Shady looked up surprised and then slowly nodded her head.
“I'm so sorry,” the girl whispered.
Shady closed her eyes and then nodded, “Let’s talk later.”
“Okay,” Tami said and Shady heard the sound bikes coming up the road.
They were here.
Chapter Eighteen
“Dehydration, drugged, and beaten. Lucky she is still alive, I hope you killed the bastards responsible?” the doc said as he explained to Shady what Jas’s condition was. Although Shady looked like Tami, she felt a connection with Jas; there was something about the girl. Slider and Cajun had questioned her briefly about it but Shady hadn’t been able to explain it.
Tami had already been checked out. Other than being slapped around a few times, nothing had happened to her physically. Mentally, she was a mess. Dom had shown her videos of Shady when she was younger, demanding she behave just like her. It was creepy Tami said to her. Some of them Shady had just been sitting in her room, talking on the phone with what she guessed were her school friends.
It had been hard for Shady to listen to, and she had given the girl the sympathy that she needed, but then Freedom had taken over thankfully. It reminded Shady too much of what had gone on when she was younger. She couldn’t let that seep in again. Not when she had let so much of the hurt go.
Shady had then gone into Jas’s room and waited while the doc examined her. The older man had been disgusted with the old injuries he found and made note of all of them. Shady sat with the girl through the entire exam while the girl remained unconscious.
“When will she wake up?” Shady asked.
“Don’t know,” the doc said and pointed to the bags of liquid he had hooked up to her arm. “Hopefully once she starts getting the fluid restored and the drugs get out of her system. Beware though, she will go through withdrawals, it looks to me like they had her drugged up a lot, probably addicted by now. That is how they controlled her.”
Shady nodded and pushed a lock of blond hair back on the young girl's head and said, “Will help her.”
The doctor looked at Shady and then smiled. He knew her story, he wasn't surprised that Shady was helping this girl out. “I know you will,” he said softly and then put his hand on her shoulder and patted her.
Cajun and Slider were standing in the doorway watching Shady intently. Both of them were worried about her. The guys were talking to Tami right now, trying to get the whole story. It was difficult making her go through it, especially when the girl kept breaking down.
“Shay,” Cajun said softly and Shady turned and looked at them. They saw the lost young girl in her eyes, and it almost broke their hearts to see her in pain.
“I'm staying,” she said firmly and both men nodded. “Until she wakes up. I don’t want her to wake alone.”
“You want us to keep you updated?” Cajun asked. There was no way he was going to cut her out of this now.
“Yeah,” she said softly and then turned back to Jas and leaned back in her chair. The guys silently left the room as she focused on the young girl lying in the bed.
*****
Tami turned to Freedom and smiled, “Thank you.”
“Oh, darlin’,” Freedom said and kissed her forehead. “No need to thank us.”
“You guys saved me,” Tami whispered and looked around the room. They had allowed her to get up and go into the kitchen to eat. She was starving, the last actual meal she had eaten had been a week ago.
Since then, she had been living off the scraps they gave her. It was disgusting. “You saved yourself. Now, who are we going to call?” Freedom said, picking up her cell phone.
“My sister,” Tami said eagerly.
“Where is she at?” Freedom asked softly.
“Pinessee,” Tami said. “She runs with the Savages.”
Everyone in the room froze and Creed stalked over to Tami.
“Why didn’t you tell us that before?”
“'Cause I wasn’t sure who you were. I saw the patches and didn’t know if you were friendly with the Savages or not. I mean, I have heard stories about stuff like this,” the young girl gushed. Apparently, now that she was safe, she was free to be the bubbly girl she had been. The club was a little shocked, they figured she would be traumatized, but she had given them all the information needed about the men who held her. Then she expressed interest in helping them kill the ‘bad guys’. The Warriors had all shook their heads and moved on from the obviously bloodthirsty girl.
“I mean, Rose’s sisters said that they were told that if another club got a hold of them it would be bad because they could use them against the Savages. I didn’t want to do anything that would hurt my sister, she is kinda protective of the Savages,” Tami explained with a rush. “I tried to go to one of their parties once, because you know all my friends at school think it is so bad ass that my sister hangs with them. I mean, have you seen Tonto, he is gooorrrrgggeeeeooous. Everyone thinks so, he rides by, and all the girls drool. When he claimed Rose everyone was like sad.”
“Does she ever stop talking?” Fork whispered as the girl continued to ramble on.
“I don’t think so, maybe we should just call Tonto and ask who she belongs to. He would know if one of the girls was missing a sister,” Creed whispered back.
“Yeah, may be quicker,” Fork replied, folded his arms, and pretended to pay attention. Creed rolled his eyes and turned to Easy and Poke who were trying to follow the girl.
“So my sister, Heaven, is gonna be PISSED OFF,” Tami finished off her ramble with.
“Your sister's name is Heaven?” Creed said quickly.
“Oh yeah, didn’t I tell you that?” Tami asked with a smile. “Can I have some more ice cream?”
“Sure,” Freedom said and laughed at the guys who were trying to get away from the teen girl. “Just wait,” she called to Poke and Easy who were walking quickly. “When you have a daughter…”
Both men froze and turned around. Easy snapped at Freedom. “No girls, we don’t have enough protection for a girl, has to be a boy.”
Freedom giggled and looked at her men. “I think that is your job to determine the sex of a child.”
“Yeah, well,” Poke said and looked down at his crotch. “I only have male swimmers so if it a girl it is Easy’s fault.”
The men in the room laughed and shook their heads, at least they had something to laugh about, because right now the tension was running really high.
*****
“Did you lose something?” Creed said into the phone to Tonto, the Prez of the Devil Savages.
There was silence on the other end for a moment. “It depends,” finally, Tonto said warily.
“How about a fifteen-year-old girl whose sister’s name is Heaven?” Creed said.
“Shit,” Tonto said into the phone and then he heard some whispering. “We will be there in an hour.”
“Good, and hey,” Creed said.
“Yeah?” Tonto said.
“I am happy to hear that you are ggggoooooorrrrrggggeeeous on the back of your bike,” Creed laughed and Tonto cursed into the phone.
“Do not repeat that shit,” Tonto growled.
“But all the girls were so sad when they found out you were off the market,” Creed roared.
“I am gonna kick your ass when I see you,” Tonto barked, but Creed heard female laughter in the background.
“Bring it,” Creed snorted and then hung up the phone.
“That was just mean,” Fork laughed.
“We all needed a laugh,” Creed said and leaned back in his chair. “Don’t think we are gonna get much of that in the next few days.”
*****
Shady stared out the window of the room Jas was in. She was thinking about her mother and father. What the fuck had gone so wrong? She was going to drive herself crazy thinking about this. She needed to stop. What was she going to do about Jas? A new focus, someone who needed her.
She looked at the sleeping form on th
e bed and sighed. Who was she? They only knew the name Jas, and that was all. Tami hadn’t known anything else, mostly because the girl had been drugged the entire time Tami had been there. She had woken only a few times to beg Tami to take her out of there.
“Please,” Shady heard the girl moan and Shady stood. She was waking up finally.
“Jas?” Shady whispered and grabbed the girl’s hand as she began to move around. “Hey, you are safe.”
“Safe?” Jas said pathetically. “I am never safe.” She slurred and Shady leaned over and put a hand on her cheek.
“Yes, you are safe,” Shady said. “No one is going to hurt you here.”
Jas opened her eyes slowly and looked around, her blue eyes taking in her surroundings. She was weak, and could barely lift her head. Shady pulled a pillow from the chair and carefully lifted the girl up, pushing it under her. Then she grabbed the glass on the table that held cold water and held it to the girl’s lips. Slowly, the girl drank a sip through the straw.
When she was done, she pulled back. “Who are you?”
“My name is Shady,” she replied and grabbed the girl’s hand again. “We know your first name is Jas, but what is your last name?”
The girl was shivering, Shady chose to not address that yet, she needed to find out more about her before she started going into heavy withdrawals. The doc said it was coming, and if the sheen of sweat on the girl’s forehead and lip were any indication, she was going to start very soon. Shady knew it was going to be miserable, she had seen it plenty of times with her friends on the street. Thankfully, she had never gotten that heavily into drugs, she had smoked pot, and that was it.
“Don’t have a last name,” the girl said through her chattering teeth. “Cold.”
“I know you are,” Shady said slowly and pulled up the blanket. “You are going to feel like crap for a few days, the drugs they had you on are going to mess with you a little until your body pushes them all out of your system. So what do you mean you don’t have a last name?”
Jas closed her eyes and Shady could see the tears leaking out of the side. “Don’t have a last name because no one knows who I belong to.”
“Surely you remember your family?” Shady said.
“Nope, I was told my mother sold me to a guy for a hundred bucks because he liked little girls to call him daddy. He wasn’t creepy or anything, just liked to dress me up and then whack off while I played. First memory I have,” Jas said.
Shady frowned and leaned back. “Then?”
“Guy died, choking himself, the cops came and put me in the system. Lived with some church family for a few years, got sick of them and left.” Jas groaned and tried to push herself up. “Lived on the streets since I was twelve. Guys nabbed me a while ago, promised that if I ran errands for them they would pay me. It was a trap and they locked me up.”
“Where was this?” Shady asked and took a washcloth and put warm water on it from the small basin she had gotten before, and washed the girl's face slowly. Jas shivered again more violently this time and Shady ignored it.
“Dallas,” Jas said and then frowned. “Why, where am I?”
“Nevada,” Shady said and the girl moaned and put a hand over her face.
“Shit,” the girl whispered. “Sadie.”
“Sadie?” Shady asked.
“A girl I was watching, she is eleven, ran away from her stepfather,” Jas said.
“Where is she?” Shady asked.
“Last time I saw her she was going to get some food and bring it back to the house we were squatting in,” Jas said slowly. “Shit, I think they got her too.”
“Let’s concentrate on you and then we will see about her,” Shady said and then stood and grabbed the bottle of pills the doctor had left. “This should help with the detox.”
The girl looked at Shady warily but she took the pill. “I guess if you wanted to kill me you would have already.”
“I just want to help you” Shady whispered and watched as the girl swallowed the pill.
“Why?” Jas asked and leaned back against the pillows, her eyes getting heavy again.
“Because I was like you, and someone saved me,” Shady whispered but Jas was asleep, or at least that is what she thought, but the girl heard her and ignored it. The woman was wrong, no one knew what she had been through, and no one cared. Jas just had to get strong enough to leave.
*****
“Come on, Shay, you need some rest,” Slider said softly into her ear. She had fallen asleep in the chair watching Jas. She stirred and looked at the girl who was still sleeping.
“How long was I out?” Shady asked.
“Don’t know, we have been here for an hour and you haven’t stirred. Harmony is coming in to take over for a while. Come on, you need to get some rest,” Cajun said on the other side of her.
Shady shook her head. “No, I need to take care of her.”
“You can, when you get some sleep,” Slider said.
“No, if she wakes up and I am gone she will not believe when I say I want to help her,” Shady argued. “Just bring me in a bed and I will sleep here.”
“Shay?” Cajun went to argue.
“NO!” Shady hissed. “I am not leaving.”
Slider stood and ran his hand down his face, they were all exhausted, and this battle was one none of them wanted to have. So the guys did as she said and went out and had the Prospects bring in a bed for Shady. Cajun and Slider brought in another chair so they could both sit guard as well.
It was a good thing to because when the shit hit the fan first thing in the morning they were right on hand to deal with it.
Chapter Nineteen
“LET ME GO!” Jas screamed as she was shaking violently trying to get out of bed. The girl had woken up from a nightmare apparently, and had no clue where she was.
This was the fourth time she had woken tonight. Slider and Cajun had both helped when she had woken. The girl had fought them at first, but then it was like she knew they weren’t going to hurt her.
Shady and the guys tried to talk to her but she was too far gone. She was in the middle of withdrawals and seeing things, she only knew they would take care of her. Shady was prepared and had already gotten the straps needed to keep the girl from hurting herself. It was getting them on that was the problem. Shady should have done it when she was asleep, but honestly, she didn’t want to do that to the poor girl. She had been through so much already.
“We need to tie her down,” Shady growled to Cajun and Slider.
“NOOOOOOO,” Jas screamed and tried to fight harder. The only thing going for the three of them was the girl was still weak, or they would have had a hell of a time getting her restrained. “Please, anything but that!” Jas had screamed and they all felt guilty.
By the time they were done all of them were panting and out of breath, and Jas was kicking and fighting to get free, but she was unable to hurt herself at least. Shady looked at the men and knew they were in for the long haul with her. Damn, maybe they did have her back.
When the girl had woken up again and began screaming in terror the guys had jumped to their feet thinking someone was in the room. Shay had noticed their need to protect Jas already. There was no one but when Jas’s eyes latched onto the guys, she had freaked even more. Shady had tried to calm her down, but she wouldn’t focus on anything but getting free.
“Should we call the doctor?” Cajun asked.
Shady shook her head. “No, been through this before, just need to make it through the first twenty-four hours. Then we will be able to talk to her again. Right now, her body is screaming for a fix. She needs to ride it out.”
“Fuck,” Slider whispered. “This sucks.”
“Yeah,” Shady said and then sat back in her chair and watched. She grabbed a hold of the girl’s hand and held on, talking softly to her. Cajun and Slider both nodded and took up their post again watching to make sure the girl didn’t hurt herself, and no one could get in unless they wanted them to
o.
*****
“You need to go and get an update,” Shady said to Slider when Jas settled down again. The girl wasn’t asleep, she was staring at the ceiling in the room, refusing to acknowledge them. So far, the colorful array of names she came up with for them had been entertaining.
“I will,” Cajun said and stood. “Want me to bring you back some food?”
“Yeah,” Slider said and looked at Shady who had barely slept at all. “Babe, you need to take a break.”
Shady shook her head. “Not until she is out of the woods.”
Slider sighed and then nodded to Cajun who left the room.
*****
“The Savages came and got Tami. The sister was relieved and very grateful that we found her. Plus, Tonto and the others were pissed when they found out the girl had not just run away like they thought. The Diablos took one of theirs, and they are gonna pay for that,” Creed said.
“We have the Intel the girls gave us from Lola, we know the time and place of the drop. We have five more days until then,” Fork said seriously. “After that, we leave for Mexico to deal with the head of the snake.”
Cajun nodded and looked at the plans the guys had drawn up. They had some serious firepower already on their way to the border of Mexico. They were going to set up in the small town closest to the compound that Reyes was hiding in and gather Intel until they arrived. The guys from Cali were leading the way.
The Savages and the Warriors were going to deal with the local problem before they took off. The owner of the storage place was allowing them access to three of the sheds surrounding the area of the buy for them to hide in. They were making plans on who was going to go where.
*****
“Please,” Jas screamed, begging for the drugs the assholes had gotten her hooked on. Shady ignored her and wiped her forehead again. “You bitch,” Jas screamed. “You don’t even know me, fucking let me go and I will get it myself.”
“No,” Shady said softly and then sat back down.
“I am going to kill you,” Jas screamed.
“Yeah, when you can stand up on your two feet without jonesing for a hit, you can give that a shot, until then, suck it up,” Shady growled.
Shady: Ops Warriors MC Page 16
