Whip shrugged. “Don’t know. Didn’t have a shitload of time to get too many details.”
Dodge nodded. “Why don’t we take her over to Pete’s, let her clean up and rest upstairs ’til the party’s over.”
“And then what?” Rev asked.
The bar manager shrugged. “Don’t know. But at least it’ll give us a little time to get more answers from her and think about our next step.”
“We could drop her off at the pig pen,” Rook suggested. “Have Jet drop her off with some kind of story.”
Judge snorted. “Yeah, right. We take her to five-o, or whoever, questions are gonna be asked. Lots of them. And all of those fuckin’ answers will lead back to us bein’ the cause for what happened up on that fuckin’ mountain. She’s a witness to everythin’ that happened up there, too. Includin’ what Whip did to Scar. She saw almost every one of our faces.”
In the silent pause, a soft but shaky voice came from the van. “I won’t say anything. I promise.”
They all stared at her perched in the open van door, unsure if she was telling the truth or only telling them what they’d want to hear.
“You got family lookin’ for you?” Trip asked the girl.
She shook her head and gave the same answer as earlier. “No.”
Whip didn’t know if that was good or bad. Or even a lie. But what the fuck were they going to do with her?
Easy knocked his arm. “Let Judge and Trip figure it out. Ain’t on us. Let’s head in and get you cleaned up. Don’t need the pigs showin’ up here for whatever reason and seein’ your face. Questions will be asked since it’s fresh.”
“Yeah,” he breathed, mentally and physically drained.
He wanted to know the girl’s story but E was right. It was best they weren’t all standing outside in a group, even if it was behind the building. People were nosy in that town, plus, with the explosions, they’d all be on edge.
By the time he and Easy rolled into Pete’s, the girl was already upstairs in the apartment with Stella and Chelle.
It turns out the girl’s name was Gabrielle and she was only fourteen.
Fucking fourteen! Practically still a baby.
It also turned out she was not a virgin before Scar assaulted her but she had been before the Shirley clan took her from a group home in upstate New York where she’d been living.
Whether it was true or not, she kept insisting she had nothing and no one.
That was the word Whip got when he and Easy were the last to arrive at his own “birthday party.”
He was sure he’d hear more about her later once things settled down.
Whip kept kicking himself for not finding Scar sooner. He also hoped Gabrielle, or Gabi as she preferred, wasn’t already pregnant by one of the Shirleys. He had no idea when they had taken her. She could’ve been their captive for days, months or even years.
As he glanced around a packed Pete’s, it wasn’t only full of Fury members and their ol’ ladies, it also included all the sweet butts, as well as Pete’s regulars who were invited to stay and drink on the house.
Because of that, it was packed as fuck and pretty much standing room only between the free drinks and Syn’s band, The Synners, rocking out on stage. The whole bar was overdone with birthday decorations, the sweet butts and ol’ ladies had arranged for tons of food to be set out like a buffet and the Fury members weren’t to stay in one spot too long but to keep moving through the crowd so more people saw them at the party.
The only Fury family missing were Red and Saylor since they were staying with Red’s siblings at Shade and Chelle’s until the sham “party” was over.
Wait… He hadn’t seen one other person. Jet.
Whip moved over to Rook busy pounding down a beer at the bar. “You seen your woman, yet?”
Rook finished swallowing and before he could speak, Dozer set a full pint glass in front of Whip.
He’d need more than a beer tonight. As soon as enough people saw him at the party, he was going to step out back, light a joint and get lit himself. Maybe it would get rid of the nauseous feeling he couldn’t shake.
He winced when the glass pressed against his swollen and split lip, but the cold beer went down smoothly. It would hopefully dull the pain soon enough and maybe settle his stomach.
“Nope,” Rook finally answered after emptying his glass and slamming it on the bar. He belched loudly, wiped his hand across his mouth and waved Dozer back over to get him another. “But she texted me and said she should be here any fuckin’ minute.”
“Guess she stayed long enough at the pig pen to get a good read on what their response was.”