Stain (King's Harlots MC Book 2) (24 page)

***

(Asher)

The moment he left me alone with them, I fell to my knees, praying to whoever would listen that I could leave this nightmare.

Mom, why did you leave me?

Why couldn’t you have stayed to protect me from him?

I asked those same questions over and over again, but I never got a response.

I blamed her. It was all her fault. She should have known. I was her baby boy. Couldn’t she see the marks on my tiny body? The handprints on my arms when I wore a t-shirt?

The teachers at school called her about it, but she denied everything. She was always in denial. She never even confronted my step-father.

I loved her but I needed her more. I needed her when he came into my room each night and beat me.

Mommy, why?

“Come back to me.”

The sweet sound pulled me from my thoughts and brought me back to the present. A sheen of sweat coated my skin. It was a memory. A fucking nightmare but the putrid scent of death caressed my nose once again. Even though it had been years ago, it would always linger. It was a smell I would never get out of my head.

“I can’t.” My voice cracked. Was that me talking? “
Fuck
.”

“Asher.” Meeka’s brows narrowed, her hands gripping mine in a tight hold.

I tried. I tried so fucking hard to forget.

The pain. The anguish. The screams. But they were so damn loud. Cries of terror stabbed me in the chest with memories of women begging for their lives. They pleaded with me to help them but I was so young. I couldn’t do anything. I was small, a fucking bean pole. What could I have done? It was my fault. All of my fucking fault. I should have done more. I should have called for help. I could have ran to the neighbors. But I didn’t. I didn’t do anything.

My eyes widened, my heart racing hard against my ribcage.

“Listen to their cries, boy.” My step-father took a deep inhale. “It’s music to my ears. Now clean up this mess.” He pushed me forward. “I want the room spotless. It makes the women nervous when they see the blood.”

“No. I can’t.”

“Yes, you can, and you fucking will.” He shoved me to my knees. “You’re lucky I don’t make you clean this shit up with a toothbrush. Now get to fucking work.”

He left but he didn’t take the woman with him. Her muffled cries pierced my ears, growing louder and louder until all I could hear were her screams.

Stop.

Stop screaming.

I couldn’t take it anymore.

Holding my hands over my ears to muffle out the sound, I rocked back and forth. I prayed, pleading with her to stop.

Please. Stop.

***

(Meeka)

“Stop. Please stop.”

Bile rose to my throat at the look of sheer terror written all over Asher’s face. When he had fallen to his knees, the breath was knocked out of me. He told me it had been bad, but I never knew how much. The mental did more damage than the physical and with his job, it didn’t help. He finally cracked under the pressure

He rocked back and forth, holding his hands over his ears. He kept muttering for something to stop, but I wasn’t sure what he was talking about.

“Baby.” I grabbed his hands from his ears and cupped his face, placing soft kisses on his mouth. “Please. Come back to me.” I didn’t know how to help him. I didn’t know what he needed. He lost the battle to the demons that had threatened to destroy him for years. They won. His step-father won. He succeeded in ruining this man’s life whether he knew it or not.

“Asher,” I said, my voice shaking. “They’re memories. They’re not happening. Please, baby. Come back to me.”

His arms suddenly wrapped around me, pulling me against his hard chest. His head pushed into the crook of my neck, his body trembling.

My heart picked up speed. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I couldn’t stop them. I had no control over the emotions flooding through me.

I would give anything to take away his pain. To help him move past the nightmares that he relived over and over every time he closed his eyes. It was naïve of me to think that would ever happen. Even with years of therapy, an abuse victim was always just that—a victim. Maybe not to the abuser but to the nightmares they left behind, engrained in the person’s mind.

“I’m here. I’m always here.” I rubbed soothing circles on his back.

“I’m sorry.” He held me tighter.

“You have nothing to be sorry about. You would do the same for me.”

He sat back, leaning against the edge of the bed. “I would but—”

“What?”

“I would go out and find him and then I would kill him but not at first. I would make him suffer. I would rip off every body part that laid a hand on you.”

“Um, okay, well, how about we just take our pain out on a punching bag instead?” I offered, attempting to lighten the mood.

His lips twitched but he looked far away.

Asher brushed the back of his knuckles down my cheek. The touch was soft and gentle.

“I don’t deserve you,” he whispered. It was so quiet, I almost didn’t hear him.

I opened my mouth to argue, but the words never came out. I just sat there, willing him to believe that he deserved all of the happiness in the world. He wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t his step-father. He was so much more. He was one of the best men I knew. And I would do everything in my power to make him see that.

ASHER FINALLY
fell asleep an hour later. His tanned back rose and fell with ragged breath, and I prayed he was having peaceful dreams.

Rising from the bed, I got dressed. Although we didn’t have sex, he insisted on me being naked beside him. He had told me that touching me calmed him. I didn’t quite understand what that meant, but I didn’t argue. Giving him what he wanted, I wrapped myself around him until his breathing evened out.

When I was certain that he was asleep, I kissed his cheek and decided to talk to Coby and find out what the hell had happened. Asher had snapped. Although I didn’t mind him taking it out on me, it still worried me. He was losing himself, and I didn’t know how to help him remain strong.

“Hey, girl.” Brogan came up to me as I closed my bedroom door. “How’s that man of yours?”

Under normal circumstances, she would have teased me about Asher throwing me over his shoulder. Her lack of jokes sent a flutter of unease twisting in my stomach. “Um, he’s sleeping.”

She nodded, frowning. “Everything okay?”

“It will be.” It had to be. I knew by the questioning look on Brogan’s face, that she wanted more answers, but I couldn’t give them to her. I didn’t even know what they were. Asher needed my help, and no matter what, I would do everything in my power to be strong for him.

“If you want to talk, I’m here.” She patted my hand when her phone rang. Pulling it out of her back pocket, she slid it to her ear before locking eyes with mine. “Yeah. Okay, when? Now? Yup. She is. Okay.” And with that, she hung up. “We have to go.”

“Where?”

“The basement.”

My heart jumped. To get to the basement, you had to go outside and to the back of the building. Jay had a high tech security system built in. The only time we ever went into the basement was for an interrogation. And even that didn’t happen often. Something about us being women and all that shit.

I followed Brogan out the front door, my heart picking up speed by the second. We never went into the basement. That meant that Jay found something out.

When we left the club, the cool night air bit at my skin. The guys weren’t around; Asher was still sleeping and who knew where Angel was.

“Meeka.” Brogan snapped her fingers in front of my face.

“Sorry.” I shook my head. “What?”

“I know you and Jay have had your problems but she needs you right now. We all do.”

“Of course. Just tell me what to do.”

“Creena’s going to watch and make sure no one unexpected shows up. We have to keep this from Angel until after or else he’s going to lose his shit.”

“Does this have to do with Violet and what we did?” I asked, not sure if I wanted to know the answer. Luckily for us, everything turned out in the end and Jay wasn’t hurt. She was the strongest woman I knew but Angel would definitely put an end to this.

Brogan knocked once on the metal door, smiling back at me. “It’s time.”

Taking a deep breath, I followed her into the dark hall that held stairs leading down into the basement. It was your typical run of the mill unfinished basement and creepy as hell. That was why Jay kept it the way it was instead of renovating it.

Creena came up the stairs, nodding once, and stood at the closed door. “Angel went home to feed Buck. Dale and Stone went to a local gym the Navy uses. Asher is …” She glanced at me.

“Sleeping,” I answered.

She nodded. “And Coby is … around.”

“That man is like a ghost,” I muttered, taking a couple steps down the stairs.

“Isn’t that his nickname?” Creena asked.

That caught Brogan’s attention. “You think?”

“You should ask him,” I said, gently elbowing her.

She scoffed. “Please.”

“Ladies,” Jay barked from the bottom of the stairs. “Get down here.
Now
.”

Brogan and I headed down the stairs. Once we walked into the large open space, I saw a chair in the middle of the room. A cold sweat raced down my back at seeing the man sitting on the metal chair. His hands were tied behind his back, and his ankles were tied to the front legs of the chair. Max stood off to the side, and Jay moved in front of him.

The question of what was going on tingled on my tongue, but the words wouldn’t leave me. Jay was desperate. It had been hard for her to run a female MC but we all stuck together and made it work. We were a team like Vice-One. The thought of Asher slid into my mind. Every part of me ached for him.

A loud crack sounding through the air interrupted my dirty thoughts.

Jay leaned over the man, peering into his eyes. “Tell me what you know about the men who took my sister.”

“I’m not telling you
shit
,” he spat. “You think you’re so fucking tough because you’re the president of an MC. Little girl, you have no fucking idea who you’re playing with.”

“Tell me,” Jay demanded. “Or,
little boy
, I will gut you like a fucking pig.”

My mouth went dry. I had never seen Jay like that. She was always put together but … a darkness took over.

The man laughed. “I’m not scared of you, bitch. All of your little whores would make great toys.”

“Shut up!” Jay shouted, landing her fist against the man’s cheek.

He spat at her feet, laughing harder. “You do have a hell of a punch. I’ll give you that. I know some men who would love to play with you. You would be a challenge for them. Is that what Eric Vega liked about you? You put up a fight? How did it feel being chained to his wall?”

“Tell me who took my sister,” she said, her voice cracking.

“Your sister put up a fight too. You know what men would pay to have twins? I can guarantee you a million.”

A couple shocked gasps sounded around the room.

“Who are you?” Jay asked. “Were you the one who blew a hole into our club? Tell me that. Tell me
something
.”

The man sneered. “I’m just a man who makes it so my boss gets what he wants. And that hole? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You’re lying.” Her fists clenched at her sides. “Tell me.”

“I’m not telling you shit.”

“Who took Violet?” Brogan demanded, coming up to Jay’s side. That small movement sent Jay standing taller. She liked to think that she could do everything on her own, but she couldn’t. It’s why we all worked well together. We needed each other.

“What the fuck are you going to do? Smack me to death? Look at you. You’re tiny as hell.” The man threw his head back and laughed. “You’re a fucking sprite.”

In a quick move, Brogan cupped his jaw and dug her fingers into his cheeks.

He cried out.