Read Chapter One of You Can’t Do This To Me…

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Chapter 1

Thomas

Thomas eased back against the pillow, feeling sated after enjoying another active hour with Lana.

She rolled over and snuggled her back against him as he put his arm around her and rested his cheek against her hair.

“That was incredible,” said Lana, letting go of a breath. “Are you sure you can’t stay all night?”

“I’m sorry. I have an early morning at the station. Captain Bowden will have my ass if I miss another meeting.”

“Don’t you ever take a day off? Call in sick or something.”

“I wish. But don’t make me regret coming over so late. You keep tempting me, and I’m only going to fight these late-night invitations harder.”

“Yeah, you were hard alright.” She giggled as he reached out and tickled her.

It was fun to play with Lana, and he figured he might as well have all the fun he could. The closer he got to her, the closer he was to the truth, and what was the harm in that? It was a win-win in his book. He didn’t even mind breaking her heart in the end as long as he got what he wanted.

Did it make him a bad man? Probably.

Did he care? Not after what happened to Starr.

Lana moved closer, and no sooner than their lips met, a blood-curdling scream sounded through the house.

Thomas jumped up and found his shorts as Lana put on her robe. He didn’t wait to head toward the front hall, hearing the argument the closer he got to the living room.

“Stop it, Max!” screamed one of the girls as another shrill-voiced girl wailed.

“Get your hands off of me!”

Thomas could hear the slaps and the reactions of the victim and the other girls, who were creating one loud commotion. All Thomas knew was Max had lost control and was taking his anger out on them.

“You’ll learn to keep your mouth shut if you knows what’s good for you. You sure didn’t mind me touching you when I give you a fix, you little druggie. You’ve always got to be the troublemaker. You see what that’s gotten you.”

With Lana on his heels, Thomas burst into the double doors that led to the main room where Max had one of the girls pinned against a large, tall-back chair, slapping her over and over.

“Get away from me,” cried the girl.

Thomas lunged for Max. He pulled him off, but Max was like a rabid dog and wouldn’t relent.

“You keep your mouth shut!”

“Stop it, Max!” screamed Lana, who had come over to help.

The girl wasn’t backing down either, and that made it especially hard. “You are nothing but a pervert. You only like us when we pretend to be little girls because that’s the only way you can get it up, you pedo motherfucker.”

“I guess that beating wasn’t enough, was it?” Max lunged toward her, but Thomas held him off.

“That’s enough!” Lana screamed, trying to get at Max, who had the girl by the back of her neck as if she were a scrappy kitten. “Don’t make me go to Roald with this. It won’t end well for either of you.”

Thomas finally got the two of them apart and threw Max against the wall, where he pinned him. “That’s enough of that,” he said.

“Oh, look, Lana. Now your boyfriend’s the hero.” Max’s smirk told Thomas he wasn’t fazed, but he kept his arm at his neck and hoped to defuse the situation before someone else got hurt.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to hit women?” Thomas could feel the man’s body trembling and held him there.

Lana walked over and consoled the girl, but she had a message for both of them. “You two better cut it out. I’ll have to tell Roald, and this won’t end well for either of you, especially you,” she said to the girl.

“Me?” she asked, pulling away from Lana as if she’d had enough hands on her. “I’m only being honest. I can’t stand it when he comes around wanting us to baby talk him. He creeps me out, and you all just let him hang around all the time. You don’t even protect us!”

“That’s enough,” snapped Lana as if she didn’t want Thomas to hear. But he had already heard plenty.

Up until tonight, no one had protested Max’s advances. And while he didn’t agree with the man’s approach, unless there was a complaint of misconduct, he couldn’t very well intervene. All of the girls were of legal age, and if they wanted to act like oversized little girls and call him Uncle Max or sometimes Daddy, who was he to tell them they had to stop?

Tonight, it had gotten out of hand. Thomas glanced over to see the girl was the one they called Pixie. Like the other girls, she often wore a gold necklace with her name on it, and that made things a hell of a lot easier for identification purposes. Her face was red with tears, and Max’s handprint stained her cheek and shoulder.

“Let me go,” said Max, whose breath smelled like liquor.

“As long as you’re calm,” said Thomas, tightening his hold out of spite.

“I didn’t do shit. That little loudmouth bitch needs to learn when to shut up. She can’t talk to me like that. She needs to learn some respect.”

“I heard and saw enough when I came in to take your ass to jail, so don’t make me,” said Thomas. 

“Take him to jail. It’s where he belongs,” said Pixie, still goading. “Lock him up with the other pedophiles.”

“Stop!” Lana took a deep breath to try and calm herself, but Thomas could tell she had an urge to use more than words to shut the girl up. “Go to your room and wash your face. I don’t want to see you back out here tonight. We’ll talk about this in the morning.”

Pixie stormed off toward the east wing of the house, where just past Roald’s office was a long hallway that led to the guest quarters.

“I’m sorry about all of this,” said Lana.

Thomas glared at Max. “It’s not you who should be apologizing.”

Max gave him a hard look. “Well, I’m not going to. But I suppose I’ve worn out my welcome. I’ll come back tomorrow, and maybe you girls can show me some appreciation.”

Two of the three didn’t seem to care what happened to Max, but there was always that one who had to be different.

“Don’t go, Uncle Max,” she said. Thomas had yet to learn all of their names but knew that one, in particular, was willing to do anything to please anyone who could give her what she wanted. “Stay and play cards with us.”

“Nah, I’m tired, Sapphire. I’ll see you later, though, I promise.” He gave the girl a kiss on the cheek as he headed out and glanced back over his shoulder to look Thomas up and down as if he had taken it easy on him.

When he was gone, Lana slumped and took Thomas by the hand. “Come on, let’s go back to my room. I need a drink.”

“Don’t you want to know what started all of this?” he asked.

Lana shrugged it off. “It was nothing, I’m sure. Max was obviously insulted, and he put her in her place.”

“That was her place? Getting the shit slapped out of her?” He followed her to her room, where everything was white and gold. There wasn’t any soft pink or childish purple, no baby blue or bold initials on the wall. Her room was more suited for a lady.

A lady who made no apologies. “In his eyes, it was,” she said. “I know better than to argue with him. I’ll talk to Roald about it, and he’ll handle it like always.”

Thomas wasn’t sure how Max was handled. He sure had full reign of the house for a drug dealer. “Does Max do that kind of thing often? Does he do it to you?” He wondered just how many times the girls had to put up with that kind of behavior. And had his sister endured it too?

“No, he usually gets along with the girls just fine, but Pixie likes to push buttons. She’s our resident troublemaker.”

“It sounded to me like she had some valid points. You all treat them as if they are twelve with all of the rules. Cassie’s room looked like it belonged to a thirteen-year-old, and I have to admit the whole uncle and daddy thing is a bit much.”

“It makes them money,” she said, pouring a drink at her minibar. “It gets them followers and jobs. I can’t help what works. We have a style that is a part of our brand, and the girls have to reflect that.”

He wondered what kind of clients and attention they got. And if that was all she cared about. Did money and fame mean everything?

Thomas wondered if she had really given any thought to the way their treatment affected the girls. “Have you ever thought that his attention could be triggering for some of them? Maybe Pixie had a history of abuse before coming here.” The girl had been extremely emotional, and he wouldn’t have doubted it if she had admitted being a victim before.

“Well, it’s all done now,” Lana said before taking a sip of her drink. She gulped it down. “Do you want one?”

“No, I’m good.” All he really wanted to do was put Max in his place, but he knew he had to play things safe so he would continue to be welcome in the house.

Lana met his eyes and sighed. “I know you’re angry, but all families quarrel. That’s what we are here. A big family. Now, let’s put that behind us and try to make the most of the rest of the night.” She faced him and put her hand on his bare chest.

“Right,” he said. “I think I will have that drink after all. Let’s call it one more for the road. I’m not sure I’ll be good company, though.”

Lana smiled as she poured the drink. She passed it to him and topped off her own. “Have a seat and relax,” she said, pointing to the intimate sofa that was perfectly center to her fake fireplace. “You can at least stay a while longer until you settle down.”

“Don’t you think you should go and talk to her?” he said when Lana sat beside him. She angled toward him and put on leg over his lap.

“She can wait. She needs cooling off too.” She reached out and played with his hair.

“I’m surprised she hadn’t left.”

“What’s to leave? This is her home.” Lana shook her head, and Thomas could tell she just didn’t get it. Lana saw them all as property, and he was pretty sure she saw him the same way.

He downed the drink and got to his feet. “I really have to go before you talk me into staying.” He wasn’t going to let on how disgusted he was with her. But in his head, all he kept hearing was his sister saying how great Lana was and how much he was going to like her.

“Fine. I’ll walk you out. I guess I should go and talk to Pixie.”

“Yeah, you should. Sit her down and make sure she’s okay. Max was really rough with her.”

“You’re babying her. She’s a lot more resilient than you give her credit for.”

Thomas left the room, and when they walked down the hall, Lana tried to keep up. “You seem like you’re rushing off. Are you upset with me?” She stopped him just before they reached the main room.

“No, I’m just tired.” He turned to hug her. “You really take it out of me.” He wasn’t talking about the sex but knew she’d take it that way.

“Call me and let me know you got home, okay?”

“Sure.” He gave her one last kiss and opened the door to find Pixie sitting on the couch sobbing.

“I thought I told you to go to bed,” said Lana.

Thomas grumbled. “Talk to her,” he spoke softly as he headed out.

He got to the car and turned on his audio to listen to what happened next.

Lana was not pleased with the display, and she was letting it be known. “Do you have any idea how you made us look tonight? Do you think it was a wise choice to be spouting off accusations against Max with a cop in the house? Have you lost your mind?”

“I’m sorry. But I couldn’t deal with it anymore.”

“You’ll learn to deal with it. That man is important to Roald. And like it or not, he’s not going anywhere. And neither are you. I’ll remind you of your contract terms.”

“Yeah, that’s all you do is remind me of that fucking contract. I want out of it.”

“There isn’t any getting out of it,” snapped Lana. “So you’ll do well to remember that. You don’t want to know the alternative.”

“Is that a threat?” asked Pixie, taking the words right out of Thomas’s mouth.

“You fuck up again, and you’ll see.” Lana’s footsteps sounded and stopped. “Go to bed. And don’t get up again.”

Thomas started the car and drove away. He couldn’t help but wonder if his sister had gotten her fill of the abuse there as well. And if so, had that been a part of why she had disappeared?