by K. J. Dahlen
“Hold it!” Deke shouted as he finally reached them. “What the hell is going on here?”
“We found her when you caught up with Jemmia. She’s the one that brought her back here.” The big man that Dusty hurt got to his feet. He looked to be in pain but was able to walk.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Bring them both to the clubhouse.” Deke turned away and went back to the club.
When he got inside, he saw Cassie holding their daughter. She had tears in her eyes.
Deke went over to her, wrapped his big arms around his wife and daughter then for a moment…just held them both.
When everyone came inside, he turned and watched as Raine led the young woman over to a chair and pushed her down into it.
The young boy was dropped to the floor and scrambled over to the woman and wrapped his arms around her.
Deke went over to them and asked, “Who the hell are you and why did you have my daughter?” He paced back and forth. “Where is my son?”
Cricket looked up at him but didn’t say a word. With her hands tied behind her back, she couldn’t check her wounds. Her jaw felt on fire and she could feel a trickle of blood run down from the corner of her mouth. Her head was beginning to clear. She gazed at Deke and said, “My name doesn’t matter. I returned your daughter because it was the right thing to do. As for where your son is, I don’t know but I hope you find him.”
“You’d better pray like hell I find him.” Deke growled.
Cricket raised her head a bit higher. Looking him directly in the eye, she told him, “You’re going to have to hurry and find him then, because my sister is crazy and he won’t be safe very long.”
Deke stomped over to her and grabbing her shirt, he hauled her to a standing position. “Where is my son?” he growled.
Cricket shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Deke raised his hand and slapped her. When she wouldn’t cry out, he slapped her again. Something metal flopped around on a chain around her neck. Deke paid no mind to it, in fact he didn’t even see it, he was so intent on watching her face. “Where is my son?” he shouted. “Where is he?”
Cricket hung her head but didn’t say anything and when he let her go, she fell to her knees.
Dusty cried out and wrapped his arms around her. Looking up at Deke he said, “You don’t have to hit her. She didn’t take your kids.”
Deke growled at him.
Then Sam rushed over to her and reached out. Grabbing the chain around her neck, he pulled out the necklace and laid it flat on his outstretched hand. He studied the design on the locket, turned it over for a second, then lifted his eyes and studied the girl’s face. “How have you been Cricket?” he asked quietly.
Cricket closed her eyes against the pain in her heart. “Hi Sam,” she acknowledged quietly.
“What the fuck?’ Deke growled. “Do you know her?”
Sam got to his feet. “Yeah I do and so do you,” he told his son.
Deke turned his head and studied the girl. “I don’t know her.”
“Yeah, you do,” Sam insisted. “This is Cricket Tannis. She’s Captain’s kid. One of them, anyway.”
Deke frowned. He had to think hard to even remember who Captain was. He hadn’t seen or heard about anyone from his father’s old MC in years. When he left seventeen years ago, he thought he left everything and everyone behind. “The last time I saw her she was six years old,” he grumbled. “How the hell was I supposed to know her when she’s all grown up?”
Sam turned back to Cricket. “What happened Cricket? Did Cordy take the twins? Why would she do something like that?”
Cricket felt tears roll down her cheeks. When she shook her head and didn’t say anything, Sam pulled out his knife and moved toward her.
Dusty screamed and moved to stand in front of her. “You bastard, you aren’t gonna hurt my Cricket!” His little hands clenched into fists and he stood his ground.
Sam stopped and shoved the boy out of the way. “I ain’t gonna hurt your Cricket,” he claimed as he bent over her to cut the ropes around her wrists. Then he stepped back and looked at Raine. “Check her out and make sure she’s okay.”
Raine looked toward Deke and at his nod, he stepped forward. Assisting her back to the chair, he began examining her wounds.
Reva brought out a basin of warm water and he began cleaning the blood from her face. Raine then wrapped her torn wrists. He looked at her jaw and pronounced her okay.
Deke brought over a chair and sat down next to her.
Dusty settled on her lap and he glared at Deke.
“Okay Cricket, tell me what you know. Why did Cordy take my kids?”
Cricket wrapped her arms around Dusty and held him tight. She didn’t answer him right away. She couldn’t look at Deke or anyone else either. “Did you know she looked for you for the last seven years? We left Bangor after Dad died. I wasn’t but fifteen, so she dragged me along with her. She was determined to find you and claim you as her own.”
Deke frowned. “Why would she think I was hers? I haven’t seen or thought about her in years.”
Cricket raised her head to stare at him. “You were the first man who ever paid her any mind. When she was a kid, she fell in love with you. Do you remember the summer before you left Maine? You were all she could talk about that summer. It got to the point Captain told her to grow up. He told her you would never want her that way, but she wouldn’t listen to him. She even tattooed your initial on her wrist when she was a few years older. Captain got so mad at her and the others, but Cordy didn’t care. She kept you alive in her heart all those years. Then Captain died in the explosion and she became a different person. She packed up and we began our search. Before long, she realized she was carrying another man’s child. She would have gotten rid of the baby but I told her I would care for the child. She gave birth to Dusty in Vermont and after that, we continued with our search. She worked while I kept the house going. We finally settled in Albany a few months ago,” she paused and looked around.
Everyone stood around as they listened.
“Then three days ago, she came home and said she found you. She was so happy then her joy turned to rage and she said you had moved on and now you had another woman in her place. She ranted that she would get you back. She said you would either be hers, or no one’s. Then she got this look in her eyes that said she had a plan. Apparently, she could see that you loved your children. She said that would work to her advantage. If she took your kids, she could make you come to her. She was going to make you give up either your children or your other woman for her.”
“Cassie is my wife.” Deke growled. “There’s no way I would have given up either my wife or my children.”
“I swear by all that’s holy, I didn’t know what her plans were,” Cricket vowed. “She woke me up and had me go to the store for food babies could eat but I didn’t know she was going to take your children until she came home with them the night before last.”
“And my son?” Deke asked. “Is he all right?”
Cricket shrugged. “He was this morning. She was supposed to go to work but changed her mind at the last minute. She said she was going to take the boy with her to run errands. When they left in the truck, I got the hell out of the house. I planned to walk all the way here to return your daughter but then a friend gave me a ride. He said he was coming to Troy anyway.”
Deke ran his hands over his face in worry. “Would she go back to the house if she thought you would betray her?”
Cricket shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think she thought I would ever do it.”
Cassie walked over with Jemmia still in her arms. “Why did you? Why did you betray her?”
“You don’t know my sister,” Cricket told her. “She is beyond insane. She doesn’t feel emotions like a normal person would and when the world gets to be too much for her, she cuts herself just to feel something.”
Cassie gasped in horror. “Would she hurt my son?”
“Has she ever hurt you?” Cassie asked.
Cricket closed her eyes. Hanging her head, she felt Dusty turn in her lap. She felt his hands cup the side of her face. Only he knew her shame, only his eyes had seen what Cordy had done to her. Tapping her face with his tiny hands, she opened her eyes to see him staring back at her. “You need to show them. Show them what she’s done to you and what she will do to both of us if she ever finds us. They need to know. Maybe they can help us finally get away from her.”
Cricket shook her head as tears rolled down her face. “I can’t do it, baby. I can’t.”
“Yes you can.” He smiled. “I’ll hold your hand if you’re scared. It always makes me feel better when you hold my hand.” He leaned closer and kissed her cheek. “You always tell me the truth is better than a lie. They need to know the truth.”
Cricket closed her eyes against the pain. Then she set Dusty off her lap and gathered her courage to do what she knew she had to do. She got to her feet and grabbed the bottom of her shirt. Pulling it up over her head, she stood there letting every man jack of them see her back.
Cassie moved slowly around her to see what Cricket had been hiding all these years. She gasped as she saw the scars not unlike her own. Scars crisscrossed her back all the way from the base of her neck to her waist. Some of her scars wrapped around her side.
“How the fuck long was she doing this to you?” Sam whispered in shock as he viewed her back. He could see some of the marks were very old.
“The first time she lost her temper was a year after Mom died,” Cricket explained quietly. “The older I got, the worse the whippings were.”
“Why didn’t Captain stop her?” Sam wanted to know.
“Dad never knew,” she whispered. “He was never there and when he was, he was more interested in the club than he was his daughters.”
“I think I should apologize for that,” Sam stated. “Back then, the club meant more to me than family. I didn’t understand what family meant. I know better now but back then, I had no fucking clue.”
Cricket shook her head. “Orrin knew, at least I think he did, but after he lost my mom, he closed off that part of himself, so he wouldn’t have to deal with the pain of losing her again. When she died, he almost lost his mind with grief. That’s one of the reasons we moved from New York to Maine. So he didn’t have to remember her.”
Cassie searched her back again, then looked at Deke. “You need to get Sammy away from this witch before she hurts him. If she could do this to her own sister, she won’t be worried about hurting a toddler.”
Raine grabbed up a blanket and wrapped it around Cricket’s shoulders. He helped her back to the chair and assisted her into it.
Dusty crawled back into her lap and held her. She held him close and snuggled into his neck.
“I don’t think she’ll hurt him until she talks to Deke. She still thinks she can make a deal with him,” Cricket spoke up.
“Where would she go?” Deke asked. “If she comes back to the house in Albany and finds you and the kids gone, where would she go to feel safe?”
“She has to know you’d come after her,” Mountain told him.
“Yes, she knows,” Cricket agreed. “That’s what she’s counting on.”
“What do you mean?” Sam asked.
“She wants Deke to come to her. I’m not sure where she’ll go. She always said she has no real home.”
“There has to be somewhere she’d go if she didn’t want to be found,” Deke surmised.
Cricket began shaking her head, then stopped. Something from the past just popped in her head. The longer she thought about it the more it made sense. “Maybe.”
“What?” Deke asked. “What are you thinking?”
“Before my mom died, we had a cabin on Lake Placid. We lived there all year long because that’s where my mom grew up. She said the lake was her home. My dad used to belong to an MC out of Saranac Lake called the Devil’s Triangle. It was a group from Saranac Lake, Tupper Lake and Lake Placid area.” She looked at Deke and Cassie. “She might have gone back to where her life made sense.”
“Lake Placid is a good two hours away,” Sam informed them.
Deke nodded. “And we don’t know if she’s been back to the house in Albany yet.”
The main door opened. Amos and three other men came into the club.
Deke looked up and frowned. “What are you guys doing here?”
Amos nodded at him then glanced over at Cricket and Dusty. He motioned back at Joshua. “Well, I had an idea this morning and made a few phone calls. I thought I would reach out to the cities nearby and help spread the word about the missing twins. I called a good friend of mine in Albany and he came over. What I didn’t know was that Joshua had given someone a ride here this morning. She was a young woman with a couple of young kids. I see you already met her.” He turned to see Jemmia in her mother’s arms. He smiled at the little girl. “And I see you got young Jemmia back too.”
“We’ve set up a network to watch her house in Albany,” Joshua told them. “I’ve got some friends in Albany that alerted us about two hours ago, she came back to the house. My friends said she wasn’t happy about Cricket and the kids being gone. They said she tore the house apart then she packed a bag, took the kid and left town. One of the guys followed her all the way to Long Lake before he lost her.”
“Then I guess we’re going to Lake Placid.” Deke nodded. He turned to Cricket. “And you’re coming with us.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Cricket scrambled to her feet and backed away. The chair tipped over and she kicked it out of the way. “Are you fucking nuts?” she shouted. “I’m not going anywhere near that bitch. She will kill me now and I don’t want to die at the age of twenty three.” She shook her head. “I haven’t even lived yet, and I’m not going to put myself in her path now. You guys have no idea what she’s like when she’s in a rage. There is no fucking way I’m going to Lake Placid. She will kill me without a second thought.”
Deke motioned to one of his men and they grabbed Dusty and hauled him away.
When the boy screamed for her, Cricket turned and tried to snatch him back but to no avail. She watched as Dusty struggled against the bigger man and crying out begging for her to help him but soon, he was quiet. When only his sniffling could be heard, she groaned and wrapped her arms around her waist. Turning to Deke she cried out, “You’re a real bastard aren’t you?”
“In this I am.” Deke growled. “I want my son back and I don’t care what I have to do to get that.”
She crumbled to her knees and rocked back and forth for a moment. She looked over at Dusty, still struggling in the bigger man’s arms. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she got to her feet and walked over to Dusty. Reaching up, she cradled his face in her trembling hands. Looking into his eyes she told him, “I love you baby boy. I love you so much. Please remember that. If I don’t come back, please be strong.” She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. Touching her forehead to his, she whispered, “Remember me with love.”
Then she turned and marched over to where Deke was sitting. Raising her hand, she slapped his face hard. Then she went to where her shirt lay. Bending over to pick it up, she flung off the blanket and pulled her shirt down over her torso. Then she turned and glared at him. “God, I hate you. Let’s go.” Then she looked over at Cassie. “If something happens to me, will you take care of Dusty? I need to know he’ll be okay.”
Cassie had tears running down her own cheeks but she nodded. Cradling her daughter, she watched as Deke got up and led the way out of the clubhouse.
When Cricket began to follow him, she heard Dusty screaming her name. She couldn’t help it, his cries tore her heart out but she put one foot in front of the ot
her and let the tears fall. When she went through the door and she knew he could no longer see her, she stopped long enough to sob.
Someone wrapped his arms around her and that brought her to her senses. She jerked away from whoever was trying to hold her and she took steps toward the parking lot.
“Do you want to ride with one of us or in the truck?” Deke growled.
“In the truck. I’m not sure I could stomach riding on the back with one of you.”
Deke clenched his jaw and stared straight ahead. “Raine you drive the truck.” Then as soon as they were settled, Deke started up his bike. Leading the way, they came to the highway that would lead them north.
Raine was the man who had tried to hold her when she was weeping at leaving Dusty. He didn’t speak to her for the longest time as he drove.
Torn up over this whole thing and terrified, she just stared out the window. She couldn’t even say what she was looking at but it was anything except the man behind the wheel.
The late afternoon sun faded into early evening by the time they reached Lake Placid. Deke and the other stopped just outside of the town and when Raine pulled the truck up to where Deke was waiting, she knew they needed directions from her.
Without turning her head, she told him where the cabin was.
Raine pulled out of the parking lot and drove to where Cricket told him.
She motioned for him to pull over a ways away from the cabin. The others pulled up close to the truck and Cricket showed them their old cabin in the distance.
The lights were on and everyone standing there could see shadows moving around the inside of the medium sized log cabin. It was a one story structure with a red front door and three windows facing the front. Cordy’s old truck was parked along the left side of the cabin, so they were right in thinking she was here.
