by Dana Arden
My stomach churns. “Hope I can pull this shit off. My skin crawls just thinking about being close to her after everything that has come to light in the last twenty-four hours.”
“You got this. The endgame is so much sweeter.”
Famous last words.
Chapter 9
Sadie
Watching Razz wither was refreshing. Taking my aggression out on her tires was a rush. I have to have at least one person to take my frustrations off on and it’s been Razz for so many years there’s no point in changing that now.
When I left her house yesterday, I went straight to Goober. For an overweight police officer, the name fits him. It, also, helps that he’s a middle-aged man with no ladies interested in him, so all I had to do was gush over him and what I wanted just fell from his lips.
I shouldn’t be surprised that Razz is trying to adopt two brats. I’d give her the one I’m carrying if it didn’t come with such a reliable payday. Ms. Goody Two-Shoes is all about taking in the less fortunate and if I’d known all those years ago she’d come into so much money, I would’ve been kissing her ass, but that wasn’t in the cards.
Driving towards downtown Cumming, my phone rings and the sinister smile can’t be wiped from my face.
Trigger.
“Took you long enough.” I say sweetly.
“Sorry.” Trigger grits.
“You’re forgiven. I was just thinking of you.”
“Me too. I was wondering if you’d like to meet at Moe’s for breakfast.”
“Sure. I can be there in five minutes.”
“See ya then.”
He hangs up. I guess me leaving has made him bitter, but I’m here now and I can ease him back to the pansy ass man he was before. Snapping my fingers was never necessary with him to get what I wanted. I just had to persuade him with a look and I got what I wanted. It may take me a day or two, but I’m pretty positive I can bring him back to me. He’s not going to turn me away as long as he thinks the baby I’m carrying is his. Shit, for all I know it could be, but knowing my luck my time with the Southern Chaotic’s is limited.
I park the crappy car a block away from Moe’s and make my way to the man I’ll have eating out of the palm of my hand before too long. Opening the door and striding in, I see him in the back corner with his head down. The bell on the door dings as it shuts and his head rises. Trigger really is a beautiful man. It’s a shame I can’t see a future with him. He’s my meal ticket until I can find another that is bigger and better.
He doesn’t move or even get up to pull out my chair as I approach. His lack of attention is starting to piss me off, but I keep the fake smile planted on my face as I sit and touch my hand to his arm. He shivers and my hope levitates that he still feels the same for me. Maybe he’s just hiding it from the club so they won’t look down on him.
“How are you, Trigger? I’ve missed you so much.”
He pulls his arm into his lap. “I’m doing well and you.”
“I’m doing much better now.” The waitress interrupts me from continuing as she takes our order. She leaves and I’m able to get back to chiseling the ice I may or may not have caused to Trigger’s heart. “You look very good.”
“Thanks. You look good too.” He mumbles. Good. What the hell happen to beautiful or gorgeous? “Where’s Lyla?”
Of course, he’d be worried about her. “She’s spending time with my dad. They’ve bonded.”
He runs the palm of his hand down his face. “That’s good. It’s what you wanted, right?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t come here to talk about Lyla. Leave it to Trigger to be more concerned about a little girl than me. “Maybe we can get together soon and spend more alone time together. I don’t have to worry about Lyla and you don’t have any kids to worry about. We can be footloose and fancy free with each other.”
He nods. “We’ll see. I’m still trying to comprehend how you leave for months and then come back as though nothing has changed.”
“I never said I wasn’t coming back.” I huff. “I didn’t expect you to move on so quickly. The timing was right for me to fix my relationship with my family.”
“You may have not said you weren’t coming back, but when I asked you if the move was temporary, you told me in not so many words that it wasn’t.”
“I’m here now. Let’s focus on the right here and now. We can’t change what happen months ago. We can only make the best of what we have now.”
“I see that, but a lot has changed since you were last here. My horizons have broadened and I don’t think you’ll like it.”
“In what way?” I ask intrigued.
“It’s something I’d have to show you. It’s not easily explained.” His phone dings and he checks it. “I have to go, but I’ll be in touch.”
“Wait! You haven’t even eaten yet.”
He holds up his phone. “This is more important.” He stands and throws some cash on the table. “See ya later, Sadie.”
“Yeah, Trigger, see ya later.”
What just happen? Before when he would get a phone call, he’d ignore it for me. Now as soon as it makes a sound, he’s out the door.
Time to up the ante.
Chapter 10
Trigger
Sadie’s touch sent a sick tremble through my body and her voice grated on my nerve endings. There’s no way in hell I can be remotely intimate with this woman. So here I sit in front of the Upper Hand waiting to show Sadie how much my tastes have changed.
I made arrangements earlier with Beanie to bring her here. This will prove to me how far she’s willing to go out of her comfort zone to cause havoc in my life to get what she wants. I know she doesn’t truly want me. She wants the comfort and stability she felt when she was intertwined with the Chaotic’s. What she doesn’t understand is that she caused the ripple effect. She changed everyone’s minds about her. What she doesn’t know is that all of us are on to her now and it won’t be much longer before her ass is met with the truth we all know.
I watch as she pulls up and gets out of her car. When she spots me by the door, her face brightens and she adds an extra sway of her hips. Her legs are encased in tight-ass dark-wash jeans and a tiny red top that hangs off one shoulder with her black stilettos. All this shit used to make my dick rock hard for her. Now, it just causes me to throw up in my mouth a little realizing that I’d been her trained monkey for years.
“Trigger.” She purrs as she nears. “What’s this place?” She runs her nails along my forearm and I fight to hide my disgust.
“It’s my new stomping ground. I come here a few times a week to release the day’s tension.” Lies, but she doesn’t know that. “Come on. We only have the room for thirty minutes.”
“Room? What room?” She whispers.
“You’ll see.”
I grab her elbow and escort her to Joel, the bouncer. He opens the door and I lead her down the stairs to the real Upper Hand. When we’re in the center of the room, I glance at her to see her face etched in shock and I want to say fear, but it’s quickly covered by a fake smile.
“What’s this place?” She asks as she watches a scene of a masked man whipping his submissive while she is cuffed and hanging on the middle of the stage.
“I told you that I’d changed. I was introduced to this a couple of months ago and my need for control was awakened. See, I let you control me for so many years that once I was free of you, control became a necessity in my life.” Her smile falters.
“I still don’t understand.”
“I’ll show you. You just have to keep an open mind. You said you wanted to spend some alone time with me.”
“Yes, I did, but I meant like at your house or at the Clubhouse. Not here.” She states with revulsion.
I turn her to face me. “It’s either this way or no way.” She glares at me. “Fine, let’s go. I’ll walk you back to your car.” I grip her elbow and begin to drag her to the stairs. She tugs her arm free and I glance over my shoulder.
“Okay. I’ll try it your way.” She mumbles.
I take her elbow again and lead her to Razz’s room. Unlocking the door, I hold it open for her to enter. She walks to the center of the room and spins around in a circle taking everything in. I lock the door behind me and the click echos through the room making Sadie jump.
“What happens now?” She asks shakily.
“Whatever I say.” She glares again and I’m ready to get this show on the road and over with. “Strip.” I command and her mouth falls open.
“Wh….wh…what?” She stutters.
“I said strip and I will not repeat myself. You are either standing in front of me in your bra and panties or your ass walks out that door.”
She slowly takes off her clothes like the longer it takes I’ll change my mind. She’s finally undressed and fidgeting with her hands. “What now?”
“One, you don’t speak to me unless I tell you to speak. Two, I want you standing in the middle of those two cuffs.” I point to the cuffs hanging from chain in the middle of the room. She slowly moves and does as I said. I walk to her taking one wrist in my hand and cuffing it in the leather cuff. I do the same on the other side. I stride over to the dresser where I set out a black blindfold. I pick it up and make my way back to Sadie. “I’m going to blindfold you.” She goes to speak but I shake my head and her mouth snaps shut. “You need to think of a safe word.” Now she’s shaking her head. “Fine no safe word it is. I’ll just go off your body’s reactions. Just so you know, if you say no I won’t stop because no is not a safe word.”
“Red!” She screams. I guess she watched Fifty fucking Shades of Grey. I chuckle to myself. This bitch has no clue.
I tie the blindfold at the back of her head and go to the closet. Opening it, Beanie appears with a menacing smirk on his face. I give him a chin lift and follow him as he takes a crop off the top of the dresser and goes for Sadie. I stand with my feet planted shoulder-width apart.
“What’s your safe word, pet?” I question.
“Pet. Seriously.” Beanie taps her lightly on her right ass cheek. She flinches. “Red!” She screeches.
“Good girl.” The words churn my stomach.
Beanie smacks her left cheek a little harder. She jumps and her chest turns a light shade of red. He alternates the next three hits from left to right and then he hits her thighs. He drops the crop and gets a flogger. This time he strikes against her chest avoiding her barely visible baby bump. Then he goes back to her ass. After two more hits, she’s screaming.
“No…No…No. Stop. Just stop. I can’t do this.”
“That’s not your safe word.” Beanie strikes her thighs. “No safe word means your fine.”
“Red! Red! Goddamnit, Red!” She shrieks.
Beanie drops the flogger and heads back to the closet. Hiding. When he’s out of sight, I untie the blindfold and uncuff her from the restraints. She’s panting, but it isn’t a turned on pant. It’s a pissed off, ready to blow pant. Her eyes are filled with the evil that I now know she contains.
“This is what gets you off.” She points to the crop and flogger on the floor. “This is the type of control you need.” She points to the cuffs.
I nod. “Yes and you can’t handle it, so I guess there’s really no point in all that alone time you were talking about. We’re no longer compatible.”
She shakes her head vigorously. “No that’s not true. We’ve been compatible for years.”
“Time changes people.” I state firmly.
“I don’t believe that. I’m not giving up. We’re going to have a baby and we’re going to be a family.” She picks up her clothes and begins to put them on. The red welts on her skin give me a sense of achievement. I fooled the bitch for now. I don’t need this shit, but she’ll never figure that out. “We’re not through. I won’t allow it.” She huffs and stomps out of the room.
Joel texts me when she leaves the building.
“She’s gone, Beanie.”
He comes out of the closet and his smirk is replaced with a sneer. “That bitch is going to be harder to convince than I thought. I figured I’d beat her ass and she’d be ready to give up.”
“As much as I know about her now, it’s going to take a lot more. She doesn’t like to be defeated.”
“I guess we need to find different ways to extract her control over the predicament we’re in now since she’s the one that’s wielding the sword that could chop our noses off despite our faces.”
“True. Have you heard anymore from Razz?”
“Nah, she’s not going to contact any of us until this is all over. Sadie threatened taking Emerson and Xander from her and she’s not going to put that at risk. She’ll bide by Sadie’s threat.”
“This shit really sucks donkey balls.”
He chuckles. “It does. I lose my friend. You lose your fiance and the Chaotic’s lose a good woman. Razz is tough and I bet her ass isn’t standing on the sidelines. She’s probably doing her own plotting.”
“I don’t think so. She told me she was done with the whole Sadie situation.”
“Then you don’t know her quite as well as you should. She dug up information on Sadie for years. There’s no way she’s going to quit. Shit, she gave us her damn P.I., who I might say is not cheap especially for all the round-the-clock shit he’s doing.” Beanie moves around the room cleaning up what was thrown on the floor. “Let’s get out of her and figure out another way to fuck with Sadie. The more we interfere, the less she’ll focus on Razz.”
We leave the Upper Hand, but instead of the sense of relief I thought I’d feel when I left here, all I feel is the twisting of my gut that this shit is going to take too fucking long to conquer.
Chapter 11
Beanie
The four hour trip to Erwin, Tennessee would’ve been a great trip if I wasn’t trapped in a cage since its December and I didn’t want to freeze my balls off. Plus, this isn’t a pleasure trip. Nope. This is a get information trip. This is a trip that can add to the piles of shit the club has on Sadie or is it Serafina. Who the hell knows?
Clarice Johnson lives in a small brick house. She may be in her eighties, but the outside is well taken care of. When I pull up into her driveway around lunchtime, she’s sitting on her wraparound porch rocking. She reminds me of my grandmother in her robe, flowered moo-moo and slippers.
As I approach, her expression doesn’t change. She’s skeptical as she should be. She’s been taken for a ride on the Sadie Train.
“Mrs. Johnson.” I greet.
“Yes.” Her voice shakes.
“My name is Jude White and I have a few questions about a woman who was staying with you. Sadie.”
“I’m sorry son, but I don’t know a Sadie. Sweet Sophia stayed with me for a bit before she left to go visit with her boyfriend. That poor girl. Her boyfriend sent her away when he found out she was pregnant with his baby. What’s this world coming to? Back in my day, a man took care of his responsibilities.”
“As a real man should.” I respond. “Was Sophia about this tall?” I flatten my hand and raise it to below my shoulders.” Mrs. Johnson nods. “Blonde hair, blue eyes?” She nods. “And you let her take your car.”
“Yes. She left hers here. She said it was running funny and didn’t want to end up broke down on her way to Kentucky.”
I motion to the chair beside her. “May I sit?”
“Of course, of course.” She pats the seat of the rocking chair next to hers.
I pull out the sheets of paper I’d stored away in my kutte. I hand them to her. I, also, hand her a picture of Sadie. “Is this Sophia?”
“Yes.” She answers. “What are these papers about?”
“Your Sophia is really Serafina Breaux. In Georgia, where I’m from, she’s Sadie.”
“I don’t understand. Sophia is a sweet girl who’s just down on her luck at the moment. She’s really good at taking care of my money. Since she’s been gone, it’s been a pain to get the bills pa
id. The electric company told me I was late and I’m never late. I’m on a fixed income and Sophia knew that. She handled it all and I got used to her taking care of it.”
“Mrs. Johnson, when did Sophia say she was coming back?”
“She said she’d be gone a few weeks and then she’d bring my car back and take care of next months bills.”
“Did she do anything else for you?”
“That was it. It was nice to have company. My kids and grandkids don’t come around much, so having Sophia here added some comfort I’ve been missing since my Charlie died twelve years ago.”
“I’m going to call a friend of mine that could possibly help you out.”
“You don’t have to do that, son. I’ll be just fine.”
“I’m sure you will, but I’d feel better when I leave here that I know for certain that you are indeed just fine.” She nods and I call the one person who I know can get shit done.
Razz.
Of course, when I call it goes straight to voicemail, so I resort to texting her in hopes that she’ll respond.
Me: I need you to call me. It’s important!
My cell rings instantly. “Razz.”
“Beanie. What’s so important?” She asks.
I proceed to involve her in the one thing she’s asked us all not too.
Sadie’s bullshit.
Chapter 12
Dani
I don’t know who I want to clobber more. Ryker for volunteering us for the trip to Mansfield, Louisiana or Sadie-slash-Serafina for being the manipulative skank I’ve found that she is.
What doesn’t help the situation is that I’m completely exhausted. All four of my kids are with my parents, so that we could get up at the ass crack of dawn to get to the airport in Atlanta and soar through the air to Shreveport, Louisiana. Then, we had to get a rental car and drive to Mansfield.
Driving around the town to get to Sadie’s dad’s house reminds me of home in that small community sort of way, but what kills me is that I love my small town and would never give it up. Sadie seems to lay waste to everyone and every place that she comes into contact with. The more I learn about her, the more I wonder how I never had a clue. But she did play on my passion for helping others that had been in similar predicaments as I was and just like Trigger, I was blinded by the woman I called my best friend.