Not long after his thoughts began to run haywire, he felt the bed sink beside him as Broni sat down next to him.
“Do you have a brush I can borrow? I’m tired of yanking my hair out with your comb.” When he pointed to the nightstand next to the bed, Broni opened the drawer, picking up the brush. She saw the picture inside the drawer, studying it for several moments before closing the drawer.
“You still keep her picture beside your bed?” Broni nodded at the nightstand.
“Yes.”
“She was very beautiful.”
“Yes, she was. Deena was the most beautiful woman I ever knew, on the inside and out. She was killed five years ago.”
“You loved her very much,” Broni spoke softly.
Rhys avoided her sympathetic gaze.
“I still do,” he stated, giving her fair warning that his heart would never be involved, regardless of what happened in his bed.
“Is that why you have tried every conceivable way in the last few years to kill yourself?”
Chapter 8
Broni knew she had said the wrong thing as soon as the words came out of her mouth. Rhys didn’t want to discuss Deena with a woman, certainly not with one he had just fucked.
“It’s time for you to go to sleep.” Rhys stood up from the bed, moving away from her touch.
Broni stared at his muscular body. He had strove for the last five years to end his life other than put a gun to his own head. Between the dangerous deals with drug cartels and the liquor he consumed in large quantities, she was surprised his body didn’t show the affects other than a knife wound and a scar where he had been shot two years ago.
“Go take a shower, Rhys.” She ignored his angry glare, returning it with an impassive one of her own. His heavy sigh sounded loud in the room, but he went into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.
Broni stifled her smile at his arrogant attitude. She lay down on the mattress, waiting for his return. Her body felt tender, tendrils of arousal tightening her nipples as she remembered Rhys taking her. It had been raunchy sex, and she had enjoyed every second of it. She wasn’t ashamed to admit it to herself.
“I need to get some sleep.” Rhys stated reentering the room. Broni looked at him, seeing that she had touched him deeper than he was willing to admit to himself.
She scooted under the covers, aware of his gaze on her body. He lay down next to her, making sure his body didn’t touch hers. Broni didn’t try to close the distance between them, giving him the space he needed. She was good at giving him what he needed without him knowing she was doing it.
She fell asleep, despite wanting to reach out and tempt him into taking her again. She dreamt of getting separated from her sisters in the Hallway of Death, her fears making her dreams into nightmares that had her waking early, unable to get back to sleep.
Dressing, she didn’t wait for Dee to come and get her, instead she went to the clubroom to get started without her. She plugged the coffee maker in, starting a fresh pot. Usually, Dee went out and bought it, but Broni didn’t want to wait when it was simple to make. She was pouring herself a cup when Dee came out of one of the bedrooms.
“You’re up early today. It couldn’t have been that good if you’re not still sleeping,” she teased.
Broni liked Dee. She was helpful and sought to protect her when she could, when it was actually her that needed protection from those that were using her.
Broni shut down her judgmental mind. She had enjoyed her night with Rhys. She wasn’t about to judge Dee for enjoying the same with other men.
She was doing the dishes when Jace came in, carrying a young woman that had been beaten badly.
“Dee, get Adam. Send him to my room.” He carried her down the back hallway and Broni followed, hoping to help.
Jace lay the tiny woman on the bed, reaching down to cover her with a thick blanket. Broni gasped when Jace stepped back and she could see the bruises on her fine features.
“What happened?” Adam asked, coming into the bedroom with Dee.
“Tank,” Jace said grimly. “He was furious when he left here.” He nodded to the woman lying on the bed. “They rode their bikes to Pleasant Hill.” Broni had been in the city several months ago and recognized the name of the exclusive neighborhood.
“They grabbed her as she got out of her car and was going into her house. I tried to follow them, but I lost them. I went to all their usual spots, but it was too late. I didn’t know what else to do other than bring her here. I called Bones and he brought his car, picking us up. He’ll be here in a minute. I dropped him off at the drugstore down the street.”
Broni wanted to kill Tank. This innocent girl had been taken to replace her when Tank had lost out on the auction.
“She needs to go to the hospital.” She wanted to scream at them when Adam shook his head.
“Tank and his friends were all wearing their cut. She’ll have seen it and will be able to tell the cops. They won’t be able to ignore this from someone that’s from the Hills.”
“Everyone, go in the other room. I’ll check her out, then you can decide what needs to be done,” Bones said, rushing into the room with a bag in his hand.
Broni started to argue, but it would only delay her getting the attention she needed. Leaving the room, she held back her tears. She had been so happy when Rhys had bought her, not realizing it would arouse this kind of fury inside of Tank.
To kidnap and brutalize a woman for no other reason than to hurt her meant Adam was losing control of Tank, and from his worried expression, he knew it, too.
Broni went back to cleaning the clubroom to keep her mind occupied at what was going on in the other room. When she heard the bedroom door open, she dried her hands as she stood behind the counter closest to where Adam was sitting so she could overhear.
“She’ll heal. Tank beat her pretty bad, but the asshole didn’t rape her. He probably couldn’t get it up. That’s why I think he’s beating the women so badly, and he didn’t want the others to know, so he left her. She’s busted up, but she’ll be fine.”
Broni wanted to tell the stupid man that the woman would never be the same again. No woman would after being attacked with such viciousness.
Adam didn’t reply until Bones finished. “Thanks, Bones. Jace, get the brothers together. Tank back yet?”
“No, I checked. I stayed with her, but Adam, they could have taken someone else and I wouldn’t know.” Broni saw from Jace’s features that he didn’t like the chances that Tank had hurt someone else.
“Are you sure she doesn’t need to go to the hospital?” Broni interrupted the men, her only concern the woman in the bedroom.
“Yes. Besides, the hospitals have their hands full right now,” Bones replied.
“What do you mean?” Adam asked.
“The police are dealing with a riot downtown. The radio didn’t say what set it off, but it started a couple of hours ago. That’s why I drove the long way around town,” he said at Jace’s questioning look. “You were so occupied with the woman I didn’t think about bringing it up.”
“What did the radio say was going on?” Broni asked, the hair on the back of her neck standing up.
Bones shrugged. “Fires, looting, people being attacked.” Broni stared at the man, unable to believe he was taking it so lightly. “It’s not like it’s the first time a riot has happened here,” he explained. “A couple of years ago, a young boy was killed by the cops. It set off a two day free for all.”
Broni thought the chances of the same incident occurring randomly with her in the nearby vicinity were slim to none at all. She had a much better reason for what was happening in the city, and if they didn’t listen to her, they were all going to die.
“Adam, listen to me carefully.” She walked around the counter, grabbing his arm, trying to make him understand how important it was that they listen to her. “It has begun. They’ll come for me. We have to prepare ourselves.”
“What in the fuck a
re you talking about?” he asked, jerking his arm away.
“My mother’s enemies; they are coming for me.”
When they all stared at her like she had lost her mind, Broni didn’t know how to convince them.
She turned to Dee. “Go to the store next door, grab as much water and food as you can. Jace, you and Bones should go with her. Adam, you should wake your men and prepare the clubhouse to be attacked.”
None of them moved.
“Adam, if I’m wrong, you won’t have to buy groceries for a month, but what if I’m right?”
“Do what she says.”
Broni gave a sigh of relief as Adam moved toward the hallway.
“Layla, close the shutters. Jace, close the gates when you come back with the groceries.” Adam paused. “I don’t believe the shit you’re saying, but I would be stupid not to take precautions with a riot going on.”
“I don’t care why you’re doing it, Adam, only that you are. Thank you.”