Authors: Ellie R Hunter
“One more thing, why come to warn us? We’ve been waitin’ for your brother, it’s not like we haven’t been expectin’ him at some point” Cas asked.
“Because I owe Alannah, I didn’t want her getting caught up in a man’s war again” I said truthfully.
The Lost Souls would’ve been stupid not to expect my brother to come after them but for the sake of my conscious I needed to make sure Alannah expected them too.
Sparky...
Alannah and Bonnie left the office and headed for the kitchen while Cas and I remained behind.
Last night I
had major reservations about Bonnie’s motives for turning up here. I still do, but after being woken up to her screaming from a nightmare in the middle of the night, I knew that shit wasn’t fake. Both Alannah and Cas has asked who hurt her and both times she has evaded the question. Whatever she’s been through it has definitely left its mark on her.
“Maybe she does need
our protection?” I blurted out taking a seat in the chair Bonnie had just been in.
“You
lost your fuckin’ mind brother. If she stays here we’d be inviting every Ghost Rider fuck to our door,” he argued.
I know he is right but somet
hing isn’t sitting well with me, I just don’t know what it is yet.
“Anyway, how do we know she hasn’t been sent here as some sort of spy?”
“It had crossed my mind, but maybe we could use that to our advantage? If she’s lyin’ and hopin’ we’ll take her in so she can get information on us, we could feed her false info, see what she does with it.” I offered.
I
had him thinking. I haven’t a fucking clue why I’m fighting for her to stay but I don’t have any trust in the woman and after witnessing her fight her unconscious demons, there’s something telling me she needs help too.
“It’s too much of a risk.
I’m not sure it’s a good move to put the club in right now,” he said adding, “This wouldn’t be you thinkin’ with your dick would it?” he finished, cocking his eyebrow questioningly.
I haven’t hid my desires to sink myself into her in the past but since I found out who she
is, that desire has well and left the building.
“It isn’t actually
,” I scowled. “C’mon, I’m fuckin’ hungry.”
We only made it halfway to the club kitchen before Alannah was heading towards us. She is the only woman I have allowed myself
to get close to during my life. Never once have I felt any want for her, and from the first day I met her sitting on a tool box chatting with Oak while he worked on his bike, I felt protective over her. Her father –Mark Blake- had not long died and if you didn’t pay much attention you could’ve easily missed the grief she buried deep in her heart. Even at the age of six years old she knew when to show her grief. I was an only child growing up and soon after I joined the club she fitted in well as a surrogate sister.
Right now though, her emotions were l
oud and clear on the surface. She wasn’t fucking happy.
“One guess, Bonnie
,” Cas whispered before she reached us. Looking at her, I don’t think he is wrong.
“Babe
, before you say anything, I…” my brother started.
“Don’t babe me
Cas. You can’t let her stay just until she gets better?” she hissed.
“We’re not a fuckin’ hospita
l Lana, we look out for our own. She isn’t our problem,” he snapped back at her.
I stepped back out of the firing line.
“But
she doesn’t have anywhere to go. She needs somewhere safe to heal properly,” she argued.
Cas
sighed heavily beside me, running his hand through his hair and looking anywhere but at Alannah.
“You’r
e really gonna pitch her out?” she asked quietly.
“Fuckin’ hell babe. I
f I take her in, I’ll be putting my brothers at risk and after everything we’ve been through lately, we don’t fuckin’ need it,” he told her.
“Fine, I understand
,” she said finally.
I di
dn’t like this look on her face. She was thinking up something and it was about to blow back over my president.
When she started back towards the kitchen, I knew trouble was looming if we didn’t find out what she was thinking.
“Barbie,” I called out but she carried on walking. “Seriously Cas, you should know by now she isn’t goin’ to let that girl walk out on her own,” I told him.
“I know
,” he grated out through gritted teeth.
When she got to the kitchen door,
she turned around.
“Just so
you know, I’ll be going with her until she’s better. I should have helped her sooner. If I did maybe she wouldn’t be in this pain,” she said.
S
he wasn’t shouting or playing games with Cas, but being deadly serious.
“This is why I did
n’t fuckin’ take on an old lady. She knows I’m not gonna let her leave now,” Cas growled.
I kept my mouth firmly clos
ed. Barbie wasn’t playing. Perhaps she does know how to play Cas but with this girl, it wasn’t a game she was participating in.
“I’ll leave you to
it then Prez…your old lady, your problem,” I chuckled.
“Oh no, you’re
comin’ with me,” he replied, setting off towards the kitchen.
Why the fuck couldn’t I keep my big mouth shut?
I followed at his orders and was barrelled into the wall as Alannah came bustling out.
“She’s not here
,” she cried out, running towards the door leading outside.
“That woman is seriously
gettin’ on my last fuckin’ nerve,” Cas yelled, following his woman out.
“You were the one who couldn’t be without her, had to make her yours
,” I reminded him, sarcastically.
“I’m not on about Lana
, shithead…her fuckin’ friend.”
We both made it outside to see Alannah had caught up with
Bonnie, who was trying to leave. One of the guarding prospects was refusing to open the gate and she was trying her hardest not to cry at something Alannah was telling her.
“I’ll wait here
,” I told Cas.
“Chicken
,” he mocked, walking towards them.
Emoti
onal women were not on my radar. I like them fun, free and wild. Everything this woman wasn’t.
I made myself comfortable at one of the picni
c tables and lit up a cigarette. I watched the scene before me with fascination. Cas wasn’t anyone to fuck with but Alannah was holding her own just fine. She doesn’t see the violence in her man that us brothers do occasionally, so when she’s being stubborn, like now, she doesn’t back down through being intimidated.
Bonnie looks like she wants t
o be anywhere apart from here. Alannah is now smiling, with Cas looking like he wants to throw Bonnie through the gate himself. He abruptly turns and storms towards where I’m sitting, his face covered in rage. Cas has never liked being backed into a corner and until now Alannah hasn’t seen this side of Cas. This side only shows up when he is pushed to his limits and she only sees the lust ridden, in love with her side of him.
“Stick to her like fuckin’ glue. She moves, you move. Don’t let her out of your sight or out of the clubhouse
,” he bellows.
“Why me? C
an’t someone else do it?” I ask, not wanting to be lumbered with her.
“No
,” he said without any hesitation, before storming into the bar and slamming the door shut behind him.
Fucking hell, why do I have to be the one to babysit? And now I have been designated to watch over her, I only need one guess to work out where she’ll be staying.
As they approached me, I grabbed her fucking bag and opened the door for them both.
“Follow me, you’ll be with me till you leave
,” I told Bonnie.
Her eyes widened when she registered what I said
, looking to Alannah for help.
“Oh no, she
’s in enough trouble with Cas. You’re staying in my room.”
“Okay
.”
The brother
s’ faces as she re-entered the bar was what Cas and I both expected… disgust and a lack of trust oozed from every man watching her.
Bonnie...
Sparky left me in the bar surrounded by Lost Souls members who ain’t too friendly with me. I was more than happy to stay in his room while he went to speak with Cas, but he said no. This is why I tried leaving when Alannah left me alone in the kitchen. I wanted to avoid this tension and uneasiness. I used to think being spoken to like dirt on the floor, in front of a room full of people, was the most humiliating thing to have happened to me, but sitting here at the bar is by far the worst day of my life. Not one man here, or one whore ‘hang around’, wore a friendly expression on their faces. They did for each other but it didn’t extend to me. My hands had gone past the point of shaking, being now only clammy with sweat. Where the hell is Alannah? She said she would be five minutes and that was fifteen minutes ago. It’s felt like a lifetime.
Even the prospects wouldn’t acknowledge me. When I ran from my brother, I swore to myself
I would never feel this self-conscious around anyone anymore. But here I am with a headache from hell, my body aching as if I’d just run a marathon in five inch heels, and trying to hide it from everyone only makes it feel worse. I feel like crying. I’m sitting here looking like the walking dead and not one person around me could give a shit. Deep down this hurts but in reality I know these bikers have seen worse, plus it doesn’t help that they think I’m the enemy.
My body is itching to run for the door, not worry
ing about a car, just my feet hitting the pavement and running as fast as I can. But I don’t run. Sparky has my bag with all my cash inside it and the guarding prospect will never open the gate for me. I have to remember I’m not a prisoner here. They don’t like me but it’s Alannah wanting me to stay and rest but it’s not like being at home.
Fina
lly I see Alannah coming my way. A pang of something evil hits my stomach because I’m grateful she is coming back and I hate that I feel like that. I shouldn’t have to feel grateful because someone wants to be my friend.
“You okay?
” she asks.
I’m anything but okay, but I smile and nod my head.
“I checked with
Cas and as the other rooms are taken, you will be staying in Sparky’s. Don’t worry though, he can sleep on his couch,” she assures me.
If truth be told, I wouldn’t mind sleeping in his
soft, comfortable bed again. Cas has agreed I can stay until I feel stronger, although he made it clear I won’t be left on my own. I really think he only agreed to stop Alannah from coming with me. I didn’t want to cause any trouble between them but I can always rely on her to be my friend and that’s what I need at the moment.
“Co
me on, I’ll walk you back to his room, you should still be resting.”
“I know me being here is a bad move, but thank you
,” I say, softly meaning every word.
“No worries
hun.”
We walk
the rest of the way in silence and I’m careful not to make eye contact with anyone for fear of flinching and breaking down in front of them. I won’t give anyone the satisfaction of seeing me weak and pathetic no more.
Once
we’re up the stairs the tension from the bar slightly evaporates. Alannah knocks on Sparky’s door and turns to me. She gently pulls me in her arms and whispers: “Don’t worry yourself about that lot down there Bon, just get better and we’ll go from there.”
I pulled back and
placed a kiss on her soft cheek.
“Thank you
.”
Just before I was about to burst with love for my friend, Sparky opened his door.
“I promise you’re safe here. Get some rest and I’ll come see you soon.”
“Okay
.”
After t
hrowing Sparky a warning glance she heads back to the stairs, leaving me on my own with a half-naked Sparky.
I coul
d not believe what I was seeing. His chest, his arms, his shoulders were all covered in the most amazing ink I have ever seen. I had already seen his neck and half his head covered in tattoos but I didn’t know they extended down to his mighty fine body. He didn’t give me any time to stare and see what the images were.
“You
gonna stand out there all day?” he snapped.
I flinched so hard it tipped me across his threshold and had me closing the door behind me.
It becomes clear he must have been changing before I came back as he sets about his drawers pulling out clean clothes and throws them on the bed.
Spying my bag on his couch
, I cross the room and sit beside it. My movement catches him off guard and he spins round to see what I’m doing. When he sees me sitting quietly on the couch he still doesn’t move. He just stood there, staring.
After so long, I can’t stand it no more, I drag my eyes away from him and start fiddling with
the strap on my bag.
The
room feels as small as a matchbox under his heavy stare, and I’m about to excuse myself to the bathroom when he sits on the end of his bed and finally speaks.
“I don’t trust you. I
f you are here for any other reason than to warn us like you say you are, then I fuckin’ promise you won’t like the consequences.”
The way he speaks is low but
assertive, meaning his promise. I swallow hard and nod, afraid if I speak I’ll squeak and sound weak, and I’m sick of being that.
“I’ll be with you till you leave or I can trust you, but I think you’ll be long gone before that fuckin’ h
appens. So tonight, you’re goin’ to a party coz’ I sure ain’t missin’ out,” he said.
No! I am not going to a party with him! I haven’t seen how the Lost Souls like to party but I know ho
w the Ghost Riders do and it isn’t pretty. Most of the time I steered clear of the parties but when Tommy began taking an interest in me, he would drag me off to them to show everyone I was his. All tonight would be about would be me; everyone’s curious stares, talking about me and not to me, with the exception of Alannah.
“Maybe it’s best if I stay up here
,” I offer.
“It would be best, but
like I fuckin’ told ya, I ain’t missin’ out,” he repeated.
“I can’t go back down there
,” I tell him, hoping he hears the raw need to be up here…and not down there.
He doesn’t say anything. H
e doesn’t need to, the look of irritation screams silently at me.
“Please, I’m not going anywhere.
I don’t have the energy,” I plead.
I see him begin to relent and think something over.
“Okay, I’ll see if Barbie will sit with ya…I dug out some sweats for you to wear, you can’t keep wondering around in just a hoodie. They definitely won’t fit you but you can tie the cord tight.”
Barbie? That must be his nick
name for Alannah.
“Thank you
,” I whisper.
“Yeah, no problem
,” he mutters.
Thankfully Alannah didn’t mind missing out on the party and turned up around nine. Since I refused to go, Sparky and I haven’t spoken a word to each other. After he finally relented about me going to the party, I had a shower, dressed in his sweats and returned to his tiny couch. I stayed there pretending to be asleep, which eventually I did only to be woken up to Alannah knocking. Sparky couldn’t get out the door fast enough.
Alannah joined me on his
couch accompanied with a tray of soup and bread. I’m not a huge fan of soup but tonight my growling stomach isn’t going to complain about it.
“Bon?
” she says drawing my attention away from the bowl of soup. I look up to see her looking at my bruises.
“You k
now you can talk to me right?” she asks, “Please tell me what happened to you, because I have a pretty good idea after having the pleasure of meeting your club.”
“The
y’re not my club! I don’t want anything to do with them!” I say sternly.
“Okay, but they hurt you didn’t they?”
With who I am out in the open now, and Alannah witnessing first-hand what they are capable of, maybe I can finally talk to someone who will understand.
“Yeah they did. I don’t know if you came across Tommy when you were at the warehouse? Well, he took a liking to me a few ye
ars ago. At first I thought he could save me from my father. He was so nice to me in the beginning but it turns out, he is just as evil as Hunter. He would take whatever he wanted from me… sex, the small amount of money I managed to save, anything he wanted. Once I pushed him away when he tried to get in my bed, and he hit me. He hit me so hard the vision in my left eye blurred for a few hours. That scared me the most. After that, if I did or said anything that annoyed him, he would lash out.”
As degrading as I felt letting her into the dark si
de of my life, I did feel many years’ worth of secrets lift from my shoulders. I carried on before I pushed the walls back up.
“
Growing up, I was nothing but a nuisance to my father and he didn’t let me forget it either. Funny thing was, it wasn’t until I was enrolled into school when I was ten years old that I realised it wasn’t normal for a child to live in such violence. After a while, it all became routine. When my brother Joe was around my father, he would use me to gain parental approval but when we were alone he would help patch me up. He was sweet and kind and I saw the real him but he showed his darker side around Hunter. His double personality scared me the most.”
“Bonnie, why didn’t you tell me? I would have helped you
,” Alannah cried.
“When I found out who you were, I knew wh
at would’ve happened if you had discovered who I was. If I lost you as a friend, I don’t know what I would’ve done. Don’t cry for me please, I’m free now, apart from being here. That’s why I took the cash. Once I’m strong enough I’ll be long gone, somewhere they will never find me,” I urged, deciding that would be all that I will tell her for now.
Just because I feel a bit be
tter for talking to her didn’t mean I had to divulge every detail. Some things aren’t worth the pity that would have been embedded in her eyes every time she looked my way.
“I need you to know I am
so sorry for what those fuckers did to you. If I could’ve, I would’ve helped you get free,” I said, apologetically.
I quickly scrubbed my face dry from tears and clasped my shaking hands together.
“Hey, that was not your fault Bon, I hold nothing against you. God, you’ve suffered worse from them.”
It suddenly occurred to me she mi
ght tell Cas what I’ve told her. He can probably guess anyway but it’s different having it confirmed.
“Please keep this between us. I don’t want anyone knowing th
is. They already don’t trust me and they’d probably think I was inventing a story to stay here,” I laughed weakly.
“I won’t tell anyone, not even
Cas, I promise,” she said, squeezing my hand. “But the guys here aren’t animals. They don’t trust you because of who your father was and because of what happened to me but they will never hurt you Bonnie, I swear to you they won’t,” she pleaded.
“I believe you
,” I say automatically.
I don’t know if I truly believe that, but she’s adamant they won’t so I tell her what she wants to hear.
“Let’s forget about everything I just told you. Why don’t you get to explaining how tall, dark and hotness got you by his side after what happened last year?”
This is what I’ve missed, girl time. These moments at college made it possible to forget about the hell that awaited for me at home for a short while.
“It’s a good job you’re here for a few days to heal because that could take a while,” she laughs, and begins the tale from when she returned from college.
From now on, I have all the time
in the world to do as I please, I thought.
Sparky...
I couldn’t escape the room quickly enough when Barbie showed up. Bonnie was making me think too much, then doubt certain thoughts I’d had about her.
Every time I look at her and see her injuries
, I am taken back to the warehouse her fucker of a father had Barbie beaten up in and I want to punish her for it. When I first looked in her eyes, all I saw was her father looking back at me. Now I see the fight leaving her, especially when she was curled up on my couch lightly sleeping earlier. My dick also notices the way her stomach dips above her hip as she lays on her side!
Cas
isn’t happy about Alannah being with Bonnie, but like earlier today, he had no say over her when it comes to her friend.
I believe
she won’t try to leave the room. She can barely keep herself up half the time, plus Barbie isn’t going to let her anywhere until she feels her friend is healed.
Filling my shot glass of tequila, I wonder what she looks like underneath my hoodie and
sweats. Her olive skin and long black hair that she hides her face behind like some sort of safety mechanism are to my tastes…hence why I took a liking to her before I knew who she was.