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“Are you fucking kidding me?” I gasp.
“No, but don’t feel bad for them. It’s a choice they make.” She frowns. “The guys won’t force anyone to be here that doesn’t want to be. By outlaw bike club standards, these girls are treated really well. Some other clubs…” She shuddered before stopping.
“Well, there’s that,” I grumble as I store the liquor Justice brought earlier behind the bar.
“So,” Hadley starts to pry.
“Again?”
“Yes. Again.” She smiles sweetly. “What are you going to do? I saw you deny three calls from your brother in the last thirty minutes.”
“I’m a grown-up and I don’t need my older brother checking on me three times a day.”
“Does he know what happened?” she asks softly.
“No one knows,” I reply angrily before taking a breath. “Just thinking back to that night pisses me off. I can’t believe I allowed myself to get to that place. And my ego is still bruised.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Hadley asks.
I watch her closely, trying to see if she has any ulterior motives for wanting to talk to me about what happened that night. But she doesn’t know me well enough to have anything to gain from knowing. Sighing, I walk around the bar and take a seat beside her.
“Have you ever ended up in a fucked-up situation and just thought, well, I did this to myself?”
Hadley laughs loudly. “Did no one tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“I think we all forget that you haven’t always been one of us.” She bumps my shoulder with hers. “You just fit in so effortlessly.” She seems to be lost in thought for a moment before continuing. “A couple of years back, I was being my regular hard-ass self and I got kidnapped. Got shot too.”
“The fuck?”
“Oh, we all have some kind of damage around here. And not just Daddy issues like the club ass. But that’s each person’s story to divulge in their own time. But know this,” Hadley’s face is stern as she speaks. “We are all broken. Some more than others. That’s why no one pressures you to tell your story.”
We sit in silence at the bar, both of us lost in our own thoughts. Who knew I would find peace with some of the most dangerous people I have ever met? That I would be accepted so wholly by complete strangers and welcomed without judgment or prejudice? Not me, that’s for sure.
“My boyfriend hit me,” I say with anger coating my voice. “He lost his temper because I made chicken for dinner instead of pork.”
“That’s a dick move.” Hadley frowns at my words.
“I don’t even care that he hit me, though.” I turn to face her and see that she’s laid a sleeping Ainsley down in her stroller in the time I was lost in thought. “It’s that I didn’t see it coming.”
“It’s not like you can predict the future.”
“No, I can’t, but I’m trained to know an abusive man. To assess a situation.” I sigh. “It used to be my job to help abused women get away from their abusers, move on, and to identify a similar situation before you’re in it.”
Hadley doesn’t say anything in reply to my verbal vomit. There isn’t anything she can say. The fact is I failed myself. I allowed myself to be in that situation and no pretty words or platitudes will ever change that.
“I think we need a girls’ night,” Hadley announces. “I’ll get Storm and Kaiya together and find a babysitter. We are going out tonight.”
She hugs me closely for long moments after vacating her seat, and I swear I can feel her trying to push her love and positive vibes into me. Usually, I would cringe at a show of affection like that, but I find that day by day, these people are changing me.
Hadley takes the stroller with Ainsley and moves toward the door, but it opens before she reaches it and in strolls a man with olive-toned skin, followed closely by a younger carbon copy. Hadley gasps loudly before covering her mouth with her hand.
“Hola, chica,” the man says. He smiles as Hadley bursts into tears.
I can visibly see her shake from where I’m sitting and panic settles in my stomach. We are all alone in the clubhouse and I don’t know this man. Hadley’s eyes are the size of saucers, and she looks like she might freak out. So, I do the only thing I can, and I call the first person that comes to mind. The fact that I end up calling Beast says more than I’m comfortable thinking about.
Chapter Nine
