by Lake, Rae B.
I know he will. Wire is serious about his family, but I know how it feels to be completely misunderstood and discarded. I have to try to help her. I nod once to let him know I understand him and leave the room. He’s letting me know that if shit goes wrong, it would be on me.
The next morning Maven and I make our way to the opposite side of our compound is on. We keep all the trailers we use for the women we house that aren’t ol’ ladies here. There’s been a real upturn in women who are either being abused or trafficked in the past year or so. Vexx and her girls usually run point with that, but if the girl wants to get right to work, Maven and Wire find places for them to do that. We usually have a bar or club where they can work.
“You sure you want to do this?” Maven asks when we stop in front of Siren’s trailer.
“No.” I chuckle a bit before I reach a hand out to grab the door. Then I think twice and look back over to my sister. “You fist.”
“Fist, you think we have to fight her?” Maven asks, her voice inching up with anxiety.
I quickly shake my head and wait for her to figure out what I’m trying to say.
Her eyebrows knit for a second before she lifts her eyes and glares at me. “Me first. You pussy.”
I put my hands up and take a step back so that she can move in front of me. In actuality, it's not that I’m scared, but the last thing I want is to scare Siren. The last thing she needs is some man she isn’t familiar with walking into her space. At least with Maven, she’s used to seeing her. Maven knocks on the door, and when we get no response, she knocks again. After a few more seconds of no response, Maven takes a deep breath, takes out her blade, and opens the door.
The entire trailer is fucking destroyed. The food I’m assuming Maven or one of the other girls brought to her is sitting in piles on the floor. The girl gave Clean a run for his money when it came to the shit cluttering up her space. Honestly, if Archer was to come in here and see this shit, he might cry, the neat freak that he is, it was so bad.
“For fucks sake.” Maven says as she takes a step in the trailer. She kicks a can over, and it rolls toward the table. I look in the direction the can rolls, and I can barely see the outline of a woman huddled under the tabletop.
I tap Maven and point in that direction. “Siren. Are you going to come out? My brother wants to talk to you.”
The woman crane’s her neck so she can see me, and brief moment, she makes her way out from under the table, keeping her back to the wall, and her muscles tense, ready to fight.
“What the hell did you do to this place?” Maven takes a step forward, but it’s too fast for Siren as she takes a large step back and her hands raise as she drops even further into her fighting stance. She’s on edge, and this can go bad quickly if we don’t diffuse it.
“Easy.” I put my hand up and step in front of Maven. “I need you to cow with me.” I close my eyes and wish that I didn’t have to deal with this. I look around the room and find a piece of scrap paper. I know there’s no way she’ll understand me. She doesn’t speak, which is a problem, and I can only hope that she knows how to read, or the next step would be charades, and I’m not a good mime.
I quickly jot down on the sheet of paper why I’m here and why she needs to come with me, and slowly slide the paper over to her and watch as she reads it. The message on the paper is simple, either she comes with me and lets me help her, or she’ll be on her own. I hope she has enough sense to know that in the state she’s in, out on her own isn’t the best option. She might be a stone-cold killer, but anyone outside of the life wouldn’t tolerate that. Siren would be in jail or a mental institution within a week, from one jail to another.
Her arms drop, but she doesn’t move toward me.
“She isn’t going to come. Let’s get out of here.” Maven tries to pull me out the door, but I don’t let her. I look at my sister and shake my head. I push her toward the door, indicating she should leave, but I’ll stay.
This isn’t the time to abandon her. I will stay right here until she makes a decision about what she’s going to do, and if I have to sit in her space for days, that’s what I will do.
“You sure?” Maven questions.
“Yeah, I’m gold.”
“You better be, don’t let your guard down, Mack. She’s dangerous.” Maven shoots the woman one final look before she turns and walks out the door. I make sure to focus all my attention on Siren. I don’t know much besides the few stories Ink’s told us, but I know the woman has been put through some shit.
She might have the ability to kill a grown man in less than twenty seconds while holding her breath, but she is still just as scared as anyone else.
Her hair is matted and knotted around her head with bits of food and garbage in it, her face is dirty, and her hands look like she’s been digging through dirt. She is even wearing the same decrepit clothes she’d had on when she jumped out of the car. If there’s anyone in this compound who needs help, it’s her.
We stay in the same spot for a long time, and I see her eyes darting around the room, probably waiting for danger to raise its head. After a few minutes or a few hours, I’m not sure which her eyes begin to settle on me every couple of seconds as if she is trying to figure out what I’m going to do.
Once I see her body completely relax, I slowly raise my hand so she knows I’m not trying to hurt her. I nearly jump out of my skin when she takes a step toward me and grabs my hand.
I waste no time getting her out of that filthy cabin. She keeps in line with my steps while her eyes constantly scan the area.
The party from last night ended a few hours ago, but there are still a few stragglers around. Siren stays close to my side, but I can feel the tension around her build. The last time she was in here, we were all trying to hold her down. It wasn’t a good day.
“Hmm, what do we have here?” Topper, one of the Spawns still here from last night, stumbles in our direction. Siren stops in her tracks, and I quickly move to stand in front of her. The last thing I need is for her to kill this fuck because he’s getting too close to her.
“No.” I shake my head, hoping he’ll get the fucking picture.
“Get the fuck out of here with that shit. Rooster said any cunt in here that ain’t claimed can be ran through. My morning wood needs some attention.”
“Not this one,” I say and mentally kick myself for not having a weapon on me right now.
“I think this one will do. Come over here bitch, swallow my cock like a good girl.” Topper smiles and beckons her forward, but she doesn’t move an inch.
I hear them before I can see them. Footsteps rushing from behind us, from behind Siren.
“Can’t you hear slut!” A prospect for the Spawns of Chaos is suddenly behind us, and he wraps an arm around Siren’s waist in an effort to force her to go over to Topper.
“Stat!” I scream, hoping he realizes that I mean stop. When I see Siren’s eyes zero in on the hand around her waist, I know he doesn’t. I reach out for her, but she moves lightning fast. A conditioning of her previous experiences. She grabs the hand at her waist, and using only her hand, bends the prospect's fingers back until the telltale sound of bones breaking snap in the air.
“Fuck! What the shit?” He falls to his knees and pulls his deformed hand up to his face. “Shit!” He cries out in pain, but Siren isn’t done with him yet. She drops down and hits him with her elbow straight to the face. When he falls back, she jumps on him like a cat and goes straight for his eyes. All this happens within a blink of an eye. The woman is faster than I would have expected.
I quickly grab her by the neck, but instead of letting me grab hold of her, I become the next target. She pivots in my grasp and brings the heel of her hand right into the center of my chest before she catches my beard and holds my head firmly, bringing her arm back, and swings with all her might into my jaw. Blood floods my mouth, and lights flash in my eyes. I’ve had grown men hit softer than she did.
She quickly peppers me w
ith knees to the ribs and climbs up my body to access my soft spots. I stumble backward and use my forearms to push her off. She hits the ground, bouncing up to the balls of her feet before her ass could firmly land.
A shine catches my eye, and I see Topper has his weapon drawn, shit is clearly out of hand, and right now, he’s within his rights to blow her fucking head off.
I completely disregard what she’s trying to do and dash over to Topper, and just as he fires, I manage to push the gun up to the air.
Pure chaos erupts as the strobe of our warning lights goes off. Doors slam open, and every single Wing in the building and even a few of our allied club members run out with guns drawn, ready to get rid of the threat.
“What the shit? Where are they?” Ripper yells, his gun swinging from side to side, looking for the target.
Ryder moves forward, making sure to keep himself between whatever the threat is and Wire.
“Mack! Where?” Wire calls out his gun drawn and back against Clean’s.
“It’s okra.” I grab at the sides of my head. I say it again, but instead of ‘okay’, okra continues to come out of my mouth. I snap my mouth shut and pray that no one else fire’s another shot.
“Okra? What the fuck is wrong with this dumbass?” Topper asks from behind me.
“Okay, he is trying to say okay,” Clean says as he lowers his weapon.
“Okay? Get the fuck out of here with that shit. What the fuck happened to your face? What happened to Web’s hand? Why in the fuck are guns being shot where my wife and children are sleeping?” Wire bellows and beeline for me.
“Ask your man here.” Topper backs up
“Mack?”
I gesture with my head in the direction of Siren. Again, she is under one of the small tables waiting for the threat to pass.
When he sees her under there, I almost cringe at the rage that erupts across his features.
“What the fuck did I say, Mack? I told you if she did one fucking thing, she was gone! Get her the fuck out of my clubhouse.”
I reach out and grab his shoulder as he moves to turn around. Devin takes a step toward us.
I drop my hand instantly. “Wait, the fucker grabbed her, and she reacted. I haven’t ember started.” I snap my mouth shut again, grinding my teeth in frustration.
“He grabbed her?” Ink asks. A smoke is dangling from his mouth as he watches the woman under the table.
“Yeah. Tried to pick her up.” I answer quickly.
“Well, that’s on his ass then, Wire.” Ink says, gesturing to the prospect who is still on the floor holding his hand to his chest. “He shouldn’t be touching anything he can’t handle. She doesn’t want anyone touching her, and she has a right to defend herself. Doesn’t she?” Ink asks, distrust evident in his voice. Ink doesn’t trust anyone.
“If she can’t control herself-” Wire continues before Ink cuts him off.
“I can barely control myself, and she was in that fucking hell hole much longer than me. You going to kick me out too, brother? If I fall off the deep end one day, you going to push me out?”
“Don’t do that, you know we would never fucking do that shit. But she’s different.”
“No, and that’s the problem. She isn’t different. That could be me, that could be any fucking one of us. Just give her the full damn chance she deserves.” Ink almost snarls.
“We can fit Mack’s room with another lock. Make sure everyone is aware she isn’t stable yet. We can work this out.” Clean speaks up this time.
“Fuck that. We need to make sure ours are safe.” Ryder says.
“If we put her out, she won’t make it more than a day. We are her last damn shot.” Devin says. My head snaps in his direction. He barely ever speaks up.
“I suppose you have something to say on this as well?” Wire throws in Alex’s direction.
“You’re the leader here, Wire. What we need to do for the club is not always the right thing, but I’ve never known you to give up on someone because shit is hard.”
Wire rolled his eyes, “Yeah, that clears shit up.” He exhales and bends down to where Siren is under the table. “You better be fucking paying attention. Next time you’ll be dead. I guarantee it.” He holds her gaze for a second, neither one of them backing down. When he stands, he looks at me before he turns to go back to his quarters. “Clean, get this shit cleaned the fuck up.” He orders before he disappears behind the doors.
No one moves, though. Everyone’s attention falls to the killer hiding under the table like a little girl.
I move to where Siren’s sitting, and I bend down so she can see me. I reach my hand out and hope she can see the importance of this moment. If the rest of them see she doesn’t trust me, they won’t go into bat for me again.
This time, she comes out quickly, grabbing my hand and sticking close to my side as I usher her quickly up the stairs and into my room.
“Are you hurt?”
She doesn’t answer but instead just finds a corner to sit in. She looks between myself and the bed as if she thinks that is why she’s here.
“No, I won’t fort you.” I cringe and hope she understands what I’m trying to say. When her shoulders relax, and she looks away from the bed, I know she gets it.
One bed, fuck, I didn’t think about that.
I would have to sleep on the floor. Great.
“Hungry?” I ask.
She doesn’t answer.
“A closed mouth doesn’t eat.” She’s going to have to find some way to communicate with me. I’ll even take gestures at this point. “Hungry?” I ask her again.
She nods slowly.
“Good, wait. Don’t leave.”
I leave her in the corner and rush down to the kitchen. Cherry is already making breakfast for LJ. I shoot her a nod and open the fridge to see what we have. This place is always stock full of food and snacks.
“You found a new pet?” Cherry asks as she stirs the oatmeal in the bowl.
I turn to her and shrug my shoulders. “Not pet.”
“Why are you so concerned with her? Why don’t you just let Wire set her up at one of the safe houses or get her a job out west? He has been doing so well with that. Why all of a sudden you need to pay special attention to this one?”
“She’s different. She’s burdened.” My head falls back, and I look up to the ceiling. I don’t know why I even try to talk. I never get a few words in before I fuck it up. “She’s like me.”
“Like you? Burdened?”
I shake my head.
Finally, a look of understanding crosses her face. “Ahh, broken?”
“Yes. Like me.”
“Oh, sweetness, you’re not broken.” Cherry stops what she’s doing and hugs me. She’s Ryder’s ol’ lady, but she takes care of all of us. She used to be a club bunny, so she has a soft spot for most members. I don’t know how Ryder does that. I’d be jealous out of my mind. I pull away from her and grab a few things from the fridge.
“Is that for our guest?” She asks.
“Yeah.”
“Here, take this too. I don’t know many women who don’t like chocolate.” She hands me a king-size bar of Hershey’s, and I put it on top of the chicken tenders I’ve pulled out of the fridge. I take a step toward the door.
“Ugh, aren’t you going to heat that? For someone who is so against treating that woman as an animal, you sure intend to feed her like one.” Cherry chuckles and takes the food out of my arms and places it on a plate and then into the microwave. She adds a few more things to the plate, and though I’m happy for the help, I start to get a bit edgy about the time it’s taking. I don’t want to leave Siren alone for longer than I have to. The last thing I need is for her to wander out on her own.
I quickly grab the plate once Cherry is done and rush back up the stairs. The door is open a little, and the first thing that pops into my head is that Siren is out.
“Fuck! Siren?” I burst in the door, and she jumps up from where she’s sitting, her
eyes wide and muscles tense. Panic painted all over her face.
I calm down and put my hand up to show her that she isn’t in harm's way. “Sorry. Nothing is wrong.”
She still doesn’t relax, just stands there with her back against the wall, I guess waiting for me to attack her.
I slowly walk toward her and put the plate on the small side table I have in the room, along with the fork that Cherry shoved in my hand before I walked out of the kitchen. “For you.” I point to the plate and wait for her to react. I swear it’s like I’m trying to train a whipped dog. She truly is like a pet. Her past makes her wary of everything. Jumpy isn’t even the word.
She looks at me and then at the food. I can hear her stomach growl from where I'm standing, but she doesn’t move toward the plate. It’s only then I remember one of the stories Ink told us about how they used food as a fake reward. Sometimes they would lace the meals with poison. Usually, the better the food looked, the more likely the food would make them sick. Maybe those bastards did the same thing to Siren.
“It’s ok. Not potioned.” I huff out a breath, “Mother fuck, just look ok.” I pick up a piece of chicken from the plate, break a piece off, and shove it in my mouth. Then the bread and the french fries. I’m hoping if she sees me eat, she’ll feel more at ease. Her eyes open wide when I show her my empty mouth, indicating I’ve swallowed the whole thing. I push the plate closer to where she is. She picks up the plate and tries to hunker down on the floor.
“No.” I grab hold of her arm tightly, but I don’t move. Her eyes jump up to mine. “You’re not an animal. Sit here.” I point to the chair, and her eyes go in that direction. She nods, so I let her arm go and watch her sit down. She lifts the plate near her face and starts to grab the food with her hands. I want to laugh. She looks ridiculous with her messy hair, dirty face, and wearing torn clothes. I know if I do, it’ll embarrass her, so I hold it in. “Siren,” I call her name, and when she looks up, I show her the fork in my hand.
