Chelsea (The Club Girl Diaries Book 2) (28 page)

Ropes were bound around my wrists and ankles and I was forced to sit on the cold concrete floor against the wall. Marco has disappeared upstairs with McCreepy, leaving the other man with us. I could hear him coming back down the stairs now, but he was alone. I didn’t know how long they’d been gone, but my ass had gone dead a long time ago and my body was so frozen I wasn’t even shaking anymore—I was just numb.

My stomach was in knots and I felt as though I might puke. My mouth filled with saliva, but I forced myself to swallow, not wanting to show these men how I was really feeling despite my death glares and sharp tongue.

I was scared. So fucking scared.

I heard Rose’s breathing catch on a sob just as Marco stepped back into the cold room.

“Go clean yourself up, Rosalie.” Her father’s tone was not caring and gentle but rather disgusted.

Rose looked over to me as if debating with herself whether to leave me alone with these men. It didn’t matter. I had the feeling if Marco was the type of man to treat his own blood the way he treated Rose, he wouldn’t care if she was in the room while he hurt me. She stood up on shaky legs and started walking to the stairs, stopping in front of her father and looking up at him.

“Please, Daddy—” She didn’t even have time to finish her sentence before she was sent skidding across the floor crying out in pain.

“I told you, you have not yet earned the right to address me that way,” he yelled, the sound booming in the closed space and hurting my ears. He stood over her whimpering body.

“Leave her alone,” I yelled, fighting at my restraints.

He looked up, surprised by my outburst. Bending down, he grabbed a fist full of her hair. “This girl lied to you, she lured you to places and attempted to hurt you and you are speaking up for her?” He shook her and she cried out again.

“Someone needs to speak for her. Obviously, her pathetic excuse for a family won’t,” I spat.

He laughed, the sound more like a witches cackle. He pushed Rose away. She pushed herself to her feet and gave me one last look before disappearing up the stairs. I heard the door shut behind her and I was alone.

Marco walked forward. “You know, for a whore, I suspected that you would be more submissive.” He pondered as though he was just speaking his thoughts out loud. “But then again, losing both your parents at such a young age must’ve been very traumatic for you. Made you grow up a lot faster.”

“I didn’t lose them.” I snapped, my voice cracking. “They were murdered!”

He rolled his eyes. “I know, I was there.”

“So you’re here to finally wipe me out too. The one that got away.”

He shrugged. “Actually, it was just convenient. The club took something from me years ago. When my father was jailed, I expected that I would take over. But the Brothers by Blood came along before I even had a chance and snatched several business deals straight out from under me.” His voice was low but filled with venom and hate.

“You snooze, you lose,” I muttered sarcastically.

Marco stormed at me, his sparkling dress shoes stomping on the floor. He reached out and wrapped his hand around my throat, pulling me up to my feet and making it hard to breath. I could feel his fingers digging into my neck, his nails puncturing my skin.

“Killing your dad, the man who put my father away should have made him happy. But it didn’t.” He held me against the wall and got right in my face. “It’s because of those disgusting bikers that my father handed everything over to my younger brother. Framing them was meant to bring them down, a way to gain our business back, but when that didn’t work, I had nothing. It should have been
mine
. I should be running things,
not Anthony!”

I could feel small bits of spit on my cheeks. Things began to blur and my head felt heavy. He tossed me to the floor and I bounced, hitting my head on the concrete. I was dazed and groaned as I rolled onto my back, attempting to relieve some of the pressure that I felt in my head. I knew I was bleeding, feeling the blood drip down the side of my head and into my ear.

He pressed his foot over my stomach and slowly began to apply pressure. I gasped for air and my stomach wrenched as I heard a snap. I felt like I’d been stabbed. I couldn’t breathe properly and I was starting to panic. I knew he’d broken one of my ribs and it had probably pierced my lung. I screamed, the pain was so excruciating.

“My father didn’t see the potential I had! He said I was too angry, not level-headed enough.” A sadistic smile appeared on his face. “But I was level-headed enough to organize his demise.”

I heard a gasp.

The room was silent apart from my ragged breathing.

“You told me the club killed Granddad,” Rose whispered. “You said this was what it was all about. Getting revenge on the club for hurting my family.”

I hear Marco scoff loudly. “If the DNA test hadn’t proved it, I would never have believed you were my child. You definitely don’t have the brains.”

Tears poured down my cheeks, I just wanted this to be over now. I wanted it to be done. I was starting to wish he would just shoot me.

I felt her body next to mine, but with the lack of air getting into my lungs, things were beginning to fade in and out. “Oh my God, what have I done?”

I felt her cool hand on my face.

It was soothing.

Rose may have made some bad choices but just like I had, she’d been deceived by someone who was meant to love her.

I wanted to be angry, but this wasn’t her fault.

“Losing her will be enough to send Optimus crazy. And without a strong leader, the club is going to fall to pieces.” I heard his laughter again, but it sounded so far away now.

“Hold on, Chelsea,” she whispered. “Please just hold on.”

I managed to force my eyes to clear so I could see the room. Marco’s back was to me, but I could see the man stand to his feet behind him, his eyes were wide as they stared at me.

I was confused.

That was until I saw the gun that was hovering above me. Rose’s hand was shaking, but she was pointing it over me, directly at her father.

“I’ve spent over a year
,
trying to please you.”

My chest burned with the effort it took to pull in each breath, but all I wanted to do was scream …
Yes. Finally.

Marco twisted to face us, his eyes narrowing at his daughter.

She continued, “You lied to me. You
beat
me. You made me feel like I was never worthy of even being in your presence. Uncle Anthony and my cousins never treated me like that. He loves his children, he’s proud of them. That’s all I ever wanted, was for you to look at me and be proud.”

His lip curled in disgust. “And what have you ever done to make me want to be proud? You were a mistake, you were a lapse in judgment.”

I knew every word would hit Rose like a sharp knife to the heart, but she held the gun on him through his demeaning words.

“Turns out I did get something from you then. I had a serious lapse in judgment when I agreed to help you hurt Chelsea, and when I thought I could make you happy…make you love me,” her voice never wavered. Rose finally had her strength and her sass back. “But I can see clearly now. It makes me sick to think that I have your blood flowing through my veins because I’m nothing like you.”

Marco’s man was now standing beside him, holding a gun of his own.

Marco shrugged, he didn’t care if Rose hated him. She was merely a pawn in his game and he had played her so well it made my heart ache for her. All she’d wanted was a family and to make her father proud, like many of us, do.

“Shoot them both,” he said casually, turning and heading for the staircase.

I felt Rose’s hand on my cheek. “I’m so sorry.”

I tried to smile and reassure her, but my body was tingling and everything around me was going black, there just wasn’t enough air.

Just as I was about to close my eyes, I heard a scream and someone came crashing and rolling down the stairs, bowling into Marco, causing him to fall to the ground.

“Honey, I’m home!”

That was when I let go and my world stopped.

They were here.

He was here.

Chelsea was still in Athens. She was close but the ride there still felt like an eternity. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to find.

Was she hurt? Was she even alive?

I was convinced she was okay. Sure that in myself, I’d know if she was gone. Chelsea was buried so deeply inside my heart and inside my soul that I just knew if something happened to her my world would come crashing down around me.

Wrench and Ham drove ahead of us with Anthony’s man in the car. Leading the way to where they were meant to be holding Chelsea. We pulled up a few miles out of Athens, turned down an old gravel road before coming to a farm house. I pulled up my bike and climbed off.

The door of Wrench’s SUV flew open and Grant literally fell out. His face was more battered than it had been when he was thrown in the car. Ham and Wrench both came around. Wrench was laughing and Ham was wiping his knuckles with the bottom of his shirt.

“Brother,” Wrench said with a light chuckle. “Ham over here has some hidden anger issues.”

Ham didn’t acknowledge his smart remark. He’d been quiet since Chelsea was gone, the two had gotten close and he was taking it hard.

I knew the feeling.

I looked up at the rundown house. It didn’t look like anyone had been there in a long time. The shutters were falling off and I could see boards missing on the deck that ran around the outside.

“Where are they?” I growled as Grant stood, wiping the blood from his nose.

“Inside.”

I started walking forward, ready to get my woman and murder the bastard who’d thought he could take her from me.

My phone began to ring.

In the back of my mind, I wanted to ignore it, but my gut made me stop and pull it from my pocket. I frowned seeing Kit’s name come up on the caller ID.

“I’m a little busy—”

“Don’t go in that fucking house. It’ll blow,” he yelled in my ear.

I spun around to look at my men. “What the hell are you on about?”

I watched as Grant shifted nervously on his feet.

“Rose called Harmony from Chelsea’s phone. It’s a trap. The door’s rigged,” Kit said, obviously relieved he’d caught me in time.

I stormed forward, grabbing Grant by the throat and slamming him against Wrench’s ride.

“She gave me an address. I’m gonna text it to you now.”

“Thanks, brother.” I tossed my phone on the ground and slammed my fist into the lying bastard’s face. He cried out in pain like the little bitch he was and fell to the ground, writhing.

“That was the plan, huh?” I boomed. “Make us walk through the door and blow us all up.”

My brothers stood stunned.

The little shit even had the balls to smirk. “It was Rosalie wasn’t it? She didn’t have the balls to go through with it?” He snorted. “Stupid bitch.”

I pulled my gun from its holster. “Seems she’s a lot smarter than your fucking dumb ass.”

He shook his head and I saw his eyes searching, smiling as he found my VP.

“Every time I fucked her I knew she was thinking about you.” He leaned to the side and spat a mouthful of blood into the grass. “Made it that much fucking sweeter knowing that a piece of biker trash wanted her and it was my cock insi—”

The bang echoed in the wide open space and Grant’s body fell limp.

Blizzard still held his gun on the asshole even though he was dead. His breathing was heavy and I knew if we didn’t go now he was going to lose it. I put my pistol away and picked up my phone seeing a text had come through from Kit.

I tossed my phone to Wrench. “Put this address in your GPS and go fucking fast. We’ve wasted too much time.”

I didn’t even have to explain to my brothers what was going on. They jumped on their bikes and we followed Wrench as he tore out of there like a bat out of hell. It wasn’t long before we pulled into a suburb of Athens that was what you might call the wrong side of the tracks. I saw a group of bikes parked up, down the street. The rest of my brothers. Wrench pulled up behind them.

“It’s just around the corner. Think we should go on foot so they don’t hear us coming,” Wrench explained.

I nodded. The last thing I needed was for them to get wind and take off running.

I saw people glancing out of their curtains as we hurried past. It was hard for a group of fourteen bikers to not draw attention to ourselves. At that point, though, I didn’t give a fuck. All I could see was Chelsea’s face.

“That’s it,” Kev murmured, pointing to a black Mercedes that was parked in the driveway of a house. Just as we reached the front step a man stepped out, he was looking down pulling a cigarette from its packet. I raised my gun, clicking off the safety which alerted him to our presence. The pack of smokes hit the deck and he stumbled backward into the doorframe.

“Don’t move mother-fucker,” I said, trying to keep my voice low and my steps light as I climbed the stairs.

“He was with Grant at the bar,” Ham informed me.

The guys eyes flicked from me to Ham and back.

“Where are they?” I demanded.

“In uh…” he stuttered, “in the basement.” I pointed behind him and spotted a red mark on the pristine carpet.

It was blood.

She was bleeding.

“Slider, grab him,” I said, pushing past and walking down the hall until I found an open door with a staircase. I could hear voices, one was a girl’s, not Chelsea’s, though.

“Shoot them,” a deep voice said, followed by heavy steps. My brothers crowded the small hall, guns drawn. Slider had the sleazy looking fucker by the throat. I tipped my head toward the staircase and Slider’s face lit up. With one huge push, he sent the bastard flying down the stairs, rolling and crashing and screaming like a baby.

Slider cupped his hands around his mouth. “Honey, I’m home!”

With that, I bounded down the stairs, taking two or three at a time. My men weren’t far behind. The guy we’d thrown down the stairs was out for the count. The man under him, who I clocked to be Marco DePalma groaned as he threw the body up and climbed to his feet. Leo had a gun pointed at his head in a flash and his back instantly stood straight. A gun clattered to the floor and Kev had another man pinned to the wall.

That was when I found her.

I almost dropped to my knees.

Rose was slumped over her body, a gun in her hand, waving it around like a mad woman.

“Rose,” Blizzard stepped forward, tucking his gun back inside his cut and holding his hands up. “Babe, put the gun down.”

“I didn’t know they would do this. I didn’t want them to hurt her. I called Harmony and told her,” Rose choked on her tears.

“Fucking bitch, you aren’t my daughter,” her father yelled from behind me. It was followed by the sounds of flesh hitting flesh.

But I couldn’t turn around. I trusted my brothers to watch my back because all I had eyes for was Chelsea.

“Rose, I know. It’s okay. You did the right thing. But babe, I can’t tell if she’s okay and Optimus here is about go crazy if he doesn’t check on his girl.”

I admired Blizzard’s ability to keep his voice soft even though I knew he was thinking exactly what I was thinking. I couldn’t see her breathing.

Rose looked down at Chelsea and screamed,
“No!”

Blizzard dashed across the room, picked her up around the waist and pulled her away. Ham moved and took the gun from her hand and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

But not me.

I dropped to my knees and shuffled across the concrete floor. She looked so small, so delicate. I reached out slowly and touched her cheek. It was cold and her lips were tinted blue.

My breath caught in my throat.

No.

I would know if she was gone.

No.

I let out a roar and it filled the small space,
“No!”
I leaned over her and pressed my forehead to hers. I’d wasted so much time fucking around, thinking I was keeping her safe when really I should have had her at my side. “You can’t go,” I whispered. “I told Harlyn everything would be okay. I pinkie promised.”

How much time had I wasted pushing her away instead of holding her close? I was a fucking idiot. I’d lost another person that I loved. And it was my own God damn fault.

It was at that point I did something I never had before. I fucking prayed. I prayed for a chance to see her smile again. I prayed for a chance to feel her body warm and soft against me. I prayed for a chance to tell her I loved her and that she was it for me.

She was my ride or die.

I prayed to a fucking God that I didn’t even believe in to bring her back to me.

Hadn’t he taken enough from me already?
Hadn’t I gone through enough pain—hadn’t she?

I heard sirens in the distance.

I didn’t care. I was going to kill this asshole and they could lock me up. Give me fucking life for all I cared. Without her, it didn’t matter anyway. Just as I turned my head to look over my shoulder, I felt it.

I was only small, but I felt it.

A light brush of air on my cheek.