Page 14

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Bee

Honestly, it all sounds like a bad mafia movie.

Sonny the shark?

They can't be serious with this shit.

It took everything in me not to laugh when Rye started telling me the story of what was really going on. Of course by the time he got to the end I realized just how serious it is. This Sonny the Shark was tormenting and harassing the hard-working people on this strip.

I'd heard about the Greek Restaurant being burned down, but I didn't know it had anything to do with this Sonny the shark.

He had to be stopped, and it didn't matter what we had to do to stop him. I was sure that Vexx wouldn't have an issue getting involved in this. After all, this is our town. If we weren't going to protect it, then who was.

Once I was sure that Rye would be safe, I took off to go back to the clubhouse.

The girls had to hear about this now.

I just hoped Vexx didn't give me too much shit for getting involved in who she might consider a stranger's business. If it were anyone else, she'd be ready to do what we needed to do.

Moving as fast as I can, I quickly park my bike in front of the clubhouse and walk in.

Everyone is up and in the main room.

It's surprising but it makes things easier. When I walk in, instead of smiles and hello's everyone glares at me.

It gives me pause.

"What the hell is wrong with all of you? You look like you're about to skin me alive."

"We just fucking might." Riot snarls at me.

My mouth pops open, I don't know what I could've done in less than twenty-four hours that would cause everyone to jump down my throat like this, but I'm not prepared for it.

"I knew it." Duchess comes closer to me and audibly sniffs me.

"You knew what? What the hell are you doing?" I shove her lightly out of my space.

"I knew that you'd go straight back to that damn bar. You were doing so fucking good. You promised!" Duchess yells in my face, and I lift my jacket to my nose. I take a whiff and boy is she right. i smell like straight alcohol.

"Bee, how could you do this." Free doesn't even look at me. I can see she's disappointed, and part of me is hurt that she doesn't even hear me out first. They all just assume that they know I've been drinking.

I feel the rage building inside of me but quickly force it back down. I did this. It's because of all my past broken promises. All the times one of them has come to find me nearly passed out in some bar somewhere.

"Free, girls, I know what this looks like-" I'm cut off before I can finish what I'm saying.

"Where were you?" Vexx seethes.

I let out a sigh, I'm not going to lie but I can already tell that when I tell them all where I've been they're going to lose their shit.

"I was at Rye and Barley."

It's like a riot. The minute the words come out of my mouth all of them move as if they are about to race out the door and do more damage.

"Stop!" I get in front of all of them and put my arms up to keep them from taking another step. "I know what this looks like, trust me I do. And I know it's no different from any other night, but I swear to you, I've had nothing to drink. Nothing." I try to capture Free's gaze, but she still won't look at me. I turn my eyes to Mojag who is still leaning up against the wall. It's his favorite spot, back where he can observe everything.

"I'm not drunk. I didn't drink anything. I'm still clean." I keep his gaze. We stare at each other for a few seconds before he walks over to Free and bumps her so she has to look up at me.

"Nothing?" She questions softly, her eyebrows hitching up in suspicion.

"Nothing. Water, and barely enough of that." I smile at her, trying to get her to see the sister that she knew from so long ago.

"Then why do you smell like that?" Riot questions.

"I was cleaning up a lot of spilled alcohol. I've been with Rye all night. I'm pretty sure he'd rather drag his feet over hot coals before he'd let me put another glass of hootch to my lips." I try to lighten the mood.

"If you were with him last night, why didn't you just call and let us know?" Addison asks.

She was the last person to see me last night. I'm sure Vexx and the rest of the girls have been giving her hell for letting me leave late last night without coming with me, just to make sure I stay on the right path.

"Well, I actually was working. Like I got a job..." I pull the fifty dollars I still had out of my pocket to show them, "Then I went home with Rye, and things got... fun." I wiggle my eyes and everyone besides Vexx and Free chuckles slightly, "Then the bar was attacked."

"What the fuck!?"

"Raas!"

"What the hell do you mean it was attacked?"

All the questions start coming at once.

"Easy, girls, I can talk fast, but not that fast." I walk by them and go sit on the couch. Everyone comes and surrounds me.

Even Press, Hardy and Jag come closer so they can hear what I'm talking about.

I give them the whole run down and unlike me both Riot and Duchess couldn't hold back their laughter when I said the big bad in this story was someone named Sonny the Shark. They cackled and I allowed myself to join. Of course by the end of the story everyone was as serious as I was when Rye finished telling me the story.

There's a sigh from the corner and when I look up I see Hardy rubbing a hand across his beard.

"You know something."

"I don't know much, but what your friend Rye was saying is true. We've been chasing after Sonny for years. He's slippery. We've never been able to make anything stick. Crazy part of all this is the last time I heard anything about Sonny, he was still a little fish. If he's going around trying to implement a tax on the businesses in the area, that means he's off leash. That's not going to be good for anyone."

"Yeah, I didn't think so. If these guys were so bold that they'd destroy the bar like this and not have to worry about any blowback, I can just imagine what they're going to do if they really get a footing in the underground world. We need to stop this before it gets out of hand." I look over to Vexx.

As the president of Eve's Fury she's the one who gives word on whether or not we're going to get involved in this.

"Stop." Hardy puts his hand up before he leans over and kisses Addison. "I'm still a cop, and I'm sure whatever you may or may not do won't be by my rule book. Let me leave before you say anything else."

"Good man." Duchess says over her shoulder.

We all wait for Hardy to walk out of the clubhouse. A second later, we hear his car stop up, and he's gone.

Vexx still hasn't said a word, and I'm starting to feel like she's not on the same page as I am.

I stand and move closer to her, "Vexx, you have to see that we're needed on this."

"What I see is you're really close to a man you just met. How do we know he's not more involved in all this than what he's saying? What if this is more his doing than he's telling you? You did say he'd done business with this Sonny character before, didn't you? What if he's still in the red, and he's just using you to get out of paying what he owes."

Quickly, I shake my head, "No, he's not like that."

"How do you know? The only time you've been around him was when he was getting you blasted out of your mind. So now he helps you get clean and all of a sudden now he's Superman?"

I gasp at her words, they may not know him the way I know him, but I don't know what would give them any reason to think he was just another scumbag. "Yes, he is my superman." I close my eyes, not wanting to relive what I'm about to tell them, but I need them to know what kind of person Rye truly is. Want them to see even a small part of what I know. "I never told any of you guys, but right before I decided to get clean, I was attacked. I was at the bar like usual, Rye told me I had enough, but I wasn't listening to him. I was so inebriated, I wasn't paying attention. I couldn't protect myself. I was going to leave with another man, but even before I got outside, I knew I was too drunk. I tried to get away from him, but he didn't seem to understand the word no..."

"Tati!" Free rushes forward. Her face and eyes already showing signs of anger and fear for me.

"I was so messed up. He dragged me to the back of a dumpster. I couldn't fight him off." My voice cracks and Sugar comes to kneel in front of me. She put her hand on my knee and squeeze gently, not interrupting me but just letting me know that she's here for support. "I gave up, just laid there while he tried to rape me."

"The fuck." Press growls but I don't look up at him.

"It would've happened had Rye not come out. He ripped the guy off me and fought him. The attacker had a knife but Rye didn't even think about his own safety, he was only there to protect me. When it was over and the man had run away he brought me back to his house, let me sleep and in the morning I surprised him with a knife to his chest. Still, he tried to make sure I was okay. Rye is one of the good ones. I don't care what the circumstances look like, I can feel it in my bones. He's not working with Sonny." I finish my story and look up at Vexx.

She knows how serious this is.

I have to make her see.

"I hear you. Fine. If we're going to get involved in this then we have to make sure we have all the information. That means we're going to have to get the other business owners to tell us what they know." Vexx gets right to business and everyone turns in her direction.

We've got a new mission.

Save Rye.