Page 38 of Marlin's Faith

“What happened?” she demanded and went for the side of the bed Faith was laying on. Nothing had put her on her side, in the recovery position in case whatever was in her system caused her stomach to heave. Hope stood by the raised bed and took her sister’s had between her own.

“I was watching her, she was talkin’ to one of the college boys and he brought her a drink. The second she showed anything was wrong I was on it.”

“Jesus, Faith!” Hope sounded incredulous, but luckily her sister was out, and didn’t have to hear it.

“Hope, don’t blame her for tryin’. She was on the beach with all of us right fuckin’ there. Nothing happened, she’s gonna be fine. I swear to Christ, though… if Faith didn’t have bad luck she wouldn’t have any luck at all.”

“We’ll take her back to the house –“

I scoffed, “She’s stayin’ right here, where I can take care of her, besides, where you gonna get a cage to take her in? Not like she’s fit to ride and I’m damn sure not gonna carry her all the way to the house.”

Hope looked at me, her expression fractured and haunted, tears starting to well up.

“I am like the worst fucking parent ever at this point, aren’t I?” she asked and sniffed.

“Naw, Sweetheart,” Cutter answered from the doorway.

“She was all grown up when she was eighteen,” I added, “Besides, come tomorrow, we can go back over the lessons about taking candy, or in this case drinks, from strangers. She’s good. I’ve got her, and I promise I’m takin’ care of her.”

Hope nodded, and Cutter held out his hand to her, “C’mon, Sweetheart. I’ve gotta go be the President for a minute, we need to talk to our people and get the full Monty from all sides.”

“We have an early set of customers tomorrow,” I said.

“It’s best just to let her sleep until whatever it is wears off,” Nothing counseled.

“Fine, that settles that then, she can come out with me and my brother. Ain’t no place safer for her.”

“I’ll try to be here for that,” Hope said.

I nodded, “Johnny can suck it.”

Plans made, Hope and the Captain left, Nothing gave me some instructions on what to check on throughout the night and he left soon after. I debated, for a time, what to do. I finally settled on leaving her as is, as much as I wanted to get her changed into something more comfortable than her cut offs and such, I figured preserving her modesty was more important this time around.

I smoothed some of her bright blonde beach waved locks out of her face; slack with her drug induced sleep and asked her, “Why didn’t you just come back to me, Baby Girl? Why do you keep runnin’, huh?”

I wouldn’t be getting an answer to the question tonight, there wasn’t no way, so instead, I got myself ready for bed. I grabbed a quick shower and some clean boxers. I usually didn’t bother with actual sleepwear, so it was the best I had. Usually, I crashed out one of two ways, nude or fully clothed.

I climbed up onto the bed and settled onto my side behind my girl and pulled her gently back into the protective curve of my body. We had a lot to talk about she and I, and needed to come to some kind of understanding quick, becausethis?What we been doing? It wasn’t working for me anymore and it damn sure wasn’t working for her. I’d given her space. Tomorrow, I was going to be up close and personal, and push some of her limits. I just hoped like hell it weren’t too soon.

20

Faith…

I woke slowly; my head full of cotton and dragged open my eyes half expecting that it had all been a dream. My sister, Marlin, and the daring rescue, no more than a drug induced hallucination… I pushed myself up in the comfortable bed and nearly wept when I realized I was in a room that looked awfully expensive. I’d been in high priced suites before and this looked to be one of them, only strangely compact. Not at all like a full sized hotel room, and there was no bathroom that I could see, just one door which was presumably the exit.

I groaned softly and covered my face with my hands at the sense of vertigo, as if the room were tipping. It took me several moments to realize that it actuallywas.I swallowed my stomach contents which were threatening to rebel and looked down. I felt myself frown in confusion. I was clothed. Not only was I clothed, I was clothed in the same thing as my dream.

I closed my eyes and breathed deep to steady myself, which is when I realized I could smell him. I could smell him in the sheets and along my skin. A light perfume of peaches, smoke and alcohol.

“Not a dream, Faith. He’s real, it’s real, you’re safe,” I whispered to myself.

When I felt steady enough, I got out of the bed using the three steps at the foot and buried my toes into the carpet surrounding it which was thick and soft. I hugged myself, self-conscious about my state of dress, still being in my rumpled clothing, but I didn’t have anything else and I needed to pee – badly.

I sucked in a deep breath and opened the door and blinked in surprise. I was in a little area with two doors to either side. An expanse of living space was spread out in front of me, but I needed the bathroom so I ignored it for now, since it was empty. The door on my left was firmly shut, but the one on my right was the bathroom, so I slipped into it quickly and shut the door firmly behind me, flipping the little switch on the doorknob into the locked position.

I took care of my needs and spent more time than was required washing my hands and splashing cold water from the faucet on my face, scrubbing my fingers over it to rid my skin of the tight feeling. I’d been crying. It was a familiar sensation, but when I tried to remember why it was like the memories were an amorphous black cloud and would shimmer just out of my reach every time I tried to grasp them. I remembered having lunch with Cutter and Hope, I remembered riding behind Cutter to the beach, and Hope riding beside us, happy to be out of her cast.

I remember walking along the water line, and I remembered Marlin. I remembered Marlin singingHope Never Diesto me and then nothing… just nothing. I dried my face with a nearby hand towel and worried my bottom lip between my teeth as I stared at myself in the mirror over the sink.

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