Chapter 3
Rowan
Ten fucking days of hospital food, frequent pokes and prods from nurses who lacked any kind of kindness, and doctors who wanted me to talk to a shrink. Ugh.
Finally, I was free.
My apartment was in tatters, just as Frankie had told me, but what else could I do? I grabbed a luggage case from the cupboard, and moved into my bedroom.
Not even my clothes got a reprieve from the fuckers. Sighing, I moved about, grabbing what I absolutely needed. It barely filled the case, but whatever, I could always buy what I needed.
I moved to the floorboard under my bed and lifted it.
At least they hadn’t found this. I pulled out the box of mementos I kept in there from my grandma, and the money I kept from Trey.
An addict was an addict, and the best way to fix that was to starve them of the one thing they needed to feed that habit.
Money.
Pulling it out, I chucked it into the case, and headed out of the apartment, with one more look around. Fuck, I hoped Trey was okay. It wasn’t like him to be completely radio silent.
I yanked my jacket on, and pulled the hoodie up over my face before I headed down to the street. Keeping my head down, I ordered an Uber only to sigh in defeat when I realised I had no money on my account.
Fuck.
All my money was in cash. Looking down the road for a cab, of course it had to be the only time there wasn’t one around.
Just as I was about to start walking for the bus, a navy blue car pulled up.
I stepped back, unsure of what to do, before the door opened and Tiago’s dashing smile lit up my vision.
“Need a ride?”
Relief swamped through me, and I opened the back door to throw my case in, before I jumped in the car with him. He took off, and I removed my hood.
“Where we going?”
“Take me to Kurrajong, toward the Crossing.”
Tiago sighed, as he turned into the traffic of Penrith. “Don’t do this. We can help you.”
“Frankie has been trying to change my mind for over a week, but even she knows it’s the best place for me.”
“What if they don’t take you?”
“Then I’ll call you.”
He nodded. “Okay. There’s no trace on Trey, by the way. Last they heard, he was in Western Australia, but no movement on his cards or his phone.”
“He’s not dumb,” I told him. “He was raised with bikers. He knows how to stay off the radar. He’ll pop up when he’s ready.”
“You have a lot of faith in someone who left you to take his beating.”
Looking out the window as the familiar buildings passed me by while he headed toward my destination.
I needed to keep my anxiety at bay. Frankie had been right.
Trey’s dad may well push me out the door and tell me to take a hike, especially when he finds out that we weren’t technically dating anymore.
Maybe he and Trey were still talking and he had helped him flee, maybe this was a really bad idea…but something, I don’t know what, but something told me Wyatt Jameson, otherwise known as Reaper, would be the salvation I so desperately needed.
“Girl!”
I spun at the familiar voice, just as I walked through the doors of the Shackled Sons clubhouse, hidden deep in the Devil’s Wilderness.
Cherry was the girl that had taken care of me the few times Trey had brought me here for parties. Her bright red hair was a beacon, but it was her pure hearted smile that brought you in.
“I haven’t seen you in an age, what have you been doing with yourself?”
She pulled me in for a hug. I had to admit it felt nice to be greeted this way, but the way she gripped onto my body hurt my still recovering ribs. I winced into her shoulder but held on.
“I was going to ask Wyatt a question.”
Her brow furrowed. “Jesus, girl, don’t call him that here. It’s Reaper. All the boys only go by their road names while in here.”
“Sorry, uh, Reaper.”
It felt weird to call someone Reaper, but now wasn’t the time for that. I needed his help so I’d call him whatever the fuck he wanted me to.
“The boys are all out on a run, darlin’. What can I do for ya?”
“Oh…um…well I was going to ask for a job. I lost my last one and times are tough, you know.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Well, of course, but you wouldn’t ask Reaper for that. You ask me, girl, and you are hired.”
“Really?” I asked, elated that it was that easy.
“Of course. You’re family.”
My stomach plummeted. I wanted to be. If they found out Trey and I weren’t together, they could easily kick me out, but they didn’t need to know.
Not yet, anyway.
“Thank you so much, Cherry.”
“Come with me,” she said, taking my luggage handle and dragging it down a hall, past the bar.
I had only been here once or twice before, but we’d never been this deep in the clubhouse.
Large wooden doors were all closed with locks on the doors.
As we got to the end of the hall, she led me up a staircase with wooden railings until we got to the second floor.
This hallway was larger and held only three doors.
A large double door at the end of the hallway, one to the right side and one to the left side.
Cherry opened the door on the left side and led me into a room. It was beautiful. A large queen size bed sat in the middle with dark blue quilts and pillows. A closet was off to the side, large windows that looked out into the wilderness surrounding the clubhouse.
“This is yours, so you don’t have to look for a place in Kurrajong or whatever. I didn’t see a car, so I assume you don’t have one.”
“No, I sold it a while back.”
“Awesome, so you stay here, and maybe you can start tomorrow?”
“Sounds great.”
Cherry gave me a hug again, softer this time, and looked at my face. “Maybe cover the bruises. The boys don’t like beaten women.”
I nodded. “Thanks for not asking.”
“You’ll tell me when you’re ready. We’ve all got a story here, hun, and I’m guessing yours is a doozy.”
She headed to the door, turning once she got there. “The bathroom is just outside, the door on the opposite side. Don’t go to the double doors. You can come downstairs anytime, the coffee machine is amazing, and the kitchens are just past the bar, next to the office.”
“Thanks, Cherry. What’s behind the double doors?”
“Reaper’s bedroom. It’s just these two rooms up here. The rest of the boys sleep downstairs.”
I wanted to scream. To cry out. To say something but everything died in my throat.
Cherry left me standing in the foreign room, scared to move. I really needed to work on my self esteem. Reaper would be fine with this.
He would do this for Trey. I knew he would.
Sleeping in a different bed, all while your pain meds were wearing off, on a hot summer night and no air con was not fun.
I slipped out of the bed, and headed to the bathroom across the hall.
There were loud, raucous noises coming from downstairs, which told me the parties happened every night, not just weekends like I assumed.
I wasn’t ready for that yet.
Opening the door to the bathroom, I was awestruck at the beauty. I would have expected a masculine wooden decor, with one toilet and a shower stall. What I was looking at, had my little heart beating faster.
A large, white spa bath sat off to the corner of the room, huge marble tiles were under my feet as I spun around to take in the large shower stall on the other side.
A toilet sat in the corner, tucked to the wall, a sink next to it that was big enough to have all my old make-up accessories scattered over it, if I wanted to.
Shit.
This was luxe.
And it was in a biker clubhouse.
What the actual fuck kind of Narnia shit was this?
Frankie was never going to believe it.
I chuckled as I moved to the basin to splash my face. Then I used the toilet, and washed my hands before drying them on a towel by the side of the basin.
As I went to grab the door handle, it turned, and I fell back in surprise when I connected with a hard, hot body.
I grunted as I grabbed the closest thing to me which was a towel, but it did nothing to shield the hard fall on the marble tiles.
Pain rocked through me, my muscles screaming in protest.
“What the f–”
“Rowan?”
That dark, whiskey-infused voice I would recognise anywhere. It had a way of sending jolts to my pussy, and making my stomach flutter. I was loath to admit that I'd imagined it were him between my thighs instead of Trey a few times.
Instead of keeping my eyes on the gorgeous green eyes he had trained on me, my eyes betrayed me and travelled south, to his now very naked body. A body sculpted from the gods, littered in tattoos, and one very large dick.
Holy fucking shit.
Now, that wasn’t genetic, that was for sure.
“Uh…hi, Wyatt.”