TEL’ANNASPain radiated from my shoulder, I knew going into tonight that Blaze had changed the plan, he assured me he’d told the others of the change and after much apprehension I’d agreed to it. But fuck me, even though it was a blank I’d been shot with it fucking hurt like a bitch and I hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.Anarchy had descended over the fight ring. It was enough of a distraction that no one noticed Alexander Ducane had made his way over one of the exits. Playing dead and stuck in this tiny cage, there was nothing I could do.Everyone was out to save themselves, they were running for the exits as the guards and security tried to round them all up. Some were trying to fight their way out, while others were resigned to the fact they’d been caught and put up little resistance.Towards the middle of the ring I could see Dane and Eric going at one another. The look on Dane’s face fucking scared the shit out of me. Max Ducane had disappeared into the chaos and the othe
DANEFuck! It had taken longer than I had anticipated dealing with Eric, that I’d lost sight of my goal—to get to Tel’annas. By the time I’d knocked him out and left him for the Feds to deal with, she had been loaded into the back of an ambulance and was being rushed to a hospital. Dread started to pool within my gut thinking the worst as I scanned the chaos around me, looking for the one person responsible for the shit storm we were currently facing.“Did anyone see where Blaze went?” I yelled down the comms, hoping that at least someone in my team had been keeping an eye on him. Maybe it had been the guilt that had stopped me from going straight for her, I couldn’t tell. “We need to find out which hospital they are taking her to, I want feet on the ground there when she arrives, we can’t leave her unprotected.”All day I had been quietly trying to convince myself that everything would be okay after this, we’d be able to go back to what we were, but somewhere deep inside I knew that
Kennedy The moment Anna Josephine stepped into my office five months, six days and four hours ago, I knew she was one beautiful package of trouble. She dropped herself into the seat opposite, sitting just as she is right now, with the same world-hating scowl on her pretty face, the same hunch of her perfectly sloping shoulders, and the same nervous tap of her right foot. She told me back then, just as she will today, that she doesn’t give a fuck about anything. She doesn’t give a fuck about claiming assistance and applying for college. She doesn’t give a fuck about the fact she’s less than a week away from being homeless. She doesn’t give a fuck about the latest foster family she’s run ragged these past few months. Anna Josephine has a chip on her shoulder bigger than the file of case notes with her name on the cover. She has a wildness about her, and if those feral looks of hers could kill, I’d be a dead man right now, along with half of my colleagues in this building. Her long
Anna I keep my head down as I stomp away from Kennedy Warren’s office. They all hate me in here, all the pen-pushers and the snotty bitches behind the crappy reception desk. All their smiley rainbow welcome signs mean nothing in this place, not if your face doesn’t fit. They want the nice kids who speak when they’re spoken to and say thank you whenever anyone throws them a scrappy crumb of nothing. They want nice kids like the one outside Kennedy’s office, with big sad puppy dog eyes and a smile for everyone. Those are the kids that get good homes. Kids like me, not so much. But I’m not a kid anymore. In a couple of days I’ll be kicked out of the latest home I was palmed off on. Rosie and Bill will be glad to see the back of me, and I don’t blame them. Not really. They’re good people. Kind. I just… I can’t stop myself shoving my shitty attitude in their faces until they break. It doesn’t matter who they are, they always break in the end. I’ve been in fourteen homes since I tur
Kennedy I rarely drink, especially not on a week night, but completing my final writeup and filing Anna’s case notes into the archive room is more than enough to drive me to a few after work. I tidy my desk and take one final look at Anna’s muddy boot prints before shutting down my PC for the day. None of us here are miracle workers. We do our best, but not every case on our books has a happy ending. I’ve watched kids grow into adults with even bigger challenges than the ones they faced in the chair opposite me. I’ve lost good kids to a life of drugs in Bristol or Birmingham once they’ve taken a one-way ticket out of our sleepy county for pastures new. You hear about them, the ones who didn’t make it. It’s not a rare event that we get enquiries from lawyers and prosecutors digging for background information for their criminal cases. Some support workers can’t handle the disappointment. For others of us, we take the rough with the smooth – finding encouragement in the kids that we do
Anna Eddie is an idiot, but he’s fun enough and he’s paying. He brought me a couple of beers out to the back of the George and Dragon, then we dashed into the Brewers Arms for one before stumbling down the street to Drury’s Tavern. I’m already past dinner time back at Rosie and Bill’s, but who gives a shit. Not them, that’s for sure. It’s probably a relief. Eddie swings open the big door of Drury’s and I follow him in. I’ve been drinking on an empty stomach and it’s gone to my head, but I don’t care. Why should I? Nobody else does. I’ve barely got enough bus money to get home to Lydbrook and the timetable is pathetic here. The last bus leaves about six, and I’m sure I’ve missed it already, but that feels hazy now. Maybe I can bunk up with Eddie tonight. I don’t want him, but I’m sure he wants me, and that’s bound to be enough to get me somewhere to sleep at least. I’ll kick him in the balls if he tries to grope me. If he doesn’t let me stay after that, I’ll sleep outside. I’ve don
KennedyI don’t let go of Anna’s wrist as I head across the High Street towards my apartment building’s car parking area. I curse under my breath as I check for bystanders. This town is full of eyes and ears and there’s every chance the fake news that I dragged Anna back to mine will hit my office before I do in the morning. I could do without that, not least because I’ll have questions to answer that won’t look great on my employment file. I don’t give a fuck what they say about me, but if stupid rumours were to impact the kids on my caseload… It doesn’t bear thinking about.I’m crazy for getting involved, but I can’t stop. My feet take it upon themselves to keep on walking, my heart hammering while my mind spins with justifications for my actions, even though I know there are other ways to handle this.I could’ve looked up Rosie and Bill’s number and called them out to collect her. I could’ve opened up the office and made her wait in reception with me until they arrived.I pull my c
“Not anymore,” she says, and I’m pleased to pass the sign for Lydbrook. My neck feels itchy under my collar, my palms sweaty on the wheel. She points out Bill and Rosie’s on the right, but I’m already turning. I pull onto their driveway and their Labrador starts barking from the porch. Anna is out of the car in a heartbeat. She gives me nothing but a cursory thanks before she slams the passenger door and heads to the house alone, but that’s not how this ends. I follow her, catching her on the doorstep just as she’s trying the handle. It’s locked. It surprises me, but it is. She hammers on the wood with her fist. “Do you not have a key?” I ask. She shakes her head. “They don’t want me to have one.” Don’t trust her with one, more likely. I shouldn’t blame them, knowing her, but I can’t help but feel hurt on her behalf. It’s Bill who comes to the front door. He looks drawn and grey as he answers, his face a grimace until he sees me standing alongside his ward. “Kennedy,” he say
DANEFuck! It had taken longer than I had anticipated dealing with Eric, that I’d lost sight of my goal—to get to Tel’annas. By the time I’d knocked him out and left him for the Feds to deal with, she had been loaded into the back of an ambulance and was being rushed to a hospital. Dread started to pool within my gut thinking the worst as I scanned the chaos around me, looking for the one person responsible for the shit storm we were currently facing.“Did anyone see where Blaze went?” I yelled down the comms, hoping that at least someone in my team had been keeping an eye on him. Maybe it had been the guilt that had stopped me from going straight for her, I couldn’t tell. “We need to find out which hospital they are taking her to, I want feet on the ground there when she arrives, we can’t leave her unprotected.”All day I had been quietly trying to convince myself that everything would be okay after this, we’d be able to go back to what we were, but somewhere deep inside I knew that
TEL’ANNASPain radiated from my shoulder, I knew going into tonight that Blaze had changed the plan, he assured me he’d told the others of the change and after much apprehension I’d agreed to it. But fuck me, even though it was a blank I’d been shot with it fucking hurt like a bitch and I hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.Anarchy had descended over the fight ring. It was enough of a distraction that no one noticed Alexander Ducane had made his way over one of the exits. Playing dead and stuck in this tiny cage, there was nothing I could do.Everyone was out to save themselves, they were running for the exits as the guards and security tried to round them all up. Some were trying to fight their way out, while others were resigned to the fact they’d been caught and put up little resistance.Towards the middle of the ring I could see Dane and Eric going at one another. The look on Dane’s face fucking scared the shit out of me. Max Ducane had disappeared into the chaos and the othe
DANEI’d let my anger get the best of me last night. I saw the hurt briefly flash in Tel’annas’s eyes when I had the club whore grinding all over me. It gave me a small amount of satisfaction knowing that it had affected her, just as much as having to watch the little show she and Blaze put on affected me. The only difference was while mine was out of spite, I had trouble making out whether her little act was done in order to keep up the charade or if there was something little more starting between the two of them.“You’re just lucky you didn’t do anything you couldn’t come back from Dane,” Madden had been giving me shit all morning over the night before, and it was starting to really piss me off. “You didn’t hear the hurt in her voice as she watched man, it fucking killed her.”“Okay I bloody get it Madden, I fucked up,” I snapped at him, I’d had enough at this stage, and I didn’t need this shit right now, not when we were about to head into the final stages of the plan. “Can you j
TEL’ANNASWe’d been here for an hour and already I was ready to get out of here, unfortunately Alexander had other plans. The asshole had spent the last thirty minutes talking to some of his other backers and from the little I could make out, something had them scared. More than a few wanted to pull out, stating they wanted nothing to do with whatever revenge plan he had cooked up.Hearing that, I could only surmise that either my family or Dane had figured out the other parties involved and had applied some pressure. It gave me some hope that all was not lost and a small amount of satisfaction that Eric was full of shit—my family did care. I still hadn’t been able to make contact with Dane, and Blaze had been busy playing his part, schmoozing the others that shared the VIP balcony, always making sure I was within his reach.Security had been beefed up tonight as well, many of whom I didn’t recognise, although that wasn’t hard given I’d barely been allowed to leave the room I’d been
DANEI should have guessed this little party would be held at the Dolls House. I mean why hold it in a classy establishment when you could invite the scourge of society to a place and ply them with alcohol while throwing pussy at them.“No one is to drink,” I turned to my guys, even as the words left my mouth I had doubts about whether I’d be able to stick to the order. I wanted them to be alert at all times tonight, I had no idea what we were walking into. We’d seen the floor plans for this shit hole, and had been inside once or twice since we’d arrived in Claymore but we were not as familiar with it as I'd have liked. “I want eyes on all our targets, if an opportunity should arise, we take who we can.”“Dane, Blaze said not to cause any trouble,” Madden reminded me of the conversation we’d had. And yeah of course I know I was asked not to cause waves, but it won’t stop me if the opportunity comes my way.“Don’t care,” I said as we made our way to the entrance of the club. I had mor
TEL’ANNASMy nerves were frayed, ever since the night of the fucking live stream, even the slightest movements made me jump. Blaze tried everything he could to reassure me there’d be no repeats of that fucking shitshow, I just had trouble believing him. I’d tried numerous times to reach out to Dane, yet Madden always answered and kept saying it wasn’t a good time, then would go on to ask what had happened.No matter how many times he asked, I couldn’t find it in myself to discuss, hell even I was having trouble coming to terms with it. Dane had told me to do what I needed to, and I had to a certain point. I had no idea how far I’d have to go, and when I realized the gravity of it all, it was too late by then. The room was full of people, guards had guns, I had just retreated into myself and tried to block it out.Thankfully Blaze had left me since, having sensed that I was not in the mood to talk to him, at this stage I’d convinced myself I had been stupid to blindly follow along. Ra
DANE“What the fuck happened the other night?” I could hear Madden talking on the phone. The last three days I’d done nothing but train. It was all I could do to keep the images of my Princess on her knees out of my head. “He’s been raging ever since the damn live feed.”It took a full day before I’d been ready to talk to anyone after the crap show. Madden and Ax had really stepped up and taken charge. They’d had to sedate me in order to get me to calm down and in that time they’d found out a whole fuck load of information that we’d been able to use.Jonah had been able to identify almost eighty percent of the other contestants and all of the other partners that Alexander Ducane had gathered on that night. While I’d have liked to have had some say in the planning that followed, Madden had really stepped up as my VP. Liaising with Stryker to have their resources work on taking out the financial backers.I wasn’t quite sure exactly what they had told the Lennox’s about that night but f
TEL’ANNASMy skin crawled as the guards led me back to the room I shared with Blaze. The events of the night were on constant loop inside my head, everything on display for everyone to see. Gripping my robe tightly around my body, I tried to assure myself I’d get through this. I did what I had to do to survive. When I closed my eyes all I could see were the faces of the men who’d jerked off while I was strapped to the table. I heard their moans as they reached their release and smeared it over me as if they were laying claim.When I’d entered the room the first thing I did was run to the waste bin, everything inside me came up. Angry tears ran down my face as I stepped into the bathroom. Making sure the door was locked, I’d trusted Blaze before and that had landed me here. I felt dirty and ashamed. I had no doubt that Dane and some of the others were privy to the deprivation I’d experienced tonight.I rushed to the toilet again, the mere thought that Dane had witnessed tonight's even
DANEMadden, Ax and I had gathered in my room, laptop ready for the Contenders Preview. About an hour ago we’d all received an email from the organizers, with a link to an invitation for a special preview of what we could look forward to. My stomach had been in knots ever since.“You ready for this?” Madden asked. It was a loaded question if I ever heard one. Was I ready? Fuck no, there was no preparing for what was about to unfold. I just shook my head and let out a loaded sigh.“Let's just get this over with,” I answered. Checking my phone one last time, still no answer from Blaze. That didn’t sit well with me, once we’d read the initial email, I’d reached out in order to find out more about the event, but there had been no reply which didn’t help with the angsty feelings I had.Both men just looked at me, a silent message passed between them before Ax clicked on the link. I was thankful that I’d given Jonah one of the links for tonight, because it became evident rather quickly tha