AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jay leads us down the side hallway and past a lot of different rooms. At the corner of the hallway where it bends right, there’s a bike on display. I recognise the artwork immediately. “Asher?” I ask.
Jay nods. “Yeah, did that for my dad, the old prez, talented little fucker. He does most of our bikes, that’s why we’re so cool with them.”
Makes sense, I guess.
There are only two doors down this section of the hallway, one open to the left and one at the very end. “Prez’s room, don’t go in there. He’s very private, so he’ll kill you. Don’t worry, you’re safe. No back door on this side and cameras and alarms on every window. Get some rest, and Crew will be back before you know it.”
“Thanks, Jay, I mean it,” I say as Faye pushes the door open. With one last, soft smile at the funny biker, I follow her in. He wasn’t kidding, the room is small with a tiny en suite. On the back of the wooden door are Playboy posters, and more naked women cover nearly all the walls. To the right, pushed up against the grey walls, is a sagging dresser. That’s the only furniture bar a double bed with hardly any bedding, two pillows, and a mismatched side table with a lamp. There’s a window above the bed, but it’s locked and closed.
Minimalistic, but it makes sense if he doesn’t stay here a lot. I do wonder where they all live then. For some reason, I thought all bikers lived at the clubhouse, but I guess not. Faye flops onto the bed, and I sit next to her, crossing my legs.
“Prez likes you. He couldn’t take his eyes off your ass.” I smirk.
She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, right. The fat vintage girl and the biker overlord? Please.” She sits up then, and as I’m about to yell at her for talking down at herself, she arches her brow. “Now tell me why we are here. Why is Crew so worried? What’s happening, Blair?”
Blowing out a breath, I fidget my fingers into the threadbare blanket beneath me, wondering where to start. “Do you remember when I said I couldn’t talk about my past yet, but there was bad shit in it?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, the bad shit caught up to me, and right now, Crew is out there trying to stop it before you, me, or the people I care about get hurt again,” I mutter.
“What? What bad shit?” she questions, reaching out to cover my hand. “Tell me, please, how can I help?”
“You can’t—I.” Tilting my head, I meet her eyes. “I guess I told Crew, and it was easier than I thought, so what harm would it be to tell you? Just promise me something.”
“Anything,” she replies instantly.
“Promise me you won’t look at me differently,” I whisper.
“Never. Best friends, remember? Hell, we’re fucking sisters to the bitter end. I plan on being buried next to you. We can have matching coffins and everything and rock out in hell together. I might even let Crew come along.”
I can’t help but laugh as she grins at me. “Alright, alright, just don’t tell them our plans to live in a mansion with hot cabana boys, bars, and a stripper pole, okay? They are sensitive when it comes to sharing me. Ironic, I know.”
“Got it.” She winks. “Want a drink for this talk?”
“No, let me just ramble, okay? It’s easier.”
“Go ahead, I’m all ears,” she promises, sitting up like she’s ready for a blow, her mouth tilted down in worry.
She’s right, we are sisters. There’s no one besides Crew I would trust with my truth, with my past, other than her. She came tonight without hesitation. She dropped her life for me, and she didn’t know it was to keep her safe. She deserves to know why she might be hunted, why he might try to come for her... because I love her.
“My past... it’s fucked up, Faye. You know it’s why I am the way I am, but it’s worse than you can ever imagine. A teacher at my school became obsessed with me. He was nice at first, but I didn’t know, and eventually, I realised I had a stalker, but I didn’t know who. They sent flowers, pictures, and creepy texts. They called in the middle of the night. They got more and more threatening and increasingly angry at my boyfriend and friends, saying they were cheating on me and spreading lies. I know now it was to get me alone, to make me turn to him. It didn’t work, and it got fucked up.”
She reaches for my hand, covering it again.
“A lot of shit went down. He broke into my room so many times, and I felt him watching me. I went to the police, but they did nothing. I was so scared all the fucking time. And then one night, my friends convinced me to go to a party, to forget, and to be surrounded and safe. I went and I had an amazing time, but on the way home... Fuck. Why is this so hard?” Blowing out air, I meet her eyes again. “We were drugged. He rammed us off the road, and while we were out, he kidnaped us and tied us up in an old barn. I woke, cold, scared, and in pain, tied to a ceiling rafter, my boyfriend and friends before me...” The whole ugly story spills out, and for the second time, I cry.
It’s not as bad as it was when I told Crew, as if I finally broke that barrier and released all the pain, and with every confession, it lessens. She listens, holding me, as tears fall down her face.
By the time I’m done, I’m choking on my pain and struggling to breathe. Her eyes well with more tears as she looks at me. “Oh, Blair,” she whispers and then pulls me closer, leaning her head against mine, giving me her strength and comfort. “I knew something had happened. I never thought…” She shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter what I thought, I’m just fucking proud of you, you know that, right? Proud of you for how strong you had to be to survive that, and how fucking much you had to fight. I’m so proud of the woman sitting before me. You did what it took to survive a horrible situation you never should have been in. He was an adult, Blair, a fucked up, twisted adult, and you were just a kid. I see it in your eyes, you blame yourself, and don’t you fucking dare. You are not responsible for his actions any more than you’re responsible for keeping everyone alive. What happened was tragic, really tragic, and so messed up, but you don’t get to kill yourself over it, okay?” She reaches up and cups my cheek in a sisterly way. “You fought so hard to stay alive, don’t give that up now.”
That’s it, the simplest form. For so long, I have been living in the grey, almost killing myself to forget, yet when it happened, all I wanted to do was survive. How could I forget that? I’ve spent so long killing myself slowly when under it all, I just wanted to live and be free of the pain. She sees that, she... she understands. She doesn’t judge, instead she offers me a shoulder to lean on, but she also gives me the harsh truth I need as well.
“It’s time to stop running from it. Crew will finish this, and then you can be free, okay? I know you’ll carry the memories and scars, but maybe when he’s finally… finally done, you can move on. All this time, I thought you pushed people away to protect your own heart, and it’s partly that, but it’s also partly to keep them safe. Deep down, you think if you let people close, they’ll die, but it’s just not the truth, babe. I’m alive, Crew is alive, and you are not the cause of anyone’s death. It just happens. It’s fucked up, but it does. It’s time to stop using that to keep people at bay. Right now, there are three men who adore you hunting your monster. Three men so fucking obsessed and in love with you, they are going to burn this city to the ground to find the man that hurt you. So stay with me, with them, and let’s fight this together. I know you want to run again to keep us safe. Don’t. That’s not your job.”
“I just—I couldn’t bear for anyone to get hurt again because of me.”
“They won’t, we won’t. And you know what, Blair? Even if we do, that’s our choice, not yours. You can’t protect everyone, and you can’t fight every battle alone.” She smiles. “And thank you for telling me, for trusting me with that. I’m so sorry, Blair, I really am. So fucking sorry.”
