by Nicola Jane
“She’s not playing ball, Michelle,” Callum says to the screen, and Michelle arches her brow. I watch in horror as she holds up a silver letter opener. It’s shiny and the point looks sharp. Without warning, she holds it above Cree and then drives it down into his thigh. He tries to contain the growl, but I hear it, and I see the pain on his face as it twitches. “Okay, okay, stop. I’ll come with you,” I hiss. “Just stop.”
“No,” yells Cree. “Don’t you fucking dare!”
I begin to cry. I don’t know what to do, and I know there’s every chance that I’ll go with Callum and they won’t bother to let Cree go, but I can’t walk away and leave him to be hurt like that. I resist the urge to glance back to where I know Riggs and Chains are watching. I pray they’ll follow us.
There’s a car just beyond where Callum stands. He points to it, and as we get closer, he opens the trunk. “Get in,” he snaps.
“In the trunk?” I screw my face up, but he waits until I sigh and climb in. I look back one last time to where I know Riggs will be cursing me right now. I hope he understands that this is the only way. Just as he closes the trunk, I see a huge fireball in the distance. Callum smirks. “Bye-bye, Kings Rebellions.” And then he slams the trunk closed and I’m left in the dark with my hands over my mouth, trying to hold in the screams.
Cree
I yell over and over until my throat burns. How can Riggs let her out of his sight? They’ll break Eva. How the hell will I get us both out of here? Michelle saunters into the room again.
“Get the fuck out!” I yell. “You better pray I don’t get out of these binds because I’m coming for you first, then I’m going after your fucked-up husband.”
She smiles. She’s so sure I’m not gonna get free that she ain’t worried by my threats. “I have someone here to see you.”
Emily enters the room and I sag in relief. “Emily, are you okay?”
“Yeah, Cree. I’m all good.”
“I’ll leave you two to get reacquainted,” says Michelle as she leaves the room.
Emily turns off the porn that’s been playing on loop for hours. My ears are ringing against the silence of the room. “Emily, you have to get me out of here,” I whisper.
Emily smiles and lowers to the floor in front of me. She tucks her feet under her ass and gets comfortable. “Cree, I have something to tell you.”
I frown as a memory of Emily holding a needle in my thigh assaults my brain. “You said you weren’t who I thought you were,” I repeat her words from last night.
“You knew my mum,” she says.
“I thought your mum wasn’t around,” I say. “How would I know her?”
“She was a client of yours,” says Emily. “Her name was Rose. Rose Gray. She died, but you wouldn’t remember that part.” She sounds bitter and I rack my brains trying to remember the name ‘Rose Gray’.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know that name,” I say. “Help me get out of here and we’ll talk about it. We can go back to the centre and speak to Marcus.”
“Poor, unsuspecting Marcus.” Emily sighs. “I know I look young for my age, but seriously, how did he not see that it was all one big lie?”
I tug angrily at my restraints again. I don’t have time for this bullshit. “What the fuck are you talking about?” I growl.
“My mum was a victim of you and your bastard step-dad. Between you, you ripped my family apart and ruined my life.” I stare at her blankly. “You got her hooked on heroin. In the end, she loved that shit more than me. Hell, she loved you more than me.”
“Emily,” I snap. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on. I feel like I woke up in some alternate universe. Stop talking in riddles and explain what the fuck I did because I don’t know your mum.”
Emily reaches into her pocket and slides out a photograph. She places it on the floor at my feet and I stare at it. I know the woman in that picture, but she wasn’t Rose to me. Her name was Lisa. I feel the blood rush from my face.
Emily stands and presses some buttons on the television. An image comes into view and I know straight away without looking up what she’s going to play.
Eva
I stare through the darkened glass at my gorgeous Cree. Blood drips from his leg onto the ground. There are scratches on his chest and face, and he looks tired. His eyes are fixed on the screen playing a porn video of a woman and younger him. They’re having sex. It’s the sex Cree likes, the type where he’s in charge, because the woman has her hands tied behind her back and he’s slamming into her. Younger Cree is handed a needle that he holds in his mouth while he’s pounding into the woman. He jacks up her leg and gives her the shot. Within minutes, she’s floppy and unresponsive. “Keep going,” someone barks out from behind the camera. Cree keeps fucking the unresponsive woman until he climaxes.
The next film clip begins to play and it’s pretty much the same thing. I look at Cree, and he doesn’t look away from the screen. His expression is hard and angry.
“You see, my pretty, he isn’t the man you thought he was,” says Callum as he brushes my hair away from my neck. “We have a very important meeting up next. You must not speak unless spoken to. You must be polite and respectful. If you mess this up, I’ll make sure Cree pays the price. Are we clear?” I nod my head and Callum rips my head back by my hair. “I said, are we clear?” he growls into my ear.
“Yes,” I hiss. “We’re clear.”
I’m taken into another room. This place looks like a disused police station. There’re three men in the room—two stand in opposite corners and one man sits in a chair by a desk. He’s wearing a suit that looks expensive. He stands when we enter, straightens his jacket, and says something to Callum in what I think is Russian. Callum responds and they share a laugh and shake hands.
The man takes my hand and kisses the back of it. “The pictures didn’t do you justice,” he says. “You are very beautiful.” He takes the ends of my hair between his fingers and I instinctively move my head. “But I wonder why you brought her in here on her feet?” he asks, looking at Callum for an explanation.
“We haven’t begun training,” explains Callum.
“Then now is a good time to start, don’t you think?” he asks.
“Of course. Eva, kneel.”
I laugh, and when I see that he isn’t kidding, my eyes widen. “On the floor?” I ask and the foreign man laughs hard. Callum glares at me, outraged, and then grips my hair hard and kicks the back of my knees, causing me to buckle until I’m kneeling on the floor.
“I am wondering if perhaps you have taken on too much with this girl, no?” asks the man.
“I’ll have her ready in the time you stated.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I snap. Callum’s hand tightens in my hair, a clear warning.
“You’re going to be so much fun. I want to watch the moment you break,” says the man as he runs a finger down my cheek.
“I won’t break,” I snap. “Not for him and not for you.”
The man smirks and takes my chin in his fingers, pinching hard. “I will enjoy every second.”
I shove his hand away from my chin and he looks over his shoulder at one of the men in the corner. “You see this, Bennie? You see this bitch and her attitude?” He sounds amused, but instinct tells me he isn’t. Bennie smirks and shakes his head. “Maybe I should train her myself,” he adds thoughtfully.
“You won’t train shit,” I snap. “This is modern-day England, you fucker, and women don’t go around on their knees for men like you. So you can try hard to train me, but I will not adhere to this bullshit!” I yell. He hits me so hard that I fall onto my side. I see white spots behind my eyes and blink a few times. “Fuck,” I hiss.
The man’s hands go into my hair and he takes a handful and lifts me from the floor. His face is cruel and full of anger. “Next time I see you, you’d better be on your knees and ready to beg my forgiveness, suka,” He shoves me back to the floor and steps over me on the way to the d
oor. “A week is all you have to get her compliant,” he spits out. His two men follow and then I’m left alone with Callum. I back up against the wall as he comes towards me wearing a cruel smile.
“Poor Cree. Hasn’t he suffered enough already?” He smirks, then pulls me to my feet and drags me to the room looking in on Cree.
“I’m sorry,” I cry. “I’ll behave. I’m sorry.”
He holds my hair to keep my face on Cree. Michelle is sucking his cock and Cree looks repulsed. He turns his head to the side and stares right at me. I wish he could see me so I could tell him I’m sorry. Michelle stands and straddles him. She runs her hands over his chest and he squeezes his eyes shut. “Do you think he likes fucking my wife?” asks Callum.
I shake my head. “He hates her.”
“He didn’t hate her when he was sneaking around to my house and fucking her when my children were in bed.”
“He ended that,” I snap. “He met me and ended things with her.”
“You’re so fucking naïve, Eva. He’ll always fuck around. Married women are his specialty.”
I watch as Cree whispers into Michelle’s ear. She closes her eyes and leans into him. She moves slow, back and forth, rocking and moaning. He says something again and she nods her head. Using the letter opener, she cuts the ties from around his hands. Callum is so busy burying his nose into my hair and rubbing up against me, he doesn’t notice.
Cree’s hands run through Michelle’s hair and his mouth connects with hers. He stands, his legs still tied to the chair, and he spins Michelle around. “This what you want, baby?” he growls, slamming back into her. He moves fast, ramming into her as she cries out. He takes the letter opener and slides it between his ankle and the chair leg and pops the tie off. He frees the other leg as Callum glances up.
Chapter Fifteen
Cree
I release my ankle and then wrap my hands around Michelle’s throat. She doesn’t realise I’m completely free now, and as I pound into her, I push her further to the ground. Once I have her pinned down, I squeeze her neck harder. She gasps and reaches back to try and swat me away, but there’s no way I’m letting this bitch go. The door bursts open and the man with the gun barges in. He points it at me, but I don’t release Michelle.
“Cree, stop!” It’s Eva’s voice. I freeze. It’s coming from behind the glass, and I notice the speaker on the wall. “Stop. She has kids. Stop.”
I squeeze harder and Michelle stills. She’s passed out. The man with the gun comes forwards, still aiming at my head. “Get up,” he growls. This ass is an amateur. I stand slowly, letting him think I’m scared. He doesn’t realise I’ve stared down the barrel of a gun more times than I care to remember. Once I’m at eye level, I grip the gun in my hand and use my free hand to punch him in the face. He lets go and now I have the gun, pointing it at him and smiling.
“Oops. Now, Callum, bring her to me,” I add in a sing-song voice. I pull the trigger and the guy’s lifeless body jerks as the bullet hits his chest. Stupid motherfucker. I hear a door open and close and then Callum appears holding Eva against him. He has a knife to her throat and I roll my eyes. “Predictable.” I sigh. “Let her go or I’ll put a bullet in her,” I say, pointing the gun at Michelle.
A loud bang rings out and Eva screams. Callum falls to the floor with a thud and I stare at him confused. I look at the gun I’m holding, knowing I didn’t pull the trigger. Eva is still screaming and my eyes assess her. She isn’t hurt, but she’s splattered in Callum’s blood.
“Someone shut her up,” comes Chains’ bored tone, and I feel relief flood me. “Jesus, put some fuckin’ clothes on, man,” he adds as he comes into view. He shields his eyes and makes a retching sound as a joke.
“About fuckin’ time you idiots showed up,” I mutter, grabbing Eva and pulling her into my side. “Shh, Eva. You’re okay.” She quietens down and stares at me. I see it the minute our eyes connect—pity. I push her towards Chains. “Take her. I’m not done here.”
Chains begins to lead her from the room, but she resists. “She has kids,” she mutters, looking at Michelle. “Please don’t kill her.”
“Get her the fuck outta here!” I yell, and Chains lifts her over his shoulder and carries her from the room.
I pull Michelle up from the floor and sit her in the chair. I slap her hard until she stirs. Her eyes take a second to focus, but when she realises I’m free, she sits up straighter, a look of panic on her face. “Start talking,” I growl.
She glances at her husband’s lifeless body, the blood oozing from the wound in his head. “He was having an affair with Emily. They had a threesome going with her dom.” She rushes out the words, showing that she’s scared. “She wanted to pay you back and Callum came up with a way. He saw you and Eva together months ago. You collected her from the hospital after she was mugged,” she continues.
My mind goes back to that day when Eva rang the club looking for Riggs and Anna. Instead, she got me. “You were responsible for that?” I ask.
She nods. “Callum set it up. He was going to find her, but then some other hero stepped in and he couldn’t get close.”
“I should put a fuckin’ bullet in you for this,” I growl and she whimpers.
“I loved you. I fell in love and you rejected me. All I’ve heard about for months is Eva. From him, and then you. She’s like a fuckin’ disease.”
“No, you’re the disease. You stay the hell away from me and her. If I see you near either of us again, I’ll kill you.” She nods her head and I leave the room. I have no doubts about leaving her alive. She can’t hurt us without her mastermind husband pulling the strings.
I find my jeans on a table outside the door and pull them on. I wince as they rub against my wound. Riggs is in the hall waiting for me. “Good to see you, brother.”
I shake his hand. “You too. I need to find Emily.”
I begin opening doors, but the place is empty. I come to the last door and that’s where I find Emily, on her knees sucking her dom’s cock. “How cute. Father and daughter, together again,” I say sarcastically. I can’t believe I brought this man groceries thinking he was struggling to raise his kid. Emily scrambles to her feet, but I already have her by the hair. I drag her from the room kicking and screaming. The old guy stands to follow, and I point the gun at him and pull the trigger. Emily screams and cowers, but I pay no attention to her cries as his body slumps to the floor.
Eva
I watch Cree drag Emily from the building and follow them with my eyes. “I saw the explosion,” I mutter. “I thought you were all dead.”
Chains laughs. “We knew what would happen, sending you over to him like that. We’d already gotten into position to follow you before you got in Callum’s car.”
“Why does he have her?” I ask, my eyes still fixed on Cree and Emily. My voice sounds weak and so unlike me. I wonder to myself if this is what happens when you go into shock.
“It’s how he handles things,” says Chains. “Let him do his thing.”
“Do you kill women?” I ask thoughtfully. My mind feels numb with shock and I can still hear the gunshot replaying in my head. I know the Kings Reapers aren’t angels. There were stories going around about them for many years. Nobody ever went to their bar, The Windsor, because everyone knew it’s where they hung out and outsiders weren’t welcomed. But since meeting the guys, I hadn’t seen any of the bad stuff. I saw how they cared for their own and welcomed me, my mum, Anna, and her daughter, Malia.
“If you wanna be with Cree, you have to accept who he is. He’ll love you and protect you with his life. All you need to do is accept him.”
“I grew up with my mum in the house she still lives in. I went to a normal mixed school and did normal kid things like play in the park and eat ice cream. The most dangerous thing I’ve done is kiss a boy in my mum’s house when I was twelve years old, and trust me, that was a big rule broken right there. I’ve never seen a gun or heard the sound it makes when it hits someone’
s skull. I’ve never been coated in someone else’s blood. I . . . ”
“Eva,” says Chains firmly. “Stop.” He places his hand on mine and that’s when I realise I’ve been rubbing at the dried blood on my arms. “It’s all gonna be okay. After tonight, you won’t ever have to see these people again. You and Cree will live happily ever after.”
I stare out of the window. I’m not so sure. They deserve everything they get, Michelle, Callum, and even Emily, but the way life is extinguished so easily at the hands of the man I love is a hard pill to swallow.
Cree
Eva keeps looking over at me from her place on the couch. She’s surrounded by her girls, her mum, and Frankie. I need to know what happened to her in that place. Did they touch her? I shake my head and knock back another shot of some rancid shit that Riggs keeps giving me. I choke. “Fuck, brother, what is that?”
“Shit to help you sleep tonight.”
One of the club girls comes over to me carrying a box of bandages. “Pres said to clean your leg up.” She smiles.
“I’ll do it,” snaps Eva, marching towards us and taking the box. I smirk at her feisty attitude. “You wanna go somewhere private?” she asks me. I can’t stand her looking at me the way she is, like I’m some fuckin’ wounded dog.
I shake my head. “No, I’m good here.” I unfasten my jeans and push them down my legs. The shower I took the second I got back here cleaned off most of the dried blood, but the wound is open, so fresh blood trickles down my leg. I knock back another shot and watch as she carefully dabs the cut. “Shit, Eva, I’m not a kid. Wipe the damn thing,” I snap. She glances at me and then wipes harder, causing me to hiss.
