Shattered Chances: A Breaking Black Companion Novel (15 page)

I wanted nothing more than to pick up where we left off, but there was something standing in the way. Distrust. Addiction. Lies. Betrayal. And one Trent mother fucking Myers. She had looked good tonight. She looked healthy, if a bit unhappy. She didn’t look like she was using. I’d know if she was. The light in her eyes would fade. I hated to hate her. I hated to love her. I despised being away from her so long and ignoring her calls. The tough façade I put on for everyone else crumbled at night when all I wanted to do was tell her to come over and I could hold her close to me, while she told me about her day. But as it was, I couldn’t afford to get my heart broken again. She broke me. But no matter who I slept with, what girl I hooked up with at the bar, nothing compared to her. It was just empty exchanges, something to fill a void that would never be replenished. They were not Cheyenne. If only she knew…

54.

Cheyenne

I walked into the Seventy Devils Headquarters where I knew I could find my mother and her dirtball husband, Dave Grisham. Though Grisham was still a police officer, he was also a Devil, too. A very dangerous one, at that. The full arsenal of the Seventy Devils motorcycle club sat on the table, waiting to be claimed. The Devils were up to no good as usual.

My stepfather Dave was behind the bar passing out shots and chilled mugs overflowing with beer. My mother with her ample cleavage and voluminous platinum blonde hair joined Dave behind the bar. She greeted him by sticking her tongue down his throat. He showed his approval of her greeting by slapping her on her round ass before ordering her to help pour some drinks. She did as she was told, no questions asked. My mother was not a smart woman. I slumped down into a folding chair with a defeated look upon my face. 

“What’s the problem now, Cheyenne?” asked Dave with a cigar hanging off his lip. 

“Looks like man problems…” said Gina, my mother.

“Or lack thereof…” Dave said casting a look towards Trent Myers who was sitting at the bar just a few feet away. His black hair hung past his shoulders and he had the face of an angel. Too bad his soul belonged to a demon. A broad smile grew across Trent’s face as he pulled his grimy fingers through his long black hair. He winked at me.
Fuck you
. I snarled in return. 

“Go away, Trent! I fucking hate you!” I yelled. 

How was it possible to hate someone so much but be too afraid to tell him no?
I thought.

She had reason to hate Trent. Damn good reason. But she had enough reason to hate herself, too. 

“What’s your problem, girl?!” Gina asked giving me a wayward look. 

Casting my eyes to the floor, I said, “He’s not answering my calls.” 

“Well honey, do you blame him? He caught you in the sack with this one…” Dave said. 

“Shut up!” I vented, “You’re not my father, so quit actin’ like it!”

Dave had a smug look on his face. 

“I’m more of one than anyone else was to you. Deal with it, buttercup!”

“Here,” said Gina as she poured a scotch glass with something hard. Amber-colored alcohol swirled in the glass. “Drink this because you’re annoying the shit out of me.”

Rolling my eyes, I lifted the glass and eyed it precariously. With my previous run-ins with drugs and alcohol, I was leery of touching anything that would mess with my inhibitions, especially after losing Randy forever because of it. 

“Pound it! You’ll feel better…” said Dave, who was fully aware of my struggle with alcoholism and drug addiction. 

“Shit…” I groaned as I pounded back the drink. The whiskey burned as it passed down my throat. Almost immediately, a glazed look took over my eyes. 

“So Trent,” Gina began. “When ya gonna make an honest woman outta my girl here?”

Gina winked at Trent. 

“She’s pissed at me. She’ll get over it though. They always do.” 

Trent was found irresistible by most women. He was dangerous but he was sexy as hell and when he put on the charm, he got whatever he wanted. He had the looks of a rock star, the charm of a playboy and the sex appeal of Adonis. Not to mention a violent streak that made me afraid to cross him. I would never willingly give myself to him. He scared the hell out of me. But when he puts a knife to your side and makes his demands, there is not much you can do.

Trent cast a mischievous look my way. He certainly knew how to change the direction of the tide when it came to me. 

“Come on, girl. Come dance wit’ me…” Trent said with a voice like velvet. I was about to tell him no when I felt his nails dig into the skin of her arm. 

“I ain’t asking.”

A song came on the jukebox that I didn’t recognize. As Trent pulled me to the center of the room, a war waged within my heart. Was her love for Randy stronger than her addictions? With the whiskey clouding my judgment, I wasn’t so sure. Randy was never coming back. I knew that for sure. I felt it in the very core of my being. Why would he? I had ruined any shot of making things work out. Every chance we had was shattered. I couldn’t be trusted. That was for sure. Shit, I couldn’t even trust myself. 

I looked at Trent’s face reluctantly. He could be so sweet when he wanted to be, but I knew it was an act. A show to get what he wanted. I could feel the blade in my side. Resigning myself to the fact that Randy would never take her back, I didn’t fight against Trent. As Trent wrapped me in his arms, he whispered ever so softly in my ears, “I’ll show you how a real man treats a woman like you.”

As Trent escorted me out of the bar, he received a text from my step-father that read, “Keep her distracted.”

***

“I don’t want to do this…” I said as I looked at Trent with pleading eyes. 

He had removed my shirt and bound my wrists to the bedpost. 

“Ssssh…” Trent said, giving me a sweet smile,

“It’s going to make you feel so good, baby.”

“Please, Trent. I stopped using. Please…”

My eyes were already glazing over from the whiskey that I downed at the bar and my brain was in a fog from the joint we smoked in the car. My inhibitions were dropping by the second and a sober Trent was taking full advantage. My step-father said to distract me – and Trent damn well intended to. 

Trent smoothed my hair over my right shoulder revealing the red rose tattoo on my left shoulder. I closed my eyes as I pretended it was Randy who was touching me. I couldn’t deny how good he made me feel. I hadn’t realized that I had moaned in response to Trent’s gentle touch. 

“See, I told you…” Trent said, moving his hand over my skin, massaging my exposed breasts. 

Bringing his lips to my neck, he licked my smooth skin causing every nerve to stand at attention. As I continued to vocalize my pleasure, Trent bit down hard into my flesh. A single fleck of blood oozed from the wound and dripped down my neck. Trent hardened at the sight of it. He lapped up the droplet with his tongue. Reaching behind him while he continued to eye my naked body, he retrieved a tin box from behind him. Trent wrapped his leg around me, trapping me under his limbs. He lifted the lid of the box, exposing a bag of white powder. I watched him as he licked his index finger and dipped it into the white substance. His finger emerged completely coated with cocaine. Mounting me, Trent’s lips and tongue traced the curve of my neck. He lowered his body and sought out my ear. Softly, he whispered, “I won’t be gentle tonight.”

Not again. Please, not again.

Before I could respond, Trent had his cocaine laced finger in my mouth, crushing the substance into my gums and tongue. He ravaged my mouth with his tongue and before I could tell him to stop I had fallen into a thick fog of pure passion, pleasure, immeasurable pain and insanity. Just one word escaped my mouth: Randy. As Trent heard the name, his hand crashed against the skin of my cheek, leaving my face red and teeming. 

From gritted teeth he yelled, “I will beat your obsession of him out of you. I will fuck you into submission until it is only my name you scream.”

But by then, I was dead to the world, dipping in and out of consciousness. Trent could do what he pleased and no one would know the difference.

Trent only took trace amounts of the drugs he pumped into girls like me. Girls that could give him something in return. He gets them addicted to a drug that only he could provide, and in turn, they became addicted to him, too. Then, when they no longer gave him what he needed, he cut them off and left them lost and strung out. He had done it before. He would do it again in a heart beat. 

Trent stripped me bare, plying my limbs around his body. I was vaguely aware of what was going on. I was still wavering in and out of consciousness. I whispered into Trent’s ear, “He’s going to kill you, you know.”

Trent, with a devious smile on his face, said, “Not if I kill him first.”

Before I could protest further, he plunged inside me, claiming me as his possession.

55.

Randy

“Chey…”

“No, Randy… Just me,” Averi said apologetically.

“Shit. What time is it?”

“Only 7:30. I made you breakfast.”

I immediately sat up and reached for my plate and began shoveling my breakfast in my mouth. I let my approval of her cooking be known with a groan. 

“Oh, my God. So much better than crappy diner food.”

Averi laughed as she gave me a concerned glance. 

“So Randy… We need to talk.”

I stared at her with a mouth full of food and a nervous glare casting from my eyes. 

After swallowing I asked, “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

Averi gave me a smile. 

“Yes. I’m perfectly fine. I’m concerned about you, though.”

“Me? Why me?”

“I know Cheyenne’s been calling you and you never did tell me the whole story.”

“It’s really complicated.” 

“I know all about complicated,” Averi reminded her me. “Look… she called me last night and left me a message. She was really upset.”

“She’s been calling almost non-stop. Everyday. I can’t bring myself to listen to the messages.”

“You might want to. What’s going on, Randy?”

“Ave, I really don’t want to get into it…”

“Randy… I’m not leaving this seat until you tell me what’s going on.”

I looked into my sister’s eyes. Past the hardened look that was designed to push me into talking, I saw something else. Genuine concern. It was the same look that my mother used to give me whenever I would close up and not address the issues that were plaguing me. Finally, I cracked.

“She was using again.”

“That’s not what I mean, though. A couple months ago you were in the clouds. She’s calling me hysterical. What’s going on?”

“Same shit as always. Drugs and Trent. Her addictions.”

Averi shook her head as she responded, “No, Rand. She doesn’t love him. She wants nothing to do with him. Her mother is a Devil. Her stepfather is, too. She has
no one
.”

“Then why does it always come down to him?”

“Look. I didn’t want to say this but…”

“But what? Tell me.”

“Look, Randy… It’s not a simple situation. Trent preys on women. Cheyenne has an addictive personality. You saw me just trying to quit drinking coffee for the pregnancy… Imagine detoxing. He catches her when she’s at her lowest. If she resists, he gets physical.”

My eyebrows furrowed as I looked at my sister with a serious expression. 

“What do you mean he preys on women?”

“He puts on an act. Plays sweet and friendly… Get’s them hooked. He takes advantage of them, Randy.”

“How do you know?”

“He tried it with me.”

My mouth gaped open, “What?!”

“Do you remember when Trent broke his collar bone? He told everyone he was in a car accident?”

“Yeah… We were in high school at the time.”

“That was the result of Colt beating the snot out of him. I had too much to drink at a party and Colt walked away for ten minutes to grab our coats. Trent swooped in, tried putting something in my drink. When I wouldn’t leave the party with him, he tried to force me upstairs. I wanted nothing to do with him, but he is very persuasive. I’m not saying Cheyenne is innocent, but he gets her hooked. She’s gullible and he saw her coming a mile away.”

“Ave, I caught them in bed together.”

Averi considered my admission for a moment. 

“Did you happen to notice if she was even an active participant?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean Trent is a sick bastard who gets girls messed up, high on cocaine and heroin, and then has his way with them. He did the same thing to Christine Campbell in high school.”

“I’ll fucking kill him.”

“All I’m saying is, if she’s using, he has something to do with it. She got clean for you before. Before you walk away for good… before you do something that you might regret, you need to have a conversation with her. She’s not the type to just sleep around. I bet you any amount of money that she’s afraid of him. She said she was in trouble, and she needed you.”