Lawless (King #3)(17)

Kings eyes darted to mine and I knew what he was thinking. He was the only one who knew what Eli and his group of cunts did to me and he was searching my face for any sort of reaction. I wasn’t a chump. I wasn’t some chick whose virginity was stolen. It was torture. Plain and simple. Did we kill every last one of those motherf*ckers?

Yes, we did.

“Great of you guys to take her in, but you ever think she might be on their payroll? That she’s not a victim but out to get info?”

“Crossed my mind. Don’t say shit around her just in case. But I’ll tell you something. If her beat down was all for show, it’s a pretty impressive act,” King said.

“You should go in and check on her. If she starts to shake or anything, Sally said to put her in the warm shower,” Ray said.

“Fuck!” I said, running my hands through my hair. “Shock? What if this is real? What the f*ck did they do to her?”

“Ray’s been with her all night and she’s been either sleeping or screaming, but hasn’t said anything about what happened,” King said.

“She’s just a f*cking kid!” I yelled. “You don’t think that he would…” But I answered my own question. “He would. He totally would. And not just him either…” I trailed off. I walked over to the couch and sat down feeling my stomach turn over and over again when I thought of Chop raping a little girl and then letting the sick f*cks, and there were several in the club, have at her.

“How did she get your ring?” King asked.

“I was a dumb kid and I gave it to a little girl because she didn’t call the cops when Skid held her at gunpoint at a gas station. I never expected to see her again. I told her a story. A lie. Told her if she ever needed anything to come find me and give me the ring and I had to do whatever she asked of me. Thought she’d forget all about it.”

“You should go in and see her,” Ray said. “If she really did come to you to seek some sort of help from you, seeing you, knowing that you’re here, might do her some good.”

“Why?” I asked. “She doesn’t know me. I haven’t seen her since I gave her the ring years ago.” I sprang off the couch. “Chop wanted to send me a message by beating on and possibly raping a little girl. What I’m going to do is sneak back into the clubhouse and slit my old man’s throat and then hit the road again. This shit shouldn’t be at your doorstep. I won’t let it happen again. I’ll put her in the van and drop her at the hospital. We’ll both be gone by morning.”

“Don’t you think that if you take her to the hospital you run the risk of ruining whatever it was she needed your help for?” Ray asked.

“Never thought I’d hear you suggest a hospital,” King said.

“It was a lie! A joke. I was a dumb f*cking kid!” I dropped my head in my hands.

And now you’re a dumb f*ck pushing thirty, Ghost Preppy chimed in.

“Go in there and you tell me if the girl in there looks like a f*cking joke.”

“I’ll take care of it. I’m not a Bastard anymore. I’m not worried about hospitals or getting caught. Besides, if she’s a f*cking rat what the f*ck does it matter? I’ll drop her and be on my way.”

“Where?” Ray asked.

“Wherever that’s not here,” I said.

“That hurts you know,” Ray said, disentangling herself from King.

“You can’t run forever man,” King said.

“I’m not running from those f*ckers!” I yelled. Ray’s eyes darted to the closed door, I lowered my voice again.

No, but you’re running from yourself.

“I have to go check on the baby,” Ray said, stepping toward the door. She picked up a radio looking thing off the table on her way out. “Baby monitor,” she said, holding it up with a tight smile on her face. The last thing I wanted was to hurt her, but I didn’t know how to fix it. I just needed to leave. To be on my own. To figure out my f*cking life.

Why didn’t they get that?

“What’s the baby’s name?” I called out to her, but it was too late. Ray was already gone.

King lifted the gauze from the side of his neck revealing an intricate new tat in grey and black lettering that read NICOLE GRACE.

“You named your kid after the whore who shot at your girl?” I asked.

“There was more to that and you know it. Besides, Nicole Grace is a lot better than what Sammy and Max wanted to name her.”

“And what was that?

“Baby Pancakes,” King said, rolling his eyes and smiling.

“Maybe a little better. But holy shit on the tat man. Ray did that? That’s good f*cking work.”

King ripped the rest of the gauze off and chucked it into a nearby trash bin. “And yeah, it is. She gets better every day. You should see some of the shit she sketches.”

“What’s HER name?” King asked, jerking his chin at the closed door.

“Thia,” I said. “Her mom calls her Cindy, but she hates it,” I said, remembering her words to me from all those years ago. “If this is a ploy by Chop, and she’s in on it, you best believe that I don’t give a shit how old she is. I’m sending her back to the MC in a f*cking body bag.”

“Agreed,” King said. “But how long has it been since you’ve seen her?”