Page 65 of Ink's Devil

I slump, my hand reaching out and finding the back of the chair I’d so recently been held captive on, needing its support to remain standing. The stark words sounding dreadful now they’ve been voiced.

Taking pity on me, Demon suggests, “Maybe Ink cares a lot for you Beth. Face it, doing prison time is not something anyone would do lightly. The question whether you’re worth it or not hasn’t yet been addressed.”

My head moves side to side.Is there anything in what Demon is saying?Does Ink really care for me? Is that the explanation for what he did?I try to work it through, speaking my thoughts out loud, “Ink took the rap for me. Heknewhe was likely to be arrested.” Never in my life would I have dreamed anyone would do so much. It makes it ten, a hundred times worse. I would never have asked him to do something as reckless when any trouble should have landed on my head. “He shouldn’t have, Demon. I could have explained to the cops…”

“Could you?” Demon doesn’t look or sound convinced. “Beth, what would you be doing if you were questioned right now? Would you be dropping your brother in it? What difference would that make? You knowingly took drugs to deliver to a dealer. That’s as bad as selling them yourself. You were caught supplying them. You think they’d buy your story of being coerced?”

Would I drop my brother in it? If he was telling the truth, involving the police would mean he’d be killed. Connor’s life or Ink’s freedom? What a choice. But Demon’s is a moot point. I’m not being questioned by the police. I have damned all idea where my brother is, whether he’s alive or dead, or whether he’d been lying or truthful. All I know is the man who I’d started to have strong feelings for is in a jail cell right now. I’m vaguely aware tears continue to fall down my face as I acknowledge how helpless I’m feeling.

“We’re going to have to sort out how to deal with this.” Beef steps up beside Demon, delivering a scowl in my direction. “Christ, what a fuckin’ mess.”

Is he talking about me? Startled, I realise I’m a blubbering disaster at the moment. I scramble in my pocket to find a tissue and blow my nose loudly.

My brother could be injured, dying, or already dead. My lover could rot in jail. My mom’s life could be in danger if my brother told whoever’s got him the location of the rest of the drugs.

This is too big for me to handle. There’s only one thing to do, even though Demon had told me not to. I straighten my back. “I’m going to the cops. I’ll tell them everything. At the very least I’ll get Ink out of jail. I’ll go now.”

“No, you won’t,” Demon announces equally firmly. “You’re staying here. Where we can keep an eye on you.”

“Demon, it’s the right thing to do. I need to take responsibility for any decision I’ve made. The cops may let me off, I didn’t think I had a choice…”

“You think that would clear you? Christ, woman, I’ve already told you. You were an accomplice at the very least. In their view, as soon as you found the drugs you should have turned them in. I doubt they’ll accept any excuse.”

“So, I get arrested. I’ll do the time.” It might kill me. I’ve never been enamoured by the thought of being locked up. I shudder as I recall what I’ve heard about going inside, but I can’t let an innocent man suffer for actions I’d taken.Why Ink? Why?What had made him decide to do what he’d done when he must have known what was likely to happen when he took that bag from me? “It’s the only way, Demon. I’ll give myself up. Admit it was me and that Ink knew nothing—”

“No, you won’t,” Demon says, his tone broking no argument. “Ink made the choice. He knew what would happen.”

“But maybe he didn’t,” I protest, trying to justify Ink’s actions. “He can’t have known the cops were so close.”

“Ink knew exactly where the SWAT team was positioned tonight, and what they were looking out for. Odds on that he’d be arrested. If,” he holds up his hand as I go to speak, “if Ink thinks enough of you that he’d do the time instead, then I’m not letting his fuckin’ sacrifice go to waste. You go to the cops? They’ve got you both. You’ll probably achieve nothing, and I doubt that they’ll let him walk.”

“But it wasn’t his fault. It was mine.”

Demon shrugs. “He handed the drugs over. That’s what they saw.”

I turn away, my hand covering my mouth feeling as though I’m going to be sick.

“What the fuck’s going on?” A new voice, one I know well. It’s Pyro. “What’s this about Ink being arrested and that it’s Beth’s fault?”

I zone out as I hear Beef explain. Since Connor had called the first time today, I’ve been running on adrenaline, caught up in a world I know nothing about. Suddenly thrust into a universe where people use torture to get what they want, narrowly escaping it being used on myself. I’d got my lover arrested, and all for what?

“Mel’s upstairs, love. Come on, let me take you up to her.” Pyro’s voice sounds close to my ear. “Come on,” he repeats, patiently, when I don’t move.

“Mel shouldn’t have come,” I say, absently. “She’s pregnant.”

“Yeah, but not fuckin’ ill. I couldn’t keep her away once she heard something was up with you and Ink.”

“Ro,” Demon attracts his attention, “I know your wife and Beth are close, but in other circumstances, Beth would be a fuckin’ enemy of the club. She’s no friend of ours, but it appears she might mean something to Ink.”

“We’re offering her our protection?” Pyro gives me an assessing look.

Demon’s statement hadn’t surprised me, I’d be a fool not to sense the animosity in the air. Shifting a little uneasily, I don’t blame them and can appreciate the conundrum they’re now in. They might offer protection to me and my mom, but it’s not out of the hand of friendship.

“Yes,” Demon tells him, having come to a decision. “For now, Beth and Patsy are under our protection. At least until we know what’s happening with Ink, and what part this Connor played in the drugs flooding into Pueblo.” He turns to me. “If I get word you turning yourself in could help Ink out of his predicament, I’ll take you to the cops myself. And,” his voice deepens, “if you’ve been telling me a pack of lies, you’ll be taking your last breath.”

I gulp. Knowing he means it. But my only danger is him catching me out in a lie, and all that’s come out of my mouth is the truth.

Pyro nods as if a message has been telegraphed and understood, but warns, “I need something to tell Mel if we’re keeping Beth away from her.”

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