Chapter 13
Charity
I pulled into Cutter’s driveway, tires on the Jeep sloughing through leaves and palm fronds. I braked to a stop in front of the doors, and shut it off, throwing it into gear and applying the emergency brake. Slinging my bag of belongings over my shoulder I got out, the front door opening before I reached the top step. Hope looked pissed, and I guess she had a right to be, but my breaking down into tears on sight threw her for a loop.
Her face changed from anger to fear and her arms went up and out immediately. I fell into them and bawled against my oldest sister, and it was one seriously ugly cry.
“Charity, what happened?” Hope cried, and hugged me tight, smoothing down my hair. I heard masculine echoes around us.
“She alright?”
“What happened?”
“Is she gonna be okay?”
Hope gave an exasperated sigh and turned us, my bag was lifted off my shoulder and I blindly gave it up to whoever was trying to take it.
“Move! Out of the way, guys,” Hope said in her Corporal Badass voice and it was like the parting of the red sea, or in this case, the black sea for all the black leather vests.
Hope took me upstairs, Faith floating behind us like a ghost, and my sisters shut me safely in my bedroom, which was just as I’d left it.
Hope dropped us onto the edge of the bed, and Faith sat down on my other side, taking up my hand and squeezing it. I cried it all out in bitter, broken sobs against my sister and spilled the whole story.
Hope had gone wooden by the time I’d finished and asked, “He apologize for any of this?”
“No,” I moaned.
“That motherfucker,” she said low and with feeling. “Where the fuck does he get off using my baby sister like that? Getting you all worked up and for what?”
“I don’t know,” I moaned, “He’s an asshole.”
“Yeah he is,” Faith agreed, but she sounded uncertain, confused.
A knock at the door, and Hope got up, passing me into a hug from Faith. She opened the door and I caught a glimpse of Cutter and Marlin on the other side.
“Hey, she alright?” Marlin asked, and both he and Cutter wore mirrored expressions of concern.
“Let’s just say Nothing really took the prize this time, if the prize is King of the Assbags.”
“What’d he do?”
Hope glanced back at me and I sniffed, nodding. I looked away, humiliated, but she’d explained to me that the law with these men, was different. That they handled things differently and lived by a different code than the rest of the outside world, than your average… what had she called it? Civilian? No, that wasn’t right, no she had said citizen, only the way she’d said it made it sound like something less, like what dog was to human. With the same sort of affection a human would refer to a dog. Nice, cute, fluffy, and great to have around, but dumber than a box of rocks.
“They had sex, and it kind of escaped them both to use protection,” she raised a hand, before the guys could go there. “She’s on birth control, but when they finished, Nothing implied that he wasn’t clean in a bid to freak her the hell out. Pulled a real mind game on her and now she’s upset.”
“Fuck yeah, I’d be upset, too!” Cutter said, bewildered. He exchanged a look with Marlin and Marlin nodded.
“We’ll take care of it,” Marlin said, and didn’t sound at all happy about it.
“What does that mean?” I asked and Cutter looked up sharply from Hope’s face, to my tearstained one.
“Club business, Trouble. I can’t say, but whatever happens won’t be your fault. Nothing brought this on himself. That was disrespect, plain and true, and you’re not a woman to be disrespected in such a way. There’re plenty of ‘em that come through this town, but not you. I’m sorry he did that.”
“You don’t get to apologize for him, but thank you for doing it all the same,” I said quietly and his face fell just a touch.
“Marlin,” he said.
“Oh, I’m on it, Captain,” the big blonde man said and he disappeared down the stairs.
“Don’t you worry your pretty head, Trouble. We’ve got this, and you’ll be gettin’ your apology, straight from the horse’s mouth.”
I was scared of Cutter in that moment, the cold radiating from his usually warm brown eyes. Hope murmured something to him along the lines of Nothing should be grateful it was one of the brothers going to deliver the message; that it wasn’t her heading over there. Cutter looked down at her and his gaze visibly thawed. He cupped her cheek, thumb grazing across her jaw before giving her a nod. He looked up and gave Faith and I a nod of our own before disappearing back down the stairs.
I looked at Hope and sniffed, “They aren’t going to hurt him are they?” I asked and she raised her eyebrows.
“Probably not as much as I think he deserves,” she said.
I bit my lower lip and shook my head, “Don’t hate him, please? I think there’s something going on with him.”
“Oh there’s a lot going on with Nothing, baby sister, but nothing that he gets to treat you like that. That’s how you treat a club whore, that’s not how you treat either of my girls. He needs to know that.”
I looked at Faith and she looked at me, her lips pressed into a thin line of disappointment mixed with distaste. She nodded her agreement and I think my mouth fell open in surprise.
“You agree, of all people?” I asked and she nodded emphatically.
“The pacifist was burned out of me a long time ago, Char,” she said and shuddered. I hugged her and she hugged me tight.
“It’s so nuts,” I whispered.
“What is?” Hope asked.
“The fact that even though he was such a dick, I still really like him,” I said.
“Hence why he needs to learn his lesson now.”
I looked at her, “Because there’s no way I’m going to let you invest yourself in a man who treats you like that, so I’d better fix him now before you do, because when you put your mind to something, we all know you’re going to do whatever it is anyways. You’re just like Faith that way.”
Faith laughed, and I looked from her to a smiling Hope and back again. I couldn’t help but smile, too.
“I love you, guys.”
“We love you, too, Blossom,” they said practically in unison and I felt better.
A rap came at the door, “Yo, Charity! It’s Radar, can I borrow your keys, Sweetie?”
Hope held out her hand and with a sigh I pulled them from my hip pocket, handing them over, a tiny knot of dread taking up residence in the center of my chest that grew with the guilt I fed into it.
Hope opened the bedroom door and slapped the keys into Radar’s hand, “Do what you need to do,” she said and Radar gave a curt nod before backing out of view.
“Don’t hurt him!” I called out before Hope shut the door.
I prayed silently, please don’t hurt him, and found myself praying that it would be enough.