WIth a Twist: (The Club #9) (5 page)

Chapter Twelve

Bryant

Smiling as I pulled into my lawyer’s parking lot, I remembered how soft and relaxed Starr was when I woke her up this morning. I couldn’t get enough of her. This morning’s lovemaking was completely different from last night’s battle of wills.

This was the first step in us starting our future together. I was about to buy Gordon’s company for more than I wanted to, but to have something here, with controlling interest and where she wanted to live, I would pay anything.

As I walked through the door, Gordon was already there with his lawyer. There were no words spoken as we both only nodded towards one another, this last battle of wills before I bought his company. We were quickly shown to the conference room where without much fuss, we both signed the paperwork.

Once the lawyers left the room, Gordon came over to me and, for what I hoped was the last time, pounded me on the back. “Well there, boy, congrats on buying one superb company. I’m sure it will add to your millions.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “After the cost of the purchase price is offset, yes it will.”

“Ahhh, you’ll make it back quick. Plus you got the whole thing outright, which was what we both wanted.”

Closing my eyes, I shook my head. “Of course. I should have known better.”

“That’s okay, boy, I understand. New love and all.”

“How did you know?”

“Shit, all anyone had to do was take one look at the two of you when you first laid eyes on each other. Starr’s a good girl. You two crazy kids should have a great life together here in Karim.”

“Thanks… I think.”

Gordon laughed loud and pounded me on the back again. “Hey, we both got what we wanted. Speaking of getting what we want, have I told you I have some property right outside of town? There’s a little creek running through it. There’s a decent size house on it. You could have Starr remodel it to what she wants, or you could tear it down and build something new for her.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “How much is this going to cost me?”

“Can you put a price on love, boy?”

“No, no Gordon, you can’t. Tell me more about your property.”

Chapter Thirteen

Starr

After Bryant left, I laid around watching the changing shadows on the ceiling, dreaming about a life together with him. For once in my life, I was daydreaming about a future with a prince, my prince. Something girls do growing up, or women have done for thousands of years after they fell in love. Now it was my turn. The fact that I could so easily conjure up our life together didn’t scare me like it would have before I met him. There was something deep in my soul that told me this was right.

Tonight was the big Halloween party at The Club. Coming up with a costume when essentially every night I bartended I was in one wasn’t easy, but I did. We were supposed to go in early to help decorate. The Club was going to be
the
place to be this year, on
all
the levels.

I smiled when my phone rang, I figured it was going to be Bryant, but when I saw Ricky’s name, I frowned. “Hello.”

“Hi, hi, Starr, it’s Ricky.”

“Hey Ricky, what’s up?”

“I’m down at The Club, they called me in. Seems Jet started going through the boxes that were delivered for the party tonight. And well, see, the order of Halloween decorations that came in is doubled. It means more work, but he thought we might as well use them, make the party epic. So they want us in earlier to set everything up.”

“Sure. No problem, I’ll be there in a few.” My mind raced thinking about what I needed to make sure I had for my costume tonight.

“Starr… Starr… Do you want me to pick you up?”

“What? Oh, thanks, Ricky, but I’ve got it, I can walk.”

“Great, see you there.”

I jumped out of bed and starting throwing everything I was going to need into my duffle. As I put some clothes on, I went back over my costume, triple checking I would have everything I needed. Snapping my fingers, I grabbed my curling iron and tossed that in. Since typically I was in black and walked around strutting all sexy like, I decided I should be something completely different for Halloween. I was going to be in all white, with huge angel wings. I was going to do my hair and makeup, soft and well, angelic.

Gathering everything, I made it out the door without dropping anything and got to The Club. Using my security access, I was able to get in, and I hauled everything up to the third floor, dropping everything in the locker room for later.

I was excited, Halloween was one memory from my childhood I loved. Since we never had a lot of money, mama would find something for me to dress up as and I’d be able to go around the neighborhoods of wherever we were at the time and load up on candy. I’d get as much as I could and only have one piece a day, making sure it lasted as long as possible. We never had extra money for me to get candy any other time of the year. I could usually make it last into the New Year if I was lucky.

As soon as I excited the locker room, Ricky was standing there with a box in his hand. “Oh, hi, Ricky. Where’s everyone? I want to know where I should start.”

“They’re downstairs. Here.” He shoved the box in my arms. “They want us to start up here. They want everything decorated,
all
the rooms.”

“Really? All? That kind of surprises me.” I shrugged. “But whatever. I can’t wait to see everything she got. This should be so much fun.”

“I figure if we work together in each room, it will go quicker.”

“Sure. Let’s start.” I followed Ricky around the corner and all the down to the end of the hall where the Honeymoon Suite was. It was one of our larger rooms and was always booked. I never really spent much time in the rooms, and since I had Bryant in my life now, I was definitely more curious about what could be done in each of the rooms. I figured decorating would give me access to each room and maybe one night we could use one of the rooms after a shift. The thought of the two of us teasing each other all night while I was working drove me crazy. Knowing what would be coming later was already making me horny.

Deciding I needed to pay attention and get the job done, I set the box down on the bed and started to open it. I let out a little scream when a scary, twisted clown face stared up at me. “Jesus, she wants us to put something like this in here? It’s going to scare the crap out of people.” I shuddered. I hated clowns, always had.

“Exactly.” Ricky said from right behind me. “Think of it, Starr,” his voice lowered to a whisper. “A man brings his true love in here. She isn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary except a good fuck and suddenly, she is surrounded by her biggest fear. Clowns…. Clowns everywhere.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off of the evil clown’s face staring up at me from the box. “No.” I shook my head. “I don’t think they’d want something like this in the rooms.” Backing up, I wanted to get out of here, but I froze when I ran into Ricky.

“Starr… It’s time. You’re mine, not
his
.”

I didn’t understand what he was saying. Even when he snapped a handcuff on my wrist and attached it to the side of bed. “No.” In a weak attempt to get free, I shook my hand and tried to shove him away with my other hand. My heart was racing so fast and my breathing came in gasps as I was afraid I was going to pass out. Thoughts moved through my head about Ricky, clowns, Bryant, and my survival.

Kicking my feet out from under me, he pushed me onto the bed. With his weight pinning me down, he easily was able to get my other hand restrained. I tried to buck him off with my hips, but it was no use. I was powerless to do anything with my hands cuffed.

He roughly slid down my body and grabbed my ankles, pulling me down the bed, stretching me out and making sure my legs were spread as far as they could go before placing a bar between them, and he hooked it over one of the bedposts. Everything hurt from being pulled further than comfortable, and I knew it was only going to get worse.

I laid there, completely vulnerable, unable to defend myself against the man who stared up at me with a clown mask on from between my legs, with a large knife in one hand. I don’t know why I had never seen the madness behind his eyes before. Because I could see it now, it burned bright from behind the holes in the mask.

There was nowhere for me to go as he pushed the tip of the knife through my jeans. I whimpered as it poked my skin and slid up. Once the knife was free, he pulled down on the material and there was no hiding anything from him. He flicked his tongue out from the hole in the mask and start lapping up the small trail of blood the knife had created, moaning in ecstasy.

“Oh, she’s inside of me,” he whispered, almost like he was talking to himself and not me. “I’ve been waiting so long to be joined with my love. I wonder if…” He moved his head slightly to the side. “I wonder if her pussy is as tasty.”

I flinched and screamed when his tongue dove deeply inside of me. I pulled at the binds that tied me, causing more pain as I tried desperately to get away from him.

“Shhh… shhh…Starr, no one can hear you. Relax and enjoy, there is so much more to come.” He started sliding up my body, using the knife to cut away my shirt and bra. “So perfect…” Painfully, he squeezed my breasts. “God, I just want to fucking eat you up.”

I screamed loud as he bit down hard on my side.

Chapter Fourteen

Bryant

I had just slid behind the wheel of my car when my phone beeped for a text. Looking down, I noticed it was from my security team. I didn’t bother to read it, I just hit the button to call them, and started the car. “Tell me.”

“Sir, we knew she was going to be going into work early today, but she actually went in hours ahead of schedule.”

“Any idea why?”

“Not sure. There are only a couple of people there. Ricky is one of them.”

“Fuck, there’s something about him I don’t trust.”

“And your instincts are never wrong, sir.”

I froze with my hand on the gearshift and my stomach tightened. “What do you mean?”

“He’s been able to build a successful background, but none of it is true. You were right about having us lift his prints to get a better check on him. His real name is George Henry Beasley, and he’s not balanced. Court documents show he was obsessed with a girl in college. He got a job at the coffee shop she worked at, and they became friends. When she turned him down for a date, things went off the rails. He kidnapped her and raped her. She was able to identify him, and when they searched his home, they found every wall in the place covered with pictures of her. Somehow after the trial had begun, he disappeared.”

“Are you sure they are both there?”

“Yes.”

“Get me Jet’s phone number.” I shoved the stick into reverse and peeled out of the parking space, heading to The Club.

“Texting it to you right now.”

I didn’t waste a moment, as soon as the text came through with the number, I was calling him.

“Jet here.”

“Jet, it’s Bryant Harrison.”

“How the fuck did you get my personal cell phone number?”

“That’s not important-”

“The hell it’s not.”

“Jet, I need to get into The Club right now. Starr’s in trouble.”

“What’s going on?”

As quickly as I could, I told him about Ricky and was impressed at how quickly he picked up on the gravity of the situation.

“Tally, my business partner, should be there now. I’ll call her and you can meet her there. I don’t want to include anyone else in this, do you understand?”

“Yes.” My rage was burning through me. If he so much as laid one hand on Starr, I would kill the man.

“I’m on my way to The Club. Don’t do anything until I get there.”

“Hurry.”

I threw the phone on the passenger seat, concentrating on driving through the streets. Within a couple of minutes, I was pulling into the garage, sure enough, a gorgeous woman was standing there, her arms crossed over her chest and her foot tapping. I could only assume it was Tally. Pulling into the parking spot closest to her, I wasn’t surprised when she yanked the door open.

“Come,” she demanded. Gracefully, yet still full of tension, she spun and stalked towards the door.

“Aren’t we supposed to wait for Jet?”

She looked back at me over her shoulder. “Do you love her?”

“Yes.”

“Do you really want to wait for him knowing what Ricky might be doing to her right now?”

“No.”

“Then come.” She flung the door open and took the stairs two at a time. “Jet seems to think he’s the only one who can take care of business.”

“I’m sure he just wants to make sure nothing happens to you.”

Tally stopped and turned, looking down at me from the stairs above. “I’m going to ignore that statement and chalk it up to the fact you’re worried about Starr and you have no idea who I am. But you should never underestimate what a woman is capable of, especially when she is pissed off.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I wasn’t too much of a man to admit the look in her eyes was actually a little scary right now.

“Good, now, can we please go save my employee?”

Without waiting for a reply, she spun back around and continued up the stairs. When we got to the door leading to the third floor, she stopped and turned around to me. “What is the rule here at The Club?”

“Keep your mouth shut.”

“Good boy, I don’t need to tell you that this club means
everything
to me, and I will do whatever it takes to keep my employees, customers, and integrity of the place safe. It is who I am to the core.”

I nodded, I knew exactly what she was saying. And if everything we suspected was true, I had no problem keeping my mouth shut with whatever happened after we walked out of this door.

“We know they are on this floor, we were able to trace them this far, but just to be sure, I had Preston check every other room on every floor to make sure he didn’t somehow double back. We’ve checked the cameras on this floor and most are working properly, but there are a few that aren’t. We’re going to start there. I have Liam, our security tech, going back through trying to figure out what happened. I want to play this all casual. If nothing is going on, I don’t want to tip our hand that we know about his past.”

“Fair enough.”

“Good.” She pulled a Taser out of her back pocket and checked it. “Follow me.”

The place looked totally different with the lights turned up and no one around. It was eerily silent. Tally walked through the place, her eyes scanning everything. Carefully, we checked every room. My tension building with each one, my imagination going wild about what we might find behind the door. It only took us a few minutes to check the rooms down the hall. My eyes kept going to the last door on the left.

When Tally reached her free hand out to turn the knob, holding her Taser up in the other one, I knew this was it. I tried to brace myself for what I might see inside the room, and I hoped we were wrong. That we were jumping to conclusions.

The knob wouldn’t turn in her hand. Our eyes locked. This was it. She pulled what I assumed was the master key out of her pocket and unlocked the door.