Page 53 of Rhett Redeemed
“I’m so sorry, I have to go to Toxic,” I say to Con, looking up from my phone. “But hold that thought. I’ll be back afterward.”
I leave without her saying a word, jump on my bike and head to Toxic. When I get there, I find one of the dancers, Storm, sitting in the corner with an ice pack on her face.
“What happened?” I ask her, scowling. “Who did this?”
One of the security guards, Everett, steps forward. “She went to his car with him, and he attacked her.”
I bring my eyes back to her. She starts to cry. “I’m sorry, he said he’d give me five thousand dollars if I... I know I shouldn’t have. And I didn’t do anything in the end. He just attacked me. I don’t know why.”
“It’s okay,” I tell her, gritting my teeth. “It’s not your fault, Storm. You should never be treated this way—it’s all on him. But we have these rules for a reason, and it’s to keep you safe. If you leave the building, it makes it harder to do so. Do we have him on camera?”
Everett nods. “We have him coming in, and them two leaving.”
He shows it to me on his phone. And it’s a man I’ve personally never seen before, blond, tall and in his late twenties. “He’s never to step in here again.”
“Already on it.”
“I’ll find out who he is and teach him a lesson in how to treat women,” I say, bending down and checking Storm’s cheek. It looks like he punched her a few times in the face, the poor thing. “Do you want to go to the hospital?”
She shakes her head. “No, it will be okay. There’s nothing they can do. I took some pain meds.”
“Okay, go take a few days off. We’ll give you some money so you don’t have to worry,” I assure her. “Stay out of trouble.”
“I will. Thank you, Rhett.”
I tell Everett to get her home safely, and then wonder why the fuck a man would tell her to come to his car and then attack her. It makes no sense.
I call Arrow and tell him it’s sorted, and send him a picture of the man in question, and he replies to my text.
Arrow: Sending some men your way. Find him.
Let the hunt begin.
It’s dark out when we find John, after one of the regulars tells us where he lives. No one protected him, which shows much about his character, not that we didn’t already know that. My knuckles are covered in blood when we are finished, and I hope he learned his lesson to never lay hands on a woman again.
“A man paid me to do it,” he’d said, which makes zero sense.
We all head back to the clubhouse, because it’s too late for me to go to Con’s now. She’s going to be pissed. I send her a text, but I know what I did was messed up.
She’s probably happy right now that we can never be together, because this is what life would be like as my woman. It’s only going to get worse when I step in officially as president.
The thought that she might completely walk away from me hurts.
More than I thought it would.
I can see Con as my old lady, by my side, being my rock. That’s where I picture us ending up, but if this is too much for her, I guess it’s best to know now.
But I just fucking hope she sticks around for me.
Chapter Twenty-One
Con
When there’s a knock at the door on Saturday morning, I sigh. I think this is the second or third time I’ve attempted to have this conversation with Rhett. Every time I get a chance to, something happens. I think this time I’m just going to blurt it out.
No warning.
No lube.