Bed of Roses (18 page)

“How do you know he wasn’t just feeding you a line of bullshit to save his own life?” Digs asked.

“Let's just say, I had leverage. He had his address and pictures of all ten of his kids in his wallet. I told him if he gave me something worth knowing, I’d spare their life and only take his. If not, they were going in potato sacks and tossed in the ocean like unwanted puppies. He gave me all he knew.” Zeus grinned. Under normal circumstances, families were left out of any war or heat between clubs but this group of misfits held no honor like the MCs held, rather the club was clean or ran a little dirty. On the rare occasion that it was out of their control, Zeus was the only one cold-hearted enough to act on the threats he made. So far, his only victims had been bitches who had personally harmed family members of the Savages, but the rumors around his reputation didn’t disclose that information.

“And now they will be back again out for blood. We are playing a damn game of ping pong with the sons-of-bitches instead of taking care of this once and for all. What next? We just hand over some of our guys to keep the women safe? These are gangbangers with skills and no conscience… They fight dirtier than we do for fucks sake. The only family these little pricks care about is their own. Our fucking kids are in danger now, dammit!” Dig roared.

“That’s why we find the root, dumbass. If we take out the head honcho, the little worker ants won’t know what to do and will be sitting ducks. Then we go in and clean up,” Zeus barked back.

Tonto glanced at Sandman, seeing the same relief wash over his features as he felt. The rest of the meeting he fought to keep his thoughts from wandering to Rose. The terms she had left on had been bad, and winning her back would be a challenge. He liked challenges, his whole life had been one. “It makes sense. Krista was pissed when I kicked her ass to the curb. If she promised Brent some sort of romantic arrangement, he would have done it. It’s no secret how bad the kid had it for Krista.”

“When I walked in, Rose was taking a hell of a beating and didn’t back down. She didn’t mention the Savages at all, even when they were eyeing her tattoo. The girl didn’t want anything but to save those brats. Hell, I had to make her go to the damn car instead of walking back into the same muther fuckers who had just beat her up to get them. The girl was fuckin’ fearless, man. She ain’t a damn nark, she’s a desperate sister trying to right her mother’s fuck ups to keep her family together, and doesn’t ask for help,” Twelve gage added to the conversation. The room fell quiet while they thought about it. Maybe he had a point.

“Then why didn’t she ask one of us to go with her?” Yo Neg directed the question straight to Tonto, still wanting to go over all options possible. They had a thing for the little bitch, great. He protected his family, and so far she hadn’t proved her place in the Savages.

“Would you have believed her? Or would you have thought it was a setup for them to get one of us?” Tonto shot back, his eyes narrowed.

Yo Neg’s eyebrow raised. “Good point. Without knowing what we were walking into, there’s no way in hell. If Brent was seen with them, he is the prime target. If he was with Krista, that’s almost a damn bull’s eye on his back, man.”

“Yeah, but Krista made it clear her affections were directed at you and Sandman. Surely he wasn’t stupid enough to believe anything that came out of her cock holster,” Rugger argued.

“I don’t know man. Pussy is a powerful thing. Get Brent. We need to have a little chat with our Prospect.” Tonto dismissed the meeting, leaving to be with his thoughts. The new information changed everything if proven to be true, and he needed time to work through it and devise what their next move would be.

Chapter Twelve

Three days had passed, and Rose had yet to join the world. The bruises had faded to a puke green with slight purple shading, and her ribs were still sore, but moving was a bit easier. Her heart was another story.

Terry had hung around, breaking some sort of record but gave her time to rise from the pits of shit she had fallen into at least. She found her cell phone and plugged it in, half hoping there would be some sort of apology or heart felt message waiting for her but none came. No missed calls. No text messages. Not even her damn Facebook had any messages from friends. Her life officially sucked ass worse than it ever had. It killed her that she wasn’t out searching employment, but decided she’d let Terry sweat it out for as long as she could. It was inevitable that she would be left to pick up the pieces and fix their situation, but decided to enjoy the short break while she had it.

After a week of hiding, her mother woke her up. “Listen, I need you to watch the kids while I go to work. There is a casserole in the fridge for dinner. I should be home around seven.” Rose’s eyes flew open, not believing what her ears heard. Standing in front of her was her mother, dressed in a decent pair of jeans and presentable blouse with her hair fixed and a respectable amount of makeup on. No white trash cut offs, no smeared eyeliner and three day old makeup. She looked…normal. Rose was speechless. Was it a trick? She pinched herself to see if she was dreaming. “God, don’t be so dramatic. Just watch them, 'kay?”

Rose wanted to smart something off about being the only one who had ever raised them but refrained. If she was willing to try to rectify the past with pretending to be a responsible parent, so be it. “Okay.” Rose got up and headed to the bathroom, glancing at the clock. Five thirty in the morning.
Well, if this is a trick and she’s off to another booty call, at least it looks legit.
It didn’t surprise her to see her gone when she walked out into the living room. The kids were all still asleep, and she took the opportunity to grab a cup of coffee and flip on the television. When she walked by the front door, something caught her eye. Three boxes rested against the wall. Rose went over to investigate, picking up the envelope that was taped on top. Her name was scrolled across the front, so she pulled it off and opened it, unfolding a hand written letter.

Rose,

The girls and I gathered a few things for the kids. It’s not much, but I’ll be bringing more by later today. I’d like to talk, if you have time.

Raven

Rose dropped it, half expecting to have triggered a bomb. She carefully opened the cardboard flaps and peered inside. Brand new clothing and school supplies were crammed inside, all in the correct sizes for each kid. Each revealed more new name brand clothing and shoes. Rose sat down, more confused than ever before. Had they found out that she was innocent? Was this all a way for Tonto and Sandman to apologize? Fuck that. She’d take the stuff, because, dammit, she couldn’t let her pride neglect the kids, but there was no way this was enough to make her forget everything.

The rest of the morning she continued going through the motions, brain dead to the world. Tending to the kids was second nature, and thankfully she could rely on her instincts to trudge through what was left of her life.

As she sat the kids down with lunch, there was a knock at the door. Rose opened the door, not bothering to hide the depression she had sunk into. Raven and Heaven stared back, looking her up and down. Raven pulled her sunglasses down her nose and gazed over the top, her eyebrows furrowing. “You look like hell.”

Rose’s face remained emotionless, as did she. She had no feeling left to give, even sarcasm evaded her. “Thanks.” She went to shut the door, but Raven pushed past her and walked in. “Sure, come on in.” Rose ignored them and plopped back down on the couch, her eyes pointed at the television. She couldn’t focus on what was on even if she tried, but needed somewhere to space off into the distance. Heaven shut the door, sitting in the ratty chair beside her. Raven made herself at home, opening the fridge in search of something to drink. She hadn’t expected to find two packages of hot dogs and a jar of mayonnaise being the only contents. She glanced back at Rose, and continued opening each of the kitchen cabinets. There were a couple packages of Ramen, two boxes of mac and cheese, peanut butter, half a loaf of bread, and a can of green beans. The freezer wasn’t much better. One tiny package of hamburger. Fuck. The kids were sitting in the front room eating what looked to be a peanut butter sandwich. She wanted to beat the shit out of Tonto and Sandman for not doing something sooner. “Gerald called. Said you hadn’t been into work for a few days.” She sat down beside Rose, despite the unwelcome look she got.

Rose laughed sarcastically. “That’s funny. Didn’t figure I had a job left. Plus, ya know, purple and green just aren’t my color.”

Raven turned to face her. “How are you, honey?” ignoring the snide remarks Rose was making.

Rose sighed. “Fine. It’s nothing that a hot bath and time won’t heal.”

“I call bullshit. Maybe for the outside, but what about the inside?”

“I’m fine,” Rose grumbled.

“Get dressed,” Raven commanded.

Rose turned and looked at her, the monotone of her expression matching her voice. “Why.”

“Because. There’s no food in this place.” She leaned over and inhaled deeply, scrunching her nose up. “Go take a damn shower and get some clothes on.” Rose didn’t have the energy to protest, but didn’t to move either. When she remained sitting, Raven stood and yanked her to her feet. “Move that ass. Now.” Rose did, unsure why. Hell, she still didn’t know why Raven and Heaven were sitting in her front room. Normally, she would have been appalled that they saw how rundown the house was and the level of poor she and her family lived in, but she didn’t bother. That took effort, and she was pretty much drained of well, everything.

Her shower was short. Rose washed only the important goods and her hair, skipping shaving. She grabbed a pair of worn jeans out of the closet, pairing it with a frumpy oversized t-shirt she normally only wore to bed and threw them on. After a quick brush of her hair and a pair of flip-flops in hand, she emerged from the bathroom, makeup free and ordinary. Raven took one look at her and huffed. “Well, at least you don’t stink. We’ll work on your appearance later. Let’s go.” Rose turned to get the kids ready but Heaven stopped her.

“It’s okay, honey, you go get out. I’ll stay here and keep these two company.” She smiled sweetly, her words sincere.

“Thanks…” Rose didn’t get to give her any other gratitude before Raven tugged her out the door.

The car ride was weird, to say the least. At first, Raven didn’t say anything. She sang along to the radio as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. After the second song, she turned down the volume.
Here it comes,
Rose thought.

“So, it turns out Krista was behind all of the Diablos attacks,” Raven paused, waiting for what Rose didn’t know. Was she supposed to bounce with joy and plead to rejoin their club? She wasn’t ten, and clubs didn’t mean shit. Especially not now. They had proven that all family sucked ass, and you couldn’t count on anyone.

“Humph. Well, thanks for the stuff for the kids. We can go home now that you’ve got that off your chest,” Rose grumbled. She hadn’t expected Raven to slam on the breaks and send her slamming into the dash. “What the—”

“Exactly. Listen, I’m not here to rectify what went down between you and the boys. I’m here because I’m your friend and no matter what, family sticks together. Them accusing you before they had solid facts were wrong. Believe me, I tore into their asses over it. I get you are fucked up in the head. But lose the snarky bitch routine. I promise you I’m a bigger, sarcastic bitch than you could ever be and will win if we go head to head. So vent. Scream. Cry. Show some sort of life. You are a walking corpse, Rose, and I refuse to allow you to fall down that hole.” Raven slammed the car in park and turned, waiting. Rose didn’t know what to say. She had turned off her emotions to prevent self-destruction and yet somehow, Raven yanked her out of it. She wasn’t one for self-pity. Hell, her whole life was pitiful. But having someone actually give a flying shit sliced her stone heart open and the emotions flooded—again. There were so many feelings rolling over her, she didn’t know which to focus on. Laughter erupted from deep inside her chest, rumbling out in an almost psychotic fit. Raven joined, understandingly. When the chuckles turned to tears, then anger, Raven offered words of comfort.

“I believed them…despite the whole relationship that stood against everything I’m against, I fell for it. I’m my mother.” She wept, allowing the hole in her heart to bleed out all of the raw pain she held trapped inside.

“No, Rose. You’re nothing like her. You’re a woman. It doesn’t matter how tough we are, deep down we all want the same thing. Love. I know you don’t want to hear this right now, but they do love you, Rose. What they did was wrong and they both need to fix it. But, they are men, which means they are slow. Sooner or later they will see their fuckup and come crawling back.”

Rose shook her head. The idea of going through this pain again wasn’t possible. Hell, she was hanging on to her sanity by a thread. “I can’t do this again, Raven. I’m done. With all men.” Raven didn’t push, understanding that Rose wasn’t ready to hear a lecture. She leaned over and hugged her tight.

“I know, sugar. Come on. Let’s go spend their money then.” A wicked smile played at the corners of her lips and Rose laughed. She wiped her face on the napkin Raven offered, and found a little piece of herself once again.

*****

The rest of the afternoon, Raven loaded her up with more clothing for herself and the kids, household supplies, and enough food to last a month. Rose hadn’t noticed the Prospect that had been following them until they cashed out at the first stop, taking the bags to a truck he had out front. After the food had been loaded and their shopping complete, he left and took the items back to her house while Joe took his place.

Rose sat down at the little table in the café and grabbed her menu. She looked over the items and her stomach growled. It hadn’t dawned on her that it had been well over three days since she had last eaten. “Doesn’t it kinda creep you out?” she asked.