Breaking Cannon

8.

Maddox POV

Jax and I look up at the giant man standing in front of us. He stares down at us, simply commanding our attention.

His entire presence commands attention. From the tattoos that litter his body, to his steely grey eyes that seem to bore into your soul. Scars line his hands and arms, with one barely peeking out of the collar of his shirt.

"Here's the deal. Your father owes me money, you two are going to pay me back."

I roll my eyes and scoff. "And how do we do that? You've seen our house. Tell me, Cannon, does it look like we have any money to our names,"

He stares directly into my eyes. The feeling of fear is so intense that I end up having to break eye contact first.

He crosses the room and kneels so that he is eye level with me. His hand travels behind my neck and pulls my face closer. So close that I can feel his breath fan my neck.

"I like your spirit, sweetheart. But don't think for a second that I'll hesitate to put you in your place. Close that pretty mouth before I close it for you." He growls. Shivers run down my spine and I realize that he is the only person I've truly been scared of. Unbeknownst to him, that intrigues me. He wants to play games? I've got nothing to lose. Let's play games.

"Then do it." I say. "You think I'm scared of you," I am. "But I'm not. What are you going to do that hasn't already been done to me? Do you just get off on scaring women?"

His entire body stiffens as I glare into his eyes. His hand that's on the back of my neck makes its way to the front and he squeezes so that I can barely breathe. I feel the oxygen slowly being cut off from my body and I start to panic.

"You live by the grace of me, princess. Remember that." he says in a deadly tone. I start to claw at his hand as Jax tries desperately to get him to let go. He finally does and I sputter and gasp, falling to the bed.

"You have today to rest, then tomorrow you start work." He states.

"What work?" Jax asks.

"Be in the main room by 9am tomorrow." And with that he walks out. Slamming the door so hard that the room shakes.

"For fuck sake, Mads! Can you reign in that temper long enough for us to get out of here?!" Jax yells.

I flinch at the sound of him yelling. He's been the only one in my life to show me any kind of love. He immediately softens his and struggles out of his bed to sit next to me.

"Fuck, I'm sorry. I just want you safe. Please, don't provoke him. I've heard dad talk about what kind of person he is." He explains. I just look at him and nod. I don't want Jax getting punished for my actions anymore than he already has.

•••

We spend the day sleeping and discussing what to do. Neither of us know what happened to our father, and we're not even sure that if we do leave here, we'll have any place to go.

The morning rolls around rather quickly, and before I know it, I'm helping Jax out of bed and we're headed to the main room. Wherever the fuck that is. As we pass what I assume to be the main desk of this strange hospital type thing, a secretary calls out.

"I assume you're the Sharps?" She asks, boredom's dripping from her words.

"Yeah." Jax says.

"Wait here for Calen. He'll take you." And with that she goes back to clacking on her keyboard.

We stand around awkwardly, waiting to be escorted out. Ew. Hate that.

Finally, we see two oversized men in suits. I recognize one from the other night, but the other is a stranger. The one I recognize, I assume Calen, gets to us first.

"Mr. Steele wants to see you, Maddox. Jax will go with Cole." He states, gesturing towards the other man. Both men have huge, muscular frames. Calen has blonde hair with bright green eyes and a scar running the length of his face. Cole has all dark features. He looks like he kills puppies for fun.

"You must be out of your mind if you think that Jax is going with puppy killer over here," I say. "We'll go together, or not at all. Thanks."

"Mr. Steele doesn't have time for this today. You will be going with us." With that he steps forward and yanks my hand towards him. I immediately try to resist but am overpowered effortlessly.

"What the fuck, man. Let her go. I'll go with him." Jax says.

The grip on my wrist releases and Jax sends me a look that says 'don't get killed' and walks off with Cole. I turn towards Calen and glare up at him.

"Well, lead me to Mr. Hard-ass. I've got things to do today." I state. Calen chuckles and starts leading the way.

"You really do have a death wish."