Fostering Love (The Soul Sisters Series Book 1)

by Johns, Victoria

  I don’t get far though when I hear the van side door sliding open.

  “Come here bitch!” Billy shouts at me, as he leans out of the van and grabs me.

  I’m being dragged into the back of a van in my quaint town, in the middle of the day.

  “HELP ME, HELP ME, PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!” I scream.

  “Shut her the fuck up Billy! “I hear from the front of the van, the door is still open and because of my awkward shape, I’m still hanging precariously by the door. Billy attempts to silence me by putting his hands over my mouth. My attempts to be heard intensify; I’m literally grappling for my freedom.

  The van comes to a sudden stop and seizing my chance, I wrestle my body back towards the door.

  “Shit, Billy, do something?” Letitia is now getting involved and before I can start to scream again and get myself out I feel something hard connect with the back of my head.

  Her fucking ugly face is the last thing I see as the blackness takes over and I slump down trying to protect my babies as we hit the van floor.

  *****

  Jonas

  Fuckin’ Letitia.

  After all the fuckin’ stunts she’s pulled she still has the audacity to ask me for help.

  I lost it for a second, shit, more than a second.

  I didn’t know whether to laugh at her or pity the sad cow. I was heading for pity until she started mouthing off again. I even told her to stop sending the stupid texts to Dalton and she just told me to fuck off. Dumping her ass in the road was the best option for both of us and she’s lucky I didn’t wait for a fuckin’ car to be passing by.

  “Hey Neely, is Oli in? I try and make a point to be civil with her as I pass her office area. Things have been strained between us since the stunt I pulled last time. Neely took great pleasure in making sure I knew what I’d done to Dalton and seeing Chris back her up was a shock to the system. A few arguments and a punch or two from Chris meant we were able to put it behind us quicker, but that is never the case with women and I know Neely isn’t my biggest fan.

  Like most women looking out for her best friend she is determined to make sure I don’t fuck up again. I have her blessing to be with Dalton, but it’s not straightforward and I know I am being watched. I put up with it because like me, she loves Dalton.

  As I enter Oli’s office and start to say hi my phone rings. I take it out of my pocket and look at it, it’s Chris and he’s on Dalton duty whilst I’m out and about round town. I’ve had to get a bit military in keeping a watchful eye on her, telling her she’s being watched will not impress her, but it won’t be as bad as keeping her locked in the house, which is my only other option. If I’m not sure she’s safe I go out of my mind with worry.

  I’m worried she’ll go into labor early, but I’m also feeling uneasy about the text messages Letitia is sending her. Seeing the state Letitia was in this morning makes me wonder just how much she believes the fucked up shit she is sending.

  “Chris, what’s up?”

  “FUCKING HELL JONAS. I popped into the post office whilst Dolly was with Wally. I wasn’t gone for more than 10 minutes. SHIT. FUCK.”

  “Man you’re not making any sense, where are you? What’s going on?” I ask.

  “I’m heading out of town on the Old Farmington Road in my truck,” he shouts and now I can hear the sound of the car engine.

  “What the hell are you doing? You’re supposed to be watching Dalton”

  “I am. By the time I came out of the post office, I saw them taking her. I was too late man. Too fuckin late,” he whispers.

  “I am going to start to get really fucking angry if you don’t me what the hell is going on,” I tell him and by this point Oli is now out of his chair and stood beside me.

  “It’s Dolly. I saw Billy hauling her into the back of a van. She was fighting, but he hit her man, hit her on the head. She stopped moving. I’m following the van now. Letitia is driving.”

  My blood feels like it stops flowing and turns to ice.

  My woman and my babies have been kidnapped.

  “Stay with them. Oli I need you to call the sheriff now and tell him that Dalton has been kidnapped by those two stupid fuckwits. I’m going to head out that way too Chris, but the sheriff needs to start moving in the direction of the Old Farmington Road and wait for my call. Stay on the line and for fuck’s sake don't lose them.”

  I bomb out of Oli’s office and totally ignore Neely as she’s asking me what’s wrong.

  My navy special forces training has taught me to be calm under pressure, consider all avenues of approach and the outcome of a situation in terms of odds.

  I never thought I’d be fighting with my own rational conscience to try and use these skills to save my fucking family.

  What is really eating away at me and feeding on my insides now is that I know this is all down to me. They are involved in this because of me.

  If Dalton or the babies don’t make it out of this I will make sure that those two stupid mother fuckers never see the light of day again.

  But before they take their final breath on this earth, they will fuckin’ suffer.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  I wake up with a start as water hits my face. I am completely disorientated and my head is throbbing. I try to wipe the water off my face and then realize my arms are not obeying my brain’s orders, this is because they are tied behind my back to the chair I am sitting on.

  “WAKE UP BITCH!” I know that voice, I recognize the ugly face too, and the face shouting the words is filled with hatred and anger. It’s scary. She is seriously unhappy and she looks a little deranged.

  “What ... what ... what am I doing here? Why am I tied up? What’s going on?” Panic is starting to set in because my arms are tied tight and my ankles are also restrained against the chair legs.

  This is bad.

  This is really fucking bad.

  “BILLY! The fat bitch is awake,” she screams and I shake a little as he appears in front of me.

  This is really, really fucking bad.

  I have no idea where I am, it’s still light outside, so I can’t have been here too long and I’m in some scummy trailer surrounded by trees and bushes, the only thing of note is that I can see Chesters Mountain, but it’s vaguely in the distance. Most of the windows have old dirty sheets hung up at them and the whole place is a disease ridden disgusting shit hole. Beer cans and cigarette butts litter the surfaces and floor and there are old empty take out containers all over the place. The small trash can that I can see is overflowing and judging by the flies buzzing in and out of it, it would seem it has been that way for some time.

  The chair I am tied to is old, metal and rusty, I’m in the kitchen area but I can see into the bedroom through a door that is hanging on by one hinge. The mattress is stained brown and there is a dirty sheet scrunched up in the middle, there are odd pieces of underwear lying around even used old condoms just left on the floor. I’ll be amazed if there isn’t a colony of rats in residence.

  How the fuck am I going to get out of this? Even if I wasn’t tied up, it’s not like I’m in the most agile condition for making a great escape.

  I am fucked.

  Shaking takes over my body as fear and desperation sets in. Tears roll down my cheeks as my brain catches up with the seriousness of what’s going on and sobs take over when I think about my babies.

  “Well well well, not too smug are you now Dolly,” Letitia laughs from a menacing stance in front of me.

  “How about we forget this Letitia? No one has to know what you’ve done. If you get me a phone I can call someone to come and get me.” I know it’s pie in the sky stupid, but I have to try.

  “Like I’m gonna give you a phone so you can call Jonas.”

  “I won’t call him, I can call one of the girls or a cab from Tommy’s and ask them to come.”

  “I don’t think so, you haven’t been here long enough, we want to have a bit of fun first,” she’s laughing again, oh go
d, this is not good. I desperately start to pull and tug at my restraints, but they don't budge and I can feel my feet swelling against the pressure and the skin on my wrists rubbing raw as I persist.

  “Hey Billy, you ever fucked a fat pregnant bitch?” Leitita shouts and her eyes never leave mine as she says it, she is feeding off my fear, but I can’t help it I am scared shitless.

  “No Letitia, but I bet she’s ripe for a good banging,” he replies from the bedroom.

  “Oh I don’t know Billy, if Jonas is still sticking around with her, then she must be used to getting it rough, but I’m interested to know just how rough she can take it.”

  “Listen,” I plead, “you don’t need to do this, you’ve made your point, you’ve had your fun, let’s just think calmly.”

  “Think calmly? How’s this for calm? My whole fucking adult life I’ve been played by a guy who wanted to fuck me rough, but he didn’t want me, he wanted you. Do you know I’ve heard him say your name when he’s been fucking me? I try to pretend that I didn’t hear him, but he didn’t care because he was drunk and getting his dick serviced. I thought I could make him come around, but yet again you fucked that up.” She’s getting closer to me as she rants and raves and if I could recoil back I would. “I should be living in the fucking house, I should be the one sleeping in his bed and having my cunt eaten in the kitchen. BUT NO. You’ve got it. Hell, even when you weren’t with him you had him. Well he doesn’t have you now, I do and I’m gonna make sure what he gets back isn’t the Dolly he left in town today.”

  HOLY SHIT SHE IS MENTAL.

  TOTALLY FUCKING DERANGED.

  AND VERY FUCKING SERIOUS.

  “Letitia, what do you mean? What are you going to do to me?” I’m really struggling against the binds, my wrists hurt like hell and I know I’m bleeding. My head still throbs and crying just makes that worse.

  “We’re gonna see how this goes, but first, I’m going to let Billy have his fun and because we know you love pictures we gonna take some for Jonas. Give him a few keepsakes from our time together.”

  Billy advances forward and I really start to struggle, beg and scream. The fucking pain in my wrists, ankles and head though is totally overshadowed by the gut wrenching pain in my stomach. Whatever is happening feels like a hula hoop of travelling knives around my torso.

  “OWWWW. GOD. Shit shit, breathe, breathe, breathe,” I tell myself. Billy pauses in front of me “What the fuck was that?” he demands.

  “Jesus Billy you dumb fuck, her stomach moved because she has babies in it. That’s what they do. They move. Now would you like me to hold her head back so you can fuck her face and see how long she can go without breathing?” she says.

  “WHAT!” I scream and jiggle in my confined state, “Put your dick in my mouth and I will bite the fucker off,” and I know I will if I have to.

  “Hey Lettie, she don’t look so good, do you think we should maybe just dump her back in town?” He still hasn’t moved from the last baby protest my stomach showed him and I’m hoping my fat pregnant state is making his dick shrink to new found lesser proportions.

  I scream “Yes.” At the same time she shouts “Are you for real? No I do not want to do that. Now are you getting your rocks off or are we moving on to the more advanced entertainment section of the evening. It involves a knife and it’s called Dolly Drips.”

  “AARRRGGGGHHHH,” I scream and this time I am so winded by the pain and the fact that I can’t even rub my belly to ease the pressure. I start to howl and sob like a crazy person.

  “Seriously Lettie darlin’, she does not look good,” he tries again.

  “I do not feel good, please Letitia, just take me somewhere, anywhere public and leave me there and no one needs to know about any of this.” I have to keep trying, giving up will not help her irrational state of mind and whilst I am in pain I need to focus on staying strong.

  “I don’t think so Dolly, Jonas needs to feel some pain and remorse for what he’s done to me, he will if you and your fucking baby brood suffer and hurt.”

  I cry as she continues, this is the first time she has directly threatened my babies.

  “AAARRRGGGHHHHH, please Letitia I need you to call for help, something isn’t right and you don't want to harm innocent children do you? Please just get me to the hospital,” I am begging now for all three of us.

  “It’s OK Dolly,” she goes to grab something, “maybe I can help them out, it can’t be that hard to get babies out of someone, just a big slice across the middle.”

  HOLY FUCK, my eyes bug out, she has a kitchen knife. This is a plan I am not at one with and my subconscious is thinking the same, I have to get out of here and I begin hopping up and down in the chair on the spot. When you add that to the sobbing, panting and wailing noise I’m making I feel like both my head and body are going to explode.

  “Listen, you don’t want to do that. What do you want? Money? You can have it,” I beg as rage engulfs her.

  “I WANT HIM! He doesn’t want me though, so if I can’t have him and be happy, he can’t have you and be happy either,” she screams at me, she’s so mad spit is forming in the corners of her mouth. She then takes the knife and presses it on my cheek. I freeze as much as I can and continue to breathe deeply through the pain in my body.

  “Whoa, Lettie, you said we were just gonna have some fun, shake her up a bit and then move on. You’re way too invested in this and wielding knives at folk when they’re tied up is not what is classed as fun,” says Billy.

  “Pussy! Just shut the fuck up. You’re a God damn pussy Billy,” and she leaves me to swing round at him with the knife. “Just fucking go, before I use you as practice.” He waits a few seconds, shrugs his shoulders and then turns on his heels and leaves.

  “NO. DON’T LEAVE ME. Take me with you or call for help. Please.” I’m getting so hysterical that I can’t tell whether I’m sobbing in fear of being left with this crazy demented person or because of the pain my body is enduring.

  Billy opens the door and steps out making a tripping sound, but then he goes quiet. Letitia then goes to the counter beside me and puts her head in her hands for a moment or two.

  “Hey Lettie baby,” Billy shouts from outside, “forgot the truck keys can you bring ‘em to me?”

  “What? Fuck no, come and get them yourself and then piss off outta my hair,” she shouts back and returns her attentions to me. The door opens slowly and gently and in sneaks Chris with his fingers up at his lips willing me to keep quiet. Letitia is facing me so she assumes its Billy and pays him no attention. I cry harder to keep her attention on me and at the last minute she turns round to be greeted with a punch to the side of her head, knocking the bitch out cold.

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  “OW, fuck, shit,” I scream. Tits is lying at my feet unconscious and I don’t care whether she is dead or alive right now. The pain in my stomach is horrific and I’m gritting my teeth and grunting air through them on deep breaths.

  “Dalton,” I hear Jonas shout, “Chris, what the fuck is going on in there? What’s wrong with Dalton?”

  “S’OK, Letitia is out cold, gonna tie her up first, but if you’ve finished toying with that fucker you should get in here, Dolly doesn’t look good.”

  “Chris,” pant pant pant, “untie me, I hurt really badly and my babies are hurting too, something is up with them.”

  Chris has secured that bitch against a fixed pole in the kitchen and she doesn’t look like she is going to wake up or go anywhere soon. He comes to me and starts untying me as Jonas appears in the door. I wince through having my hands released and start to breathe deep again. At this point I don’t know what hurts the most, the pain in my abdomen or the blood rushing back to feet and arms.

  “Shit, babe, tell me what hurts? You? The babies?” He has a look on his face that I’ve never seen before and I think it’s a reflection of my own. Fear.

  “Not sure. Everything. All of me,” pant pant pant “don’t think the babies are h
appy with this trailer vacation. How did you find me?”

  “Not important now. Listen stay as calm as you can, but the truck is some way off, I’ll need to carry you to it.” He takes my hands and runs a thumb over my bleeding wrists. “Baby, God, I’m so sorry,” he whispers but can’t look at me when he says it.

  “OK. OK. Enough. Just get me the fuck out of here,” he helps me stand up and then I feel a tiny bit of relief, the opportunity to stretch my body is bliss. I feel better in myself just for stretching and letting my bladder go.

  What! Oh fuck.

  “Jesus Christ, Chris! Time to move, I think her waters just broke,” Jonas shouts.

  “What! No, they didn’t.” But of course they did, I wouldn’t knowingly wet myself, and a panic of a different kind hits me along with more pain. The pain stops me in my tracks “Wait,” pant pant pant, “need to breathe,” pant pant pant “through this,” I say and he literally lets me have a minute or two before he loses his patience.

  “OK. Keep breathing, but we have to move,” he swings me up into his arms and chest and heads out of my temporary prison. Outside I see Chris has finished securing Billy, but his face is unrecognizable. It’s a mixture of swollen blood filled cuts and his arm is tied up at a very odd angle. It looks like it’s barely in his shoulder socket. I don’t care though, he brought this wrath on himself and I now understand what kept Jonas busy whilst Chris was in the trailer. “You run ahead and get the truck as close to the scrub as possible,” he says to Chris, “then call the sheriff and tell them where to come and find these fuckers, call the hospital and tell them to expect us and you’d best call Neely and Barbara too. They’re worried sick.”

  “On it,” and he runs into the bush whilst Jonas does a light jog with me as best as he can to keep me comfortable. He’s not struggling with my weight or out of breath but he’s trying his best to not jiggle me around too much.

  “STOP!” I scream. “Pain. Shit. Fucking Pain. Put me down need to bend,” and he gently lowers me to the ground and helps me bend at an odd angle as I breathe through what are clearly contractions. It’s obvious now, and I should feel stupid for not realizing, but I give myself a pass. My mind was occupied on other dramas.