Madness: Part 2 – Chapter 56

I’m shaken up and embarrassed.

I’m supposed to be able to take care of myself. How can I prove to the Lords I can be who I’m supposed to be if I’m not always on guard? Was that a test? If so, I failed. Did the Lords send him because I’m not giving them what they want?

And Haidyn? What the fuck was that? Not only did he save me, but he also beat the fuck out of the guy. I was mesmerized while I watched. The way he moved, the power in his punch. The guy was on adrenaline, and he couldn’t hold a candle to Haidyn.

The elevator opens, and I let him pull me down a hallway before he comes to a stop at a door. Putting his finger on a lock, he opens it up, then places a hand on my lower back, ushering me inside.

It’s a large room with an Alaskan king-sized bed in the center and a couch at the footboard. There’s a set of double doors that look like they open to a balcony and another door on the other side of the bed.

“This is the bathroom.” He lets go of my hand and walks over to the door, opening it for me.

I follow on autopilot. I hear him start the sink, and I push my jeans down and use the restroom, not even caring that he’s in here with me. Why be shy now? I attacked him after I saw what he did to that man. In front of Kashton and Saint. Why was I so stupid? Now they think of me as any other dumb bitch who lets a dick control them.

Aren’t I?

He says jump, and I ask how high. He tells me to crawl, and I say yes sir. Needing to be that good girl for him. Wanting to show I can be the best whore he’s ever had. Am I still here because the Lords told me to be or because I want to be?

The lines are nonexistent at this point.

I finish up and go to stand at the other sink. I wash my hands and find myself just staring at my shoes.

He turns to face me and takes my still wet hands. His are now clear of the blood from the basement, but cuts and bruises are already forming. I realize that my hands are shaking.

“Hey, you’re okay,” he says.

My eyes start to sting, and I bite my bottom lip. Why the fuck am I being like this? I’m not an emotional girl. I cry when I’m mad, but I’m not even sure what I feel right now.

“Charlotte?” His hands drop mine to cup my face, and I pull away, stepping back. But he reaches out, places his hands in my hair, and holds me captive. He’s not rough or hurting me, but I also can’t pull away. “Talk to me, doll face. Are you hurting anywhere? Can I get you anything?”

I lick my lips nervously, hating how his pretty blue eyes search mine as if he can see how confused I am. I try to shake my head, but his hands prevent it.

“Use your words,” he demands in that tone that has my legs shaking for another reason.

“No,” I manage to say around the knot that has lodged in my throat. “I’m…okay.”

He sighs and lets go of my hair, running his hands through it. “I’ll have Devin come and look at you.”

“I said I’m fine,” I snap defensively.

He frowns, confused by my mood swings, and honestly, I can’t explain them either. I’ve seen a different side of him since I’ve been sent the videos by the Lords. And how he saved me tonight. But I have to remind myself that he did it because I’m his toy. If I’m dead, he doesn’t get to play with me.

“You’ll be safe up here. The door automatically locks the moment it shuts. It requires my fingerprint or a code.”

My stomach sinks at the thought of him leaving me. A part of me wants to jump him like I did in the basement and beg him to fuck me. The other wants to punch the fuck out of him for making me feel safe. Maybe I can do both? “How long will you be gone?” I decide to ask instead.

“I’m not sure,” he answers honestly, and I let out a huff.

His frown deepens, and I take a step back, needing space to breathe. I can still taste that man’s hand on my mouth, and the thought of vomiting still lingers. I want him to kiss me again and make it go away. I want his hands holding me down while he tells me I’m such a good little whore and I can take it. To come all over his cock just so he can flip me over and fuck my ass.

“You can take a shower if you want.” It’s as if he knows I feel dirty. “I have clothes in the closet that you can change into. Wear whatever you want.”

A knock on his door makes me jump. My teeth clench when he notices. I have to get my shit together.

He walks over to the door and opens it. “Haidyn, I got your text.”

Jesus! How many people has he texted?

He allows the man to enter and shuts the door behind him. Haidyn begins explaining what happened in the bathroom at the gas station, and the guy I know as Devin suggests I sit down on the couch. I do so to please them both. I don’t have the energy to fight them right now. The adrenaline has worn off, and I’m getting tired. And I guess any hope I had of getting fucked is dead since we’re no longer alone.

Devin looks me over, shining a light in my eyes and feeling around my head and throat before he gives me some pain reliever and says everything looks good. That I might have a headache, some bruising, and be sore. But I wasn’t raped or beaten unconscious. Who knows what the man had planned for me.

Haidyn’s cell rings, and he pulls it out of his pocket. “I have to take this,” he tells Devin, who shoos him away as he speaks to me. I ignore him and watch Haidyn step out onto the balcony. I try to hear what he’s saying.

“Yeah, she’s okay…thanks, man…yeah, I’m at Carnage…he’s looking her over now. Yeah, I’ll meet you down there…” He nods to himself and hangs up.

As he enters the room again, I drop my eyes to the floor, hoping he doesn’t notice I was listening. He obviously wanted privacy, but he should have stepped out of the room completely. Maybe he doesn’t want to leave me alone. No. That’s just me thinking he actually cares. He’s about to leave me to go to the basement.

“Everything looks good,” Devin reassures him once again.

“Thanks, man.” They do a bro handshake half hug, and he walks Devin to the door, letting him out before closing it and coming to kneel in front of me. “I’m going downstairs. I’ll be back soon, and we’ll head home, okay?”

I don’t know if he realizes he called his house home, but I hate the butterflies it gives me. “Okay.” I nod, feeling awkward all of a sudden. The reminder that I kissed him down in the basement in front of Saint and Kashton. What will they think now? Will they ask him what we’re doing? Hell, for all I know, Haidyn has already told them I’m a spy sent by the Lords.

Getting to his feet, he cups my face with both his hands and leans in to kiss my forehead.

Fuck, I hate when he’s like this—gentle—and pretends to care about me. As if I’m breakable. It makes me feel weak. As if I need the reminder. I’d rather him strip me naked, tie me down, and gag me while he fucks my ass and calls me his good girl.

That makes me his whore. When he’s gentle, it makes me vulnerable.

Without another word, he exits his room, locking me inside, and I find myself falling onto the floor, arms and legs fanned out, staring up at the ceiling and thinking what the fuck do I do now?

HAIDYN

I enter the basement, stepping off the elevator to see Sin has joined Saint and Kashton. He turns to face me, holding out his fist. “Here you go,” he says cheerfully, referring to the phone conversation we had minutes ago.

“Was it hard to get?” I ask.

He drops the USB drive into my hand. I had texted Saint and Kash to be ready for me at Carnage—that I was bringing someone in. I had also messaged Sin to stop by the gas station and grab the footage while I was there with Charlotte. If the man isn’t a Lord, I didn’t need surveillance of her entering the bathroom and me dragging an unconscious man out of the women’s restroom and tossing him into her SUV. I’m just glad we weren’t on my bike because we would have had to wait for Sin to show up to haul him here for me.

“Nope. I was either going to pay the guy off or beat the shit out of him,” Sin answers.

“Which one was it?” Kash asks, needing to know.

Sin holds up his right hand to show the dried blood on it, making Kash smile. “I did toss him money as I walked out.”

“Is Charlotte okay?” Saint asks.

I look up at him, and by the way his eyes search mine, I’d say he’s got a double meaning to that question. They saw her cling to me, and I her. Then I shoved my tongue down her throat as if we were horny teenagers. Our dynamic has obviously changed. They just don’t know the extent of it. And I don’t want them to.

I’m not in the mood to decipher the hidden meaning in his look. “Devin checked her out. She’s good.”

“Man, between you and Ryat, you guys have had a shit day. Glad the girls are okay.” Sin sighs.

“What’s wrong with Blakely?” Kash questions, sounding truly concerned.

“The girls were supposed to go shopping, but Elli called me…” His cell ringing saves me from having to come up with a reason to cut him off. Looking down at it, he speaks. “It’s Elli. Give me a second. Hey, everything okay?” he answers, walking away from us.

She’s pregnant, so he’s on high alert at all times. Things always seem to go bad just when you think luck is on your side in our world.

“What happened to Blakely?” Saint asks, while watching Sin on the phone pace behind us. Kashton looks at me, waiting for an answer as well.

“Something about LeAnne looking for her.” I shrug, having to say something. In case they speak to Ryat or Tyson about it. I was there when Blakely’s mother had shown up. I can’t let them know that Charlotte knows LeAnne. All I can do is hope that the others don’t say something about Charlotte knowing her. That could lead them to find out who she really is. And they’d have her down here in one of these cells until they got answers to questions that Charlotte doesn’t even know about. My talk with Bill helped me understand just how innocent Annabelle truly is and what her future really looks like. And I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen.

“What the fuck?” We hear a man groan, and I smile. The adrenaline doesn’t last long especially when in a fight. He went down pretty quickly, but I knew he’d be up just as soon.

We walk over to the cell, and Saint opens the door. All three of us step inside as the man gets to a sitting position, rubbing the back of his head. His face is bloody, and his right eye is already swollen shut. I’ve fucked him up two times now. This isn’t about bloodshed; this is about answers.

“Who the fuck are you?” His one good eye looks around quickly, going among the three of us. “What…what did you give me?” His bloody hand goes to his bruised chest. The adrenaline has a kick to it. When you wake up from it, there’s a lingering pain throughout your entire body.

“Who are you?” I ask, ignoring his second question. “No cell and no ID,” I add. “Wearing a ski mask over your head and attacking my girl in a public bathroom.” Stepping forward, I ask what I already know. “Just what were you planning on doing with her?”

He looks away from me, and his jaw clenches.

“He has nothing to say. Maybe you should have Devin wire his mouth shut,” Sin says as he joins us in the room.

“Want to be a Spade brother?” Kash asks, looking over at him. “Seriously, I feel like we could adopt you.”

Sin laughs, thinking it’s a joke, but Kashton has become quite fond of Easton, and I’m pretty sure Kashton would have him and Elli a room ready to go by the end of the day.

“Fuck you.” The guy spits blood onto the concrete floor. “Your girl isn’t anything special.” His one good eye finds mine.

I kick him in the face, needing to move this along. I saw how Charlotte looked at me upstairs. She didn’t want me to leave her but was either ashamed or too afraid to ask me to stay with her.

The bastard’s head snaps back, and blood sprays across the concrete floor he lies down on before rolling to his side, holding his bloody face. Without the adrenaline, he’s going to feel it a lot more now.

I shove him onto his stomach and order, “Tie his hands behind his back.”

Kash comes to kneel beside him as I push my boot into the back of his neck, holding the man down. He doesn’t even fight him as Kash pulls his arms behind him and secures them with a pair of handcuffs. I remove my boot, and Kash steps back, kicking him back onto his back. I place my boot at his throat this time. “Last time and I start cutting. What were you going to do to my girl?”

He coughs, spit flying from his mouth and splattering his busted face. “She…was…random,” he says between gasps.

“So you don’t know who she is?” Saint questions, wanting to make sure he stays consistent with his answers.

He tries to shake his head, and I press my boot further into his neck, cutting off his air. “Use your fucking words!” I demand. Loosening my boot, he coughs once more.

“N-ooo,” he cries out. “I swear.”

“So were you going to rob her or rape her?” I ask.

A part of me doesn’t believe him. Another part wants to because if he’s lying, then I have another problem on my hands. It’s not uncommon for a Lord to hire someone outside of the society to do their dirty work. Or he could have been a Lord who didn’t make the cut.

“Both,” he says through gritted teeth, spit flying from his bloody mouth.

“At least he’s honest.” Kash shrugs, looking at me.

Yeah, after I’ve beat the shit out of him twice. “What do you know about the Lords?” I demand, wanting to know more. No matter what he does and doesn’t know, the bastard will die here.

“Fuck the Lord! I’m not religious,” he snaps.

Sin throws his head back laughing, and Kash chuckles. Saint and I don’t find it funny. “Lords aren’t religious either, but we do believe in hell.” I remove my boot from his neck, and he rolls back onto his side to relieve the pressure of his arms underneath him. “And today you start serving three devils.”