Page 50 of Vex

“She injured?” Trigger rasps out as he comes to a stop, laying a hand on Tessie’s back.

“I’m mostly okay, I think,” Tessie mumbles out against my chest.

“Thank fuck,” Petey whispers as he uses his knife to cut the zip ties binding her wrists and ankles. Tessie doesn’t lift her head nor loosen her hold on my neck.

“Meeting everyone back at the park. See you then,” I tell them before Pooh and I start toward where we left his truck.

Waiting at the park for the others, I finally get Tessie to let go so we can check her over for injuries. Her ribs took a beating, but I don’t think any are broken. She’s battered and bruised but that appears to be the worst of it. I get her to drink some water, and Pooh insists she eats a candy bar. Neither should have been hard to convince her to do since she said they hadn’t fed or given her water, but she’s still shaking like a leaf and trying hard to cover it. The girl’s got a steel backbone, but the shaking’s understandable. No tears, no hysterics. I’m proud as fuck of her. I pull out my phone and hand it to her. She’s sitting in the passenger seat, me standing outside the open door. Her eyes meet mine, and she hands it back.

“Honey, you need to call Taja. Let her know you’re okay,” I tell her.

“I need you to do it for me, Vex. I’ll start crying, and she’ll start crying. I don’t want to do that,” she says very softly.

“Tears are okay, Tessie,” Pooh tells her gently.

“I’m not sure if I can stop them once they start. I need to get my head on straight before that happens. Taja has always been the strong one, the dependable one. I need to be that this time too. Please, Vex? She needs to know you got me and I’m okay, but I need some time first,” she implores.

“I get that, honey. I’ll make the call,” I answer.

“Maybe we should wait until a decent hour. She’s probably sleeping and…” Tessie starts to say.

“Taja finds out you’ve been found and are safe, and she’s not been told for hours? Do you think either of us would survive that? No, honey, we can’t wait. I promised her, and I’m not breaking any promise I make to either of you,” I tell her.

“She’d kill us both. Dead. Very dead. Better make that call,” Tessie agrees with the beginnings of a grin.

While speaking with a very relieved and tearful Taja, the other’s pull into the park. I watch as Trigger gently pulls Tessie to his chest and drops a kiss on her forehead. Petey waits for his turn and after it, I hear Tessie quietly thanking everyone for what they did for her. My attention had drifted for a moment, watching the guys with Tessie, but it snaps back to Taja when I hear what sounds like the phone falling to the floor.

“Taj? You there?” I ask.

No answer except for a fucking meow. Duffy must be in my room and now I’m worried Taja’s going to get chased out of it.

“Taja?” I repeat. I can hear sounds, so I know the call hasn’t dropped, but I don’t know what I’m hearing exactly. I wait for another minute before disconnecting and calling Toes. After a few rings, his sleepy voice answers.

“What?”

“You at the clubhouse?”

“Yeah. Who’s this?” he asks sounding like he’s actually falling back to sleep.

“It’s fucking Vex, you dickwad. Wake the fuck up! I called Taja, and I think she dropped the phone. Go check on her and make sure Duffy doesn’t have her cornered somewhere,” I shout.

“On my way,” Toes answers sounding much more alert.

“Keep me on the line,” I order.

“Uh, Vex? She’s fine, I think,” Toes says.

“What the fuck do you mean, you think? Is she, or isn’t she?” I bark.

“She’s throwing up, like big time, but she’s also waving for me to leave. So, I’m not sure if she’s okay or not but she’s breathing. Ouch! Fuck! Stop that, you fat bastard! Stop! Get away!”

“I don’t care if that cat shreds you to tiny pieces, you stand there until Taja can tell you herself if she’s okay. You got me?”

I now know what the sounds were that I was hearing before but at a distance. I wince as Taja’s body rejects whatever she put into it recently. This goes on for a while and during it a battle’s ensuing between cat and man. Finally, there’s an unholy scream, a slamming door and then silence.

“Toes? What the fuck’s going on?”

“Hey, Vex. Sorry, it’s me. Toes dropped his phone and ran. He may be bleeding out somewhere. Possibly terminal. I’m okay now. Everything’s okay. Bring Tessie home and all will be well. I want to speak with her but maybe now’s not a good time,” Taja says in a hoarse, weak voice. She sounds exhausted and I’m worried. “Tell her I miss her and will see her soon, yeah? And thanks, Vex. Please tell the others I said thank you so much. I have to go now.” I hear the last sentence and then more vomiting before the line goes dead.

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