Babydoll (Steel Rebels MC #1) [Completed]

SIX - Below zero

Isabella

After dinner Isabella excused herself to her room under the pretense of being tired, but she needed to be alone so she could finally drop the act of feeling okay. Talking with Iron Knuckles had brought so many bad memories to the surface that it was hard for her to handle. And with them came the realization that her situation probably wasn't as bad as what some of the other girls must have lived through. She felt guilty for thinking that she has had a bad life. Isabella could never compare her upbringing to whatever hardships the others must have gone through. She felt like a terrible person for crying about her situation.

She had always had a stable roof over her head and enough to eat. Her family might not have shown her much love but she wasn't abandoned by them. They never hit her or physically hurt her. And maybe some of the things they said about her were even right. Maybe she should have tried harder, be stronger. 

They were right when they said that she was naïve. How could she have believed that the women here came to the club because they simply wanted to be a biker girl? While Isabella didn't think that the guys would keep someone against their will, the girls came here because they would get protection - like she did. She had seen the fear in Vixen's eyes, when Wrecker had threatened her. But Isabella wondered if she really needed protection.

She cried a lot during the evening. At one point she sat in the running shower, just to drown out her sobs. She screamed into her pillow until her throat was raw and in the end she sat in a near catatonic state on the bed listening to all the sounds that came from around the clubhouse. The walls here weren't very thick, so she heard quite a bit. 

Isabella heard people laughing and arguing. Pepper and Moose must have their room somewhere close by because she heard them having sex for a good hour. Other people also had sex. She wanted to have heard Cougar and also the little redhead, who she learnt was called Kitty. She heard Vixen who was sleeping with Hannibal, because she kept shouting his name. Isabella also heard Wrecker and Hazzard having a threesome with Ducky. She didn't hear Iron Knuckles anywhere which comforted her in a way but then again his bed partner could have just been more of the quiet type.

Around an hour before midnight she heard people leaving their rooms and somebody said something about a fight and Isabella wondered if it was Fight Night but no bikes left. Soon there were muffled sounds coming from somewhere in the lower level. People were shouting and cheering. The fight was happening here, she realized. It didn't take long to figure out who was fighting because people kept shouting Hazzard's and Iron Knuckles' names. 

Her gut wretched very painfully and for a while she had trouble breathing. While Isabella didn't want any of the guys to fight, it gave her almost an anxiety attack to know that Iron Knuckles was involved. The image of her kind, strong protector did not have space for a vicious version of him, where he attacked other people. 

It was a rather long fight and it sounded like Iron Knuckles won but she didn't know if that was a good thing. She thought that was it, but apparently next Rambler took a turn with Iron Knuckles, which the younger man lost and then even Wrecker challenged the enforcer. That fight ended because someone shouted "Tie!" And the crowd was booing. People then seemed to go slowly to bed while Isabella couldn't even start thinking about sleep. She worried about Iron Knuckles but she was too scared to try to go and check on him. She wasn't sure if her company would have been welcome.

Nobody had even asked if she wanted to go see the fight. Not that she would have wanted to go but it made it clear that it wasn't something she should be included in. Maybe it was a club thing, Isabella tried to console herself. She had only been staying at the clubhouse for one day and she was a guest. She had told them less than a week ago that she didn't want to become a club girl, which probably in their mind equaled that she didn't want to be part of the club.