Chapter Twelve
Cash
L AYING IN BED with Rebel, Eagle and I watch as tears silently fall down her face while she sleeps. She’s hurting so fucking much right now and there’s nothing we can do to take this pain from her. Not only has she lost her grandma, but Chad decided to show up and put himself in a position for her to see him. He’s taunting her and letting her know he’s watching her. It’s a tactic we’ve seen before and one in many of the games he’s playing when it comes to our girl. I’d love to say that he’s not going to win this one because we’ll stop him before anything happens. However, we also know that’s not always the case. Even with the best intentions, shit gets fucked up and there’s always a chance for things to go wrong. Eagle and I can’t be with her twenty-four hours a day and no one else can. It will literally take seconds for Chad to get close enough to Rebel to take her and disappear. That’s what makes this situation so fucking hard because I know the reality of her getting taken by her ex.
“I don’t want her leavin’ the compound for a while,” Eagle whispers so he doesn’t wake our girl up after the day she’s had.
“I don’t either, but you know Rebel is gonna do what she wants. Right now, she’s gonna believe she needs to stay busy so her mind isn’t focused on what’s been goin’ on. That means she’s gonna wanna work and do everythin’ she can from the time she gets out of bed until she exhausts herself and can try to get some sleep. Our girl isn’t gonna let Doc give her anythin’ to help her sleep,” I answer him, my voice just as low as I lean forward and press my lips against Rebel’s forehead making her lean closer to my body.
“I know. Maybe she needs to choose one place to work for right now instead of tryin’ to take on Entice and Fallen Ink,” he responds as he snuggles closer to our girl from behind so she’s sandwiched between us even more.
“We’ll talk to her when she wakes up. We need to let Rebel feel as if she’s in control of her life. Right now, she doesn’t feel in control of anythin’ and that’s a big deal for her. Nothin’ about any of this is in her control and if we can make her feel in charge of somethin’ it might help her,” I state as I continue to look down while trying to softly wipe the tears from her face.
“Okay. Get some sleep. Neither one of us has been gettin’ too much,” Eagle says, pressing a kiss against Rebel’s neck before closing his eyes and trying to get some rest before our girl wakes up.
Rebel hardly sleeps at night. During the day she takes naps and rests if we force her. At night she has nightmares and sleeps so fitfully we know she wakes up more exhausted than before she fell asleep. It’s been happening since Grandma passed away and I know it’s only going to get worse after seeing the monster who has taken so much from her. We don’t need to know Rebel as well as we do to understand how horrible seeing that stupid fuck is going to make her feel. Our girl doesn’t have a lot of regrets in life, but giving so much of herself to Chad is her biggest regret of all times. She feels stupid for falling for his lies and manipulations even though he knows how to play the game and would fool everyone around him.
“No! You can’t take me!” Rebel starts screaming just as sleep pulls me under. “Please! Leave me alone.”
“Doll,” I call out, my voice low and gentle so I don’t startle Rebel while trying to wake her up. “Come on, Rebel, it’s time to get up.”
Eagle wraps his arm tighter around Rebel because sometimes just holding her is enough to make her nightmare stop. Tonight, that’s not the case. Rebel starts fighting, kicking her legs and trying to hit me while suffering through her nightmare.
“Doll!” I call out, my voice louder as I gently shake her.
Rebel throws a punch and lands her fist right against my jaw. I groan in response and pull my head back as she continues to swing wildly.
“Rebel!” Eagle shouts, turning her so she’s flat on her back instead of facing me.
I watch as our girl starts to slowly wake up, her eyelids fluttering open as more tears slide down her face. She looks from one side to the other, still not seeing Eagle and me as fear fills her eyes and clouds her vision from the nightmare she was just lost in.
“What happened?” she quietly asks, her voice full of sleep as she tries to sit up.
“You were havin’ a nightmare, Sweet Girl. Do you remember what it was about?” Eagle asks her, his voice gentle as I keep rubbing my jaw where she hit me.
“Chad was after me. He got close and I tried to fight him off but I couldn’t,” she answers in her broken voice. “I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothin’ for you to be sorry about, Doll. Let me tell ya, you’ve got one hell of a right hook,” I tell her, making Rebel’s head whip to face me as she looks at me with wide eyes.
“I hit you?” she asks me, a tremble to her voice as she slowly reaches out to gently touch my jaw where my hand just was.
“You did. It’s okay, Doll. My jaw is much harder than it looks. We should think about gettin’ you back in the ring for more trainin’. I know Pound used to get you in there when he first brought you back here,” I say as she leans forward and presses a soft kiss against my jaw.
“That might be a good idea. I don’t know if I can get back to sleep. I’m sorry,” she says, snuggling up to my chest as Eagle once again presses his body closer to our girl from behind.
“We’ll think about that when we get up. For now, let’s see if you can get some sleep. You need it,” Eagle says as he settles his large body in behind our girl and lets his eyes slide closed because he’s so tired.
Rebel manages to fall asleep again after a long time. I don’t let myself fall asleep until I know she’s in a deep sleep. No, it’s not as deep as it should be, but for her right now, it’s what she’s gonna get. Closing my eyes, sleep claims me even though I know it won’t be a deep sleep where I get the rest I need.
W aking up, it takes a minute to realize I’m in bed alone. Stretching out my body, I get up and find Eagle’s room empty and know they’re down in the common room getting something to eat. We’re trying to force our girl to eat because she hasn’t been eating either. Rebel tends to push her food around her plate and take a few small bites in between. She’s eating almost nothing and it’s making us worry. Alex is trying to fatten her up but Rebel is stubborn as fuck. Especially when she’s got so much going on like she does right now.
Getting dressed, I make my way down to find the common room almost empty with the exception of Eagle, Rebel, Alex, and Reagan. The kids are running all over the place or in playpens where they hang out during the day. Alex motions for me to go over to the table with my girl as she heads back in the kitchen and I know she’s getting me a cup of coffee and plate of food. This is who Alex is. She’s always trying to take care of all of us and if we get in her way, she only gets pissed as hell and bitches to Reaper. Not to get us in trouble or anything but because she’s a nurturer and the queen of the club so she feels the need to take care of us all even more than normal.
Leaning down, I press a kiss against the top of Rebel’s head before taking a seat right next to her. Eagle is sitting on her other side with his own plate of food in front of him as Rebel pushes her food around instead of eating. Alex brings my food over to the table and sets it down in front of me. Tipping my head back, I thank her before she walks away to help Reagan with the kids. Picking up my fork, I start to eat, holding it out every now and then for Rebel to take a bite of my food. I don’t care if I go hungry as long as our girl eats. With me feeding her, she won’t refuse the food because she doesn’t want to hurt my feelings.
“How are ya feelin’?” I ask Rebel the first time she refuses a bite of food from me.
“I’ve definitely been better. I can’t believe I hit you last night, Cash. I’m so sorry,” she apologizes again and tries to look at my jaw to see how much damage she caused.
“Don’t apologize, Doll. You weren’t in your right mind and didn’t know what you were doin’. Hell, you weren’t even awake. I got too close to you knowin’ you fight in your sleep when you’re havin’ a nightmare. It was on me,” I tell her, my voice soft so no one else hears our conversation because she wouldn’t want anyone to know her business.
“Church,” Reaper calls out, standing at the end of the hallway leading to his office. “The other guys are on their way back now. Ya got maybe fifteen minutes so eat and do what you gotta do.”
Eagle and I finish our breakfast and carry our plates to the kitchen to take care of. While I wash them in the sink, Eagle goes back out to get Rebel’s dishes so we can take care of them too. We don’t make the Fallen girls or ol’ ladies clean up all the time. All of us are more than capable of washing up some dishes and taking care of our stuff when the ol’ ladies have already done it and are now working on other things. After rinsing the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher, I leave the kitchen and head straight for church. Eagle and Reaper are already in their seats as I walk over to take mine.
“How’s she doin’?” Reaper asks before everyone else walks into church. “And what the fuck happened to you?”
“She’s been better. This is all takin’ a toll on her. And she had a nightmare last night. Got hit when I was tryin’ to wake her up,” I answer our President as he smirks in my direction.
Reaper really tries to hold in his laughter but it’s impossible. He’s laughing from his seat at the head of the table while everyone else starts to walk in and fill the table. They’re all trying to figure out why he’s laughing while I keep my head down so no one notices my jaw and the nice bruise I have going on from Rebel last night.
“Church in session!” Reaper calls out when he finally calms himself down. “There have been some new developments in this shitshow with Rebel. Not only has she just lost her grandma, but we know Fawn from Entice is workin’ with Chad. Cash, why don’t you fill everyone in on what you overheard on Rebel’s first night there.”
“I was goin’ to Eagle’s office and overheard Fawn on the phone. Not only is she lettin’ Chad know when Rebel’s workin’ at the club, but she wants to take over Entice for herself. Chad is stayin’ somewhere close to Entice. It’s within fifteen minutes of the club. He flat out called Rebel his fuckin’ property and knows she takes off on her own when she gets pissed off. He’s countin’ on Fawn pissin’ her off to the point she leaves us at the club so he can take her from us. Fawn is already dealin’ drugs in the club and that’s her end goal. She’s fuckin’ Chad from what I heard but he’s playin’ games with her. Only ensurin’ she does his dirty work and gets our girl away from us,” I tell everyone around the table as they look pissed off.
“Cash and I talked and we know we can’t keep Rebel locked up on the compound. She has to remain busy right now to keep her mind from thinkin’ about everythin’ goin’ on in her life. So, we’ll give her the choice to either work at Entice or Fallen Ink. She’ll only work at one business and I have a feelin’ it’s gonna be Entice. Rebel feels at home behind the bar and that’s what she loves doin’. We’ll need to up the security there because I want her protected at all cost. Right now we’ve got Titan, Panther, and Connor there. I’ll be there every shift she works and I know Cash will be too. We should have a few more guys on the nights she works so she can’t just take off if Fawn follows through with her plans,” Eagle says, his voice hard and cold as he tries to figure out how we’ll keep our girl safe and protected when she’s at work.
“Hawk, did you figure out how Chad was watchin’ the security footage from our cameras in Entice?” I ask, almost forgetting that major part of the conversation I overheard when Fawn was on the phone with Chad.
“Not yet. I’ve been goin’ through every aspect and I can’t figure this shit out. I don’t see Chad bein’ good enough to get past my work. I have a feelin’ he’s got someone workin’ for him that I haven’t come across yet. Whoever he’s got is fuckin’ good if they aren’t leavin’ a trail behind so I know how they’re gettin’ in,” Hawk states, frustration lacing his voice as he starts typing away on his laptop in front of him.
“Fuck!” Eagle yells, slamming his hand on the table in front of him as he looks at me.
“Hawk you keep workin’ on figurin’ out who this piece of shit is. I want to know everythin’ about them. If it ends up bein’ Chad, you’ll find out. What else have you found out about him?” Reaper asks Hawk as a smirk covers Eagle’s brothers face.
“He’s into some shady as fuck guys for a lot of money. Gamblin’ and drugs. If he’s sellin’ with Fawn, I don’t know why he’s fuckin’ buyin’ from other people, but he is. If you ask me, that says they know their shit is fucked up and he won’t risk himself by usin’ their own drugs. Instead, he’ll use the drugs from someone else. Also, he’s got a few offshore accounts and two of them are in Rebel’s name. These were started when they were still together. I don’t believe she has any kind of idea that these accounts exist. I’m still diggin’ into them and I’ll leave it up to Eagle and Cash about when Rebel’s told about this shit.
“On top of all this shit, Chad is buyin’ hookers and fuckin’ everythin’ with a pussy he can manipulate into his bed. He’s had multiple charges brought up against him for domestic violence and attempted rape over the years. His parents always get the charges dropped and Chad walks away scot free. Some of his victims even tell the cops Chad wasn’t the one who hurt them. They pulled the charges they wanted to press against him and disappeared,” Hawk informs us, his voice hard as he looks around the table. “This piece of shit is worse than any of us thought he was. His parents have been getting his ass out of trouble his entire life. All so it doesn’t tarnish their reputation as the perfect All-American family.”
“Why are they so worried about their reputation?” Red asks as I try to figure out that same answer.
“Chad’s father is a fuckin’ judge. His mom sits on all sorts of committees and does all of this charity work. They can’t have their only child runnin’ wild and actin’ out if they plan on keepin’ their lives the same. Chad has the power to bring them both down so they lose their job and volunteer work quicker than hell. So, they make sure none of the charges ever stick against him and they continue on with their lives. They’re also givin’ him money. A lot of it. He’s blown through a trust fund he had and now he’s gettin’ money off them. Though his dad won’t pay off the loan sharks and shit for him. Chad hasn’t dropped that bombshell on them yet. And I have a feelin’ if the loan sharks ever figure out who his daddy is, they’ll try to use that to their advantage,” Hawk informs us with a smirk on his face because he knows Chad’s family will cut him off completely if they realize the extent of his depravity.
“Okay. Keep diggin’ and find out everythin’ there is to know about the entire family. I want it all the next time we have church. Eagle and Cash, you two talk and figure it out between the two of you what you want Rebel to know. This is her life and affects her more than anyone else in this club. None of us can tell you what to do, but we all know Rebel and know she wouldn’t want to be kept in the dark about this shit,” Reaper says, looking around the table before slamming the gavel down once again. “Church adjourned. Figure out when Rebel’s goin’ back to Entice and get extra bodies there for her.”
We all leave church and make our way to the common room after gathering our stuff from the Prospect at the door. Rebel isn’t at any of the tables and I have a feeling she’s up in Eagle’s room resting. Looking at him, we sit at the bar and take the bottle of beer we’re offered and drink them. We won’t stay down here for very long, just long enough to have a drink with the guys before we go in search of our girl. She needs us more than we need to be down here with everyone. There’s a reason Rebel isn’t down here still and it’s because she feels like hell and needs her sleep.