Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Everleigh
Oh my God.
My breathing becomes nearly impossible, and I have no other choice but to hold onto Daemon to keep from falling down. He’s keeping me grounded when all I want to do is run and hide. Facing off with the people who hurt me most is almost more than I can bear.
“I’m sorry. Can you repeat that, um . . .” I look at his badge, then to Daemon, remembering what he’d called the officer.
“Name’s Trey and I asked, have these men taken you against your will?”
I glance from Trey and the other officer next to him that Trey called Allen back to where my parents are standing with my uncle.
Even in the dark of night with only the lights shining off the sides of the clubhouse and headlights on the cars, I can see the fury in both men’s faces.
My mother is playing her part well in acting like a concerned mother.
I return my attention to Trey and shake my head.
“No, I wasn’t taken against my will, nor am I being held for any reason. ”
Trey nods, adjusts his footing, and looks between Daemon and me. “Can you tell me why you have not been in contact with your parents? They’re claiming you are not of sound mind.”
“Sir, that’s just ridiculous,” I mutter cocking my head slightly. “I’m a nurse over at the hospital. I work on the Labor and Delivery floor. Tell me, do you think they would have someone mentally unstable working there?”
“According to the information your mother gave us, the hospital has you down on a leave of absence.”
“Yes, and I’m supposed to be going back to work in a week. I decided to go on a road trip that ended with Daemon and me getting married in Vegas.”
“Right,” Trey says, releasing a puff of air. “That’s all for now. My advice is keep an eye on the pieces of work over there. That woman is nuts.”
“They’re all lunatics,” I retort and wrap my arms around myself.
“Don’t worry, Trey,” Daemon grunts. “We know just what those three are like, and trust me, Evs, here is right. They’re lunatics who need to be put in the looney bin.”
Trey and Allen both chuckle lowly. “We’re done here. I’ll get these three out of here.”
“Appreciate that.” Daemon sneers.
Daemon steps back pulling me with him as his brothers move in to shield me from view as Trey and Allen move back to their cars. A moment later, I can hear my mother’s screeches.
“You’ll pay for this. I swear, Everleigh, you will not get away with this. I won’t allow it. The Lord won’t have it.”
“Sugar, let’s get inside,” Daemon urges as my mother spews more shit.
“No, I want this over with, and they need to know that I won’t abide by what they want anymore.
” I straighten my shoulders and hold my head high as I step away from Daemon, or as far as he allows without losing his touch.
Together, we close the distance to where my mother is still yelling while the officers attempt to get her to calm down.
“You can stop this, Mom,” I snap, not looking at anyone other than her.
“I’m not going anywhere and there’s nothing you can do about it. ”
My mother sneers and the looks me up and down. “You have no idea what you’re doing. I suggest you come home with us or you’ll regret it. You’re to be married already.”
“But I am married.” I’m thankful for Daemon’s arm around me.
“Excuse me?” Her eyes narrow as she looks from me to Daemon, then back. “You married outside of the church and disgraced this family by marrying this mongrel?”
I can all but taste the venom radiating off the woman in front of me that should be my mother. Dixie Bates has never done anything motherly for me besides push me out. Since then, she’s been mean and hateful because I couldn’t do right when told. I didn’t follow God’s plans for me.
“That’s enough,” Daemon declares, pushing me behind him. “From now on, don’t come around here. Everleigh is my woman, and I’m not gonna allow you to come here or anywhere near her altogether. You try it, and I’ll make damn sure you regret it.”
“You are not seriously threatening me. With cops listening.”
I peek around Daemon to see my father and uncle both move in.
“It’s okay, Dixie. The Lord will make sure Everleigh learns. She’s fallen and there’s nothing we can do about it. She’s only done it to herself, and we can only pray for her now,” my uncle says.
I swallow back the fear as his eyes find me. I don’t miss the dark look he gives me that screams retribution will be coming. What that is, I don’t know, but it won’t be good.
“I don’t know what the fuck you mean by the shit you just spewed, but know this, pray all the hell you want .
. . keep that shit away from my woman and don’t try contacting her.
” With that said, Daemon spins on his heel and guides me away from them and into the clubhouse, where his brothers join us.
“Are they gonna be a problem?” Angel mutters, once the doors close.
“Don’t know,” Daemon grunts.
“From what we’ve found on them, they could be a pain in the ass but nothing more. However, after tonight’s events, I’m thinking of looking deeper into them,” Scythe says, running a hand over his hair.
“They’ll try again,” I whisper, wrapping my arms around my middle. “My uncle won’t let this go. He might have allowed my mother to make a scene and act the way she did, but his threat was clear.”
“How so?” Hellhound asks.
“I know them. All three of them.” I take a breath and release it before going on.
“My uncle is conning. He doesn’t do anything without thinking things through.
” I look to Scythe and meet his eyes. “You looked into me, so you know. They killed a boy because he was helping me to escape. I lost what meant the world to me because I went against the church and was considered unholy. I never got to see his face.” Shaking my head, I close my eyes to fight back the tears.
“You all don’t know the true depths of within that world.
I do. The women mean nothing but a means to serve the men.
They’re to spread their legs and allow the men to do as they wish.
The men do as they please more than that, they have different sectors of it.
Those who work within areas my uncle manages them all.
I’m not supposed to know that, but they didn’t hide talking in front of me.
They thought they’d broken me after taking my baby. ”
“Evs, you don’t have to—”
“No, you all need to know this, and it’ll save Scythe time,” I say, stopping Reaper.
He’s being kind for what he’s trying to say.
“My uncle deals a supporter of a couple groups. A couple of them are black-market medical organizations and another is selling children as they did with mine. But the difference is with my son, they made sure to tell me that he gave him to someone within the church. Yet, I could never find out who. Anyway, what I’m getting at is, if my uncle wants to make a problem, it’s a possibility and from the look in his eyes tonight, he’s gonna make me pay. ”
“Fucker ain’t gonna make you do a damn thing, baby,” Daemon mutters, engulfing me in his warmth. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“Damn right,” Reaper agrees. “You’re family, Evs, and we’re not gonna let this shit slide. Thank you for telling us what you know.”
“I’ll get on it and dive deeper,” Scythe states. “With what Evs has given us, it saves me time and I know what direction to look into.”
“I’ll help,” Styxx offers.
“Good, now, let’s get some rest while we still can.” Reaper grunts. “Styxx, once you have something, let me know, and I’ll call church.”
“You got it, Prez.” Styxx jerks his chin up, pivots on the heel of his boot, and stalks toward a hall where I know they keep offices. Though I’ve heard plenty about Styxx having a setup in his room along with his twin brother, Scythe.
“Come on, sugar, let’s go get some rest. It’s already been a fuckin’ day,” Daemon says, pulling me to the hallway that leads to his room.
I nod and lean into his strength, shoving the thoughts of what happened in the past hour to the back of my mind. Daemon’s right, it has been a day so far, and the sun isn’t even up yet.