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The night was colder than usual for mid-August. Winter announced its early arrival that year with blustering winds and rainy days.
Danica punched the code to the main door of her building and waited for the bullet-proof glass doors to slide open. She liked living in that area of town. It was the higher end of town, and she was lucky to be there, having lived most of her life on the other side of the tracks where her people were not considered high class at all, although they were in a class all their own, Danica longed to leave them behind.
Morgan had insisted she move in after six months of dating and she had accepted. She had taken the chance that life had offered her, and she had moved in with her boyfriend.
She greeted the doorman that had always been kind to her. She had a way with people, and she had no idea where it came from. Her father had been a mean drunk and the only thing she remembered about her father was his back as he walked out of her life at a very young age. Her mother had been the club's goodtime girl just like her sister had been. Perhaps that was where Danica got it from.
"Evening Miss Rochester how are you this fine night?" Arlo asked, smiling at her.
"Just fine and you, Arlo? How did the day treat you? Did Mrs. Ellsworth's Pomeranian give you crap today?"
Arlo grimaced, making Danica smile.
"Well, I'm beat so I'll see you later, Arlo...oh, before I forget." Danica rummaged through her messenger style bag and pulled out a bag from Darwin's Bakery and handed it to the middle-aged man.
"Are these what I think they are?" He took the bag with a huge smile on his face. He opened the white paper bag and inhaled deeply, and his smile became a toothy grin. "You are one in a million, Dani. Thank you so much."
Danica could see the man's eyes misting so she decided it was time to retreat. She didn't see what the big deal was about buying her doorman milk chocolate turtles, he and his wife loved those hideous things.
As she waited for the elevator, Arlo came jogging up to her with a very troubled look on his face. "I know it's not my place, you're such a nice young woman and I really hate what is happening, maybe I'm wrong and she's just a friend but—"
"How long has she been here?" Danica asked cutting him off. She fought the nauseousness that formed in the pit of her stomach.
"Since nine this evening."
Danica looked at her watch, the woman had been in her apartment and probably sleeping with her man in her bed as well for the last five hours. How hideously cliché.
"How long has this been going on?"
Arlo looked just about as sick as she felt. "Two months."
"Will you call me a cab, and will you please make sure all my things are delivered to my old apartment, please," she asked the man who had become her friend, as she scribbled her address on a piece of paper and handed it to him.
The elevator dinged. The doors opened and a tall brunette with long legs and curvy figure stepped out as Danica stepped inside knowing that the woman who had just walked out was the one sleeping with her man.
"Do I need to call Mad—?"
"Don't you dare, Arlo. Please, leave him and all those assholes out of this. I will take care of my shitty life and my shitty problems all on my own. I'm a big girl." She rode the elevator to the tenth floor in silence trying to rein in her temper. She was a little thing, like her sister used to call her because she stood at a whopping five feet and three inches tall, but she had a fire that burned through her straight from hell.
When the doors opened, Danica stood in the metal box a few seconds longer and then stepped out. She was younger than the woman who had taken her place. She didn't have long legs; however, she was curvy, and her body was toned and sexy. She wasn't a raving beauty, though she was pretty. Her long raven hair always caught male, and female's eyes and her blue eyes were so intense that not many people could hold eye contact with her. She had porcelain skin, like a delicate doll according to her last boyfriend who had also been unfaithful to her.
At the age of twenty-one she had had her fair share of heartache and death, more than anyone her age should have lived through but that was life—her life anyway. Always looking for a way to get her ass back to where she came from. No matter how hard she tried to make something of herself and leave the shithole she had grown up in, she always ended going back to Pine Harbor.
She put her key in the door and turned the lock knowing that Morgan would be in the shower washing the woman's sweat and perfume off him. How many times had he done that? How many times had she slept with him after he had been with another woman?
The nauseousness attacked her once more and she had to breathe in deep to control it. She pushed the door open and to her surprise, Morgan was in the kitchen getting a beer out of the refrigerator.
"Hey, how was work?" he asked as if nothing had happened. As if he hadn't just had sex with another woman on the bed they shared every night.
Danica held her tongue not wanting to fight. She walked to the back of the large two-bedroom apartment and headed down the hallway to what used to be their bedroom. The bed was a total mess. The top sheet was half on the bed and half on the carpet. She could even smell the sex in the air. She went to the walk-in closet and took her black duffel bag and began to place her clothes that hung on her side in the bag. She opened the drawers and took out her underwear and stuffed it in the bag as well not bothering to fold anything.
"What are you doing?" Morgan leaned against the closet's frame with his arms folded over his chest.
Danica tilted her head up at him from where she crouched, gathering her shoes. "You stupid ass. If you wanted to run around why the hell did you ask me to move in with you?"
"What the fuck are you talking about? I'm not running around on you."
"Long-legged brunette sound familiar? Just get out of the way you cheating piece of crap. I should have never believed a single word that came out of your mouth." She glared at him and pushed him back with all her might and walked past him.
Danica hissed as the bag got pulled out of her hand burning her skin a little. "You ungrateful trailer trash. I took you out of the fucking city and set you up like a queen and you have the gall to complain about a simple fuck? She means nothing to me. None of them do. I just fuck them, Danica. I make love to you because I love you."
Before she knew it her hand flew, and she slapped him hard across the face leaving her hand tingling. She had meant to keep the peace. She had meant to walk out with her head held high and forget him.
Morgan turned his head back and rubbed where her hand had made contact. A few seconds later, he let the same hand he used to rub his cheek with fly and backhanded her so hard it sent her back, tumbling on her ass.
"You fucking piece of trash, maybe if you learned how to fuck properly, I wouldn't have to find other women!"
Danica got to her feet and walked to him and with no warning she brought her leg up and made contact with his stomach. She then gave him a right upper cut sending him to the floor and leaving her hand in pain.
"Maybe if you weren't the size of a crayon, I wouldn't have a problem fucking you! You pussy!" She took her bag and before she left, she kicked him in the groin. "High school kids have more going on for them than you ever will!" she walked out of the room and stopped in the living room and threw a flower vase at the flat screen. A little explosion made her jump back before she headed to the front door and walked out.
The elevator doors opened, and Arlo stood waiting for her with worry on his face again.
"What did you do, Arlo?" she asked. She stepped off the elevator and headed for the front door.
Arlo didn't have a chance to answer. The familiar logo of the Fallen Angels on the back of their leather jackets made her groan. "Why did you call them? I told you not to do that, Arlo," Danica complained. She turned around and Arlo handed her a piece of paper and pointed to her mouth, where blood trickled down from her lip.
She took the paper and gently dabbed at her lip and winced. "Send the rest of my things to my apartment, Arlo."
"That's why they're here, Dani. Maddox called to check up on you as he always does, and I had to tell him. You don't deserve what that asshole kid did to you, sweetheart."
"Yeah well, apparently that's all I deserve, Arlo. Thanks for always being nice to me. See you around old man." She punched the code to exit the building and stood there for a minute.
"Fifty-two isn't old, smart ass," Arlo shot back as he went to stand behind the reception area.
Danica slung her duffel bag over her shoulder and walked out into the biting cold. She frowned at the forty-five-year-old man who stood there looking at her with an I told you so look on his face.
Maddox Jameson was not her father but acted like he was. He had dated her mother for five years before she decided to shoot up with some hot crap and wound up killing herself.
The women of the Fallen Angels, especially their women members were not allowed to mess with the merchandise that they sold. They could drink and smoke cigarettes or cigars if they preferred but no drugs of any kind or they were kicked out and that meant certain death to women like them. The brotherhood was all they knew, and no one risked it—except her mother and sister—they had both been crazy.
"You alright, kid?" Maddox walked up to her and took her bag from her not giving her an option to refuse. He tossed it behind him to one of the men standing there she didn't recognize.
"That's Titus, he transferred from New York," Maddox told her.
Danica frowned at the man who never tired of playing daddy. He had loved her mother, that much she knew but it wasn't his responsibility to take care of her and no matter how many times she told him, Maddox ignored her. It was obvious that she would never get away from the life that her mother had forcefully made her a part of.
The Fallen Angels were known across North America. Some parts of the world like the middle east and most of Europe knew who the Fallen Angels were and did business with them which in turn earned them the protection of the brotherhood.
The Fallen Angels were not just a biker club, they were a brotherhood of businessmen and women. They were also lethal when crossed. They were based mainly in Pine Harbor where the unlimited access to the docks made it easier for their import-export business. Pine Harbor was as large as New York or Chicago, the only difference was that it was surrounded by mountains on one side and the other side had the ocean. They had the best of both worlds—beaches and snowy hiking trails.
Danica stood there glaring at Maddox. "Well, if you could tell Titus to hand me my bag back, I can get home and sleep. I've been working for two days straight and I'm in no mood Maddox," she said, using the best menacing tone she could muster but as always he ignored her.
"You will be staying at the Fallen house. A room is being prepared as we speak. You will not argue with me, Dani. Just get on the fucking bike. I promised your Ma I would take care of you and this constant bickering is getting old real fast. Get on the damn bike, Dani."