by Shyla Colt
screaming it.” He winked and rose quickly before she could retort. Her huff as he walked out made him chuckle. There’d always been a seriousness far older than her thirty some years. It made him want to amuse her. He never understood until he knew about her past. Now, he just wanted to make shit right, but he had no clue how. She’s turning me into a little bitch and I can’t even get her to admit we’re in a fucking relationship. Fucking ridiculous. I used to give motherfuckers a hard time for doing this very thing, now I’m about to eat crow pie.
He entered the clubhouse fifteen minutes later. Littered with passed out bodies, beer bottles, the scent of smoke and sex thick enough to make him choke, it was silent as a tomb. He stepped over prone bodies and crept his way to Clue’s office. He rapped and opened the door. “You still awake?”
“For now,” Clue said, setting down his traveling mug. The little bastard had a Keurig to
himself in here.
“Alright, give me the run down.”
“She’s got a shit ton of money and plenty of soldiers willing to go down for her. Easy to do when you recruit them young and present yourself as salvation from a life of scrounging to get food in your belly and stay out of jail or worse. She treats them good as long as they do what she says.”
“How the fuck did you manage that?”
“People talk no matter what you do and she’s got a small group about an hour away,
comprised of a bunch of transplants from a small town in Jamaica.”
“You think she sent them over?” Lefty asked.
“Or found them. Maybe they escaped? Maybe it’s how Gia got here. I find it hard to believe it’s a coincidence.”
“Agreed. Shit.” Lefty rolled his neck. Getting her to talk would be like opening a long
submerged chest with a crow bar, slippery and difficult. “Why come all the way out here for a few people?”
“To prove a point, or regain something very valuable?”
“To try to recreate a kingdom because hers is crumbling back home. These people are living off of a fear of the past. Maybe that’s no longer reality.”
“Only way to tell is to talk to people, and I think we’d look a little suspect walking into little Jamaica.”
Lefty nodded. This would be like asking Gia to walk back into the fire. “Thanks, man. I’ll take it from here.”
“Alright, I’m going to go sleep for the next twenty-four hours.” Clue shut down the
computer and stood, stumbling out like a zombie.
Lefty sank down in the chair and placed the phone call he’d avoided as long as he could.
“Shit hit the fan?” Demon asked.
“Not yet. But I have more information. Are you actually awake right now?”
“Dude, I have kids and a pregnant old lady, so yeah.”
Lefty laughed. “True that.”
“Keep laughing. The way you’re looking at Gia, shit ain’t far off for you.”
“I don’t know, man. I don’t even know if I want kids. That’s a lot of responsibility.
Especially if shit goes sideways.”
“Best thing you can be given, man, trust me.”
Lefty decided not to answer and launched into an information dump.
“So, basically, we need to get eyes inside their community and gather some information,”
Demon said.
“Looks like it. But, hell, other than Gia we don’t know anyone.”
“So, let her set it up. She knows enough females. Or she can do it herself. I know her well enough to know she’s had some sort of eyes back home. Someone had to tip her off to
Mylandra’s activities. That’s shit we need to know. I could talk to her, but I think you’d be less…”
“Abrasive?” Lefty offered.
“Yeah, that.”
“I’ll talk to her and rough out a plan, and then we’ll get back to you.”
“Done.” Demon disconnected.
Lefty then headed out feeling like he was going into battle.
After he got there, he walked into his house and his stomach grumbled. The smell of food
greeting him was a first. He closed the door behind him and paused. A pleasant warmth filled his chest. The M.C. gave him a sense of belonging and family, but this was a different…personal and private. He allowed himself a moment in the hallway to take it all in.
Memories of coming home after school to see his ma flooded him. She always had fresh
bread with jam and tea waiting for him. He closed his eyes and her image sharpened. She was small, dainty with a thin frame, big, bright green eyes speckled with light yellow and glossy black ringlets. He used to imagine she was one of the Fae he’d been hearing stories about his entire life. He could hear her lilting accent and smell the floral scent that always clung to her clothing. They hadn’t had much, but they’d been happy when his father wasn’t on a drunk binge.
The weekdays weren’t too bad. It was the weekends when all hell broke loose. He tried to his best to be the man of the house, but he’d failed her in so many ways.
Pushing the grim thoughts away, he walked to the kitchen. Gia turned from the stove and his dick sprung to life in his pants. His shirt swam on her body, sliding down her shoulders to show beautiful brown skin. He wanted to trace her collarbone with his tongue, lift her onto the counter and have her for breakfast.
“Don’t look at me with those hungry eyes. I’ve made this breakfast for you.”
“You didn’t even know if I’d be home,” he argued.
“I would’ve saved you some.” She shrugged while looking down.
This coyness from her was new. He didn’t want to read too much into it, but it felt major. He moved up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, peering over her shoulder. The
sight of steel cut oats liberally laced with brown sugar took him back to the small kitchen in the cottage.
“You like it, right?” She peered up at him. “Colm is Irish?”
“Yes, Gia, Colm is Irish.”
Her shoulders relaxed and she leaned in to him.
“I like seeing this side of you. You’re fucking beautiful when you let me inside.”
She ducked her head and stirred the thickening oats.
“They’ll stand for a bit.” He gently tugged her shoulder.
“You talked to Demon.”
“I did. But that can wait too.”
She turned to him with her brow wrinkled. “I don’t understand.”
“I want to know how you are this morning, Gia. Last night was…intense.”
“To say the least,” Gia mumbled as she set the metal spoon down.
He pulled her away from the stove and backed into the island in the middle of the kitchen.
He leaned against it, pulling her to stand between his legs.
“I’m okay. I’m not going to go off the deep end, if that’s what you’re worried about. The
moment got away from me.” She continued to stare at the floor.
“Look at me when you talk to me, Gia.”
“I can’t.”
Her voice sounded so soft he almost didn’t hear her. “Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to see that look.”
“What look, Gia?”
“The one you’re wearing now.”
“You’ve barely looked at me since I got here, G. How do you know what’s in my eyes?”
“Because it’s in your voice too.” Her words wavered.
“Gia, what is it you think you hear?”
“Pity,” she spat. “Caution, because you don’t want to tip the scale and send me into another tailspin.”
“No, Gia.”
“Yes. I knew this would happen.” She stepped back.
Instantly, he caught her and gripped her forearms. “Look at me.”
She shook her head, keeping her gaze on the ground.
He gave her a light shake. “Look at me, damn it.”
She lifted her head.
than we are. Some people like us understand more than others. You did what you had to do and you survived. It’s an admirable trait. I told you, your past changes nothing for me.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why would you be different? I know what people thought about me and the girls and what
we did. You’re no different with the club whores”
“Have we ever treated you like them?”
“No.”
“So, stop projecting. If you haven’t realized it yet, we’re all fucked up in the head. It’s practically a requirement for being in the Club.” His own ghosts rose up to mock him. “You aren’t the only one who wishes they could forget where they come from, or change the past. I have things I can barely live with too. But we continue on because we’re strong and we have to.
We do it for those we left behind who didn’t fare so well.”
Gia focused in on him for the first time since he’d begun his rebuttal. They were like two lawyers on opposite sides of the courtroom. “Yes,” she said. “You do know.”
He nodded. “I came from a very violent, poverty stricken place, Gia. I left under shaky
circumstances and I never looked back, except for when I sleep or slow down. Because no matter what, we can’t escape ourselves.”
“Colm.”
The sound of his given name on her lips was almost painful. He flinched internally. When
he let the mask of Lefty slip, the past caught up with him. “I honest to God feel with you, it’s not all bullshit and surface. That’s never happened for me. So, when I tell you I’m serious, I mean that shit.” He laughed. “You think I wanted it? I was just fine doing whatever the fuck I wanted with no remorse, but then you flew in under the radar and twisted me up into knots before I knew what was happening. Are you ready to admit you feel it too?”
“I—need to get to the oatmeal. It’s boiling over.” She pulled away from him and rushed to
the stove, rescuing the overflowing pot.
* * * *
“You know we have to talk now, right?” Lefty said, leaning against the counter as she rinsed out their bowls and placed them in the dishwasher.
“Yeah, I figured.”
“I need more information about how you got here, Gia.”
The words made her tense. This was putting more than herself on the line.
“You’re not doing them any favors by being silent. Mylandra already knows. She’s here about an hour away in Arrey.”
“No.” Gia slammed the dishwasher shut and gripped the counter tight. “How did she find
them? Why come here after all this time?”
“That’s what we need to know, Gia. I know you have contacts.”
Gia sighed and peered up at him. “I know people. But we don’t keep in contact. We have a
way of communicating when it’s necessary.”
“Did they help you come over?”
“No, all of that was arranged on the island. They gave me a place to arrive and set up a new identity, then I was off and running. A lot of people have escaped the town that I was from for the right price. None of the others have a link to Mylandra specifically. It makes no sense that she would come all this way.”
“Well, she’s dealing in snow now.”
Alarm bells ran in her mind. “No, I don’t believe that for a second. She has all the drug business she wants right there. If anything, the drugs are a front. It always comes down to skin with her.” Her chest grew tight. Mind-numbing drugs were her gateway. She got you hooked until you’d do anything she’d ask. Then, next thing you knew, you were dancing until you graduated to the back room. She stood up straight. “I bet you anything she’s turning girls.”
“Why would she come all this way for that?”
“To prove a point, to cater to the men who like foreigners so much they’ll pay a hefty sum.
There are a number of different reasons. God, this is bad.”
“What point?”
“That no matter where we go, she’ll find us. She’s vindictive like that.”
“You said it was only you.”
She cursed the slip of her tongue. Lying wasn’t an option. She needed his trust. He was seeing the ugliness inside her and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop it. Clenching her jaw, she pushed aside her need to save face. She wasn’t going to hide it. “I’m the only one who made it.” Her voice shook. She could feel the blood on her hands, sticky and warm. Taffy’s lifeless brown eyes haunted her. “If I hadn’t hesitated, we’d both be here now.” But I did.
“Is that why you named the club Taffy’s?”
She nodded. “For her. It was our dream to live free, own our own business and make our
own decisions. She had the guts. The fire. She should be here enjoying this.”
“Can’t go back and change the past, no matter how many times we re-live it in our minds.”
He placed his hands on her shoulders. “You know that.”
“I know.” She breathed deeply. The understanding in his eyes planted the seed of kinship.
He was blurring the lines between them, bending them to his own will. Lefty was a force that way. Being vice president meant you were ready to take everything on your shoulders at a moment’s notice, and she had no doubts he could handle it. She’d seen him go from laid-back to scary in a matter of heartbeats. “You get it.”
“We all have a past. What’s your last name, Gia?”
“Barett. Jalissa Barett.” She bowed her head. “What else do you want to know?”
“Why she wants you so badly.”
“There were three of us who were top earners—me, Taffy, and Tya. We’d all been there
since we were thirteen and we knew all the tricks.” She felt removed from her body as she
talked, as if she was talking about someone else’s life. “The problem with being the best is you’re constantly in demand. It takes a toll on your body, your mind, and what’s left of your soul. We were all sick to death, exhausted, and ready for something to give. Tya had a client who liked her well enough and he wanted to buy her out. We came up with a plan from there. He paid for her and she started working on a way out. We knew for the right price we could get off the island. The hard part was getting away from Mylandra long enough to escape. Tya set it all up from the outside. She hired men to come in and purchase an evening with us.” Her throat
tightened. Her skin grew heated. She closed her eyes. It was the worst thing she could’ve done.
The images grew more vivid.
“It worked?”
“Almost worked. Something or someone tipped her off. Fear is an amazing motivator. It makes loyalty impossible.”
“So, that’s how you did it,” Lefty contemplated. “And all this time, she left you alone?”
“I came to the United States on the California side and worked my way here slowly. I’ve
been here for years under the radar. Why come now if it’s just for me? No, this has to be bigger than that. Finding me would just be an added bonus.”
“And you think she knows?”
“If she’s here—she knows.”
“Who’s the contact who helps people get settled?
“An older woman we call Nan. She was retired from the business and moved over, then
started helping others. She has a soft spot for us because she lived that life.”
“Or maybe not.”
“No, you don’t actually think it’s her, do you?” The thought made hear heart ache.
“Who better to keep tabs on someone? Betrayal usually comes from the inside. That’s why it hurts so much.”
“We don’t know for sure.”
“No, but I want you to keep your eyes sharp and your mind open. Pres wants you to get
more information on what’s going on. What did Nan tell you?
”
“She told me Mylandra was sniffing around the area and might be coming in soon. I’ve been
on red alert ever since”
“When was that, Gia?”
“Three months ago.”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“There wasn’t much to say really. It’s all been hearsay and just a maybe until now. Are you sure she’s here?” She clung to the hope he would say no.
“According to Clue, yes.”
“Fuck, that brilliant bastard is never wrong.” She chewed the inside of her mouth. “What do we do?”
“First, we figure out what side Nan is on. Send her some bunk info and see if she goes for it.
Second, you need to send a plant in to scout the area. See what’s happening beneath the surface.”
“I can do that.” Taking control of the situation felt good. It gave her ground to stand on.
“Alright then, we’re settled. Now, you need to get dressed so I can take you out.”
“Wait, what?” His abrupt change made her head spin.
“You need clothes, and we could both use a break from all of this. Play as hard as you work.
That’s the key to staying sane.” He smiled. “Something you need to remember.”
“I run my own business. I have to be a workaholic to keep it going.”
“No, you need a man in your life to distract you. Taffy’s practically runs itself these days.”
He wound his arms around her waist and pulled her body to his. “Come on, let me take your
mind off things.”
You’re too good at it, that’s the problem.
“Or, we could stay here. I have other ways to distract you.” He ran his fingers through her hair.
Shivers trailed down her spine. He had a direct line to her libido. “No…shopping.” Gia
stepped away from him. “Shopping is good. I’ll go get ready.” She hurried off with his laughter following close behind her.
He surprised her by taking her to a boutique downtown called Lace.
“You couldn’t just take me to Target?” Gia said.
“They don’t have what I like.”
“And this is for your enjoyment?”
“I know what you like by now, Gia.”
“Hmmm.”
“You don’t hide as well as you think you do.”
