Chapter 4 #2
A shiver goes down my spine and on one hand I’m excited by the direction we seem to be moving and how quickly we’re establishing ourselves. On the other hand, I’m scared shitless that Damian and his mom could bring a level of chaos we thought we had left behind in Rose Grove. Only time will tell.
Loyal
“You gonna be OK?”
I nod frantically as if I can convince myself that yes, I will be OK.
In reality, I’m not so sure. I’ve been working online for the last two weeks learning medical terminology and the correct names for body parts, organs and things.
Vex and the brothers have been kind enough to help on occasion.
Flack it seems has been shot or stabbed in many places over his life so he’s offered me all the insights he’s had from his time in hospital and recovery.
It’s funny how soft The Keep men are, it’s a complete 180 from what I learned growing up.
But even with the MC brothers’ input it doesn’t really help my nerves as today is my first in-person class.
True to his word, Justice is accompanying me on the two hour ride to my class and will stay in town until I’ve finished.
It works out well because he can check in with two of the safe houses we have nearby.
The networks work because we limit contact with each other, but that doesn’t mean we don’t check in from time to time.
Sometimes it’s to meet new rescues, get to know them better so that when they transfer to the Keep they know a friendly face.
Other times it’s to drop someone off so we can relocate them further up the chain.
We’re not meant to keep tabs on the people we help, for the safety of our networks, but I’m hoping that with the backing of the DRMC that will be able to change.
I’d love to know how they’re getting on in their new lives.
“You can do this, you know?”
Justice’s voice snaps me out of my wandering thoughts. “Yeah, I think I can.” I give him a tight smile and he pats my hand.
I never flinch with Justice because we’re family. Technically, we are siblings and cousins, our mothers being sisters and sharing a father and all. But it never quite ever felt like that growing up.
“Do you ever wonder what it would be like if we grew up in a normal place?” I ask quietly,
“You mean in a place where we just had one dad and one mom?” he asks, eyes on the road.
“Yeah, I guess. I mean, have you ever thought how weird it is that we are cousin-siblings?”
He snorts, glancing my way with a smile on his lips, “You do know that there are lots of people out there whose father has married sisters, right?”
I roll my eyes at him, “Yeah, but usually not at the same time,”
He shrugs, blue eyes identical to mine holding my gaze for a quick moment before darting back to the road, “The way I see it, we can’t change how we grew up.
But we sure can change how we spend the rest of our lives.
Eden’s Keep was paradise as a kid. Friends and siblings to play with all day and moms and aunts to help you. Not many kids get that.”
I lean my head back on the headrest, gazing out the window. “I guess not.”
“But the good times we had as children will never take away how evil Eden’s Keep was and what it did to us.
The scars we carry. Some are inside.” Justice’s hands tighten on the steering wheel, knuckles white and I place my hand on his shoulder, the tension brimming under the surface.
He looks at me, sorrow in his gaze. “And some are outside, but we use that as fuel. It’s what has got us this far, Cousin Sister.
” He gives me a tight smile after his joke to lighten the mood, and I’m thankful for it.
Thankful to have Justice by my side. Someone to help me help others, someone to lean on when times got tough. While he couldn’t avenge me with Goodson, he gave me safe haven more than once. A brave choice for someone who was so young at the time and going through his own struggles.
The car slows and my head snaps up, taking in the building where I will be doing my course. My heart races a little, but I think it’s more out of excitement than fear. Funny how those two things feel the same. Racing heart, stomach tightening, sweaty palms, quickened breath.
“Do I look OK?” I ask, slightly panicked. I can tell by how wide Justice’s eyes go, that he was not only not expecting that question, but that he also has no idea how to answer it either.
“Ah, yeah? You look, fine?” He takes one look at my face and his eyes grow even wider, “No, like more than fine. You look normal. Just a normal red-haired woman in normal people jeans.”
My shoulders start to drop as I look down at myself.
I bought new clothes last week anticipating today.
Usually I just wear dresses and things, things more in line with what I grew up with.
Conservative, bland. I guess it was easy and safe.
But for this, out on my own, beginning my first steps to maybe living my dream one day, I wanted to be different.
A different kind of me. Hence the jeans and slightly baggy pastel blue linen shirt.
I have a ribbon in my hair and white sneakers.
I feel cool, classy and still myself without feeling like mutton dressed as lamb.
Justice pulls the car to a stop. “Well, here we are. Now get out of the car, looking like a normal woman, and go kick ass,” Justice smirks.
“You know, you’ve really gotten a potty mouth since you started prospecting.” I give him a disapproving look then roll my eyes.
“Meh, you should try it sometime. It’s freeing.” He grins at me and then waits until I shut the door before he heads off, leaving me on the side of the road.
“I hate the first day of school,” a soft voice says to the left of me.
Looking around my eyes land on a small, black woman. She’s dressed in a fabulous tracksuit with a colorful scarf covering her hair, some curls escaping out the sides. She has on big colorful beads and a simple silver pendant, quite at odds with her outfit, sits nestled at her throat.
“I wouldn’t know, I was home schooled,” I answer awkwardly.
She stares at me with her impossibly dark eyes, before a grin stretches her face, the gap between her front teeth making her look even more stunningly beautiful.
“Oh girl, you are in for a treat! Stick with me.” She moves closer, wide smile on her face before slipping her hand through my elbow gently tugging me toward the front doors. “What’s your name, boo?”
“Loyal. Loyal Blessing.”
She stops in her tracks, brows raised. “Oh you sound like you have a story in you! That’s for another day.
Anyhoo, I’m Josette Batiste but everyone calls me Jo.
I like to sign it with an “e” because no one ever expects that.
Gotta keep ‘em guessing.” She gives me a wink, her perma-smile never leaving her face.
I grin back at her, and keep the grin on my face as she tugs me with her through the doors, somehow navigating her way to the room where we will be doing our practical work.
* * *
“Phew wee, girl! That was NOT what I was expecting! Like seriously, did you actually expect that we’d be actually doing CPR on an actual test dummy today?” Joe says animatedly.
I get it, I’m still high from the class, too. Today I got to actually practice CPR. To feel what it feels like to work on somebody. Even if that somebody was a dummy and was hooked up to an iPad to tell us how fast and deep we needed to go.
“I can’t believe I did that! I know it’s not much-”
“Whoa, whoa, hey now!” Joe grips my arm, stopping me in my tracks, turning me to face her.
“What do you mean ‘it’s not much’? Boo, you topped the class in both CPR and AED.
Even your bandaging skills were on point.
” Joe grins at me, then gives my arm a little shake, turning forward again so we can resume walking out toward the parking lot.
“I guess I did do pretty well.” I duck my head, trying to hide my grin.
“Nah uh, head up, girl.” Joe nudges me with her elbow. “I see we gotta work on your confidence.”
I let out a sigh, turning to look at my new friend. “I wish I was confident like you.”
“Ain’t nothin’ to it. I’m not really confident, but sometimes you gotta fake it ‘til you make it. Shoulders back, tits out, big smile, and strut.” She grins at me, loops her arm through mine and we strut all the way to an old looking Toyota.
“This is me. She may look rough, but like me, she always gets to where she needs to go.”
I stare at Joe for a beat, and then, not sure what comes over me, I throw my arms around her and grip her tight. “Thank you so much for making my first day so much fun.”
She squeezes me even tighter than I’m squeezing her before I let her go, moving to step back.
“Give me your email address. And phone number. We can work through our online stuff together. I always study in the evenings, 6 til around 9 if you want to study together.”
“Yes! Please! That’s when I work too.” I grin at her, pulling a notebook from my bag and scribbling down all my details before ripping out the page and passing it to her.
A car horn has me turning, catching sight of Justice in the DRMC SUV. I wave at him, turning back to find Joe eyeing the SUV.
“That is a nice ride, you fancy folk or something?”
“Oh gosh, no way! No, that belongs to the MC.” Joe’s brows fly up to her colored head scarf, “No, they’re good guys. Not a one percenter or whatever you call them. I live at The Keep, you may not have heard of i-”
“The Keep? I’ve heard about that place. I live like forty minutes from there. Used to be a cult and now it’s like, some sort of safe haven, isn’t it?” She tilts her head, brows furrowed.
“Yeah, I guess that’s how you could describe it,” I mumble, looking at my sneaker.
I risk glancing up at Joe’s face, only to find her wide smile back on her face, eyes glinting. “Oh girl, you really have a story to tell, am I right?”
I let out a little huff and smile back. “Yeah, I probably do.”
“Good thing we have six months left of training, it’ll give us time to get to know each other. I got a story too. Could be more like yours than you think.” With that she gives me a wink and her trademark grin.
“Thanks, Joe. For everything.”
“Ain’t nothing to it. See you online, Loyal Blessin’,”
“You too, Joe Batiste.”
I walk toward Justice, turning only to wave to Joe as she slowly leaves the parking lot, honking her horn and grinning from inside her car.
My chest feels all fizzy and my head is dizzy at how light I feel.
My first real steps toward becoming an EMT have been achieved and I can’t imagine how it’s all going to feel once I’ve completed my training.
Opening the car door I slide in, grin still in place. It’s not until I buckle my seatbelt that I notice Justice grinning at me.
“What?”
“Nothing, sister-cousin. Just that you look like a different person to the one I dropped off six hours ago. This Loyal looks like she could take on the world.”
I think she just might.