Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
SCAR
I’m not sure how long I passed out for. The sound of the bolt on the door opening stirs me awake, and I blink my eyes open and move, which was a big mistake.
“Fuck!” I hiss in pain.
I know it’s her before I can focus my gaze. As I smell her perfume, I hear her shuffling around, moving something heavy across the floor. Suddenly, a small amount of sunlight streams in through a tiny hatch window. That’s when I see her climbing down off of a box. She looks at me, a gasp escaping her, and I’m guessing I don’t look too good.
“Wait there,” she says before running out of the room, locking the door behind her. I guess she doesn’t trust me yet. Looking around the room, I check out my surroundings, now that it has got some kind of natural light in. It’s then that I look up to the small hatch window. I begin to wonder if I would be able to fit through it. It’s true, I’m not the smallest of guys, but being in here these past few months, I’ve lost a lot of weight.
Elsie comes back in with a box of stuff, placing it down before she kneels down next to me. “This may sting a little,” she says softly as she pours some alcohol onto cotton. She leans forward and gently presses it over my cut. I look at her, no correction, I stare at her, now seeing her properly for the first time. She gives me a small smile, and it’s then that I see her clear milky pale skin is kissed with freckles over her nose. Her lips are like a perfect bow, but then there are her eyes, rich green eyes with flecks of gold and hazel through them, surrounded by thick long lashes.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful,” I state bluntly.
Her cheeks heat and she blinks. “Um, thanks,” she says softly. “That should help it not get infected.” She smiles before she pulls out a bottle of pain killers and hands them to me. “They are just basic pain killers, but I figured they may help.” She shrugs, and her eyes sweep over my body. Without thinking, her finger lightly dances over the bruises. “What happened?” she asks softly.
“Layton and his dogs,” I state, assessing her. “Just to warn you sweetheart, I may be in pain, but you keep touching me like that and you will make my cock hard. It’s been months,” I warn her, joking. It’s the only defence I have. I don’t want anyone seeing me weak. Her eyes go wide and she shifts back. I smirk. “Don’t panic darlin’, I wouldn’t try anything. That ain’t my style. I like my women to be into my cock, not terrified of it,” I state. “Although some have been scared of it, but as soon as we start fucking, their worries quickly drifted away.” I sigh. Truthfully, I fucking miss pussy. Especially Rhea’s. Fuck, that woman really put some voodoo shit on me.
Elsie clears her throat, bringing my thoughts back to the here and now. “How can you joke at a time like this?” she asks.
I sigh. “Because if I didn’t, it would mean that they won. They beat the shit out of me, they can withhold food from me, but they ain’t ever going to take away the person that I am. I’ve been through worse times and lived to see another day. So, to put it frankly, they can kiss my toned ass.”
Her eyes assess me before she closes the medical box. “Well, I don’t think I would be so cheerful if I was in your situation.”
I lean back, stretching out. “Shit.” I groan in pain, and concern flashes in her eyes. “I’m okay,” I wheeze. “So, tell me why the special visit?” I ask.
“Special visit?” she counters, raising her brow.
“Yeah, it’s daytime. You let in some light, and you don’t seem so jumpy,” I explain.
“Oh.” She smiles, tucking her hair back behind her ear. “Um, everyone is out. Well, they’re away actually, for the weekend. So, I figured I could make things a little easier for you while they’re not here.” There is no one here but us. I could get out of here and run, but then I would put all the club in danger, the ol’ ladies, the kids. Fuck, I couldn’t do that to them. If I am to get out of here, it needs to be with Eugene and his men dying. There is no other way. “I know you could escape right now if you wanted to,” she points out, as if reading my mind. “But I also know that if you did, he would stop at nothing to seek redemption. I don’t know if you have a wife or kids, but I know he would go after them. He would take the things you love and destroy them, just to break you,” she warns.
Gazing into her eyes, I can see deep emotion and worry there. “I won’t be going nowhere,” I assure her. “Not right now, anyway. I ain’t stupid enough to risk their lives,” I answer truthfully.
She gives me a small smile before her eyes suddenly widen and she jumps to her feet. “I nearly forgot,” she says as she disappears over to the other side, picking up another box. She walks back over and drops to her knees. I watch as she opens it and hands me a bunch of pouches.
“What the fuck are these?” I ask.
“They’re protein pouches. I have noticed you are losing more and more weight and well, if you are going to keep standing up to Layton, then you will need your strength,” she says before pulling more out from the box. “Here is some soap and a wrench,” she says as she places them down next to me.
“What in the fuck would I want with soap and a wrench?” I ask, staring down at the odd combination.
She places the box down and stands. “Ah.” She smiles and holds her hands out to help me up.
I push her hands away. No way am I having a tiny little thing like her helping my ass up off the floor. She huffs and rolls her eyes, like she knows exactly why I won’t accept her help. I manage to make it to my feet and follow her into the bathroom.
“There’s a sink and a toilet. How am I supposed to shower?” I ask. She holds up her finger to signal me one moment before she reaches around for something and pulls it out. A hose and shower head. She uses the wrench to show me how to attach it to the tap.
“Taa-daa, shower,” she gestures.
I start stripping off, ignoring the pain each movement causes. It may be a cold trickle shower, but damn, I can’t wait to stand under it.
“Oh, um...” Elsie blushes, holding out the shower hose to me as she looks away. I take it, but as I try to lift my arm up, pain shoots through my ribs.
“Ah, fuck!” I hiss. “Sweetheart, you’re going to have to hold the shower up for me. I can’t lift my arm,” I tell her. She turns around while keeping her hand over her eyes and blindly reaches forward, trying to grasp the shower head. She reaches out again, but this time her hand lands on my dick and her hand wraps tightly around it as she tries pulling up. “Shit,” I hiss. “Er darlin’, that ain’t the shower hose,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Huh?” she asks, peering over her hand. Her eyes go wide when she sees what exactly she is holding. “Oh my god! Oh my god!” she says panicked, while still holding my now semi hard dick in her hands.
“Darlin’, unless you plan on finishing me off, could you release my dick?” I ask, feeling amusement for the first time in months.
She drops it immediately and holds her hand away from her. I move the shower hose to her hand that just held my dick. “There, all clean,” I say. “Hold it up, darlin’,” I instruct, but she’s still stood there with a look of horror on her face. “Sweetheart, can you hold the shower up for me?” I repeat.
She snaps out of her thoughts and nods. “Right, yes, um.” She pauses, looking around. “I know,” she says and I turn to see her climbing onto the toilet, standing on the rim of the seat so she’s taller than me. I smile and stand under the shower.
“Do me a favour. If you’re standing up there, don’t go and close your eyes or you’ll fall and hurt yourself.” I hold my hand out for the soap. “You got the soap?” I ask. She places it in my hand and I scrub my body as much as I can before I use the soap to wash my hair and now full fucking beard. I finish up and realise there is nothing to dry with, so I start to put my old clothes back on.
“Oh wait, I got you a new belt. I noticed that your jeans are starting to fall off from where you’ve lost so much weight,” she says.
I turn off the taps and she jumps down off the toilet. I follow her in nothing but my jeans, while having to hold them up so they don’t fall down. She hands me a belt and I quickly take it and slide it on.
“Sorry, I could get you more clothes, but then they would figure out that I am bringing you stuff,” she apologises. Her eyes roam over my body, sympathy flashing through them, probably from noticing all the black and blue bruises on my body.
Once dressed, I ease myself back onto the mattress, and Elsie sits there with the box, handing me out more things. “There are more candy bars, and also this...” She hands me a small switch blade, and I raise my brow at her in question. She eyes me for a second. Both of us know I could use this to escape. “That is for cutting open the mattress and you can stuff it with the things I give you, so they don’t catch it.” She smiles.
I look down at the blade, thinking how easy it would be for me to just hold this to her throat. Not to hurt her, I would never hurt her, but just to scare her enough so I could get the fuck out of here and back to the club, back to sleeping in a bed. Just to see Rhea, even though I know she’s not mine.
As if sensing my thoughts, Elsie clears her throat. “If you leave, I won’t stop you. You can go, but if you do, can you at least hit me? Make it look like I tried to stop you,” she states softly.
I look into her eyes, seeing that she’s deadly serious. “If I run, he won’t stop coming for my club and family. I can’t have that,” I sigh. Just because it’s the right thing to do for them, doesn’t mean that every part of my body isn’t itching to run.
Elsie frowns at me. “You have a chance to run, but you won’t because you are worried about what would happen to your family?” she asks, a look of confusion on her face.
“Yeah, it’s what we do. We are a family. I am a part of the club, and there isn’t anything I won’t do for my brothers or their loved ones,” I affirm. She is about to open her mouth to ask me another question, but I halt her by placing a finger on her lips. “Enough with the questions from you. There is one question you are yet to answer me,” I state, pausing. “Who the fuck are you?” I ask with a little too much bite in my tone.
She flinches. “I am no one important,” she answers, fumbling.
I look at her, really look at her. “Fuck,” I sigh when I focus on her eyes. “Eugene is your dad, isn’t he?” I ask.
She looks away. “Yes,” she admits, her voice so soft it’s barely a whisper. She moves to stand but I grab her wrist, stopping her.
“Don’t go,” I order, although I cringe at the slight pleading sound in my voice. She doesn’t move for a second, and I think she’s going to go, but she gives me a brief nod before sitting back down.
“I won’t answer any questions that will help you when it comes to my dad,” she states straight away.
I let go of her wrist. “I wouldn’t. They are of no use to me anyway, while I’m stuck in here,” I answer with a smile playing on my lips. Her face softens again and she gives me a warming smile.
“So, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry about your brother,” I tell her, which is a lie. I couldn’t give a shit about her brother. It was an arranged fight that he lost, and he unfortunately lost his life. Maybe if he wasn’t the son of Eugene, then I may hold a small degree of sympathy for him.
She shrugs. “Don’t be, he was horrible.” She sighs. “He bullied me my entire life, broke my arm when I was 9, all because I wouldn’t do his homework.”
“That mother fucker,” I growl. “How much older was he to you then?” I ask.
“I am older than him by two years, but he was always bigger than me. As my mom says, you don’t always get things right the first time. Sometimes the second time is the charm,” she says with a cynical smile on her lips, but her eyes pour with sadness and anger.
“I don’t mean this to cause offence,” I sigh. “But fuck me, your family are a bunch of fucking cunts,” I snap.
She lets out a laugh before she covers her smile with her hand. “Thank you,” she beams.
“Anytime.” I smirk. “What made you decide to come down here and help me?” I ask.
Those big round green eyes land on mine and she nibbles anxiously on her bottom lip. “I heard you that night.” She pauses. “I heard you sacrifice yourself for her happiness.” She wraps her arms around herself, as if she’s feeling exposed. “It moved something in me.”
“Jealousy.” I nod with a broad smile.
She rolls her eyes. “No, it was the way you sacrificed your own life, your own happiness, for her. Even though she doesn’t feel the way you do about her.”
“Alright, fucking hell, rub it in why don’t ya?” I ask, feigning hurt.
“I’ve never known anyone that selfless. To do that to protect her, your brother. I’ve never known anyone in my life to just do that for someone else.” She shrugs.
“Well, I don’t think that’s entirely true. I mean, your dad wouldn’t be keeping me locked up if he didn’t love your brother,” I point out.
“My dad didn’t love my brother. He just wanted him to continue the business. Keeping you here isn’t just about revenge for his son. It’s revenge for the embarrassment. It’s all about how it will make him look. By keeping you here, it shows that no one can come for him or his family. Even though he doesn’t give a shit what happens to us. It’s all about image,” she rants. Pausing, she opens the box, grabs a bag of candy and starts angrily eating it.
“Er, was that for me?” I ask, pointing to the bag.
She looks down at the bag then back to me, a wince on her face. “Sorry,” she mumbles around a mouthful of candy. She hands me the bag and I quickly take it and pop some into my mouth. “It’s what they do to me. I stress eat, much to my mom’s dismay. She’s already locked away any carbs in the house to hide it from me.” She tuts.
I frown and look her up and down, seeing nothing but beautiful round curves. “You are going to have to elaborate on why your mom was making you diet, because I don’t see anything wrong with the way you look.”
She looks away, tucking her hair behind her ear. “You are just being nice because I brought you candy,” she says, dismissing me.
“Do I look like the kind of guy that would lie about something like that?” I ask her. She shrugs. “Okay, I’m going to tell you something that I ain’t proud of, but maybe it will make you realise that my statement is the truth. I was fucking this woman,” I start. She immediately blanches. “She had this weird mole on her ass cheek, and it looked like fucking Elmo. It even had the nose,” I add, shuddering at the memory. “I know you are thinking I could have just laid her on her back and fucked her missionary. Well I did, but I just couldn’t get Elmo out of my head. I’m as fucked up as the next pervert, and there is pretty much nothing I won’t do, but I felt like I was fucking Elmo and that is not cool. I mean, the guy is a legend. I couldn’t violate him in that way,” I sigh.
Elsie is laughing so hard she’s holding her stomach. I smile, ignoring the feel of my lip splitting open again. She wipes away her tears of laughter. “What did you say to her?” she breathes, trying to ease her laughter.
“I told her the truth, that she had Elmo on her ass, and if she wanted sex from me in the future, she would need to get it removed. It made me limp and flaccid, and no woman has ever made me soft,” I point out.
“Oh my god, was she upset?” she asks.
“I mean, of course she was, when you get with this.” I pause, gesturing with my hand up and down my body. “You don’t want it to end. I was nice, told her she was beautiful in every way, but that birth mark freaked me out. She was fine and she came back six months later with it removed, then I fucked her brains out. She’s married now with two kids.” I nod.
“Wow,” she beams.
I grin. “See, and now you are smiling. My work here is done.”
Her eyes go soft and she gives me a small nod. Her phone pings in her pocket and she quickly pulls it out, her eyes going wide. “I’ve got to go. They’re home. Hide it. Hide it all,” she says panicked before getting to her feet and rushing out, locking the door behind her.