Bella Jewel: Angels In Leather

“Why did you save me?” I croak.

He wraps his big arms around me, holding onto me tightly.

“Why did you jump?”

“I can’t answer that,” I whisper, feeling his body beginning to warm my skin.

“Then neither can I,” he murmurs into my hair.

“I...”

“Don’t,” he says, pressing me further into him. “I know how it feels to be surrounded in darkness, Cricket. But don’t you ever...ever let it consume you.”

“I have nothing,” Trembling, I whisper a hollow, “There’s just nothing left.”

He reaches down, lifting my chin, and forcing me to meet his eyes. “There’s always something left. You just have to fight to see it.”

He’s right. I know he’s right. I stare at him, and I know he’s given me a second chance, even when I thought I didn’t want it. It wasn’t until the last moment that I realized I didn’t want to die. I couldn’t die. I had to fight. The way I was taught to. This isn’t me, and I’m ashamed that I let myself sink so low. What is it they say? You have to hit rock bottom before you can get back up again? I’m at rock bottom, and Axel has picked me back up again. I say the only thing I can.

“Thank you.”

He pulls me closer, rubbing his hands over my back.

“You’re welcome.”

AXEL

I can’t fuckin’ breathe. All I can do is close my eyes and hold my breath, hoping it ends soon. It’s always too long, always too much. I can’t fuckin’ deal with it. I can’t tolerate the little whimpering sounds coming out of her mouth. She’s gasping and squirming, but her hands are tied behind her back.

I can’t function, I want to be sick, but they won’t let her stop until I am done. I hate them for that.

“Please,” the girl gasps, turning her eyes towards the dark-hooded man in the corner.

“Keep fuckin’ sucking. Don’t you fucking stop until he comes.”

I shake my head from side to side as her mouth touches my flaccid cock again. Bile rises in my throat, and it takes everything inside me not to break. They want me to break. That’s their goal, that’s their punishment, and it’s all his fault: Mitchell Haynes. He set me up. The one man I trusted, and he fucked me over. He sent me on a suicide trip, and now I’m here, getting abused by a club that wants their revenge.

The girl gags, and I want to reach up and rip my own eyes out; anything to take this pain in my chest away. Her lips work harder and faster, trying to get my cock to play the game. It’s the only way she can stop - if I come. It’s sick, and fucking twisted, and it’s burning into my mind, taking a part of me that I know I can’t get back.

The girl reaches up, and her finger slides into my ass. I can’t stop her. I’m chained up, and there’s nothing I can do to stop the assault.

I want to throw up. I hate it, because my cock hardens.

They know how to get a man over the edge, even when the man is disgusted.

She sucks harder, and the bastard in the corner watches, probably with his own erection. I’ll get my hands on him one day, and I’ll fucking kill him. I’ll gut him and string him out to dry.

I won’t show him it feels good. He gets off knowing he’s forcing me to come against my will. It’s satisfying to him. I meet his eyes, and I don’t move them as my cock jerks, and I come into the girl’s mouth.

A small smirk appears on his lips.

It’s victory for him once again.

Blood trickles down my fingers as I lift my shaky hand to my face, staring at it. So much blood. So red. So sticky. I lower my eyes to where my father slumps against the seat, panting, gasping for air, reaching for me with a desperation that I don’t quite understand. How did we get here? We were just heading to the bank, or so he said. Then, out of nowhere, they appeared: Axel and his gang.

Axel, who was once my father’s friend.

Axel, who once had saved my life.

He shot my father in cold blood, nothing but emptiness in his eyes. Like he never mattered to him. Now we’re in an alley he pulled over into, just barely. His skin is going a funny shade of gray, and his breath sounds wheezy. My heart is beating so heavily I can hear it in my own head. My entire body is tingling with fear, a fear that I can’t shake, because I don’t understand it. I know what my father is. I know he’s a bad man, but I didn’t know he was in this kind of trouble.

I reach down, taking my father’s hand and lifting it into my lap. “Dad?” I rasp. “Dad, what’s happening?”

“Baby,” he chokes. “R-r-run, you need to run.”

I shake my head. I’m confused. Why do I need to run from Axel? He used to swing me around when I was a little girl. He stopped me from ending my own life—why would I have to escape him? Where are my dad’s guys? Why aren’t they here? Why aren’t they backing him up? If they knew he was in trouble, they would be here. Wouldn’t they?

“Meadow.” He almost snarls, shoving something tiny into my hand. “Take this, run...deliver it to the police department in Los Angeles to a man named Raide. Don’t give it to anyone else. Promise me, please. Don’t let Axel get hold of you. H-h-h-he’s not who you remember. H-h-h-he’s fucked up now. Promise me,” he begs, ending in a coughing fit that has blood splattering across my shirt.

“Dad, I can’t leave you,” I whisper frantically, ripping my shirt off and pressing it to the blood leaking from his body.

His eyes dart around and he shakes his head, coughing more blood from his mouth. No. No.

“Dad, please, let’s get you to a hospital and...”

“No!” he breathes, and his eyes begin to grow heavy. “Promise me, Meadow. Promise me you’ll take the case, and you’ll get it to Raide? Change your name. Leave the club. Leave this place. They’re dangerous; they’ll kill you. Promise me you’ll do this for me. It’s all I’ve worked for...Promise...Meadow...”

Who will kill me? I don’t understand.

“Please,” I whimper, feeling warm tears touch my cheeks as they slide from my eyes. “Don’t make me go. Don’t make me leave you here.”

He begins to gasp for air. “I’m g-g-g-going to die, baby. P-p-p-promise me...you’ll do this...”

I look into my father’s eyes, and I realize I’m about to lose the only family I’ve ever had. Without him, I have no part in the club he associates with. He’s been all I’ve had since my momma killed herself four years after I was born. He’s been my friend, my dad, my hero, and everything I’ve fought for...and now he’s going to die. My vision blurs as I take his hand, pressing it to my heart. You can’t stop death, but you can make it easier. I give him the one thing he needs from me, and I swear in that moment I’ll make sure I do it for him.

“I promise, Daddy.” I disguise my trembling with the firmest voice I can muster. “I swear I won’t let you down.”

I lower my glasses and rush across the road, head down, hoodie covering my hair. A small woman standing outside the door watches at me as I dart around behind the gas station, backpack tightly wrapped around my shoulders, clipped at the front. My sneakers are worn, and they squeak on the pavement as I scurry into the ladies toilets. I rush into the small, crappy room, kicking in the doors, and when I realize it’s empty I lower my hood.

My long blonde hair tumbles out as I remove the cap from my head that was sitting firmly under my hoodie. It’s my usual look these days: jeans, sneakers, singlet top, hoodie, and a cap. It’s the easiest way to disguise who I am when I’m forced to get out in public. I lower my face, and turn on the tap, filling my hands with water and splashing it on my skin. I close my eyes, letting the cool calm my nervous, frightened body.