by Wren, Khloe
Tears glazed over her cornflower blue eyes before she blinked them away. "He came into my room and drugged me with something that made it so I couldn't move. I can’t remember the car ride at all, but I don’t think he did anything to me while we were traveling. When we got here, he changed my clothes. He—" She paused to take a breath, then cleared her throat. I grabbed a bottle of water and cracked the seal for her, helping her sit up so she could take a few mouthfuls of the cool liquid. "He touched me. After he cut my clothes off. But he said he wanted me to be able to move and respond to him before he'd fuck me."
I could tell Mirabelle wasn't used to swearing. She'd probably never really even heard curse words much, let alone used them in the past. If she wanted to stay at the clubhouse, that would change quickly.
"Okay, honey. Drink some more water. That's it. Do you hurt anywhere? Inside or out, you can tell me anything. I'm here to help you any way I can."
She shook her head and picked at the label on the bottle. "I just feel dirty. I want out of this stupid thing he put on me and—" She handed me the bottle in a rush and ripped at the hair ties that were holding her hair into two pigtails, like a little girl would wear. Once she had them free, she threw them away from her. "He called me his baby girl."
Her respiration rate increased quickly as she got more and more worked up. I needed to get her calm so we could get out of here. I knew Keys was waiting outside the rear door for my signal we were ready to go and to confirm she didn’t need a hospital. Setting the water bottle aside, I took her hands in mine.
"It's all over now, Mirabelle. He'll never get to you again. The club will make sure of it."
She shifted her gaze to look me in the eye. "How can they?"
I smiled gently at her. "The Charon MC is known for taking care of those it considers its own. After we rescued you from Godfrey, you joined that group. You can always call on the club to come to your aide. Hang on a sec, let me tell Keys we're ready to go, then I'll explain it in more detail."
I moved to open the rear door and smiled at Keys who stood guard, waiting. "Hey, babe, we're good to go. No need for the hospital, so just back to the clubhouse."
He leaned in and stole a quick kiss before he strode off toward the front of the vehicle while I reclosed the door and shifted to get Mirabelle ready for the drive. Once I was buckled into my own seat, I continued to tell her about the club, without coming out and saying what they'd do to her kidnapper.
"Did you ever study Greek mythology?"
She shook her head. "My parents wouldn't have let me even if I'd wanted to. There was no room in their lives for other cultures."
My heart hurt for this woman. Her parents had sheltered her so much from the world, she'd had no sense of self-preservation when they'd died and left her open to its darker side. Godfrey must have thought he'd hit the jackpot when he’d found her.
"Well, in Greek mythology they didn’t have Heaven or Hell, they had the Elysian Fields for the souls of the good and worthy, and Hades for the souls filled with evil. To gain entrance to either one, a departed soul needed to cross a river on the ferry. The Charon was the name of the ferryman. It was he alone who would decide where a soul would spend eternity. It's after that ferryman that the Charon MC was named. They take people like yourself—a good, honest woman—and they decide they need to protect you. That you deserve all the good things in life. While they take someone like your kidnapper, and they pass judgement on him and send him for his eternal rest with all the other evil souls. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
She nodded. "He deserves whatever happens to him and more. He bought me."
I saw Keys turn his head slightly to hear her better and I knew he wanted to know more. So did I. I wanted all the information we could get so they could take it out of that asshole's hide before they killed him.
"What do you mean?"
"He told me that Godfrey was training me for him. That once he was ready to leave Rocky Gully, he'd deliver me to Greg. That's his name. Greg Simmons. I remember him often coming around in the evening for Bible study sessions with Godfrey." A shudder ran through her body as she closed her eyes for a few moments. "My nightmares revealed the truth behind that lie. What they did had nothing at all to do with the Bible. No matter how many times they called me Mary or referred to Tabitha as Martha."
“They gave you new names?”
“Well, Mary is sort of an abbreviation of Maribelle, and they only used it when I was drugged. Godfrey liked to have me by his feet, worshiping him while he had Tabitha running around doing all the chores. You know… like the Bible story about Mary and Martha? I honestly didn’t know Tabitha wasn’t named Martha until after we were rescued.”
Tears streamed down her face and I reached over and rested my hand on her forearm, wishing I could do more to comfort her. "That's over with now, Maribelle. We will make sure you're always safe from here on out."
I knew I shouldn't make that promise—that it wasn't my place to do so—but I couldn't help it. This might be a woman lying before me, but she was basically a child. Her parents had done her a great disservice, then Godfrey and his drugs had further compounded the issue. We never should have let her leave Bridgewater and the safety net the Charon MC provided to the town.
Keys
Once we arrived at the clubhouse, I told the women to wait in the tank while I got out and made sure the front room had been cleared out so no one would see Maribelle until she was ready to be seen.
"How's she doing?"
I gave a Scout a nod. "We got there before he raped her, but not before he got his hands on her. She wants a shower and to clean up before anyone else sees her."
"Fair enough." Scout looked around. "Keg and Mac, go make sure the way is clear for us to get her upstairs. Eagle? Go find Silk and see what she's set up for her."
I grabbed Scout's shoulder before he could take off inside. "She told Donna his name was Greg Simmons, that he'd bought her from Godfrey. He was supposed to take delivery after the fuck was done training her and was ready to move on from Rocky Gully."
The growl that came from Scout had me jerking my hand away from him in reflex. "We'd guessed that was what he was planning to do, but to have it confirmed? Makes me wish it was possible to kill a man more than once."
I huffed out a breath. "Couldn't agree more. We might need to pass Greg on to the feds so they can use him to trace others Godfrey has sold."
Scout shook his head. "Not this time. We'll see what we can get out of him and if we can find the victims, we'll go rescue them ourselves. The feds have their hands tied with this shit. And I don't want to risk having that fucker back out on the streets."
I nodded, happy with his decision. "That's my thought too, but I had to play the devil's advocate there for a moment. Needed to be sure we considered all the options."
Scout clapped me on the back. "We're good, brother. You're right to make sure we look at things from all angles. And we have handed over shit to the feds in the past, but this time I'm not willing to let them handle it. They should have already found Greg and dealt with him. I'm sure they would have found something linking back to him in all of Godfrey's records. I'm not fucking happy they've not investigated as deeply as they should have."
"I didn’t get a chance to swipe a copy of Godfrey’s hard drive when we raided his place, want me to get the new team on getting a hold of it?"
“Yeah, talk to Flick. She might have some ideas on how you’ll be able to get it. If the feds have missed this guy, you know they’ve missed others. There could be buyers out there waiting for a chance to grab Tabitha and Todd. We need to know.”
Silk came out, ending our conversation, not that we needed to say any more. Scout knew I didn’t want to have to look at all the depraved shit Godfrey had been into, but for the sake of the safety of his victims I would do it. At least with the new team, it wasn’t solely on my shoulders.
"We've got one of the rooms upstairs all set up for her. Clean clothes in th
e closet, girlie shit in the bathroom. It's all set to go."
"Thanks, Silk, could you head on back to the kitchen for now? Once the front room is empty, we'll get her inside and up the stairs. She doesn't want to see anyone till she's had a chance to wash up and change."
Silk gave Scout a nod. "Fair enough. Let me know if I can do anything else."
“Could you call in Mercedes, Veronica and Bess? Have them here to talk with her when she’s ready for it.”
I liked how Scout was thinking. Mercedes had been raised in a cult, Veronica had been groomed and abused by her uncle and Bess had been taken by Godfrey. She’d been the reason we found out about him and went in to end his bullshit. Together with Donna, the women would be the perfect support group for Mirabelle.
“Sure, I’ll go make the calls.”
Moments after she’d gone through the door, Mac came back out. "It's clear, get Donna to bring her in."
I cracked open the rear door and helped Donna hop down before she turned to help Maribelle. Once she was standing, Donna wrapped the blanket from the gurney around her and started guiding her toward the clubhouse. Scout opened the door and closed it firmly behind them before he turned toward the van.
"Right, let's make the most of everyone being out of the main rooms to get this piece of shit down to the basement. Tiny, he awake yet? You didn't kill him already did you, brother?"
"Nah, he's still breathing, Prez. I only hit the fucker the once back at the house. I’m sure he’ll be awake and ready to answer your questions by nightfall."
Scout grinned but it wasn't a happy smile. More like one the devil wore just before he struck. "Excellent. He'll be good to go by the time we’ve got Maribelle settled in." He rolled his shoulders. "Been a minute since I got to work over a fucker who deserved it as much as this asshole does."
As Tiny went and dragged the bastard out of the van and carried him inside, I turned to Scout again. "I don’t think it’s wise to have her living here, Prez. Fuck, brother, I didn't know a woman could be that innocent in this day and age. It's like her parents kept her under a rock or something."
Scout nodded, a frown marring his brow. "Yeah, she'll never cope staying here long-term, and it sure as fuck won't help her heal to see what goes on here once the whores have free rein of the place in the evenings. You got any ideas, I'm all ears."
We moved inside with the others and after grabbing drinks from the bar, sat at one of the tables. Donna came to sit beside me, and I pulled her in close enough that I could wrap my arm around her shoulders.
"I can’t see her ever agreeing to return to the facility in Houston. Now she's been snatched from there, she won't ever feel safe there. I haven't spoken to Donna about it, but maybe we could take her in."
I'd seen the look in my woman's eyes. She'd told Mirabelle the club had claimed her as one of ours, but in reality it was Donna who'd claimed that woman. Donna would be that woman's momma bear and beat off anyone who even thought of causing her harm.
Scout and I both looked to Donna as she blinked up at us in shock at what I’d suggested.
“What do you say, Donna? You and Keys want to take on guardianship of this woman?”
“Um, well, of course we’ll do whatever we can to help her. I’m not sure our current place is suitable though, it only has the one bathroom. She’ll need her own space.”
Scout leaned forward and Donna stopped speaking.
“The house on the other side of the road from us has just hit the market. Four bedrooms, two and a half baths. Might be good to have a fresh start in a new place for all three of you. And you’ll be on the same street with the rest of us. Lots of the club close by to help out if needed.”
With that, he moved to stand. “I’ll leave you to think about it. Just let me know what you wanna do. If you feel you can’t take her in, we’ll sort out something else for her.”
He walked away and Donna shifted on the seat so she faced me. “What do you think? A new home, one not filled with memories might be good for us. Being closer to the others would be nice.”
I looked into my woman’s face and nodded. “Yeah, they say a change is as good as a holiday, don’t they? We can at least go check this place out. See if we like it.”
“We need to talk with Mirabelle, too. She needs to have a say in where she’s going to live.”
“Absolutely. We’ll have a chat with her when she comes down. Maybe get her to come with us to check out the new house.”
“And, Keys? I still want my weekend away with you. But it can wait until we have Mirabelle settled.”
With a smile, she leaned in for a kiss and setting my drink aside, I tangled my fingers in her hair and brought her mouth to mine so I could kiss her deeply like I wanted to. I was grateful and happy that we were back on track together and moving forward from the past.
Mirabelle
I was surprised how clean and tidy the clubhouse was. The room they gave me was small but had all the necessities. A basic closet with built-in shelves, chair, double bed and small bathroom with my own shower and toilet. It was everything I needed, especially since the door had a lock on it. I was sure others had a key, but the chair fit under the handle and gave me another layer of safety.
I didn’t bother taking more than a glance at everything before I went straight for the bathroom and turned the taps on. I carefully took off the shirt I’d been given, then roughly pulled the disgusting nightie and panties off. I tried to rip them up but when I couldn’t, I satisfied myself with shoving them into the pedal-operated trash bin and letting the lid slam closed on it.
Stepping under the water, I was surprised to see the line-up of girlie products on the rack hanging from the shower head. When I noticed every one of them was brand new, I decided not to worry about why or how they got here and picked up the body wash to flip it open and take a sniff. Instantly, the calming scent of lavender surrounded me and with a smile, I put it back and picked up the shampoo. After washing my hair and putting some conditioner through it, I grabbed the body wash again, along with the shower puff and set about scrubbing every inch of my body. Wanting—no, needing—to get every bit of Gary’s filth off me.
By the time I stepped out of the shower, my skin was pink, but I didn’t care. I felt one hundred times better than I had before. Wrapping a towel around my hair and another around my body, I headed back out into the room. After checking the chair was still in place under the doorknob, I headed over to the closet, hoping the man who’d said he was going to text someone about getting me clothes had done so. No way was I going to be heading anywhere wearing only a towel.
A sticky note was on the door of the closet.
“Everything is new and bought just for you. I hope you find something you like. Silk.”
My eyes stung as I slid open the door to see several things neatly folded on the middle shelf. I wasn’t sure what to do with this kindness. These were bikers and their wives. People my parents would never in a million years have allowed me to associate with, yet they were bending over backward to help me. For the second time. And I didn’t know why. I couldn’t repay them in any way, and so far, no one had said a thing about me paying for anything. Donna had explained the club did this for people it considered under its protection. But how did I earn that?
Considering the way Godfrey and others who my daddy and momma had praised, had treated me, I wasn’t about to judge the Charon MC by my parents’ moral compass. This whole experience had really made me sit back and think about the world and how so many judged people by appearance alone, and how wrong that was. It was what was within a person that really counted.
Blowing a breath, I wiped my eyes and reached in to shift through the clothing until I found something I’d be comfortable in. A pair of jeans that were soft, along with a pretty blue sweater that would cover up most of me beneath its fabric looked like a good choice. There was also a pair of pink panties with a pretty, lacy edging on them, and a stretchy sports bra, both with the tags still att
ached. Everything fit and once I was dressed, I reached in to grab the slip-on flats to put on before I returned to the bathroom to brush out my hair. Someone had left a hairdryer for me and I used it to dry off my curls. Leaving them loose around my face, I put everything away and looked at myself in the mirror for a few moments.
I looked exactly the same as I had before my parents had died, but I felt like a completely different person. Godfrey’s crimes had changed me, almost broke me. But I’d survived. I was here and alive and maybe with the club’s help, I could change again. Become someone new that I wanted to be. Something more than a victim.
With a deep breath, I left the bathroom and headed over to the door. Shifting the chair, I unlocked it and stalled out. Where was I supposed to go once I was ready? I couldn’t remember what Donna had told me.
“Mirabelle?”
Relief washed over me and I opened the door to see Donna was waiting there for me.
“The other ladies have arrived and can’t wait to meet you. You ready to head down?”
Ah, that’s right. I was supposed to go downstairs to meet up with a few of the wives. I was glad Donna had come up to get me. I didn’t even care if she’d done it because she knew I had memory issues. They were part of who I was now, and I needed to adjust to living with it. I wished I could keep Donna close. I already liked her a lot. She was calming to be around and had a way of smoothly helping me without bringing attention to the problem.
“That’d be great.”
She waited for me to close and lock my door before walking beside me down the stairs.
“Like both of us, every one of the women downstairs has been through something traumatic, so you don’t need to worry about them understanding or judging you. We’re all survivors and only want to help you.”
Wide-eyed in shock, I looked over at her, unable to believe someone so… well… normal, could have suffered like I had. She chuckled softly.
