Wild Blaze (Back Down Devil MC 0.5)(19)

Once dressed, she sat on the edge of the bed and waited.

Brody came from the bathroom a minute later, his body massive, strong, and gorgeous. He had nothing but a towel on, his hair wet and slick, the hair on his face puffy and clean. He smelled delicious and it made Heather’s tongue hungry and eager.

He crossed his arms again and stood, leaning against the doorjamb to the bathroom.

“Talk to me,” he ordered. “Last chance. Or else I’ll send you out there with the guys. And you don’t want to know what they intend on doing to you to get the information they want.”

The message was loud and clear. Plus, if there was someone in the clubhouse that was going to hold Heather down and demand information, she wanted it to be Brody and nobody else.

“Lyle is running deals anywhere he can,” Heather said. “I don’t know much of the details. I just meet certain clients and customers. That’s my part. To help move product along while he’s working on new deals.” Heather looked at Brody. “You have to understand, this isn’t what I wanted. I didn’t sign up for it. I met Lyle in college. I was young and drunk, looking for fun. He was this young and fast guy in a suit. He had money and a car. And he had eyes for me. We were just… close…”

“You f*cked him,” Brody said. “You f*cked him and he gave you shit. You were his whore.”

Heather made a fist and thought about hitting Brody. But, dammit, he was right. That’s exactly what she had been for Brody. Right up until he didn’t need to f*ck her to get what he wanted. Then that stopped.

“When was the first time he hurt you?” Brody asked.

“A few months after I met him,” Heather admitted.

“Christ,” Brody said. He turned and slapped the wall. “You weren’t pregnant or anything?”

“God no,” Heather said. “He was stressed to the max and I was an easy target.”

“You let him.”

“I let him.”

“And again… and again…”

“You think I don’t know that?” Heather asked. “You don’t think I…”

“Fuck,” Brody said. He pushed from the wall. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.” He went to the bed and sat down next to Heather. He touched her back. “I shouldn’t say it like that. I just can’t picture you getting… I don’t want to.”

“Thanks,” Heather whispered.

She wanted to kiss Brody. But his eyes weren’t having it right now.

“I need to know the rest.”

“This is where it gets bad. You might want to get away from me.”

“You use?”

“Fuck no,” Heather said. “As f*cked up as my life is, my focus was always becoming a doctor or a nurse. I never let anything get in the way of that. Especially drugs. Plus, I’d seen so many of Lyle’s customers or clients or whatever he called them. It’s a scary world.”

“That’s exactly why we don’t want that shit in our town,” Brody said.

“Well, it is in your town. Because of me.”

Brody raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“I’m the middle person in it all. Not all of his deals, but more than enough to make me feel like hell. The coffee cup thing? That’s me. People come to the hospital and it looks like they’re grieving someone. I carry two cups of coffee. One has coffee and one has drugs. I make it look as though I’m consoling the person. I give them the coffee with the drugs in it. And then they walk right out.”

“Jesus Christ,” Brody said. “Right in the hospital?”

“Yeah.”

“You’ve never been caught?”

“Not until right now. Mr. Peter… I guess that was my mistake too. I gave him coffee by mistake. That few minutes of hesitation ended up in him getting caught. And then… all this…”

“This isn’t the life you want,” Brody said. “Is it?”

“No. But I can’t get out. Lyle won’t let me. It’s too easy for him. There’s no risk on his end. If I try to get out. If I say a word. If I do anything wrong…”

Brody reached up and touched the bruise on Heather’s face. It hurt but Heather didn’t wince or move. She could see something burning wild in his eyes. He was angry about this. That meant a lot to Heather.

“Anything else?” Brody asked.

“I don’t think so. He’s just… I swear, Brody, I get nothing out of it. I don’t get money. I don’t get protection. I’m just a whore. I’m stuck. He’ll kill me if I leave for good. I’m surprised nothing has happened here yet.”

“Nothing will,” Brody said. “He’s not that stupid. But the drug thing has to end. We’re going to take care of this problem. But we need to send a clear message and make him come out to us.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

Brody put a hand to Heather’s hand. “I’m not saying I don’t believe you. But I need more. I need to know for real that you aren’t in on all this shit. And if you truly want out and you want to trust me, then you’re going to listen to what I need you to do.”

“Yes,” Heather whispered. “Anything, Brody. I’m not using. I’m not selling. I’m not doing anything… I’m just a f*cking useless whore.”