Page 39 of Fractured Souls

I cut off whatever Lincoln is saying, “Brielle?”

She nods, stepping towards me. “Yes, honey?”

I’m unable to get my brain to let out any words. There's no way… It's not the same person. I need to not get my hopes up. I don't know what to do. I feel like my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth. So I just blurt out, “Princess Brielle?”

Her face scrunches up. “I'm sorry, what?”

“Shit, oh fuck, shit. Sorry, I didn't mean to say that. Or cuss. Shit, this isn't going well.” I take a deep breath, then blurt out, “You’re Brielle? I don't think you're the actual person…There is no way my luck would turn around like that, but do you remember a Lilian Thomas? She’s my mother and growing up she used to tell me stories of Princess Brielle, and I’ve been looking for her for a week now and haven’t found her and she’s literally my only hope for anything to get better in this shit storm of a life I’ve had so far.

“And I know it's stupid to hope or think some princess from childhood stories is real, but I had to try something to make my life better and now I’m spilling my guts to some random lady in a parking lot when not even two minutes ago I thought Lincoln was coming out here to fucking punish me for lying and taking off, but I forgot, or no scratch that, I didn't forget, I just really didn't know that not everyone is like that shitstain back home. Holy shit I’m losing it… And I just said all of that out loud. Fuck.”

I’m about to try and figure out if I can outrun them or not when I hear a chuckle and look over to see Lincoln covering his mouth. Before I can question it, Brielle walks up to me and gently holds my shoulders. I flinch, and she immediately drops her hands.

“Honey, I know your momma. It's okay. Just breathe. I got you now.”

Oh…This is happening. I can't believe this is real. I feel this huge weight come off my chest at the same time a huge wave of grief, pain, and sorrow comes over me and I feel like I haven't slept in years. I sag forward into her arms as the floodgates open and I cry. I cry for years of pain, for watching my mom die, for having no one to guide me through losing my best friend when I was only thirteen, for being alone at sixteen in a new state and trying to survive, for every single thing that has happened in the last three years.

I can't hold it all in anymore. I can't keep pretending that I'm strong and having fake courage. I shouldn't be taking comfort in a stranger who could possibly hurt me or be just as bad, if not worse than Tammy. But yet I can't bring myself to believe she is anything but the princess my mom said she was.

So instead of pulling it together, I wrap my arms around her and sob so hard I can hardly breathe. My chest is tight, and I feel everything going dark.

Before I let that darkness consume me, I whisper, “Please be real. Please be my princess. Mom said I didn't need anyone to save me, but I do. I really do.”

ChapterFifteen

Blade (Noah)

It's been a week since Harley took off. It doesn't look like she's been back at all, and from what the prospects we've had watching the Wilson's house have said, the Wilsons are searching for her.

The boys are angry. They wanted to protect her and help her. Normally those three don't give a shit about anyone but each other, me, and the club. So they must feel some kind of connection with her. I mean, I only saw a glimpse of her on the bus, and she's gorgeous, even covered in bruises. My fists clench thinking about how she looked that day.

I wish I wouldn't have been so distracted, otherwise I could've gotten to her. Who knows what's happening to her now? She could be dead for all we know. But we have Nerds searching for her, and we're keeping an eye on the Wilsons.

I'm at the bar waiting for it to hurry up and be 7 p.m. so we can have church. We filled everyone in last week on the situation, and they all agreed that we will extend our help to Harley if we find her. I haven't really been around to help with finding her. It's been a full week of working. The club owns all sorts of businesses, and we are still making them all legit after Rage’s dad died and he took over.

I work mostly at our nightclub. I help keep watch over the dancers, and I am the main floor manager. I fill in for any job when needed, as well. When I'm not working there, I am the enforcer, so this week has been beat downs. Yep, I had to go hunt down some people who were trying to deal drugs at one of the diners we own. We no longer allow drugs to be sold on any club properties. It's been five years and you'd think they'd learn, but they don't. So I get called in to find them and teach them a lesson.

I like to switch it up a lot, so this week was some knife play… Let's just say they each have new bestie matching tattoos, honors of my trusty favorite knife.Oh, and some broken ribs, but that wasn't the fun part.

It's finally almost seven, so I head downstairs to the basement. When you get to the basement, you turn right into a wide hall. On the right are glass double doors that lead into a fairly large gym. Then as you keep going, on the left are three doors. The first a storage closet, then a full bathroom, and the third door is a locked safe room. At the end of the hall is another set of double doors. These are solid instead of glass.

A prospect stands outside the door to collect cell phones, as church is a no phone zone. We do it so there is no chance of someone recording or betraying us because everything the club does from money to businesses to illegal activities gets discussed inside this room. I hand my phone over to the prospect and head inside. The only electronic allowed in is Nerds’s computer if he needs it.

Speaking of, almost everyone is in here except Nerds, which is unusual. He's always early. Rage comes in and looks around, seeing everyone here besides Nerds. He grunts and walks back out to the hall.

In church currently we have the ranking officers, Sugar, the Vice President, Axe, Road Capitan, Stone, Sergeant At Arms, me, the Enforcer and missing right now is Rage who is our President and Nerds, the Treasurer/Tech Guru. Then we have ten patched members as well. We also have three prospects right now, but they can't join church until they are patched in. They usually prospect for about a year depending on circumstances and either get patched in, which has to be a unanimous vote between members, or they get kicked out.

The room is a simple large rectangular room with not much to it. There is a long table in the center with enough seats for all of us. The club name is on the wall above the head of the table where Rage sits with Sugar to his right and Stone to his left. My spot is right next to Sugar. Axe sits next to Stone and Nerds sits at the other head of the table with a large TV screen behind him in case we need to look at anything. The rest of the table is full of the rest of our patched brothers.

All the ranking officers live here at the club. We have the second floor. I have extra rooms for Cade, Gray, and Ry since they are under my care. Prospects also live on the property since they are basically our bitches while prospecting. They have a small house out behind the club that they live in together. Some other members live in empty rooms or live close by somewhere.

Club sluts have shared rooms they can use if they choose to stay here full-time. They are here for the guys to use whenever and have to clean and help with upkeep if they want to live here and eat here. It's completely by choice.

No one has been forced here, not since Rage's dad died. He ran things differently. Let's just say that I wasn't going to prospect at eighteen if he hadn't died when he did.

Rage finally comes back in with an exhausted-looking Nerds in tow. Of course, he has his laptop in hand. He plops down in his spot, and Rage calls the meeting to begin.

We discuss the businesses and how they are doing financially. Everything has been on the up and up lately, so there have been no worries there. Rage asks if I got the drug dealers dealt with, and I smirk. "Of course, boss man. Who do you think I am? Stone? I get my shit done."

---