Benelli's Elle: Unfortunate Souls MC Book One Read online

  “Fuck! Don’t move, I had to make a run to see Lerch, I’m 3 hour away. I’ll get Justice to come check it out. Do not go back in there! Fuck!” he tells me frantically.

  “I’m safe, I’m in the coffee shop next door. It’s probably nothing babe,” I try to calm him down, but I’m still a little jumpy myself.

  “I swear when I get back home I’m getting you a gun and you’re learning to shoot!” he says.

  I chuckle, trying to continue to make him not as anxious, “I was just saying that to myself. I swear I’m okay.”

  “Okay babe, promise me to stay put, I’m going to get off here and call Justice just to be safe,” he says a little bit calmer.

  If it was someone trying to hurt me they would have done it when I backed out of the door, right? They would have already come after me, I try to convince myself. I keep an eye out for Justice and for my next client so I can catch them before they enter. I hear a motorcycle and relief starts to wash over me. That is, until I realize it’s not Justice, it’s a Vengeful Demon. I don’t recognize him and luckily; he doesn’t see me but he’s going slow and looking for something, or someone. He continues down the street until I can no longer see or hear him. I breathe out a long sigh of relief.

  The girl at the counter has been noticing how sketchy I’ve been acting and slowly walks up to me, “Are you ok? You own the photography studio next door, right? You came in here, well, freaked out, and I notice you duck in the chair when that bike came by.”

  “Yeah, that’s me, sorry,” I reach out my hand to shake hers, “I’m Elle. I’m just being a worrier, I’m sure. I thought someone was in the shop when I left here with my coffee. I’m sure I’m just being paranoid, but someone is going to come check for me to be safe.”

  “There’s no reason to take chances when you don’t need to. You stay here as long as you need to. I’m Jackie,” she says shaking my hand, “That’s Jamie over there, if you need anything let one of us know.” She turns to head back to the counter and the bell over the door chimes.

  A woman walks over to the counter, “I tried opening the door next door, but it’s locked. Any chance you would know anything about the photography studio next door? I have an appointment, but I guess no one is there.”

  Shoot, I guess I got distracted watching out for her to show when I was talking to Jackie. “Hi, sorry, I meant to catch you, I’m Elle,” I jump up from my seat to greet her.

  “Do we still have an appointment?” she asks, confused.

  “Yes, of course, just needed a coffee fix,” I say trying to play it off, “can I get you one too?”

  Relaxing the woman says sure and gives the girl with long brown hair her order and I pay for it then we head back to the table.

  “I’m really sorry about not being there, I hope you don’t mind if we can have the meeting part of it here for now,” not knowing what else to say since I can’t exactly take her over there until Justice gives the all clear. Just then I hear his bike pull up and turn off. The bell to the coffee shop dings again and in he walks. “I’m so sorry, will you excuse me?” The woman doesn’t say a word and just nods with her mouth open, strange I think.

  “You okay?” he asks.

  “Yeah, I’m fine, if you can just run through and tell me it’s all clear that would be awesome. Wait, I know I left it unlocked and the woman at my table just told me she couldn’t go in because it was locked. What the hell Justice!” I say starting to freak out again.

  “Do you have the key?” he asks, reaching out his hand. I go back to the table and get it out of my purse. Thank God I at least remembered to grab that. I hand him the key and he heads back out to go next door. My nerves are shot and how the hell am I going to explain all this to my client? I walk back to the table and notice she’s still there with her mouth open but both Jackie and Jamie are cleaning already spotless tables near me, both staring at the door Justice just walked out of. I turn to look at the three of them.

  “Did you see how tall he was, and those muscles?” Jamie asks Jackie in a low voice.

  “Did you see how smooth, dark and creamy his skin was? And that voice, dayyumm” Jackie replies back.

  “Did you see those light green eyes?” the client asks, and the other two reply with a dreamy “mmmmmhhhhmmmm.”

  I smile, realizing that they are all mesmerized, “that’s my friend Justice.”

  “Justice,” they all repeat in their hypnotized state like a bunch of schoolgirls, I can’t help but laugh. Realizing he hasn’t come back as fast as he would and not hearing any loud noises, I excuse myself to run over there and check on him. Like I can do anything, but hey, I was only thinking that I hope he’s okay.

  “I’m going to run next door and make sure he found what he was looking for and make sure he’s fine,” I tell them.

  “Oh, he’s fine alright,” the older client says and I head next door.

  I open the door to my shop and it triggers the bell that alerts me in the back when I’m editing. The next thing I know Justice comes out front with his gun drawn on me but in seconds he realizes it’s me and lowers it, “Z, you might want to come back here, but lock the door first.” He has been calling me that instead of Xena when that nickname got hold. I lock the door wondering what the hell is going on but when I hear the dead bold click, I head back to where he is and stop in my tracks when I see a filthy and scared young girl huddled in the corner at the back of the shop. She can’t be more than 10 or 11.

  I squat down next to her and try to reach out to touch her but she flinches away, curling in a tighter ball. “It’s okay sweetie, no one here is going to hurt you,” I tell her softly. She looks up to me and then to Justice and I can tell she’s scared of his size and I’m guessing the cut since I piece together the Vengeful Demon looking around and with her hiding in my shop. I tell her I will be right back and pull him to the other room and fill him in on the VD going by and tell him what I think. I ask him to wait out in the lobby to make the little girl a little less frightened.

  I go back to her and kneel beside her, “I’m Elle, can you tell me your name?” She looks up at me then over my shoulder to see if Justice is still there.

  “Where did the bad guy go?” she asks.

  “That’s Justice honey, I promise you he’s not a bad guy,” I tell her.

  “He has on a black vest like the bad men that took me,” she says matter-of-factly.

  “Oh baby, he’s not with those bad men, I swear. Those bad men with the black vests took you away? Were they on motorcycles?” and she nods, crying again.

  “The men that took me were in a van, but they met up with other guys that were on motorcycles. I was walking home from school and I was almost home. I was about two blocks from my house when they pulled up and grabbed me. I tried to get away, I did, but they were stronger than me,” she tells me sniffling, “they put me in this silo where there were other girls and there were dead people in there.” I clasp my hands over my mouth and flash back to the VD clubhouse and them saying something about putting Lilith in a silo to die. I’ve got to tell Justice so he can get the men on this. Shoot, I just remembered the client at the coffee shop. I reach for her hand and luckily, she takes it.

  “Honey, I need to go talk to my friend so he can take care of the bad people. Will you sit on this couch until I can get back, I’m just going up front, you can come with me if you want to,” I tell her softly.

  “I’ll, I’ll just sit here if it’s okay. Can he come to you? I don’t want you to leave me,” she pleads.

  “Okay sweetie,” I tell her and call out, “Justice…can you come back here?”

  I meet him at the doorway and talk in a hushed voice, “Yeah, the VD definitely took her. I’ve got more to the story, but I don’t want to say in front of her. Can you please go to the coffee shop and tell my client something came up and I need to reschedule? Throw out that deep, Barry White, sexy voice for good measure and throw on the charm? I can’t leave her. I’m going to try to get her name an
d can you call the police and have them meet us here, we need to get her back with her family and they need to know what’s going on.”

  “Barry White and charm, huh? I think I can handle that. As for the police, let me think about it while you get her name. We may want to handle this ourselves if you know what I mean,” he tells me and walks off but before he leaves, he gives the little girl a big smile and the sweetest wave, “Everything’s going to be okay princess, Uncle Justice is going to get you back to your family and take care of those mean men,” and then walks away.

  She smiles back at him before he leaves and it melts my heart how sweetly he talked to her, the big softy. I walk to the bathroom and grab and wet some paper towels and take them back to her and hold them out and silently asking her if it’s okay if I wipe her face and arms off. She nods and I sit next to her on the Victorian fainting couch I use for props. As I’m gently wiping off her cheeks I ask, “Can you tell me your name? Where are you from?”

  “My name is Lexie Parker. I’m from Campbell, Kentucky. How far am I from home?”

  “I’m not sure Lexie, I haven’t lived here long but I can look it up on my phone,” I tell her and grab it out of my purse. When the screen lights up I see a bunch of missed calls from Benelli, Zen and even my mom knows back in Arizona, geez. I hold up my finger to tell Lexie just a minute and call Benelli. He comes first.

  Before he can say a word I start, “Hey hon, I can’t talk right now but I’m okay. It was a little girl and I’m taking care of her. You’re going to want to have church, it’s a big one. Justice has most of the details. Are you on your way?”

  “Almost to the shop, I talked to Justice right after you sent him to the coffee shop and church is already scheduled for 6pm but I wanted to see you first and get some more details, I love you,” he tells me.

  “I love you too, see you in a few,” I tell him and we end the call.

  “Is your husband a preacher?” she asks and I look at her confused.

  “Ohhhh, no honey, that’s what he calls meetings with his motorcycle club,” I explain, I don’t correct her that we are engaged not married yet. “So, back to looking up Campbell, Kentucky,” I say and open the map app on my phone, “hey, it’s only 45 minutes away, you’ll be home in no time.” The smile on her face brings me so much joy, I am so glad she managed to get away and come to my shop of all places. We’ll make sure they pay if I have to do it myself.

  Just then we hear the door unlock and the buzzer go off, “It’s just me, babe,” Benelli calls out before heading to the back where we are.

  I see Lexie tense, but I smile and assure her she’s safe and then raise and walk to hug my man. “Lexie, this is Benelli, the one who’s having church,” I say.

  Benelli

  I walk in to see the sweetest young girl with honey blonde hair and big, blue, doe eyes. It breaks my heart that this sweet little girl was taken from her family.

  “You’re the one who’s going to get the bad men?” she asks me.

  “Yes, sweetheart, I’m going to make sure that we save all those girls and make sure they never take anyone ever again,” I assure her, kneeling down beside her and hold out my hand. She slowly puts her hand in mine, but then jumps in my arms and hugs me. I look up to Elle and see the emotion in her eyes and she clasps her hands and holds them to her chest. I’ll be honest, a tear escaped my when that little girl hugged me and was happy about me wanting to save her and the others but I had to be strong and pull myself together. I pull her back and set her back on the couch and ask, “I heard your name is Lexie. Lexie, do you know your parent’s phone numbers?”

  “Noooo,” she says and puts her head down sadly, “but I do know where they work and I do know the school has known them because they’ve called before. My daddy used to work for the Army, but now he’s a mechanic at a place called Dino’s Parts and Repair. It has a funny dinosaur on the sign.”

  “I actually know where that’s at,” I tell Lexie.

  “You do?” she asks excitedly.

  “I do, I’ve gotten some parts there, what’s your dad’s name?” I ask, wondering if I might know her father.

  “My daddy’s name is Scott and my mommy’s name is Chelsea,” she tells me wiggling in her seat, “do you know my daddy?”

  “I do, sweetheart. Let me call him and we will get your mommy and daddy right here,” I tell her. Man, I know this guy. Granted, I haven’t seen him in a few months, but he’s a good guy and I can’t even imagine what he must be going through. I step into the other room and dial the number for Dino’s.

  “Hey, this is Benelli Neroni, is Scott around?” I ask. The other man on the phone tells me yes and puts me on hold to get him.

  “Scott, what can I do for ya, Benelli?” he answers, but I can tell by his voice he’s not the same happy-go-lucky guy I knew.

  “Scott, we found Lexie, she’s here with us,” I say, and here the phone drop and her father sobbing uncontrollably in the background.

  “You found my little girl? Is she okay? Let me talk to her,” he pleads and my heart is breaking apart hearing him.

  “Lexie, your daddy wants to talk to you,” I tell her and hold out the phone and she makes a mad dash for the phone.

  “Daddy! It’s me!” she tells him, and she gets choked up. Hell, we are all choked up at this point. Me, Justice, Elle, we’re all a mess of emotion. She’s silently listening to her dad on the other end. “I’m okay daddy, I ran away and hid in this shop. They’re going to keep the bad men from getting me, and they’re going to save the other girls,” she tells him then waits for his reply, “Okay daddy, get mommy and come get me, I love you too.”

  She hands the phone back to me and tells me that her dad wants to talk to me again. “Yeah, no problem,” I tell him when he tells me to watch his little girl, and he thanks me. I give him the address to the club and tell him we’re going to take her there and get her fed.

  “Lexie, Elle is going to take you back to the clubhouse and get you something to eat, your mom and dad are going to meet us there, okay?” I ask.

  “Yes sir, daddy said you were a good man and to stay with you until he gets there,” she says and we get her into Elle’s car and we all head back to the clubhouse. She fell asleep in the car on the way back and I pick her up and carry her in and lay her down on one of the couches before I head into church. My blood is boiling at the fury inside of me knowing there are more girls out there somewhere needing to be saved. I need to talk to the little girl more, but I want to wait until her parents are there with her, but church can’t wait.

  “Men, we are taking on a rescue mission. The Vengeful pieces of shit have kidnapped some girls. One of them escaped and found Elle, man she’s only like 10 years old,” I say raking my fingers through my hair. At that, the men are angry and ready to do whatever it takes to save the others and take them down once and for all. Justice and I fill them in on all the details we have at the moment, and we stop when we hear a knock at the door. It’s Fireball letting us know Lexie’s parents have just came through the gate. I put Justice in charge of the meeting, telling them I’ll be back after I’ve talked with the family. I don’t know how long the girls have been or will be at the silo, and we need to find it ASAP.

  Scott and Chelsea burst through the door, looking frantically for their little girl and spot her eating like she hasn’t eaten in weeks on the couch. They both burst out crying and calling for Lexie, and she runs and jumps into their arms. After many hugs and kisses and I love you’s, Scott whispers to Lexie, kisses her on top of her head and walks towards me and grabs me in a tight hug, “Man, you just don’t even know, to not be able to find your little girl and to try to keep the family from falling apart, I just, I, thank you,” he says.

  “I can’t even imagine what you’ve been through. I know you just want to take her home and hold her tight, I know I would but man, they’ve got other girls, we have to find them. I wanted to wait till you were here to ask her more questions. We don’t know what kin
d of time we have on saving them. I know it’s probably going to be hard to hear what she might say, but we’ve got to try to find them. How long was she gone?” I tell him and ask.

  “37 days, 37 long and miserable days. I took off work at first and did everything I could to try to find her. The police couldn’t do it, she just… disappeared. We don’t have any savings and the bills were piling up, we’ve got two other kids at home and the money from missing work, man I had to go back and it killed me,” he tries to explain.

  “I get it bro, you had to take care of your family, but she’s back now, she’s back,” I say patting him on the shoulder.

  We get the family settled on the couch and I sit in the chair catty corner to them, take a deep breath and begin asking Lexie anything and everything that might help us find the others. She does really good considering her age and what she’s been through, and we don’t ask her about anything they have physically done to her. We don’t need that information for our mission and I will let her family handle that part of it, though I did have Zen with all of us just in case. Lexie tells us how she overheard two of them fighting outside the silo and how they planned on moving the girls on the to somewhere she couldn’t remember on the 11th at 9pm, that only gives us 49 hours to find the girls and take the VD out. I try to get any and all clues as to the location of the silo, it’s farm country here so finding the right one is not going to be that easy. We know it has to be reasonably close because she escaped when they opened it up that morning around sunrise to give them little to nothing to eat and drink and she made it to the shop around… I check the time on Elle’s call; it was at 10:16am. Sunrise in October is around 7am, so let’s say she was walking around 5 hours. Little girl, also hiding from people, resting. We can probably cut that window down to half at least. She said she didn’t come to a town the whole way until Elle’s shop that leaves us with only one direction she could have came from which helps but unfortunately; she said the dirt road from the silo to a regular road was very long and she couldn’t see the main road from it.