Angel

Chapter 6- E.J.

Well, he has seen the scars and didn't run screaming yet, so there is a good sign. He looks like he wants to ask but doesn't want to sound like an asshole. So I figured I will let him off the hook. "They are old, from when I was a kid." I look at Frank and he flinches. 

I shoot him a smile, " Frank saved me from anymore when I was sixteen. He saved me and Brian both."

 I wink at Brian who laughs. "Yup, big daddy Frank" and ducks as Frank slaps the back of his head lightly. Hawk looks confused and lost.

 "Frank how about a couple of beers for story time?" I ask as I steel myself to tell my life story to Hawk. I know he is a trustworthy guy, it's a gift of mine. Plus I think he is a shifter and I may be his mate, I have seen that look before, so if that is the case, he might as well know everything so he can walk away like everyone else except Frank and Brian.

 Frank sets up a round, then he and Brian sit on the other side of me. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and start my story.

 " I was found in a dumpster about six blocks from here when I was a couple days old. For some reason I was deemed unadoptable. No one wanted me so I spent my life in a group home for girls until I turned twelve. Since I was always in fights, they sent me to a home for troubled teens. Well, at least that's what it was supposed to be. In reality it was a place for girls who no one would miss to be sold to the highest bidder. Of course, the younger girls, such as myself, had to be broken before sold. We were beaten, starved, and abused in ways you can't even imagine."

 "After being there for three years, the girl I shared a room with, Merideth, found out she was pregnant. So we went to the headmaster's office to tell him and he lost his head. He started beating Merideth and screaming at her. I tried to stop him but he threw me to the side like a rag doll. So, I looked around for something to stop him before he killed her and found a letter opener. I grabbed it and jumped on his back and stabbed him in the neck with it. He bled out quickly. I helped Merideth up off the floor and told her to run. The men that owned this place would be there to check on the operations soon and take up older girls away to whatever hell awaited us. I was right, I didn't have to wait long before three large men came in and took in the scene. Me, covered in the headmaster's blood and him, laying on the floor dead. The leader, Dennis, smiled at me and said I saved him from having to do the same since the headmaster was threatening to blackmail him."

"So they gathered the three of us who were oldest and took us to their club. It was a typical shitty strip club. Dark, smelly, full of drunks, and full of girls with dead eyes. We were all scared and didn't have clue what we were doing. An older woman came and ushered us to the back. She told us her name was Diamond she would be taking care of us. She said if we were smart we just do as we were told and keep out mouths shut. She had us cleaned up and fed and we started our training to be dancers. Apparently this club had a special sort of clientele that favored the younger sort. It made my skin crawl, but every night I got on the stage and danced." 

"One night, Dennis came to me after I finished my set and asked me if I was still a virgin. I said yes and he told me he had a special client who was going to pay him big bucks for a couple of hours with me. I told him no way and he hit me in the stomach. He said I didn't have a choice. Then he dragged me into a room and threw me down on the floor. He turned to man in the room and said just don't kill her. He sneered at me and left. For the next two hours the man beat, tortured, and raped me. When he was done, he spit on me and left. A few minutes later, Diamond came in and when she saw me, she screamed for Tony. Tony was a bouncer and a good guy. How he got into this business, I have no idea. He came in and scooped me up and took me into the medical room. Diamond asked if I was still alive and I gave her a small smile. She cried the whole time she and Tony cleaned me up."

 "After about two hours of patching me up, Dennis came in to check on me. He looked at me and told me I better rest up, I still had to dance tomorrow night. This repeated every week for the next year. Then one night, I was crawling out of the room after the customer left and ran into Frank. He was visiting Diamond and had no clue about the underage girls and the other illegal stuff that went on there. He picked me up and turned to Diamond. He asked what the fuck was going on and she broke down and told him everything. He took me out of there that night. The brought me here and fixed me up. Then me took me to the cops." 

"They put me in another group home where I met Brian who was always getting picked on. Day after day, fight after fight, the same cycle repeated itself. Finally Frank came to visit me one day and I told him everything. He adopted Brian and I and we lived here with him. We worked here and Brian still does." 

"I couldn't stop fighting. I was angry and fighting helped. So I started doing underground fighting. One night I almost killed the guy I was fighting. There was a CIA recruiter there. He sought me out and convinced me to join. So I did and have been since I was nineteen." 

As I finished my story, I took a swig of my beer and looked up into Hawk's eyes. What I saw blew me away, there was a mixed of fear, anger, disgust, and sympathy. But the tear that slid down his cheek was like a punch in the gut. No one had ever cried for me outside of Brian and Frank.