Chapter 2 - Ivy #2
"By the time I realized what he really was, I was already in too deep. Living in the clubhouse, surrounded by Vipers, completely dependent on him for everything. He made sure of that. Made sure I had no money of my own, no friends outside the club, nowhere to go if I left."
"Classic isolation," Judge mutters. "Control 101."
"He hit me for the first time three weeks in." The admission tastes like ash. "I thought about leaving then. Should have left then. But I was scared. Convinced myself it was a one-time thing, that he was just stressed, that I'd done something to provoke it."
"You didn't." Eli's voice is hard. "Whatever he told you, whatever he made you believe, you didn't provoke it. Men like Cole don't need provocation. They just need someone weaker to hurt."
How many times did Cole tell me it was my fault? That I made him angry, pushed him too far, deserved what I got? How many times did I believe him?
Too many. God, too many.
"It got worse," I continue, because I need to finish this. Need to get it all out. "More frequent. More violent. He broke two of my ribs last year. Told everyone I fell. I stood there at the hospital and lied to the doctor because I was more afraid of what Cole would do if I told the truth."
My hands are shaking again. I clasp them together in my lap, trying to hold myself steady.
"Three months ago, he proposed. I said yes because saying no wasn't an option.
The wedding was supposed to be this huge club event.
Demon was going to officiate. All the Vipers would be there, plus prospects, hangers-on, women who looked at me like I was lucky to be marrying a senior member.
Lucky," I repeat, and this time I do laugh, sharp and bitter.
"Like being beaten regularly was some kind of prize. "
I meet Eli's eyes across the bar. "I heard things about you.
About the Iron Phoenix. The Vipers talked about you constantly.
Always mocking, always contemptuous. They said you were soft.
That you built a club for men who couldn't handle real MC life.
That you refused to hurt innocent people and that made you weak. "
Something flickers across Eli's face. Not hurt, exactly. More like grim satisfaction.
"They said all that like it was an insult," I continue.
"But I filed it away. Because a man the Vipers mocked for having principles was exactly the kind of man I needed.
So, I did my best to get here, and spent three hours sitting outside this clubhouse trying to work up the courage to knock on that door. "
"Three hours?" Eli's eyebrows rise slightly.
"I didn't know if you'd help me. Didn't know if you'd turn me away, or hand me back to Cole, or be just another version of him wearing different colors." The fear of that possibility had nearly driven me away a dozen times. "But I had nowhere else to go. No one else to call. You are my last hope."
Eli is quiet for a long moment. Then he straightens, uncrossing his arms.
"You made the right call," he says, and his voice is certain. Final. "Cole doesn't touch you again. The Vipers don't touch you again. You're under Iron Phoenix protection now, and I'll put that in writing in blood if I have to."
The viciousness of the promise should scare me. Instead, for the first time in two years, I feel safe.
"We've got a room upstairs," Judge says, his voice now gentler than I expected from a man built like a brick wall. "Nothing fancy, but it's clean and it locks from the inside. You can stay as long as you need."
"I don't want to be an inconvenience—"
"You're not." Eli cuts me off again, but there's no heat in it. "You're a woman who needs help. That's not an inconvenience. That's what we're here for."
I don't know what to say to that. Don't know how to process this kind of immediate, unconditional protection from strangers. It feels too good to be true, like any second the trap will spring and I'll realize this is just another cage with a different lock.
But Eli's eyes are steady on mine, serious and utterly sincere. And I'm so tired of running. So tired of being afraid.
"Okay," I whisper. "Thank you."
He nods. "Judge will show you upstairs. Get some sleep. We'll figure out the rest in the morning."
Morning. Like I have a future beyond the next few hours. Like tomorrow is something I'm allowed to plan for.
I stand, my legs shaky with exhaustion and adrenaline crash. Judge moves toward a staircase I hadn't noticed, and I follow him, glancing back at Eli.
He nods once, a clear dismissal, and I follow Judge up the stairs. The room he shows me to is small but clean, exactly as promised. A bed, a dresser, a window with curtains. A door that locks from the inside.
"Bathroom's across the hall," Judge says. "You need anything, just knock. Someone's always up."
"Thank you," I say again, because I don't have better words.
He pauses in the doorway. "You're safe here, Ivy. I know you probably don't believe that yet, but you are. Phoenix doesn't make promises he can't keep."
Then he's gone, the door closing behind him.
I'm alone.
I cross to the bed and sit, my whole body trembling now that there's no one to see it. I made it. I actually made it. I'm out, I'm safe, I'm somewhere Cole can't reach me.
The man downstairs, Eli Blake, Phoenix, president of the Iron Phoenix MC, just promised to protect me in blood.
I should be terrified of that kind of violence.
Instead, I curl up on the bed, fully clothed, and for the first time in two years, I fall asleep without fear.