Page 111 of Devil's Due

I don’t know what the hell to do or say for the best. I wish we were back in Colorado where Jay or Vi could help. Even if there are old ladies here, I wouldn’t know who the best would be.

Knowing she can’t see the anguish or indecision on my face, I use the words she needs. “Stevie, babe. I’ll do whatever you need. If you want me to stay, I will. If you need to be alone, I’ll go. Just tell me, are you hurt? Do you need medical attention? Of any sort?”

She rubs at her arms. “They were rough, Beef. They left bruises, but no, I’m not injured. There’s nothing that won’t heal on its own.”

Did they fuck you?That’s what I want to ask. But can’t. Not just yet. For both her sake and mine. If there’s any way I can be, I want to be prepared for the answer.

My eyes tell me I may have got there in time, her clothes are awry from the struggle, but she’s still wearing shorts and a tee. I don’t want to make assumptions and be wrong.

Her hands reach for me. “I want you to stay Beef. Please don’t leave me alone.”

That’s an easy one. “I’ve no problem with that, sweetheart. I’ll never leave you alone. Not again.”

“Where am I?”

“You’re in LA, you know that?” When her head moves side to side, I narrow it down further. “You’re in the clubhouse of the Wretched Soulz. Just til we can work out how we’re going to get home.”

Her eyes widen a little when I name the Wretched Soulz. “Am I in danger from this club?”

“Nah. Wretched Soulz have cut the Jokers loose. That was their prez there, in the house doing the talking. In fact, most of the men there were Soulz. They helped rescue you.”

Her mouth opens and shuts. I realise there’s so much she doesn’t know, and when it’s time, I’ll fill her in on the info she’s missing. For now, I want her thinking about just one thing. “Focus on getting home, Stevie.”

She repeats the word I’ve used. “Home.” Her teeth bite her lip, and a tear rolls down her face. “I’ve no idea where that is now.”

That’s not hard for me to respond to, either. “Home is Pueblo. With me and Max,” I respond without hesitation, but then feel driven to add, “If that’s what you want?”

She had left me. There remains a niggling doubt in my head as to why. A doubt she immediately puts to rest with her next words. “I want nothing more. Beef, I didn’t want to leave you. But Lennox, he said there was a war brewing between MCs, and all because of me. He said you would be in danger unless I went. He told me your dominant club gives you permission to have an MC, and that they were coming for you if you gave me protection. Now we’re here, in their clubhouse. I don’t know what to think.”

“Come here.” I pull her into my arms.She’d left because she thought I was in danger?Her short statement has thrown all my doubts to the wind. “In a way, he was right. But we’ve sorted it out. Wretched Soulz have come out on our side. It’s the Warped Jokers who have lost their charter…”

“The men who took me, they said something about that. They were so angry. I didn’t understand it. Back, back…”

Back there. Where she almost suffered a fate worse than death or had been killed. My eyes close and I need a moment to control myself when I think of what could have been the outcome today. Her head moves, bumping into my jaw, and I wince.

“Areyouhurt?”

I laugh softly, realising she hadn’t been able to see what went down. “Stinger, babe. He wanted a distraction and hit me to provide one. He packs quite a punch.”

Her hand rises and now it’s her comforting me. Smoothing away my bruises with her touch.

Putting my hands on her biceps, I turn her so she’s facing away from the bed. “Sit a moment, Stevie.”

Feeling behind her, she does. Then tilts her face up. “You’re going to ask what happened to me, aren’t you?”

“No. If you want to tell me, you can. If you’d prefer, you can talk to someone else. There’s no pressure, babe. Whenever you’re ready.”

But it seems she’s ready now. She shudders. “It was close. So close. They wanted to get me to LA from Denver fast. One of them, well, he tried, but the others wouldn’t let him. Said it would hold them up too much. But once we arrived here.” She shudders. “I was thrown in with the other women. Those women, Beef. I couldn’t see them, but I knew enough by the tone of their voices let alone what they were saying. They were used, by all the Jokers and by other men and that was what was going to happen to me. They said no one was kept there long. They told me men chose them, then they were taken away and didn’t return.”

“Stevie…”

“Let me finish. They came for me. I heard them talk, they didn’t attempt to be quiet. They knew I couldn’t see, so they taunted me. They were all going to try me out. They were… explicit in what they were going to do. One, two, three… All of them at once. They felt my breasts, groped my ass… But you came and stopped them.”

The blood rushes from my head and I feel faint when I realise just how close it had come. “Stevie…” I croak.

“You were in time.” Her voice sounds stronger. “I held onto the thought that I’d be saved, and you came.”

“Stevie.” I drop to my knees, my arms going around her, no longer wanting to give her space. “From this moment on I swear to you, I’ll always come. I’d walk through hell to be with you.” Yeah. I knocked on the door once and they didn’t let me in, and now I know why. I’m her guardian devil. That’s my role, my place and that’s what I’ll be until the day I die.

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