Page 17 of Atlas (The Chaos Demons MC #6)

Atlas

“You’re telling me that sweet, crazy chick out there is a prostitute?” asks Grizz, his brows raised in surprise.

“We know what women will do to survive,” Axel reminds him. “And no one chooses that life, it’s something they have to do for whatever reason.”

“Hey, I’m not judging,” he replies, holding his hands up. “I just can’t see it. For a start, she never shuts the fuck up.”

I laugh. “He’s got a point. I imagine Kasey talks through sex.”

“She could definitely talk with a cock in her mouth,” laughs Pit.

“I have her dad’s address,” Axel says, looking at me as he slides a piece of paper towards me. “Take whoever you need.”

“Hold on, I thought Rue asked you not to get involved?” asks Grizz.

“She did.”

“Yet here you are, getting involved.”

I grin. “I’m just making enquiries to check they’re both safe.” I stand. “Who wants a ride out?”

Fletch stands, along with Pit and we head out.

The house isn’t as run-down as I’d pictured. From the outside, you’d think a respectable family lived here. I knock once, but I know he’s already seen me from the Ring doorbell attached to the door. After a minute, it swings open, and a young boy looks up at us through his floppy fringe.

“Adam, what have I said to you about opening the damn door?” snaps a woman as she bustles towards us, grabbing the child by the upper arm and dragging him back behind her. “What?” she asks, glancing to my patch.

“We’re looking for Frank.”

“Well, good luck finding him. Tell him he owes me a shit tonne of child maintenance when you see him.”

I look past her and notice a shadow lingering in the kitchen doorway. “You sure that ain’t him hiding?” I ask, nodding in that direction.

She rolls her eyes. “If he owes you money, we don’t have it.”

I shove past her and head inside. Frank backs into the kitchen the second he spots me. His eyes dart around nervously. “I don’t have anything.”

“What do you think I’m looking for?” I ask.

Fletch picks up a stack of unopened mail and flicks through it. He holds up a letter for Kasey with an arched brow. “You looking for Kasey?” Frank asks. “She ain’t here, man. She did a runner ages ago.”

“I know,” I say. “I found her.”

“So, what do you want with me?”

“Who’s looking for her?” I ask, stepping closer.

He falls back onto a chair. “Some guy she was fucking.”

“What guy?” asks Pit, impatiently.

“He’s a suit from the city. I don’t know his name. She was always getting mixed up in some shit.”

“Not good enough,” Pit growls, landing a fist to his stomach. He coughs violently. “You know way more than that, so get talking.”

“She’s always bringing trouble back here,” the woman yells from the doorway. “That’s why we kicked her out.”

I turn to her. “I hear your man’s been good at that too.” Her eyes flit to him. “Maybe if he was a proper father figure.”

“She was selling herself from a young age,” she spits with disgust. “He tried to help her.”

“Now that’s a load of bullshit.” We all turn to the sound of Kasey’s voice as she enters the room looking smug. Adam is tapping her leg for attention and she ruffles his hair affectionately.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I snap.

“I heard you were heading here so thought I’d tag along.”

I grab her upper arm and back her from the room. “You’re not meant to leave the club,” I whisper hiss.

“I’m a big girl,” she says, pulling free.

“How dare you bring bikers to my door?” the woman yells. “It’s always something with you, Kasey.”

“Oh, boo-hoo, step-monster. And why you always yelling?”

Kasey heads back to the kitchen with me hot on her tail. “We all know who stole that money, daddy dearest,” she says, stabbing a finger in her dad’s chest. “I told you not to. I warned you he was dangerous.”

“What are you talking about?” asks Pit.

“He was always setting men up,” she tells us. “He’d arrange the meet, I’d go into the bedroom to do the deed, and he would have someone rob the punter.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me this before?” I demand.

“It wasn’t your business,” she says with an arched brow. “And then you went and made it your business. Anyway, Mr. D was different. I met him by accident, and we got talking. He offered me money for sex and taking care of his kid sometimes. Dad found out I was onto a good thing and had to ruin it.”

“Shut your mouth,” Frank roars, jumping out the chair. Pit is between them in a flash, shoving him back down and hitting him a second time.

“Stay in the chair,” he warns.

“Kasey, I need this guy’s name,” I say.

“I don’t know it. But I can take you to his place.”

I knock gently on Rue’s apartment door. She opens it a second later looking flustered. She smiles, blowing a few strands of hair from her face. “Hey.” She opens the door wider for me to go inside.

The apartment is small, but she’s made it into a cosy living space with fancy cushions and fairy lights. “Nice place.”

“It’s not much but it’s all mine and I love it.”

She points to a door, and we head through into a small kitchen where a table is set up in the centre. I take a seat, and she goes to the cooker and stirs something in a pan on the hob. “You can cook,” I state with a smile.

“My mum was a good teacher.”

“You and Kasey have different mums?” I ask.

She nods. “Same dad, unfortunately. I was the result of a brief relationship between Mum and Kasey’s dad, Frank. Kasey came a few years after.”

“Do you still see him?” I ask.

“Not if I can help it,” she says, offering a small smile.

“He was different when Mum first met him. Worked in a decent job and was generally a functioning adult. He started doing extra shifts to support her, even though they weren’t together.

To get through the late nights he started taking cocaine.

After that he went downhill. Lost his jobs, couldn’t pay Mum any money.

He went off radar for a long time, and when he popped back up, he had Kasey.

Her mum had done a runner and left him with the two-year-old. He couldn’t cope.”

“So, your mum stepped in?”

“She helped where she could, but she was barely getting by. She passed when I was thirteen. I went to live with him for a few years and helped raise Kasey.”

“I’m sorry,” I almost whisper. “That must have been tough.”

“My mum was my world,” she admits. “I don’t know how many times I prayed to God to take my dad instead and bring her back to me.”

“It’s a cruel world.”

“Anyway, as soon as I had enough money, I left. He wouldn’t let me take Kase, by then he was using her to make his own cash. But she came to stay regularly.”

“How did you get involved with the club?” I ask.

She smiles, lifting the pan from the hob and placing it in the centre of the table. “I’m a math whizz,” she says with a hint of pride. “I was fourteen and did the books for a few of the businesses.”

“Fourteen!”

She laughs. “Tank, Axel’s dad, was good to me. He gave me cash in hand and knew I needed it to get away from my dad. He never asked too many questions.”

“I’ve been in this club for years and I don’t remember you.”

“You think he was stupid enough to let me round his men?”

I laugh. “Good point.”

She takes my bowl and begins to ladle a chunky soup into it. “What about you?”

“Me?”

She replaces my bowl and fills her own. “Family?”

“The club is my family. I don’t have blood relatives.”

“None?”

I shake my head. “But I’m good with that. I have all I need at the club.”

She sits and picks up her spoon. “I hope you like it,” she says, nodding to my bowl.

I scoop some and place it in my mouth. The mixture of beef and vegetables warms me instantly and I groan in delight. I don’t remember the last home cooked meal we had. “It’s delicious.”

She smiles wide under the praise and tucks in. “Didn’t the posh bird cook?”

I swallow a mouthful and meet her eyes. “Can we just call her Anita?”

Rue gives a small shrug. “Sure.”

“And no, she didn’t.”

She tilts her head. “What about others?”

“Others?”

“Women. Old ladies?”

I grin. “There weren’t any… old ladies, I mean. When I take one, I want her to be forever.”

Her smile falters just slightly, like she’s not sure how to take that. Then she murmurs, “Anita said you asked her.”

I set my spoon down with a little more force than I mean to. “Do you really want to talk about Anita?”

Rue blinks, caught between curiosity and regret. After a second, she gives a slight shake of the head.

“Good,” I say, softer this time, “cos neither do I.”

We finish the rest of the meal in relaxed silence.

Afterwards, I help her clear up, even though she insists she can manage.

The kitchen’s so small that every time we turn, we brush against one another.

First our arms, then the small of her back against my front.

She laughs the first time, but it’s breathy, a little too light.

The next time, she doesn’t laugh at all, feeling the sexual tension buzzing around us.

Her body’s warm, and she smells like whatever lotion she wore last—vanilla maybe, or almond—and something sweet from her shampoo.

I hand her a plate, our fingers grazing. She doesn’t pull away.

“You do this for everyone?” I murmur.

She glances up, cheeks pink. “What, cook them dinner?”

“No,” I say, “let them in here.” I nod at the cramped space between us. “This close.”

Her eyes drop to my chest, then flick back up. “Not really.”

“That a no, then?”

Rue smiles again, slow, shy, almost dangerous. “Guess you’re special.”

I step in closer. Not touching, not quite, but her breath hitches anyway.

She leans against the counter, palms behind her, grounding herself. It forces her chest forward slightly, and I notice, of course I do, but I keep my eyes on hers.

“Careful,” I say low. “Might start thinking you like me.”

Her lips part like she’s going to say something smart, to tease me back, but no sound comes.

God, she’s cute like this. Slightly overwhelmed, trying to play it cool, knowing damn well she’s not.

“You’re not what I expected,” she says finally.

“And what did you expect?”