One Family

by Smyth, R. A

  “Maybe if you didn’t interrupt me and actually fucking listened,” Oliver snaps back, losing his patience. There is way too much fucking testosterone in the air for this to be a productive conversation.

  “Guys,” I sigh, exasperated. I’m beyond exhausted and this annoying back and forth is only giving me a headache. We’re so close. I can practically taste our freedom. I just need it over with now. So, whatever Oliver’s plan is, I’m on board if it means we can finally put all this shit behind us. “Just hear him out,” I plead, adding on a ‘please’ for Preston’s sake, giving him a pointed look.

  “Fine,” he huffs, perching on the edge of one of the kitchen chairs, crossing his arms. “Well?” He barks to Oliver, his tone encompassing every bit of the entitled rich asshole that he is.

  Once he’s got everyone’s attention, Oliver walks us through his plan, this time uninterrupted. Aiden and Preston ask the odd question, all of them working out the logistics until everyone is happy with it.

  “Right, so we’re in agreement?” Oliver checks. His question is answered with a round of murmured agreements. “Alright, then we do this tonight.”

  The five of us retreat to our bedroom while Oliver takes the sofa, all of us needing to get some rest before tonight. We’re already run down, we need every bit of sleep we can get between now and then.

  The second the door closes behind us, Aiden is in front of me, towering over me. “What were you thinking today?” He growls, glaring at me.

  Narrowing my eyes, I glare back at him. “I know you were planning on leaving me behind,” I inform him. “I was trying to stop your sorry asses from running into The Citadel and possibly getting yourselves killed.”

  “And how did that work out for you?” He asks sarcastically, making me grimace. He has a point there. Today was a disaster.

  “It would have been so much worse if you’d walked into Kirk’s trap.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Preston pipes up, surprising me. I expected him to be on Aiden’s side. “What’s done is done. We’re all alive.”

  Scowling, Aiden strips down, getting comfy in the bed. Ty and Barrett are already there, and Preston and I follow behind them. Climbing in between the soft sheets, they feel like heaven against my aching body as I lie down beside Aiden.

  “You should stay here,” Aiden pushes. His voice is softer than it was when we first entered the bedroom. Barrett is snoring softly on my other side, and Ty and Preston are sleeping or nearly asleep as well.

  Scoffing at Aiden’s words, I reply, “Yeah, that’s not happening.” He should know by now that they can’t just leave me behind. Especially not after my epic fuck up today. Besides, we don’t know how many girls are being kept in that house, so the more of us there are, the faster we can get in and out.

  He sighs, frustrated with me. “I wish, just once, you’d do what I want you to do.”

  Rolling onto my side, I look up at him through my eyelashes, biting down seductively on my lower lip. “I can’t be a very good girlfriend if I’m not satisfying you,” I purr, trailing my finger down over his tattooed chest and taut, inked abdomen.

  He releases a low growl from the back of his throat. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

  “No?” I pout. “But, now I’m feeling awfully insecure and thinking I need to make things up to you.” My voice is a sultry tone, Aiden’s half-hooded gaze only bolstering my confidence as I push my hand under the waistband of his sweatpants, loving how he’s already hard for me. I feel like a fucking vixen right now, a fiery seductress.

  Pushing his sweatpants down until his monstrous cock springs free, I move to straddle him, shimmying down the bed until my face is level with his pelvis.

  “Sophie.” His voice sounds pained, his words turning into a groan as I lick the bead of pre-cum off the tip of his dick before lowering my lips over him, sucking him into my mouth. “Fuck, Soph, you feel amazing,” he groans, his hands gliding through my hair until he can hold tightly to the back of my head, angling me as he wants.

  I bob up and down on him, running my tongue over his tip before flattening it and licking down his shaft. He thrusts up into me, his hold on my hair forcing me further down on him until he hits the back of my throat.

  His breath comes in rapid pants as he gets closer to the edge and I feel him swell in my mouth just before he explodes, his hot cum hitting the back of my throat. Swallowing, I slowly move off him, licking my way along his softening shaft until I’ve cleaned him.

  Releasing him with a pop, I give him a sly grin. “I think you were saying something about me not giving you what you wanted,” I tease. Wrapping his hand around my neck, he uses his leverage to haul me up his body, slamming his lips against mine and kissing me forcefully.

  “You know damn well that’s not what I was saying,” he growls against my lips before kissing me again, making me forget what we were talking about. Oh yeah, me not going tonight. Well, it seems I’ve dodged that argument.

  Chapter 48

  “Hey, man, Kirk wanted me to stop by tonight.” I hear Oliver say from my cramped position in the back passenger footwell.

  “Oh, yeah, no worries man, go on through,” the guard replies. His easy agreeability has me releasing the breath I was holding. It was a long shot that we would even get through the gate. We were hoping that whoever was on wouldn’t have heard about the showdown at Kirk’s mansion. Thankfully, it seems, if anyone lived to tell the tale, they made a run for it, saving their own asses instead of looking out for their fellow gang members. Isn’t that brotherhood at its finest?

  We were also relying on the guard trusting Oliver enough to not insist on checking the boot. Where Aiden, Preston and Barrett are squished. Trust me, none of them were happy about that arrangement. Ty, being the leanest out of them all, is squashed into the footwell opposite me. As uncomfortable as it is, we definitely got the better end of the deal. I can only imagine the bickering going on between the other three.

  “Thanks, man,” Oliver says, just before I hear a pained gasp and some weak thrashing around. After a few seconds the car falls silent again, the sound of something heavy being pushed away and hitting the ground.

  Then we’re on the move once again, the car chugging forward as we pass through the gate. Neither Ty nor I move until Oliver has parked and given us the all clear to get out. Ty rounds the back of the car, opening the boot.

  “Thank fuck,” Aiden grumbles, jumping out first.

  Barrett snorts, glowering at Aiden’s back as he gets out next.

  “Took you fucking long enough,” Preston snaps at Oliver, making him roll his eyes.

  Yup, just as I expected. They're all lucky to still be alive.

  “Do you all remember the plan?” Oliver asks all of us. His features are dark, menacing looking. I didn’t get the time to take him in properly at my father’s mansion yesterday, but I’m guessing this is his ‘don’t fucking mess with me’ Beast face.

  “Yes,” we all chorus.

  “Good,” he says, nodding his head. “‘Cause, we’ll only have about fifteen minutes, maybe even less, once I make this call. Free as many girls as you can and send them down to the road, then get out before the authorities show up.”

  When none of us speaks up, he nods his head again before digging out his phone and dialing 9-1-1.

  “There’s a bunch of half-naked girls stumbling along Pine Tree Lane. You should send a patrol to check it out. Some of them look pretty beat up too. You might wanna send an ambulance.” He hangs up before the operator can ask him any other questions.

  “Come on,” Ty whispers, moving towards the mansion.

  Grabbing my hand, Aiden makes sure I’m safely in the middle of them all as we walk through the front door, guns raised. We’re practically pros at this whole thing now.

  “What the...Who are you?” Some guy demands as soon as we step foot in the foyer. He’s lying dead on the ground before he can get another word out or raise the alarm for anyone else.

&nbs
p; Oliver has been keeping us updated on the situation with The Citadel. Apparently, without any one-percenters to help support it, it’s been hemorrhaging money. Being unable to find reliable contacts to replace those he has killed, or we’ve taken down, Kirk hasn’t been able to obtain the same caliber of girls that the clients are used to. There have been no auctions the last couple of months and barely anyone has been making appointments.

  So we know, with the exception of my father’s men and the girls, this mansion is next to empty tonight. Besides, any clients we come across deserve their fate.

  Preston and Barrett silently move towards the stairs. Their job is to clear the bedrooms and kill any clients using ‘the pleasure dome.’

  Ugh, just thinking those words sends shivers racking through my body.

  Oliver leads the rest of us towards the back of the house where the girls stay when they aren’t being dragged out for clients.

  We only come across a few armed men on our way through the house. I’m guessing Kirk had extracted most of the guards to join in the fight at his mansion yesterday. There were certainly plenty of dead bodies by the time we left. We must have taken out most of the gang—and by we I mean Oliver, since it’s only thanks to his quick thinking with the explosives that we all made it out alive.

  The girls are kept in what I’m guessing was once staff quarters. Just like back at Kirk’s mansion, you can tell when you leave the part of the house behind that’s been all dolled up for outsiders to see. Except, unlike Kirk’s place, where the staff quarters had received regular upkeep, it’s clear no one has bothered to do anything with this part of the house in a long time.

  There’s a dank smell in the air and the walls are grimy looking with paint peeling off. Flicking my eyes up to the roof, I can see mold growing in the corners. The lighting is dimmer too, adding an eerie feel to the whole place.

  Reaching the first door, Aiden reaches out to turn the handle, but the door doesn’t budge. It’s locked. After jiggling it a bit without any success, he shoves his shoulder into the door, and it flies open on his second attempt.

  The smell hits us as soon as the door opens, and I have to bring my hand up to cover my nose and mouth, forcing myself not to gag. The others pull their tops up over their noses and the four of us peer into the darkened room.

  There’s a naked light bulb hanging from the ceiling, providing a bit of light, but otherwise the room is cast in shadow. What I can see in the circle of light, though, is more than enough to get a picture of how these girls are living.

  The room is stacked wall to wall with bunk beds. Rake thin, half starved girls sit or lie on the beds, all of them wearing nothing but dirty underwear and looking at us with wide, terrified eyes.

  “It’s okay, we’re not here to hurt you,” I say calmly, holding my hands out in front of me, palms up in a placating gesture. Despite my attempt to put the girls at ease, those closest to me scurry backwards as we step into the room. I can see them physically shaking with fear.

  What the fuck? What has been happening to these girls?

  “We’re going to get you out,” Ty speaks up. “Carry whoever can’t walk and make your way down to the main road. The police and ambulance are on their way.”

  Still no one moves. Some of the girls share looks with each other, a glimmer of hope on their faces, but mostly the girls ignore us. Either not believing us or too far gone to care any longer. It’s the most depressing sight I’ve ever seen.

  “He’s telling you the truth,” I urge. “None of the guards will stop you. You’ll be free.” A couple of the girls step closer to us, others watching them and us with wary eyes.

  We move out of the way so we aren’t blocking the doorway, showing the girls they’re free to go. The couple that had moved towards us cast us one final glance before dashing out, running as fast as their run-down bodies will carry them, like they think we’re going to haul them back and tell them it was all some sick joke.

  A few more girls scamper out after them.

  “They won’t move if we’re here,” Aiden whispers. “Let’s move on and see if there are any others. They’ll leave when they’re ready.”

  Leaving the room and moving onto the next room across the hallway, we break through it, a similar sight greeting us. There aren’t as many beds in this room and the lighting seems a bit better, but the girls are no less broken and starved looking.

  We get similar results again, a few girls making a run for it, but most of them watching us warily, or ignoring our existence altogether. Not hanging around, we continue through the maze of hallways, breaking through every door we come across. All of them are locked. None of these girls were allowed to leave their dark, cramped cells unless they were being dragged out to perform for clients. My stomach revolts at the thought of it. It’s so fucking messed up.

  I keep my eyes on the rooms we’ve already been to, as we move on to the next room, relief flooding through me as I see more and more girls plucking up the courage to leave now that we aren’t standing nearby.

  One thing I’ve noticed as we make our way through the rooms is that each one is less cramped, has nicer amenities, better lighting. The third room had a toilet and sink, the fourth only had four bunk beds and a small ensuite. The girls in these rooms got perks, but what did they have to do to earn them?

  The girls still look anorexic, but in the nicer rooms I see bags of cocaine and the girls all have a glassy look in their eye. The looks of fear when we enter have morphed into looks of indifference. Unlike the girls in the first few rooms, these girls are so far beyond caring it’s heartbreaking. They’ve given up on freedom and learned how to make their reality survivable.

  None of these girls attempt to run, even when we leave their doors open and move on to the next room. Even though their living conditions are better, these rooms are somehow even more depressing than the first room we stepped into.

  We also come across a large shower room, similar to the showers in the locker room at school. Attached to it is a room filled with makeup tables and mirrors and a walk-in closet with all sorts of disgusting lingerie. I’m guessing the girls were allowed to shower and forced to get ready for clients in these rooms.

  Once we’ve unlocked all the rooms and encouraged as many girls as we can to get out of here and head for the road, we make our way back through the mansion. Our fifteen minutes must be nearly up. I hope Preston and Barrett are nearly done.

  The pair of them are making their way down the stairs as we step into the foyer.

  “All done?” Aiden asks them. Casting my eyes down their bodies, they both appear to be in the same state as when we arrived. They mustn’t have come across much opposition either.

  “Yeah. Few clients who met the wrong end of our guns, but not much else. Did you get the rest of the girls?”

  “Yeah,” Ty sighs wearily, as worn out by the last few days, and what we just witnessed as I am. I swear the memory of those girls is going to be burned into my brain forever.

  As a unit, the six of us move towards the front door, ready to get the fuck out of here. Kirk’s dead and we’ve taken out most, if not all, of his men. The Feral Beasts no longer exist.

  Just as Oliver is about to pull open the front door, a shot rings out, followed by several more in quick succession. I don’t have time to register what’s happening before someone is diving on top of me, pushing me to the ground.

  “Stay down,” Aiden barks against my ear, his whole body pressing down on mine. I can’t see past him to know what’s going on, but I can hear the shots ringing out as my guys fire back.

  “What’s happening?” I whisper frantically. My heart is lodged in my throat, running a mile a minute, and I feel like I can’t breathe. We were so close to getting out of here alive. Please let everyone be okay.

  Aiden either doesn’t hear me or he ignores me, somehow managing to push me further into the floor beneath me. I can feel the cold tile pressing against my cheek, the stickiness beneath my fingers.
r />   Wait, what? That’s not right.

  I’m able to move my head just enough to see bright red coating my fingertips. Blood? It’s fresh, still warm on my fingers.

  Managing to move my head a bit more, I can just about make out a wet patch on Aiden’s top.

  “Aiden,” I cry out, the words coming out more like a croak with the emotion in my throat. “Aiden!” I say louder. He finally glances away from the action going on around us, his eyes colliding with mine. “I think you’re bleeding.”

  He moves his body, lifting it off me marginally so he can get a look at where I’m pointing to with my eyes.

  “Shit,” he mumbles when he sees the blood.

  “Is it bad?” My words sound a little slurred and I feel lightheaded. Probably from the adrenaline coursing through me, not to mention the lack of oxygen—Aiden’s practically crushing me under his weight.

  He pulls off his top, bunching it into a ball. I can barely focus on what he’s doing, though.

  “You’re going to be okay,” I mumble.

  His eyes flash up to meet mine, this time I can see a panic within them. That’s strange. He hasn’t looked panicked this entire time. Why now?

  “It’s not my blood,” he tells me, the reality of his words hitting me full force.

  “Oh.” Shit.

  I’m faintly aware of a few more shots ringing out across the room before a deafening silence falls.

  “Barrett!” Someone yells out. “Barrett! Come on, man! Stay with me.”

  It’s the panic in their voice that rouses me enough to remind me where we are and what’s happening.

  Casting my eyes around the room, I see a body on the far side of the room. Is that...Kirk? I can’t be sure.

  Unable to focus on that right now, I move on until I find Barrett lying on the floor several feet away from me. There’s a small pool of blood around his hip, but in the few seconds I lie there and watch him, the pool doubles in size.