Chapter 1: Chance Meeting

June 3rd, 2024 (Monday)

Wes' POV

My brother (Cameron; he is 25 while I am 32) and me were waiting on our dad in his office because he had called a meeting with us. I knew it probably had to do with the last run Cameron did for the Mercy Black Widow Mercenaries (an MC). Our dad is the President or Prez as we call him and on the last run Cameron almost got him and Park busted by the police in Seattle, Washington (which isn't far from Mercy, Washington). We both were surprised when our mom walked in along with our dad. Our dad sat down beside his desk while our mom stopped on his right side.

"So what's up dad?"  Cameron asked.

"Actually I am the one that called this meeting." Our mom said and I looked at her.

"Cutter brought back a girl last night that he found on the side of the road. She was unconscious and looked to be beaten really badly." She said.

"And?" Cameron asked looking at his phone and I shook my head.

"We put her in a spare room and Doc has come by to look at her. He said it looked like she has been getting abused for a while now." Our dad said.

"Again why is this our problem?" Cameron asked and our mom got a mad look on her face.

"That girl needs our help and protection Cameron so you can act like you have a little bit of a heart." Our mom said in a mad voice and I tried not to laugh.

"You two know better than anyone that we don't give anyone help or protection unless they have siblings in this MC, can pay for the protection/ help, or if they are claimed." Our dad said looking at Cameron and me.

"I'm not looking for an old lady. I am just 25." Cameron said.

"How old is she?" I asked.

"She looks young but I am guessing she is probably close to Cameron's age." Our mom said.

"Come with me, I will let you both see her." Our mom said then I stood up.

Our dad gave me a look as I followed our mom and Cameron followed me. We went to the basement level of the clubhouse and to a room close to the hospital examination room. When she opened the door, she let Cameron and me walk in first. I saw a girl that looked really pale with dark brown hair that was just a little past her shoulders laying in a queen size bed. She looked to be around 215 lbs and maybe 5'9 but I could tell she had curves in all the right spots for me. I walked closer to the bed and saw the bruises on her face(the fresh and old ones that hadn't faded yet). I looked at her neck and there were more bruises then I looked down at her arms and the bruises continued. I shook my head and got a mad look on my face. Our mom was right she looked really young and I started to wonder if she was even older than 18 with the way she looked. I looked towards the clothes I saw on the back of the chair.

"She was dressed like an Amish?" Cameron asked in a disgusted voice.

"There is nothing wrong with a woman wearing clothes that doesn't show that much skin and she might not be Amish she might have dressed like that to hide…" Our mom started to say in a mad voice at Cameron.

"To hide the bruises." I said finishing her sentence and our mom looked at me.

"If she wakes up ask her how old she is; if she is older than 18, I will claim her." I said before walking out of the room but I saw our mom smile.

I went straight to the 3rd floor of the clubhouse and to the gym where I took out all the anger I felt from seeing all those bruises out on the punching/boxing bag. Axel (real name Aaron/ he's my best friend) found me 20 minutes later and he didn't say anything, he just leaned against the wall and watched me. When I got done, I went and sat down on the bench then he sat down beside me.

"This has to do with the girl Cutter brought in last night? I got a tiny glimpse of her." He said.

"How could anyone hurt a woman?" I asked in a mad voice.

"I know and they call us pigs/thugs." He said shaking his head.

"I said I would claim her if she was older than 18." I said and he got a shocked look on his face.

"You are taking an old lady; wow, there is going to be a lot of broken hearts not like there isn't already a lot since you usually have sex with the girls once then let them loose." He said.

"Cameron can't protect her; he can barely get his head out of his butt sometimes and that ego of his…" I started to say and he nodded his head.

"Well they don't call you Goliath for nothing." He said patting my right shoulder.

I am called Goliath because I am 6'6 and 240 lbs which is all muscle and no fat. I have black hair that I keep really short and bluish/grey eyes.

"Good luck." He said and I nodded my head.

We both got up after that and went down to the main area on the first floor.

June 10th (Monday/one week later)

Addison's POV

When I woke up I noticed I was hooked up to an IV machine and was in a room that I didn't recognize. When a guy in a doctor's coat with dark brown hair with a little bit of grey in it and green eyes saw I was awake, he walked out of the room.

When he came back, he had a woman with long light blonde hair and hazel eyes with him. She looked to be at least 50s and she smiled at me.

"Hello darling, my name is Julia. You are safe and at the Mercy Black Widow Mercenaries' clubhouse." She said sitting down at the bed.

My eyes got a little big.

"You are safe I promise no guy here would lay a hand on you." She said when I started to back away from her.

"What is your name?" She asked.

"Addison." I said in my low voice and she nodded her head.

"How old are you Addison?" She asked.

"24." I said in the same voice and she nodded her head.

"If you are feeling like it, I got you some new clothes to wear and I could take you where you can get some breakfast." She said.

I quickly nodded my head because I was hungry and she smiled really big at me. They both left the room after unhooking me from the IV machine then I got dressed. I saw she had a dark red long dress that had a high neckline plus long sleeves for me to wear. After getting ready, I walked out of the room where they were waiting on me. Julia led the way upstairs and to a large main area where there were tables etc. for people to eat, sit, or even play games. We walked to where there was a line for food and she handed me a tray plus a plate and silverware. I got some eggs, waffle, and bacon then orange juice to drink. I followed her towards a table where I saw 4 guys sitting at and 2 girls were sitting in two of the guys' lap. They all looked really scary and were wearing cuts (what they call vests). It had their nicknames on it and I shook my head at some of their nicknames.

"Wes." Julia said when she made it to the table and looking at the guy with black hair and bluish/grey eyes.

He looked scarier than any of the other guys and he had tattoos on both arms (almost a full sleeve on both arms) plus I could see what looked to be a tattoo poking out of the top of the black shirt he was wearing.

"Hey mom." He said before standing up and kissing her on the cheek.

My eyes got even bigger when I saw how tall he was and how big he actually was.

"Son, I want you to meet Addison." She said smiling at him then looking around for me.

She nodded her head when she saw how far away I was from the table and the look on my face plus the tight grip I had on my tray. Wes and everyone else looked to see me. They all looked me up and down and I saw the girls start to whisper to each other after they saw what I was wearing.

"How old is she?" Wes asked then I looked back at him.

"24." Julia said smiling at him.

"That the truth Snow?" He asked looking at me.

I gave him a look when he called me Snow and everyone at the table laughed.

"As in Snow White because you are so pale." A guy with light blonde hair and blue eyes said and Wes shot him a look that said shut up.

I nodded my head before looking down at my tray. I saw Julia move closer and whisper something in Wes' left ear after he bent down to her level. Wes kept his eye on me the whole time then nodded his head.

"I see you are awake." An older guy that kind of looked like Wes said stopping beside Julia then kissing her right cheek so I guessed it was probably her husband.

"Yes she is. Her name is Addison and she is 24." Julia said smiling at him and he nodded his head.

"You have a last name darling?" He asked smiling at me.

"Kennedy." I said in my soft voice plus telling a lie.

He nodded his head.

"You have to be tried of standing on your feet; come sit down." Wes said quickly closing the distance between us then taking the tray away from me before walking back to the table.

He sat the tray down beside his chair on the left side then he sat down before looking at me again.

"I am not going to hurt you Snow." He said holding up both of his hands.

I looked back at Julia and she smiled at me before nodding her head. I slowly walked towards the table then sat down and Wes smiled at me.

"I will let you eat and I will be back to check on you okay darling?" Julia asked smiling at me.

I nodded my head before drinking some of my orange juice then she walked away along with her husband.

"You from Mercy?" One of the girls with dark red hair that was sitting in a guy's lap that had light brown hair and dark brown eyes.

"Originally no; moved here when I was 12." I said in my soft voice without looking at her and I saw her nod her head out of the corner of my right eye.

The rest of the time we ate in silence but they all took turns looking at me like I was the most interesting thing they have seen.

"I'll take your plate; you want dessert or anything? I think we have blueberry muffin or apple pie." Wes said grabbing my plate and putting it under his before standing up.

I shook my head and he nodded his head before walking away.

Wes' POV

"I don't know of a Kennedy family here in Mercy." My dad said stopping on my left side as I got a slice of apple pie for myself.

"She said she is from here." I said looking at him.

"That is probably true but she lied about her last name." He said.

"Which means a family member probably hurt her." I said lowering my voice and in a mad voice.

He slowly nodded his head.

"That look in her eyes; it's like she has no…" I started to say.

"Light/ happiness in her life; yes I saw it too it's full of sadness and when she isn't showing that emotion in her eyes it's like she is dead with that look she gets." He said and I nodded my head.

"Her family could come looking for her." He said.

"Let them try to take her." I said before walking away and he smiled at me.

Addison's POV

"I can't eat all of this by myself so I thought we could share it." Wes said sitting back down then holding a fork out towards me as he sat a plate with a slice of apple pie on it down on the table.

I shook my head before looking away.

"Snow, do you like apple pie?" He whispered near my right ear.

His breath on my neck plus that low deep voice of his made chill bumps appear.

"Never tried it." I said (in my low voice since that is my regular voice).

"Try it." He said before putting some on a fork then holding the fork up to my mouth.

I opened my mouth and he put the fork in my mouth then took it back out when I got the pie off of the fork.

"So?" He asked when I got finished eating.

"Cherry is better." I said.

"I agree 100%." The dark red hair girl said smiling at me.

"It's okay." I said before picking up the spare fork and Wes smiled at me.

"Hey Goliath, we need to get going." A guy with black hair and light blue eyes (that looked to be around my age) said stopping at the table 5 minutes later.

He looked to see me then at Wes.

"I see you are finally awake; I'm Cameron." He said smiling at me.

"Back off Cam and I am coming." Wes said in almost a growl slapping Cameron's hand away when he held it out towards me for me to shake it.

"Stay in the clubhouse until I get back I will take you shopping later." Wes said pushing the rest of the apple pie towards me then he stood up.

Since I was still kind of scared of him, I just nodded my head and he smiled at me before walking away. He pushed Cameron away from the table and made him walk in front.

I was reading a book that Julia gave to me when my bedroom door opened and closed. I looked up to see Wes and he walked towards my bed then sat down in front of me.

"You ready to go shopping Snow?" He asked smiling at me.

"I'm good." I said before looking back at the book.

"Snow, you don't have clothes and if you are going to live here then you need more clothes." He said.

"I can't…" I said before shaking my head.

"You can't what Snow? Talk to me who are you afraid of, tell me and I promise you that you will not have to worry about them again." He said putting his right hand under my chin then lifting my face up so I would look him in the eyes.

"I can't live here; I need to go." I said and he slowly nodded his head.

"Snow, you can't go back to whoever abused you. You are my girl now so you are staying here. Now get your butt out of bed and we are going shopping." He said in a demanding voice then he let go of my chin and stood up.

I pulled my knees up to my chin and put my arms around my knees before rocking back and forth. I zoned out after that and the next thing I knew someone was touching my right shoulder.

"Darling, you are okay." I heard Julia say through the haze.

I slowly stopped rocking back and forth then came back to the present.

I saw she was sitting on the bed in front of me and she smiled at me. I looked to see Wes was standing by the door and he had a scared look on his face.

"I need to go home." I said.

Wes was about to say something when Julia held up her left hand to stop him.

"Ok, we will let you go home but if you ever need help…" She started to say.

"You come here and tell the guard you are Goliath's woman." Wes said finishing her sentence.

I nodded my head.

"Ok then come on I will walk you out." Julia said before getting up then I got up.

I saw her give Wes a look as she walked past him.

"Snow, I mean it come back here if you need anything." Wes said stopping in front of me and blocking my way.

I kept looking at the floor and I nodded my head.

After a little bit, he gave up on me saying anything and I felt him slip something into the pocket this dress had then he moved out of my way. I walked out of the room and when I got outside, I reached into my pocket and felt a piece of paper. I pulled it out and I saw it had a phone number on it and I knew it was probably his number. I folded it back up then put it back in my pocket. Julia walked me to the gate (since they have a fence going around the whole club grounds) then stopped. I walked out of the gate by myself and kept walking without looking back.