Master (Chaos Bleeds Book 8) (21 page)

“Hello.”

“Hey, Lola, it’s me. I’m finally awake.”

“Paris, thank God. I wanted to stay until you finally woke up. My parents wouldn’t let me.”

“They were worried about you. How have you been?”

“I’m … okay.”

Paris stared across the room. “Okay?”

“It has been … hard. I-I got rid of my computer, my e-reader, and my cell phone. I don’t want anything to do with technology. The scholarship I was going to have, dead. If I’m not willing to handle computers, then my education doesn’t come free.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, me too. I just can’t do it, you know? I find it too scary.”

“He’s not coming back, Lola.”

“There are plenty of bad people in the world. It has been over three weeks, and you’re only just calling me. That tells me what was wrong with you was serious.”

“How about when I get out of the hospital, and back to Piston County, you come and visit me?”

Lola paused. “Do you promise?”

“I have your number now. I can call you whenever I want, and we can talk. It would be nice to talk to you outside of a cage.”

Lola laughed. “I really shouldn’t laugh. I just think it would be nice to talk to you in a coffee shop. That would be nice. No cage, our freedom still part of us.”

“He’s not going to control us forever.”

“Speak for yourself. I feel controlled, even now.”

“You’ve got to get on a computer, or something.”

“I’m not ready yet.”

“One day you will be, maybe.”

Silence fell between them.

“What are you doing, then?” Paris asked.

“I’m trying to look for a job. I think that would be good for me, you know? Concentrate on something else. The biggest problem is everyone near where I live knows what happened, and they keep on asking me. I don’t get that. Why do they keep on asking me about what happened? I don’t want to keep reliving it. They’ll see me for an interview, but when I tell them hell no, I get told I’m not what they’re looking for.”

“I’m sorry.”

“We’re saying sorry a lot, and we didn’t do anything wrong. It’s hard to get your head around.”

“Yeah, it is.” All she had wanted to say to Lola was how sorry she was that she didn’t fight, that she got hurt, that she had to look after her sister. Life wasn’t fair, and she hated that Andrew had done this to her, to them.

“I’ve got to go, Paris. My mother is looking at me as if I’m going to slit my wrists any second, and it’s freaking me out.”

“Please don’t do that,” Paris said.

“I’m not going to let him win. I do that, and he won, Paris. Don’t do it either. We’re stronger than this, and we’re going to prove that to ourselves, and to him.”

“You’re right. We can do this.”

“I’m going to cut the call now. It was lovely talking to you, and to be able to look at something more than bars.”

Paris smiled. “Talk soon.”

****

“You’re leaving soon,” Tabitha said.

“I know.” Simon looked up from coloring to stare at Tabitha. They were both sitting at the table in the front room. Tiny, Eva, Mom, and Dad were in the kitchen talking, making arrangements. They were both better now, and the girl in the hospital was making a full recovery.

“I’ll miss you,” Tabitha said.

“I’ll always miss you.”

Tabitha smiled. “I wish you didn’t have to leave. You could be my friend all day. Daisy likes you as well. She’s always scared around new people. I think Anthony likes her. He likes her to read. She does read stories really well.”

“We can call though. Dad will let me. He’s told me so.”

“Do you think it’s ever going to be fun?”

“One day.” Simon reached over the table and held her hand. “I know we were in the hospital, but I liked it. I’d spend any time with you, wherever we have to.”

“Even if we were in the snow freezing?”

“Yep.”

“What about horse poo?”

Simon laughed. “Yeah, even in horse poo.”

“Wow.”

“That’s love, and I’ve heard my Dad tell my mom that he loves her so much that he’d rather his dick rot off than stick it in another pussy.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” Simon said, frowning. “Dad always says weird things. They make no sense, but then Mom blushes, and she seems happy with them.”

“I think I like you standing with me in horse poop. That’s nice.”

“Yeah, it is.”

****

Sally nibbled on her finger as she stared at the calculation in front of her. None of it was making sense, but she needed to finish her math homework so that she could get back to that good book she was reading. She didn’t care what anyone said, vampires were still in.

“What are you doing?” Steven asked, making her jump.

Looking up from her book, she stared at the handsome club member who had been trying to spend a great deal of time with her. “I’m doing my homework.” She went to scratch her leg, and paused just as she was about to reach down. It was her left leg, but there was nothing there. Closing her eyes, she counted to ten, and opened them again. Steven had pulled out a chair, and sat opposite her.

“Leg giving you trouble?” he asked.

“It’s fine.” Her cheeks started to heat, and she hated that. She hated that she was embarrassed by what was happening. Gritting her teeth, she ignored it, and carried on staring at the calculus question that wasn’t working itself out.

“Whizz said you’d be studying from home,” Steven said.

“I didn’t want to be home alone right now. Lacey’s going to beauty college at night. I’ve heard they’re planning on opening their own salon in town,” Sally said. It would have been nice to work there, but right now, she had other focuses. Between talking about her fucking feelings, and learning to move around on crutches, she was going stir-crazy. She couldn’t wait to have a prosthetic so she could wear pants, and pretend that she was normal again. Walking down the street on crutches made her aware of people staring, gawking at her as she went by. Whizz was working at the gym, and rather than be alone, she’d come to the clubhouse. Since Lacey and Whizz had adopted her, they had said the clubhouse would be open to her as well.

Fortunately, they weren’t making her go to school. That would have sucked.

No one had stopped by to see her though. She wasn’t completely without friends, or maybe she was, and this was the way people were saying she wasn’t part of their group.

Staring at her book, she looked over the numbers again even as her heart started to break. Sometimes she forgot about how much people seemed to naturally dislike her. She had to wonder if she wore a neon sign that said, “vermin passing through”.

Don’t do that.

“Do you want some help?” Steven asked.

“You don’t need to keep me company or worry about me. I’m fine. I can do my homework on my own.” She forced herself to look at him again.

“I want to keep you company.”

“Why?”

“You went through something awful, and I want to be here to help.”

She put down her pen. “I don’t need pity, Steven. I just want to be left alone.”

There was a knock at the door, and Sally turned, and was surprised to see Drew on her doorstep.

“I hope I’m not intruding?” Drew asked.

“Who the fuck are you, punk?” Steven asked, getting to his feet.

There was no way she was going to stand up. Drew was the star at her high school, and usually he hung around with a lot of cheerleaders, and had a bit of a reputation. Sally hadn’t been watching where she was going in the school library, and had bumped into him. Rather than yell at her or taunt her, he’d helped her.

It was the only time they had ever spoken.

Most of the time she ignored him, and he ignored her.

“I, um, I came to see Sally, and I knew her parents were part of The Skulls. You weren’t at home,” Drew said, staring at her.

“I’m not at home.”

Baker, Fighter, Ink, Twisted, Curse, Lash, and Pussy got to their feet. This had to be embarrassing. They were standing up to a teenage boy. Okay, that teenage boy looked like he was in his early twenties, and he didn’t look scared of them. Why were they getting all defensive? Drew wasn’t interested in her.

“I’ve been away the past month. I had surgery on my knee, and I had to go out of state. I was at school, and I heard what happened. You’re being taught from home?”

“I lost my leg, Drew,” Sally said.

Grabbing her crutches, she held them straight, and lifted herself up. Making sure she was balanced, she gripped them tightly, and moved out of the way of the tables. She was wearing shorts, so her lack of a leg was easy to see.

“I’m not coming back to school. I’m hoping never.” Her cheeks were on fire, but she forced herself to face her peer.

“Wow, here I was thinking I’d have a tale to tell about my busted knee. You win, that is fucking hard,” Drew said.

“Busted knee?”

“Played a game about five weeks ago. I was running, and I turned, knee went pop, I went down. My career is officially over.”

“You’re talking like people care,” Steven said.

“Don’t be rude.” Sally glared at him. “I had an, um, accident.”

“I can see. I wanted to come and offer you friendship.”

“Thanks, Drew, I appreciate it.” She didn’t know what else to say, and instead offered him a smile. “It was nice of you to come by.”

Drew smiled. “Any time.”

She watched him head back toward the door, then stop.

“I don’t suppose you’d like to go out some time? Catch a movie?”

“Really?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“I’d love to.”

“Great.”

“I don’t think you should be going on dates without Whizz and Lacey knowing about it,” Steven said.

Glaring at him, she turned her attention back to Drew. “I’ll call you.”

Drew had his phone. “Give me your number, and we can set it up later.”

Sally told him her number, and then he was gone. She smiled as she thought about the prospect of a date. Not once had she been on a date. Maybe, just maybe, this could be something … nice.

Chapter Sixteen

One month later

Piston County

Spider sat at the clubhouse drinking a coffee. They had been back home for over a week, and nothing had changed. Well, apart from the fact none of them were under threat. Chaos Bleeds had pulled away from drug and gun runs months ago. Now they were handling legit businesses. They already owned the strip club, and they were hoping to invest in several buildings within the town that had been left derelict after years of neglect.

Devil was looking into them with Vincent.

Spider already had the memo that they had church at the end of the day. Until then, he didn’t have a clue what to do.

“What’s got you looking all sad in your coffee?” Sinner asked, taking a seat beside him.

“Nothing.”

“Does this have to do with that sweet girl that came home with us?”

Paris and Celia had come home with Chaos Bleeds. Devil had promised Paris that she wouldn’t have to work for them again. They were going to be taken care of. All she had to do was ask, and they’d be there. There was also an allowance, and every member had agreed that Paris deserved it.

She had been discharged from the hospital after making a full recovery. They were also paying for therapy. Lexie had been insistent that she have someone to talk to. Her first session was yesterday. Spider had kept his distance, though.

“Why would she bother me?”

“Don’t play fucking dumb. You clearly had a thing for her. Why don’t you just admit it?” Sinner tapped his knuckles on the counter and raised his hand. “Coffee, Lydia.”

Jessica’s friend was still hanging around the clubhouse, but Lydia had become more subdued in recent months. She placed a coffee in front of Sinner.

“You know, I think I preferred her when she thought she’d become an old lady,” Sinner said, taking a sip of his drink. “Bitch makes disgusting coffee. Now, back to your problem.”

“I don’t have a problem.”

“You’re sitting alone in the clubhouse. Why don’t you go to Naked Fantasies, or tag along with Devil and Vincent?”

“Why the fuck would I do that?”

“Before you became a club member, you worked in construction.”

“So?”

“So, you could help them invest properly.”

“That was a long time ago. Nearly twenty years.”

“I imagine seeing a good building from a bad one isn’t forgotten.”

“I’m drinking my coffee.”

“We’ve been back for a week, and you’re moping. Dick’s not even here to rib you about it. That fuck is on his honeymoon. Devil’s making arrangements to take the whole family away, including Ripper and Judi. We’re all moving on, and you’re moping like a little bitch just got her period.”

“Fuck off, Sinner. I don’t have to listen to you.”

“Actually, you really do. I don’t see you going anywhere else.”

He closed his eyes, rubbing at his temples.

“Why don’t you go and see Paris? She took a lot of shit because of your interest in her. The least you could do is be nice.”

“I am being nice. Don’t you think I don’t know what kind of shit she has been through?” Spider slammed his cup down, and glared at him. “Fuck! Every time I look at her, I see what happened. Don’t you get that? All of her problems, all of her issues are because of me. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, and instead of staying away, I was insistent that she be mine.” Spider got to his feet. “Don’t go telling me what I should and shouldn’t do.”

He grabbed his leather jacket, and made his way toward the door.

“Where are you going?”

“To check on Devil and Vincent.”

“That a boy.”

Spider raised his middle finger.

“Love you, Spider.”

“Fuck off!”

Straddling his bike, Spider turned the ignition over, and listened to his baby purr. Nothing was going according to his own plans. Back at Fort Wills, he’d promised himself that he’d be different with Paris, that he’d make her see he didn’t think any less of her. Instead, he spent all of his time staring at a fucking coffee cup, or a shot glass.

Coward.

Yeah, he hated to admit it, even to himself, but he was being a fucking coward. Paris deserved better than him. She should be happy with a man who would enjoy a nine to five desk job, being bound inside. Spider was never going to be the kind of guy to get a steady job. He loved Chaos Bleeds, the open road, and he loved being part of the club. His job was to be whatever his Prez needed him to be. If Devil wanted him going over the club’s books, that’s what he did. If he was required to be a guard for Naked Fantasies, he did it. No job was too hard.

Taking care of Paris, that was one job he hadn’t taken. Since they had returned Devil had assigned different brothers to check on Paris and Celia. Sinner had been the one to take her shopping. Ripper and Dick had gone around to her house to help clean up. They had been away some time, and her house had been dusty, not to mention trashed from Andrew and Russell taking her and Celia.

Devil had offered for him to be the one to care for her, but he’d said no.

Riding toward town, Spider couldn’t bring himself to find a single reason as to why he should be the one to help Paris.

He was the reason they were taken.

She was beaten, raped, and tortured.

Even as he thought about the reasons why he was staying away, he couldn’t help but think about how strong Paris was as a person.

When he saw the abandoned building near the library, along with Devil’s car, he parked his bike, climbed off, and headed on inside.

“This building has seen several generations of staff manning it,” the real estate agent said. “According to records this was once a settlement building. The first built in Piston County.”

Spider heard the doubt in her voice. Rounding the corner, he found Vincent and Devil knocking on walls. They were hollow sounding.

“Excuse me, I have this room booked,” the woman said.

“I’m with them, Miss ….”

“Hargrove. Laura Hargrove.” She shook his hand.

“Spider.”

“Oh, is that your real name?” Laura asked.

“Yep. The only name I go by.” His real name was Stuart Cox. Yeah, he was going by Spider.

“What do you think of this place?” Devil asked.

“Yeah, we’re doing the usual knocking on walls, but I don’t know. Is it good?” Vincent asked.

Spider looked around the room. There was plaster coming off the walls, and the ceiling also had holes as well. It wasn’t about the interior of the room. The building depended on a structure being sound. Interior decorating was easily fixed, and often what a lot of people walked away from.

Spider knocked on the walls, to find the supporting wall. The wall that Devil and Vincent had been trying it out was hollow. Moving from one room to the other, Spider wasn’t happy.

“How long has this place been empty?” Spider asked.

Laura looked at her paper work. “Ten years. I really don’t know much about this building. My boss told me to take you guys out to see it. I usually deal in homes, housing, apartments, things like that. This is a little out of my area.”

Spider saw her wrinkle her nose.

“What happened to the previous owners?”

“I don’t know. This was some kind of artisanal department store, an incident went wrong with the insurance, and they had to sell up short.”

“That’s because they knocked out a supporting wall, and built this up instead. The ceiling needs support, and those holes are not very comforting.” Spider looked toward his Prez, and the Vice Prez. Vincent may not have been on the road with them all that much just lately, but he’d found love in Piston County, and so that was why they had come back here. “You could take this place, but you’re looking at taking it down to the ground, and building it back up. I’d say even the foundations didn’t look right.”

“You sure?” Vincent asked.

“Positive. People can knock down walls providing they don’t support the structure. Each building has a point of strength, and provides the foundation for the next level. This wall runs directly through the beginning to the end of the building. With no actual activity in here for ten years, it doesn’t look bad. You can go and check it out, but I don’t even want to go on the next floor. It’s not safe, and I’m not comfortable being here.”

Spider didn’t wait around. He left the building, and walked toward his bike. Laura followed him second.

“Wow, I had no idea about that. I’m so sorry.”

“Who is your boss?” Spider asked.

“Earl Mill.”

“Isn’t he on the Piston County committee?” Devil asked, finally coming out of the building with Vincent.

“I don’t know. I think so.”

“Yeah, fucker has been trying to shut us down, and send us out of town,” Vincent said. “He’s got a problem in front of a bunch of churchgoers, but he’s all right watching women at our club shake their tits at him.”

“You own Naked Fantasies?” Laura asked.

He saw her cheeks darken.

“You know it?”

“Yeah, I do, actually. It’s a pretty cool place.” Her cheeks went a deeper shade of red. “Anyway, I had no idea about this building, and structural problems. I wouldn’t have shown you. I know you’re serious about creating work in Piston County, and with the latest recessions, jobs in this place are pretty scarce.”

“You probably find Earl wanted us to invest in a money pit, and drive us out of town. The moment we bought that place, we’d have all kinds of checks that we’d likely fail,” Devil said.

“Do you actually have something decent in there?” Spider asked.

“I don’t know. Like I said, I’m in housing, apartments and stuff. There’s usually a guy who deals with buildings, but he’s out today.” She handed Spider the paperwork. “Would you like to have a look, and tell me the places you’d like to see?”

Spider took the folders and glanced through. He looked at the details and tossed the ones that even in the pictures showed signs of being a money pit. Chaos Bleeds were not strapped for cash, but they weren’t fools who spent it on investments that would ultimately suck.

“Nope, nope, nope, maybe,” Spider said, handing Laura back the yes files. “Those look pretty good.”

“Excellent. Would you like to follow me to the locations? I’ve got all the keys for them in my car.”

Spider agreed and went to his bike. He may as well do something constructive with his time. He’d turned down taking care of Paris. That job now fell to another brother. He just couldn’t do it, and at least here, he could do something useful with his time.

****

Paris smiled at the Chaos Bleeds man who was sitting with Celia, coloring. Her sister had gotten a hell of a lot better since they had returned home, and even Paris felt much better. She hated being away. Piston County was her home, and even though she had enjoyed being near The Skulls, Fort Wills would never be her home. She liked to think that she’d made some friends in the women. Angel was so lovely, and she liked Prue, Emily, Sophia, and Rose. Tate wasn’t the easiest person to like.

“You don’t have to do this, you know?” She picked up her used cup and made her way into the kitchen.

“It’s okay. I like it,” Sinner’s voice said, carrying toward her. Cleaning the coffee cup, Paris looked out toward the back yard to see that it needed to be mowed. She’d do that once Celia had settled down for the day. Her sister was a good kid. They were the same age, but her sister had the mental capacity of a child. Running fingers through her hair, she let out a sigh.

“What’s up?” Sinner asked.

“Where’s Celia?”

Sinner held his hands up. “The television caught her attention. Don’t worry, she’s settled watching whatever shit is on it.”

“Oh, right. It’s probably cartoons. She likes them.” She nodded. They had been back a week, and still Spider hadn’t visited her. Tears filled her eyes, and she turned back to look at the window. “I’ve got to do some gardening.”

“Spider’s hurting. He’s being a complete dick about it.”

“Yeah, a super sized dick that thinks it’s okay for himself to have problems,” Paris said. She wiped the tears away.

“He’s not being fair, making it about him.”

She spun around to face the man who had put himself in charge of her care. “What is this?”

He shrugged. “This is me telling you that Spider is being a dick, but soon, he’s going to wake up.”

“So?”

“Look, Spider rarely acts like this.”

“He walked away because he wanted my virginity and some fucking asshole took that pleasure from him.” She covered her mouth, hoping she hadn’t upset her sister. Sinner turned, to go and check on her.

“She’s fine.”

“See, I’m even shouting now.”

“Spider doesn’t give a fuck about your virginity.”

“You could have fooled me.”

“He showed an interest in you. Out of all of the women on stage, you were the one that caught his eye. You were the one he wanted to help more than anyone, and now look where we’re at. Because of his interest in you, you got taken. Not only did you get taken, you got fucking hurt in a really bad way. You got hurt so bad that you were in the hospital, having to reset bones. Yet, to me, you look like you can handle it.”