Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Elaina
Joey headed toward a set of double doors that was down a short hallway, and the moment he disappeared through them, the doors shut behind him. Frowning, I looked at Alejandro. “He doesn’t seem to want us here,” I muttered.
“Joey is an… acquired taste,” Ink spoke up before Alejandro could.
I slowly turned my head to look at him. “If he didn’t want you here, he wouldn’t have opened up our home to you.
” He jerked his chin in the direction of a hallway in the back of the clubhouse behind me.
“Come on. I’ll show you where you’re staying.
Unfortunately, you’ll have to room together since we have limited space, but—”
“Rooming together is fine,” Alejandro told him, and honestly, I wasn’t picky either. I was grateful to just be away from my father and somewhere safe. Somewhere he nor the men he associated with could touch me. “Please show us where we’ll be staying so she can shower and get some rest.”
Without a word, Ink led us down the hall and to a door at the very end.
Pushing it open, he stepped aside and gestured for us to walk in.
“The basics of what you need are already in the bathroom. If you need or want other stuff, you’ll have to go out and get it yourself.
Or if you pay Jessie, she’ll go out and get it for you. ”
“Who is Jessie?” I asked as I stepped inside.
“Joey’s little sister,” Alejandro informed me. “She’s a ball buster, from what I’ve heard.” Ink snorted a laugh, drawing our eyes to where he was standing just outside the room. “We’ll be fine. Thank you.”
Ink stepped back. “If you’re hungry or thirsty, help yourself to the kitchen.
” And with that, he was gone, heading back up the hallway.
Alejandro shut the door and flipped the lock before walking over to the couch along the far wall.
I shifted nervously, suddenly unsure of what I was supposed to do.
Sharing a room with Alejandro hadn’t sounded so terrible at first, but then again, I’d just been kind of going along with the flow.
But now that we were locked in a room together, I didn’t know what to do with myself.
“I’ll sleep here,” Alejandro told me. He jerked his chin toward the open bathroom door. “Go ahead and shower. The bed is all yours.”
I frowned, shaking my head. “I can’t ask you to sleep on the couch.
” He’d gone through all this trouble to rescue me.
Letting him sleep on the couch was definitely not okay.
He deserved to rest in a bed—one that looked extremely comfy and was beckoning me like a moth to the flame.
It’d been weeks since I’d slept on a comfortable bed.
I’d mostly been sleeping in alleyways with my jacket as a blanket and my backpack as a pillow with a knife clutched in my fist.
“You’re not asking me, pequena luchadora,” Alejandro told me, shaking his head. “Now go on. Stop arguing with me and go shower. You’re overly tired, and your body needs rest to properly heal. And in the morning, we will talk about all those bruises all over you.”
A scowl settled over my features. “His men beat the shit out of me when they found me,” I snapped at him, bristling at the reminder of what’d happened to me.
“And when I was brought home, my father had them strip me bare, and he beat me again before letting them fucking rape me, Alejandro. That what you want to fucking know?”
His eyes darkened, rage clouding them for just a brief moment. And then, like a switch had been flipped, the anger left his eyes, leaving him calm once more. I trembled, finding it terrifying how easily he could shut an emotion off he didn’t want to feel.
“Shower, pequena luchadora,” he calmly repeated, his voice low and soothing.
“What does that mean?” I blurted, still not moving.
This time, he sighed, clearly getting annoyed with my lack of obedience.
But he’d better get used to that. I wasn’t exactly an obedient woman.
I’d spent far too long fighting for my fucking life and my freedom to ever roll onto my back and present my belly in submission to an alpha male that hadn’t done anything beyond paying three million dollars for me to rescue me.
Beyond that, he hadn’t done anything else to earn my trust in him.
“It means little fighter,” he said. “Are you going to shower at some point tonight or no?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m going. Fuck, you’re bossy.”
He huffed a laugh. “And you’re stubborn,” he retorted. “But it’s a good trait for you to have. It’s kept you alive.”
I tilted my chin up just the slightest bit, pride filling me at his words.
Without saying anything in return, I strode into the bathroom and flipped on the light.
After shutting the door behind me, I took a moment to admire the extremely clean bathroom.
As promised, clothes had been left on the counter for me—a pair of leggings, a long-sleeve shirt, a thong with the tag still on it, and a sports bra, also with the tag still in place.
My throat closed up with tears as I fingered the new items.
How long had it been since I’d had clean clothes? Brand new panties? Hell, when was the last time I’d owned a fucking bra?
I couldn’t remember.
A tear ran down my cheek. Hastily, I reached up to swipe it away. I would not cry right now. I would not shed a fucking tear until I was free of everyone, including the man on the couch right outside the bathroom who had purchased me for three million fucking dollars in an effort to save me.