Chapter 24
Delaney
The next few days pass achingly slowly. I’ve called in sick to my job twice and I know I’m going to lose it if I do it again.
I’ve conserved what little food we had but it’s almost gone. Joey hasn’t returned.
I don’t know what to do. I’m eighteen but I don’t have the resources to live on my own. Joey owns the trailer but what will happen once he’s determined missing?
Somehow, I have to find my way out of this mess but how?
Fuck me but I wish I hadn’t overheard Mom and Peter that long ago day. Would I still be living in blissful ignorance? Everything would be so much simpler.
Now, I’m hiding from the Smokin’ Aces and anyone else hell bent on further ruining my world.
I would laugh it all off as paranoia but yesterday after school, I narrowly avoided coming face to face with Kidd when I exited the front doors.
Luckily, Draven spotted him and provided the distraction I needed because I have a sneaking suspicion, he wasn’t waiting there for her.
I barely slept last night and now, I just called in sick again.
My boss told me if I don’t show for my next shift, I'm done. I have three days until that issue rolls around again.
As much as I hated being around sloppy ass Joey, with him gone, it’s achingly quiet.
Which is why it’s not hard to hear a pair of motorcycles roll up the lane.
Sitting up, I look around and hope like fuck that whoever that is, they’re not here for me.
Still, I’m not about to wait around to find out.
With my heart in my throat, I grab my backpack and squeeze my ass through the tiny window before landing on the ground with a groan.
Fuck that hurt.
Wiping my hands on my jeans, I slip behind the next trailer over and lean against the wall.
The distinct purr of the bikes slows, and I bow my head when the motors cut off altogether.
If I’m not mistaken, they’re parked out front of my trailer. I’m fucked.
Hitching my bag up my shoulder, I race to the next trailer and the next before squeezing through a small gap in the chain link fence and speed walking across the lot.
Once I’m past the burger joint which smells so fucking good my stomach rumbles, I cross the street and head for the overpass.
The bitter smell of garbage and booze assaults my nose when I pass the homeless crew who’s moved in.
I keep my head low as I go and I’m almost to the other side when a figure steps in front of me.
Dread suffuses my bones, and I look up into the hungry eyes of a man old enough to be my father.
His greasy hair is slicked back with dirt and oil. When he grins, revealing his blackened teeth, I cringe away from the disgusting odor.
“Who’re you?” he says, and I move to step around him. “Not so fast. What’s your name, pretty girl?”
“Here now, let her go,” another dude says and while my leering captor is distracted, I break away.
Unfortunately, it’s not a straight shot because tents, old oil containers filled with fire and other people are between me and freedom.
When I reach the other side of the tunnel, I glance back before slowing when I find that he didn’t bother to pursue me.
After that, it takes me two hours to walk across town but despite the falling out with Mom and Peter, I know this is bigger than me.
I’m in trouble and they’re the only ones who can help.
Once I reach the last street before my house, relief floods my veins, and I slow because my knees fucking hurt.
When my leg starts to cramp, I stagger down the road, veering to the left and grabbing onto a tree while I shake it out.
This is what saves me because while I’m hidden behind that tree, I happen to look up.
From here, I can see my front porch and I can’t believe my eyes when Mom opens the front door and the two Aces MC assholes who interrogated me, sans Kidd, follow her inside.
I thought my mom was in treatment. Was that a lie too?
Frozen, I stare at that closed door for I don’t know how long before backing away and cutting down to the next street.
Still, I’m uneasy out in the open so close to home and I cut through the park at the end of the block. It’s a long walk to the other side and after I’ve deemed it safe to stop, I drop to a bench and sniffle.
Once upon a time, I wasn’t a big crier because what the fuck do tears do?
Now it’s all I do and right now, I couldn’t stop the deluge if I tried.
I give myself five minutes of self-pity before wiping my nose and pulling out my phone.
I don’t know what to do. So, I contact the only person who might help.
Whether she will is debatable but I’m circling the drain and biting back another sniffle, I type out the text and press send.
I need your help
While I wait, I glance around the park warily. If the Aces know where I live, or rather my mom, does that mean she’s involved?
How far are they willing to go to find me?
Thankfully, Draven answers right away and I fumble with my phone as soon as it dings in my lap.
What's up?
This is where I have to decide what to do and chewing my lip, my fingers hover over the keyboard.
I’m afraid to admit Joey is gone, just as I know it would probably be a mistake to involve Draven if the Aces are still looking for me, but I have to trust someone and I’m hoping Draven will help me figure this shit out.
I just need a little time…and send another message before leaning back and closing my eyes.
My dad is gone
It doesn’t take her long to respond and I wince at that. Fucking A
Delaney: Can you pick me up?
I’m back to tapping my fingers against my thigh when she finally responds.
Draven: Where are you?
Delaney: The grotto
After confirming her ETA, I close out the phone and rub my aching forehead.
What the fuck am I going to do?
Draven rolls up in her muscle car twenty minutes later. I’ve managed to get myself under control. Thank fuck. The last thing I need is to be blubbering in front of her.
When she eyes me as I get inside, I bite the inside of my lip because in all reality, I barely know her, and she could just as easily tell me to go fuck myself.
Beyond that, what do I do about what I saw at Mom and Peter’s. Were they looking for Joey? Or my mom?
How is she affiliated with them and why didn’t she tell me?
Once again, tears push at my eyes.
Did Joey leave because he knew the Aces were coming for him? Why would he leave me there to face the music?
What the hell were the Aces doing at my house?
As though I've summoned her with my thoughts, my phone rings and I stare at Mom’s face flashing on my screen before pressing end.
“So, your dad skipped out?” Draven asks.
Nodding, I push my hair behind my ear. “Yep.”
“Damn,” she mutters. “Look, the only thing I can think of is to tell my brother and see what he says.”
Maddox.
Oh god. I mean at this point I don’t have a choice but he’s both sexy as all hell and scary as fuck.
What will he do? I mean after our last encounter where I kind of blew him off, he may be pissed about it.
Beyond that, he was asking questions about Joey too. Can I trust him?
“Okay,” I say, after clearing my throat—twice.
When she pulls away with a roar, I sit back, exhaling quietly.
“We’re on lockdown,” she says with a curl to her lip. “I was heading home. We can wait there for him.”
I may not know what Maddox wanted with Joey, but I know in his own weird way he’s been trying to protect me.
That’s got to count for something, which is why I mumble, “Okay.”
“Cool.”
We’re quiet the rest of the way, but I can’t relax because I’m still hyped up from the events of the evening.
When we pull up to her house, I glance around but don’t see Maddox’s bike. Both relieved and disappointed, I follow when she leads me inside.
It’s quiet and dark but warm and I shiver at the change as she says, “Be right back.”
Once she’s gone, I spin in a circle before sitting down gingerly on the couch.
My bones ache and I didn’t realize how cold I was until we stepped through that door.
Draven forces me from my thoughts when she reappears in sweats and a hoodie. She steps into the kitchen, and I can’t see what she’s doing beyond the counter until she comes back around and holds out a can of beer.
“Thanks,” I mutter, although I don’t really want it.
“Yep,” she says as she turns on the television.
After she’s found a cheesy sitcom, she produces a joint but when she offers it to me, I pass and turn away, staring blindly at the T.V.
I must fall asleep because the unmistakable sound of footsteps rouses me, and I open my eyes just as Maddox says, “Delaney?”
I meet his dark, fathomless gaze with confusion before glancing around.
Where did Draven go?
“Why are you here?” he asks.
“I had nowhere else to go,” I say in a daze.
Once again, he eyes me like a puzzle to be solved before sighing and saying, “C’mon.”
When he leads me to his room, I stare at the bed, my cheeks heating at the remembrance of the last time I laid with him.
Against the wall, sitting on the dresser is an old school clock still going despite the way everything else in this room seemed to molder.
Maddox’s discarded clothes litter the floor, and I spy a few dirty socks underneath a blanket balled up in the corner.
It should be gross, but I suspect those socks are beyond petrified.
I feel so alone and so fucking cold that despite everything, I just want Maddox to hold me and tell me everything is going to be okay.
“What are you…” he says before his brows slam over his eyes, and he growls, “Who hit you?”
Huh?
Touching my face, I wince and mumble, “I fell, sort of.”
Grabbing my chin, he pulls my head up and my skin tingles when he searches my face before saying, “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Nothing, I just fell,” I say, tears welling in my eyes.
Silence is my answer and eyeing the tic in his jaw, I back away because maybe it was a mistake to come here.
This is my mess and involving Maddox might bring it to his door.
My stomach churns at the thought and I glance at the door as he says, “You sure somebody didn’t hit you? That drunk fucking slob, maybe?”