Possessive_Sons of Chaos MC

by Kathryn Thomas

  Still, every morning, she logged into her bank account and counted down the paychecks until she could have it all. At the rate she was going, she could take Lily now. They could go back to living in a small apartment, eating cereal for dinner, and her taking on a job or two while Lily was in school. It wouldn’t be much, but it would be something.

  Leo broke Bailey’s thoughts of reuniting, “Why didn’t you make any eggs for yourself? Aren’t you hungry?”

  “I ate back at the pool house before I got here. Plus, this isn’t my house. I don’t think I’m allowed to eat here unless it was an emergency.”

  “You can do whatever you want. I don’t mind. This home is sort of yours as well. I mean, you live on the complex.” Leo liked the thought of not having to live in this prison by himself, to not wake up to an empty home alone.

  “Tell Jonathan that,” Bailey laughed, feeling the notebook she used to take down Leo’s schedule rub up against her skin from her front pocket. She hadn’t made an entry since Lyanna had left. She was not sure what to put down for the time he had spent in her bed.

  “Come on, man!” Leo screamed. “You gotta protect the neck. Jesus. Amateurs.” He gestured wildly toward the screen as a man in silver trunks took a blow to the shoulder and then stumbled back towards the ropes.

  “It doesn’t look that hard. I mean, it’s brutal, but it’s just punching, right? Anyone could do that.” Bailey couldn’t see what Leo did. He was on his feet yelling at the television while the announcers were equally up in arms over what had occurred.

  He turned back towards her, his eyes wide. “Just punching? Let me ask you this: have you ever hit anyone before?”

  “No. Well yeah. I mean, I slapped a girl who stole my boyfriend in high school. Does that count?” Bailey thought back to Zoey’s red cheek, her stinging hand, and her boyfriend’s shocked expression.

  “Not really.” Leo offered out his hand towards her, “Stand up. I’m gonna teach you.”

  “You’re going to what?” Bailey stood up on her own, avoiding anymore physical contact.

  “I’m gonna teach you how to hit someone. It’s much harder than slapping some sixteen year old slut who had it coming.”

  He positioned her in front of him so that their bodies lined up. He then took her shoulders and arms gently to put her in a fighting stance. One leg slightly in front of the other and the arms up near her face and neck. Leo mimicked her pose as he demonstrated a punch first. “Lead with your arm, not with your fist. Keep your throwing arm level with your shoulders and then retract them to protect your neck as quickly as possible. Got it?” She nodded, understanding.

  Leo grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and placed it about two feet from her waiting arms. “Punch it!” he screamed. She hit it lightly and then laughed as she masked the awkwardness. “That was weak, Miss Reed. PUNCH IT!”

  Bailey hit the fluffy pillow again, this time with more force. Leo was still not satisfied. “You call that a punch? Put some anger in it! Think of all the shit you’ve been through and hit the crap out of this pillow!”

  Bailey inhaled as thoughts of her great-aunt Catherine waiting outside her apartment on moving day as she inspected the house to ensure Bailey or Lily hadn’t taken anything that didn’t belong to her. She remembered her first phone call the next day about the missing pieces of jewelry and the warnings of going to the cops. She remembered each name call, each shout, each accusation.

  A red hot madness swelled in her as she could feel the pearl necklace sting against her chest. She let out a guttural yell as she slammed her fist into the pillow, knocking it out of Leo’s hand. Bailey had hit too hard, falling forward into his arms with him being just quick enough to catch her fall.

  “Woah there! That’s a ton of anger you got there… and a helluva punch!” Leo looked at her excitedly. He had never coached someone before, let alone even shared his hobby with a girl. An idea struck him as he grabbed her hand and dragged her out the screen door to the garage.

  “What are you doing? Leo!” Bailey tripped on her own feet as she tried to keep up. He picked her up and wrapped his arm around her as he guided her down the stairs to the complex underneath the car park. He unlocked the door leading to the hidden room and punched on the lights. The room smelled musty and damp. It hadn’t been used in years Bailey noted based on the dust and the dirt.

  In the center stood a massive blue, red, and white full-sized boxing ring complete with the ropes and a row of chairs on each of the four corners. On each side was a different workout station. There was a section for cardio with jump ropes, treadmills, and an elliptical. On the opposite were weights, mats, and bands.

  Leo raced off towards the back of the room to a large black box. Opening the metal door, he grabbed the wires and hooked his phone up. Music suddenly boomed from the speaker set above Bailey’s head.

  “Sorry about the state of this place. When I was fighting, this place always had people coming in and out of it. I actually slept in that room most nights.” He pointed towards the small, walled off area where a long fabric couch was covered by a pink sheet. “I haven’t been down here in, well, a while now.”

  He grabbed her hand and led her to a closet in the back. “Hold out your hands like this.” He showed her how he held his hand up straight in front of his face with his palm facing his body.

  She followed his lead as she finally caught the breath to ask, “What are we doing here?”

  “Boxing, Miss Reed. We’re gonna teach you how to box so you can stop holding back all that anger.” He wrapped her hands quickly with a roll of elastic fiber and then tossed a pair of red gloves at her. She slipped them on, feeling their heavy weight. Leo watched her as she tried to lift her arms, “You’ll get used to them. It’s a different sensation than bare knuckles, but it’s for your protection”

  He tossed on a helmet and a chest protector and then jumped up on the ring’s platform. She tried to jump up herself, but struggled to get off the ground. “Can I help?” Leo asked, not wanting to move too fast for her. She nodded as he jumped back down and scooped her into his arms and then hoisted her onto the matt and over the ring’s ropes.

  After showing her some additional moves and combinations, the two were ready to go. Bailey asked tentatively as he put the helmet back on his head. “So, what do I do? Do I just hit you? I can’t do that.”

  “You can do it. You’re not gonna hurt me. Nothing hurts me.”

  “I’m not hitting my boss. You have to be crazy, Mr. Connelly!”

  “Stop calling me that, first of all. You know my name is Leo. And secondly, hitting your boss is everyone’s fantasy. Think of all the glasses I’ve broke. Think of all the girls I’ve had over. Think of all the booze you’ve had to scrub out of my carpet. Come on! Hit me!”

  Without needing to hear another word, she swiped at his face, landing a solid blow that pushed him back a foot and whipped his head to the side. “I’m so sorry! Mr. Con—Leo! I shouldn’t be doing this…”

  She tried to yank the glove off of her hand as she turned away from him embarrassed. He forcefully grabbed at her hips and spun her back to face him. The punch had drawn some blood around his lip pooling in a tiny corner. She touched the warm spot gently as the two leaned into one another.

  Both breathed deeply, rapidly. Her chest heaved and pulsated as he too attempted to draw in air. She whispered as she leaned her porcelain face closer to where her fingertips traced the small cut, “Now, I guess, we’re even.”

  “Leo?” A startled voice cut them off causing Bailey to once again pull away. “What’s going on here?” Jonathan stood at the doorway, watching the two feign off their embrace. “What are you doing in here.”

  Leo jumped down, followed by Bailey. He ran to the speaker and pulled his phone out. Bailey slipped past Jonathan as he shot daggers at her. She quickly retreated back to her post upstairs leaving the two men alone.

  “I was teaching Bailey some boxing moves. No big deal.”

  “Bail
ey? Boxing? What the hell has gotten into you? Last night, you couldn’t even remember the girl’s name, and now you’re letting her take a swing at you? What the fuck man?” Jonathan took a seat on one of the metal folding chairs.

  “I dont know. After I hit her with the book, I, uh, felt bad.” Leo took the chair two seats away. “It’s not like she was gonna do anything.”

  “Do anything? It looks like she already has, Leo. Don’t play dumb with me. Do you even know who she is or at least who she says she is?” Jonathan pulled out his phone and began typing away.

  “She’s a girl I got fired from her job and then tortured for the last month. I can stand to be nicer.”

  Jonathan looked up and sighed. “She’s a thief—a gold digger—and she’s fired from here as well.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “What the hell, man?” Leo wailed frantically. “She didn’t do anything. What was going on in the ring was as much me as it was her.”

  “She failed to mention that she’s on the run. She stole an expensive piece of jewelry, a pearl necklace, from her employer and has been on the run since. The owner got in touch with me yesterday morning and asked if I'd help bring the police here.”

  Leo stood up, knocking his chair to the ground. Rage built up inside of him as he was unsure of what to think. He grabbed another metal folding chair and hurled it at the rest of the row, watching them fall and tumble as they were bowled over. “What proof do they have? Are you sure of this?”

  “The woman sent me a picture of it. Do you recognize it?” Jonathan handed Leo his phone. He studied the image hard and then thought back to the outfits he had seen her wear. Just today, she wore a necklace that looked identical to the one on the screen.

  He nodded as he tossed the phone back to him. “What are you gonna do? Kick her out? She’s got nowhere to go, no family.”

  “Does that matter? She’s a liar, Leo. We’re gonna have to bring in detectives to check her stuff as she goes just in case she hasn’t been taking shit from the house while you weren’t looking.”

  “We’re not doing that. She’s not a criminal.” Leo’s mind raced. She didn’t fit the part of someone untrustworthy. Her story was sympathetic—the dead grandmother, the being kicked out of her home, the evil great-aunt. But now he had to reconsider all of it as a lie.

  “She’s not staying here, Leo. I’m not gonna let some whore take from you. She’s got to go.”

  Leo wanted nothing more than to take a drink. “Two weeks. Give her that. She can stay in the home until then. It gives her enough time to find her way.”

  “Are you kidding me? We don’t owe her a thing!” Jonathan was irate.

  “She saved my life! I'm not gonna throw her out without giving her some kind of warning!” Leo stood firm. He would not treat her unkindly. He owed her much more than that morning in the hotel room.

  Jonathan watched his client as he paced up and down the length of the ring. He knew that there was no changing his mind once he had it set. He sighed and stood, “I’ll let her know. Two weeks, nothing more.”

  Jonathan exited quietly as he trudged up the steps to the garage and back in the main house. From a distance, he could hear the slamming of metal rise above the loud, incomprehensible shouts.

  Bailey had started on the carpet in the library. It was as dust covered as the gym. Gilda, the former maid, had obviously neglected the room along with the rest of the third floor. The loud hum of the vacuum helped to drown out the sound of her own thoughts as she remember the touch of Leo’s lips or the way he had again taken her into his wide, expansive arms.

  The vacuum turned off as she sat it upright and began to wrap the cord. She listened as the main door slammed and a car with screeching tires took off. Bailey began to wonder just want Leo had said to Jonathan to make him flee like that.

  “We need to talk, Miss Reed.”

  Jonathan’s voice echoed loudly off of the walls as she jumped in fright. The man stood in the doorway, cornering her in the darkened library. She placed her hand to her chest and smoothed out her hair as she stood to her feet.

  “I’m really sorry about what you saw downstairs. It was just a—” She wasn’t sure why she was apologizing, but Bailey could feel the aggression dripping off of the man’s expensive tailored suit.

  “Save it.” He held his hand in the air to shush her. “I know who you are. I know all about your past and what you did. I want you gone. I want you gone today. But since you managed to weasel your way into Leo’s life, you’ve got two weeks. You’re not to work, you’re not to set foot outside the pool house. Pack your shit, find a place to go or another house to swindle, and go.”

  Bailey instantly thought to Lily and how Jonathan must have found out about her situation. She knew that what she had done would be controversial, but she could not understand why it would be a fireable offense. She knew she couldn’t argue it. He was too enraged. Instead, she lowered her head as she silently paraded down the staircase and out to the pool house.

  Rain had begun to fall softly as the morning’s sun hid behind the darkened clouds. Bailey looked out on the great lawn, letting the moisture slowly soak her hair and her dress. Her actions had finally caught up to her. And now, it was time to pay the price.

  But something told her that this was right. What was she trying to do by fooling herself through getting mixed up with her boss. She had someone much more important waiting for her to get her life together. Now it was time to take this opportunity for good. She had just enough money to get her settled, enough to get her out of this town for good.

  Still she couldn’t help but feel hurt and betrayed. She had treated Leo’s lifestyle with nothing but kindness. She had forgiven him for abusing their professional relationship, and she had allowed him to break her guard, even if for just a few days. Now, it was her, as always, out in the cold and the rain. She was the one, always the one, who had to face the music.

  Bailey walked into the home and stripped off her wet clothing. She rang out her hair, took off her jewelry, and wiped away the makeup. She grabbed a box from where she left them the first time she had unpacked. Sitting on the floor, she began reaching for things around her room.

  Her destination unknown, she wasn’t sure of what she needed to keep and what to toss. She would have to take the bare minimum, cutting out the dead weight from her mostly empty life. Time passed slowly as she sorted each and every item she owned. Her garbage bags filled as her backpack and small box swelled. It was the early morning as she finished placing her last item.

  A pain crept over her as the reality of the situation hit her. Bailey looked about at the empty room with the large bed sitting in the center. She then looked down at her hands which still had the imprint of where the wrap dug into her hand.

  I don’t want to run. Bailey thought as she remembered how Leo’s kiss felt upon her lips. I owe him to stay. I owe him a fight. She became resound as she stood up and walked towards the desk. For the next few hours, she wrote her heart out, explaining everything from her missing daughter to her ex-husband. She walked back into the rain towards the unlocked house and snuck inside. Jonathan nor Leo was there to catch her take the blank envelope from the study. She placed the note addressed to Leo on the table in his bedroom and then headed back out.

  Not being able to sleep, Bailey lugged the black trash bag outside, toward the cans. As she attempted to throw it into the receptacle, a light broke through the blackened, rainy dawn. She covered her eyes as she attempted to make out what was going on.

  A car, Leo’s car, sped circles around the driveway until it pulled into the lawn. He opened the door, stumbling out, catching his fall on the grass. Two women, each dressed in less than the other, streamed out the back. He grasped their waists as they propped him up. She could hear the girls laugh as they watched him drop his keys and walk drunkenly into the brick siding. The two girls fell on him in a fit of laughter as the three leaned back and began caressing each other right there on the steps to the h
ouse.

  Bailey’s heart dropped as she made her decision. She couldn’t stay here any longer and watch him destroy himself like her ex-husband. He wasn’t worth sticking around. He wasn’t worth the explanation. She darted through the back door to the main house and into this bedroom as she heard him again struggled to twist the keys for the door. In the dark, she found where she had left the letter and stuffed it into her dress pockets.

  As she shut the screen behind her, she could hear one of the girls slur, “I’ve never seen a house this big, Lionheart! Where’s your bedroom?”

  ***

  Leo’s head pounded as he sucked in the first bit of fresh air from his sleep. He looked at his arms, heavy and weighed down by the bodies of two fresh faced blondes still snoring. He slithered his arm free as he sat up. A pain seared through his brain as he used his hands to support himself.

  “No, Leo, come back to bed…“ The one on the left stirred as she felt for his body with her eyes still closed.