Prologue
“Bad dreams
bad dreams go away, good dreams good dreams come to stay. Close your eyes my
little one, tomorrow will be lots of fun.” Amy giggles as I lean down to give
her a hug and a kiss. “Love you princess girl.”
“I love you
momma.” She smiles up at me and it makes all of the stressful moments worth it.
I quietly
shut her door and walk out into the living room. Looking at the couch I think
about grabbing a glass of wine and enjoying some time to myself.
Who are
you kidding? You’ll be asleep after the second sip.
I decide
against the wine, grab a bottle of water and head to my room. Sometimes I want
to go get Amy and just pull her into my bed with me. I hate the loneliness that
comes at night. Most nights I sleep with the TV on just so I’m not jumping at
every noise I hear when the apartment is quiet. I turn on the TV and a movie
I’ve seen a dozen times before is on, knowing I’ll be passed out soon I don’t
even bother changing it.
Laying down
my hand trails over the large empty space next to me. I’ve been so closed off
since Amy’s dad screwed us over. I never wanted to put myself in that position
again. Giving someone the power to hurt me was not going to happen. I still
wonder how it would feel to have someone in our lives, a role model for Amy to
see how a man should treat a woman. I’m thankful that she was young enough when
everything happened with her dad that she probably doesn’t remember any of it.
We haven’t
heard from him in two years since he came clean about his affair and walked out
on us. I had been a stay at home mom, and had to scramble just to find a job to
support us. I was just digging myself out of debt now because for two months we
lived off of the credit cards I had. Some days I felt like I was drowning and
others I thought I had my shit together. I wasn’t close with my family so I had
no one to lean on but myself.
When your
back is against the wall you really find out what you’re made of. I was able to
see that I was so much stronger than I ever thought I was. I started out
working at one of the local daycare centers and the director took me under her
wing. I was now running the four-year-old classroom and also had just been
giving the responsibilities of assistant director. I catch myself falling
asleep even though I’m trying to stay awake and enjoy the little bit of alone
time I have.
The bed
dips beside me and I jolt from the movement. Amy must have had another bad
dream. “Climb under the covers and close your eyes princess.”
When there
is no response I open my eyes seeing a man hovering over me with one of my
kitchen knives in his hand. I open my mouth to scream but he covers it. “You
scream and your little princess might wake up. I’d hate to have to hurt her
because her mother made a stupid choice. Understand?”
I nod and
he takes his hand off of my mouth.
“You are so
goddamn beautiful.” He uses the knife to pull the sheets down the tip dragging
over my body. “I have been dreaming about this.” His fingers roughly pinch my
nipple and I yelp. “Ah, ah, ah. Remember what I said about being loud Emma.”
He knows my
name. Who is he? The ski mask on his face shows me nothing except for the small
holes cut out for his eyes and mouth.
The knife
slides under my shirt and he jerks it up quickly slicing through the thin
fabric. Tears start to fall from my eyes but I make sure to stay quiet. He does
the same thing with my pants and panties cutting them off until I am lying bare
underneath him.
“Don’t cry,
you’re ruining it for me. You don’t want me to be unsatisfied after this and go
looking for more right?” His eyes move to the door. He wouldn’t, but even as I
think that I know he would. “You will moan, tell me how good I feel, and how
much you like this dick. Understand?” I nod, but I have no idea how I am going
to get through this. His hands move down my body as he forces his fingers
inside of me I bite down on my lip to keep from crying out. He pulls out of me
and raises his finger to his mouth. “You are too sweet to just have once. I am
going to enjoy you tonight and then I’ll be back once a month on this date. You
make sure that you’re home or I’ll be back and I won’t be happy. If you think
I’m a monster now, you don’t want to see what I’ll be like then. Understand?”
My stomach
rolls and I have to fight the urge to throw up. He plans to come back.
“If you go
to the cops, or you tell anyone. I will pay a visit to your little princess and
you don’t want to know how that will end. Maybe I’ll even pick her up from Wee
Care.”
My eyes
widen he knows where I work, where Amy goes to school.
“Do you
understand me Emma?”
I nod and
silent tears fall down my face as he lowers his mouth to me.
Chapter One
“I get
where you’re coming from, just make sure we cover our ass through all this
shit.” I look over at Logan as he nods his head.
Growing up
in the club everyone knew we would end up officers someday. For Logan everyone
assumed it would be his older brother Carter, but when the time came for their
dad to step down Carter didn’t want it. Logan jumped at the chance and named me
his Sergeant At Arms. Our dad’s still try to give us shit like we’re kids but
we have the club running like a well oiled fucking machine.
“I’m going
to head home, the early run this morning fucking killed me. See you tomorrow
brother.” I walk out of the office and through the main room. There is a party
tonight, but hell there is a party every night here.
“Hey,
Cain.” Trixie says as her hand grasps my wrist. “How about we head up to your
room?”
“Not
tonight. Go find someone else.” I pull my wrist from her and keep walking
toward the door. She’s a good time when I’m bored but lately she’s been to
fucking clingy. All the officer’s have rooms upstairs away from the brothers
rooms, but I also have an apartment. Sometimes it’s nice to just to get out of
here for a little. Plus the more I hang around the more the club girls are
going to swarm. They all have this diluted fucking idea that one of us will
fall in love with them and make them an old lady.
Not only do
I not want an old lady but when I get one, she sure as fuck wouldn’t have
ridden every other dick in the club.
I hop onto
my bike and give the prospect a nod as I pull out of the compound. My apartment
building is only about ten minutes away, close enough in case I need to get to
the club in a hurry, far enough that I can get away when I want to. Walking
into the building I check my mailbox but it’s empty as usual. I take the
elevator up to my floor when I step out something catches my eye. A guy in a
black hoodie is closing the door to the apartment near the stairs. His hood is
pulled up and it seems like something might be covering his face.
I know the
woman in that apartment. Quiet, pretty, always smiling and she has a little
girl who is always bopping around with some doll in her arms.
I should go
to my apartment and mind my own goddamn business. For some reason I can’t get
my feet to turn around. I start walking toward the door and when I go to knock
the door opens a little. Before I can even say anything I hear the muffled
sound of crying.
“Hey, just
checking to make sure—“my voice catches in my throat when I see her.
The happy
woman who always greets me with a smile is on the floor huddled against the
couch completely naked. Her knees are drawn up to her chest, her face is tear
stained and red like she’s been hit. Even from fifteen feet away I can see her
entire body shaking.
I close the
door and grab a blanket off of the couch, placing it over her I kneel down in
front of her. “Are you okay? I’m going to call 911.”
“No!” she
screams and her face twists in fear.
“What do
you mean no? Whoever the asshole is that did something to you needs to fucking
pay.” I reach into my pocket for my phone but her hand grabs me tight.
“You can’t.
I can’t” She is crying so hard each word seems forced. “He’ll…”
“Mommy?” a
tiny voice fills the large room and I see her daughter standing there. She’s
rubbing her eyes and gripping a raggedy looking teddy bear.
I look at
the terrified woman in front of me. I can’t let her daughter see her like this.
“Well hey there beautiful. What are you doing up?”
“I thought
I heard something. Is mommy okay?” She starts to walk toward us but I stand up
and move to where she is before she can get far.
“She’s
okay, she just stubbed her toe really hard and yelled when it happened.
Thinking that’s what you heard.” The little girl looks from me to where her mom
is in front of the couch. “Hey, how about we get you a drink of water and you
can show me your room?”
A huge
smile breaks out across her face. “I’m Amelia, my friends call me Amy.”
I grab a bottle
of water off the case that is on the table. “Well, my name is Cain. Can I call
you Amy?”
She arches
an eyebrow at me like she’s considering my request. “I haven’t decided yet.”
Amy laughs before running down the hallway.
I follow
her knowing I need her to get back to bed and stay away from her mom right now.
Walking into the bedroom it looks like every little girls dream room. There are
unicorn, rainbows, and princesses everywhere. “Well this has to be one of the
coolest bedrooms ever.”
Amy laugh
as she climbs into bed. “Goodnight Cain.”
“Goodnight
Miss Amelia.” I close her door and walk out into the living room.
Walking
over to the couch I look down at her. “Your little girl is back in bed and I
doubt she had any idea anything was wrong. If you expect me not to call the
cops you need to start talking. Let’s start with your name, if you didn’t catch
mine it’s Cain.” I notice her clothes on the floor and pick them up to hand
them to her, except their cut in half.
I walk back
into the hallway and go into the room on the other end. Heading over to the
dresser I grab the first pair of pants and t-shirt I can find. When I walk back
out she’s managed to wrap the blanket around her body and she is standing up.
“Grabbed
these for you.” I hand them to her and turn my back. To give her some privacy.
“Thank
you.” I turn around and she is sitting on the couch. Her gaze is fixed on nothing
and the color is drained from her face. I walk over and sit in front of her.
“My name is Emma.”
She looks
me in the eye and I can’t look away. Her eyes are a deep green and even though
they look so fucking sad, they’re beautiful. I wait for her to say something
but she has her eyes are trained on the tiny hands wringing in her lap. “I know
you don’t know me for shit, but I need to know what happened. Especially if
you’re saying to me that you aren’t going to the cops. I could help you more
than you know.” Like castrating that asshole and making sure he never breathes
again.
“I…I can’t
tell anyone.” Her eyes don’t meet mine but I follow her gaze to the hallway
where Amy’s room is.
“He
threaten you?” She doesn’t answer. I dip my head down so my eyes catch hers.
“Tell me.”
She nods as
a few tears fall down her cheek.
She’s in no
place that I’m going to get anything out of her right now. “Tell you what. Go
to bed and we can talk this shit over in the morning. I’m gonna stay here on
the couch.”
Her breath
catches like my offer surprises her. “No, it’s okay. We’ll be fine. He never
comes back.”
My head
snaps up at that sentence. “What does that mean? This shit’s happened before?”
No answer. “Emma, that’s the only question you need to answer tonight from me.
After that go lay down and get some much needed rest but I need that answer.”
“Twice
before.” He voice is so quiet I almost don’t catch the response.
What the
fuck? He’s done this to her three times?
“I know
what you must think of me, but you don’t understand.” Tears fall freely each
one making small drops on her gray pants.
I take her
hands and at first she jumps before looking up at me. “I think that you have an
amazing kid back there. I think that whenever I see you, you’re always smiling.
I think that whoever is doing this will regret the very day they were born when
I’m done.”
“You can’t
do anything. No one can.” She stands up and walks toward the hallway. I want to
go after her. I want to tell her that somehow I am going to make this shit
right. I let her go though, she needs to rest and I need time to figure out
what my next move is.
I text Dom
asking him to pull camera feeds from anywhere he can find, and let him know
what he’s looking for. Anytime the club needs something tech wise we go to him.
Best part is that he isn’t the kind to ask questions.
My hands
scrub over my face.
Dom:
What is her last name?
Dom: How
do you know her?
Me: She
lives in the building.
Dom:
Watch where you choose to stick your nose brother.
I know he’s
right. With all the shit the club gets into we don’t need any added attention.
There is no way in hell I can just walk away from this situation though.
To make
sure that she’s safe.
And I don’t
even know that I really understand why.
