They both stay silent as Rhys fills a glass for them both, but his eyes are on me. So are Aiden’s.
“You didn’t think she would be that pretty, did you?” Aiden almost whispers.
I give him a little shake of my head, as I bring my glass to my lips. Why do I feel like I'm about to be fighting myself? Fighting for her love, then fighting with the thought that I'm betraying her.
"You knew that this was going to happen. The fact is, if she was ugly you would still worship the ground she walked on," Rhys fills my glass again. "Now you have to decide what you're going to do about it."
I lean my head against the wall as they both pull out a chair and sit down.
Can I let her love someone else?
I know that never in a million years will I love anyone but her.
I stand and look out of the window; I’ve been here for over an hour and, as the seconds tick past, my hope of her coming down is fading.
I hear voices outside; at first, I think she has come down, but then, when I focus on them, I realize it’s Rhys and Aiden, still fucking arguing about who is who in the whole Candle, Clock scenario. I swear, they’re acting like children about it.
I tense as I hear the door open. Please say it's her. The door closes, and I wait a moment as I try to get my thoughts together.
I tell myself to be gentle, to give her time. That it will all come together; I repeat to myself that our love is strong, and we will be one again.
I turn around, and I watch her face as her eyes slowly move up my body, and the second her eyes reach mine; her eyes change.
Fear. There’s nothing but fear in them.
She takes a step back; her eyes are locked on mine. What is happening? What has she seen in my eyes to bring that much fear into hers?
I watch as she runs out of the room and up the stairs, she slams the door, making sure that we can all hear it.
“What happened?” Aiden and Rhys come running in.
“I will-”
"Leave her," I stop Beth
I collapse on the chair in front of me and swipe my arm across the table, scattering the plates on the floor. I’m sure at least three of them shatter. I’m angry with myself. I should have left it be. I should have accepted it. I should have fucking left her alone. I'm a selfish bastard.
"She realized that I am the beast of this story. One look at me, and there was nothing but pure fear in her eyes," I tell them. The three of them start walking over and each pull out a chair to sit down. The last time I saw that much fear in someone; it was me. Two days after they found me, I looked in the mirror, and a man still living in fear stared back at me. Unrecognizable. Alien, even. Even today I can wake up in the night and have that same fear coarse through me.
Brooklyn’s eyes showed a nightmare, that she’s relived more than once, fear of standing in front of it.
I know the look so well now.
"You knew this wasn't going to be easy," Beth takes my hand in hers. "She needs to spend some time with you; her feelings will change."
"I want to be alone," I tell them as I get up and walk out of the room. I’m not in the mood to talk or listen to anything they have to say to me.
Making my way up the stairs to my room, I stop at her door. If only she knew that I would never hurt her, that I would protect her from anything, and anyone. I'm not the monster that she thinks I am.
I'm a man who has scars from a broken heart. They said time would heal the wound, but that was a lie. It’s still gaping open. The pain runs through me like water from a burst dam; it’s pushed past the seals I tried to build.
I have so much love inside me for her, but I have no idea how to show her.
“Did you sleep?” Rhys asks as he walks into my office, with Aiden not far behind him.
They already know I didn't, they walked past me when they were going to bed. I spent most of my night staring at Brooklyn's door.
“Have you made your rounds?” I ask, not wanting to answer their pointless question.
“We have, and I told Daisy to come up,” Aiden tells me.
The two envelopes that Beth gave me the other night, I’ve fixed one problem, but the other still needs handling. The other envelope is a note from a guest, saying that he isn’t happy with the girl, and wants someone else. When I find out it is Daisy, something doesn’t feel right. She’s a good worker, and every guest has only ever had good things to say about her.
I give them a nod, and tell them to stay here, so they're here to listen to the conversation. I’m not in the habit of repeating myself.
I stand up the moment I see Daisy's face and power walk over to her. "What the fuck happened?" I ask as I take a closer look at her cut lip.
I don't give a shit what any man or woman's fantasy is, no one, and I mean no one, beats my staff.
Why the fuck did Beth not see this? She was too busy fucking mothering me when she should have been looking after the girls.
"Things got a little rough-"
“Daisy don’t lie to me, not today. I’m already not in the best mood.” I warn her, I want the truth from her. “Does this have something to do with why Steve wants a new girl?”
“He was different, and I don’t know what happened. We were talking, and he started kissing me, which was fine, you know? Then he wanted to have another man in the room, and I said that it’s not in the contact and I would have to talk to you first. Then he got angry. Really angry.” She tells me, touching her fingers gently to her lip, and she looks so small right now. Too small. Too fragile.
“You’re not working today, pamper room for you and get the doctor to check that, and I don’t want to hear another word about it,” I tell her. She says nothing and leaves the office. I will call the doctor after I sort this fucking mess out: he hurt my girl. My fists clench as I try to control my increasing anger.
“Steve is downstairs in the lounge,” Rhys says as I turn around to look at them both. “He said he wanted to talk about his new girl.”
"The lounge is a little public for him." Some guests walk in here thinking they have power all over the world; not in my club! In my club, there is only one big man, and that's me. "Send him up."
Aiden pulls out his phone and I wait for him to tell Milo to send him to the office. I turn to Rhys, "After we’re done, find out why Beth didn't know about this." I know I shouldn't be the one to talk to her about it. Not in my mood.
"Mr. Parker, would you like to explain why my girl has a cut lip, and why you think that you should get a new girl?" I ask him, the second the door closes behind him.
He looks between the three of us, but then settles on me as I take a step closer to him.
“I had a bad day-”
"You had a bad fucking day and took it out on my girl?" I shout at him, and I have to laugh. "Well you know what? I've had a fucking fucked up night too!” I make sure there’s a real intimidating tone to my next question. “Should I take that out on you?" I take a step closer to him, and his shoulders tighten, as he stutters on his words.
“I…I asked her to do something, and she pissed me off when she said no,” he tells me, apparently not worried that he’s pissing me off more by opening his mouth. Fucking men like him think that they can control everything, that they get what they want by clicking their fingers. Assholes, that’s what they are. I fucking hate men like him.