Page 3 of Reckless
Chapter One
Carly
“Hey girl, you ready?” Jess calls from the living room.
I take a look at myself in the mirror, barely recognizing the girl looking back at me. I'm wearing a black crop top that has lace over my boobs, so there's very little left to the imagination. The jean skirt I'm wearing is distressed and stops about an inch below my butt. My knee-high boots make me about six inches taller, but scare me because I don’t know how much I’ll actually be able to walk in them. My makeup is heavy and dark, accentuating my round eyes and full lips. My silver hair is crimped in waves, framing my face.
This is so far from the shy heartbroken girl I was three months ago.
My bedroom door opens, and Jess is standing there tapping her foot. "Holy shit. They'll love you."
I turn toward her, fighting the need to cover myself. “I’m gonna stick out like a sore thumb.”
"Yeah, for all the right reasons. Let's get out of here; we can't be late." She grabs my hand and pulls me out of the room.
Jess works for the local MC club. By ‘works,’ I mean she basically sleeps with the brothers and they take care of her…well. At first, I thought she was crazy but the more she talked to me about it I started to reconsider. She goes to parties, has hot men make her happy, and has whatever she needs provided to her. I know that technically makes her a prostitute, but she doesn't care.
After Tony completely shattered me, I never thought I'd want to even look at another man. I was hit by another car while I was backing out of the driveway. Tony called Jess when the ambulance came. He didn't even come to the hospital or check in on me. Jess was there when I woke up, I just had a concussion, and they released me the next day.
I've been staying with her ever since, but I've been a zombie.
I couldn’t eat, couldn’t drink anything but the water she forced on me.
After about a week I had passed out, and the ambulance came to get me. They said that I was starving my body and if I kept it up, my organs would start to fail, and my heart would be too weak to function. I made Jess a promise that day to start taking care of myself. I didn't though. I would force a few bites here and there in front of her, but when she would leave, I'd feel sick and immediately throw it up.
My clothes started falling off of me, and when I stepped onto the scale and saw that I had lost thirty-five pounds in one month, I knew it wasn't healthy, but I didn't know how to fix it. I woke up one day to find someone I didn't know in the living room. Jess had called her cousin who was a psychologist; she told me that I either talk to her or she was checking me into a hospital. I knew she probably couldn't do that but seeing the fear and pain in her eyes that I was causing was enough to make me speak to her.
Harley was amazing, and the more I talked to her, the more I felt like I could eventually get back to the old me. The problem was I didn’t want to be that girl. I wanted to be a stronger version of myself. Someone who would have never stayed in an abusive relationship because she thought he’d eventually start treating her right.
Now I’m here, months later. My blonde hair dyed a striking silver and getting ready to sign up to be a plaything for a bunch of rowdy men. At first, I didn't understand, Jess said this made her feel powerful, or strong. She told me that when you walk in and you can feel the desire from every man around you, it's like no other rush you've ever experienced.
The car pulls up to a metal gate and Jess waves to the guy guarding the gate. He gives her a nod and opens it for us. His eyes focus on me for a minute and his tongue darts out to lick his lips.
I take a deep breath trying to convince myself that I’m not batshit crazy for doing this.
“Just relax. You’ll be fine and have the time of your life. We’ll head in and grab a drink to loosen you up.” She nudges me with her elbow and then gets out of the car.
I shake my nerves out a bit before following her. Walking in the large main room reminds me of an empty warehouse, except it’s far from empty. People line the room, many of them gathered by a bar that stretches across a long wall.
Jess takes my hand and guides me to a group of women dressed pretty similar to me. All of their eyes turn to me, most of them uninviting.
“Cheeks, this is Cece.” Jess waves her hand at me. I asked her to introduce me as that because I don’t want to be myself here. Carly Ferguson wouldn’t be caught dead here, Cece is a whole different story.
"You look sweet; they'll love you." She gives me a quick smile before turning to Jess. "Give her a rundown of the rules. We got a birthday tonight, so it'll be a little crazy."
"Okay." Jess turns to face me. "There aren't that many rules. See those chicks over there with the jackets on?" Her head nods toward a corner, and I see a group of about fifteen women all wearing leather jackets with the same patch on it. "Those are the old ladies, they all have a brother they belong to. Those guys are generally off limits, and most of them hate us. You can't say no to a brother even if you want a different one, that's a huge one. Do what you're told, and don't ask too many questions. Other than that, there isn't much to know. Let's go grab a drink before things get crazy." She grabs my hand and starts to lead me to the bar when an ape of a man stands in front of us.
“Hey, Jess.” His voice is deep.
"Hey, Brick." Her voice is higher than it usually is, and I almost laugh.
“Who’s your friend?” He nods toward me.
"This is Cece; she's new. We were just about to grab a drink if you want to join us." Her hand strokes his arm, and he looks at her with desire in his eyes. I'm taken aback because I've never had a man look at me like that.
“Later. For now, I want to borrow your friend." Jess's shoulders slump in disappointment. "Not like that, sweet cheeks." He smacks her ass and she giggles. I can't control the laugh that slips out. "It's Wrench's birthday, and I'm thinking some fresh meat is just the thing to pull him out of his funk.” He starts to walk away and then stops. “You coming new girl?” he says without even turning around.
"Go!" Jess whispers to me.
