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I looked around at the other girls I was going to live and work alongside. Many were already friends, but I stood on the outside. Like always. I’d been on my own since sixteen, living and working wherever I could. Sometimes I stayed at the shelter, most nights I camped out on a few couches of supposed friends in exchange for the little cash I could scrounge up. I worked any job I could find that paid by the day and didn’t require me to be on my back or my knees.
Judging by the other girls surrounding me, they were in similar situations. The ‘friends’ I came with I knew for sure didn’t have any better prospects lined up than myself. All I had to do was survive for a couple of more weeks and get myself to the Florida Keys. My cousin lived there with her new husband. Serenity didn’t know I was coming, and I preferred it that way. For now. I figured she couldn’t turn me down if she didn’t know I existed yet.
I hoped and prayed she would help me when I got there. I hated to spring my arrival on her, but it was safer that way.
I pulled out the piece of paper in my pocket and checked the address again. She was the wife of an alleged mafia kingpin and seemed around my age. Who knew if she’d even entertain the idea that we were family, but I had to try. The holidays were lonely and my New Year’s resolution was to never have another Christmas without family surrounding me.
A couple of girls I’d seen around the blocks turning tricks stir awake, looking twice their age and perpetually tired. It could be the smeared kohl smudge on their faces, but the lack of light in their eyes was telling. Thank God I had managed to steer clear of that. I rather wash cars in a grocery parking lot than sell the one thing I had that was mine—my virginity, my body.
When the rough biker approached me about coming to work for the Venom men at their club, I thought I’d been knocked on the head and was hearing things.
Whispers were crawling through the nightclub about the Venom crew being a good fit for girls like me—nowhere to go and nobody to ask questions. They just accepted you. Word was they took care of their own, too. And the girls had the option of sex or money in exchange for keeping up the place and cooking. But honestly, it all sounded too good to be true.
I didn’t think I could land an invite. Being the new serving girl at a nightclub isn’t the best position to be in, but after hearing some of the girls talk I had hoped. I could earn more money and get to Florida faster. Plus, I would be safer than at the nightclub.
The other girls always talked about how the Venom crew acted like family and last night I got to see that first hand.
When Venom rode past in their huge group, my head whipped up and I searched for the sound. Getting a glimpse of the black leather cuts with the white and red viper patch on the backs gave me a thrill I didn't expect. Seeing them together and acting like brothers fueled fantasies of having such a large family to always have your back. A place to call home where people would die for you. I wanted that.
And now I’d met one in person—the Venom president.
But I couldn’t get ahead of myself. These are not my people. I don’t have people. I have a goal—Florida.
But I had eyes and I could appreciate a handsome man. Drake was as huge as the girls at the nightclub had said. As mean-looking too. Though he was so handsome that it made me ache a little inside at the thought of looking at him again. His dark hair was slicked back, his brows heavy and his eyes a startling green underneath. Large shoulders stretched the leather cut he wore and thick thighs drew my eyes to other large areas on his body.
I’d never felt eyes pierce me that way. Like two knives slipping through the layers of protective shields leaving me bare and vulnerable to him. Only him.
When he loomed over me, his massive body had given me another sort of thrill—one that left me breathing heavy and wet between the legs. I’d been so close to reaching out and touching his jeans, to feel his strong calf molding the denim. He smelled like leather and musk, a breath of fresh air among the room filled with cheap perfume and cigarette smoke.
“What’s your name? There with the black hair.”
I looked around at the club candy who was giving the group instructions on how to cook and clean for the club members. The woman pointed at me.
“Um…Januari.”
A couple of girls giggled my way, stood up and started folding their make-shift beds.
“Doesn’t even know her name. Not sure she’ll remember how to do this right,” one commented.
I barely finished high school, but I did despite the hassles that came with the stress of being homeless and working toward my degree. Every day I dealt with girls like this there. And worse, on the streets.
I tried to keep the hardness seen on the streets from sinking into my soul, but mean girls drew my claws out. I stepped past a girl with eyeliner so thick she looked like she had two black circles instead of eyes. I came to a stop in front of the one who’d made fun of me. The girl was tall and thin with lanky hair but a pretty mouth that would probably become her biggest asset around here.
I squared my shoulders and forced the girl to meet my stare. “You have something else to say?”
She gave a nervous laugh, unable to hold my gaze for long. “No.”
“Well I do, bitch. Don’t ever think that because I’m weak-looking that I am. I can cut you in your sleep or awake. Doesn’t matter to me which. In your sleep, you just die without knowing. I can either be your best friend or worse nightmare. I hope you pick wisely.”
I hated people making me into the bad guy. I learned a long time ago slinking into a corner and saying nothing makes you an even larger target.
Several girls behind me hissed in surprise.
The girl giving orders finally decided it was time to step in. “Hey, we don’t want that kind of trouble here.”
“No, we don’t.” The rough voice from behind us shook me to the core. Drake.
We all turned to see Drake standing braced in the doorway like an avenging angel. The girls clustered together, leaving me standing alone. Great. Out before I could ever get a chance of getting in. Maybe it was better this way. Being here started to give me hope and I didn’t need that with a bunch of people I didn’t know.
