Finding Home: A Club Dark Novel (16 page)

“As I was saying, I was prepared to let you have your fun; after all, I had a lot of business I needed to clear up here before heading back home. Until last night. Seeing Cory with his hands all over what belongs to me, acting like you are his—well that didn’t sit right with me. No one touches my property, and you, Lacey, are mine.”

I think I’m going to be sick again and it has nothing to do with the pain in my head. He is seriously delusional. “No one knows you like I do, which is how I found you tonight. I can be very patient when I need to be. So I watched and waited for your boy toy to leave. When he did, I had plans to just break my way in, but you made it so easy for me when you just walked right outside. Again, I felt fate on my side. Everything just falling right in my lap.”

I breathe a sigh of relief because now I know that Al is okay. Aaron didn’t hurt him in order to get to me. “What now, Aaron?” I ask, hoping it doesn’t end with another mark across my face. For a brief moment, he looks like he’s going to, but then he just smiles at me, causing dread to fill my body. Where’s all of this coming from? I’ve never known Aaron to have one angry bone in his body.

“Oh princess, I’m actually going to give you a choice. You can either come home with me, quietly. Or I’ll drag you back, kicking and screaming if I have to,” he leans back down, getting eye level with me once again. “But one way or another, you will be coming home with me.” Now’s my chance. My free hand lashes out and rakes across his cheek, leaving a bloody trail behind. Adrenaline pumps through my blood, fueling the rage building from within. I make quick work at untying my right leg so I’m able to turn enough to free my other hand. But I’m too late. Aaron hovers over me, baseball bat in his hand and blood dripping to the floor. “Wrong answer.” He smirks, swinging the bat with so much force everything instantly goes black.

Cory

I never thought I’d find love again. Hell, I’ve never felt like I deserved it after what happened to Lanna. But Lacey…she came into my life like a whirlwind, turning my whole world upside down. She brought my dead heart back to life, and now, I feel like it only beats for her.

I’m finding it harder and harder to be away from her, but when Alex called claiming he’s almost certain who drugged Lacey, I had to see for myself. Thankfully, no one is here at this time of day, so we can speak openly and it shouldn’t take too long so I should be able to get back to her quickly.

“What you got?” No time for bullshit. I want to get this man behind bars so my girl doesn’t have to keep looking over her shoulders.

“You aren’t going to like this man,” Alex says.

“Just spill it, Alex, I don’t have time for word games.” I know I’m being a dick and part of me feels bad; after all, Alex is just doing what I pay him to do, but I miss my girl and want to get back to her.

We walk to the back where the security room is located. I’m greeted by what appears to be my entire security team, which can only mean, whatever Alex has found is not good. “Okay, someone needs to start talking, now.” I’m getting anxious. We rarely have everyone here at the same time unless it’s important, otherwise, they work in shifts.

Alex walks over to the monitors, turning on a few different feeds. He points to the screen in the middle. I watch as the footage we’ve seen a thousand times starts playing.

“Okay? We’ve seen this already.” I’m getting pissed. Why is he wasting my damn time?

“Just watch, boss.” I fix my attention to the screen, realizing I haven’t seen this part of the footage yet. “Our I.T. guy finally recovered the deleted footage, you’ll see. Just keep watching.”

And I do. I watch as a guy in a black hoody walks up and takes a seat beside Lacey. Initially, there’s nothing suspicious other than the feeling that I know him. Alex speeds the feed up about forty-five minutes, giving us a clear view of the man waving his hand over a glass before he stands up to walk away. She was completely oblivious. She didn’t turn around or look at him once, and she clearly wasn’t watching her drink very closely because it took the guy a full five or ten seconds and she didn’t notice it one bit. After the guy gets up, he looks straight at the camera as if he knew exactly where they were planted, and I guess he should, seeing as he just gained his partnership rights a few weeks ago when his father passed away.

“Son of a bitch.” How in the fuck did this happen?

“Sir?” Alex questions, and I just look at him. “There’s more.” More? What more can there be? I let scum into my club. “Do you remember when you asked me to look into Lacey? Check out her friends and those closest to her? Did she ever mention to you the name of her ex?”

Now that I think about it, she didn’t. “No, Alex. She didn’t.”  I never thought to ask either. It wasn’t important. How could I have been so stupid?

“Sir, his name is Aaron. Aaron Thornhill,” Alex says, emphasizing the last name.

“Fuck!!” I scream. Her ex is a partner? This is beyond fucked up. That little fucker is dead when I get my hands on him.

“Someone get me an address on this fucker. Alex? Send one of your best over to the house to look after Lacey right now. She’s not safe with him on the street.” I can’t even fucking believe this shit right now.

“On it, sir.”

I pull my cell from my pocket and dial Lacey, only for it to go straight to voicemail. I try back three more times before I start panicking. My phone starts vibrating in my hand. I answer as quick as I can when I see that it’s Al.

“What’s going on, Al?” If he’s calling me, it can’t be good; he usually doesn’t bother me at work.

“Sir, Miss Lacey is missing. She went out for a walk and hasn’t returned, and there appears to be damage to the fencing on the property.” Shit.

“Thank you, Al.” I hang up the phone too pissed off and scared to say anything else. “Motherfucker.” I pick up the nearest item I can find and chuck it straight at the monitors. Heads are about to roll if I don’t get some fucking answers quickly. “I better get an address or phone number in the next 60 seconds or that’ll be your heads.”

Alex walks up to me and places a hand on my shoulder. “Calm down, Cory.” He’s the only one I let get away with calling me by my first name. But he’s been my best friend for years. “We’re going to find her.” My phone vibrates in my hands again. This time to a video message from an unidentified number.

Opening the message, I see Aaron’s face pop up followed by Lacey, slumped over in a chair with her head hanging low, blood steadily dripping from her face.

“Have I got your attention? Good. You, Mr. Lewis, have touched something that does not belong to you. This will be your one and only warning to stay away. If you step even one foot in our direction, and trust when I say, I’ll know, I will fuckin’ kill her.”

The screen goes black. If he thinks I’m scared of him, he’s wrong. The only one that is going to die is that little piece of shit. The minute I get my hands on him I’m going to cause him more agony than he has ever felt in his entire life. He’s just awakened the beast, and the beast is out for blood.

Keep reading for sneak peek at upcoming novel, Saving Molly from Author Brienne Mahaffey.

Saving Molly

A Lost Brothers MC

by: Brienne Mahaffey

Chapter 1

Molly-

We were headed to the store and I was having a bad day. I was in pain and I didn’t want to go but I wasn’t allowed to stay by myself. What 24-year-old was not allowed to stay by themselves? Me, apparently!  My parents never gave me a reason but just would never leave me. Today I said I would stay in the car so that they could get the shopping done faster and I could just lay back and relax until it was time to go back. While they were in the store the pain in my stomach got worse. I was about to get sick so I ran from the car into the nearest bathroom. I made it with no time to spare. I got sick and then sat with the head on my knees. I sat there thinking about the number of times I have been sick this week. It had to have been every day. It used to be once every couple months, then once a month, then once a week and this week it’s been getting more frequent. It’s usually around when I eat, so now I couldn’t eat without getting sick about an hour later. I shouldn’t have eaten this morning, it was shopping day and I knew we would be going into town. It was a long trip, for a short stop in the store. We grew and had animals for most things, so the stop in the store was shorter than the ride there. This trip seemed longer and extra bumpy, maybe because I was so weak and tired. I just needed to get more sleep and keep some food down.

 I’m not sure how long I sit there, but I must have fallen asleep. I’m startled awake when the door is slammed closed. As I get up I’m a little weak but I had to get back to the car. I use the wall to get to the door and then pause when I catch a look at myself in the mirror. I’m normal looking a guess, brown hair and foo. I notice that I’m getting dark circles under my eyes and they look a little sunken in. I also know that under my clothes you can see almost all my bones. I have always been so much shorter and skinnier than anyone else I have seen but I know I am too skinny. I know I need to find a way to eat more so I’m not going to be able to get up soon. Then I know that if I can’t change anything I’m going to die. And I don’t want that to happen. Snapping out of my daze I realize I have to try an act like I’m not about to fall over as I make my way out of the store. Leaving the bathroom, I try to take steps without sliding along the wall. I make it but I have to stop and rest every few steps, and I almost fall a handful of times but I make it. As I exited the store I noticed that the car is gone. I looked around and around for the car, it couldn’t be gone. My parents wouldn’t leave me they just wouldn’t, they would notice I wasn’t laying in the back and come back. I just had to wait. So I did. I walked over to the bench and sat with my legs pulled up, and my head down. I start thinking about my life, how I always felt in the way, never pulling my own weight but I couldn’t. I was an only child so I did as much as I could, but I saw in my parents tired bodies and frustrated eyes that it was never enough. I took more breaks than them because I was in pain, or I was too tired to keep going. Kind of like now, I’m so tired and I need something to eat; after getting sick there was nothing left in my stomach, but I’m too weak to try to walk through the store to find something to eat. Not like I had money for anything anyways. I notice it’s getting late, why are they not back, why did they leave me, did they do it on purpose? No they wouldn’t leave me. I’m their only daughter. What will I do if they don’t come back for a while? I’m not dressed for a night outside, I wore a long skirt and a light shirt. Basically what I wear every day. They were thin and good for keeping cool while working outside. I saw what other girls who looked my age wore but they didn’t dress like me. I asked my mom once and she told me “they are whores; they dress like that to attract men to have sex with. They are just whores and you are to never dress like them. It is not approved.” I never knew what she meant by approved, or who approved anything. It seemed like things got approved only when my parents wanted it approved but I never argued. Arguing led to punishment, which was a wide range of things based on the offence. So now I sit here in my approved clothing, waiting for my parents to figure out I wasn’t in the car and turn around.

It has been a few hours judging by the color of the sky and I’m trying deciding if I should try to walk closer to home. I know I’ll never make it all the way home, that’s about 15 miles outside of town and I’m about a half mile to the edge of town. I know that they are probably not coming back tonight, they probably didn’t even check the car and just think I am still sleeping in there. That’s the only thing that would make sense. Well I need to try to get home, maybe this way I can keep myself warm and not get sick from being out in the cold. I get up slowly to check how wobbly I am, not as much as I thought I would be considering I have only eaten once today and that is now in the store bathroom.  Time to get moving, I say to myself as I take the first tentative step. Knowing this is going to be a long, long walk.

I never realized there are no street lights in town. I mean I guess when you’re never here at night you wouldn’t notice. I’ve been walking for about 20 minutes having to stop about every minute or so because I get dizzy or there’s a car speeding a little too fast.  I have seen so many shops that I never knew existed. A place to do your hair, one for your nails. What do you even do to your nails? Mine are always cut short and filled with dirt, mom says that’s a sign of a good day’s work. I see places to buy the clothes that everyone wears. I didn’t know they sold them, we always make our clothes. We make everything.  If we can’t then one of the neighbors does and we trade them for it. It’s the way to prove we are strong. Or so I have been told. Everything is about being strong, even me getting sick. I’m only sick because I am strong enough to handle it. I am strong enough to fight through it and keep on working with my family. Breathing deep I realize I need to take another break. I just took one but my body doesn’t care, it wants to be done and lay down. I just sat down on the curb and realize this one will be longer because I just hit the town line and from here on out there are no curbs. Cars have been going by every few minutes or so but no one has stopped, not like I would talk to them if they did. I have never talked to anyone besides my parents, and maybe the neighbors who come to trade with us. As another car passes I am yet again disappointed when it is not my parents. Even though I know it is not them I’ve been holding out hope that my parents will be back to pick me up. I know I will be sleeping outside but I want to make it close to home so I need to keep on moving. Time to get up and walk, I look around one more time before I get up and hear something in the distance. I look back trying to see if it’s a car but there’s only one light. Cars have two lights, mom says the death machines have one, and that everyone who rides one dies. She talks about them but I have never seen one. Why is it so loud?  I see it getting closer so I try to sink back into the bush that I’m standing next to so I am not seen.  Suddenly it flies past me and I exhale. I can continue on my walk, or should I say slug home.

This walk gets so much harder after I leave the town limits, there are no lights from stores and the farther I get from town the fewer cars have passed and they are going faster so I don’t even think they notice that I’m there. It’s getting later and later and I’m starting to get cold. I can barely feel my fingers and my feet went numb about 10 minutes ago. At the rate I am walking it will take me about a day and a half to get home. I have been trying to spread out my breaks but it’s not working and I’m stopping for longer than I’m walking. I have been having cramps in my stomach that have made me stop until they pass.  It’s because I haven’t eaten since this morning but it would have been cramping if I had. At least this way I’m not throwing up.  Mom talks about the strength every time it happens, but I don’t know if I believe in the strength anymore. I need to sit again, it’s dark and super quiet except for the wild animals, but I’m used to them I hear them every night when I sleep with my window open. I rest my head on my knees and feel my body giving up.  I need a break maybe a nap but I can’t risk it out here. The farther I get from town the louder the animals are getting. I know there are coyotes, and wolfs out here and if I fall asleep then I’m as good as dead. So I get up to continue on; I just need to keep going. Just keep going, I think to myself as the world goes dark.

T-

I need to get to the club. It’s been a hell of a day; the run went bad. With no one there to pick it up we had to bring it back to the warehouse. Dom hates when things sit at the warehouse longer than planned. This means we need to find a new buyer by tomorrow afternoon. Knowing Dom, he already has Wiz on it, and he probably has a potential buyer already. Shit moves fast here, in business and in life. One day you’re here and the next you can crash your bike or you can be the victim of a war or payback. I have to always watch my back when I go anywhere on my own, people are always trying to start things with us because we are the top drug runners in the south east. We are The Twisted Skulls MC. We have 10 chapters settled all in the southern states. These chapters are all settled in small rural cities which is how we like it, makes people leave us alone. Also makes it easy to have law enforcement in your pocket. I have been at another chapter fixing this messed up situation for the past three days. Why me instead of Happy when he is the VP Being unknown to me. Shit it happened and is over now so whatever, I dealt with it. Now here I am on a quiet highway on my way home, I’m so ready to be at the club house and have a beer.  It’s been a long drive, I have stopped four times today for coffee, and to piss. I finally hit town and decide to stop for a piss. The club house is about 15 miles outside of town so it’s a short distance but I’ve had to take a piss for the past hour. I don’t see anyone around but that’s no surprise in Garfield, Ga. Population here is less than 300. That’s why most of the members stay at the club house until they find an ollady. The club is a three story building with the top floor for the top 5 members, middle for the rest and the bottom floor for the parties and business. The core of our club, which is the Dom, Happy, and Wiz stay there all the time. The other rooms are for the guys who don’t have another place to be. If you have an Ollady you tend to not stay at the club. With not having many of them around most of the guys have a room. We have 3 open rooms at the moment and 5 prospects so we will see what happens when we run out of room. Dom has been talking about building another building on the property but we will have to see.

 I finally get back on the road, even with only a few miles left I’m starting to worry ill crash. I’ve been on the road for three days with very little sleep. I’m driving in a straight line down a single lane highway and spacing out due to the same scenery when all of a sudden I see something move out in the distance. I’m not sure what it is probably a dog or something but I slow down to make sure it doesn’t dart into the road as I’m flying past. As I finally past I see it’s not a dog but a person who must have been walking and fell. Who walks this late at night, probably on drugs or drunk. Oh well they will continue on and be fine. Not many people walk this far out of town but who am I to judge someone else. I mean it’s not like they are hurt. Well maybe, ugh stupid conscience I need to make sure this person is ok. Slowing down I do a U-turn, and roll back down the road to where I saw the person. As I’m pulling up I notice that the person, which turns out to be a girl because I can see a skirt blowing in the low wind that’s around here, is still not moving. I jump off the bike and walk over slowly as to not startle the girl, she has to be young she is so tiny.  I walk up and she has yet to move so I bend down and pick her head up. I brush the hair out of her face and notice how beautiful she is. Looking at how small she is I would have thought she was a teen but her face looks older maybe late teen’s maybe 20 at the most. I look all over for any cuts or anything, but I see nothing. As I stand up with her in my arms trying to figure out why she is not awake I also notice how light she is. She has to be under 100lbs. I’m trying to figure out where to take her or how I’m even going to take her anywhere. I have my bike for Christ sake. As I’m walking to the bike she starts to moan and move a little, and I immediately freeze. Looking down I see her trying to open her eyes, and she sounds like she is in pain. “Shhh, its ok I got you. You’re going to be okay. I’ll take care of you sweet girl.” She immediately calms and goes back to her dream like state. As I sit on my bike with her cradled in my arms, I try to sit and hold my handle bars. I adjust and adjust and she is cradled into my chest and seems to be staying put. I walk my bike off of the dirt and as I start the bike I feel a tiny pull on my jacket. I look down and see she had turned her body a tiny bit but has somehow got her hands onto my jacket and is clinging, but her eyes are still closed. Once she seems to have found a spot to settle I take off on my way back to the compound, I’ll ask the guys what to do and have Doc come and take a look at her.

Pulling in to the compound, I’m exhausted and I am so glad to be here. That 10 miles were the longest do to the slow speed I needed to drive. I look down and notice the girl is shivering and so as soon as I park I pull her closer under my coat. She still is out and I’m getting very concerned. As I walk in I notice all the guys sitting around with hangons and beer, and I’m relieved that this girl is still out. I don’t know why that is but I want to protect her. As I continue through the common room and get to the hallway I call out for Dom and Doc to follow me. They do so quickly, probably because I am carrying what I can only assume looks like a dead body through the club, and we are in my room in a matter of seconds. As I go to lay down the girl in my bed and she moans and clings to my jacket harder. This makes me smile to myself, but I quickly hide it from my brothers. I know I don’t want to put her down but I need to make sure she is okay. Prying her hands off me I brush the hair off her forehead and squeeze her hand tight before letting go. Doc walks up and I begin to tell him about how I found her. He immediately goes into doctor mode and pushes me out of the way, he was a medic in the army so he knows what he is doing.  I start pacing as he is checking her out and Dom comes over to try and calm me down. “Dude, I can see it in your face that she is important to you. I don’t know why that is because you just found her. Yet I haven’t seen this look on your face since you had Annie, and Ant. Docs got her now so you know she is in the best hands she will be fine, but she looks like a baby. How did you even see her?” “I saw her fall. I thought she was an animal or someone who tripped so I kept going. But you know me and how I have to make sure everyone is good. I almost went right past her but I had to double check and I’m glad I did.” I tell him the story about how light she is and how she hasn’t woken up. As I am about to tell him how I got her back here Doc clears his throat.