Dark As Coal

Chapter 2

Adeline

Glancing at the clock, I sighed.

Normally, I would be heading to the clubhouse, but since tonight was family dinner night at the clubhouse, the club girls weren’t allowed to be there.

However, if they lived there, then they had to stay in their rooms.

And if they ventured out of their rooms, they had to have permission from Asher to do so.

He wouldn’t be giving it unless it was an emergency.

And so far, no emergency had warranted any of the girls being allowed out of their rooms.

Thankfully, I didn’t have that problem.

Yes, I had a room at the clubhouse, but I also had a home.

I still hated everything about my mother, but what she did for me, I couldn’t hate her all that much. It happened six months after my eighteenth birthday.

I was in my room at the clubhouse doing schoolwork when someone knocked on my door.

Priest had let me know that there was this lawyer type of looking person standing outside the gate and he was asking for me.

As I walked through the clubhouse, a lot of thoughts ran through my mind as to what this could be about.

And none of those thoughts even came close to what fell out of the man’s mouth. He was indeed a lawyer.

My mother had gone through something similar to me when she was younger, and just like me, she had vowed not to end up like her own mother.

However, she got hooked on drugs, and without a support system, those drugs had taken over.

But they didn’t take over while she was pregnant with me, nor did they take over while she set up an account when I was only a couple of months old.

That account was where she had the child support payments placed in; it was also an account that had measures in place that I was the only one who could access it. And that wouldn’t be until I was eighteen.

Also, another measure was put into place that the balance could not be revealed to anyone until I turned eighteen.

My mother couldn’t access it. Ever. No matter what she did, she wouldn’t have access to it.

The account had gotten a check every month for a thousand dollars. And since the account was a trust fund of sorts, it accrued interest.

My jaw had dropped when I saw the bank statement on it.

It was only after talking to Piney in detail that I came up with something I really wanted and used that money by placing a healthy deposit on a little farmhouse that sat on five acres of wooded property.

Sighing, I looked up at the clock on the far-right wall. One more hour after the parent-teacher conferences were done would I get to go home, change clothes, curl up on my white fluffy couch, have a glass of wine, and watch one of my favorite shows.

“It was great to meet you, and if you could work with him on his r’s and his s’s I think it will help tremendously,” I told Joshua’s mother.

Joshua’s mother smiled at me and nodded, “Thank you for that, we will.”

Once I saw them out of my classroom, I sat back down and waited for my next parents to show up.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed but when I heard, “You”re Olivia’s teacher?” I looked up at that voice and at the man it belonged to and nodded.

I smiled, “Yes, and you are?”

“I’m Hank, Olivia’s dad.” I smiled up at him, stood up, offered him my hand, and knew that he loved his daughter deeply.

Anyone who introduced themselves as someone’s father, for some reason, it just didn’t hit the same way it did when someone introduced themselves as someone’s dad.

“I’m Miss Adeline. Please take a seat.” I gestured for him to take one of the grown-up chairs that were right beside a small kiddie chair.

He looked down at it, looked at me, and quirked his brow. I chuckled, “I know. I know. They are crazily uncomfortable, but it makes the kids feel a little more grown up.”

Once he took a seat, I pulled Olivia’s folder out and went over things we were going to be working on and the like.

Just as I explained a few methods he could work on with her i’s and her s’s, he opened his mouth, and before he could get a word out, my phone rang.

“I’m so sorry, I thought it was still on silent,” I told him as I reached for it, checked the display, and then bit my lip once I felt my heart flutter.

He never called when school was in session, and he only called once it was over to let me know about something. And I always tried to take his calls.

Also, why would he be calling me while they were having a family dinner?

I looked at Mr. Grant and smiled, “I know this is extremely rude of me, but I have to take this call.”

When he winked and nodded, I answered the phone, “Hey, what’s up?”

And the moment I heard his heavy breathing and his words, I felt my spine straighten, oh no, “Where… Are… You?”

“Parent-teacher conferences,” I told him in a soft voice, knowing that was one way I could get him to calm down.

But I knew it hadn’t worked, not when he gritted out, “Need… You… Here… Now.”

“Okay, umm, let me see what I can do,” and as I said those words, I got nothing but dead silence.

I didn’t let those thoughts enter my mind.

Nope.

It wouldn’t do me any good.

I went to my contacts, tapped Asher’s name, and brought the phone back to my ear and before I could get out a word, he asked, “Where you at, darlin’?

I sighed, “Parent-teacher conferences, I’ve got,” I looked at my paper and sighed, “One more to do.”

Asher cursed, “Fuck. I forgot that was tonight. Okay, we will do what we can, need you to get here as soon as possible.”

I nodded, “Okay, I’ll do my best.”

I looked at Mr. Grant, “I’m terribly sorry about that.”

Placing my phone back on the table, he nodded, “Everything okay?”

I smiled, “Yeah, just a friend who’s in a bind right now.”

He nodded, “Yeah, I get that, I…”

Dammit all too fucking hell.

My phone rang again. Flipping the phone over, I saw it was Gabby.

Taking the call, I said, “Hey, I need to…” and nothing else came out of my mouth when I heard that growl followed by a roar so loud, I had to pull the phone away from my ear.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked Gabby.

I could tell by her voice alone that she was scared, “Adeline, you need to get here. Now. Oh. Shit.”

At her words, I asked, “What?”

“He just grabbed Lizette by the throat and threw her against the wall.” I gasped.

I looked at Mr. Grant, and smiled a shaky smile, “I’m so sorry, but I’ve got to go.”

Then to Gabby, I said, “I’m leaving now. Tell Asher.”

“Okay. Be careful. But please, hurry.” I nodded even though she couldn’t see me, then I stood up and started getting my things.

Hurriedly, I said, “Olivia is great, I know I have your email on file, so I’ll send you a few more things. Thank you for coming in.”

Then I looked at Mindy and said, “Can you please take care of Eli’s parents? I’ve got to go.”

She nodded quickly, “Yes, sweetie, I got them. Go.”

The drive normally took me half an hour, but I made it there in twenty minutes.

I didn’t even remember pulling into the parking lot, nor throwing my car in park and killing the engine.

I was out of my car and opening the front doors of the clubhouse and the sight before me had me gasping.

Dishes were strewn everywhere. Food lay in piles on the floor, a few pieces were sliding down the walls.

Tables overturned.

Drinks spilled.

Pieces of wood that had previously made chairs were scattered.

Hearing whimpers, I looked in the direction and felt my hand come up to cover my mouth.

Lizette’s throat was red, and Gabby was helping her hold an ice pack to it.

“We need to put him fucking down,” Trigger grumbled as he tried to get to Coal but caught an uppercut to his face.

“Fucking keep him in the corner until Adeline gets here,” Asher growled out as he, too, tried to use his body to keep Coal pinned.

“Maybe I can...” Angelyn started to say.

Asher was quick to cut her off, “Fuck no. Do you want to get thrown like Lizette did, or worse? Just stay the hell back.”

I was thanking the stars in the sky that I had my ankle booties on because the crunch of glass would have ripped apart the other shoes I usually paired with this dress.

Softly, I called out, “Asher?”

Knowing he had ears like a freaking hawk, I knew he could hear me over all the yelling and growling.

His head whipped in my direction, and I saw his face go from hard to soft, “Darlin’, appreciate you getting here. I wouldn’t have called you, but it’s bad.”

I nodded, as I made my way closer to him, then asked, “What happened?”

Asher ran his hand through his hair and jutted his chin in the direction of some woman I had never seen before.

She was pretty, no doubt about it, and I would kill to be able to pull off that bright red color of hair like she could.

Just as I was thinking that Asher’s voice brought me back to the here and now, “She thought he was good-looking, and wanted to show her interest in him, so she ran her hand along the back of his neck.” He didn’t need to say anything more.

I learned to never touch the back of Coal’s neck.

There was only one time I was truly afraid of Coal.

He had pinned me to the bed, wrapped his hands around my throat, and growled in my face, showing the side of himself the whole world sees, but one I’ve never seen before.

And there, in my face, he had snarled out, “You ever touch the back of my neck again, I’ll snap your pretty fucking neck.”

I looked back at Asher and asked, “Get everyone out of here?”

He looked at Coal, then back at me, “If you were anyone else, I’d tell you to fuck off and get to safety.”

I smiled, and then once he had everyone out of there, I walked over to Coal.

Slowly.

The moment I made it to reaching distance, I stopped.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

However, the darkness in his eyes didn’t lighten at the sight of me like it usually did.

I wanted to see those mesmerizing, steel-colored gray eyes.

Therefore, I pulled my teacher’s voice out of my hat and tried something different.

Softly I whispered, “I before e except after c and e before n in chicken.”

When that didn’t resonate with him, I smiled, and then in the same tone I had used I said, “When b, e, and c, come racing after u, s, and e, always look for a between c and u because a is shaped like the biggest man bear and it will always protect the smallest ones.”

Nothing changed, nothing.

Until I watched moments later, the tenseness in his shoulders started to soften.

And at the sound of that rough, dark, damaged voice, I heard one word, “Soulshine.”

I closed my eyes, wanting to let the sound of his voice calling me that name wash through me.

My eyes opened slowly when I felt my body being pulled into his hard one, and as my face pressed into his chest, I asked, “What do you need?”

Against my hair, his raspy voice said two words, just two, “Your touch.”

I used to wonder why he craved my touch so much, but after I spent that first night beside him in bed, I never wondered why again.

We didn’t speak about that night.

Not about the nightmare he had woken up from.

Not about the location of his hand around my throat when he came to.

Nor about the slaps to his face, I had given him, trying to wake him up and loosen his hold.

Not about the tears he shed into my oversized t-shirt.

And definitely not about the way he had said he was sorry to a little boy.

Every thought I just had flew out of my head when Coal spun, lifting me up in the process, and then walked until my back was against the wall.

My legs wrapped around him, my dress moved and exposed the tops of my thighs, but I didn’t care.

And then I felt him.

Felt his hardness against the place I wanted him to slide into.

Fucking perfect.

Moments later, as his lips skinned along the column of my neck, I kept my arms out at my sides, my palms flat against the wall… I tried.

Fuck, did I try.

But it felt so good.

“Coal…” I whimpered.

With that rasp I loved so much, he bit out, “You. Hold. It. In.”

I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood, trying to hold it in.

“Coal…” I moaned as he held me with one hand underneath my ass, his other hand coming up, and thankfully, I had on a thin bra.

Because the moment he brushed his thumb over my sensitive nipple, he knew it without me having to say a word.

Against my mouth, he growled, “Not. Without. Fucking. Me.”

And then, he no longer had that one strong hand underneath my ass holding me up.

I was on my feet, my body spun around, my back to him, my ass in the air, my hands braced on the pool table.

My panties were ripped from my body, his hard length was at my entrance, his hands were wrapped around my hips. And then… he slammed into me. Deep.

Yes.

Perfect.

Right.

There.

I moaned.

The feel of him. Stretching me. Filling me. Completing me.

“Goddamn,” he gritted out as he pulled out and then slammed back inside of me.

“Yes!” I moaned.

He was moving inside my body faster, deeper, and then I felt it.

And so did he when he rasped, “Don’t. You. Do. It.”

I listened.

That was until he undulated his hips, hitting that spot in me that had my toes curling.

I gasped, “Coal!”

He pulled out, “Almost.” He thrust in. “There.”

And then…. I felt him, his coming orgasm, and knew when he said, “Now, Soulshine. Fucking now.”

I let it go.

Stars exploded behind my eyelids.

Hairs raised along the back of my neck.

And I lost all feeling in my body.

Just as he did, too.

There, against the back of my neck, he whispered, “Fuck me, Soulshine. Fuck. Me.”