3

Zane walked with determined steps through the nightclub. He had been in his office on the third floor when Jax had called him and asked him to come down to the counting room. Zane knew Jax wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t something that Zane needed to deal with. He was still irritated to be interrupted and whoever had caused it would be facing the consequences. Zane smiled as two women called for him to join them. He didn’t have time to stop and talk, but he let his eyes move over both of their bodies. He made a mental note he should go back after he had handled the situation. He came to the door that led to the back area of the nightclub, he held his card up to the scanner and entered his code. He sighed as he stepped into the white corridor and relaxed as the sound of the music and the people muffled as the door closed behind him. The nightclub was a good investment and a good base of operations. But the noise of it could drive the sanest man mad. He walked along the corridor, spotting Jax just ahead. He was just about to ask his right-hand man why he had called him down when a loud crash echoed through the corridor. Both men’s hands reached for their guns out of habit, but neither of them drew their weapons. A woman’s loud voice screamed, Zane couldn’t make the words out, but she sounded pissed.

“Zane, we have a situation,” Jax told him.

“No shit man, what’s going on?” Zane asked. He briefly considered that one of his ex-lovers or ex-girlfriends had thrown a hissy fit. It wouldn’t be the first time. But he couldn’t remember pissing off any women lately.

“Dave and Tobias came back from their run,” Jax told him.

“Did they collect?” Zane asked, irritated to have been called down for a simple debt collection.

“You can say that,” Jax said, he looked serious. Another shriek sounded from within the counting room and Zane had had enough. He walked over, unlocked the door and pushed it open. By nothing but sheer luck the stapler that came flying missed his head and hit the door frame. Zane’s eyes followed it as it fell to the floor with a second crash. He looked up and saw an angel. It took him a moment to realise it wasn’t an angel, but a scared and crying woman.

Even with the bruised cheek and split lip with tears running down her face, she was beautiful. Her honey blond hair had at one point been in a ponytail, but now large locks were falling down her shoulders and the loose hair tie were only holding the back layers of hair together. Her pale blue eyes were swollen from crying, but it didn’t take away their beauty. The bulky sweater and mom jeans couldn’t hide the curves of her body that made Zane grow hard. The voluptuous body was calling to him. He reluctantly looked away from the woman as she hurled a pen at his men. Both his men were looking at him and didn’t see it coming. The pen hit Tobias in the chest with a light thump, before falling to the floor. Zane noted that Dave seemed to pale somewhat as he looked back at Zane. Interesting, Zane thought. Jax stood behind Zane’s right shoulder and watched the scene. The woman had another pen in her hand and threw it at Dave and Tobias, it sailed in the air between them. Zane could hear the words she was shouting now.

“Stay away, stay away from me, stay away,” she shouted, over and over. She kept shouting even though it seemed she had run out of things to throw. Zane was more than a little interested in knowing exactly what was going on. But he couldn’t focus with the woman making a ruckus.

He walked around the table towards her, she backed herself into a corner, holding her hands out in front of her, shouting the same sentences over and over again. Zane grabbed both her hands with one of his and stood right in front of her, looking into those brilliant eyes.

“Will you shut the fuck up!” he roared at her. She fell silent and he saw tears start to fill her eyes, her lips trembled. Oh fuck, he thought. Like most men, a crying woman scared him shitless. He would rather have a gunfight with a hundred of his worst enemies than have to deal with one crying woman. His solution to the issue was to release her hands, noting the bright red marks around her wrists, and turn his back to her. Out of sight, out of mind. He wasn’t as effective in blocking out the quiet sobs that came from behind him, but he ignored them. “Can someone tell me why the fuck my bill counter is smashed on the floor and why I was nearly decapitated by a fucking flying stapler?” he growled to the three other men in the room. The room was quiet except for the soft sobs from the woman. Zane stared at Dave and Tobias. “Since that is obviously too hard for you to answer, let’s start with the fucking basics. Did you go to the collection?” Zane asked, feeling his blood rising. If he wasn’t given some answers soon, he would not be responsible for his actions, heads would fly. There was a fifty, fifty chance that they would literally be separated from someone’s body.

“Yeah, boss, we did,” Dave said.

“Did you collect?” Zane sighed.

“We did, Cobler didn’t have the money. But he offered his niece’s services as a way to pay off his debt,” Tobias grinned. Zane felt a primal urge to punch the man in the face. He took a deep breath and reminded himself the man was new to the family, he was allowed a mistake. One. Dave on the other hand should have known better.

“Explain,” Zane demanded from the man.

“It just sounded like a better deal than to come back empty-handed,” Dave shrugged. Zane shot Jax a look and his right-hand man nodded. He knew what Zane wanted.

“Go with Jax, I’ll clean up your fucking mess,” Zane growled.

“Yes, boss,” Dave said. Tobias gave Zane a look that spoke of defiance and of a want to take back what he felt was rightfully his. The woman, Zane thought. He waited until the three other men had left until he turned around again. Even in her dishevelled state, the young woman looked innocent and there was an air of goodness surrounding her. Zane felt a need to corrupt her, to show her the dark side of life and bind her down there with him. He had never meet someone like her, and the thought of what he could do to her, with her, sent a pleasurable shiver through him. A wicked smile spread across his lips.

Ava stood petrified, locked into the corner of the room with the giant man in front of her. If the blond man had been good locking, this man was like something created from a wet dream, made into a living being wearing a burgundy three-piece suit that showed off his toned body. If she wasn’t so petrified, Ava would be drooling. As soon as he entered the room her brain had noticed him with his dark hair styled back, his pale grey eyes and a five o’clock shadow. At first, she had hoped he would be her saviour, but he had trapped her in the corner and shouted at her. It seemed he was the boss of the other three men. Ava had a stray thought if this place was filled with hot men in suits. She immediately put the thought to the side as a highly inappropriate thought in the situation. Mr Tiny had said something about her uncle owing them money and not being able to pay, that he had sold her body to pay off his debt. But it couldn’t be true. It was true her uncle used to have a gambling problem, and it was true she often felt he didn’t care for her. But to sell her to those men? No, she couldn’t believe that. And now she was trapped behind this giant, hot man. As the door closed, leaving the two of them alone, he turned around and an ice-cold smile spread across the man’s face as he looked down at Ava.

“Jonas Cobler is your uncle?” he asked. Ava’s body trembled out of fear and she tried to stop her lower lip from trembling. The look in his eyes is something that forever will be in my nightmares if I survived this, she thought.