Grit (King's Harlots #1)

  “We’ll get this done and over with fast, Jay.” He kissed me again. “I promise you.” A shadow passed over his face, his eyes growing dark.

  “I love you,” I muttered, curling into myself.

  He stopped in his steps, glancing at me over his shoulder. “And I love you,” he said, standing a little taller.

  I smiled, pulling my sweater tighter around me. That was the moment I knew would come but didn’t want to deal with. My apartment was mine and mine alone. It had everything I had saved since I was a child. Collectibles, old books, pictures…things that made me…me. My girls wouldn’t understand why I needed this apartment. Why I didn’t tell them. Why I felt the need to keep it to myself when they insisted that I should stop this I-Am-An-Island bullshit. Sometimes being an island was needed. I could go in, get out, and not have to worry about anyone else. If I got hurt it was one thing but if anything happened to my sisters, it would destroy me. I couldn’t deal knowing I put them in this situation.

  “Where the hell is Jay?” Max demanded from the doorway. “And why the fuck were we not told about this place? Jay, tell us.”

  “You need to calm down,” Angel told her.

  “No. You need to get out of my way so I can find out why my best friend has been keeping secrets from me.”

  “You are not the only one she’s been keeping secrets from, Max,” Brogan reminded her.

  “Angel, get out of my way!” Max shouted. I could almost picture her standing there, tapping her foot with her hands on her hips.

  Angel blocked the way, not letting her through. When he allowed his brothers to walk past him, she huffed.

  “You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Max cried. “You let them go but you won’t budge for me? Get out of my way, asshole.”

  That was it. Embracing the rage bubbling inside of me, I shoved to my feet and stomped toward Angel, who was surrounded by King’s Harlots. My sisters. But right then, Max was just another woman who needed to get her shit together before I shoved my fist down her throat.

  “Say that again, Max,” I demanded, stepping in front of Angel.

  Her eyes widened, taken aback by my sudden appearance.

  “I-I’m…” she stammered. “I’m sorry. I just—”

  “You just what? You see this man behind me?”

  She nodded.

  “Do all of you see him?” I asked, making a point to meet all of their eyes.

  Meeka nodded, chewing her bottom lip.

  Brogan brushed a hand through her dark, curly hair and Max gave an exaggerated sigh.

  “Listen to me. I’m sick of your attitude, Max. Call my boyfriend an asshole again and I’ll ram my foot so far up your ass, you’ll be puking leather for weeks. You got me?” I patted Angel on the chest. “I can handle this.”

  He nodded once and joined his brothers in the living room.

  “Now,” I continued after he left. “I’m sorry. I should have told you about this place. I get that. And I will always feel guilty over it. But sometimes a girl needs something of her own. I intended to buy this place with my sister but bought it on my own instead. I wasn’t ready to share that with anyone else. But now you’re here because some sick fuck is messing with my head.”

  “What’s going on?” Meeka asked, her brows furrowing.

  “I’ll explain, but first I need to know that we’re okay.” I didn’t want to hurt them, but I especially didn’t want to hurt Max. She had been there for me when I needed her most.

  “We still love you, baby,” Brogan kissed my cheek. “Don’t worry your pretty self.”

  I gave a small laugh. “Thank you.”

  “I understand why you did what you did.” Meeka hugged me gently.

  “I’m glad.” I hugged her back. “Join the guys. We’ll be there in a minute.”

  They both gave me another light squeeze before leaving me alone with Max.

  “I am sorry,” I told her. “I wish I could have told you.”

  “Why didn’t you?” she sniffed, her eyes welling. “We’re best friends, Jay. You can be a bitch sometimes but I love you and accept you no matter what. We’re in this together, but lately…”

  “What?” I asked, my throat closing.

  “I feel like you’ve been shutting me out. The girls… We’ve been talking about it. You don’t come to us anymore for things. And this isn’t because of Angel. It’s been going on way before him. If you’re not okay, we get it, we just want you to tell us. That’s all.” A lonely tear rolled down her cheek, and she roughly wiped it away.

  “I’m not okay,” I whispered. “I’m not. I don’t know what’s been going on. I feel normal when I’m with Angel. It’s like he has an unbiased view of me and I can be whatever I want with him. He gets the real Jay. Genevieve. And I love to give it to him. He…”

  “You’re in love with him,” she gasped, her eyes widening.

  “Yeah.” My cheeks heated. “I am.”

  She sighed. “I’m sorry you haven’t felt like you can come to us.”

  “I miss my sister.” A sob escaped me.

  “Oh, Jay,” Max threw her arms around my neck, hugging me tight. “Thank you. Thank you for saying that.”

  “What do you mean?” I wiped the tears from under my eyes.

  “We’ve been best friends since we were kids. After Violet disappeared, you became withdrawn and you never expressed your feelings. I didn’t even see you cry, Jay.” She held me at arm’s length, her gaze searching my face.

  She was right. I cried when I was by myself. I felt the need to show that I was strong when I should have shown that I was destroyed. My sister disappearing fucked me up. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  “I love you and I forgive you.” She hugged me again. “Now let’s get this over with so you can spend the rest of the night with your man.”

  ***

  (Angel)

  Seeing Jay walk arm in arm with Max, a small smile on her face and the blush in her cheeks made my heart swell. Her long, crimson hair was messy from my earlier touch and I couldn’t be prouder. Knowing she needed me in ways I never knew I could provide but would die trying, made the Alpha inside of me roar with life.

  “You have a keeper, boss,” Dale said, clapping a hand on my shoulder.

  “I do.” And I planned on keeping her for as long as she would have me. “How are you and Max doing?”

  He shrugged. “It is what it is,” he said casually, but his eyes heated when they landed on her.

  “Right. And I’m a fucking virgin.” Asher chuckled.

  “Leave it alone, man,” Dale cracked his knuckles, his jaw clenching. “We’re through.”

  “What the actual fuck?” He could fool everyone else but he definitely wasn’t fooling me. He was in love with Max but when she sat on the other side of the living room, as far away from him as possible, it made me second-guess that.

  “We are,” he mumbled, shaking his head.

  I dropped it. I knew how he worked and I didn’t need a fist to the face. “Jay.” I reached out for her. “We need to tell them what happened.”

  She slid onto the couch beside me, curling against my side.

  “I was dreading you coming over but now that you all are here, I’m glad.” She took a breath, letting it out slowly before she continued. “I don’t know what’s going on, and I have no idea what to say so I’m just going to tell you.” Jay mentioned doing research, the chat, the sick bastard who claimed to have bought her sister. Hearing her repeat what happened all over again caused bile to rise in my throat.

  My gut churned. I was all for kink. Consensual kink. Between consenting adults. But when someone is bought, it usually meant they were sold by a desperate family. A broken father who wanted to see nothing more than his daughter get the best she deserved, thinking that in the hands of another man, it would happen. Those girls weren’t even women yet. They were young. Helpless when it came to the hands of evil. Maybe they thought it would be fun—a new adventure. But when they reali
zed they were being held against their will, the excitement diminished. It brought forth a terror even I couldn’t imagine.

  As Jay talked, I couldn’t help but think of all the girls. The death. The horror that these families wouldn’t get their baby girls back. It wasn’t my fault but I felt the weight of it on my shoulders. No matter what I did.

  “Boss.” Coby stood at my side.

  “I’m fine,” I lied, pinching the bridge of my nose.

  “Touch her,” he suggested. “I’m going for a walk.” Meaning he was going to scope out the place, making sure we were safe.

  I slid my hand up Jay’s back, leaning my head on her shoulder and took a couple deep breaths.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked, her body shifting closer to me.

  “We’ll talk later,” I mumbled, breathing in her scent.

  “Oh…” She frowned. “’Kay…so…”

  “Is there any way we can get Greyson to check the IP address and see if we can find out who this fucker is?” Asher asked, pacing back and forth in front of us.

  “I don’t care who he is,” Jay snapped. “I just want my sister back.”

  “We need to find out who he is as well,” I explained. “Just in case he has more of these girls.”

  “What did he mean that he bought her?” Brogan asked, her gaze moving to the door every so often.

  “Exactly how it sounds. These women, or girls in this case, get taken from their homes, the streets, wherever they may be and sold into slavery to become sex slaves. It happens all over the world. No matter what we do, we’ll never stop it completely but we can sure put a dent into it if we’re lucky.” I sat back, scrubbing a hand down my face and crossed my ankle over my opposite knee.

  “That…” Brogan swallowed hard. “I feel the need to murder someone.”

  We all chuckled.

  “You’re not the only one,” I told her.

  “I’ll get Greyson on finding out what he can about this guy. It might take a little bit but hopefully we can get some answers.” Max rose from her spot, pulling her phone from her purse. “Hi, Grey. Listen, we have a problem,” she said, heading into the kitchen.

  “Boss,” Stone came up beside me. “I got word on the contents of the package.”

  “Go ahead,” I squeezed Jay’s hand in reassurance.

  “I know who it belongs to,” Jay interrupted.

  “How?” I asked her, frowning.

  “My fingers.” She held her hand up between us. “Notice anything?”

  “There’s no way,” Meeka insisted, shaking her head, not keeping her gaze off Jay’s hand.

  “It makes sense though, Angel.” She grabbed my hand. “The finger belonged to Violet.”

  “AND YOU didn’t tell me this earlier because…” Angel’s voice trailed off, a deep frown furrowing on his handsome face.

  “Because I wasn’t sure but it makes sense.” I couldn’t help but stare at my hands. I didn’t want the finger to belong to Violet. But if she was missing a piece of her, I would take it if she were still alive.

  “Well, Jay,” Stone handed me a piece of paper. “You’re correct. I’m sorry to tell you but that finger does belong to your sister.”

  “Fuckin’ hell,” Angel bit out. “What else you got?”

  “Just that it was a fresh wound. Meaning the injury is recent.”

  My head whipped around. “Are you telling me that she is still alive? That all of this time, she’s been held somewhere but alive?”

  “Well,” Stone scratched his buzzed head. “I don’t know about being held somewhere and I’m no doctor, but from what I understand, yes, she’s still alive.”

  Cheering sounded around me.

  “What did I miss?” Max asked, coming back into the room.

  “Violet’s alive,” I told her but a part of me wouldn’t believe it until I could see her. Until I could touch her and see for myself that she was alive and well.

  Max squealed, crushing me into a hard hug. I returned the embrace but my stomach felt queasy. Something was wrong. Still very wrong.

  “I have Grey cracking into the IP address to see if we can get the owner.” Max sat beside me.

  “Now all we do is wait,” Asher stated. “Which fucking sucks.”

  I agreed with him. “Do you guys want a beer?” I rose to my feet and headed to the kitchen, not waiting for them to respond.

  “Jay.” Coby closed the front door and nodded toward the security panel on the wall. “You need to set your alarm.”

  “Okay.” I nodded; I’d forgotten to do that when Angel and I had arrived hours before. I set the alarm and headed back to the kitchen.

  “Need any help?” Coby asked, following me.

  “Sure.” I opened the fridge and handed him some bottles.

  “Don’t get too drunk tonight,” he said, taking the beer from me. “Alcohol and depression do not mix, especially when something happens to trigger your mood.”

  “I don’t have depression.” I frowned.

  “You don’t have to be diagnosed with it to have it, darlin’. But that is what the tattoo on your ear is for, isn’t it?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “How did you know about that?” I asked the quiet man.

  “I notice everything.” He shrugged, a huge move for him when I never saw him express any sort of emotion.

  “I like you for him,” he added, nodding toward Angel. “He’s not the man he once was but with you, he’ll be the best man he can be.” And with that he walked away.

  Coby was a different person. Angel had told me he had been in Vice-One with him since the beginning. He had led a hard life but other than that, I knew nothing about him.

  While everyone talked, I made my way up the stairs to my bedroom. I was drawn by the force of my computer. The need to know if the unknown source left me any more messages drove me toward it. I grabbed my laptop and shut myself inside the bathroom, locking the door behind me. It was stupid of me. I knew it. But finding out everything I could about my sister was more important.

  I opened the browser, the chat instantly coming up. It flashed with new messages, blinking repeatedly. My heart raced. Why I did this to myself I couldn’t be sure. I was desperate, driven mad with the need to find out anything that could bring me closer to the whereabouts of Violet.

  Unknown: Tell me about yourself. I heard you are twins. Two pets. Two for the price of one.

  Oh, dear God. The message had been sent a couple hours before.

  Unknown: Where are you? I know you’re dying to find out where your sister is.

  Unknown: Listen, if you don’t reply, I’ll send you every fucking piece of her until there’s nothing left. You got me?

  I gasped, a cold shiver of fear scratching down my spine.

  Unknown: How did you like my present?

  I read the last message over and over. The time stamp: seven hours ago.

  “Jay?” Angel called through the closed door. “What are you doing?”

  I couldn’t answer him. All I could do was read over and over how this guy was going to send me every piece of my sister. Every body part. I should have stayed chatting with him. I should have checked the inbox daily. Because of me, my sister was missing a finger. Because of me, she would be tortured until there was nothing left of her.

  “Jay, damn it!” the doorknob shook. “Open the door.”

  “It’s all my fault,” I sobbed. “She’s hurt because of me.”

  “Open this fucking door,” Angel bellowed, banging into it.

  “I can’t. God,” I rocked back and forth. “I can’t do this anymore.” My fingers moved along the keyboard of their own accord.

  Me: Please. Let me see her.

  Unknown: Ah. There you are. I guess you’re just going to have to continue talking to me.

  Me: I can’t. You know I can’t. Please. I need to see her.

  Unknown: Yes. You can. If I don’t get a reply next time I message you, I’ll send her fucking head.

 
I screamed, picked up the laptop and threw it against the wall. It shattered into pieces but I kept at it. Rage powered through me, controlling my movements until all I could see was red.

  The door slammed open, and I continued screaming.

  My throat became raw. Tears streamed down my face. Everything I had felt over the past couple of months poured out of me, through my fingertips, and into the debris of the machine laying in pieces on the floor in front of me.

  “Jay, calm down.” Angel grabbed my hands.

  I shoved out of his grip, picking up a piece of the laptop. “No. I can’t. I need to message him. I need to find out where she is. She’s going to die because of me. I can’t. It’ll hurt her. He’ll hurt her.”

  “You’re not making sense. Please, princess,” Angel pleaded, wrapping his arms around me.

  “No, let me go.” I struggled against him but his hold tightened.

  “No. Not until you calm the fuck down and tell me what’s going on.”

  Sobs took over. They were so hard I couldn’t catch my breath.

  “Geeze, baby. Breathe.” He cupped my cheeks. “Breathe, damn it.”

  “I-I…can’t…do…this…” After all of this time I broke. I fell apart in front of the man I loved. I was distraught with grief, enraged with helplessness.

  “Breathe.” He kissed my mouth. “Breathe.” He held me against him, caressing my back and continued to tell me to breathe.

  I gripped his shirt, holding onto him for dear life. Taking deep breaths, I eased my racing heart that threatened to explode if I didn’t control these cries.

  “Talk to me.” He shut the door, giving us some privacy.

  “I needed to find out more. To see if there were more messages.” I roughly wiped my face. “I know it was stupid, but I couldn’t help it.” I told him about the messages, the threats.