here for him as a brother.
I stand here, observing him, for about ten minutes, and then he starts getting agitated. I know I’m going to need Blaze again. I send him another quick text. He’s in the bar and on his way up.
As Beast starts to thrash his room, Blaze comes barreling up the stairs. He helps me again, no questions asked. We nail his ass to the wall, before dragging him out of the building to his bike and force him to take a ride to clear his head.
“Listen, brother, you need to calm your shit and clear your head if you’re going to help those girls. I’m here if you need me. I got your six, brother. Now, go for a ride and forget about all the other shit you can’t control,” I say to him after Blaze leaves us to go back inside to the party. He nods to me as he starts up his bike and leaves the lot.
While he’s gone, I sit at the bar with Blaze and give him a basic story. It’s not my place to tell him what happened to that poor girl. That’s on Beast, not me.
We sit at the bar, while the party goes on around us. We nurse our beers and whiskey for a few hours waiting for him to return. Then I receive a text to meet him in his room.
When I get to the stairs, Gator bumps into me and tells me Beast needs to see him. I tell him I got the same text and the two of us make our way to his room together.
He lays out everything for us. Most I knew, but now he finally has a plan. I’m not sure if the brothers will go for it and if it will work, but I have his back.
Beast, lays it all out for Gator. After careful consideration, Gator agrees to call an emergency meeting. I send out a mass text to all the brothers to meet for church. As VP of the Club, it’s my job to contact the table members when Gator, our Prez, calls an unscheduled Church.
It’s 10:00 at night when everyone assembles in the meeting room with worried looks on their faces.
After spending an hour convincing the brothers to help Beast, which for some unknown reason I felt compelled to convince them, along with him; especially, after he claimed Bella as his ol’ lady, somethin’ I never thought I would ever hear him say. We spend the rest of the night in the meeting room forgoing the rest of the party. We put our heads together and come up with a full proof plan. We need to extract Bella from the hospital and get her sister and best friend out of New York and here safely.
With no sleep, Blaze, Hawk, Snake, Wolf, Cowboy, Beast, and I head to the airport, and it’s off to New York we go.
Gator’s going to have everything set up here, at the Clubhouse for the girls by the time we get back.
Chapter 3
Julietta
Igot rid of Vito and Ricco just like Gio asked me. I told them Gigi and I wouldn’t leave my apartment, but I needed to be alone. It took me chewing their heads off to convince them with my little white lie. I told them Aunt Flo was visiting and gave them attitude. Ricco hates when I have it and any chance he has to get away for a couple of days, he takes. They know I normally won’t leave my place, so I don’t have to worry about them coming back. Well, not this time. We’ll be gone by tomorrow night.
It’s Saturday afternoon and Gio and his brothers should be here soon. I’ve done everything he asked and anything else I could think of. I’m wearing a path into my wood floors from pacing the living room. He texted me when he landed, and I can’t wait to see him. It’s been so long, but most of all, once I see him I’ll be able to breathe again. The last few days I’ve felt like I’ve been suffocating from all this shit. I’m a strong, independent woman! I was raised to be, but this is more than I can handle on my own.
“Jules, stop! Please, you’re making me nervous. Come sit and tell me about Gio. I don’t really remember him. I’ve heard a lot about him, and I know my sister and our family regard him highly. I think she may even have had a crush on him for years. What’s her deal with him?” Gigi asks to distract me.
I need it and remembering the good times will help.
“Your big sister has more than a crush on him, but you need to keep that to yourself,” I say taking a seat. “I’ll tell you all about him and them, you just have to promise me what I say stays between us. She can’t know I told you and he definitely can’t find out from us.” She nods her head agreeing and perks up.
“Bella has been in love with Gio since she was five-years-old. She and I would play dress-up and she would dream he was her very own prince. Bella loved to wear the Princess Bell dress he gave her and hang out in the ballroom. She would dance and listen to the Beauty and the Beast song repeatedly, as it blared through the room. When she could get the guys to dance around with her, it was Gio she was always imagining. When he’d dance with her, she’d be giddy for days.
“The day Gio left the first time... Bella changed. She became hard, harder than she was before. After the second time... She closed herself off for good. You don’t remember Bella before he left, she was always a ray of sunshine. The guys would tease her, calling her smiley.”
“What do you mean she was happy? Are you saying she wasn’t happy before she was hurt? I don’t get it?” Gigi asks, she doesn’t rememb
er her sister back then. Bella has put on a good front through the years for all of us, especially Gigi. She loves her little sister and protects her from everything. She’s more than a big sister, she’s been like a second mother to her. Bells would never let Gigi see her... weak, only Ces and I have seen her at her lowest. Depression has a unique way of taking over a person, even the strongest woman. Alcohol doesn’t help; it just covers it up.
I’m about to answer her when the doorbell rings. I tell her we’ll continue this later and run to the door to check the peephole. The second I see the man, I know it’s him. He looks older with a lot of muscles, and more tattoos, but he’s still the same man I remember.
I quickly open the door to greet him. I don’t wait to say hello, I plow into his chest and hold on tight. Taking a deep breath for the first time, he even smells the same.
“God, Gio, it’s so good to see you. Thank you.” I mumble into his chest as he holds me in his arms.
“We need to move this little reunion inside before someone sees us, darlin’.” The smooth, sexy voice says, causing me to feel all warm and tingly inside again. From the moment I heard his voice yesterday; my insides have been upside down. When he said for me not to worry, they were going to help, I believed him. I felt his words in my heart and soul, and I knew instantly I could trust him. That’s something I don’t do easily, trust people. Trust is earned, not given, but with him, I felt it in my bones and guts that I could.
I pull back from Gio a little embarrassed at my display of affection and wave the men in. Gigi comes up behind me, pulling on my arm, and before I can do anything else, I need to introduce her to Gio.
I don’t get the chance because Gio takes the lead on this one.
I step back and get a good look at the man next to him. His blue eyes draw me in. I glower into his eyes and feel an instant connection. He’s looking straight through me, to my soul as his joins with mine. I see the man he is. He’s loyal, loving and... broken inside. My breathing hitches from all the emotions that pass through us, as they slam into my chest, my heart.
Oh, fuck! He’s my Gio! I can feel it in my heart. No, he can’t be, I can’t feel anything for him or any man. I have built walls around my heart, so I never hurt again. I can’t care about another person and lose them too, especially, if he’s my other half. I push those feelings away and concentrate on things that are more important, like Bella.
“Holy fuckin’ shit,” he says, shaking his head. I see it in his eyes, he sees Bella. “Sorry, Gigi, I can’t get over the way you look. You are the spitting image of your big sister the last time I saw her, beauty and all.”
She moves around me with a bright smile on her face and hugs Gio. “It’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you from the guys,” she says, then she raises up on her tippy toes to whisper in his ear.
“Please save my sister from the monster that hurt her and don’t let him do it again.” She has tears in her eyes now as she moves back. He keeps her in his arms and wipes them away.
“Mini princess,” he says, calling her by her nickname, the one our family gave her when she was a baby. “I’m going to take her away from here and protect her from him with my life. I promise you. He’ll never hurt her again.” He touches the tip of her nose with his index finger, then places a kiss on her forehead and clears his throat of any emotions.
It warms my heart how loving he is with her and I know Bella would feel the same way.
“Jules, it’s so good to see you. I can’t believe my eyes, you're all grown up. You look as beautiful as ever,” he says, and I blush. My cheeks have to be bright red, especially with the sexy God next to him staring at me.
“These are my brothers. Brothers these are my little sisters, Jules and Gigi.” He does the proper introductions, telling us their names. Ace is the man I spoke to on the phone yesterday. We meet Blaze, Hawk, Snake, Wolf, and Cowboy.
Blaze has light green eyes, short blonde hair, and a sexy full beard. He’s taller than Gio by an inch or so and more built. His body is rockin’ with all his muscles and full of tattoos, from his neck down his torso. I’m sure he has more that are covered.
All the guys are muscular, like tanks and full of tattoos, but Blaze is the only one with them on his neck. They are all handsome in their own right and look very intimidating. Not to me, of course, just in general. Men don’t intimidate me at all. I can handle myself. In my life, growing up Mafia, you build up a tough skin around men and learn to put them in their place to earn their respect.
Ace has light brown hair and bright mesmerizing blue eyes. He has some sexy scruff on his face. The tribal tattoos on his arms look inviting. I want to take my finger, trace every line, and learn the stories behind them. I think I even see a word in the one on his left arm. I wonder if it’s a name. Maybe he has a girlfriend or wife at home. This is why I have to check my feelings and leave them at the door.
Hawk and Snake have dark brown hair and brown eyes. Snake’s eyes have gold flakes in them. Cowboy is the odd man out with strawberry blonde hair, freckles, and bright emerald green eyes. He must be of Irish descent.
I don’t think I’ve ever had so many sexy, rugged men in my place before and they are all charmers to add to it.
After the introductions are done, we get to work. We work through the night and before taking Gigi to bed with me, I notice how she gravitates towards Gio, Ace, and Blaze. She has good instincts just like me and can tell these men are all genuinely good.
I take her to my room to bed, leaving the guys to do what they need to.
Once we settle in for the night, sleep takes me under the second my head hits the pillow. When my eyes close, I see those sexy blues looking into my soul. Seeing everything inside me and so much more.
I feel a peace wash over me for the first time since losing my parents and bask in those feelings in my dreams.
Chapter 4
Ace
We finally make it to Jules’s apartment building, and up to her apartment. For some strange reason, my heart is rapidly beating in my chest, and the anticipation of finally meeting her is causing my body to react in a weird way.
Beast rings the doorbell, the door swings open and the brown hair beauty throws herself into Beast’s arms. I have a strong urge to push him away and take her in mine, but I stay frozen, biting my lip. I observe their interaction for a moment. Then I tell them to move the reunion inside. I need to get a full look at her.
She steps back, and I take her in. Our eyes meet, and I feel like a brick is thrown into my chest. She seems to see straight through me, through all my bullshit. She can see the real me and that is not good. I’m a monster, a killer, a... loser. I don’t deserve happiness in my life, not after leaving Brookie to fend for herself. I left a sweet, innocent child with the wolves and sold my soul to the devil because of it.
But, this chocolate eyed beauty with golden flecks is lethal. Lethal to my health and I would only destroy her like I do everyone in my life I care about. This is why I have no heart. I can’t have a heart, then I’d have to feel, and I won’t survive feeling my emotions again. I blocked that part of me off and it has to stay that way. I need to stay away from her, for her own good.
She’s all good and pure, and I would only taint her life.
So, with that decision made, I look past her and get to work helping my brother save his girl.
****
We’re on the road on the way back to the Clubhouse, in Beast’s New Escalade. We extracted Bella from the hospital and snuck the girls out of Jules’s building. Everything went off without a hitch. Hawk, Snake, Wolf, and Cowboy will be on their way back soon after seeing to the mayhem.
I decided to do most of the driving home. Beast needs to be with his girl and I couldn’t spend 18 hours or more in this car just sitting. Yea, I’m sitting, but at least I have the road in front of me. If I sat in that passenger seat, I would be staring at her the whole time. At least this way, I have the road to distract me for the most part
. My mind is pulled back to her and I take a peak in the rearview mirror. She’s sleeping behind me and looks so gorgeous and peaceful. It’s somewhat distracting, to say the least.
I need a session with Maggie, like the one we had before I left. I stare at the road and remember the other night.
I flogged her ass and fucked her hard and fast. Blindfolding her, like usual, and tying her hands with my rope to the headboard. Up, on all fours, ass in the air and on full display for me. I run the leather from the flogger up and down her back, getting her accustomed to the feel.
I whip it across her ass a few times, making her nice and wet for me. Then after a few minutes, I flip her over, spreading her legs open wide and running the warm leather across her breast and pussy. Nice and fuckin’ slow to build up the anticipation. Increasing my pressure and when she least expected it, I hit her pussy. Aiming right for her clit, a few whacks until she’s cumming before my eyes.
Seeing Maggie cum always makes me hard. I fucked her hard and fast after that. Making her cum on my cock twice before I came all over her tits.
There is a fine line between pain and pleasure and the club girls know just how I like it. I need control and they get off on it too.
I shake my head to clear my thoughts and concentrate on the road. I’m so hard. I have to adjust my cock in pants and apply pressure to relieve the pain I’m in.
At that moment, I look up and see the chocolate-eyed beauty is looking back at me in the mirror. She blushes and looks away. My cock twitches in my pants and I punch him to calm my shit.
Football, baseball, basketball. Think of anything but her naked, me sucking her nipples into my mouth, making her moan and scream my name when she cums.
Fuck, I need to get my head straight and fast.
****
We made it to the Clubhouse a week ago. Bella got sick before we even got the girls settled in the apartment and she’s been in Beast’s room ever since. He’ll probably never let her leave at this point. I don’t blame him, she needs him, and he’s so riddled with guilt, he’ll do anything to make it up to her.