by Eden Rose
She cracks a broken smile. “Spoken like someone who cares about me.”
“If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t have saved you.”
“I’m back!” Bella says through the crack of the door.
“Come in,” I call back to her.
“Let’s brush your hair and get you dressed,” Bella says cheerfully.
I get off the bed and sit in the chair across from it. I’m not letting her out of my sight. There is no way in hell. She’s mine.
I take care of what’s mine.
Chapter Eighteen: Elle
I have been here for about a week and it has been the same. Every day, the members of the club dance around me as if I’m some pet project or something. They jump every time they see me and are constantly asking if I needed anything.
Sure, it’s sweet. I like the attention. However, this type of attention makes me more nervous than anything else. I know what this type of attention leads to.
They want something from me. What is it they want? Sex? That’s about all I could give them.
I have no money. Absolutely none. Which is why I’m seated on the bed at Beast’s home with Bella as she goes through all of her clothes trying to find something that fits me.
In the past week, I have put on one pound. Exactly one pound. Every time I eat, the food feels like lead in my stomach and makes me feel weighed down. I don’t like how food makes me feel as if I’m too heavy. It’s dangerous to feel as if I can’t move freely.
Which is why none of Bella’s clothes fit me. When I weighed myself this morning, I weighed one hundred pounds even. I am fitting in kids’ sized clothing and I know I need to gain weight, but my stomach can’t handle the food.
“What about this one?” Bella asks with enthusiasm.
She is talking about a pair of shorts which I already know are too big on me. I don’t even need to try them on.
I wince.
Bella throws them in a pile on the middle of the bed and lets out a deep breath. “I’m trying here,” she mumbles.
Now I feel like an asshole. “I’m sorry. I just want… I just want my own clothes. My own stuff. Everyone has been so great, but I feel like I’m a house pet or something. You know?”
She pouts, making me feel like a big pile of shit. “I know… I know things must have been hard for you over there…”
I know what she’s trying to do. She is trying to get me to talk about what I went through. What it was like living as a prostitute.
“It wasn’t easy…”
“Do you wanna, you know, talk about it?”
I shake my head. “No. I just want to get a job so I can start making some money and buy my own clothes.”
I hear a throat clearing at the door and I jump a little at the sound. Turning my head, I see Beast and Prince staring at us with heat in their eyes.
“Baby, you want to get your own clothes?” Prince asks me with understanding. “Are you tired of wearin’ someone else’s clothes?”
I nod my head frantically. “Yes! I want to wear clothes that fit me.”
Bella scuffs. “Sor-ry!”
“I didn’t mean it like that!” I try to save what I said. I don’t want her to think I’m calling her fat. “I just mean… Well, whatever.”
Prince walks into the room as if he owns it. His presence is so much bigger than anything I could imagine. He walks as if he is commanding something more powerful than the biker club he is runs. He walks as if he’s got the biggest dick in the world.
My heart thunders in my chest at the thought of his dick. Of Prince naked. I wonder what he would like spread out on his bed and holding my hands as I ride him like a prized bull.
My breathing catches in my throat and I shake my head to clear it. I hope no one can read my mind! I’m a horrible fucking person for thinking about this right now.
In the end, how long do I have to punish myself for what I was forced to do? How long until I can forgive myself for becoming a whore? The truth is, I don’t know when I will be able to or if I ever will.
Prince places his hand on my arm. The sheer weight of his strength has my knees knocking.
“Baby, I’ll take you to get some fuckin’ clothes,” he grumbles.
“No!” I blurt. “I don’t want you to pay for it.”
He winks at me. I bet he is thinking about all the other ways I could repay him for buying me clothes. All the ways I just escaped. No thank you. I don’t want to ever go back to living like that.
Living as if my soul purpose on earth was to be a blow up doll for johns to come in and out of my room.
“You can start bartending at the bar in the clubhouse. A lot of the guys’ old ladies do it and they make decent tips.”
My brain tries to catch up to what he is thinking. “You mean to tell me there is a job?” I ask to clarify.
He kisses my cheek. “Yep. And you’ll start tomorrow to get your training in.”
“I have never had an actual job like this,” I admit.
Bella snorts a little and I look over at her. She’s looking at the ground, unsure what to say. I probably shouldn’t have said anything regarding my previous life. I know it makes a lot of them uncomfortable with what I used to do.
However, they have to know I wasn’t mopping floors with the family.
I shiver. The thought of them finding me and the retaliation is a little too much for me to handle. I couldn’t stand knowing what they would do to me. It would make being a whore for them look like a walk in the park.
I shift on the bed feeling the weight of everyone’s awkwardness around me. I know they don’t know what to say or do around me, but the truth is, I feel the same way. I feel the exact same way.
Prince stands up and places his hand out to me. I place my hand in his giving him the leverage to pull me up. “Let’s go shopping.”
It isn’t until he’s stuffing me in the back of the SUV, do I realize the amount of danger they are going through to have me here. Are they that worried Two Face is going to come after them?
If Two Face hasn’t already came after them, what is he waiting on?
Beast sits up front with Prince giving Bella and I the back seat. She pulls out her phone to show me pictures of her school which makes me miss something I never had.
“Do you know what size you wear?” Bella asks me cautiously.
The truth is, I haven’t bought myself new anything in so long, I wouldn’t know the first thing about shopping. “No,” I answer.
She smiles. “That’s okay! Right, Beast?”
Beast shakes his head.
“He’s a man of few words,” she mumbles.
“Yeah,” I answer back.
Chapter Nineteen: Prince
If I could go back in time and kick my ass for agreeing on taking Elle shopping, I would. And then I would stand in line and let every single one of the brothers give me a punch in the face for thinking this was a good idea.
Or even suggesting it!
I knew Elle had to be struggling with the fact she was wearing hand-me-downs. Plus, her sister is little heavier than she is. Elle needs to gain some weight, she’s a little too skinny.
“Let’s go to this one!” Bella begs and tries to pull Beast’s hand towards the direction of another girly ass store.
I shake my head. “We’ve been at this for three hours! You’ve bought fifty fuckin’ things and Elle bought three things.”
Elle’s trying to be a trooper and follow behind her sister, but I can see her nerves are kicking in. She isn’t having fun anymore.
I place my hand on the small of her back stopping her in front of the girly fucking store. She looks over at me and smiles painfully.
“You’re not havin’ fun. We can just get you some shit and leave,” I husk out to her.
Someone walks by us quickly and the wind makes Elle falter a little on her feet. She wobbles a little before falling into my arms. I wrap my arms around her waist and hold her closely.
How could I not
? How could I not hold her this closely if she literally fell into my fuckin’ hands?
Her skin is warm to the touch, I watch as her eyes slowly close shut before flickering back open. Her lips purse a little in the up right fashion to get me to kiss her. I know she wants me to kiss me. I can feel it in my bones.
My whole body is screaming at me to take her as mine. “Elle,” I murmur huskily out to her.
She mumbles an answer as well. It’s not a definitive answer, but I will take it as my Green Light to kiss her.
Her head tilts a little to the left to angle her lips closer to me. I take the chance to kiss her. I take the chance to seal the deal with her in the middle of this mall.
My hands grip her back as I hold her as close as possible then I slam my mouth onto hers. It’s a heated kiss from the very beginning. Our lips clash and grind a little more than usual, and it is perfect.
She hums her excitement to me and I slip my tongue out to rub against hers. Right in the middle of the mall, I make out like a bunch of horny teenagers in the back of the movies.
“Ahem!” Someone clears their throat behind me.
I don’t even bother looking. I feel Elle stiffen up as quickly as she let down her guard for me. Mother fucker! With my hands still on Elle, I turn my head to see Beast.
“Yo, prez. We got company,” he mumbles as he looks over to the left again.
I see it in the distance. It’s quick but noticeable. We’ve been made.
“Elle and Bella!” I snap quickly.
Both sisters are looking at me trying to figure out what I’m going to say next. The truth is, I don’t know what to say next. I don’t know how to protect them out in the open. All I wanted for Elle is to feel special and know she can have whatever she wants.
Reaching in to my pocket, I pull out a wad of cash. I point towards the girly ass store and hand the money over to Elle. “Buy whatever you want, baby. I’ll come see ya in a minute.”
She looks at me cautiously. “What’s wrong?”
I shake my head. “Now’s not the time. Go do as I said!”
I wait for her to say something else. Anything to call me out on being an asshole to her. I’m treating her like she’s property just like The Cavalari Family did.
She moves quickly into the store without saying anything else.
Sure enough, Two Face and a couple of his cronies are trying to circle us. I chuckle.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” I sing out in the middle of the mall.
Two Face is the first one to give up his position. He looks pissed, but then again, I would be to if my best seller was just taken from me.
“Prince. Where ya been, brother?” He asks me in that slick way which makes my blood boil.
I shrug. “Just been busy. You know? Life and all that shit.”
He nods and gets closer to me. “I don’t know if you know this but something special was taken from me and I want it back.”
“I dunno what you’re talkin’ about, Two Face,” I reply and spread my legs a little further.
Truth is, my hot kiss with Elle made my dick hard. Now this dick is making me lose it.
He gets even closer. This time I can smell the expensive Italian cologne he is wearing. I can smell the amount of money he spends on making himself look good. “I think you do, brother.”
Beast steps forward. Normally he has my back no matter what, but I know he has a different reason this time. He doesn’t want to be the reason why Elle goes back to the family. He doesn’t want to be the reason anything bad happens to Elle.
“I’m gonna need you to back off a little,” Beast snaps and spreads his hands out in front of himself to show how much space.
“You’ve been banging my property. You stole my whore and I want her back,” he hisses not caring we are in a public place.
I chuckle. “Even if we did have your whore, what makes you think she wants to be with you? What makes you think she wants to leave the good shit she gets with us? She doesn’t. So, to answer your question, I don’t know who you are talkin’ about. Now back up!”
Two Face and his associates exchange looks, clearly trying to figure out the amount of seriousness I pack into my saying. “I mean it!” I shout one last time bringing my hand to my back.
All three guys are looking at me and then looking around the crowded mall. The mall is the center of our city with so many different events, which makes it easier to get everyone comfortable with their freak flag.
Fuck it.
“You might want to check your phone,” I hedge. I’m planting a seed to see if he’s going to follow up with what I’m saying. What my plans are.
He smirks. A disgusted and dangerous looking one.
A couple of the mall security officers walk by to see what the problem is in the middle of the mall. I nod my head at him and focus back on Two Face.
He gets even closer to me. I take a step back and then hate myself for doing it. I just showed my weakness. I don’t like it when people are this close to me.
“Have you had a chance to fuck her yet? You know, the nice piece of ass you stole from us? She’s a really good lay. She lets you do whatever you want with her body and she doesn’t care. The woman is a pro. Have you fucked her up in the ass yet?” Two Face baits me.
I’m standing in the middle of the mall and all I want to do is go get my girl and get the fuck home.
Two Face must recognize he’s going to lose this battle because he backs off. At first, I’m pleased he realized this and then I know why.
A mafioso like him wouldn’t back down from a fight unless he knew he was going to lose. We can’t pull our guns out in the middle of the mall because it would draw way too much fucking attention. I knew this and he knew it as well.
But why is he backing up?
“Mother fucker!” Beast yells and pushes past me.
I turn just in time to see two Italians goons walking with our girls tucked under their arms. I can see the careful way the girls are walking. They have guns against their ribcages.
Two Face chuckles. “Thanks for the extra girl!” He chides.
I grab him by his expensive jack to pull him back. He falls against me as the fabric breaks. “Get the girls out!” He yells at his goons.
In the middle of the mall, I drop him against the tile and run through the mall to get to the girls. Beast is long gone and I can’t see him or the girls.
I run into the food court looking at all the different exits to see if there is a commotion coming from them. I bet two mafiosos pushing out two scared girls would cause a commotion.
“Gun!” Some man yells as he runs out of the restrooms area.
The mass hysteria of gun violence has everyone running out of the bathroom area. They are pushing and shoving the people in front of them out of the way to get out first.
I hear another scream coming from the men’s restroom and I kick through the locked door to the bathroom.
Beast is lying on the floor in a heap with his hand holding his stomach. I see the deep blood red seeping through his fingers. Bella is on the floor adding pressure to the gun shot wound.
My eyes scan my brother to make sure he’s going to make it before I focus on Elle. Elle is shaking against the sink with her hand hovering her inner elbow.
Fuck!
Chapter Twenty: Elle
The minute we left the clubhouse, I felt uneasy. Behind the gates, I knew I was safe from Two Face and The Cavalari Family. Inside the clubhouse with twenty different bikers roaming the halls, I felt safe. I knew what to expect inside those walls.
I had to be pissy about the hand-me-downs from Bella. I couldn’t have just said “thank you and I love them.” Instead, I had to be a little bitch and cause a scene.
My anxiety is all over the place and I know exactly what I need to calm it down. The one thing I need is the one thing I can’t access in here. I need a hit.
Walking through the mall, everyone seems so nice and pleasant. Then there’
s me. I look pissed off and a rumpled mess since I’m wearing clothes that are too big for me. My hair is starting to turn back to the natural brown at the roots and I know I look like a crack head.
Only a crack head would walk around the mall in clothes that are too big and roots out of control.
