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Chapter Twenty-Seven

Rachel

Josh’s closing statement tore me in half. I stood in that alley, splintered and rigid, fighting my tears. Murphy came out and found me, took me by the arm, and silently hauled me back inside. I didn’t fight him. I was numb.

“Is he gone?” Aren snapped at me.

I nodded.

“Good, now get back up on that stage and finish practicing. And Rachel…” He pointed at me. “If he comes around here again, it’s not going to be pleasant, for either of you.”

I turned away from his warning, resisting the urge to give him the finger as I walked back to the stage. I got up and did my thing, going through the motions like a robot. Aren made me do it five more times before finally letting me sit down for a drink.

He placed a whiskey in front of me. “Drink up. We need to loosen those limbs. You’re still too stiff.”

I sipped at the burning liquid to appease him.

“Walter’s going to be here in about five hours. You can rest in the back today. I don’t want you going home. Have a sleep, a shower, and then get dolled up. This has got to be the best performance you have ever given, you understand me?”

“How much will you be making?” I muttered.

“What?”

“You’re hankering for me to sign something with Walter, which means you must be making a pretty penny.”

Aren gave me a smarmy smile as he leaned toward me. “Whatever figure he whispered in your ear last night, I get forty percent of it.”

“Forty?” I slammed my glass onto the table.

“It’s in the contract. You read that paragraph, right?” He sniggered and snapped his fingers at Murphy. “Take her upstairs and make sure she doesn’t leave.”

The round guard went to help me up, but I flicked him away. “I can walk on my own.” Then, of course, my ankle rolled in those damn shoes! I kicked them off and clutched them to my chest, padding out of the room and away from the one man set on ruining my life.

But I was the one who signed, wasn’t I?

I was the one who sealed my own damn fate.

The look on Josh’s face before he walked away nearly killed me. He believed every lie I told him. It hurt that he’d bought it all so easily. He’d come all this way to get me, and I’d had to turn him away.

Murphy opened the door for me, and I stepped into a small, hotel-like room. It had a double bed, a vanity, and a bathroom off to the side. Plain and simple.

“I’ll be just outside the door,” Murphy mumbled before closing it behind him.

The click made me flinch, the sound having a finality to it that was heartbreaking.

I’d lost Josh. My knees gave out on me and I crumpled to the floor. The one man who’d taken me in, in spite of my past, had just turned his back on me. He’d always looked at me differently, but for the first time ever, he wore the same judgmental scowl as every other person in Payton. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t go back. He said he’d always forgive me, but I didn’t think he could forgive me for this.

The tears I’d been fighting burned my eyes, a few trickling free. I let them run down my face. They tickled my cheeks, but I didn’t bother brushing them away. I was having a black hole moment. I’d had them before, when my world started crumbling around me and I didn’t think I was going to make it.

My lowest point had been the day Josh found me. The only thing I’d had left to my name was Mama’s guitar, and I didn’t have it in me to sell it. I hadn’t eaten anything in four days. I was starving, sick, and a thunderstorm had been following me for at least a day. I hadn’t been able to outrun it anymore, so I’d snuck through an open gate into a square backyard and huddled in a doorway, trying to stay dry. It hadn’t worked. The freezing rain had pelted me until I didn’t think I could stand it. Mercy found me and sucked me into oblivion, and then Josh opened his back door and I was redeemed.

He’d saved my life that day, and he’d driven all the way to California to do it again.

And what had I done?

I’d thrown him away. I’d lied to his face so he’d leave me.

I sucked in a shaky breath, my body quivering. I’d been in survival mode since that first photo shoot, fooling myself into thinking I could do this, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to.

The idea of having rough sex with Walter Spence was unbearable. Who gave a shit about a music video contract anyway? I couldn’t do it! I wouldn’t.

Roy McGarrett was right about me. I was a
past
whore, and I’d never give myself to anyone like that again. I had to find another way to survive.

I didn’t know how I was going to get out of it, but if I didn’t do something to change my circumstances, I’d never get Josh back.

My sweet grizzly bear.

I’d probably never get him back anyway, but I had to try.

It wasn’t until I saw him walk away from me that I realized how badly I wanted him. I’d been trying to ignore my yearning, pretending I was doing this for all the right reasons, but I was a damn fool. He was the
only
thing I wanted—the only thing that ever really mattered in the first place.

*****

“Time to go.” Aren stood behind me with a gleaming smile. I scowled at his reflection in my mirror, but he just laughed and squeezed my shoulder. “Lose the frown, sweet cheeks. It’s show time.”

I was made up like a Barbie doll. A professional artist had been brought in to do my hair and makeup. I barely recognized myself as I rose from my chair and followed Aren out the door.

My nerves were on fire, dancing through my body wearing tap shoes with spiky heels. I wasn’t sure I had the courage to go through with my plan. The repercussions would be bad. I was a fool to think otherwise. All I could pray was that they wouldn’t affect Josh too much. That was the most flawed part of my scheme—I didn’t know how to protect him. I was hoping it’d come to me sometime that afternoon, but it hadn’t. All I knew was that I wasn’t going to be sleeping with Walter. Josh was the last man to ever touch me that way, and I never wanted that to change.

Aren opened the door for me, and I walked into a dimly lit room. I’d never been in there before, but I’d heard about it. It was the plushest room the club had and was only used for special events. It was decked out in velvet pink fabrics with dark hardwood floors. A huge shag pile rug lay in the middle of the room, held down by a wide leather couch. Large silk pillows lined the back, shuffled around by the monstrous Walter Spence.

I pressed my lips together and looked away from his leering smirk. Glancing at the low-rise stage, I noted the pole and wanted to barf. Swallowing for the millionth time that day, I turned at the sound of Walter’s voice.

“Pretty nice, isn’t it, Sissy?”

I’m sure he was trying to be sexy with that husky question, but I found it repulsive. Forcing a smile turned out to be an effort; I could tell by the sharp frown pulling his eyebrows together. I blinked twice and tried again, telling myself to relax. I managed to flash him a grin. “Hello, Mr. Spence.”

“Please, call me Walter.”

His gaze was hungry, roving my body, making me feel like Little Red Riding Hood. He was the wolf salivating over me, but there was no woodsman to come to my rescue. He’d already been that day and I’d sent him packing.

“Shall we get started?” Aren clipped across to the stereo.

“Actually, Aren, I spent my afternoon preparing a special piece, an extra song I’d like to start with.” I held out a flash drive for him. He looked suspicious, reluctantly taking it from me. I leaned into him and whispered. “It’s to make up for this afternoon. I don’t want you doing anything to pay Josh back for visiting. I’ll make this night what it needs to be and you leave him alone. We clear?”

A smug grin tugged at his lips. “Clear.”

I wanted to slap at his triumphant expression but held my anger in check. If he’d known what I was about to do, he never would have slid the flash drive into the sound system. Thankfully, Murphy had been too dumb to question me when I’d asked him to get me a laptop that afternoon. I’d lied my way through that one, too, and nearly passed out when he’d returned with what I’d asked for. My plan had fallen into place so easily, but it was going to have consequences, big ones, that weren’t going to be pretty.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Rachel

I clipped to the stage, stepping up and throwing a flirtatious smile over my shoulder before facing the back wall. I’d rehearsed my moves, and as soon as the backing track for Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble” started playing, I spun and faced the men, flicking my hair back and putting on the sexy show Aren wanted. Although, this one was different…this was
my
sexy show, and I spat each word at the man who’d conned me, glaring at him intensely as I gave him the proverbial finger through a kick-ass song that said it all.

Aren’s smug smile fled pretty damn fast, and I was soon facing off with a thunderous look of warning that nearly hindered my mission, but I lifted my chin and stayed strong, singing through the rest of the song and pointing my finger right at him as I sang the last word, “Trouble.”

The only sound to follow my performance was the air streaming out of my nose in angry puffs. Aren was giving me the darkest glare I’d ever seen while Walter gazed at me in confusion. Eventually, his fat fingers slapped together in an awkward clap.

“Well, that wasn’t exactly what I expected, but still damn sexy. Shall we keep going? I’m pretty keen to see the first song I asked you to perform—‘Sexy Love’.”

My eyes snapped to the large man on the couch, and I flashed him a tight smile. “I’m sorry, Mr. Spence, but I’m not going to be doing that song tonight. There’s no point auditioning for a role I don’t want, so rather than wasting your time, we should probably just cut this meeting short right now.”

I moved to the edge of the stage, ignoring the tycoon’s gaping confusion.

“Give us a minute, Walter,” Aren gritted out between clenched teeth before storming toward me and snatching my arm. His fingers dug in so tight, I could feel the bruises forming.

“Ow!” I yelped as he hauled me to his office. He ignored my protesting, practically throwing me through the door. I stumbled and caught myself against his desk.

“What the hell was that!” His bellow nearly shook the room.

I fought my quivering lips and tried to stand strong as I turned to face him. “It was a statement. I want out.”

“We’ve been through this. You can’t get out.”

“That’s bullshit! I want to see this contract again. Show me where it says I have to have sex with some dirty old man!”

Aren muttered a string of curses as he headed to his filing cabinet, ripping it open and snatching out my file. Smacking it onto his desk, he yanked my wrist and pulled me to his side.

“Read it! You have to follow my guidance and do as I say! And I say you don’t fuck up this chance with Walter Spence! You screw his brains out and you get us that money!”

I leaned toward the small print, squinting to read it properly. It was damn hard with Aren breathing in my ear, and the legal jargon was enough to stew my brain. Curse it! I didn’t understand what the hell it said on that paper.

Aren’s hot breath scorched my ear. “You do
not
want to breach this contract, you understand me? I will take you down and destroy everything you hold dear. You seriously think some pathetic lawyer from Hicksville can save you from this? I will annihilate you.” He grabbed my arm again, spinning me around to face him.

“I’m not some whore you can sell!”

“Then tell your little boyfriend he can kiss his bar goodbye, because that’ll be the first thing to go when he tries to bail you out!”

Rage fired through me, hot and ripe, and I couldn’t stop myself. I slapped him—hard. My fingers cracked across his face, stinging something fierce. My only satisfaction was his initial look of shock, and the red handprint left on his cheek.

However, my triumph was short-lived. He got over his surprise damn fast and slapped me back, knocking me clean off my feet. I cried out. My elbow hit the ground hard, pain shooting up my arm, but that was nothing compared to the agony of being hauled back up by a handful of hair. Aren’s fist clung tight, shaking my head as he yelled at me.

“You think you have any say in this! You are
mine
now, and you are
not
going to ruin this for us. You don’t say no to a guy like Walter Spence. He could turn his back on this entire club. That’s a lot of business, Rachel! So you are going back into that room, and you are going to give him whatever he wants!”

“Go to hell!” I spit in his face and earned myself a backhand slap that hurt worse than the one before. He followed it up with a punch to the gut that had me fighting for air. I coughed and gasped, clutching his arm to hold myself up. He yanked on my hair again, making my eyes water. Fear pulsed through me. I’d never been beat like that before. The one time my daddy went after me in a rage, my mother had stepped in to stop it. There was no Mama this time. Just me and an angry bull who wasn’t going to let me walk away.

“Now, I’m going to give you a minute to compose yourself, and then you’re going to walk back into that room and—”

I shook my head. “No. Beat on me as much as you like, but I am
not
going back in that room.”

I must have been damn crazy, because he took my permission and went for it. He didn’t just slap me the next time, he thunder-punched me in the face and threw me across the room. I’d never felt pain like it. My body hit the floor and slid a couple of feet before smacking into the thick, wooden sofa leg. Pain coursed through me in such thick waves I couldn’t even cry. Terror was blinding me as I pressed my fingers into the wood and watched Aren’s shoes approaching through my blurry tears.

He was going to kill me.

No, he wouldn’t do that. He was going to keep me alive and make me pay.

His fingers wrapped into my hair again and he jerked my head back, wiping the trickle of blood from my lip.

I wished for Josh so bad but he was on the road, heading home to Payton, thinking I didn’t love him anymore. I willed him to change his mind, to storm through that door and unleash his grizzly. Whether he hated me or not, if he saw what Aren was doing, he’d kill him…and I’d let him do it.

Aren’s breath was hot on my skin. “You do not want to take this further, Rachel. Now be a smart girl and do as you’re told.”

Part of me wanted to give in. I didn’t think I could handle another round of pain. I’d be useless in a torture chamber, I knew that much, but I just could not make myself say yes to that man. I wouldn’t do it.

Now that might have been the wrong decision. I’d already proven myself to be a fool, so it probably was, but I was determined. Walter Spence was not laying a finger on me.

Shaking my head was impossible with Aren gripping my hair like that, so I had to suffice with a glare. Luckily for me, he took that as compliance and let me go. Standing tall, he straightened his jacket and I clambered to my feet, slipping off my shoes as quietly as I could. Aren walked for the door.

“I’ll explain to Walter that you needed a little persuasion. I’m sure he won’t mind; he’s kind of dark that way.”

How I didn’t faint, I wasn’t sure. It must have been the sheer doggedness coursing through me, but the second Aren opened that door, I lunged for it, driving my fist into his balls when he tried to grab me. He let out a feeble cry and I shook out of his grasp, my flimsy dress tearing as I fled.

“Stop that bitch!” he roared.

I kept running, slipping down the stairs and making for the outside door. Footsteps scuttled and clomped behind me, but I didn’t look back. I had to get out of there. The emergency exit came into view and I slammed into it, shouldering the door open and stumbling into the alley. I fell to the hard ground, scraping my knee. It was a struggle to get up. Pain still radiated through my body, fear near-blinding me.

“She went this way!” Boxer yelled from inside.

I scrambled to my feet and ran down the alley, my bare feet slapping against the hard stone. I heard a crash behind me and glanced over my shoulder to see Boxer giving chase. He was surprisingly fast for such a bulky guy. Anger was no doubt fueling him on. Josh had left him with a pretty fine shiner that was probably pulsing with pain as he ran.

Skidding around the corner, I nearly tripped but found my feet just in time, avoiding a painful face-plant into the concrete. The cold, stone alley was getting dark, dusk stealing what little light was left and replacing it with ominous shadows. I scampered over the concrete, panicked breaths shooting out of my chest.

My body was tiring fast. I couldn’t outrun Boxer, and there was no way I’d survive being dragged back into that club. I had to hide and just wait it out.

I scanned my surroundings, my brain a frenzied mess as I tried to look for a good hidey-hole. I couldn’t see anything except a dumpster. I wasn’t above flopping into that smelly thing, but I didn’t think I’d have time before Boxer came charging around the corner. I pushed forward, the alley opening up into a street. Human traffic would keep me safe. It didn’t matter that I was half-naked. I could hide in the crowd.

Relief at the idea flooded through me until I barreled into the open, only to find the street empty. It was a back road for delivery trucks and such, not exactly a thoroughfare.

“Hey!” Boxer shouted at me.

I flinched, spinning to make out his bulky form before darting to my left. I squeezed in between two parked cars and crouched for a minute. The hiding place wouldn’t cut it for long. I pressed my palm against the bumper of the car and looked around the street. Boxer would be there any second.

A friendly voice from behind me caught my attention.

“That’s fine. Don’t worry about it, man. I can do a late delivery.”

“You’re a savior, Jack. Thank you.”

“It’s no problem.”

I glanced over my shoulder to see a guy sliding up the back door of his truck. He placed something inside and turned to jump down from the truck bed.

“There’s just one more piece.”

“Got it.” The man landed on the concrete and followed the other guy inside.

I took my chance. Leaping from my spot, I darted over to the truck and scrambled up just as Boxer came around the corner. Ducking behind a set of dresser drawers, I squished myself into the darkness and started praying.

Boxer hadn’t seen me get into the truck. I could tell by his cursing and then the retreat of footsteps in the opposite direction.

Thank the Lord.

I stood from my spot with a wince, but had to quickly duck down when the two men returned carrying a bubble-wrapped coffee table. I bit back my hiss as I squished into my space, pain shooting up my spine as I scraped it on the rough panels of wood within the truck.

“Okay, I’ll drop this off on my way home.”

“I so appreciate it. This customer’s a piece of work, so be warned.”

They both chuckled, and then the screech of metal filled the truck. I gasped as the door locked into place.

I had no idea where the delivery van was going…but did I really care?

In that moment, getting away was the only thing that mattered.