“There we go,” Toni said. “That’s better.” She stroked a hand over Lindsey’s damp hair.
“Can you tell us what happened?” Zach asked. “Is your father in the club?”
Lindsey shook her head. Her red hair, no longer wet, hung limp past her shoulders. Tears continued to roll down her chapped cheeks, but she no longer blubbered and sobbed. “My parents are dead. They died about six months ago, and my brother was given custody of me. He was a prospect for the Chrome Disciples.”
“Was?”
“Uh, yeah, Blade kicked him out when he was found, um…you know…with an ol’ lady,” she whispered that last part as though Zach and Toni weren’t way too familiar with the concept.
Shit. Caught fucking someone’s woman. That’d do it.
“He didn’t take you when he left?” Toni’s mouth turned down.
Zach didn’t need to hear the answer to that question to know the club had kept Lindsey as payment for time and trouble.
“Uh, n-no. Blade said I had to stay because I was club property.”
Beside him, Toni froze, her mind no doubt going to worst case scenario.
“I’m so sorry,” Lindsey said again. “I didn’t want to keep tricking you. You were so nice. All of you at the diner. The nicest people I’ve met in a long time.”
Toni opened her mouth, probably to tell Lindsey all was forgiven, but Zach squeezed her shoulder. When she glanced his way, he gave a single shake of his head.
Now that the girl was on a roll, it’d be good for her to purge the toxic experiences and good for Zach to hear exactly what went down.
“He made me.” Her sobs kicked up again. “I-I told him no. I wouldn’t do anything to h-hurt you. But Crank said I had to or he’d give me to the brothers. And I know what that means. Right now, the club uses me to clean the clubhouse and get them stuff they need. Uh, sometimes they made me sell drugs or help with the guns.” She shrugged. “They said I wouldn’t be hurt as long I did everything they ordered me to. But if I didn’t help them trick you and Shell they’d let this guy Louco have me. It means crazy in Portuguese. He’s insane. I couldn’t…I had to do what Crank said. I was s-s-so s-scared. I’m s-sorry!”
“Shhh,” Toni said as she climbed into the bed next to the girl. Zach resisted the urge to pull her back into his arms. Lindsey needed Toni at that moment more than Zach needed to keep his hands on his woman. But just slightly.
Toni wrapped the girl up in her embrace. “Shh, it’s okay, Lindsey. You did what you had to do to survive a horrible situation. No one will hold that against you.” Stroking the girl’s head, her gaze met Zach’s. Written all across her face was the love she’d developed for this troubled girl after such a short time. “Sweetie?” Toni asked.
“Y-yes, ma’am?”
Zach snorted. “You think calling me sir is bad, for Christ’s sake, don’t call her ma’am. She’ll be ordering everyone around in no time.”
“Hey!” Toni said, nudging him with her socked foot, but she laughed. “Seriously, sweetie, we’re Zach and Toni.”
“I can do that.” Finally, she settled against Toni without tears.
“Did anyone hurt you while you were with the club?”
Lindsey fell silent. “Not too bad.”
With a clenched jaw, Zach waited for her to finish her thought. If one of those perverted fuckers so much as laid a hand on the girl…
“They hit me a few times when I didn’t do something right. I got a couple black eyes and a busted lip once. But once I learned how they liked things and didn’t mess up so much, that mostly stopped.”
“So they didn’t…I mean, no one…”
Toni shot him a pleading look. Like he knew a sensitive way to ask a thirteen-year-old girl if she’d been raped? Christ. “Uh, I think what Toni asked is if they ever touched you…inappropriately.”
Her eyes widened as the light bulb went off. “Oh, no! No, no, no!” She shook her head back and forth, bumping Toni’s chin. “No, never. They just looked at me weird and made threats. I think they liked using me to sell drugs. I could go places without the cops or anyone thinking much about it since I’m not a big scary biker.”
Maybe they hadn’t touched her yet, but it would have come. Probably sooner rather than later.
“Lindsey,” Zach said as he leaned forward and curled hand around Toni’s calf beneath the scrub pants. Despite all the measures to warm her, her skin still felt chilled to the touch. “What do you think about coming to stay with us after you’re released from the hospital?”
The girl’s bloodshot eyes widened. Her chapped and peeling lips had been slathered in ointment, as had her bright red cheeks. Right then, she looked younger than her age. Truly like a child in need of a home.