Charity For Nothing: The Virtues Book III

by A. J. Downey

  Cutter gave signal that he and Radar were going in, once we were more towards the glades versus heavily populated areas. Hope fell back next to me, her face unreadable behind her black, full face mask helmet. It was a good idea, concealing identity for those of us with legit jobs to worry about, but I painted houses for a fucking living. Radar had the bottom half of his face covered with an orange bandana. We all wore our colors, but that was the beauty of brotherhood. If we got pinched, one of the boys with a record would step up to take the fall.

  My belief in these guys was rattled, but on some things? It remained true. That was one of them. We rode, me and Hope up front, Lightning acting as our tail gunner. It was getting dark, but we could still see Cutter and Radar split and go to either side of the car. Cutter’d disengaged his getback whip from his clutch lever and with a mighty overhead swing, brought the lead ball the tip contained down hard on the driver’s side of the windshield.

  The sound of the crack it made against the safety glass traveled all the way back here. The Captain kicked out, his boot making contact with the driver’s side door. The guy in the car swerved towards Cutter, who evaded, but just barely. Hope revved her Ducati and leaning down over her tank, punched it. The engine whined and she shot forward. There wasn’t any stopping her, but I think she and the Captain had some kind of accord because he dropped back and let Hope pull up.

  She waved at the driver of the car to pullover, but he swerved at her instead. She punched it again and he missed her, but it was close. Cutter pulled up, and took another swing, only this time Radar pulled forward out of the driver’s blind spot where he’d been hiding and took out the passenger side of the windshield. The driver braked hard, tires squealing, brakes screaming and both the Captain and Radar kept going.

  Lightning, who had pulled up next to me, shot me a hand signal for ‘get ready’ and I gritted my teeth, sure I wasn’t going to like this even as smoke rose from the screaming rear tires of the car and it shot forward. Fuck, he was making a run at the Captain.

  Pop! Pop! Pop!

  I looked up, past the car at Hope in the road, feet shoulder width apart, smoking gun in hand, she ditched off to the side, rolling, even as the car tipped up onto its side, it’s momentum carrying it along on its passenger side into the ditch on the side of the road.

  “NO!” I screamed and torqued down hard on my accelerator. I braked hard, rolling to a stop by the car, barely having the wherewithal to put down my kickstand. Cutter and Radar were there and Cutter hoisted himself up onto the driver’s side of the car. He reached into the busted out driver’s window and seized the driver by the collar, slashing through the seat belt holding him.

  “Charity!” I screamed. Cutter threw the injured driver down and Hope, Lightning, Radar, and I put our shoulders to the roof of the car.

  “One, two, three, push!” Hope’s muffled cry from beneath the black carapace of her helmet. We put our backs into it and shoved the car the rest of the way over onto its wheels.

  “Charity!” I screamed and thumping and bumping alerted us to the rear of the car.

  “The trunk, man! Pop the trunk!” Radar cried and Lightning dove into the busted out driver’s side window. I was already there, the trunk flew open and Charity’s ice blue eyes, wide with a combination of fear and rage met mine.

  “It’s okay, I got you, Baby. Do you think anything’s broken?” I asked her, running my hands over every part of her the awkward position she was in allowed me to reach.

  I pulled the gag out of her mouth and she said, “No, get me out, get me out of here, now!”

  “Hold still,” I put my arm beneath her knees and one behind her back, lifting with my knees. I turned and set her down carefully in the grass. “It’s okay, you’re okay; I’ve got you.”

  “I know I’m okay,” she snapped and she demanded, “Untie me.” I flipped open my folding blade and sawed through the zip tie cutting into her wrists, and through the strips of material around her ankles. She pushed to her feet.

  “Woah, woah, woah! I need to check you out, Baby, steady.” She wobbled on her feet for a second and pushed me off of her, making strides to where Cutter had the guy that’d kidnapped her. The first thing she did was march over to him and stomp one of her sturdy wedge heeled shoes down on his balls.

  “Oh!”

  “Ooo!” Lightning and Radar said in unison and we drifted over to where the guy was cradling his family jewels.

  “We’ve got to move before we’re seen, Captain. Someone could come down this way any minute.”

  “K, we’re going to the hotel,” he said and Charity stood, nodding, chest heaving in her outfit that she’d put on special to go have drinks with this asshole. Because you hurt her. You rejected her. The thought made me feel sick, but it was true just the same. She and I stared the distance between one another.

  “Charity,” Hope called and flipped up her visor on her helmet, “Charity!” she barked. Charity tore her eyes from me and looked at her sister.

  “Go with Nothing, back to Ft. Royal. We’ll handle this. Okay?”

  Charity nodded and I held out my hand to her. She walked unsteadily to me and took it. I led her to my bike and asked her in a low, soothing tone, “You okay, Baby?”

  “I’m not your fucking ‘Baby’ hotshot. Just take me home. Faith has to be freaking out.”

  “She is, and I want to check you out. Adrenaline has you going, you’re gonna crash.”

  “I know that, asshole!” she snapped and I took it. I deserved it.

  “Can you ride?” I asked. She was shaking so bad, I had my doubts.

  “I’m gonna have to; let’s go.” I got on my bike and she got on behind me, holding onto me tight, her body trembling against mine. I didn’t like it.

  “Hang on tight,” I told her, she turned her head and the mercenary side of Charity came right out in the open. The part that was all her sister, Hope.

  “Kill that son of a bitch!” she screamed, and I fired up my bike and took her home, to Ft. Royal.

  Chapter 25

  Charity

  Nothing was right, I was running on pure adrenaline and it was a problem, if I crashed before we made it back to Ft. Royal… well I didn’t want to know what that would look like. Nothing hurt yet; that scared me a little bit too. I’d woken to the sensation of being slammed around like a fucking rag doll in the dark, and then there was Nothing, lifting me out of the trunk of that asshole’s car. I shuddered and held on to Nothing tight, the lean, corded muscle of his body both familiar and a lifeline in a blur of scenery and scary.

  He put one hand over both of mine and I buried my face against the colorful patch on his back, shutting my eyes tight against the wind, using his body as a shield. He drove us to The Plank and I looked up.

  “I want to go home,” I said.

  “Faith is here, and I want to check you out.”

  “I’m fine,” I said but I wasn’t. The tears were threatening and my throat was closing up. He tapped my hands twice and I startled; shaking myself, before climbing off the back of his bike. He shut it off and got off the front, putting arms around me and tucking my head beneath his chin.

  “Shh, it’s okay. I’ve got you now,” and I couldn’t hold myself together anymore. I fell apart into this shattered mess and Nothing was right there to catch all the pieces.

  I sobbed into his tee shirt and cut and he held me tight. I must have been making more noise than I realized, because the door to The Plank opened and my sister Faith was holding me from the back, Marlin hovering protectively over the three of us.

  “Charity, Baby, I gotta get you looked at, Honey. Make sure you’re good, come on, Honey, let’s go inside?” Nothing’s voice was at once soothing and pleading. I sniffed miserably and nodded against his chest and Faith backed off of me. Nothing walked us through the door and into the back with the electric chair. He sat me down in the thing, a tray set up next to it with all of the essential diagnostic trappings.

  He started by tak
ing my pulse and then blood pressure in both arms and both legs. He took my pulse in both my feet, too.

  “Nothing… Nothing!” he looked up at me, “Nothing’s broken.”

  “Okay, Babe, okay. Just let me check anyways.” I nodded and he turned on a pen light shining the light in my eyes, running through all the routine questions, running his fingers through my hair, feeling for lumps along my scalp.

  “I expect some delayed onset muscle soreness tomorrow,” I said and he nodded.

  “I’ve got some drugs for that,” he said and I winced.

  “I have no idea what he dosed me with, should we worry about interaction?” I asked.

  He shook his head, “Shit they use for roofies, GHB, Special K, that shit has a short half-life, it should be out of your system by morning.”

  “You seem to know a lot about it,” Faith murmured. She was hovering nearby, Marlin kneading her shoulders.

  “Paramedic for over ten years in a county known for its college spring break appeal? I’d better know more than a thing or two, or I’m not doing my job right.”

  Faith sighed, “You paint houses for a living.”

  Nothing bowed his head and nodded, “Yeah, I do that, too.”

  He was holding my hands in his, thumbs stroking gently across the backs of my fingers and all I could do was stare at him. Something was different, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

  “Take me home?” I asked and he nodded.

  “Prospect!” Marlin bellowed and we all jumped at the unexpectedness of it. When there was no immediate answer, we all looked at each other confused. Marlin reached into the back of his waistband under his cut and thrust Faith towards me. I took her hand and he went out front.

  “Prospect!” he called again, and the front door opened. Trike put up his hands, my spare Jeep keyring dangling from his fingers.

  “Woah, she can’t ride, I went to get her Jeep so you could drive her.”

  “Good lookin’ out, Trike. That’s what I was gonna have you do.” Marlin put up his gun like he hadn’t just been brandishing it a second before. He held out an arm and Faith went to him automatically, tucking herself into his side.

  “Right, I’m going to take Charity home.”

  “We’ll wait here for the Captain and the rest,” Marlin said, “Faith you want to stay with your sister?” he asked. She looked at me and I shook my head.

  “Stay with Marlin, Faith. You’ll be safer with him and I just plan on sleeping.”

  She nodded, and looked as torn as I’d felt staying up at my university all that time. I reached out and we pulled each other into each other’s arms hugging one another fiercely.

  “I love you, Blossom.”

  “I love you, too, Bubbles.”

  Nothing touched my back lightly and I jumped slightly. I turned and he said, “Let’s get you to where you can get a hot shower and some sleep, Baby.”

  “Okay,” I nodded, and just felt drained.

  My Jeep was waiting outside, and he helped me up into the passenger seat. I closed my eyes for the short drive to Cutter’s but opened them the moment I felt us make a wrong turn.

  “Where are you going?” I asked, anxiety spiking.

  “Taking you home.”

  “Not your home, my home.”

  “Exactly,” he said and I turned to look at him.

  “You’re one of the club now, all our homes are your home,” he said and pulled into his driveway, reaching into the inside pocket of his cut. The door to his garage opened.

  “Cutter’s. Now.” I ordered and he rolled us to a stop.

  “Make you a deal,” he said.

  “What?”

  “I’ll take you to Cutters, as long as you let me stay with you.”

  I shook my head, “No dice, you already made your position clear, you told me to fuck off so I fucked off. I don’t want to do this back and forth.” He swung us around and made for Cutter’s.

  “I was wrong,” he said.

  “Yeah? What changed your mind?”

  “A lot of things, but the biggest one? The thought of never being able to touch you, or see you smile again. I’m freaked the hell out, Charity. Scared shitless. Can you let me have that, please?”

  I stopped arguing for a second. He’d pulled up to the stop sign right before the turn on the boulevard and was staring at me. His beautiful gray eyes as solemn and frightened as I’d ever seen them.

  “That car flipped on its side, on the passenger side and I thought I was gonna get to you and you were going to be gone. Dead. I thought I was never going to see those gorgeous eyes of yours sparkle again.”

  Oh. Well crap.

  “Take me home, please?” I said much softer this time.

  “Okay.”

  We made the drive to Cutter’s in silence and he let us in the front door, Stoker and Beast were in the living room, and they were armed. Nothing nodded to them.

  Beast looked me up and down, “You look like hell, Sweetheart. Why don’t you come sit down before you fall down?”

  “Thanks, but I really just want a shower and my bed.”

  “We’re going to stay down here until we get word to do something else,” Stoker said.

  “Thank you, I feel safer already.”

  “Sure, thing.” Stoker tossed back his dyed black hair and Beast nodded.

  Nothing guided me to the staircase and I moved slowly up the stairs. I was already beginning to feel stiff in a few places.

  “Let me draw you a hot bath,” Nothing suggested outside my bedroom door and I shook my head, wincing.

  “Shower. I don’t like baths.”

  “Good to know, find what you want to wear. I’ll get you some towels and the water started.

  He went down the hall to the linen closet and pulled down a couple of towels, disappearing into the bathroom. A second later I heard the water tap turn on and a second or two later, the shower begin to run. I pulled down an oversized tee and a pair of boy-short panties out of the drawer and trailed down to the bathroom.

  Nothing pulled the curtain and turned around, sighing as I slipped into the bathroom.

  “Lean up against there,” he said indicating the sink’s counter. I leaned my butt against it and he went to one knee in front of me, his hand gently cupping my heel as he slid first one shoe, then the other, off my feet.

  I watched him, transfixed. Partially because I was still loopy from whatever that asshole Greg had dosed me with, and the rest because something was different. The look on his face, the energy around him, something had changed in our short time apart; something significant.

  “What happened?” I asked, the words out of my mouth before I could stop them.

  Nothing looked up sharply, “You were drugged and kidnapped…”

  “No, with you. What happened with you?”

  He searched my face, him looking up at me, me looking down at him and his hands gliding up my leg in a very distracting manor. I closed my eyes and held onto my line of questioning, stopping his fingers with mine when they went for the front of my shorts.

  “Can we talk about it later?” he asked and I opened my eyes.

  “Do you promise?” I asked softly, and he gripped my hips, one hand on each and gave me a little shake.

  “I promise. Now, will you let me take care of you?”

  I nodded and he smiled, and it held something akin to shyness rather than sadness. Something had indeed happened, and I’d just about reached my limit when it came to trusting men, especially given what’d just happened, but for Nothing…

  “I guess I have room for one last do-over,” I murmured and his face lost that easy smile, his eyes growing so very serious.

  “I don’t deserve it, Baby, but I’ll take it for the gift it is and I promise not to disappoint you this time.”

  We stared at one another for a long time before either of us dared move. When I did, it was to nod slowly, “I believe you,” I whispered and he nodded, breaking eye contact and working the button
out of its loop on my shorts.

  He stripped me the rest of the way gently, his hands whispering over my skin, sending shivers and goosebumps in a wash over my flesh. He lifted the hem of my lace shirt and peeled it over my head, letting it fall to the floor before slipping his hands into the back of my panties, nudging them so they would fall in a pool at my feet.

  I felt exposed, being so nude while he remained fully clothed, but at the same time, safe. He pulled back the curtain to the shower and steadied me as I stepped over the edge of the tub into the warm spray.

  “I’ll be back to check on you in a minute,” he said and I nodded. The curtain whisked across the rail and Nothing disappeared.

  I leaned against the shower wall, palms flat to the cool tiles and soaked my head. Eventually I leaned my forehead against the wall too, and just let the warm water cascade down my back, the pulsating showerhead gently beating the tension out of my knotted shoulders.

  I don’t know how long I stood like that, I didn’t really care, but when the curtain rustled and hands gently started prying at the residual tightness and knots I didn’t care. I just let the whole world spiral down to the gentle kneading touch and Nothing’s healing presence.

  He pulled me back against his chest and simply held me for long moments, his lips tracing up and down the side of my neck in the steaming rush of shower water from the nozzle. The sound steady and even, a white noise that made me give up the ghost on trying to hold onto any of the thoughts in my head. I turned around and put my arms around his neck and let him hold me for a little bit.

  He was a gentleman, even though he really didn’t have to be with me, and when I tried to kiss him, he put a finger to my lips to stop me.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because the drugs that S.O.B. used are designed to lower inhibitions, the next time we go there, I want to be sure you’re going there with a clear head and that you want it. Not because of some drug in your system.”

  The fact that he said this to me with a raging boner pressed against my stomach only made me think more of him, not less.