Hammer's Pride by E.C. Land (brene brown rising strong TXT) 📕

“Prez, what do you wanna do?” Gunner asks. I remember his voice from the other day at the coffee shop.

“We’re gonna go to the clubhouse,” he declares firmly.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” another man asks.

“Yeah, I’m sure. She can’t stay here,” Hammer announces.

I had no intention of staying here. My plan is to get in my little car, go to my coffee shop, and sleep in my office until I know what to do next. Lifting my head off Hammer’s chest, I tilt my chin up so that I’m able to meet his gaze and inform him of just that. In return, he glowers at me and shakes his head.

“Not happenin’, Sunshine, you’re goin’ to the clubhouse. I’m guessing you didn’t make it further than your living room, so you do get this, but until we know what the hell’s going on, your ass is on lockdown,” he declares.

I stiffen at this announcement, and I’m more than irritated by it all. He can’t be serious. “You can’t put me on lockdown. I don’t even know you, big brute. Let me go, and I’ll go stay at a motel or hotel or something. I’m not going to the clubhouse with you or anywhere else,” I snap. I don’t like decisions to be made for me. I prefer to be in on them, considering it involves me.

Otherwise, it makes me feel like I was at home where my brothers and sisters made the decisions and left me out, only using me for what they needed. Or for gaining what they wanted like . . . I don’t even want to think about it. How they could do something so vile is horrible, and it makes me wish I weren’t born into the family I’d been born into. Granted, I feel that way a lot of times due to them.

Hammer’s gaze narrows to little slits, and his jaw tightens as he stares down at me. He releases his grasp on my arm, steps back, and reaches down to take hold of my wrist. I nearly trip over my feet as he drags me into my house, through the disaster of my living room, down the hall, and straight to my bedroom. Releasing me once again, he points at the room. My eyes widen. I stare in horror at the damage done until my gaze lands on the words written on my wall. Bile rises in my throat, and I have to swallow it back down.

“Is—that blood?” I utter inaudibly.

“Yeah, Sunshine, so now are you gonna bitch to me about coming to the clubhouse, or do you know who would do this shit?” Hammer snarls.

My first thought is to think of my siblings, but one they don’t know where I am, I haven’t spoken to them in over a year. The second, even if they hated me so much, they wouldn’t be this cruel. Right?

I shake my head, words refusing to form on my lips.

“Good, now let’s get you the fuck out of here. I didn’t want to have to show you this shit but figured it’d save me the headache of you fighting me,” Hammer growls.

“You could have just told me,” I mutter quietly.

“Yeah, but you’d still have smarted off, and I don’t have time for that shit. Now let’s go,” he states and pulls me out of the room.

Nodding, I follow him out of the room and head down the hallway. Something catches my eye in the second bedroom as we start past, and I stop. I push the door all the way open and step inside the room. My heart stutters to a stop, and tears well in my eyes. The room, like all the rest, is destroyed, but the difference being my walls are painted with more words. ‘Whores get what they deserve, even the greedy ones.’

“Fuck, I didn’t see that shit earlier. Come on, baby, let’s get you out of here,” Hammer says, tugging on my arm to get me moving.

My entire body is shaking in terror as those words and the ones on my bedroom wall filter through my head.

Who would think I’m a whore? I don’t even know anyone around here besides Quinn and Willow. As it stands, I barely know either of them. I stick to myself, and I pride myself on keeping out of the drama. I’ve always tried to be good even when I’d been surrounded by the filth of my family. They might have liked living the way they did but not me, I wanted something better for myself, and I worked hard to get that good in my life.

Hammer pulls me through the front doors and down the stairs of my porch. He continues to guide me across the street and toward where the others are now standing.

“Did you see what was painted on the wall in the other bedroom?” he snarls. I lift my head up until I’m able to see his features. The tension radiating off him is nothing like the fire in his eyes.

Oh my.

Um.

His dark eyes are sexy enough, but with the fire in them shimmering out, they’re magnificent. They could easily put me under a spell, and I’d do anything at his command with the mesmerizing glint in them.

Yeah, okay, maybe not anything, but I’d definitely drop down in front of him and do something that’s for sure.

Jesus, where did that thought come from. I’m not that girl. I never have been. Yeah, I’m not a virgin by any means, but still. I don’t give it up to just anyone, and for that matter, other than my B.O.B., I haven’t had sex in nearly three years. Even then, my B.O.B. gets me off better than the guys I’ve been with. I’m willing to bet Hammer would definitely not leave me wanting like those other men did.

Internally, I smack myself across the face and yell to quit thinking about stuff like that.

I’m not a skank or anything