Gio“Where the fuck is she?” I paced back and forth along the bank of windows, and with each pass I could feel myself becoming more and more irate.From his place on the sofa with a laptop on his lap, The Judge glanced up at me. “I don’t know.” He shrugged his shoulders and I hated how flippant he was being. Of course, he could afford to not care. Keeley wasn’t his woman. She was mine. And she was gone.Somewhere out in the city she was alone. That was all on me. In my fear of what could happen to her, I had pushed her away, made her think I didn’t want her. The fact that she had been gone before The Judge arrived just proved to me that she had believed the worst of me.“If you had got here on time.” I was venting and didn’t care. I was to blame, not him, but I needed someone to punish. Someone to blame for my own fuck up.“I was here, Gio, she wasn’t. What the fuck did you say to her that made her leave?” He leant back, one arm along the back of the sofa. He stared at me unblinking.
Keeley“Is this seat taken, buttercup?”The deep masculine voice made my head snap up and the lukewarm tea I had been nursing for the last two hours spilt over my knuckles.It was the man I had seen at the restaurant. The massive giant of a man. The one they called Domino.Not waiting for my answer, he slipped his massive bulk into one of the plastic seats. It creaked under his weight. “You look like shit.” Keen eyes appraised me from under his thick eyelashes.If I had had any energy at all I would have made some sarcastic comment right back at him, but I was too tired. “It’s been a rough few days,” I said instead. He nodded his head thoughtfully. “I thought that might be the case. That asshole hurt you?” Even though his voice was calm, I could feel the anger bubbling up under his serene surface. “No,” I shook my head. “Not physically anyway,” I added with a mumble.Domino, who must have been mid-thirties at least, paused for a second. His eyebrows knitted together. “If he’s done
GioSix weeks. That’s how long it had been. It seemed like longer. Much, much longer. It might as well have been six years. Although that didn’t quite cover it either. And the worst thing was that I had almost caught up with her several times. The Judge’s network of contacts seemed never ending but we always got there a day too late.The damn biker Domino was always one step ahead.And it was driving me to distraction.“We will find her.” The Judge curled his hands around the steering wheel with enough force that his knuckles turned white. For all his calm words, he was becoming as frustrated as I was.I didn’t turn in my seat. Instead, I just sat there and watched the rain pelt down on the windscreen. It was oddly calming. “Are you sure about that?” I didn’t even try to keep the despair out of my voice.“Yes, I found her once, I can find her again.”Lapsing into silence, I went back to staring out into the grey day. And then it hit me. Whirling around on him, I clenched my hands into
Keeley“Domino.” Chewing on my lip I stared unseeing at the TV ahead. My whole body was aching, and I hadn’t even taken my boots off. The constant moving from one place to another was taking its toll. And with every new town and fleabag hotel, I could feel my spirit sapping away a little bit more. It had nothing to do with my escort. Domino, for all his grumpy outer shell, was a funny guy. Intelligent and witty. An ex-military guy who had found a home with the Savage Sons. After the first day, he had put me at ease. Whether Monster had told him what had happened to me or whether it was just his natural personality, I didn’t know, but Domino made me feel at ease.“Uh huh?” His eyes flicked towards me and then he went back to watching the TV show he had put on.“Can we…actually, don’t worry.” He wouldn’t say yes even if I did ask. It was one of the reasons I hadn’t asked him already. It had been something that had been playing on my mind for the last few weeks.“Keeley.” With a sigh, D
KeeleyI was numb. Trapped inside my head, frozen, as I was marched down shadowy hallways on the too small shoes that had been forced onto my feet. I couldn’t let myself feel anything. If I did, I would become hysterical. Staying calm was the only weapon I had at that point. They wanted me afraid, especially the man who had washed me. Frankie, they had called him. He had left no part of my body unscrubbed and he hadn’t been gentle about it. My breasts were red raw, my thighs and pussy were screaming in pain. He might not have touched me with his fingers, but I felt violated.Again.I stumbled, and it was only his vice-like grip on my arm that kept me from face planting the thick carpet. Wherever I had been taken was luxurious in an old-fashioned kind of way.“Fucking clumsy bitch.” His hand tightened, his anger rising. I wanted to scream at him to let me go but I would never give him the satisfaction. Whatever happened to me, I wouldn’t cry out. “I hope he makes you bleed. I hope he m
GioI spotted her straight away, even sat in the middle of her lookalikes. My brother’s hands clutched at her shoulders; shame washed over me. It was like looking at every mistake I had ever made. These women had done nothing wrong but look like the woman I actually wanted. I had used them, moulded them to how I wanted them to act and dressed them like dolls.They were my Keeleys. Cheap imitations that never really made me happy. There was only one woman who would ever be able to do that, and she sat within my brother’s clutches.I tore my eyes away from her, schooling my face into one of indifference as I gazed around. The last thing I needed was for him to realise how much she meant to me. But a part of me knew it was already hopeless, deep down I knew that. I had come the moment Monster had called me and told me about his club brother Domino being shot and Keeley being taken. I hadn’t even hesitated. And that would have told my out-of-his-mind older brother everything he needed to.
KeeleyHe had told me to close my eyes and every part of me wanted to do what he asked of me. Because I knew what was coming, and I didn’t want to see it. The sound of the gun cocking brought me back to my senses and my eyes flew open.I didn’t want him to die. Not even after everything I had found out. And closing my eyes wasn’t going to make a damn difference to the outcome. It would be cowardly. Something the old Keeley would have done. She would have waited for someone to save her. The old me was weak, but I wasn’t that woman anymore. And there was no way in hell I was going to let Gio blow his brains all over the table in some vague hope that it would save me. I didn’t need that kind of sacrifice.I could save myself. And him as well.“I love you,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. “Gio, I love you.”“I love you as well, Keeley.” His voice sounded strangled.“I mean as touching as this is, it’s gone on for long enough. Stop stalling, Gio.” Gio’s brother, who called himsel
Gio“I should kill you.” Monster, who I had once called a friend, glared at me. He was pacing back and forth along the long bar that took up one entire wall of the Savage Sons’ clubhouse. This was a different chapter, but the whole lay out was eerily familiar. I watched him as he turned on his heel, stared at me for a second and then continued to pace.I couldn’t blame him. If our roles had been reversed, I would have been doing more than pacing. I would have been beating on him. I deserved much worse.“Yes, you probably should.” I admitted softly. He wasn’t going to kill me though. If that had been his plan, he would have done it already. Monster was posturing, which was not like him. At least not like the man I had known. Being married had softened him.Something must have shown on my face as he stopped in front of me. “Don’t think I won’t, Gio. It would be easy. What you did to Keeley…” He shook his head and went back to his angry pacing.“I didn’t do anything to Keeley but love he
TaylorSomething warm and slightly calloused brushed against my skin. It felt good, nice in a seriously comforting way. and I needed comforting because I felt all kinds of awful. The shirt I had been wearing was peeled away. My arms were lifted by strong hands so it could be slid down and discarded and I was glad to see it go. “Annie?” I mumbled, God I felt out of sorts. Half drunk and half hungover and it was making thoughts impossible. “Did I pass out?” I wasn’t known to be a big drinker, but it had been years since I had gotten that drunk that I'd passed out. Embarrassment flooded me. Annie was my friend, and I knew she wouldn’t judge but I was mortified. What kind of grown ass woman got so drunk that she had to be undressed by her best friend and put to bed like a child. And I had vomited on myself. I could smell the cloying disgustingness of it on my clothes. “Up you get.” Again the heavy fingers brushed against me, trailing down my sides this time. They helped me to sit u
Judge“Is everything ready?” I already knew it was, but I needed to ask. It was either do that or go crazy. Gio was late, something that he never was, and it had me on edge in a way that was unfamiliar. I didn’t like not being in control but when Gio had asked if he could personally deliver the package, I'd quickly agreed. It was a much better plan than my original one of plucking her straight from the streets. Kidnapping one of the jurors in my trial, even if they could never prove it was me, it was foolish and one thing I wasn’t, was foolish.Not until I had seen her anyway.Gio handling that side of things would make things go a lot smoother, unless of course he decided she was a threat. I didn’t think he would. In a few days my name would be cleared. The family had made sure of that. Technically Tayor was no threat to us at all because we already had the situation well in hand. And yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that something, somewhere had gone wrong. “Yes-” The words on th
TaylorKudos was everything it had been plugged to be and more. And as the after-work crew left for home and the serious partiers began to file in, the atmosphere changed. it became less intimate and more … well more. Annie of course was well on her way to being black out drunk but at least she had stopped dancing on the table. The dancing was still happening, but it was more interspaced with stumbling on her heels now. I had danced as well but three drinks in and I was beginning to feel woozy. Not that it was a big drinker anyway, but I could usually handle more than here white wine spritzers. I was putting it down to the stress of the day and everything I had found out. It was the only possible explanation. That plus the fact I’d barely eaten anything all day. Nothing new there but today had been particularly stressful. So, I had sat down and let the others enjoy themselves pretty early on. Not that I wasn’t enjoying myself, because I was. It was just in a different way to Annie
TaylorI kept it together until I stumbled down the steps of the courthouse. I don’t know what new evidence was given to the judge that made him halt proceedings and I didn’t care much. I had heard enough though. Horrible, despicable things that turned my stomach. But I couldn’t link what I was hearing with the man who sat just across the room from me or the man I had spent the night with. It wasn’t even that he hadn't been demanding and bossy that night because he had but he hadn't made me feel uncomfortable. Surely if he had been some dangerous killer then I would have felt uneasy at least? I prided myself on my instincts. Had I been totally wrong about him? Had I been intimate with a killer or worse had he singled me out because he knew somehow, I would end up sitting on the jury for his case?Hell, had I been in danger? Was I still? The thought made me feel sick. No, I forced myself to suck in a great lungful of calming air, I fell into a sitting position on the curb, my head in
JudgeThe moment she sat in her designated seat, I knew she recognised me. she tried to hide it but it was there in the slightly widening of her eyes. They darted over my face, over my suit and then back to my face. Taylor Lawson looked shell shocked. Like she couldn’t believe her eyes. I couldn’t blame her for that. In her position I would have been shocked as well. But what did surprise me was her composure. She recognised me, she was shocked by it but none of that really showed on her face, apart from the slight widening of her eyes and the plump bottom lip disappearing between her teeth so she could chew nervously at it. All in all, it was a very predictable reaction to any young woman who came face to face with a man like me.Taylors eyes skirted away, almost like she had realised that she was staring at me and the chewing on her lip became painful to watch. Not taking my eyes off of her, I pressed my own fingers to my lips. If she didn’t stop doing that to her lip, which was in
TaylorWork was my happy place. Sad but true. I liked making people happy. watching brides find their perfect dress and seeing their faces light up was one of my favourite things. It stoked the romantic in me. because those people had found their happily ever after. And it gave me hope that one day I would find mine. Not that it was going to plan so far. Sure, I dated. I'd even had a few disastrous relationships, but nothing had ever come close to what the ladies that paraded through the shop had found.I hadn't found my one.But that didn’t mean I was going to give up looking. For what seemed like the hundredth time since I had found the note on the bedside table, I found myself staring at it. There was no denying that I was slightly obsessed with reading it. but it made my heart swell a little bit every time I did. Even if I never saw my mysterious lover again, I would always have his parting words to look back on. They gave me hope that sweet romantic men were really out there.
JudgeI watched as Gio. Head of The Family and my not so official boss weaved his way towards me through the bustling tables. He looked younger, more relaxed than I had ever seen him but there was a slight tension between his eyebrows but that was understandable. I’d have been slightly tense as well if our situations had been reversed.Rising slightly from my chair, I thrust out my hand. He shook it quickly, barely touching it before taking his seat opposite me. “You didn’t have to come, Gio.” Him being here was what was putting that line between his dark brows. Not because he thought I would rat him out. Gio knew better than that. He knew that I would never talk. Just like he knew I would do everything in my power to be found innocent of the murder he had committed. No, it wasn’t me who was putting the worry on his face but the fact that this mess I was cleaning up meant he was away from his new bride. His beautiful new and heavily pregnant bride. Gio had loved her from the moment
Taylor“You did what?” My friend screeched from across the small patio table we were sipping coffee around. It was early, but it didn’t matter how early it was in London. The streets were already bustling with people. Some on their way to work, their heads down as they hurried on their way and others like me and Annie who were taking a moment in one of the curb side cafes to catch our breath and enjoy the late summer sunshine. It would all be over too soon anyway, summer always seemed to be over in a blink of an eye whilst winter lasted forever. And I had another reason to enjoy the peace whilst I could. Meeting her eyes over the rim of my coffee cup, I grinned. “I asked my doctor to get me out of jury duty.”She rolled her eyes in answer, her glossy lips twitching at the edges. “That’s not what I was talking about, and you know it, Taylor. I mean we will come back to that but….” Slowly she took a sip of her own mug. A glass one filled with a frothy coffee concoction with too much s
Judge“Tell me your name.” The blonde in my arms moaned against my lips. I didn’t answer her, she would know my name soon enough but not now and not tonight. Tonight, I didn’t want to talk. I wanted her to give herself to me. She needed to let me use her body the way I had been imagining I would since the moment I had first laid eyes on her. Three weeks of watching her every move, finding out her schedule, her weaknesses. Everything I could about her.I needed all the information I could get on Taylor Lawson, and I always got what I wanted. But I couldn’t deny that I wanted something else as well. The moment I saw her, her blonde hair piled on top of her head and her face alight with a smile as she greeted a customer, I had known that killing her was going to be my very last resort. I wanted her. In my bed, under me. Anyway, I could. And I always got what I wanted.Always.There was more than one way to deal with my upcoming murder trial and the jurors that would in theory decide wh