Chapter Thirty-Three
Roadkill stood outside the bedroom door and listened as Jenna got settled into bed with her sister.
Once he was sure they were asleep, or at least close, he went into the living room and sat in the recliner that had been there when they arrived.
He pulled out his phone and sent several messages, one to Bones asking about therapists, another to Hex verifying the gates would stay closed and access to the compound restricted at least for now.
Then he sent a message to his SAA. He let Cyclone know he likely wouldn’t make the Saturday enforcers meeting, unless they delayed it until both girls were awake and moved it here.
He wasn’t leaving them and he wouldn’t let the group of rowdy men who didn’t know how to act wake them up.
Setting his phone on his chest for a minute he thought about the messages he’d sent and if there was any one else he needed to reach out to. He didn’t expect answers, at least not right away. The night was damn near over and most of the people he was sending messages to were probably asleep.
Picking up his phone, he opened the group chat with Cyclone as well as the rest of the enforcers and typed up another message.
**Roadkill: Police will want to talk to Lacey tomorrow. I’m not keeping her from them, but they will do it on her terms. They will not traumatize her further.
**Roadkill: We need to figure out who is behind this and put an end to them.
The fuckers tormented the girl with what they wanted to do to her.
They stripped her, beat her, and told her what someone would eventually do to her after they sold her.
They went into detail about what they would have done to my woman in front of her if she’d been there.
There’s more but I won’t go into it here.
I don’t care how long it takes to get to the end of this.
They go down. They crossed the wrong people this time.
He hit send before he thought better of it and set the phone back onto his chest. He stared at the ceiling, Lacey’s words repeating through his brain.
Alight tapping woke him. Roadkill blinked and glanced around as the tapping sounded again. He realized he was in the new house, the one he would share with Jenna and at some point, he’d fallen asleep.
Getting up, he bit back a groan at how much his whole body ached and went to the door. He checked the window, even though he was 95% sure it was one of his brothers, then opened the door for Cyclone.
“Where are they?” the Sergent at Arms asked, looking around the room.
“Still asleep. Keep it down, they need as much rest as they can get. Come on in, I’ll see if there’s coffee.” Roadkill turned and headed for the kitchen, not waiting for an answer.
He opened cabinets one after another, not holding out much hope, but there was a coffee pot on the counter, so he might get lucky.
Sure enough. There was a can of coffee in the cabinet over the machine, along with several mugs.
Roadkill yawned then started making coffee. At least he could get some caffeine.
“What happened to Joker after he got back last night? He was supposed to come talk to me.”
Roadkill jerked his head toward the hall. “Second door on the left, it should be open. Don’t wake them.” He’d left it open on purpose last night. He wanted to be able to hear what was going on if either of the girls woke during the night.
Roadkill didn’t need to go. He’d checked on them several times before he’d fallen asleep.
Lacey was curled on her side, one hand clinging to Joker who lay facing her.
Jenna lay at her sister’s back, an arm around her waist, holding her close while covering her back, in a way much like Roadkill ached to hold her.
If the bed had been big enough, and it wouldn’t have freaked Lacey out, he would have lain at Jenna’s side last night, just to be close to her.
“You’re woman let him stay?” Cyclone kept his voice low as he came back into the kitchen at the same time the coffee pot on the counter let out a puff of steam, indicating it was almost finished.
“Lacey wasn’t letting him go.” Roadkill poured himself a mug of coffee then opened the cabinet over the pot and left the door open as he walked away.
He tilted his head toward the pot before carrying his coffee back to the recliner where he’d spent the last several hours and sat.
Taking a sip of the coffee, he closed his eyes for a moment and let the familiar taste do as much to wake him up as the caffeine that would take a few minutes to hit his system.
He opened his eyes when Cyclone followed him in with his own coffee and sat on the sofa.
“Tell me,” Cyclone said.
Roadkill filled him in on what happened after they brought Lacey to the house, as someone else, someone with a little perspective, would have filled him in what happened before.
“We’re lucky it wasn’t worse. She wouldn’t even shower without him.” Roadkill shook his head.
Cyclone’s eyes went wide.
“Not like you’re thinking. She left the door open and he sat against the wall next to the door, talking so she could hear him.
” Roadkill filled him in on everything Joker and the girl he found himself both admiring and wanting to take care of, had told them a few hours before.
“He was going to stay out here, but she insisted he lay beside her.”
“Is that why your woman is in there too? To make sure he doesn’t do anything inappropriate?”
Roadkill shook his head. “Jenna needed to be with her sister. It’s been just the two of them for so long. Nearly losing her has hit Jenna hard. I don’t know how long it will last, but this is what they both need for now.”
Cyclone was quiet. Watching Roadkill as he sipped from his steaming mug.
Roadkill sipped at his coffee until it was cool enough for longer drinks, then he downed the cup. He was about to go refill his cup when his CO finally spoke.
“Hex talked to Rigsby this morning. They arrested the teacher, he says the county attorney wants to press charges. It will depend on a lot of things though.” Cyclone turned, his gaze flicked over the bare walls reminding Roadkill they didn’t even have a tv in the house.
“One of the things they need is evidence. Other than his confession that he gave her to his contacts as revenge, there’s not much and what there is, is mostly circumstantial.”
Roadkill clenched his fist.
“I’ll testify, if I need to,” Lacey’s voice made Roadkill look up.
She stood, still in the Joker’s shirt and sweats, in the opening to the hallway.
The dark shadows under her eyes told him that either she hadn’t slept much or that she hadn’t slept well.
“The men who broke into the trailer did a lot of talking. They said Mr. Coleman owed them and I would go a long way to paying that off.” Her gaze flicked around the room.
“Who are you?” She frowned as she looked at Cyclone.
“I’m Cyclone. I’m his CO.” Cyclone jerked a thumb at Roadkill. “You’re Lacey right?”
She nodded.
“Where’s your sister?”
“She’s asleep. Same with Joker. They were awake for a long time last night.”
He nodded. They all had been.
“How are you feeling? Want something to eat? We don’t have much in the house but if you tell me what sounds good, I’ll get it.”
She stared at him a moment, opened her mouth then closed it without saying anything.
“What are you wanting?” Cyclone asked before Roadkill could.
Lacey shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. We don’t have the money for it.” She turned as if she was going to go back to the bedroom.
“Hold up there, squirt.” Roadkill had considered finding a unique nickname for her but decided to keep the same nickname Joker did, especially since Roadkill had used it before the kid. He thought using the same one most of the men from the shop used for her, would put her a little more at ease.
She paused and twisted her neck back to look at him.
“Come sit for a minute.” Roadkill stood, waving to the chair so she wouldn’t have to sit too close to anyone. Her eyes went wide, but she did as he asked. Roadkill carried his mug as far as the counter, where he set it down before going back to Lacey.
In front of the recliner, he crouched until he sat on his heels, putting them eye to eye.
“I know things have been tight for you and Jenna. That’s going to change, for a lot of reasons.
First, your sister is making better money now, but that’s not all of it.
The two of you aren’t alone anymore. You’ve got the Warriors at your back now.
But if I ask if you want something, you don’t tell me it’s too expensive.
That’s a decision I’ll make. I know what I can afford and what I’m willing to spend, all right? ”
She watched him a moment then nodded her eyes.
Roadkill leaned toward Cyclone, speaking to the SAA without looking away from Lacey.
“Can you reach out to Cypher and let him know I need two laptops, two phones, and all the shit that goes with it. Take the money out of my account. I need them ASAP. And can I get one of the prospects here to run a few errands for us?”
“No problem.” The movement in his peripheral vision told him the other man was pulling out his cell phone.
He centered his weight as Cyclone started typing.
“I don’t know if they told you last night, but you and Jenna won’t be going back to that trailer. She and I talked. You’ll both be living here. You know where we are, right?”
Lacey shook her head. “I wasn’t watching the road when we came in last night.”
“This is the Savage Warriors compound. We all live here.”
“All of you? Do you have to?”
Roadkill shook his head.
“Most of us. No, we don’t have to live here, but most of us choose to, for different reasons.
There’s a lot to know, and you’ll learn it all eventually, but one of the most important things, at least for now, is that we’re behind a gate.
I don’t know if you saw it last night, but the gate’s manned and you either have to be part of the Warriors or invited by someone here to get in. ”
“He’s saying you’re safe here, squirt. Not just in the house but anywhere on the property,” Joker’s voice came from down the hall. A moment later the younger brother appeared in the hallway. He still wore his jeans but that was all.
“Coffee in the kitchen,” Roadkill said.
Joker detoured through the kitchen. “This your cup on the bar?”
“Yeah,” Roadkill said absently, his attention still on Lacey. “So, when I ask what you want, whether it’s eat, to do, or anything else, I ask because I want to know.” He paused, waiting for her to acknowledge his words.
“There will be a lot of things we need to get for here, but other than what you want for breakfast today, I’m going to want a list of anything you want to save from the trailer.
” She started to say something, but he held up one hand.
“I’ll get you a pen and paper, and I can’t guarantee we’ll be able to save everything on the list. They trashed the place, but if it’s salvageable, we’ll see to it you get it back. The rest? We’ll replace what we can.”
Joker came in, still barefoot, carrying a coffee cup in both hands. He paused next to Roadkill to hand him his refilled mug.
“Thanks,” Roadkill said.
“No problem.” Joker went to the recliner and paused holding one hand out to Lacey. “You all right?”
She nodded, took his hand, and squeezed it, then released it. Joker went to the sofa and sat on the opposite end from Cyclone.
“Sorry about last night. I couldn’t get away.” Joker sipped the mug in his hand.
“Not a problem,” Cyclone said.
“You ready to tell me what you want for breakfast this morning?” Roadkill asked Lacey.
“Donuts and fancy coffee.”
Roadkill snorted. “You didn’t want to tell me because $20 was too expensive?
” He knew things had been tight for the two of them but obviously he hadn’t known just how tight.
That was over now. He’d make sure they were both taken care of.
He had the feeling he’d have to fight Jenna over what he gave her, but she would let him get things for her sister that they might not be able to afford on their own.
“Give Joker your order, your favorite donuts and whatever you want for coffee. Tell him what Jenna likes too. I don’t know how long it will take Cypher to get the computers here, but once they do, I’ll set you up to do a little shopping.
Start thinking about what you want to do with your room. ”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“How do you want to decorate it? Do you want a different color? Figure out what you want then, we’ll look at getting it taken care of.” Fatigue dragged at him. Ten and fifteen minutes sleep at a time hadn’t been nearly enough.
“Seriously?” Lacey’s eyes went wide.
“Seriously.” Roadkill stood. He looked at Cyclone, then to Joker. “Have one of the prospects get them a dozen donuts and whatever coffees she orders.” He looked back to Cyclone. “Need me for anything?”
The SAA shook his head.
Roadkill looked at Lacey. “It’s your bed and if you say no, I’ll respect that, but would you mind if I went in and laid down with Jenna for an hour or two?”
Lacey shook her head. “I know you were up most of the night. And she didn’t sleep much either. Go lay with her. You both need the rest.”
“You need either of us, for any reason, come wake us. You’re welcome to go outside if you want, but please stay with Joker or one of the Warriors you’ve met before, at least until we can get you outfitted as Savage Blood.”
“Savage Blood?” she asked.
He turned to Joker.
“You explain. I’m about dead on my feet.” He tipped his coffee cup back, draining what was left in a few swallows, then headed to the back of the house, setting the mug on the counter on his way by.
In Lacey’s room, he found Jenna in the middle of the bed, as if she’d been moving farther over looking for her sister. He went around to the side where she’d started out and stretched out at her back. He hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her against him as he closed his eyes.