Chapter 7 #2
I nod and limp to the car on the end. As I get in, I watch Judy slink back into the house and out of sight.
When I pull out onto the road, there isn’t a specific destination in mind.
I let the car steer me as I realize that my carefully laid plan has been tossed out the window.
All I can think about is what a failure I’ve become.
I didn’t get the location of Mama, and I won’t get to say goodbye to Beckett.
He had some MC business to conduct and is scheduled to be back sometime later today.
I’ll have to call him when I figure out where I’m heading.
I can’t put anyone on The Fellowship’s radar.
The last thing I want is for someone else to get hurt because I selfishly want to stay.
Papa will find me and drag me back if I stay here, and after what he did yesterday, I don’t trust that he won’t hurt my friends just to prove a point.
The sign for the hospital comes into view, and I make a snap decision to make a quick stop.
Raegan has been so good to me, and she deserves a proper goodbye.
Pulling into a spot by the front, I carefully walk in and head up to where her room is located.
It’s still really early in the morning so there’s not a lot of people around the halls as I climb off the elevator and walk down to her room.
A man from the MC stands outside her door with a cup of coffee in his hand.
“Morning, ma’am,” he greets me like he has the last few days I’ve come by and visited Raegan.
Pushing the door open as quietly as possible, I walk into the room bathed in darkness. Stone is nowhere around, but I see all his things piled up in the corner. As I get closer to the bed, Raegan shifts and tosses the blanket off with her foot.
“Raegan,” I whisper and lightly wiggle her ankle.
“Hmm?” Her eyes open lazily, and it takes her a moment before she focuses on me. “Hey, Sutton, how are you?”
“I’m good,” I respond, my words caught up in my throat. “I-I wanted to come by and say bye before I leave.”
“Are you planning to stop by after work? I think I’m getting out of here around lunch,” she tells me and presses the button to move the top of the bed into an upright position.
I shake my head, “No, I’m leaving town. It’s my only option now.”
Raegan’s face changes, and she becomes more awake after I say those words.
“Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on so I can help you,” she orders and grabs my hands, pulling me closer to her. The movement pulls my back and I suck in a sharp breath as the lacerations tear a little more. “What’s wrong, Sutton?”
“I—”
The door opens and Dr. Melissa, Stone’s stepmom, comes in.
“Hey girls, I wanted to stop by before I headed home to make sure everything is—” she stops talking and stares at me then moves her eyes to the back of my shirt. “Sutton? What happened, honey?”
“What do you mean?’ I ask, trying not to give anything away.
“What is it, Melissa?” Raegan asks looking confused.
“Sutton, can you stand up for me?” Dr. Melissa asks, and I know that she must see something about what my father did to me.
“Please don’t,” I plead for her not to say or do anything.
She doesn’t listen and comes striding over to me.
She takes the back of my white shirt and slowly lifts it up. My gasp of pain echoes off the white walls.
“What is it?” Raegan asks again.
“Sutton, who did this to you?” Melissa asks gently.
I shake my head and look over to Raegan.
“Thank you for being so kind to me,” I say. “I’ll never be able to repay you, but I have to go before they realize I left.”
Raegan swings her legs over the side and comes over to me, making me turn around to show her my back. She has the same reaction as Melissa but yanks it all the way up and over my shoulders, exposing the entire area.
“The fuck?” a voice booms from over by the door. We all turn and see Stone and Beckett standing there, holding cups of coffee. The minute they see my face, the drinks are dropped and they eat up the space between us.
“What the hell happened to you?” Stone is the first to ask as Beckett’s focus is on every inch of skin on my back. His nostrils flaring and I can see his chest rising and falling rapidly.
“Sutton, I need to stitch some of these up or it might not heal properly,” Melissa says, but I can hear the worry and distress in her voice. “Do you want to come to my office so we can talk while I do it?”
I start to nod just so I can break away and leave but don’t get the chance.
“You can do it right here while she tells us who did this,” Stone fumes. Beckett hasn’t said a word, but his eyes are zoned in on me.
“I-I—” the dam breaks again, and a sob makes it way out of my throat.
I’m jerked forward into a hard body, and I feel a blazing warm hand on my burning wounds. It makes me cry out.
“Careful,” Melissa chastises. “Honey, let’s sit you down, and I’ll get some supplies.” She doesn’t leave any room for argument as she spins on her heels and races out of the room.
“Here.” Raegan helps me sit down on her bed.
“No, you need to be in bed, Raegan. I’m fine.” I try to sniffle convincingly but clearly fail, if their faces can be read accurately.
“I want a name, Angel,” Beckett growls as the hand that’s placed on my thigh trembles.
“You don’t understand, and it doesn’t matter anymore—”
“She came to tell me bye and that she was leaving,” Raegan tattles, and I feel Beckett stiffen.
“Were you going to tell me?” His voice has a mixture of accusation but also a little hurt in it.
“I was going to call you when I got settled.” He hops up from the bed and starts pacing the room. “I didn’t even know I was leaving until Judy woke me just a little bit ago and helped me escape.”
“Escape? From where?” Stone chimes in asking.
I release a heavy sigh and ache when my shoulders drop downward.
“The Fellowship…”
I spend the next little bit while Melissa sews me up telling them about the church and what it has transformed into over the years.
I tell them briefly about my mission trip skimming over the horrible events that happened there.
By the time I finish telling them about what transpired yesterday, Melissa is all done, but the men are boiling with rage.
“This cult’s been right under our noses for years,” Stone states as he stares at the white walls contemplating something. “Are there any big names involved with them? Mayor or Councilmen?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve been gone for four years. The only one Papa has ever mentioned was the mayor, but it sounded like after the carnival they cut ties with him.”
“Wait, so the lady that does the stuff with Carly is not your mom?” Raegan asks.
“Karen is not my mom. That woman is just as evil as the rest of them,” I confirm. “I’ve been trying to locate my mama since I’ve been back. It’s the only reason I’ve stayed as long as I have. Once I found her, I was going to leave and get us out of here and out of their clutches.”
“Well, now you have us to do that,” Stone utters.
“I can’t stay here. They’ll never let me walk away,” I reveal and see the sun peeking out. “Once they realize I’ve taken one of their cars, they’ll track me. I’ve gotta get a head start if I want to have a chance.”
“Hand me the keys,” Stone demands forcefully, and I almost jump at the command. Pulling them from the pocket of my skirt, I place them in his outstretched palm. Once his fingers wrap around them, he strides out and yanks the man standing outside the door down the hallway.
“Everything will be just fine, honey,” Melissa tells me.
“You’re coming home with me,” Beckett growls.
“I won’t put Zane or you in danger of what The Fellowship might do. The MC will be the first place they look, once they know I’m gone,” I say.
“Isn’t the house down the street from us open?
The one that backs up to your house?” Raegan asks Beckett.
“She’d be surrounded by MC, but they’d never think to look at a house nearby.
You can access her through the back fence.
We can leave a dummy car out front to make it seem like the old renters are still there. ”
“I don’t want to put any of you out,” I try to say, but apparently I’m not part of this discussion.
“I’ll have Martha come and go out the front of the house as if she’s the one living there,” Beckett says.
“It could work,” Raegan agrees, and they both nod.
“Call Martha and have her meet me at the store so that I can get her all the supplies to apply on her wounds for the next week or so,” Melissa pipes in, and my head bounces back and forth at their conversation as if I’m not sitting next to them.
The door opens again, and Stone bounds in with my bag from the car over his shoulder.
“The car is heading north and being dumped at the Kansas-Nebraska state line,” he tells us. “We need to get you somewhere safe.” The three of them fill Stone in on their plan and he nods.
“Sutton needs to rest, and Raegan, you need to do the same. Let’s get these girls home and tucked in,” Melissa says heading out of the room to locate Raegan’s discharge papers.
I hope I’m not making a mistake staying here. The last thing I’d ever want is to put innocent lives in danger.