Mea Culpa

Chapter 10

Roxy sat. What was she going to do? What could she do? Nothing. She had to listen to Marcus. Sitting across from him she crossed her legs and rested her hands on her knee.

"If this is about Bish and the shit with the Mayans," she started to explain but Marcus stopped her.

"You'll speak when I say you can."

Roxy drew her head back, angry and offended, but just nodded out of fear.

"I sent you down here to keep Mateo safe, to keep you safe," Marcus said. "I know our families are different, I've always known that, but I thought we came to an agreement. When you're raising that boy you keep yourself together, show respect to your family and mine."

"I don't have skills," she said shamefully. "I have no experience. I only strip one night a week, the rest is just waitressing."

"Doesn't matter," he said coolly. "I'm surprised Coco is okay with it."

"Coco isn't exactly into controlling women," she spat.

Marcus laughed at that. "I want you to quit the club, Bishop will line you up with a better job."

Roxy knew better than to push back. "Okay."

"You need to clean this place up," he gestured to the living room. "It's a shithole."

"I just got back," she snapped. "I had a 16-year-old watching Teo here, of course it's a mess."

"Now that you're unemployed you'll have the time to fix it up," he said. "If you really don't like it, I'm sure there's room for you with Nero, Wendy, and your nephews."

"Is...is that a threat?"

"No," he chuckled darkly. "Not at all."

She didn't believe him. "You know, if your son didn't leave, none of this shit would have happened. You're preaching about family values and self-respect but Esai ditched his family, he ran out on his son, why don't you go after him? Why don't you try to force him to do this shit the right way?"

"My son did everything for his family and our club," Marcus said ominously. "This isn't about him."

"Well he didn't do shit for the family he created, so fuck him."

Marcus stood up as if to strike her, but he never actually swung his hand. Roxy cowered, terrified, and looked up at him waiting to see what his next move would be.

"I'm...I'm sorry," she stammered.

Never in all the years she knew Marcus was she ever truly scared of him nor had she ever seen him so enraged or so close to hitting a woman. Roxy wasn't sure where that part of him came from but she had seen a new side of him and it was frightening.

"Esai was a good boy and he would have been a good father and husband," Marcus told her. "He just made one too many mistakes."

"Okay," she said quietly.

When Marcus moved to touch her cheek, Roxy flinched and backed away. "I'm not going to hurt you, I'm sorry I got so angry."

"It's fine," she mumbled.

"Go see Bishop in the morning," he told her.

"I will."

"I just want the best for my family," he reminded her.

Roxy just nodded, dying for him to leave as quickly as possible. She finally felt like she could breathe as his boots clicked on the way toward the door. As soon as she clicked the lock behind him, Roxy burst into tears. The only other man to ever scare her like that was Clay and it brought back countless terrifying memories.