Laken (The Phoenix Club Girl Diaries Book 2) Read online

  Laken

  The Phoenix Club Girl Diaries Book Two

  The Brothers by Blood MC

  Addison Jane

  Copyright 2020 Addison Jane

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to real events, real people, and real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, organizations or places is entirely coincidental.

  All rights are reserved. This book is intended for the purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the express written permission of the author. All songs, song titles, and lyrics contained in this book are the property of the respective songwriters and copyright holders.

  Disclaimer: The material in this book contains graphic language and sexual content and is intended for mature audiences, ages 18 and older.

  Editing by Swish Design & Editing

  Formatting by Swish Design & Editing

  Proofing by Swish Design & Editing

  Cover Design by Kellie at Book Cover by Design

  Cover Models by Blake Sevani and Tionna Petramalo

  Cover Photography by Reggie Deanching

  Cover Image Copyright 2020

  All rights reserved

  For my baby girl.

  Thank you for being everything that I never knew I needed in life.

  We got this.

  LAKEN

  I was a fraud.

  Lying to cover my past.

  But when you’ve grown up in a world that has caused so much pain, you’d do almost anything to try and escape the guilt.

  For years I lived in hell, paying my dues.

  I had perfected a smile that no one could see through.

  Except for him.

  MYTH

  I was a fighter.

  It burned in my blood.

  It was something I couldn’t escape, and while other fighters were out to make money and prove their worth, all I gave a damn about was the club and protecting the people I loved.

  Seeing the spark in her eyes, I was instantly addicted. There was this chaos that whipped around her, it was beautiful and fierce, but I could tell it was used to keep people away.

  When the heat of my anger radiated off me, she didn’t run, she stepped closer.

  So I knew I had to use it to keep her warm.

  The demons of her past are coming back for her.

  And they’re about to realize she's no longer standing alone.

  Dedication

  Blurb

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Check This Author Out

  More Books to Check Out

  Acknowledgments

  Connect With Me Online

  About The Author

  LAKEN

  My body jolted forward as the bus jerked to a stop with a loud hiss.

  I slammed my palms against the empty seat in front of me, stopping my forehead inches from connecting sharply with the metal bar that ran across the top.

  “Last stop!” the driver called, even though I was the only one left in the empty, metal tube of death. “Road ends here, little lady.”

  Pursing my lips, I fought the urge to snap back at his patronizing tone.

  You’re trying to be forgotten, remember?

  Don’t draw attention.

  I grabbed my backpack and my duffel bag, swinging one over each shoulder before shuffling across the torn seat and getting to my feet. With one of my legs completely dead and threatening to fall out from beneath me at any moment, I stumbled down the aisle.

  I’d been sitting on a bus for almost forty hours straight. The only time I’d climbed off was to go to the bathroom, grab food, and change to a new bus—whichever one appeared next and was heading in the right direction.

  Which direction? Fucking anywhere other than where I came from.

  “Where are we?” I queried when I got to the front of the bus, ducking down to look through the front windows. It was right on dusk, and the sun was beaming straight through, striking me in the eyes and forcing me to look away.

  “St. George, Utah,” the driver clipped as he scribbled in a little notebook, dismissing me.

  I knew nothing about Utah or St. George. I wasn’t even sure what part of the state I was in.

  All I knew was that Utah was a hell of a long way from Connecticut.

  “I guess that’ll do,” I muttered, hoisting my bags a little higher and marching myself down the stairs and onto the sidewalk. I was barely clear of the door before it snapped shut behind me, and the creaky old piece of machinery chugged off down the street. I puffed an unruly strand of hair away from my face and screwed up my nose. “Thanks, asshole.”

  My stomach rumbled, instantly distracting me.

  I needed to find some food and a place to sleep on the small amount of money I had. I couldn’t bring my credit card with me or withdraw any more money out of my bank account because the instant I did, it would only be a matter of hours before someone found me.

  The sun was sinking rapidly behind the city buildings in the distance, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before I found myself shrouded in darkness, on the side of the road, in a foreign city.

  I was trying to find some of the old me. I needed some of the confidence and arrogance I’d spent so many years embodying because it made me feel invincible. I swore I wouldn’t go back to being that person, but honestly, it could come in handy at a time like this when I was scared as fucking hell by every movement, every shadow or noise I didn’t recognize.

  Because that was my life now.

  And all I wanted to do was to find some place to hide.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” a soft voice cursed, forcing me to look up. Blonde hair hung across her face as she stared down at the broken stiletto in her hand. It was barely hanging on by a couple of threads and looked like it had seen better days—or better years given how worn the bottom was.

  The young girl took a deep breath and threw her head back. The tears that were dripping down her cheeks sparkled in the low light. She inst
antly grabbed a hold of my heart, and it squeezed, making it hard to breathe. If there was one look I knew by heart, it was complete and utter defeat, and her eyes told me at that moment she was standing really close to a very high ledge, simply debating about whether or not she should jump.

  My feet moved toward her down the sidewalk. “Hey,” I said gently as I approached, smiling widely when her eyes dropped to meet mine. “Looks like you could use some help.”

  She huffed out a laugh and wiggled the shoe in her hand. “You got any superglue?”

  “Girl, I never leave home without it.” I dumped my duffel bag on the ground and pulled my backpack around to the front of my body, whipping the zipper open and shoving my hand inside. The girl stared at me in confusion for a few seconds before I pulled out a tiny tube of superglue, holding it out for her to take.

  Her eyes grew wide, and it was only seconds before she started to smile. “So, you just carry a tube of superglue around with you, huh?”

  “Not everyone does that?” I grinned, shrugging my shoulders. “When you have brothers like mine who insist on always getting into fights, it’s either superglue or hospital visits to get stitches,” I explained, trying to make it sound like the most normal thing possible. “And they don’t like needles.”

  Eagerly, she reached over and took the tube. Clutching her shoe in her hand, she spread the glue all over the heel before pressing the stiletto back on and holding it in place. She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, shaking her head. “You have no idea what this means to me,” she whispered quietly before glancing up at me again with tears shining in her eyes. My heart twisted again. I wanted to hug her, to tell her to fight back and not let whatever was getting her down win.

  Say’s the girl who just ran as far away from her problems as a rusty old bus would take her.

  “I’m not usually this emotional. Sorry.” She laughed, swiping at the stray teardrops which had escaped onto her cheeks. “It’s just… I wouldn’t have been able to work tonight without these, and I need to work.”

  The streetlights around us were starting to flicker on as the last bit of sunshine fell behind the skyline.

  “You know…” The words spilled out before I could stop them. My heart had taken over from my brain, and it was telling me this was the reason I was dropped in this bumfuck nowhere town. “I’m new to town, and I am looking for a job.”

  Fate was a confusing bitch.

  You really didn’t know what you were going to get with her.

  Was she going to deliver your soul mate?

  Or was she going to let you step in a fresh pile of dog shit?

  You could never predict what she had planned.

  What I did know, though, was what it was like to be fighting against the current on your own. It was only a matter of time before you got too tired to fight any longer and were swept away. I’d been there, and I wished like hell someone had reached out and grabbed my hand before I was pulled under.

  Maybe that would have been the difference.

  Maybe that would have been the defining factor.

  But instead, I simply continued to fucking drown.

  The light melodic laughter that spilled from her mouth was a surprise, but it still made me smile. “I’m a stripper.”

  I froze.

  Only for a second and a half before I caught myself, but enough to make her laugh even harder.

  “It’s okay. I’m sure I could ask arou—”

  “I spent a year in a sorority. Between wet T-shirt competitions and frat boys, more people have probably seen my boobs than yours.” It wasn’t a lie. “At least I’d be getting paid for it this time.” I reached down and picked my duffle off the ground, tossing it over my shoulder.

  My stomach was twisting.

  Honestly, I wasn’t a prude.

  I wore my sexuality well.

  I wasn’t afraid of it, and I didn’t run from it.

  But I’d never put it on a stage in front of paying customers before.

  The girl’s smile dropped, and she tilted her head, examining me curiously. “It’s not glamorous. And the people who own the place…” She let her words hang in mid-air—I took it as a silent warning.

  At least, maybe I should have taken it as one.

  “Not glamorous! Owner is a douche. Gotcha,” I responded with a nod, trying to play off some kind of confidence. I felt sick as hell, but a part of me was excited to have something else to feel ill about. I had no idea it would be the start of a very dangerous addiction. “Um… you looked like you were in a hurry. Maybe we should get going?”

  “Crap,” she cursed, nodding as she hopped on one foot and plucked off her other heel, dangling them from her fingers. “It’s just around the corner. Come on.” She hurried forward, and I jogged to catch up, falling in step beside her.

  “My name is Kennedy by the way,” she introduced as we hurried down the sidewalk. “What’s your name?”

  “L—”

  Fuck.

  I looked around urgently, my eyes landing on a shop window advertising fishing trips out to a place called Quail Lake. “Lake… n. Laken.”

  She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye and scrunched her eyebrows like she wasn’t fooled at all by the way I stumbled over my made-up name. “I went to school with a Laken. It was a boy, though. I didn’t realize it could be a girl’s name.”

  Well, fuck! I didn’t realize it could be a name at all.

  “My dad wanted all boys. So, no surprises there,” I scoffed.

  Kennedy’s smile was instantly back, and I let my body relax a little.

  We raced around the corner and onto a street that looked like it had seen better days, better years, and maybe a better century or two. The sidewalk was cracked, the street littered with cigarette butts and beer bottles, and the bright neon lights up ahead only added to the trashy atmosphere, making my heart beat a little faster.

  It was as cliché as they came—the dirty strip joint down the sketchy side street.

  The flickering neon lights.

  The sleazy looking men standing outside, smoking their cigarettes and eyeing us like we were their next meal.

  Or victim.

  You couldn’t make this shit up.

  “Why do you work here?” I asked, unable to stop myself as my feet came to a sudden halt.

  Kennedy was beautiful—the type of girl who even I would stop and stare at if I saw her on the street and my door hadn’t swung that way since that one time at my senior prom.

  She turned and looked at me over her shoulder, the corner of her mouth turning up in the saddest fucking smile I’d ever seen. “Because I have a little sister at home, and I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect her.” She pointed at the broken-down strip joint and held up her worn pair of heels. “And if this is it, then this is what I’ll do.”

  Tears clogged my throat. That familiar burning sensation I’d always been taught to ignore and to fight was overwhelming. This time I didn’t fight them, though. The tears trickled down my cheeks, tickling my skin, the salty liquid settling on my lips.

  Kennedy laughed softly and reached out to touch my arm. “It’s okay. There’s a really nice cheap hotel around the corner. Go,” she urged, even though I knew from the sadness in her eyes she had been through hell and back—or maybe she was still right there within its depths.

  But I wasn’t crying because of what she’d had to go through.

  I wasn’t crying because I felt the weight of what she was doing, and I could see how it was slowing chipping away at that sweet, maybe even once innocent, soul inside.

  I was crying because it had taken this.

  A chance meeting on a shitty street, in a town I’d never been to, with a goddamn stranger, for the weight of my past to hit me the hardest.

  This was real.

  Kennedy was real.

  She was a real girl, with real problems, living a real goddamn life.

  I, on the other hand, had spent almost my en
tire fucking life perfecting fake. I was a chess piece—a pawn. I spoke when I was told to speak. I smiled when I was told to smile. I had the perfect body, the bubbly personality, the family with a heart of gold.

  From the outside, no one knew the truth.

  Hell wasn’t just a place I had visited from time to time. It was something I carried with me every damn day, wearing me down, making it harder to keep going.

  I was fucking done.

  I wanted to feel something different.

  Fucking anything other than the self-hatred constantly sitting on my shoulder reminding me of not just the pain I’d felt, but the pain I’d caused because of the way I’d been raised.

  Maybe this was a chance at redemption.

  A chance to stifle some of that guilt.

  And right now, the first step toward that was getting up on a stage and taking my clothes off because I had a feeling Kennedy needed me as much as I needed her.

  “Does this job come with a dental plan?” I asked, swiping at the tears on my cheeks like they were never there.

  Kennedy eyed me for a second, pulling her bottom lip in between her teeth nervously like she was running through a million questions in her head.

  The most likely one, Who the hell is this girl?

  Or maybe what kind of name is Laken?

  “We get free tequila shots.”

  I stood a little taller, the smile on my face growing unusually wide.

  What in the actual fuck am I getting myself into?

  “Well, you should have led with that.”

  MYTH

  I leaned against the broken and chipped brick wall as I watched my last two fighters for the day waddle down the slim alleyway like two new deer learning how to walk.

  The sun was setting, the tall factory buildings surrounding us were old and casting cold, dark shadows across the tiny open space hidden in the center of all the buildings. This place, it wasn’t much to look at, that I could admit. There were weeds growing through the cracks in the concrete and climbing up the old, decrepit walls.

  This was how I fucking liked it, though.

  Proof it wasn’t what you had to work with that mattered, it was how hard you fucking worked.