Seize Me (5 page)

I pull my knees into my chest as he runs out of the shower, not bothering to snatch a towel. It’s the last thing on his mind as bullets ping all around the building. I don’t shake or scream. It’s just another reminder of why I don’t get close to this kind of lifestyle. The sounds stop. Braxxon throws a shirt across the bathroom and it lands on the floor. I reach up and shut the water off, crawl out and tug on the t-shirt.

“You can stand, Angel.”

I just wanna go home. My legs bring me up, the shirt falls down to my waist, and just like that, he’s down the stairs leaving me all alone. Realization hits me, and I scream for Hazel as I run across the room and down the stairs. When her screams and cries hit my hearing, I start panicking.

“Hazel,” I scream, running towards the sound of her cries.

She’s lying on the bar with people all around as she thrashes about. I start shoving people away from her, and the smell of rust hits my nostrils. Blood, lots and lots of blood covers her naked body.

“Lana,” I choke.

“Winter,” she cries.

“It’ll be okay,” I say as I grab her hand. “Someone call a fucking ambulance.”

I look up at the pervy prospect holding the blood soaked towel against her chest.

“Get her a fucking ambulance,” I scream as I tug him closer with my free hand.

“Star, there’s a doctor on the way.” Pyro tries to calm me. If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have been here, and Lana wouldn’t be bleeding to death.

“I swear to god you better pray she’s gonna be okay because if she’s not, I’ll blow this motherfucking club up!”

“Star, calm the fuck down,” Pyro roars.

“Calm down; you want me to calm down? She’s my only family, and if it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t even be in this fucking mess!”

“She’ll be fine.”

God, I hope Pyro’s right. I need gummy bears, the fruity smell and taste of gummy bears; that is what I need right now. The smell of her blood is lingering in my nostrils, bringing memories back that I don’t care to summon.

“Gummy bears,” I whisper, wiping the tears from my eyes with my free hand.

“What?” The prospect laughs.

“She needs gummy bears,” Lana wheezes. “Get her some gummy bears. It’s like her crack; it’ll calm her.”

“Fuck! I knew this was gonna happen,” Pyro curses. “Prospect, go get Star some damn gummy bears. Star, press that towel tight to Hazel.”

I nod and take over for the prospect. Lana’s eyes start fluttering shut, and I scream for her to keep them open. Everyone is busy on phones and loading guns, and I still don’t know where Braxxon ran off too. The doctor and another prospect take over, and I scoot out of the way. As I fall to the floor, I take a bottle of whiskey with me on the way down. I bring the bottle to my mouth and bite the cap off. I spit it out and tilt the bottle to my lips as PP hands me my gummy bears.

“Glass,” I say to him.

He nods, reaching above me, bringing down a glass. I pour gummy bears into it along with some whiskey and hand him the bottle.

The doctor must’ve numbed Lana because her screams have stopped. As I scurry up with my glass, my eyes land on Braxxon and Pyro talking quietly.

“How fucking dare you,” I seethe at Pyro. “You said you knew this would happen! Why the fuck would you have us here if you knew this was gonna happen?”

I tilt the glass to my lips and snag a gummy bear with my tongue.
Gummy bears
I chant over and over in my head again.

“What the fuck is that?” Braxxon tries taking my glass from me, and I pull it back.

“It’s fucking gummy bears brother; don’t ask,” Pyro laughs.

“Answer me, Pyro,” I say as I chew the gummy flavored whiskey-filled bear.

His eyes cut over to Braxxon who gives him a nod, and when Pyro answers my demanded question, I almost faint.

“You broke down in someone else’s territory last night.”

That nine-word sentence doesn’t need an explanation. I know what that means. It means they risked a lot coming to get us. I immediately feel horrible that our car broke down in the middle of the desert.

“Shit,” I groan into my glass, snagging another gummy bear.

My hands begin to shake as everything hits me at once. Hazel and I have stirred shit up for them without meaning to, and now we’re in the crossfire.

“No questions?” Braxxon growls.

“I don’t need to ask any; I know what this means for your club, and I feel like shit. I’m sorry,” I mumble. “Why didn’t you just leave us there?”

Pyro’s gaze cuts to where the doctor is working on Lana. I would smile if it weren’t for the circumstances, but it seems this guy is extremely hot for my best friend. But my look turns cold because I don’t want either one of us around this shit.

“Don’t even think about it Pyro. You had all you’re getting from Lana! I’m taking her far away from this hell.” I point at him before guzzling down my whiskey, leaving nothing but swollen gummy bears in my glass.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Pyro growls snatching me up by my shirt and yanking me to him.

I try to struggle out of his grasp because he’s furious and that just pisses me off more. I’m about to slam my glass into his face when Braxxon speaks.

“Pyro let her go,” his voice smoothly comes out.

“No, it’s okay Braxxon. Who the fuck do I think I am? I’ll tell you Pyro,” I coo quietly staring into his eyes. “My name is Winter Aaliyah Belov.”

Recognition hits his eyes. As his fingers slowly uncurl, I snatch away from him. Braxxon lets out a string of curses from behind me along with Pyro.

“Chapel, now brother.” Braxxon seethes, dragging me behind him.

Well, what the hell?

As he pulls me into a dark room, a light flicks on and then the door slams. I look around, and there’s a rectangle table with chairs all around it. The sound of a fist hitting flesh echoes and I turn to find Pyro seething at Braxxon while moving his jaw back and forth.

“You brought a fucking Belov into my club? You let me fuck a Belov. I don’t have a death wish!”

Oh well it’s clear they’ve heard of my family name. I snicker, and when their eyes cut to mine, I laugh even more.

“What the fuck,” they say in unison.

I shrug. “I ran away from the family almost a year ago. I find it funny that my name clearly scares the piss outta ya.” I walk over to Braxxon and cut my eyes into his gray ones. “I guess you remember what I told ya last night, huh?”

“Oh I remember. I also remember you just saying you ran away from home. Don’t get smart bitch or I’ll just let your good ol’ family know where you’re at,” Braxxon growls at me. Lust is missing, replaced with pure hatred, and I don’t even care about the connection anymore because the bastard just called me a bitch.

“You wouldn’t,” I gasp.

“Test me, Angel. I don’t like prissy little bitches,” he laughs, crossing his bare arms.

I throw my glass at his head and he ducks, laughing more. I need to get outta here. I storm passed them, out through the main room and into Pyro’s room to grab my things. I stop to check on Lana, but she isn’t at the bar.

“Where is she?” I ask the prospect.

“Doc has her on the couch she’s asleep,” he nods.

I look over and sure enough, Lana is fast asleep with a small blanket covering her. I look back at the prospect, giving him my most stern ‘I’m serious’ face.

“Make sure she gets home, okay?”

Pyro cares enough about here to get her home, and if not, I’ll just come back. I don’t wait for a reply; I just walk outside barefooted, carrying my bag. The sunlight blinds me, but when my eyesight returns, I see our car is still on the tow truck. I drop everything and run over. The car and tow truck have bullet holes all along the sides.

“Going somewhere?”

I sigh and turn towards Braxxon but not before my eyes spot the row of bikes, half of them filled with holes. A smile creeps upon my face. Cocky bastard won’t be so cocky now.

“Well, neither are you it appears.” I nod in the direction of the shot up bikes.

He shrugs. “We have more.”

Shit!

“I hate you,” I whisper.

His body language totally changes, and his look changes to the one that seized me and I swoon on the spot.

“Angel, c’mere baby.”

I wish he would stop using that voice on me. It’s not fair. When I reach him, he picks me up bridal style. As we walk back towards the building, he crouches down and grabs my bag. He passes everyone when we’re back inside without saying a word to them and takes me up the stairs to his apartment.

“Don’t you have things to do?”

“I can spare a few minutes,” he grumbles. “We need to get this blood off you.”

I can tell he actually doesn’t have the time, but for some reason, the likeable Braxxon is back. I’m going to enjoy him while I can because there is no way I’m coming back to this hell. I want to kick and throw things like a child because for the first time, I have this incredible chemistry and it has to be with someone like Braxxon. Someone who isn’t beneficial for me. Someone whose touch is more than what I felt with Allen. I seriously need to get far away, like abyss far.

“You can’t leave right now; the club is going under lockdown,” he answers as if he were reading my unspoken rant. Of course, it is. He sits me down on the toilet and reaches over to turn the shower on. He shifts back to me and lifts the shirt up.

“Prez.” Someone knocks on the door.

“Dammit.” He looks at me with something like regret in his eyes. “I gotta go. Take a shower and get some rest.”

And just like that, he’s gone yet again. The water makes me sick to my stomach as it washes my best friend’s blood off me. I would much rather take a bath right now, but I’m in a bachelor clubhouse apartment where the guys bring women back to screw. There is no welcome mat laid out for me here or for any other women for that matter. I grab a towel hanging next to the shower when I finish washing. I quickly dry my hair with it and toss it to the floor. I am not in the mood to be a particularly neat person. I climb into his bed and lay there staring at the ceiling.

I deserve so much more than this kind of life. I’ve been here; I’ve done all this before. This isn’t the place for someone trying to start new. These guys are criminals, and they screw girls as if they can’t get enough. I huff and wrap myself tightly in the sheet. These next few days can’t go by fast enough. So many things have gone wrong, not to mention Rich is going to be furious when he finds out Lana took a bullet. Maybe I need to move again. I wonder if I can get Lana to go with me. I don’t think I could ever leave her. A tear escapes my eye as my thoughts run rapid through my mind. Why does Braxxon have to be from this kind of world? Why the hell this damn connection? I must’ve been some horrible person in a past life. There is no other explanation.

Everything starts frustrating me. No wonder I’m a nut job. My father certainly did a number on me. My thoughts are even crazy and make no sense.

This stupid world is so unpretty.

I wake to Pyro shaking my leg. I groan and stretch, not realizing my entire front is exposed. He smirks at me, and I kick at him.

“Hazel’s awake and asking for ya,” he says and stands straight back up.

“Thank you; I’ll be down in just a second.”

He nods and leaves, allowing me to get dressed.

I dig through my bag and start cursing myself repeatedly for bringing slut clothes to wear, thinking Lana and I would be casino hopping this weekend. I’m gonna look just like the rest of these muffler bunnies that hang out in this shit hole. At least I wore tennis shoes on the way here. I don’t wanna be walking around in this club with nine-inch heels on. I grab my little black strapless dress and slip my feet in my white converse. I don’t bother with makeup because I’m stuck here and my best friend has been frigging shot.

Edging slowly down the stairs, I hear tons of voices. This is lovely. I try pulling my dress up more, but it’s no use. Right now I’m wishing what I wore yesterday didn’t stink with sweat. Just because I dance, and I’m naked most of my nights doesn’t mean I like bitty bopping around in nothing when I’m off work. Every woman deserves to dress up for dinner, girls nights out and even casino prowling, but I’ll be damned if I wanna look like a free meal for these guys.