It was open to the group chat.
If Bastion got caught with this he’d be killed!
She quickly glanced through the last few texts sent. The guys were coming for her, all of them. The twins had told their dad everything. They were relying on Bastion to keep her safe.
She quickly turned the phone completely off. Stuffed it back in her bra.
Bastion almost knocked it loose again when he bumped her hard on his shoulder, jiggling her on purpose.
“Stop fighting, you little Hellcat,” he demanded, stopping on the stairs.
If she hadn’t already checked the phone, this would have provided perfect timing.
“Not what you call me in group chat,” she said, hinting that she’d already seen his phone.
Bastion sighed with relief, quiet enough that only she heard.
“Sorry,” he whispered.
An ominous chill took the place of any relief.
Was he apologizing for what had already happened or what he’d planned to do next?
“Get down here. Set up your lines,” Greg snapped up to them.
Oh yeah, Bastion was going to make her do coke. The drugs scared her, but not as much as the thought of what Jensen or Larry might do to her when she was high.
Her mind was inviolate.
Always racing with her ideas, never giving up no matter what happened. Sad, afraid, joyful, or tickled to the funny bone. She could rely on her mind when everyone else failed her. Her one ticket out of this life.
They wanted to steal that from her.
Bastion dropped her on a rusty metal chair.
He pulled a flat metal plate out of one baggie that looked like something a pharmacist might use to count and divide pills. The razors were unguarded, simple single-bladed tools that could be used as weapons.
It would take a heck of a lucky cut to do significant damage with only one or two slices. The thought of cutting up her father made her sick, no matter what he’d done to her.
The coke was in little twist baggies of white powder, half a dozen that were double-bagged in the ziplock Bastion had carried. He dumped the powder out from one onto the pill-divider plate and started making a line.
Some things were so fake on television. This, apparently, was as real as it got.
“Waste of good blow on a kid,” one of the gang members commented.
“Nah, she might give good blow to all of us after,” another added with a laugh at his own sick humour.
“You ever suck cock, sugar?”
“I’m more of a top, myself,” Bastion answered the guy instead of her. “If you want pointers, I’d be happy to help critique your technique after I ream your ass. All constructive, of course. Offence intended.”
A nervous laugh burst out of Tess. She couldn’t help it.
The reamed guy took a swing at Bastion.
Bastion moved like the other guy was standing still. Violence should never be beautiful, but Bastion paid homage to the sport of mixed martial arts in a way that was stunning. He cut into the guy’s momentum with an inside shoulder and knee that shoved him back enough for a vicious uppercut.
The guy started falling, knocked out almost immediately.
Bastion kept dancing. The flurry of blows thudded each second until the body hit the floor.
Bastion lowered his fists, blood smeared all over them. Tess caught sight of the blade he’d knuckled with brutal cunning.
“Stop. Joe asked for it,” Greg said, putting a halt to the rest of the guys ganging up on Bastion.
Bastion rolled his shoulders.
“Don’t want to play? What kind of gangster basement is this? You dress-up dolls and drink juice here?”
“Shut up and cut the coke,” Greg snapped at him.
“My razor is dirty,” Bastion complained, flashing the blade he held between his fingers.”Got blood on my shirt, too.”
He tossed the blade on the table and ripped his shirt over his head, revealing his scarred shoulder, the phoenix, and a body that had been disciplined so that he could mete out justice to the rest of them if he wanted.
Now, it didn’t seem like such a long-shot.
Hardened criminals like her father took a better look at Bastion without the civilized trappings. The room was silent for a moment, just the drip of a tap. Nobody pushed Bastion to get a move on.
“Sniff the line I made, Kitten. It’s good enough for a first-time hit. Gonna make you feel sweaty, heart racing and pounding with excitement. You might see things a little differently. Can’t give you too much or that baby heart of yours is gonna pound right out of your chest. That cute brain might seize up and send you flapping. You can’t fly away when we have plans.”
Bastion walked over to the sink with the dripping tap, ignoring her while she eyed the line of white powder he’d left for her. He washed up, glancing back at her.
“I told you to snort. Don’t make me repeat myself again. Time is ticking.”
Tess swallowed thickly.
Bastion looked dangerous and mean.
She was about to trust him with the most important thing she possessed: her brain. He’d taken control for her before and treated her trust with respect.
Bending over the table, she plugged one nostril and snorted the powder like a pro.
“Good job,” Bastion praised, drying his hands on his pants.
She coughed, hacked, and grabbed for her burning nose.
The two gangsters left conscious laughed, while her father smacked her on the back as if she really was choking.
Nope, this was much worse.
“She should do another line,” her father suggested once her coughing fit subsided.
She wanted to blow her nose, not inhale anything else into it.
“No, thanks.”
“So polite. Did Greg seem like he was asking?” Bastion mocked.
He walked back over and crouched down beside her chair. Grabbing for a new razor, he cut another line from the powder.
“I had enough,” Tess protested, softer.
She wouldn’t beg Bastion in front of them.
“We’ll know when you have enough. Sweaty, squirmy and squirrelly. Chest pounding. Seizure if we give you too much,” Bastion said.
It was like he was reciting the side effects and the overdose reaction to her.
Again.
Fuck, her brain wasn’t working and she’d only done one line. Bastion had been trying to tell her what to feel to fake it. ‘Cause the powder she had snorting burned her nose but that was it. Not a single thing that cocaine was supposed to make her feel had happened.
The door at the top of the stairs slammed open.
Feet sounded on the stairs. A lot of them.
Tess looked up with hope. Maybe the rescue had arrived?
“Did the Wolf eat Little Red yet?” called one of the new arrivals.
Nope, definitely not a rescue.
“Larry, you sick fuck. Tessa’s my daughter. I ain’t into that shit you wank off to online. Told you before that my daughter isn’t ripe enough yet. Still sucking boy-cock, though this one she’d brought to meet you has bull-sized balls.”
Did her father just protect her in some half-assed, completely unexpected way?
And compliment Bastion?
“Snort,” Greg hissed down at her, shoving her face into the drugs before she could get an eye on Larry or the rest coming down the stairs with him.
It wasn’t coke. She could do this
Fuck, did it burn.
Greg wasn’t helping. She’d been nuts to think it.
“Where’s Jensen?” Bastion asked.
Bastion bent down and put the supplies for the drugs away, cleaning up. Was he so neat when he baked a cake?
The bizarre image of Bastion naked except for an apron, and her throwing little-bitty sprinkles everywhere to rile his tidy side into punishing her, flirted through her thoughts.
Maybe there was something in this fake blow after all?
She giggled
.
It was even more inappropriate than her nervous laugh earlier. This time she was more amused than scared.
“Children have no patience for surprises these days,” someone else answered. “Must be all the violent cartoons. Desensitizes them.”
“Jensen,” Bastion muttered under his breath.
It had been intended for Tess. She had already sobered up, but now wasn’t the time to act like it.
“I want to watch Bugs Bunny!” she demanded in the little-girl voice Maddy used.
She added another giggle.
Five men cleared the stairs at the bottom. The leather cuts weren’t needed to identify them as part of the gang. They wore a cloak of lazy menace that said they were at the top of the criminal chain. Anyone stupid enough to question it would be sunk to the bottom of a lake on a moonless night in cement shoes.
Her imagination wasn’t working overtime.
She also shouldn’t be seeing double.
“Brothers,” Bastion mumbled to her.
Okay, not exactly double.
“Lar, meet one of Kayden Saxton’s friends. Sebastian’s dirt but his daddy tried to clean him up nice,” one of the look-alike brothers said.
Must be Jensen. He had greasy brown hair that was shaved short. Larry’s hair was a touch longer and he had a goatee.
“You did your research,” Bastion said.
“Where’s my blow?” Jensen asked.
“Inside my fiancée. We’re celebrating,” Bastion answered.
“You know I don’t like ‘em high, Wolf. My brother likes to hear screams. Ain’t fucking funny screwing a bint with the lights off upstairs.”
That was Jensen again.
Larry spat on the ground.
“Don’t knock it. I got a round with Wolf’s crazed bitch before he left the den. She was so drunk, it was a self-serve open bar. Too bad you left that easy cunt after that, picky bastard.”
Tess reeled back at the revelation. Larry was talking about raping Maddy.
Bastion caught Tess with a steady hand on her shoulder.
“The boy says he has the rest of your blow. These were just samples,” Greg said, changing the direction of the conversation.
“Where is it?” Larry asked. “Cost me months to find a new supply that pure.”
“Why don’t you ask your brother?” Bastion replied.
The brothers actually looked at each other for a moment.
Tess laughed. It was the nervous one again.
What the fuck was Bastion playing?
“I don’t know what happened to the blow,” Jensen said.
Did he sound... defensive? Was that guilt?
“You let some noob stash it for you and he didn’t put it in the trunk. I found it under the driver’s seat. Trunk was cleaned down to the lining, so I know you tore it apart looking for the drugs. What happened? Tried to cause trouble between Larry and his lawyer? A good, paid liar is better than a brother to have at your side. You set Saxton up good, but if you aren’t willing to take care of the little details yourself, the whole plan falls apart,” Bastion said.
He turned to her and laughed.
“Can you imagine Jensen’s face when he couldn’t find the drugs he’d hidden from his brother to set up Saxton? Practically put the business under that he was trying to steal!” Bastion exclaimed.
Tess thought fast. She had all the pieces, but not the firsthand knowledge of that night that Bastion possessed to put the pieces together as quickly.
“You put the drugs in Larry’s car, under the driver’s seat?” she asked out loud.
This was meant to be overheard.
“That’s a mil in blow. I left it parked outside, down a block. Keeping it away from all the heat hired by your fucking friends,” Larry said, giving Bastion and Tess an angry look.
The anger wasn’t mainly for them.
Larry turned on his brother with a gun in his hand.
“Get the blow,” Larry ordered.
Everyone else in the room except for Jensen, Tess, Bastion, and Greg obeyed. There was a rush for the stairs.
Tess was scared.
It had ripped her heart out when Greg pulled a gun on her, but then he’d re-holstered without taking a single shot. Greg threatened, he blustered. He’d use his fists if pushed.
Tess realized, staring at Larry shoving a gun in his brother’s face, that this was different.
No matter what a fucking piece-of-shit father Greg had been to her and a terrible husband to Maddy, he never would have pulled the trigger.
She’d misjudged him. He wasn’t a good guy. He was a bad man and he accepted it. Knew he was poisonous to their family. Stayed away from them as long as he could.
Damn hard for an addict.
Until Tess had thrust herself back into his world.
Rachel had bluffed Maddy.
“Get her under the table,” Greg whispered to Bastion.
She was unceremoniously shoved by her father’s hand on her back. Bastion followed her under, covering her with his body.
Greg didn’t even say goodbye.
There were three shots. The door to the stairs banged open again. And a buzzing that got quieter until she didn’t hear anything.
23
Tess
Shaken and Stirred
Mad. Maddy. Mom.
Tess opened her eyes to the sight of Maddy’s concerned stare. Maddy had been hovering over her in expectation. A mother had watched her children sleeping enough times to know when they were about to wake.
“Mom,” Tess said out loud.
Her voice sounded dry and it cracked. She swallowed thickly, letting the rush of her last memories wash over her mind.
Maddy smiled and squeezed one of her hands. She gave Tess a moment to get bearings.
“Tessa. You’re at the hospital. Do you want to have a drink or do you have to use the washroom?” Maddy asked.
“Pee,” Tess admitted.
“You’re hooked up to some monitors. Let me have the nurse come and get you free,” Maddy said, pushing the call button.
This was such a turnaround, Maddy caring for Tess in the hospital. It felt right even if it was strange at the same time.
Maddy had always been there for every cold and minor illness when Tess was younger. Nothing serious, thank goodness. The worse had been a scarlet fever when she was eight and that was the last time Tess had been admitted to a hospital.
“Mom, I was with Bastion... and Greg. Are they okay?”
“Bastion and your other four young men are waiting outside. Along with your brother, sister and a few others. Your father is in the ICU, but he’s stable. He was shot.”
Tess swallowed again. “Oh, do you know what happened?”
“Yes. Bastion explained. There is a Mr. Saxton here, the father of the twin boys. He’s asked to provide you legal counsel. The police are asking for a statement from you.”
“I’m glad you are here, Mom,” Tess said just as the nurse walked into the room.
There was a lot of noise in the hallway, drawing Tess’s attention. She caught sight of many faces trying to peek through the door. Everyone Maddy had mentioned, including what looked like Ruby and Mr. Wilkinson as well.
“I told Doc Mike I wasn’t staying another minute when you needed me. He understood, although this is only an overnight pass. I need to go back tomorrow to check in with Doc Mike about my mood symptoms. Ruby promised you, Ashley, and Jason can all stay with her until I’m home for good. I would prefer that, Tessa.”
Tess had just gotten back to the townhouse, but she understood Maddy’s request. If their situations were switched, Tess would have made the same request. She didn’t want her mother rushing to get home if Doc Mike thought it too soon. Everything that happened was such a source of stress that it could push her mother’s recovery back.
“My name is nurse Lana. What can I do for you?”
The nurse asked her question after politely waiting for Tess and her mother to finish t
heir conversation.
“Tessa has to go to the washroom.”
“Okay. I’m supposed to call the doctor once she was awake, so I’ll give him a ring,” Lana said.
The nurse efficiently unhooked all the equipment and got her up.
Tess made her way to the washroom, peeking out the door’s window to everyone she could see waiting for her. It was hard not to go out there and hug all her guys. Her bladder really didn’t give her a choice, however, near to bursting. They must have pumped her full of IV fluids when she was unconscious.
Quickly taking care of the chore, Tess came back to the room to see the doctor waiting. He’d been fast.
“Theresa Sinclair?”
Tess nodded to the doctor. He rattled off her date of birth for confirmation of her identity and checked her hospital bracelet.
“I’m Dr. Smythe. Come back to the bed so the nurse can do a repeat set of vitals,” the doctor requested.
She was hooked up again.
“Your friends have explained to us what happened. I understand that you were forced to inhale through your nose a drug. It was naloxone in powder form. That is not meant for inhalation—there are nasal-spray forms for drug overdose. An ENT doctor was consulted to give you a sinus rinse. Your toxicology screen is clean. You had a concussion with a loss of consciousness. Your CT head showed no bleeding. Medically, you are stable, although I expect your recovery to be complicated by your other recent concussion that your friend Warrick told me about, which happened last week.”
Maddy gave Tess a look that said she was sorry and a little bit put out.
“Mom, I didn’t want to say anything. It was a stupid thing. Some kids at the park. I never lost consciousness and I even saw a doctor,” Tess explained, knowing Maddy was upset Tess hadn’t shared the earlier injury with her.
“Her vitals are all normal,” Lana announced.
“Theresa, do you have a headache or any nausea currently?”
“Headache,” Tess admitted.
“Please give her gravol 50mg and demerol 50mg IM. You may discontinue the IV. The drugs may be sedating. We are going to keep you overnight for observation. I need the nurse to go over a headache and concussion score with you now and in two hours. I also would like to do an exam before I let any of your friends in. The lawyer asked to come in first, with his sons Kade and Keir, as he felt you’d be more comfortable with them present. The police want a statement, but Mr. Saxton requested to talk to you first.”
Duplicity (Victory Lap Book 2) Page 38
