Finding Strength: A Club Dark Novel Read online

  “Ms. Morris,” Al announces before walking right back out. I tried insisting on him joining us for dinner, but he politely refused. He’s still taking this to heart, can’t say I blame him much.

  Amber takes a seat beside me nudging me in the arm as she sits.

  “Is everything okay here?” She whispers. I give her a short nod before focusing back on my parents.

  Al appears back in the doorway from the kitchen, carrying a tray that I assume holds a plate for Amber. Walking up to the other side of her, he places the plate, full of country fried steak and gravy, courtesy of my mother, down on the table in front of her. She issues him a thank you with a smile, and he walks away.

  My mother, who’s sitting opposite of Amber, gives out a small grunt, as if she’s clearing her throat. She’s staring straight at Amber with a look of judgment, as if to say, I know your kind and it’s no good. Thankfully Amber is completely oblivious to it all.

  “Mother?” I question her. She looks straight at me without apology.

  “Do we have a problem here?”

  “Why would we have a problem, son?” I’m not playing her little games if that’s what she’s after.

  “How about we’ll just cut the crap right here. Amber is not only an employee of mine, but she’s also been a good friend, especially since Lacey went missing. I won’t tolerate any judgments against her.” I really thought we were going to turn a new leaf. I guess some things never change.

  She holds my gaze a moment longer before dropping it to her lap. She shocks me with her next words.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry. I have no right to judge who you decide to keep company with.” She glances over at Amber, who’s now rigid in her seat. I swear I’ll throw her out on her ass if she says anything out of line.

  “Thank you for being there for my son, when I wasn’t.”

  “I didn’t do it for you. Cory is a good man and deserves better.” Amber’s retort is quick and full of attitude. But for as long as I’ve known her, she’s never backed down from anyone. It’s one trait I like about her.

  Wisely, my mother has nothing else to say on the matter.

  “You said Amber works for you, right?” This coming from my dad, he’s doing what he can to ease some of the tension in the room. “How did you two meet?”

  Amber picks her fork up and begins eating, as well as mom. My appetite has long eluded me, so I just sit here, shoveling my food across my plate.

  “As you all know, my club was a bar at one point. I was down a waitress one night, and the place was packed to its limit. Amber showed up at the right time, insisting that I give her a job. She couldn’t have been more than eighteen years old, and I questioned her ability to actually do me any good instead of making my job harder.” I glance over at her, because we never really talk about it. The fact that she was so young would’ve had me showing her the door, but I was desperate at the time.

  “She proved to be very valuable. That night, I more than doubled my profits in sales.” Now there’s a bright smile painted across her face.

  “I had a lot of fun that night, besides getting my ass groped by a bunch of drunk perverts.” She jokes, causing my dad to burst out in laughter.

  “So how did you find yourself looking for a job in a bar at eighteen, did you not graduate from school?” Mother says, interrupting anything else dad might have said.

  “Mother!”

  “No, it’s okay, Cory.” Amber reassures me, placing a hand on my arm like she’s holding me back.

  “I actually graduated top of my class two years before I was supposed to,” she says, addressing my mom. This is news to me as well.

  “I was sixteen and thought I was the shit because I was the youngest to graduate in my school. My parents were very proud of me yes, but they have a strict belief in earning everything you have. Nothing handed to you. At sixteen, I had no cares. They expected me to go straight to college, but I had other ideas.” She visibly shakes herself making me realize that I’m just as deep in her story as she is telling it.

  “Long story short, I got mixed up with the wrong crowd, ran away from home, and found myself homeless not long after. Cory took pity on me that night I came into his bar. I had hit rock bottom, and was close to ending it all. He saved me in more than one way that night.” She finishes and takes a sip from the wine placed in front of her.

  “Why have you never told me this?” Am I pissed, yes.

  “I needed to know I could make it on my own. Telling you wouldn’t have changed anything, and I didn’t need the pity.” I can’t argue her logic, though it doesn’t change the fact that it’s been this long and I’m only now finding out about it.

  “I’m so sorry, Amber.” Mom says, once again surprising us all. It’s not that I don’t think she’s incapable of remorse, it’s just not something you typically hear from her.

  “It’s all water under the bridge now. At least now you know that I’m here because your son needs me. I won’t abandon him in his time of need, just like he didn’t abandon me, even though he didn’t know it at the time.” My respect for her grows more and more by the minute.

  “Okay, you have our undivided attention, what’s the plan on getting your girl back?” Mom questions, and if it wasn’t for the sincerity in her voice, I wouldn’t tell her. But if they could offer any kind of help, I’m not passing it up.

  “Right now, my head of security is out with a team trying to track them down. His last update was just to inform us that the guy has dumped his vehicle and we aren’t sure of what he’s in now or where he’s going.”

  “Have you informed the police?”

  “No, mom, I have not. He made it very clear that he’d kill her. I’m not taking any chances. If he’s as unstable as I think he is, we’ll only have one shot at saving her.”

  “What can we do to help?” Dad chimes in.

  “Honestly, you guys just being here, offering her some support when, and I do mean when, I return with her, will be enough. She has no family, and I don’t know what he’s done to her, or what he will do, before we can get to her.” This thought fills me with so much rage, he better hope she’s unscathed when I find her. Mind and body.

  “We’ll be here, son. We can’t make up for lost time, but we’re here now,” mom says with tears in her eyes. I love her, I really do. I hope she means what she says. I have a feeling both Lacey and myself are going to need her when this is all said and done.

  “Is everyone staying the night?” Al pops in from the kitchen once again.

  Mom and dad both scoot back from the table and stand at the same time. He makes his way over to their side of the table clearing their plates first.

  “Actually, we’re going to head out. We’ve got to head to Ansley's house and help plan your brother’s graduation party. We only have a few weeks to get everything finalized.” Mom says looking over at me. “Will we see you at the graduation?”

  As much as I love my brother, his graduation has been the furthest thing from my mind.

  “Honestly, mom, I’m taking it day by day with trying to get Lacey back. That’s all I can offer right now.”

  She looks as if she’s about to say something else, but wisely thinks better of it.

  Walking them to the door, dad pulls me to the side and gestures for mom to keep going on ahead of him.

  He places his hand on my shoulder and gives me a stern look.

  “I know we haven’t been the best of parents lately, but please cut your mom some slack. She loves all of you more than you can know. I’m not asking you to forget about us walking away, I’m asking you to give us a chance to make it right.” He gives my shoulder a squeeze before walking away, shutting the front door behind him.

  Placing my forehead against the door, I feel like everything has been turned upside down.

  A light hand is placed against my back, a gentle gesture, followed by the soothing tone in Amber’s voice. That’s new.

  “Are you okay?” She questions. Am
I?

  “I really don’t know,” I answer honestly.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  Letting out a long sigh, I spin around and give her a bit of the turmoil wreaking havoc in my head.

  “How can they expect me to just cut them slack? They walked out, not me. I needed them and they just left. Who’s to say they won’t do it now, right when I need them again?”

  “Cory, you’ve got to do what your heart tells you to do. Right now, you are emotional and angry. Deep down, you know mistakes were made, you’ve just got to decide if they are worth giving a second chance.”

  “I don’t do second chances.” I glare, she’s aware of this. I’ve thrown a few employees out in our time working together.

  “They’re your parents, Cory, think about it.”

  “I know,” I say and can hear the defeat in my own voice. Yes, I’d love to have my parents as a solid support system, but to say they’ve come back at the wrong time is a major understatement.

  “Just give it time, you’ll get there. In the meantime, are you good with me crashing here again tonight?” And there’s that cocky smile of hers I’m used to seeing.

  “Of course, the guest room should be good to go, I’ll have Al show you to it.” As if he was just waiting around on orders, he appears in the foyer.

  “Will Ms. Morris be staying tonight?” He questions as if he wasn’t just listening.

  “Yes Al, please show her up.” I turn to Amber. “Please get some rest, I need you back at the club tomorrow. My new front end manager has had enough time off, it’s time to begin your new duties.” Nice to know the girl can be rendered speechless. But really, the position had been a long time coming. No better time than the present, especially since I’m not around like I should be.

  I turn my back on them, not giving her the chance to turn me down. She’ll of course, go through some management training. I’ve already got someone in place to see her through. I have full confidence that she can do it and I won’t let her talk herself out of it.

  Vibrations from my pocket slices through my thoughts. One look at the caller ID, and my adrenaline has set to steel in my veins.

  “Speak!” I bark into the receiver, too worked up for formalities.

  “We’ve located them sir, I’ve got my right-hand man, Kevin, keeping watch right now.”

  “Where are they at, Alex?”

  “Not far from the last car swap he did, actually,” he says. My patience is wearing thin right now.

  “Where the fuck are they, Alex?”

  “Gresham, at the Westmire. It’s a run-down motel right off highway twenty-six.” The mother fucker has her at some grimy ass motel. The heat flowing through my veins right now is nothing compared to how it’s going to feel when I wrap my hands around his throat.

  “How the fuck did you track him there?”

  “Honestly, by accident. Paul, was getting hungry, so we all decided to meet up at a local burger joint. I sent him to question some of the locals, but no one had seen him. As we were sitting there planning our next move, the waitress brought our food and spotted the picture of Aaron we had lying on the table. She informed us of the takeout he had come in for the other night and the direction he went in. After splitting up, I received a phone call from Kevin about an hour ago, with news that he had located him.”

  “Why am I just hearing this if you’ve known for a fucking hour?” I cut him off.

  “I had to check it out for myself, I didn’t want to call you with false information.”

  Maybe if I was in my right mind, I could see the logic in that. However, my mind’s not right, so this just pisses me off.

  “You better pray the hour you wasted hasn’t caused any harm to Lacey. Send over the address, I’m on my way.” I hang up and grab the keys to my bike.

  With nothing but the wind behind me, and the thought of putting that fucker in a body bag, my grip on the handles tightens, sending me flying through the night.

  Shivering cold. My fingertips are a sickly shade of graying blue. I can’t feel them or my toes. Everything is numb. But the shakes, those I can feel down to the bone. Is this what it feels like to be in shock?

  I’m still huddled at the bottom of the tub, ice-cold water spraying over me. It’s been, what, hours since Aaron walked away, saying something about finding my appreciation before he returns?

  Yea, well his appreciation can suck a dick. I refuse to be his little rag doll for much longer. I’ll play nice for as long as it takes me to regain my strength, and then I’ll make him wish he never set his eyes on me. I don’t know how I’m going to accomplish that, but dammit, I’m nobody’s prisoner.

  “Are you ready to behave?” He asks, appearing back in the doorway.

  With my jaw still chattering from the cold, I give him a small nod. The fucker will just have to deal with it.

  His smile is sinister, yet he does nothing but place clothes on the toilet before he walks away with a two-minute limit to get dressed.

  I almost laugh at this. No way is my full-body-shaking ass going to get up out of this cold fuckin tub and manage to dress myself in two minutes. Yea, he can go ahead and kiss my ass.

  I do try though, which proves to be one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. After being in one position for so long, shaking down to the bone, my body has gone a bit rigid. Stretching my arms out is proving to be quite painful, but I get it done.

  What sucks is that turning the water off only makes the shivering worse. It’s almost like my body wrapped itself in a false sense of protection, making it feel like I was growing accustomed to the ice-cold water. Now, all I can feel on my skin is the cold air in the room, making my entire body break out in chill-bumps.

  Stretching myself slowly to my full height, I climb out of the tub and wrap myself in the tattered towel left for me to dry off with. Once the towel is wrapped around me, I can’t bring myself to do anything else. I’m drained. I’m hyper aware of all the muscles in my body right now as they are all screaming for relief and warmth.

  Moving my clothes out of the way, I sit down on the toilet, wrapped in a towel and dripping puddles of water from my soaked through clothes. I don’t think I can accomplish much else right now. I’m okay with that, though. I’m okay to sit here forever, if it means I could just be left alone. But of course, that’ll never happen.

  “Your two minutes are up, Lacey,” Aaron thunders from the doorway. There’s no strength in me to even lift my chin to acknowledge him.

  His boots appear in my vision on the floor below me.

  He pulls the towel from me. Instantly, all the progress I had made to get warm, evaporates. My teeth start to chatter again, the rattles reverberating throughout my head.

  He kneels on the floor in front of me, for a split-second I debate on planting my shoe right in his nuts. But the longer I shake, the more the energy I fought to get back drains away. I can’t do this.

  I look up into his eyes, hoping he’ll see the vulnerability there. But all I see in his is a molten volcano, on the brink of erupting. I’m now more scared than I’ve been in this entire situation.

  Without a word, his razor-sharp knife is in his hand and slicing straight down my dripping wet shirt. Before I can even put up a half-assed fight, he’s done the same to my bra, and pushes them both off my shoulders and down behind my back.

  Now, I’m sitting here shaking uncontrollably and completely bared to him, at least above the waist.

  His eyes land on my chest, causing me to squirm in my seat. Please, dear God, don’t let him touch me. That’s all I can think right now. I have absolutely no energy to stop him.

  His hand comes up to brush the hair sticking to my shoulder away. He lingers there a little too long for comfort. Slowly, his fingers make a trail down the side of my neck, leaving unwanted goosebumps in their wake.

  “Aaa-rrr-oo-nn, I’mm ffrr-eee-zzz-iinnngg,” my teeth chatter as I struggle to get the words out.

  “Shh, baby. I’ll warm you up,�
� he says in a lust-filled voice. Oh God, no. He’s got to stop.

  “Ppp-llleassssee nooo,” I try pleading with him through my chattering teeth, but it’s apparent my cries are falling on deaf ears.

  His hand slides even lower down my chest, before he roughly cups my breast into his hand, squeezing hard enough to slice through the cold and sending white-hot pain straight to my chest.

  Squeezing my eyes shut tight, I try to block everything out, until he releases his hand, only to replace it with something wet and warm.

  My eyes pop open to see that he’s taken my nipple in his mouth. I take the last bit of strength I have and shove at his shoulders, but it’s not good enough.

  Without breaking contact, he manages to take both of my wrists in his hand and raise them above my head, pushing my breast even further into his face.

  A squeal of pain escapes my lips from feeling the bones in my wrist push together.

  “Please, Lacey. Fight me! It only turns me on more.” As if to make his point, he grinds into my leg, allowing me feel just how hard he is.

  My heart has skyrocketed into my throat. The ability to speak stolen from me. I realize in this moment that I’m completely helpless. I can’t fight him like this, it’s apparent that this is what he’s wanted all along. He wanted me to fight him so that he could punish me and make sure all the fight and strength I had was gone.

  With my last bit of energy depleted, my body goes slack in his hold. He notices immediately; snapping his eyes back to mine.

  “Dddooo wh-aatt youu hh-aavvee ttoo,” I squeeze out, breaking our eye contact.

  He drops my wrists and snatches my jaw roughly into his hand, “Don’t think I don’t know what you are doing,” he starts, his hold on me very firm and hard. “That’s okay, though, I’ll give you this moment. Warm yourself up, because when I sink my cock in that tight pussy, you will be a willing participant. That is, if you still want your boyfriend breathing.” He lets go of my face, none too gently either, and storms out of the room.