I headed down the corridor until I reached the end room on the left hand side. I pushed the handle down and kicked open the door. I walked over the threshold with Beauty still in my arms, only now her face was buried in my neck.
I kicked the door closed and it slammed shut. She jumped in my arms and her whole body stiffened.
“It’s ok, sweetness. I’m just going to put you on the bed.” I laid her down and her gaze began searching the room.
“This isn’t my room. Where are we?”
“We’re in my room.” I shrugged out of my leather cut and hung it on the back of the door. I kicked my boots off and left them at the end of the bed.
“Ummm, Riz. I don’t think I can, I’m still in pain.” She looked panicked.
“Sweetness, I’m going to take a shower. I can still smell the bloody jail on me.” I screwed my face up in disgust. I couldn’t believe that low life called the cops on us. “You relax. Climb in, if you want?” I handed her the remote control for the flat screen TV I had in my room. It sat on top of the chest of drawers. Sometimes club life got too intense and I used my room as my escape. “I won’t be long.” I kissed her on top of the head and she relaxed. Maybe there was hope for us after all.
Beauty
I WOKE up a lot earlier than normal, my body was still aching and I needed to take the pain medication that the doc had given me. I slipped on some jogging bottoms and a hoodie and headed for the door. Riz was sound asleep on the floor. I felt guilty for making him sleep there but he said he didn’t want to leave me and I couldn’t have him sleeping in the same bed as me yet.
I snuck out of the door trying not to wake him. Once the door was closed behind me I headed in the direction of the kitchen.
“Oh, hi.” Heather and another blonde girl were sitting at the kitchen table.
“Beauty are you ok?” Heather asked.
“Yeah, I just need some water to take my medication. Sorry for interrupting.”
“Oh, you’re not. This is Ashlyn.”
“Hi.” Ashlyn greeted me. I smiled back as I grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with some water. I popped open the pill packet and grabbed two painkillers and swallowed them down.
“I’ll leave you to it. I’m going to watch some TV. Riz is still sleeping.”
“Uh, Beauty, can we talk a minute?” Heather asked.
“Of course.” Ashlyn climbed to her feet and left the kitchen and I sat in her seat.
“We had several guests come in last night. Eleven women. They were being held against their will at another club…”
“Parker?” I whispered, cutting her off.
“No. Just a bad club that has now been taken care of. They are all a bit scared, especially of the men. Would you help me keep an eye on them?”
“I don’t know if I’m the right person for the job. I’m still very fragile myself.”
“It’s just talking to them to make sure they’re ok.” I nodded my head. “Shall we go and meet them?”
“Yes.” I drained the contents of my glass and placed it in the dishwasher before following Heather out to the bar.
“Everyone, I’d like you to meet Beauty. She’s here to help too. You can trust her.” Heather nodded at me and I took a step towards the girls.
“Hi, I’m Rayna.” A pretty girl with dark hair smiled at me.
“I’m Naomi.”
“Hi, I’m Tia.”
“Becky and that’s Sara.” Sara was asleep on the sofa.
I found it strange that all of these girls looked the same, they were all pale with blonde hair, except for Rayna.
“What happened to you?” Rayna asked as she stood by the side of me. The other four girls were huddled together in front of the TV. Naomi, Tia and Becky listened in on our conversation.
“I was attacked, raped and beaten so badly that I lost my baby.” All the girls gasped and I had to fight the tears back. I had to show them that you can move on from this, even though I wasn’t convinced myself yet.
“We were all taken because we look like Ashlyn.” Tia started saying. “She was the one he really wanted. I wanted to hate her because of it, but she was the one that saved us. Got us out of there and to safety.”
“Girls.” Heather interrupted us. “Macy, Luna, Charlotte and Carol are heading home now.” I glanced over to the door to see everyone saying goodbye to them. Everyone got up except for Tia.
“You not going to say goodbye?” I asked her.
“Yeah, I will in a minute.” A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek.
“When are you going home?”
“I don’t have anywhere to go.” She folded her arms over her body as if protecting herself. “No money, no job, nothing. Will they let me stay? They’ve let you stay, haven’t they? Do you have to pay them back in sexual favours? I’ve heard that about some clubs.”
“This club isn’t like that. The Prez is a family man, with three kids. Yeah they have their club whores but they protect people who need protecting, like me. They won’t just chuck you out.”
“Tia, we’re going.” Charlotte called out. Tia jumped to her feet and ran over to the girls. She hugged each of them and by the time they were leaving all the girls were in tears.
“Beauty.” Riz called out as he headed into the bar. I noticed a few of the girls shrank back into their seats. I jumped up to meet him and cried out in pain. He flew towards me and held me up on my feet.
“What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting.” He glanced around when he noticed eyes on him. “Who the hell are they?” He whispered to me.
“Church!” Blade called out just as I was about to answer him.
“Looks like you’re about to find out.” He kissed me on the side of the head before following the Prez into church.
“Who’s that?” Rayna asked.
I sat at the table with them.
“Uh… that’s a tough question.” I laughed. I explained to them about mine and Riz’s history and what had happened to me. I was hoping that if I was open and honest then they would be too.
“Sounds like he loves you.” Naomi smiled. “I wonder if I’ll ever have that.”
“Of course you will. We all will, it’ll just take some time.” Becky said as she hugged Naomi.
“Who’s that?” I asked as a guy I didn’t recognise walked into the bar with a blonde girl attached to him.
“That’s Owen, he’s Ashlyn’s brother. He was at the MC, trying to find her. He also fell in love with May too. She was captured like the rest of us, only she never got raped like the rest of us as he came down early every day, picked her and kept her safe.” Sara explained.
“How long were you all there for?”
“I was there the longest.” Tia rubbed her arms as if she was cold. “I was there for nearly six weeks I think.”
“Hey, girls.” May came over to see the girls. “I’m heading home with Ashlyn and Owen. Are you going to be ok?”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine. We’ve got each other.” Rayna smiled as she wrapped her arm over Naomi’s shoulders.
“I’m going to miss you.” She hugged each one separately. “We’ll keep in touch, I promise.”
There were more tears, more hugging and I felt like I was intruding. I climbed to my feet and headed back to Riz’s room. I sat on the bed and thought about what they all went through. My heart broke for them all, they had to endure that torture every single day. One night of it was bad enough for me.
I yelped in surprise when the bedroom door was opened.
“Hey, what’s happened?” Riz asked as he knelt on the floor in front of me.
“I was abused for one night, they had it over and over again. We need to help them. There are five of them that have nowhere to go. They have no families, nowhere to live.”
“Prez is sorting that out now.” Riz assured me.
“They’re scared that if they stay at the clubhouse that they will have to be club whores.”
“Now, I shouldn
’t be telling you this, you know club business and all. But the club has a house a few streets over. It’s currently empty and has plenty of room for all the girls. When they’re ready to leave they can go there and the club will pay for it until they can find jobs. But it’s all in their own time. We just don’t have the room here for them all.”
“Oh, that sounds great. That’ll be good for them. That’s really nice of the Prez.”
“I think Heather had a lot to do with it.” He laughed.
Riz
A WEEK HAD GONE by and Beauty was still sleeping in my room with me. She made me sleep on the floor and denied that anything would ever happen between us again. I loved spending everyday with her, even if it was just making a cuppa tea together or watching TV. She was a special girl and I wanted her to be mine. I reminded her of this everyday and she just laughed at me and shook her head.
“Church.” Prez yelled as I began eating my full english breakfast that Heather had made for me. Beauty was sitting opposite me, nibbling on a piece of wholemeal toast and sipping on her cuppa tea.
Rayna, Naomi, Tia, Becky and Sara were still here with us at the club. Rayna was keen to get out of here and moving on with her life, but the other girls were a lot more hesitant.
“Christ.” I complained. I took a long gulp of my coffee, gathered up my plate, knife and fork and headed to church. “Won’t be long sweetness.” I kissed the top of her head as I passed.
I sat in my usual seat and carried on eating my breakfast as the guys piled in.
Prez slammed the gavel down and the meeting started.
“Since when do we eat breakfast in here?” Prez asked me.
“Sorry, Prez. But it seemed a shame to waste it after your Old Lady made it for me.”
“Beauty keeping you busy?” Itch laughed. “She can’t leave you alone to let you have breakfast with the rest of us.”
“Shut it, Itch.” I was defensive when it came to Beauty. Everyone had just assumed we had become a couple because she felt safer in my room and I didn’t touch the sweet buns anymore. I didn’t correct anyone, as that was exactly what I wanted. I wanted her to be mine. But she kept fighting me on it. She kept telling me that there was no way anyone could love her after what she had been through. That she was damaged and she hated herself for allowing it to happen. No matter how many times I told her it wasn’t her fault, she wouldn’t believe me. No woman could fight off a man three times her size.
“So.” Prez got our attention back on him just as I ate the last mouthful of baked beans and eggs. “The Cornish Crusaders are heading this way. They’re going to stop in here.”
“Why they headed this way, Prez?” Ice asked.
“I don’t know all the details yet. But we’re to expect them in the next hour or so.” Prez looked at me. “I know Beauty isn’t great around strangers. So warn her that they are coming.”
“Prez.” I nodded my head.
“Skins has been shut since what happened with Beauty. Buzz has now sorted out new bouncers and bodyguards for the girls. Something like this will not happen again. It opens up again tonight. The back rooms have been closed down. The clients can pay for lap dances only from our girls. No extra special treatment.”
Prez slammed down the gavel and we all filed out of the room. I headed in the direction of the kitchen to clean up my plate.
“Hey, Riz.” Crystal smiled at me as she swished her way over to me. She was one of the sweet buns here and one I’ve fucked a lot. “Do you need me?” She batted her eyelashes at me as she wrapped her arms around my neck, her lips were closing in on mine. I was pushing her away when we heard the door open and close. We both looked to the side and Beauty was standing there.
“Sorry, hunny. We’re in the middle of something here.” Crystal told her.
“No, we’re not.” I pushed her off of me and stepped closer to Beauty. “You ok?” She smiled at me and nodded.
“Can you add this is to the dishwasher for me.” She handed me her mug and plate. “Before you carry on. Thanks.” She smiled at me once more before heading out of the kitchen. I was in a state of shock. I half expected her to go off on one. Did her reaction mean she didn’t actually care about me at all? She was happy for me to fuck the sweet buns?
I threw the plate and mug on the side and rushed out after her. I was stopped in my tracks by Buzz.
“The Cornish Crusaders are here.”
“Already? Shit, I hadn’t had a chance to warn Beauty yet.” I started to walk away when he shouted;
“Church will be in five minutes.” I waved my hand in the air so he knew that I had heard him. I stopped in my tracks when I saw Beauty was sitting on the floor with Liam, Prez and Heather’s son. She was playing cars with him and she looked happy. Like she didn’t have a care in the world. She’d make a great mum one day and I just hoped that I’d get to be the dad. What the hell was wrong with me? How did she manage to tie me up like this? She’s been pushing me away since she got here and I just can’t seem to move on. I want her and only her.
“Sweetness.” She looked up to me, gave me a tight smile and turned her attention back to Liam. “I need to talk to you.”
“I’m looking after Liam and Tegan while Heather does her Old Lady duties and greets the club that has just arrived.” Tegan was asleep on the sofa next to where Beauty was sitting on the floor.
“You know that the club is here?”
“Yeah, Heather told me. Incase I freaked out when I saw them.”
“I was coming to tell you too.”
“I get it, you got distracted by Crystal.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m ok. You can go and do your club stuff.” She turned her back on me and caressed Tegan’s head as she began to stir.
“Beauty, I…” She shushed me and waved her hand at me to leave her alone. I headed in the direction of church as the Cornish Crusaders entered the clubhouse.
“Hey, Riz.” Solar greeted me. I shot a chin lift his way as he slapped me on the back. We all sat down and Solar and Tat stayed standing at the back of the room.
Prez slammed down the gavel and started our second meeting of the day.
“Our charter brothers are here today as they need help. They need to find Parker Haines.” I sat up straighter in my seat and wondered what all this was about. Had he done it again? Hurt someone else? “Riz, I know you’ve had some dealings with him. Any ideas where he is?”
“Na, sorry Prez.” I shook my head.
“Speak to Beauty, she may…”
“No.” I cut off the Prez. “I don’t want her having to deal with his fucked up arse again.”
“I know, but this is very important.” Prez started to explain about what was going on, I was only half listening as I was thinking about Beauty and if I asked her this would it set her back to stage one again? She was finally starting to laugh and smile more.
“Ice, go and find Beauty.” Prez started.
“No.” I jumped to my feet. “Let me talk to her first.”
* * *
Beauty
I JUMPED when the bedroom door flew open and Riz charged in. He looked upset and stressed. He was rubbing his hand across his jaw as if he was trying to decide something.
“Sweetness. I have to ask you something and you’re not going to like it. I don’t want to have to ask.”
“Oh, do you want the room for you and Crystal? I can move back to my old room. I’m feeling much more relaxed now. I don’t need constant protection. I’m sorry, I should have thought about it.” I jumped to my feet and gathered the little belongings that I had. Prez still hadn’t let me or the brothers go to my apartment for clothes, so I was still borrowing Heathers.
“Beauty, stop.” He placed his hand on my arm. “I don’t know how many times I have to say this. You’re mine, I don’t want anyone else.”
“Riz, we’ve been through this. It won’t work. I can’t make you happy. I’m sorry.”
“I need to know if you may know of anywhere else that Parker ma
y be?” She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.
“Why are you asking me this?”
“I can’t tell you. Club business.”
“I heard him on the phone. After it happened. I think he was talking to his wife or something. Then he ordered a taxi, I remember him saying Portland Drive. That’s all I can remember.”
“Thank you.” He gathered me in his arms and held me close. I wasn’t going to break down and cry, that’s all I had been doing for the last week.
Once he had left I sat on the bed to think. Why was I denying myself the chance of love? Why was I fighting love so much? Could I trust Riz? Yes, I believed that I could, but he could also be the one to break me and completely destroy me if it all went wrong.
Knock. Knock.
“Yeah.” I called out. Heather pushed the door open and stepped inside.
“Do you want some lunch?”
“I’m not hungry. But do you need some help? With the few extra mouths to feed.”
“I think they’ll probably head straight out after Church. Tea?” I smiled at her and nodded. She always knew she could get me with offering me a cuppa tea.
I followed her out of the bedroom and wondered if I should confide in her about my feelings for Riz. Just as we rounded the corner, the church door opened and the guys started appearing. I hurried into the club room and sat at the table the furthest away. Within minutes Riz was headed my way. I crossed my arms over my chest and refused to look at him.
“Sweetness, please look at me. I’m sorry I had to ask that. It was for the club. If I didn’t come and ask then Prez was going to send Ice.”
“It’s fine. I hope they find him and string him up.” I watched as Prez headed straight for Heather and encased her in his arms and devoured her lips. That’s what I wanted, a love like that.
A sigh escaped me as I watched them.
“We could have that you know.” Shit, how did he know what I was thinking? Did I say it out loud.
“What? Did I say…” Riz cut me off with his laughter.
“I know you Beauty. I know what you were thinking. Why won’t you let me love you?”
South Coast Brothers Part 1 Page 67