Chapter 5
FIVE
MCKENNA
“It’s okay to come out. I’m not going to hurt you,” I whisper, staring into the haunted eyes of the woman I found.
After getting off the phone with Evelin, the owner of my rental for the few weeks I’m here, I went searching farther, trying to find where the noise was coming from, and finally found her.
Just looking at her, at first I thought she was just a child, given how small she is. Only she wasn’t a child at all. Instead, a beaten on the smaller side woman who stared at me with wide eyes that were full of so much fear, I ached for her.
“My name’s McKenna. I just got here yesterday. I’m staying here for a little while to get away from everything,” I tell her, sitting on my ass near the crawl space where I found her. I didn’t want to scare her, and I figured if I shared about who I am, she might come out.
“Actually, I’m not trying to get away from everything for a little while.
I came here to hide,” I explain. “You see, someone was stalking me, and my godmother told me to come here. I’ve never actually been here before, but I’ve been through.
My parents and I would always go to the beach and take this way to get there. Are you from around here?”
The woman nods slowly and swallows.
“Do you know the people who own the house?” I ask.
Again, she nods.
“I haven’t met the woman, but I’ve met her brother and a guy named Fire,” I say and continue rambling on.
“When I got here, her brother, Heat, well, he’s scrumpish, and all I want to do is know what his eyes look like.
I’m betting they make him even hotter than he is.
Okay, I got off track. Anyway, he brought the keys up to the house for me.
Then later on, he found me on the side of the road with a flat.
That’s when I met Fire. He’s also good-looking.
So were the others with them, but Heat, well, he was hotter than the rest.”
As I spoke, the woman slowly started to move closer.
I took this as a good sign. I didn’t like the fact that she was naked. Or how dirty and beaten she looked.
“Anyway, this afternoon, Heat called me and woke me up. I work at a strip club where I rarely get off until the wee hours of the morning. Meaning I don’t sleep until five a.m. When the call came in, he wanted me to bring my car up to the garage.
I did this and didn’t even think to put actual clothes on.
Talk about embarrassing. I went up there in a shirt I just knew he didn’t miss the sight of my nipples puckering or that I was in shorts that if I bent over, you’d see what I have between my thighs. ”
Typically, I’d never say that to anyone, but I figured, being who I am, I wanted her trust so I could help her. Plus, I’m not someone who wants to act fake. That’s not me at all.
“I wouldn’t normally wear my sleep clothes out, but damnit, I needed to get the tire done, and he refused to listen to me.”
The woman moves even closer, and I shoot back on the ground, letting her come out into the sunlight.
“Do you want to come inside? We can get you some clothes and maybe some food? I went to the grocery store yesterday, and thankfully, my ice cream didn’t melt too much and become soup while I dealt with my car. I can make you a sandwich.”
The woman watches me closely before nodding.
“Okay, come on, let’s get you inside then.” I get to my feet and pause as she comes completely out of the crawl space. “What’s your name?”
“Kinley,” she whispers, her body visibly vibrating.
“Hi, Kinley.” I smile at her and take a timid step in her direction. She surprises me when she lets me wrap an arm around her and guide her around the side of the house and inside.
We barely make it up the steps of the porch when I hear the thundering sound of motorcycles.
The sound freaks Kinley and I start fussing over her, telling her it’s okay, that it was just Fire.
I explained to her about how I’d heard her from inside and couldn’t find where she was, so I called Evelin.
Kinley doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t fight me as I help her into the house. I look behind me as the bikes come into view and inwardly scream at myself for not thinking about searching more before calling. She doesn’t need this.
I let her go and grab a blanket from the back of the couch to drape over her, shielding her body. “Why don’t you sit down, and I’ll deal with them, then make you something,” I suggest, nodding to the couch.
Kinley meets my gaze and gives me a small nod.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell her, and exit the house as the guys are getting off their bikes. Before they can get any closer to the house, I run down the stairs and meet them halfway.
“What the fuck?” Heat growls, eyes not on me but the house.
“Look, I’ll explain, but I found her in the crawl space, and she says her name is Kinley and . . .”
I don’t get to finish explaining before every one of the men takes off for the house, leaving me alone. I didn’t want to leave Kinley unprotected, so I followed and found each man looking ready to commit murder, which pissed me off.
“If you all are just going to stare at her like that, then get out. She doesn’t need you all treating her like she’s some carnival monkey on display for your viewing,” I snap and move to stand between her and the men.
“Kinley,” one of the men I hadn’t met grumbles gravelly, like her name was hard to say.
“You said she was in the crawl space?” Heat says, eyes on me, and I just knew if he didn’t have his sunglasses on, he’d have the most beautiful eyes, and I was right. The blue in them was so vibrant, I could see myself in them.
I nod, keeping my stance. “Now, if you guys will leave since you’re not needed, I’m going to take care of Kinley and get her something to eat.”
“I’m not leaving her with you.”
“Brimstone, brother, you need to chill,” Heat grunts, his eyes never leaving mine.
It’s me who breaks eye contact first when Kinley makes a whimpering sound. I turn away from him and move to Kinley, wrapping an arm around her, making sure the blanket is firmly in place.
“It’s okay. You know Fire and Heat. So I take it you know the rest of them,” I murmur quietly to her.
“They’re not going to hurt you.” I wasn’t a hundred percent sure about that, but I felt that they wouldn’t.
From the way Brimstone was looking at us, any sort of doubt I had for her safety with these guys says it all.
They all help expressions of being pissed, but it’s Brimstone who looks like his head might explode.
More than that, I can see the anguish inside him that he’s trying to mask.
I don’t know what happened to this woman, but whatever it is, it has gutted these men.
“Kinley, I’m gonna call Evelin,” Fire murmurs gruffly, his tone gentle, but he wasn’t hiding his fury.
“Wait,” Heat states.
“Prez, Evelin will want to know,” Fire growls.
“I get that, more than you’re aware, but we need to get Kinley to the clubhouse where Hotshot can look her over, and make sure she’s not physically hurt.
” The way Heat says this, how he seems to be reading the room, surprises me.
“McKenna will drive her over. Two of you in front. The rest of us will follow.”
Did he say I was going to drive her to the clubhouse?
“Um, I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” I murmur.
“No choice, Trouble. You’re with us.”
There he goes again, calling me trouble. What is with that?
“What makes you think I don’t have a choice?” I demand, getting more than a little agitated.
“We don’t have time to get into this. The guys who took her, will be looking, and they’ll follow her scent. They’ll know where to look. Bastards won’t get to her at the clubhouse. And if they come here and find you alone, they’ll do to you what they’ve done to her.”
“They’re not going to do a thing to me,” I snap, getting to my feet and taking a stance against Heat. I refuse to follow orders. They’re not for me. “And I’ll say it once, I’m not going to the clubhouse.”
Heat narrows his eyes, and those bright blue eyes that seem so all-seeing, oh my, even glaring, are beautiful.
“Get your ass out to your car, woman, before I throw you over my shoulder,” he orders.
“Don’t you dare threaten me, Heat,” I say at the same time my cell phone starts playing Savage, my ring tone for Leon.
Shit.
I talked to Leon last night. I didn’t go into detail, but I talked to him. Him calling me today, means he had to have talked to Hel.
Ignoring everyone in the room, I grab my phone and answer it, turning my back to the room as I say, “Hey, Leon.”
“What the fuck is with the sweetness in your voice?” Leon demands.
“What the fuck, what?” I smile to myself because the tone of his voice gives me a sigh of relief. “Why are you calling when I know you should be getting the girls line up ready for the night?”
“Babe, I’ve already got shit done, and I’ll say this, I’m not happy about putting Silver up as my headliner. She’s already claiming that she’s taking your spot and keeping it,” he grumbles.
“You can tell Silver, unlike her, none of me is fake. Men don’t want fake in their face.
They sure as hell don’t want her cackling at them when they get a lap dance from her like she likes to do.
Reason she’s not the headliner is because she’s not me and can’t do what I do.
Tell her she can try, but she’ll never be me.
My status as the headliner will never be hers.
For one, she can’t even dance the pole from top to bottom after twirling from the rafter beams overhead.
She doesn’t have the upper-body strength.
She also can’t do the drapes number without breaking her neck.
That’s all me, and she can get over herself.
Besides, she doesn’t shave her twat like she should,” I rant, pissed I wasn’t able to say any of this to Silver’s face.
I couldn’t stand the bitch. She’s the only one of the girls who pisses me off.
If the tension weren’t as thick as it was, I’d swear it just got thicker as I’d been rambling on. I guess I forgot I had guests.
I twist enough to see Heat coming in my direction.
“Ugh, Leon, let me call you back,” I tell my boss before he can respond to what I’d been saying and hang up. “You can also go as well,” I say, speaking to Heat.
“Not until you get your ass in your car,” Heat growls, seemingly annoyed with me.
“I’m not going anywhere with you. If Kinley wants to go to the clubhouse, I can take her, that’s fine, but I’m coming back here.”
“Kinley can ride with me,” Brimstone announces. “I don’t give a flying fuck. But I need to get her where she’s safe and can be looked over.”
“I’ll ride with Fire,” Kinley whispers.
“Babe,” Fire grunts, looking conflicted. “I’ll call Evelin, she’ll come pick you up. Will that work?”
“Yeah,” Kinley says, nodding as she wraps the blanket tighter around her.
Fire steps away and makes a call of his own to I can only guess Evelin. I don’t know the woman, just like I don’t know any of these people, but I’m figuring out Kinley is a friend of theirs and Evelin will help her.
My phone rings again, and damn if it’s not Leon calling again. I need to answer, but I need to get all the guys out of my house first.
“Why don’t you guys all wait outside while I help Kinley get some clothes on first before she goes back outside,” I suggest, looking back at Heat as he glares down at me.
If I can get them out of the house, I can find an excuse to use to keep them from having me go with them to the clubhouse. Maybe I’ll use Leon, saying he’s coming. Yeah, that will work.