No matter what, one day Shade would find him. Then he’d get the truth from the bastard on why he’d thrown his family to the wolves.
Shade already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from the asshole who made his mother a side piece and couldn’t bother to raise him.
His father couldn’t risk losing everything he had and the family he loved. So, he got rid of the family he apparently didn’t want. Julian and his mother had become an inconvenience. A risk to his “real” family once his mother had enough and began to make demands.
But right now, finding his father wasn’t a priority. The boy before him was.
His father was a dead man walking. The boy before him was the future.
So was Chelle. And his club.
The kid’s repeated, “Why are you here?” louder and more demanding this time, snapped Shade’s attention back to him.
“Gonna show you.”
The kid didn’t move from the far corner of the cage. “Why?” That one worded question was full of insecurity.
“So you know the job you’ll think you need to do when you’re older is already done. I did it already so you don’t have to. It’s done.”
It was done.
The boy frowned and Shade realized he had a split lip, too. Fucking assholes. “I don’t understand.”
“You will, kid. Come out of the cage.” Shade stepped back and gave him some space. “Not gonna hurt you.”
The kid still didn’t move.
Right. So they needed to get to know each other a little better first before the boy somewhat trusted him. “Miller said you’re twelve. That true? Asshole’s like him are known to lie about that shit.”
“Yeah.”
“You got a name?”
“Do you?”
Even in this crazy, unknown situation that could make most children break, this kid still had fire. Like it was him against the whole fucking world. It made Shade want to smile, but he was not in a smiling mood. “Yeah, it’s Shade.”
“What kind of name is that?”
“One I picked.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will. What’s yours?”
Shade could see the conflict on his face. He wanted to trust Shade because he realized he might not have a choice. But he also was not quick to trust anyone right now. Not while sitting in a cage, talking to a stranger in a house where the owner wanted to sell him to the highest bidder.
That could cause a shitload of distrust toward anyone standing in that same house.
Even so, Shade needed him to come out of the cage and didn’t want to force him. He’d rather the boy came out on his own, even if it took a bit of time. By allowing him the choice to leave the cage on his own, it would prove to him his choice hadn’t been completely taken away. That he still held onto that power.
Unfortunately, Shade wanted to get the fuck out of this house as soon as he could. He wanted to be long gone before Miller was found in his kitchen bled out.
“Listen, I can call you Kid, but prefer to call you by your name. Sure it’s better than Kid.”
“Judah.”
The name was said so softly, Shade thought he misheard. “What?”
“Judah. I hate it. I prefer Jude.”
“Then gonna call you what you prefer. Got any family other than your mother, Jude?”
He shook his head. “Not that I know of.”
For fuck’s sake, what was he going to do with this kid, then? “Not one fuckin’ person?”
“If we did and they didn’t help my mom and me when we were homeless, then they’re dead to me, anyway.”
The anger was back. Jude’s spine had snapped straight, his eyes turned hard. His mouth thinned to nothing but a slash.
“At your age, you can’t survive out there on your own. You’ll end up on the street workin’ johns or slingin’ drugs, or back in one of these sick motherfucker’s hands. Ain’t gonna let that happen.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?” Tears, whether from the anger or from the perceived hopelessness of his situation, filled Jude’s eyes. They didn’t spill over but remained contained. Barely. “I’ve got nowhere to go. No one besides my mom.”
Christ. Truth was, the kid didn’t even have his mom. “Yeah, you do.”
“Are you going to help me find my mom?”
The hope was back. But just for a fleeting moment. It was dashed when Shade answered, “Not sure that’s possible.”
“Then why would I go with you? You could be like him.”
“Ain’t like him. Was like you.”
Jude stared at Shade, still blinking back those welling tears. “Was that what you meant when you said ‘I was you once?’ Were you taken like I was? Like my mom and I were?”
“Yeah, kid. Spent ten years being bought and sold. Ten years being a fuckin’ slave to these sick motherfuckers. That ain’t happenin’ to you.”
Fuck. The tears were no longer being held in check. The reality of his situation along with his mother’s was hitting Jude hard because of what Shade just said.