Page 109 of Roses and Skulls

“If he hurt her then we will deal with it.”

He slams his fist into the steering wheel again.

“Get it out now,” I tell him.

“I know. Goddammit, I know.” He runs his hand over his face.

When we get to the hardware store, it’s still dark outside.

Samuel lets us in the back door. He nods for us to follow him, not saying a word. He pushes the door to an office open and there she sits, all curled in on herself.

Raffe clenches his fists beside me.

“I came in early to do some inventory and I found her staring at the mural outside. I thought it was Jesse for a minute.” He shoves his hands in his pockets. “I heard a man yelling for her, so I brought her inside.”

“Thank you,” I tell him, watching as Raffe cautiously makes his way over to her.

He kneels in front of her. “Hey, baby girl,” he says softly, lightly touching the top of her head. She lifts her face and I close my eyes. Lord, please help me keep my shit together.

Raffe handles it much better than I could have imagined. He cups her face in his hands as she stares through him. Her eyes glassed over. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Uncle Dan and I are here. We’re here, okay?”

She doesn’t say anything, and my heart sinks.

“Do you know which way she came from?” I ask Samuel.

He scratches his head. “No, but the man was yelling from the north, maybe four blocks away.”

I’m not waiting for orders this time. “Raffe, wait here. I’ll be back.”

It takes me two seconds and I’m pulling into the trailer park. When I storm into the trailer, Draven barely gets a look at me before I knock him clean the fuck out with one hit. After that, I find two cleanup assholes in the bedroom with Brody’s niece, she’s dead and lying on a black tarp. At least that’s who I think it is. The only thing recognizable is her blond hair.

“Who the fuck are you?” one of them asks, reaching for his gun.

“Get the fuck out of here,” I tell them.

Both scatter when I turn my back to them. Seeing my patch was all it took. I walk back out to the living room and tie up the soon to be dead man. I wrap him in a blanket and toss him as hard as I can in the back of Raffe’s truck. He whimpers.

“If you so much as make a peep, I’ll really give you something to whine about.”

Someone steps out from the shadows; I pull my gun, pointing it directly at the dark figure.

“You gunna shoot me, big guy.”

My hand instantly falls. “I thought you were in San Diego?”

“And I thought you were home, in bed with your wife,” Jesse replies smartly.

She follows me back inside. Immediately, she walks over and picks up a pack of cigarettes off the table. “Only one bitch I know who smokes these skinny little things. Where is she?” She tosses them on the table and then her nose turns up.

“Is someone dead in here?” she asks.

“Jesse, what the fuck are you doing here?”

“Same?” she tips her head at me.

I cross my arms over my chest, and she caves.

“Okay, fine. I burnt down Bell’s tonight.”

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