Page 28 of Dirty Salvation

"Angela!" she popped up to her feet. Eyes wild and alert suddenly remembering the girl. How long had she been out for?

She asked him. "What time is it? How long was I asleep? She'll be scared, she's only a kid. Her parents were killed, Rider. She shouldn't be alone. They were going to--- they planned to do bad things to that little girl."

"Jesus H Christ. You're gonna give me a fuckin' heart attack with all your bursting out. Calm fuckin'down babe. I know it's hard, this is all strange to you. You gotta know three things; My club is helpin' you, whatever you need. Passage back home to your people, you wanna recover here, that's fine, too. No fucker is getting in, you're safe, believe it.

And your girl is taken care of. She couldn't stay here around a buncha hardass men, it wasn't the place for a little kid. I know people who know people, she's with the local Child Protective Services. One of my people dropped her off a while ago, they'll figure the shit out for her there. You just gotta think about you now."

"Oh..." Deflated.

"Just as well, she was hysterical as fuck when you decided to pass out, babe, and she took to clingin' to one of my brothers, wouldn't leave him alone, followed him like a puppy for seven straight hours, it freaked Lawless the hell out, he's not exactly Mary Poppins. She told him some of what happened, said you kept her safe."

"Oh..." she repeated. Rider's expression was poker serious, but she was glad he was telling her straight. And she was glad for Angela, really. “Thank you for taking care of her. I don’t really know her well, just a few days, I tried to do my best for her, I couldn’t let them hurt her, she’d never get over that.”

Guilt chewed at her. She should feel gladder than she was.

"Will the police want to talk to me?"

"Shouldn't do if we're lucky, we told her it was important no one knew you'd been over at Westbank."

She blinked confused at him. No police? she'd been held captive for years, call her stupid but that was a fucking crime in this country.

Someone had to pay for that, the police needed telling what those men were. Monsters were walking among the community and were getting away with atrocious crimes right under their noses. Drugs, guns, prostitution, and that was just the tip of the iceberg she'd overheard of their proclivities and extracurricular activities.

"What...wait..what? I don't understand. Shouldn't the police be involved already? I don't need to tell anything about your club, if that's what you're worried about, I won't even mention you. I'll tell anyone who asks I escaped. I know as much that your kind doesn't get along with the law. That bastard took from me, Rider..." emotion cracked as she spoke, turning her anger into a fresh cry fest.

God. Shedespisedcrying. Such a baby. Too much change was freaking her system. It didn’t help any to leak her feelings. Swiping angrily at her tears she decided no more. And went on to ignore herself as fresh tears fell for a few minutes more.

"We torched the place, babe. You go to the cops now, they're gonna be wantin' to know what happened, how convenient it was you escaped the same night theRebelsplace went whoosh-fuckin'-boom. They gonna be pointin' the fingers and it ain't just at us, that we can deal with, we expect it. You really wanna deal with that on top of everythin' else?"

Zara's brows furrowed in the middle. She'd give anything to be passed out again. This was all just too much and she was weak, lightheaded, listless, her muscles fatigued and heavy. She slumped her shoulders forward and met his shrewd gaze.

“Okay. That makes sense.”

His eyes had never changed their vivid color. So vibrant they still gave her the thought of the ocean. She'd once giggled and told him he had pretty blue eyes. Once. A long time ago.

Another life.

He had more facial hair than he did then, but he was as handsome as ever.

And should she really be thinking thatrightnow?

God. She shook her head.

She was as crazy as Hades had always accused her of being.Crazy fucking sweet love.

Though the man was a psycho so he had no room to speak of.

Took a crazy to know a crazy, you motherfucking psychopath. Thinking of him rose goosebumps on her skin.

"I don't want any trouble, but justice needs to come to those fucking savages. It wasn’t just me. My god, there have been hundreds of women, Rider, scores of them, I can still hear their screams, and you know what? I don’t even know what happened to them. They were there one day, gone the next. They need to pay for that." she answered vehemently, at last, meaning every word, she'd face whatever questioning she had to if need be. She didn't care what happened to her.Fuck it, she'd take responsibility for the fire. Jail time would be a holiday camp.

Rider sucked air through his bared teeth. "Justice is being served, babe. Trust theSoulsto see to that. You think we were raiding their club to steal piggy banks tonight? Nah. We were ending their reign once and for all.

“Hades skipped out, though. You should know that. But we’ll catch up to him, now I have double the reason for cutting that bastard’s throat ear-to-ear and watching him bleed out. Taking girls. Taking kids … Motherfucker. We got a lot of his boys already, some are in the wind, but my tracker Grinder, that hound can sniff out shit a mile away."

She was fascinated in how his teeth ground together like this was a personal vendetta to the MC president. His eyes flashed so darkly he had a look of the devil. “He deserves nothing short of a bloodbath ending, babe. And that's what he'll get”

“No disrespect intended, but I don’t know you or yourSoulspeople. Or why you'd take on that responsibility. This is for the law to deal with.”