Kota stared at Cat for a moment then slowly turned his head to look at the woman on the bed. Her skin was cleaned up and she looked pale, too pale for his liking. He saw the dark circles under her eyes and the bruises around her neck were growing darker against her pale skin. She wasn’t a little girl anymore, no she was a woman, despite the fact she was too thin and small. He doubted she could be much taller than five feet and he doubted she weighed more than a buck and a dime. Her long blonde hair, almost white colored, was stained with blood but he had a feeling it would be her crowning glory when it was clean and surrounding her face. He couldn’t wait to see the color of her eyes, as he knew they would stand out with her pale skin.
Nash moved closer and as he stared at the woman on the bed he sneered, “How do you suppose she got here? Another coincidence? I don’t think so.”
“Shut up man.” Kota growled without looking at him. “What is with your attitude anyway?”
“My attitude?” Nash snarled. “What’s wrong with you Kota? Ever since that bitch showed up, things have been weird around here.”
Kota turned to face his brother Nash. “Watch yourself, man. That bitch as you called her is part of my family.”
“She’s nothing to you and you should agree with me on that.” Nash glared at him.
“She’s my niece, you fucker.” Kota growled.
“That hasn’t been established yet.” Nash groaned in frustration. “Your dad only thinks she is but there’s no real proof. She’s a damned liar and a fake, I’m telling you!”
Kota had finally reached his point of no return. He hauled his arm back and let his fist fly.
He caught Nash by complete surprise, as he flew back and hit the wall with a thud. The punch had knocked him completely out and he slid down to the floor in a heap.
“Well, it’s about fucking time.” Boots stared at the downed man lying in a heap. “He’s had that coming for days.”
Hawkins looked over at Wanderer and another brother then nodded at Nash. “Get him out of here. Throw him into his bedroom. He might have a headache when he comes around but that’s his own fault. He should have kept his damned mouth shut.”
“What do you want me to do with this girl, boss?” Boots asked.
“Watch over her tonight and maybe come morning, she’ll wake up and we can get some answers,” Hawkins grumbled. “We need to know who she is and what she was doing in the woods. More importantly, who left her there to die.” He looked at the faces around him and stated, “We need answers boys, because whoever did this to her, is knocking on our door next.”
When everyone in the room left, Kota stayed behind. For some reason, he couldn’t leave the girl’s bedside. He didn’t know who she was or what she was doing here but he felt like she might need him.
Looking down at his hand, he saw his bruised knuckles and shook his head. Looking over at Boots, he asked, “So what’s going on between Cat and Nash?”
Boots just snorted. “That man has a distinct hatred for her coming here and then when all the details came out, he accused her of everything from fraud to god only knows what. He even slapped her once, hard enough to put her on her ass, and you know your dad’s rules about hitting women around here. Nash has it in his head that she’s working with her mother who abandoned her at the age of three, not long after her mother murdered your brother and then set fire to the old clubhouse. Cat had a nightmare one night and described in detail what happened that day. Then it was her recounting of Jenna Bannoch’s murder that showed us something we never saw before. It was like she was right there witnessing what happened. She calls it a curse, but she helped to prove that you did not do it. She swore that you did not kill those women. But Nash just won’t let it go.” Boots shook his head. “Then when she saw the patch with the bloodstain on it, the one the cops have, they said it was Jenna’s blood but she saw something no one else did. She saw the outline of a key. He evidently had sewed the key behind his patch and when she showed us, your dad told us about a key Jesse had gotten from him. It was the key to the club’s safe. We thought that key was lost when we lost Jesse. As a kid, she saw the key fall through the cracks of the flooring the night her dad was killed. She went to the old clubhouse and found that damn key. No one could believe it. That key had been in the rubble and ash the whole time.”
“And Nash, did he change his mind after that?” Kota wanted to know.
“Nope.” Boots popped the p sound as he shook his head. “He hasn’t changed his mind yet. After her mother t-boned her car when she was leaving here, Cat was unconscious. We didn’t know it at the time but she just disappeared on us. We didn’t find her until the next day. Apparently, when she woke up, she was out in the woods. Now you gotta know she’s been afraid of the woods since she got here. She told Titan the woods were haunted by ghosts who hadn’t received justice yet. So no one here thinks or believes she went out there on her own. Then when she woke up she was blind and couldn’t see anything. A condition she had before and one I might add, she isn’t over that yet either. But the wolves were all around her man, they were even protecting her. The leader of the pact had a little bit of her old dog in him. Anyway she called him Bear and he led her to Jesse’s old house and that was where Titan found her later in the day.”
“And Nash hasn’t let up on her.” Kota shook his head.
“No brother, he hasn’t.” Boots acknowledged.
Kota realized that he himself hadn’t helped matters much when he got here. But he never thought Cat was up to something, or that she was lying.
Boots went on, “He still thinks she shouldn’t be here. After we found her, she told us she woke up in the woods. But everyone is thinking she had a little help getting there. We don’t know who helped her but it’s not hard to figure out. Your dad got mad about it and told Nash to take a walk and cool off. Well, Nash left the clubhouse and got himself in trouble. He met up with Isobel and Billy Ray in the woods and they took him hostage. They dumped him in a cave no one here knew about but Cat, she told us she remembered her mother walking into the woods all the time when she was little. She told us her mother had a hidden bank in the woods but she wasn’t sure exactly where it was. When she related that Nash might be in trouble and that he was hurt and in her mother’s cave, your dad asked if she could find the cave. Now she hadn’t been in the woods since she was little but she said she would try. Well, the minute the guys hit the woods, the wolves were there and she asked the leader, the one she calls Bear, to take them to the cave.” Boots shook his head.
What is it about these wolves?” Kota asked. “Like they never tried to hurt her?”
“No, in fact it was the opposite, all they have done was protect her. The guys tell me that lead wolf took her slowly through the woods until she remembered where she was. Then she showed them where the cave was. It was the damnedest thing. They found that Isobel was indeed using that fucking cave as a bank, they found not only a shit ton of cash but a ledger book, going back thirty years.” He paused, then looked at Kota. “They also found Nash, someone cold cocked him and just left him there. They also found human remains… your little brother Robby and his best friend Nicky. They were still wearing their cuts. Wanderer brought back the name patches they were wearing.”
Kota looked angry. He still missed his brother and he had always wondered why Robby had abandoned his home and family. Now, he knew that was never true. “What a fucking mess.”
“Yup,” Boots admitted. “And Nash, the ungrateful slob hasn’t given up yet. Like your dad said, he deserved that smack you gave him in the mouth.”
Kota nodded. “Yeah well, Nash isn’t one that likes change but as you know, Dad has been looking for that girl for years. Ever since Jesse died in fact, but we haven’t seen hide nor hair of either of them, Catarina or Isobel since the day my brother died.”
Boot nodded. “And according to what Cat told us, her mother shot him then burned down the clubhouse to hide her crime. It was heart wrenching to hear what happened that day through Cat’s nightmare. Then from what she told us, the second man they found in the rubbish was a cartel man. She killed him too with a knife to the back then she left them both to burn.”
“So, I was set up by Isobel?” Kota asked carefully. “But why?”
Boots shrugged. “No idea why man. But you are just one of the many she’s looking to take down. She wants us all gone. She might be the one who’s been targeting us all along.”
Kota turned and studied the girl in the bed. “I wonder what she’s got to do with this?”
“No clue man.” Boots shook his head. “But I can tell you this much, that girl was abused by a real S.O.B. when she was a kid. If what Cat told us earlier, is true the law should have closed the door on her dad and thrown away the key. No way, should he have been allowed to walk out of that prison. What a scumbag.”
Kota snorted. “And I’m sure we haven’t even heard the tip of the iceberg from Cat.” Shaking his head he insisted, “If he didn’t want a kid, he should have surrendered her to the system, that would have been a better idea than what he did to her. I hate men who think they can abuse a woman or a kid. I hope JuJu can find out his story.”
Boots got up and looked down at Kota. “Oh, don’t you worry. After seeing this woman’s injuries, JuJu will find out as much as he can about the bastard who did this.”
Kota nodded. “I’m just gonna sit here with her for a while.”
Boots snorted. “You want to scare that poor girl to death? If she sees your ugly mug when she opens her eyes the first time, she’s gonna run away screaming.”
“Ha fucking ha, old man.” Kota scoffed. “Better my face than yours, you old gremlin. My face is as least pretty , whereas yours would scare her shitless.”
Boots had to agree. Rubbing his chin, he admitted. “You might be right about that. This ole mug has too many scars from my youth, that’s for sure. But some of them I am damned proud of.” He looked over at the younger man. “Just don’t scare the hell out of her ok? We aren’t going to hurt her and you make sure she knows that when she does open her eyes.”
“Yeah, yeah old man, I hear ya.” Kota rumbled. He watched as Boots walked off then turned his gaze back to the woman lying in front of him. As he studied her, he noticed that her eyes were open. “Hey, little one,” he whispered softly. “I want you to know that you’re safe here. No one will hurt you, I promise.”
She raised her hands to her throat and shook her head. She began scratching her neck.
Kota pulled her hands away. “Whoa there sweetheart, your throat is injured but we didn’t hurt you. In fact, we found you in the woods behind the clubhouse.”
The woman gazed at him as if he were crazy then looked down at his chest and she saw his cut. Her eyes widened and she shrank away.
Kota shook his head. “No… I’m not gonna hurt you and neither will anyone else here.”
She studied him for a minute or two as she reached out a trembling hand and touched his. “Ok, I believe you,” she whispered hoarsely. “I don’t know why, but I do believe you.” She looked around. “Where exactly am I anyway?”
