Safe House Page 2

  “Whatcha doing Steel? You want some company tonight?” I smiled at the busty blonde walking in my direction talking to me. She didn't leave much to the imagination in her skin tight mini skirt and tube top. What was her name? I woke up this morning next to her but couldn't remember her name for shit. Was it Kelly? No that wasn't it, maybe it was Carrie. Realizing I haven't responded I spoke up, “Can always use company from a trick with a rack like yours baby.”

  She smiled big as if I was holding a dozen roses just for her. Call me shallow or cold but this was my life, the only life I've ever known. My position had good parts and bad. One of the good parts being sluts falling at your feet always looking for a way to become your old lady.

  I had already vowed though that the last thing I needed was a woman trying to boss me around and hold a claim to my dick. Not this guy, nope. I would just get mine and keep riding. Maybe I sound cold but I never claimed to be a good guy. I'm definitely not the guy you want your daughter near or she may end up on her knees like this bitch would be before the night was over.

  Maybe I would have been more sympathetic and respectful to women if my mom hadn't overdosed in the kitchen when I was five. Yeah maybe things would have been different had I grown up in the suburbs of a nice neighborhood with a white picket fence where my parents always got along and never argued. That was far from the case though.

  My dad had been a biker since he was old enough to drive and after meeting my mom and knocking her up they attempted marriage and all that jazz. I walked in on her lifeless body laying there and even at the young age of five I was still disgusted that she didn't fight for her own life or for mine, That day changed me and ruined any hope of a civilized future.

  Needless to say things went badly after that and my dad was never the same after she died. The brothers that surrounded me in the club became the only family I had except my Aunt Nan and my grandmother back in Monroe. Nan tried to steer me in the right direction but she was dealing with a bad seed and we both knew it.

  My dad was involved in the same club I'm a part of now but he was in another chapter. Once I knew this was the life I wanted and the only life I would ever know I petitioned to open my own chapter and ten years later we are still thriving and growing. Yeah its not a fairy tale that you read your kids at night but it worked for me and no woman was going to come in and ruin what I had, as shallow as it may seem. I let Kelly or Carrie, whatever her name was, take my hand and lead me to the bedroom upstairs.

  Brandy

  I tossed and turned in bed for hours as the memory of that night haunted my mind. My therapist back home told me it was good to remember what happen, that I needed to get it all out so I wasn't in denial about what happen.

  Apparently I was trying to bury it as if I could make it seem unreal according to the overpriced doctor I had been assigned. I never was able to tell her everything that happen even though I remembered ever detail vividly before being knocked unconscious.

  6 months prior

  I could smell the amazing lasagna cooking in the oven and couldn't wait to taste it. Mom's lasagna was to die for and our weekly dinner night was one I always looked forward to because not only was the food amazing but it was always nice to catch up with my parents and siblings. I had my own place and was almost done with my degree in IT. Things in life were finally falling into place and I couldn't wait to get my degree so I could quit bar tending and waitressing and start my career.

  Tony, my little brother looked like he was high as always making me want to punch him in the face. He couldn't hold down a job and seemed to always hang around nothing but trash. I had such high hopes for him growing up but he had other plans that didn't involve much of anything except drugs and nasty women. My parents had kicked him out more times than I could count but there was a soft spot in my mom's heart for him that always won her over.

  I was shocked he was even at family night tonight as he seemed to always have better things to do, not to mention he was obviously high out of his mind. Sadly this wasn't new to see him this way although it was worse lately than it had ever been before.

  Watching someone you love drive into a brick wall not being able to stop them is devastating. I knew the path he was on was going to kill him but not matter how many times I tried to save him from himself he always ended back in these same shoes. I wanted to hate him for it but I knew that was the addiction inside of him and not my annoying little brother. Oh how I missed that kid.

  Tonight he looked like he was paranoid and tweaking from taking too much of whatever it was he was dabbling in now days. Word around town was that he was involved with a really bad crowd. His judgment on people and decision making was always bad even when he was a younger. He had moved up from the pot heads and was now messing with meth heads and who knows who else. I hadn't realized how bad things had gotten but looking at him now I knew he was at the end of his rope.

  He kept looking through the blinds like he was waiting for someone to pull up. “Tony, what is wrong with you? You really need to stop using that shit you look terrible.” I couldn't hide my the disgust in my voice. He didn't seem to even hear me or if he did he didn't acknowledge it. He was destroying himself and didn't even care.

  My other brother Joey and my dad were already sitting at the kitchen table talking about how things were going at their jobs and such. I was proud of Joey because he had just moved up at a law firm he had only been working at a year. Not only was he the oldest of us kids, he was always the brains of the family

  I looked back to Tony only to find him running down the hall to his room muttering something I couldn't understand. Within a matter of seconds someone was knocking on the door. I went to walk to the door and Tony yelled down the hall not to answer it with panic in his eyes.

  “Tony, what is going on?” I replied to him quietly. I only thought he was freaking out before, now he was past freaking out. Whispering he said, “Just be very quiet, and they may go away.” I looked over my shoulder to my mom, dad, and Joey and my dad responded to him. “Tony who is here? Why shouldn't we answer the door?”

  Tony was crying now and panting for air. My heart was beating fast and I didn't know why but I felt some kind of panic or doom that was hovering over me like a black cloud. My brother Joey all but yelled, “Tony what in the hell did you do? Who do you owe money to now? Damn Tony!”

  Before anyone could say something else I hear a man on the other side of the door yell, “Oh Tony! We know you are in there! I told you if you mess with me I would find your family and they would pay the price, and now I am here to uphold my part of that deal. Answer this Tony, is that smoking hot sister of yours in there too? Yeah, I think I will start with her as part of your payment.”

  A disgusting roar of laughter followed and I felt tears threatening to fall from my eyes. I swallowed hard and before any of us had a chance to speak the front door slung open and four men came storming in with guns in hand. I heard my mom scream.

  The next hour was the worst hour of my entire life. We were each bound by our hands in the kitchen floor except Tony. They made him sit on the couch and watch us with a gun to his head. I heard the leader of the group, the one that did all the talking say, “Tony, Tony, Tony, it all could have been different. All you had to do was sell what I gave you and keep your mouth shut. But no, you decided to steal from me instead and then talk behind my back sharing classified information that wasn't yours to share! I warned you of the consequences if you betrayed me.”

  The coward that Tony was he didn't even respond, just cried. I spoke up afraid if someone didn't say something we were all going to die. “Please, whatever Tony owes you we will figure out a way to pay you back and make all this ok. Please just don't hurt us!”

  The most evil laugh I have ever heard erupted from the head guy's mouth. His face was covered but those eyes were eyes I would never forget. They were cold and absent of anything good. They were so dark and I knew that there was no soul behind them. His eyes were fixed on me and
the look in them told me everything I needed to know. We were all going to die.

  “Oh sweet, sweet Brandy, do you really think money is what I want at this point? No darling, at this point I have to make an example out of your precious Tony. But don't you worry your little pretty head because you will get to pay back some of what he owes. I have big plans for you Brandy. Big Big plans.”

  I felt like I was going to throw up and with tears streaming down my face I heard my dad speak up on my behalf, “You wont touch her!” It happen so fast, I watched each member of my family die starting with my dad for speaking up for me, then my mom, and last my brother Joey. Worst day of my life.

  I was in panic mode crying hysterically. All I could do was stare in shock at my dead family lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of dark red blood. This was a sick nightmare I had to wake up from. This couldn't be real. I couldn't feel anything but yet I felt everything, it was as if I was numb from head to toe on the outside but inside I was exploding at the seams with raw emotion I had never felt before. Shock took over ever part of my body as the next moments passed by.

  Tony was made to watch as the leader of the operation savagely ripped my clothes. My attacker took his phone out and made Tony hold it. His deep voice commanded Tony, “You are going to record me raping your sister and if you look away or drop the phone I promise you I will make her pay for it.

  Tony never stopped crying but said over and over, “I'm so sorry Brandy, I'm so sorry.” I screamed and begged for it all to stop. While my vial attacker was violating me his hand had wrapped around my neck threatening to cut off my oxygen while his other hand held my tied hands above my head.

  It only lasted for a few minutes but it felt as though it was hours. My attacker wasn't gentle and he promised that I would wish I was dead after he was done. He was right. The whole time I was being tortured Tony cried and held the phone toward us while it recorded me being broken into nothing.

  I felt as though my screams made my attacker enjoy it even more so eventually I stopped screaming and just prayed that he would finish. I wanted to die. I wanted it to be over. I knew I was already dead inside. “My little bird, you wont ever be able to fly away from me. If you do just remember that I will find you.” He said it low enough that only I could hear him. Was he going to kill me now? It registered that from what he had said I wasn't going to die today, even if I wished I could.

  “Tony, I hope you learned your lesson and that I will never have to remind you again who the hell you are messing with. Next time I will not only take her but I will kill her and you will be next.” I heard his voice but it seemed so far away. The voice that would haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life. That's all I remembered before being punched repeatedly before I blacked out.

  I woke up in the hospital two days later with confirmation that I had been raped and beaten almost to death. As if I didn't remember or feel it. I felt like I had been run over by a semi and my bottom was so sore that the thought of having to use the bathroom made me wince in pain.

  No matter how hard I closed my eyes I couldn't get the image of him forcing himself on me out of my mind. He had stolen something from me that wasn't his to take. All I could see when I closed my eyes was my family being murdered. I was living some sick horror film and I couldn't wake up from it. It followed me everywhere I went. I couldn't go back into my childhood home because just the thought of being there caused me to have a panic attack and remember the viciousness of what had happen.

  When the police asked me talk about what happen I wasn't much help because I didn't get a look at the men since they were wearing black clothing from head to toe and ski masks. My brother Tony had disappeared. No one knew where he was and for all we knew he could have been with them or even dead. Some sick part of me wanted him to be dead. He was my brother, and he was supposed to protect me from awful men like that but instead he had watched as they humiliated and broke me.

  Something inside me knew that he wasn't dead though because I couldn't get out of my mind the words that my attacker spoke to him, “Tony, I hope you learned your lesson and that I will never have to remind you again who the hell you are messing with. Next time I will not only rape her but also kill her and you will be next.” A sick feeling crept over me that not only had he planned to keep Tony alive, they may come after me again. I was sure he would come after me again.

  Present Day

  I woke up slapping my alarm clock next to the bed right off the nightstand. I didn't get to sleep until after three am and it was ten am now. My sleep pattern had gotten way off and even though I should be thankful that I can sleep at all, I still never felt rested. I decided I should look for a second job working in the evenings since Nancy wanted to have me start working day shifts. I really could use the distraction.

  I bar tended my whole way through college up until the attack and thought maybe it would do me good to get back into bar tending again. I had always enjoyed the atmosphere and reveled in the amount of money I brought in when counting my tips. Yes I think that was the first step into feeling more like the old Brandy.

  It was almost three in the afternoon when I walked into the diner to find Nancy when one of the other girls working called from behind the counter, “Brandy you must have no life at all to be here on your day off!” I smiled at Rita. She was such a fun person with her fire red hair and bright green eye shadow. Her personality was just as fun and energetic.

  “Rita, I just cant help it, I knew you were working today and just had to come see your fine self!” I laughed as she winked my way. I started to the back office to look for Nancy to find out where she suggested me try to job search and I almost run right into Mr. Jesse Steel Casanova himself.

  He was sweaty and had a spool of wire around his shoulder like he was installing cable. He looked even better in the daytime covered in sweat. What was wrong with me?? “Um hi, we have to stop making it a habit of running over each other.” I said stupidly. My brains were mush around this guy. What was he doing here?

  Smiling at me he responded, “Yeah well I tend to have that effect on women. They cant seem to concentrate on anything when they see me.” Um cocky much? Someone is proud of themselves I see. “Yeah, well I'm looking for Nancy, have you seen her?” He looked mildly disappointed but answered, “Well shucks here I thought you maybe were looking for me. Did I hear its your day off? Why are you here anyway?” Stalk much?

  “Not that it is your business or anything, but she is going to help me find a bar tending position for the evenings. I use to bar tend when I was in school and could now use the extra cash.” Without missing a beat he rambled some address off and winked at me.

  “Excuse me?” I asked him confused. “Can you start tonight? I will get you a trial run at the bar and see how you do. If you pass the test Ill get you on the schedule.” Who does this guy think he is? I wasn't trying to play his games or work at his house bar tending for him and his little biker friends.

  “Listen, Jesse is it? Jesse, I don't need complications in my life right now, I just want to work and mind my own business. So unless you have a legit job that doesn't involve trying to get into my panties then just tell me where Nancy is.” Ok, that sounded tough, almost mean. But yeah I feel like a woman hear me roar. One of his eyebrows is raised and there's that sexy smirk on his face again. “Calm down kitty cat, no need to get your panties in a wad darling. Here.” He pulls out a business card from his back pocket and hands it to me.

  “Be there this evening at eight. Ask for Remy. I will let him know you are coming by for a trial run. Oh, and impress him because if Remy doesn't like you then you wont get a second shot.” Well ok then. I guess I was just being a bit stuck up. So he was legit trying to help me. Hmm.

  I looked down at the card to see CLUB OUTLAW with one of those chrome silhouette truck flapper women bent over and an address and phone number under her stripper heels. How classy this place must be. Who was I to judge though. I figured it couldn't hurt to give it a try. It h
ad to beat sitting alone in my studio apartment watching reruns of cops and the golden girls.

  “Thanks, I will give it a shot. I'm Brandy by the way. Sorry for biting your head off its just, I am new to town and not looking to get mixed up with anyone. And I just started renting from your aunt and working for her so the last thing I need is to upset her by getting involved with her nephew.” His smile grew wider and then he looked me up and down before continuing past me all while saying, “Nice to meet you Brandy, I will leave you an outfit with Remy at the bar. I suuurrrre hope you pass that test.” Well that's not awkward at all. Did he just challenge me?

  I found Nancy and told her about the card Jesse gave me and she didn't seem super thrilled about the idea but told me to try it for myself before marking it off the list. She also told me Jesse was a good guy but not to get involved with him because trouble always seemed to be nipping at his feet. She didn't need to worry, I had no intention whatsoever in being involved with that smooth talking skirt chaser.

  My clock read 07:30pm when I pulled into the parking lot at Club Outlaw. It took about thirty five minute drive from my house to get here and the closer I got the more excited I became. I loved working the bar scene, it was something I was good at and it was where I could block the outside world out. This would be a good thing for me and I knew it.

  Club Outlaw was much bigger than I painted it in my head. It was a saloon style building with wood siding and a neon sign with another flapper girl. Now that I was thinking about it I should have done some research on this place before setting myself up to work in some dingy strip bar. Please Lord don't let this be that kind of place. Thankfully the parking lot seemed to be pretty crowded already with guys and girls and I could smell food cooking in the air. Why the fact that they served food seemed to ease my nerves I'm not sure why, but it did.