Chapter 22
APRIL
I kind of regret moving into the clubhouse without arguing. I should have protested or at least fought to go to his house.
There’s nothing wrong with being here. I like it, but I’m so sick of the dirty looks I keep getting from Venus and the other tramps like her. I don’t care what they do with their bodies or who they do it with, so long as they leave Fool alone.
Getting back to the clubhouse today after taking the last two of my finals, I should feel relaxed, but I don’t feel at ease at all. All I want is to curl up and binge something, maybe read a book, and settle my mind, something of that nature, but that doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen.
Not when I’m faced with Venus and two of her ‘friends’ stepping into my space.
“What do you want, Venus?” I ask with a sigh. I don’t have the energy for this shit.
Fool hadn’t gone with me to campus the last two days. I know he’s been dealing with my apartment, along with Hazard and a few others, moving all my stuff into the house. Not that there was much left, but they were also fixing anything that needed fixing, like nail holes and such.
Torpedo ended up going with me both days instead, along with Kayla. Her excuse was that she didn’t want to hang around the clubhouse with nasty-ass cum-bucket-tramps who kept breathing down her neck for no reason.
I didn’t blame her. They definitely think their shit doesn’t stink.
During my finals, though, they waited outside because the school did not allow anyone who wasn’t a student inside.
“We’ve all talked and decided you don’t belong here,” she snaps, crossing her arms. “You need to just get your things and go back where you came from.”
“Really,” I draw out. “I’m glad you think your vote matters.”
“It does matter because we all know you don’t belong.”
I laugh at her matter-of-fact tone and shake my head. “Right, you keep thinking that all you want.”
I try to move past them, only for Venus to step back into my path. “Fool would be better off without you here. I know because he told me so after I sucked him off this morning.”
Her words sting, even though I know they’re not true. He wouldn’t do that to me.
“He told me how you couldn’t even do that right.
That you were so inexperienced it wasn’t satisfying for him.
” She gets this smug grin as she steps into my space.
“So, you should just do us all a favor and get out of here before you end up getting hurt. Because I did warn you. I’d have his cock again, and I have. ”
“We all did,” one of the other tramps pipes in.
Shaking my head, I push past them, refusing to believe them for even a minute. But a part of me can’t help but doubt myself. Could I not be enough for him? Could I satisfy him the way they claim?
Sure, we’ve had sex every day, but I’ve also been busy cramming in hours of studying for my finals. Maybe I haven’t been able to give him what he needs.
I try not to think about it as I head up the stairs to Fool’s room. My hand freezes on the doorknob when I hear moans from the other side of the door. What the hell?
I back away, jerking my hand back like it’s been burned. Staring at the door as the moans grow louder, I feel my heart breaking.
Samuel’s words echo in my head.
Venus’s join them.
I’m not enough.
My eyes burn as I keep tears at bay. I refuse to go in there and confront him. I’m not about to go back through the main room. But I need to get out of here. I need to get my head on straight before I face anyone, including Kayla. She’ll know something’s wrong immediately.
Heading for the back of the hall to another set of stairs that leads straight down to the back of the warehouse, I throw the door open, letting it slam shut behind me.
Fresh air doesn’t help.
Nothing stops my heart from shattering.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
I allowed myself to fall for the first guy who really caught my attention. How could I let myself be so foolish?
Jerking my purse open, I tug out my keys and head for my car. I don’t know where I’m going, but I need to clear my head before I face Fool.
Hurrying to get behind the wheel, I’m glad no one is outside and that, unlike at the DRMC, there aren’t any gates or fences around the clubhouse. There’s no reason to have a gate when there’s nothing but trees and fields around the clubhouse.
I take off, spinning tires, hitting the road.
I don’t know where I’m going. I have no destination in sight.
I just drive, trying to clear my head. It’s not easy.
I keep hearing Samuel’s voice. Venus’s. Everything I’ve tried not to believe.
Even my mom’s voice fills my head, telling me I’m not good enough. That I’m worthless.
Speeding down the interstate, I ignore my phone ringing. I don’t pay any mind to the calls that keep coming. Unable to stand seeing Fool’s name pop up on my car’s display, I do something completely stupid and chuck my phone out the window.
Hours pass, and exhaustion starts to set in as I realize I’m close to the original charter of the DRMC’s clubhouse.
I’ve known Stoney and them since Stoney’s Kayla’s granddad, though we all call him Pops.
I could stop there, but then he’d probably call Twister, who would call Fool or Cannon. So stopping there is a no-go.
Deciding to stop at a hotel, I pull into a parking lot and find a spot near the front entrance.
Gathering my stuff from the passenger seat, I get out, lock my car, and head toward the sliding double doors.
Inside, I check in for a few days, figuring it would be fine here.
No one knows where I am, and I can clear my head of the bullshit.
At least, that’s what I’m hoping for.
Taking the elevator to the fifth floor, I find my room at the end of the hall. I step into the room, toss my bag on a chair, and throw myself onto the bed, curling into a ball and finally letting the tears I’d been holding back fall.
It’s late when I finally gather enough nerve to turn on the TV and pull out the iPad I still had in my purse.
I left my laptop in my car with the rest of my school stuff.
I log in to Wi-Fi, pull up DoorDash, and order something to eat, using my dad’s card instead of my own, just as I did at the front desk.
I don’t know if anyone could track me, so it feels safer.
He’d given it to me years ago for emergencies, and this was definitely an emergency in my book.
I didn’t want to be found if someone was looking.
No more than thirty minutes go by before a knock on the door has me jerking up off the bed. Figuring it has to be my food, I go to the door, open it without checking through the little spy glass, and find it’s not just my food but my worst nightmare.
“What are you doing here?” I demand. How did they know where to find me? No one should be able to find me easily. Sure, I used my name to check in, but I didn’t pay with my card. They’re the last people I expected to find me first.
“You think those bikers are really going to keep me from you?” Samuel asks, holding the bag of food I ordered. “Keep us from having our fun?”
He steps inside, with three of his buddies behind him—the very ones who always tormented me.
“You’re a hard woman to get alone,” Samuel says, tossing the food onto the dresser and facing me, hands on his hips.
His friends push me into the room, closing the door behind them.
“I’m sick of you playing games with us, April.
It’s time you stop playing and give us the fun you’ve been promising for a year now. ”
“I haven’t promised you anything,” I snap, hoping my fear isn’t evident in my voice.
Samuel snorts and looks at his friends. “She doesn’t think she promised to play with us.”
His friends laugh and close in.
Denny, the lankiest of the three, steps in behind me. “You promised to play that night at the party. We all know you want it, so you might as well stop fighting and give in.”
I jerk away from him and back myself against the wall. The need to fight or flee kicks in as they surround me.
“No,” I shout, fighting their advances.
Samuel’s face contorts with anger, and he punches me in the stomach. “You don’t get to say ‘No’ to me. You were supposed to be mine, damnit.”
“I’m not yours,” I say, breathing heavily through the pain of the hit.
“You are, April. You just have to stop denying it,” he snaps, gripping my hair and holding out a hand to one of his friends.
Denny places a syringe in his hand, and I start struggling to get away from them, screaming at the top of my lungs. Samuel curses and slams the needle into my arm, but I don’t stop screaming. I can’t. Not until whatever he put in me starts taking effect and my body goes limp.
“What did you give me?” I demand.
“A paralytic.” He grins. “Now, you can’t fight us, so you might as well be a good girl.”
“No,” I cry out, struggling to make my body do something, anything, but it’s pointless. All I can do is keep screaming and crying.
“Damn, Samuel, someone’s going to hear her,” Denny mutters.
“Let’s beat the hell out of her already and be done with it,” Nathan grumbles.
“She’s not worth us getting caught by the cops,” Steven adds. “It was already enough bullshit to get to those whores at the clubhouse and get them to agree to get her out of the clubhouse.”
Wait. What?
“Shut up,” Samuel growls, grips my hair, and slams me sideways onto the bed. He straddles me, his body over mine, hands at my throat. “I don’t let bitches like you win. I always get what I want.”
“You’ll have to kill me then,” I manage to say before his grip tightens.
“I’ll do that after I fuck you and we fuck you up,” Samuel sneers, releasing his grip on my throat only to rip my shirt open.
I scream as loud as I can this time, hoping someone will hear me.
“Shut the fuck up,” Nathan shouts.
Samuel brings his fist down, wailing on my face before jerking back.
“We don’t have time for this,” Steven grunts. “I’m sure someone’s heard her by now.”
Sure enough, as soon as the words come out of his mouth, someone knocks on the door.
“Shit.” I don’t know who mutters it, but I hear it and know what I have to do. Try to do.
Fight to keep them from doing more in the one way I still can.
I try to cry out, but Samuel slams his fist into the side of my head. Stars shimmer across my vision as he grips my neck again.
“Fuckin’ bitch. This isn’t over.”
Then, everything goes black and I can’t hear anything else.