Chapter 5
Chapter Five
CJ
It’s been almost a week since the encounter with Axe in the parking lot, and my heart hurts every day that I haven’t seen him.
I don’t understand why.
Ever since meeting him, it’s like he’s all I can think about.
Stupid, I know.
I’m not the kind of person to allow myself to think of a man. Especially when I know, I’ll have to drop everything at a moment’s notice to keep them from catching up with me. Sighing, I glance around the bar.
Over the weekend, we’d been packed to the gills.
Colt ended up calling a few other club members to come in and assist with security to keep a handle on shit.
I couldn’t be more grateful for that. I have no problem jumping in the midst of a fight and breaking it up, but it’s not my favorite thing to do.
Tonight though, is still busy but not like the weekend, and I’m running on fumes. I’ve barely slept, my mind continuously playing on repeat.
My arms stretched in the restraints while the dagger goes against my skin. Digging into my skin along the edge of my hairline.
“It’s a pity you have to look so beautiful, and I have to mar your skin to make you hideous,” my aunt sneers.
I whimper through the gag in my mouth.
“Sweetheart, you’ve had your chance to play now it’s mine,” my uncle chuckles, making his way across the soundproof basement.
Right in front of me, my aunt strips down to nothing and allows my uncle to fuck her while he leers at my naked body.
Closing my eyes, I take several deep breaths and push the thought from my head. There’s nothing I can do about what they did to me in the past, but I can keep myself from their grasp now.
If they get ahold of me again, there’s no telling what they’ll do. I know this cat and mouse game is coming to an end, but it won’t end with me in their clutches.
Screw that.
I’ll die first.
But before I die, I’ll be sure my sister’s dad knows to keep her close and keep her safe.
“You okay?” I stiffen at the sound of the voice. It’s the same one that’s haunted me since I first met him.
Axe.
Damnit.
Turning around, I brace myself to face him.
“I’m fine,” I murmur, keeping my face blank of all emotions. “What can I get you?”
“Water, I’m working tonight, so need to be clear-headed,” he says, looking around the bar, scanning the crowd.
Please tell me he’s not working security here tonight.
I reach into the mini-fridge under the bar that I suggested to Hammer we get for the brothers to have drinks and shit they want inside it. I pull out a water bottle for Axe and hand it to him. His fingers brush across mine as he takes it from me and it’s all I can do to keep my features schooled.
“Thanks, Sunbeam.” He grins.
Damn him.
Why does he have to call me that?
Sunbeam.
My stomach does somersaults, and I want to hear him call me Sunbeam again. But I have to remember, nothing can happen. Not now, not ever.
Turning away from him, I spend the rest of the shift doing my best to ignore him while taking care of customers.
Near midnight, I glance around the bar, not finding any of the club members as I notice a fight about to happen. Rounding the bar top, I make my way to the group of guys arguing.
“Alright, guys, break it up,” I command, yelling over the music.
“Fuck you, bitch, this doesn’t involve you,” one of the two glaring at each other, snarls at me.
“It might not involve me, but you won’t be doing anything in this bar. Now get the hell out before I personally throw you out,” I snap, facing the asshole.
“Bitch, you can’t do a damn thing to me,” he sneers, pushing me out of his way so he can get back in the other guy’s face.
The two of them start at each other and I’ve had enough. I jump in the middle again and kick both men in the balls hard enough to send them to their knees, groaning. “I told you, you weren’t going to be fighting in my bar.
“You little cunt,” the one who pushed me snarls.
“Bitch, I’ll fuck you up,” the other growls.
“You might want to change that tone, fucker,” Axe seethes from behind me. At the sound of his voice, I become all too aware of his presence. He’s standing directly behind me. So close, I can feel his body heat.
“Why do I need to change my tone when she’s the one who fuckin’ kneed my balls?” the first guy demands.
“Maybe because she told you both to take it outside. Now you get to be dragged out.” That’s when I notice Dagger and Rogue standing behind both men. Colt and Carbine stand in front of the other men that were with the two who started the fight.
As Dagger, Rogue, Colt, and Carbine escort the men out of the bar not so gently, I go back behind the bar top where I get back to work filling drink orders.
Once I get the orders filled, I find Axe behind the bar with me leaning against the end of it, giving me the space I needed until I finished.
I then find him in my space, his hand coming up to cup the side of my face where my scar is hidden behind my hair which I put into a side braid to hide the hideous thing.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” he asks in a low growling tone.
“Excuse me?” I blink at the question he’s asking because all I can focus on is the hand cupping my face and my own heartbeat.
“I asked what the fuck you were thinking? You don’t get in between brawls,” he snarls.
“Who says? There wasn’t anyone around to stop it and I wasn’t about to have them wreck the place when I could stop it,” I say, attempting to pull away, but he doesn’t allow this.
“Yeah, and at the same time, you got two men extremely pissed at you. Who knows what they may try to do to you if they get the chance,” Axe states, leaning his face even closer to mine. “You want them to hurt you the way I can see someone already has?”
His words are a low blow that causes my blood to immediately freeze as he brushes his thumb along my hairline.
“Fuck you, Axe,” I snap, shoving him away from me. “Get away from me and don’t ever talk to me like that again. You don’t know me and you sure as hell don’t know what my life’s been like.”
My cell phone vibrates in my back pocket, and I decide to take a break.
“You can watch the bar. I’m taking a break,” I mutter and storm past him, making sure to give him as much of a wide berth as I can.
I make my way down the hallway leading to the offices and pull my phone out of my pocket to see it’s Apricot’s dad’s name popping up on the screen.
Swiping my finger across the glass, I answer the call, doing the best I can to keep the anger and hurt out of my voice. “Hey, Marcus.”
“Hey, CJ, you working?” he asks, knowing I work in bars surrounded by loud music.
“Yeah, I decided to take a break when you called. What’s up?”
“Apricot wants to come visit you, heading out tomorrow. So do we. And considering I know exactly what bar you’re managing and who it is you’re working for, don’t think of arguing.
We’re coming up and we won’t be alone. Some of the club is coming up with us,” Marcus announces, and I’m shocked by the tone of his commanding voice.
“But . . .”
“No buts, sweetheart. We’re coming and there’s no stopping us,” he mutters, interrupting me.
“Okay,” I murmur, unsure of all of this. Other than video chats and quick trips that are barely half a day with her, I’ve not seen her and I’ve not seen Marcus or his ol’ lady.
I don’t know how I should feel right now. All I know is I can’t breathe. I head to the exit and step outside into the fresh air needing to catch my breath. Marcus talks to me for a few more minutes and hangs up.
I put the phone back in my pocket and lean against the cool brick of the building. What am I going to do now?
If . . . if they come after me while Apricot’s here, things might be worse. The hell I went through is something I don’t think my little sister could survive. On top of that, she shouldn’t know about it. I refuse to allow her to be hurt in any way.
Hell, it’s why I’m still a damn virgin. For her. Because if they were to finally catch me and found out, they’d kill me and take her. They’d make her suffer, train her to be a whore and sell her body for profits.
That’s what they intend to do with me but not before they finish hurting me in every way possible. I mean, that’s what they were doing in the first place, training me to be a fuckin’ whore who enjoyed the pain of masochism.
My stomach lurches and if I had anything in my stomach, I’d puke right here and now.
“What are you doing out here alone?” I lift my head in surprise when the question comes out of nowhere, and I find myself facing Axe once again.
Great.
Just what I need.
What more can go wrong at this moment in time?