CHOKE: A Dark Bad Boy Romance

by Ella Wolfe

  Dayna was perfect. Not loud when I needed to concentrate, but not deadly silent either. She got everything done and didn’t even need to ask me any questions apart from at the beginning. This was going to work out fine.

  She was shuffling around, grabbing her handbag and preparing to leave when something occurred to me.

  “Dayna?” I asked her.

  “Yeah, Jett?”

  “You never told me what yesterday was about. You know, when I was in the hotel room?”

  “Oh,” she said, looking down and refusing to meet my eyes. I had no idea why she seemed embarrassed. Something had obviously happened to her and she was still feeling the after effects. That wasn’t her fault.

  “Mom and I didn’t have the best time after we moved away.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, hoping she’d elaborate. I’d already gathered that she’d gone through something, but I had no idea what.

  “Well … Mom remarried after we moved. A guy named Tim. He was … nice. At first. Then things got a little out of hand. He wasn’t happy that we were always around. It was Mom he hit the most, I didn’t usually get the brunt of it.”

  The way she spoke, as if it wasn’t a big deal, set me on edge. All I wanted to do was find the bastard and beat him to death. Maybe then he’d learn that it wasn’t right to hit a woman.

  “Mom and I stayed with him for a while after. I think she just kept hoping that he’d go back to how he was before. It was years before she realized that he wouldn’t. One day, Mom just snapped. Told me to pack some bags and said that we were moving.”

  “So, that’s when you came back?” I asked.

  “Yeah. But I think Mom just wanted a reminder of better times, you know?”

  Unable to help myself, I strode forward and pulled her into my arms.

  “You’re safe now. Especially with me. You know that, right?”

  She nodded into my chest and released a heavy sigh, one that I knew she had to have been holding for a while. I had no idea when she burst into my shop a week ago that we would end up like this. I didn’t know what it was but all I wanted to do was protect her.

  A squeezed my arms a little tighter around her, hoping she’d understand something that I’d never know how to say. I couldn’t ever take away her pain, but maybe I could try and make her feel better, even just a little bit.

  Chapter Seven

  Dayna

  I was in the office again, two weeks after I had first started and I loved it. It felt so good to have a job again, to be earning again, to get out of the hotel.

  It was pretty busy in the shop most of the time and Jett had me greeting most people when they came in, setting appointments and doing all the payments. It was a lot easier on him and it gave me more to do, which I was grateful. I had a feeling that the job opening was only for a few weeks until the office was sorted, and that Jett was just trying to help me get back on my feet.

  I met a lot of people in the town this way. A lot of them treated me exactly the same as Mike did in his first visit. I was flattered mostly. My stepfather worked hard to make sure I didn’t have much of a life, so the attention kind of thrilled me.

  Jett was opening up a bit more, too. We talked about our lives before, what we liked and the people in town. Often when it was quiet, I would bring my work out of the office and sit on a stool beside Jett as he worked on a bike, music playing from the stereo, neither of us talking, just enjoying the company.

  It helped that a lot of the time he had his shirt off and I traced his tattoos with my eyes.

  “Hey Jett?” I asked a few days earlier.

  “Yeah?” he replied.

  “What do your tattoos mean?”

  I thought he wasn’t going to answer for a long time, but then he finally did.

  He turned so his bare chest was to me and grabbed both my hands in his. Taking my right hand, he placed my fingertips gently on his chest and traced them up and around his spiral tattoo.

  “This is a symbol for hope and better futures,” he explained.

  He moved to my left hand and placed it on his arm, tracing the design spanning from shoulder to wrist.

  “This is a symbol for patience and a calm mind.”

  He turned around so his back was to me, loosening his grip on my hands.

  I placed my fingertips on his shoulder blades, tracing the lines to the base of his spine.

  “And this one?”

  ‘That one … that one is a symbol for revenge.”

  ###

  Mike entered the shop in the late afternoon, just before we were about to close up for the night.

  “Dayna, gorgeous, are you coming out tonight?”

  “Coming out where?” I asked, confused.

  “We’re going to a bar,” Jett said from behind me, almost making me jump.

  “Oh. I don’t know…” I said hesitantly. I wasn’t really sure if they wanted some guy time and I didn’t really want to intrude.

  “Come on!” Mike begged. “Last time you said you would.”

  “I know but—”

  “You should come,” Jett interrupted, and I felt my heart pound a little harder.

  “Sure, why not,” I conceded.

  “I knew you’d be sick of hanging out with just this one for the past few weeks,” Mike hitched a thumb over his shoulder to point at Jett.

  I resisted the urge to laugh at Jett’s scowling face and followed the boys to the bar down the street.

  It was pretty full for a Tuesday night and I recognised most of the customers from the shop.

  We headed to the bar where Mike ordered shots for us all.

  “Uh, just water for me thanks,” I interrupted before Mike could finish.

  “And a beer for me,” said Jett.

  Mike glared at us but conceded to a beer as well.

  We moved further into the bar to a booth at the back because Mike and Jett both claimed that it was ‘their’ spot.

  I slid in first and Mike went to slide in beside me but was unceremoniously knocked out of the way and shoved to the opposite side of the booth by Jett.

  “There needs to be a table separating any female from him,” Jett explained. “It’s for your own protection.”

  I laughed a little at Mike’s pout but was happy with the arrangement nonetheless.

  It wasn’t that I didn’t like Mike. He was a great guy, but somehow, I knew that he wasn’t really interested in me at all.

  “So, do you remember anyone here?” Jett asked me.

  I looked around, trying to see if I could remember anyone from my childhood. Sure enough, on the other side of the room there was a beast of a man with a completely shaved head and an arrow tattoo on his forehead.

  “Is that Mack?” I said excitedly, pointing to the giant.

  Jett nodded with a smile, knowing how amazed I used to be as a little kid. He looked aggressive on the outside but on the inside Mack was the nicest man I knew, a complete marshmallow.

  “How do you know Mack?” Mike asked.

  “I used to live here when I was younger actually. Mack used to let me ride around on his shoulders and pretend he was my unicorn.”

  Mike burst out into laughter. “Mack let you do that? No way.”

  “Mack’s a softie,” I insisted, looking to Jett for confirmation.

  “It’s true,” he agreed.

  “Wait, you two knew each other back then?” Mike used his finger to gesture between the two of us.

  I nodded and took another sip of water. “I used to follow him around until he let me hang out with him.”

  “I didn’t mind,” Jett said softly from behind me.

  “Sure, you didn’t,” I laughed awkwardly. It still kind of embarrassed me to think about how I used to run around at his heels like a lost puppy.

  On the car ride from town, I cried for a solid fourteen hours at the thought of leaving behind my best friend.

  “No really.” Jet placed a hand on my thigh under the table and I gulped at the c
ontact, though I knew it was only meant to be reassuring.

  “So, when did you leave town?” Mike interrupted and I jolted slightly. I could have sworn that Jett was slightly disorientated too, as if he forgot for a moment that Mike was here with us as well, but I must have imagined it.

  “When I was eight, so a long time ago.” I took another gulp of my water and prayed to God that he changed the subject.

  “Mike got here about five years ago,” Jett interjected, as if sensing my discomfort.

  “Oh really?”

  “My mom never told me who my dad was until I was eighteen. Told me she used to be a club girl. I was shocked to say the least. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to come and tell my dad I existed. I got here and I never left.”

  Jett smirked at this. “I think you're forgetting a very important bit of information, Mike.”

  Mike grinned widely. “Mack’s my old man.”

  “No!” I gasped. I brought my hand up to cover my mouth as my eyes flickered between them.

  I turned to Jett and raised my brows in question and he nodded in confirmation.

  At that moment, Mack turned and saw us sitting at the table, extracted himself from the women clinging onto him and headed over.

  “Dayna? Is that you?”

  “Hi Mack!” I grinned up at him.

  I slid around Jett and out of the booth, running up to the man and jumping straight into his arms. I was engulfed in his embrace and I had to bite back the strong urge to cry.

  “I heard you and your mom were back in town. Jesus, kid. You're all grown up.”

  “You too, Mack. I’ll come visit sometime, I swear.”

  “You better,” he commanded. “Hey son, Jett,” he greeted. I wasn’t sure if I imagined it but Mike’s whole body seemed to inflate at being called ‘son’ and my heart went out to him.

  Mack gave me one last kiss on the forehead before he headed off.

  “More drinks?” Mike asked.

  “I’ll get them,” said Jett. “I don’t trust you to not bring back tequila.”

  Mike and I sat back down in the booth. He peered at me curiously and I had a strong urge to demand what his problem was.

  “What?” I said exasperatedly, finally not being able to take it anymore.

  “You and Jett,” he said simply.

  “What about me and Jett?”

  He tutted and rolled his eyes.

  “Are you going to get together or what?”

  “What? Jett?” I shouted, my voice raising a few octaves. “You can’t be serious.”

  “What’s wrong with him?” Mike frowned.

  “Jett’s … Jett. And he isn’t interested in me at all.” I shook my head vehemently at him, trying to make him understand.

  “Alright, whatever you say,” he conceded with a sigh, slumping back in his chair.

  Excusing myself to go to the bathroom, I navigated my way through the throng of people, heading towards the neon sign that read ‘ladies.’

  Halfway there, a larger man stumbled and tripped into me, his entire body weight sending me reeling back several paces.

  I righted myself before I fell, grateful that I hadn’t been wearing heels today, and tried to keep walking.

  Unfortunately, the man had now noticed that he’d jostled me and was now slurring something incomprehensible at me.

  “It’s okay,” I said politely, attempting to move around him.

  He placed a hand on my arm and pulled me back in a surprisingly strong grip. The movement sent me lurching towards him and soon enough his arms were both around me, the pungent scent of the alcohol on his breath hitting me full force.

  “Where are you going?” he managed to slur, or at least I think that was what he was trying to say.

  “Let go of me, please,” my voice was not as sharp as I intended for it to be and I realised that I was breathing heavily, as if I’d run a marathon.

  I prayed that I wasn’t about to have another panic attack, even as I felt the man’s hands constrict around me. Logically, I knew if that there were other people around and all I needed to do was scream so that someone would pull him off me. But I seemed to have lost my voice, frozen in fear and unable to think clearly.

  “Stop,” a voice grumbled over my shoulder.

  I craned my neck to see Jett standing right behind me, a fierce look on his face.

  “Jett!” the man said. In his confusion, the man’s grip loosened around me and I quickly extracted myself from his arms, shuffling backwards until I hit Jett’s firm chest and his familiar scent washed over me.

  “If it was anyone but you, Bobby, you’d be nursing much more than a hangover tomorrow,” Jett said angrily.

  He slipped an arm around my shaking shoulders and led me back to the Mike.

  “What’s happened?” he asked.

  “Take care of Bobby,” Jett said instead. “I’m taking Dayna home.”

  Mike nodded, though I could tell he was confused. He opened his mouth but closed it again at the sight of Jett’s face, walking off without a word.

  “Let’s go, Dayna,” Jett whispered softly into my ear. His arms were gentle but solid at the same time, a reminder that I could count on him but that he’d never hurt me.

  I turned back just before we left the bar and caught Mike’s eye from the other side of the room.

  He seemed to have a knowing smile on his face as he winked at me. I frowned back but he disappeared from view as Jett and I stepped into the cool night air outside the bar.

  “Are you okay?” Jett asked, eyes seeming to stare into my soul, hands on my shoulders.

  “I’m fine,” I said, tired beyond belief all of a sudden. I rolled my eyes at Jett’s look. “Really.”

  He nodded, though still looking unconvinced.

  “Let’s take you home.”

  Chapter Eight

  Jett

  It was the day after the bar incident and Dayna and I were at the shop again, working side by side in companionable silence like we always did.

  Today felt a little different though. I wasn’t sure if she was thinking on last night, or if she was just tired, but there was definitely something wrong.

  She was distant. Answering questions but not really engaging. Worst of all, her usual radiant smile had dimmed somewhat. It didn’t reach her eyes anymore and somehow, I could tell it was mostly forced for my benefit. I had a feeling she would talk about it when she was ready so I kept to my bikes, hoping she would open up soon.

  Every time I looked up I could feel her eyes on me, burning into me, before she quickly flicked them away. If it wasn’t for the fact that I barely wore a shirt when I was working on my bikes, then I would be starting to feel self-conscious.

  After a few hours of this I was ready to break the silence and ask her what was wrong, but she beat me to it.

  “Jett.” She opened her mouth to speak but then seemed to think better of it and shut it again.

  “Dayna, I know something’s wrong. You’ve been acting strange all day. Was it what happened last night?”

  “No, that’s not it.”

  “Then what’s going on?”

  “I’m worried about you, Jett,” she said in a rush.

  “Me?” I said, confused. What did this have to do with me?

  “Is revenge really all that important to you?”

  I understood immediately where she was going with this and I could practically feel all my muscles growing solid and my face hardening.

  “Yes. It is important, more than you’ll ever know.”

  I wasn’t sure why she was bringing this up again. I thought she understood. The last time we’d gotten into it had resulted in a panic attack and I would do whatever it took to avoid another one.

  Dayna took a deep breath, seeming to come to a conclusion before she spoke next.

  “You know, there’s a difference between avenging your father and just plain old revenge. I know I shouldn’t listen to talk but this time I couldn’t help it. You're going after
them, aren’t you? The Succubus MC? And that guy, Joe Slattery?”

  I didn’t answer, not able to meet her gaze. I couldn’t admit to something like that to someone as innocent as she was.