Page 70 of Fractured Souls
I wordlessly nod. Stone doesn’t do a lot of talking to begin with, so I know I will take what he says to heart.
I decide to head upstairs to my room and shower and nap. A few hours later, I am feeling much better. It's getting late now, probably around eleven, so I head downstairs figuring nighttime will be my best time to get more work done peacefully.
When I reach the kitchen, I move to grab a new bowl of nerds. The prospects keep my stash stocked up for me. When I get in there, though, Daniel, one of our prospects, is standing in the kitchen eating nerds. I slam the door into the wall and glare at him. He smirks before masking it and dropping his hand to his side.
“Prospect, care to tell me what the fuck you think you are doing?”
He shakes his head. I look around and see Rage has now come into the room but is staying back, and another prospect, Connor, is standing with Daniel. He takes a step away from him. Smart boy.
“Prospect, has it ever been made okay to touch the nerds in here? Or fucking anywhere?”
The stupid kid tries to play dumb. I don’t want to deal with this. I don't care if I have an unhealthy addiction. You don’t touch my nerds and every fucking person knows that. Only Rage and Sugar know why. I grew up with addicts and because of that I also became one at too young of an age. It's how I came to meet Rage and join the club to begin with. They helped me get clean and along the way, nerds candy became a coping mechanism for me.
I mean, they taste fucking delicious. But they really help me stay clean every day. I don’t go telling everyone this; it's none of their business. They all just think I have some weird addiction to the candy, which I guess I do, but you don't touch them. Ever. If you want some, go buy your own. You stay out of my stash.
Which Daniel damn well knows. So I decide it's time for a lesson to be taught to everyone here and it just so happens Daniel gets to help teach it.
I pull my gun out of the waistband of my jeans, and of course when I do a club slut walks in and freezes. Staring at everyone with wide eyes.
I glance over at Rage, and he has a smirk on his face leaning against the wall. He sees me looking and shrugs, telling me I can do whatever I want. He knows. He gets that nerds are my thing; they help me stay in control. I don't care if it's stupid. When recovering from an addiction like hard drugs, latching on to something like a candy is a good thing and most definitely allowed.
“Well, prospect, it’s your lucky day.” His grin turns smug. “You get to be the stupid one who everyone else can use as an example as to why you should never ever touch a man’s nerds.” Rage snorts and tries to cover his laugh.
I aim my gun at the prospect, and his smug look drops real fucking quick, but before he can react to anything, I shoot him in the thigh. He screams and drops to the ground, cursing at me like I did something wrong.
What the fuck did I do? You ate my nerds, bitch.
The club slut screams and flees from the room.Well, damn, don't think she'll be wanting to suck me off anytime soon.
Rage sighs, “Prospect!”
Connor jumps at the Rage’s tone. Turning his head quickly. His panicked eyes connecting with Rage’s.
“Get him cleaned up and make sure everyone knows why he was shot. Got it?”
Connor nods and gets to it. I sigh, feeling a little better, and go grab some nerds and head back to the tech room. Honestly? As much as that pissed me off, it honestly made me feel way better than sparring did.
I only grazed his thigh; it didn’t even go through, so he’ll live. I know I probably shouldn't have reacted like that, but I am finding it hard to really give a shit right now.
Rage follows me, with Sugar behind him. “Kids, huh? They never fuckin’ learn,” Sugar says with a small chuckle.
Rage laughs, “Prospects are like kids, huh? They surely act like it sometimes. They have no idea what kind of punishment they could’ve gotten from my dad if he had still been around. Didn’t matter how small the rule, don't break it. Or you’d regret it.”
They both laugh, but it sounds more like an evil cackle.
I stop dead in my tracks when what they said registers in my mind. Kids. A kid. Harley. Fuck!
“Uh, Nerds? You good, brother?” Rage asks.
I nod and get my feet moving, going into my tech room and slamming the door on Rage and Sugar. I hear them laugh and say, “Fucking Nerds.”
I return to my searching and look for any birth certificates with Brielle's name on them but get none. So then I look for any with Lilian on them. Fucking hell!
Harley Brielle St. James. Mother is Lilian Fay Thomas and father is Gabriel Bennett St. James. It looks like Lilian was murdered three and half years ago. It was due to a house fire. There is no record of Harley after that. Like she just vanished. Although there isn't much on her before. The only thing set is I found a boys and girls kids club she went to. Looks like she went there when Lilian was working and they lived in Auburn, Massachusetts.
Shit! This is huge. This could be the same Harley. No, it has to be. Lilian died, and Tammy got custody of Harley. But the question is, why would Tammy try to erase Harley's past? And change her last name to Wilson? That makes no sense.
I jump up and run to the door. “Rage! Tech room right fucking now!” I yell.
