I tunneled my hand under her hair, cradling her chin. Pulling her up on her toes, I kissed her lightly on the lips then rested my forehead against hers.
“How did I get so lucky to find you, Gia? I have fucked a lot of woman in my life, but I’ve never been so emotionally involved that I forgot to use a condom. When Kelsey got pregnant with Enzo, it was because I was in a drug- and booze-induced haze and I thought she loved me. But even then my instinct was to glove up, which I did. I woke up from a stupor, and she was riding me. It’s not an excuse, but there it is.”
She gave me a small smile, moving my hand off her face. “I know this was unplanned and I get losing track in the heat of the moment because the thought didn’t enter my mind either. But what’s done is done, and I’d really like to shower real quick because I’m feeling icky right now.” Her firm butt twitched as she moved past me towards the bathroom. “I’ll be quick, make yourself at home,” she said over her shoulder as she disappeared through the bathroom door.
Once I heard the shower turn on, I entered the bathroom, cleaned myself up, and went to wait for her in the living room. I didn’t want to be near a bed and a naked Gia, or we would never get out the door.
Sixteen
The hot water cascaded over my shoulders. I’d twisted my hair up and stuck it under a cap before I got in the shower. My body was pleasantly sore, and I could see patchy red areas all over the tops of my breasts where his beard had rubbed against them. I hadn’t planned on having sex with Sonny. I honestly wasn’t mad at him anymore. I knew where the blow-up had come from, but it raised a couple of red flags for me.
Reaching for my body sponge, I squirted on some bath gel, washing away the evidence of our passion. Sighing, I quickly finished showering, stepping out and wrapping a towel around my body. Pulling the cap from my head, I shook out my hair. Running a brush through the strands, I quickly braided it into a pleat and secured it with a rubber band.
Leaving the bathroom, I went into my room, finding the panties I had taken out before still on the floor. Scooping them up, I tossed them into the hamper and continued on to my dresser to find a fresh pair. Pulling them on, I grabbed a bra from the same drawer and strapped the girls in, pulling the cups to a comfortable position. Snagging a pretty floral Henley from the drawer, I put it on, thinking it might get chilly on the ride over to the fairgrounds. Sitting on the bed, I pulled on a pair of comfortable jeans and my socks and boots.
I applied some lip gloss, a few strokes of mascara, then added a pair of small hoops to my ears, and I was ready to roll.
I saw Sonny sitting on the couch scrolling through his phone while he waited for me. He heard me coming and looked up. “Dana can’t find the file for the North Side property; do you know where it is?”
“Yeah, Dukes wanted to go over the numbers for the building, and he took the file back to his office.”
Sonny relayed my reply to Dana then hung up. “Are you ready to ride?” he asked, getting up and coming over to me.
“Yeah, the weather is cooperating, and it should be a nice day to ride.” I grabbed my keys from a bowl on the table, opening the front door so he could exit, following him out, and locking the door behind me. I slipped the keys into my pocket, following him to the bike. He handed me a helmet, and while I put it on, he straddled the bike, starting it up and turning around in the driveway. Once he had it heading in the right direction, he offered me a hand, and I mounted the bike behind him. Settling onto the seat, I wrapped my arms around his waist. He patted my leg, put the bike in gear, and rolled out of the driveway.
The thirty-minute drive went by quickly. It gave me time to think. Where could those kids have gone so quickly? They must know the layout of the fairgrounds really well to be able to disappear so quickly. We needed to be able to retrace the route between the bathroom and the picnic area and see if there might be some likely hiding spots.
Once we parked, this time closer to the entrance, I told him what I was thinking about on the drive over. He agreed that it might yield some clues and we would follow up on it once we retrieved my phone.
We headed over to the sheriff’s booth and asked for Deputy Weathers. He came out of the back carrying my cell phone in a plastic bag. He shook hands with Sonny and, turning to me, smiled and extended his hand as well. I shook it, smiling back at him, and he held the bag up. “Is this your phone, Ms. Catalini?” he asked.
“Yes, it’s mine,” I answered.
He pulled out a clipboard and turned a couple of pages. “Would you please sign here acknowledging receipt of the phone?” He indicated a spot on the bottom of the form. Taking the pen from him, I signed the form.
He handed me my phone. “Thank you, Deputy Weathers, I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know you found my phone. It has a lot of information on it that I wouldn’t want to lose.”
He tipped his hat. “Ma’am, you and your guy here were the only two people that asked about the welfare of those kids. I understand that losing your possessions is tough, but not caring about what happens to others is getting out of hand in this country. Especially since, in this case, the perps were kids. Someone had to be pulling the strings, but no one seemed to care that they were too young to have done this on their own.”
Sonny nodded his head in agreement as the deputy made his comments. “We were thinking the same thing.” He pulled a business card from his wallet and handed it to the deputy. “If you get any more information about this group of kids, I would appreciate a call. My club has ties to the community, and we try and help place kids in homes that actually care about the kids instead of the money they bring in.”
Deputy Weathers looked at Sonny. “You’re one of the few people that has the balls to say that a lot of fosters are in it for the money and not to help the children. The system is broken, and throwing money at the problem isn’t going to fix it.” He held out his hand to Sonny, who shook it again. He tipped his hat to me and wished us a good day before heading to the back again.
While they were talking, I tried turning on my phone. It was dead, as I suspected it would be. Pulling a power cell from my sling bag, I plugged the phone in and slipped it into my bag.
Sonny slid a hand to the small of my back and guided me away from the sheriff’s booth. We walked to the picnic benches and started scouting the area, looking for any signs that the children had been there. We worked our way back towards the bathrooms. Nothing jumped out at Sonny or me. We asked some of the workers if they had heard about the grifters, and a couple said they had, but none of them could shed any light about where they had come from or where they had gone.
At noon, the midway started up, and people started wandering in. We found a hotdog vendor and Sonny bought us both a couple of dogs and some sodas. We sat on the picnic benches to eat. I loved dirty-water dogs from vendors; they had a great taste that you just couldn’t get anywhere else. The spicy brown mustard and onions were the perfect complement.
Sonny laughed out loud at the sound of enjoyment I made biting into my lunch. I laughed with him as I devoured the first one. He was already on his second, and I was about to make a smart remark when my phone dinged. It was finally charged. Pulling it from my bag, I unhooked the power cell, and it lit up with four bars. There had been a couple of missed calls, so I dialed into my voicemail. The first one was from Dana asking about a work-related issue, and the second was a drunk dial from Jiji after last night’s festivities. I smiled at her raunchy message about getting down with Sonny.
The third call wiped the smile right off my face and I stood up, pressing the phone closer to my ear. When the message clicked off, I turned to Sonny.
“Gia, what the fuck, babe? You’re white as a sheet.”
Putting the phone on speaker, I pushed replay. “Lady, I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Sarah, one of the girls that took this phone from you in the bathroom at th
e fair. My momma was really pissed we didn’t get more from the marks at the fair, and she beat Maria. She’s hurt bad, and Momma won’t let me call the doc. I took her and Petey and ran away. We are staying in an empty blue house on Magnolia about four blocks from the fairgrounds. Please, please,” she pleaded. “She needs help.”
The message clicked off, and we looked at each other. After a second of hesitation, we both turned towards where the bike was parked and took off running. The message had been recorded late last night. The kid could be dead by now if she were hurt that bad. We reached the bike in record time, shoving on our helmets. Sonny had put the street name into Google maps, and we roared off, hoping we were in time to save the child.
Seventeen
My mind was spinning. Could it really be him? After all this time, was I about to see my son again? Hitting the com in my helmet, I speed dialed the first number I came to. Dukes picked up on the second ring.
“Yo Santino, how’s it hanging, man?”
“Dukes, I have a situation.” I heard his feet bang as his boots hit the floor.
“Speak, what’s the sit-rep?”
“Gia and I came to the fairgrounds to pick up her phone. It just charged, and one of the girl grifters left a message that she had taken the other two and run away when the older one got a beating. We are heading over to the location now. I need you to roll with a cage to pick up these kids.”
“Got it, Sonny, text me the address, and we will be at your back in thirty minutes or less.” The phone buzzed in my ear, and I disconnected the com.
I turned the bike onto the street the girl had left in the message, and we searched for the ‘empty blue house.’ Towards the end of the block, it dead-ended with a steel bumper that had seen better days. The house next to it was falling down, beaten and weathered, but it had once been blue. Pulling into the driveway, I cut the engine. We dismounted, leaving the helmets hanging off the handlebars, but taking the first aid kit I carried in the saddlebags.
Taking Gia’s hand, I rounded the side of the house, heading towards the back; if I had to guess, they wouldn’t want to be seen entering through the front. The side yard was strewn with garbage and broken bottles. Glass glittered in the weeds alongside the busted concrete stoop. The door was hanging on by a single hinge, and the rusty screen door screeched as it flapped in the slight wind. Pushing open the door, I pulled Gia along behind me and entered the foul-smelling kitchen.
A sound like muffled crying came from a room off to the right. Silently we stepped around the mess on the floor and followed the sound. I moved Gia so she was in front of me and whispered, after pulling her close, “Call out to the girl. I don’t want to scare them any more than they probably are. She might react better to a woman’s voice.”
She shook her head that she understood, then softly said, “Hello, Sarah, it’s Gia, the lady with the phone. I’m here, we want to help.”
A door further down the dank hallway opened. A dirty blonde head emerged. She looked frightened but stood her ground. “Maria is in here. She’s hurt bad, and I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t want her to die, please help her.” She looked past me and saw Sonny. “Who’s he?” she asked, pressing against the wall.
“Shh, honey, he’s my friend. He’s strong, has lots of muscles, and can help us help Maria. I promise he won’t harm any of you,” Gia said to the girl.
A second child appeared, hiding partially behind the girl. “You’re the pretty lady from the fair,” he said.
“Hi, Petey, yes it’s me. My friend Sonny and I came to help Maria. Is that ok?” she asked him.
He looked down and scuffed his toe in the dirt on the floor. It was dark in the hallway, so I couldn’t get a good look at the child. “I couldn’t help Maria when Momma started hitting her,” he said, hanging his head. “I tried, but she hit me in the face and told me to mind my business, or she’d go get the belt. I was afraid, and I ran to Sarah.” He started to cry. Big fat tears make tracks in his dirty face. They glistened in the faint light from the broken window.
Sarah put her skinny arm around him. “You did the best you could, Petey. You came and got me, and we got Maria out of there.”
Gia spoke again. “We need to see Maria. We are going to walk down to you. Don’t be scared,” she said.
Sarah’s arm tightened around Petey, but she didn’t object. We started down the hallway slowly. Sarah moved back into the room, taking Petey with her. Gia began to follow her into the room, but I stopped her.
No way was she going through that door first. My instincts said no danger, but I wasn’t taking any chances. A light came from within, so I moved forward in a crouch, scoping the room quickly. There was a filthy mattress on the floor, and a broken chair held an old Coleman lamp. There was a lump in the middle of the bed, and the other two kids were huddled next to it. They looked up at me as I entered the room and the breath left my lungs in a whoosh. I froze for the first time in my life. If we had been in a life and death situation, I would have gotten us killed because my first look at the boy in proper light stopped my heart.
I could have been looking at myself at that age. It was Enzo; Gia had found my boy. I felt her hand on my shoulder, and she squeezed, acknowledging that she knew.
The girl on the bed moaned in pain. Gia moved from behind me. Going to the child, she knelt down and quickly tried to access the girl. She whimpered when Gia touched her face.
“Sonny, bring the kit,” she said without taking her eyes off the girl. “Maria, where do you hurt, can you tell me?” she asked.
I moved to the other side of Gia and opened the med kit. My lips tightened, and I gritted my teeth when I got a look at the girl. Her hair was matted with blood and God knew what else. She smelled of urine and old sweat. Her face was bruised, and one eye was swelled shut. Her clothes were dirty and torn, and I could see her ribs sticking out. She was huddled in a ball, her skinny arms wrapped around her legs, which were mottled with bruises. Her skin was hot to the touch; she was burning up with fever.
She raised a tear-stained face to Gia. “It’s my belly. It hurts so bad,” she started to cry. “Please lady, please make it stop hurting.”
“Shh, it’s ok, Maria. Let me see your belly, and I’ll see what we can do.” She tried to move the girl, and she screamed out in pain.
Gia’s face went white, and her hand balled into a fist. Taking a deep breath, she turned to Sarah. “Honey, do you know what Momma did to her belly? Did she hit her or did she fall?”
Sarah shook her head. “No, I think Momma kicked her. I had to wait ‘til she left before I could go into our room. She was curled up like you see her now, and, umm, she had some blood coming out with her pee. I helped her change, she made me stuff some things into a bag, and we got Petey, stole some food out of the kitchen, and came here. Is she gonna be ok? Can you give her something from your bag there to make her better?”
“Sarah, we don’t know what’s wrong with her, if we give her something and it’s the wrong thing we could make it worse, not better. We have some people coming that know better than us what to do. They will make sure she gets the best care. Is there any clean water here?” Gia asked her.
The girl shook her head. “No, but the house next door has a hose we use. Do you want me to show you?”
“Is it ok if you stay here with Gia and I go get the water?” I asked her.
She thought about it for a minute. “You’re gonna come back, right?” she asked, tilting her head.
Petey spoke up, “I’ll go with him, Sarah, he’ll come back.” He put both his fists on his hips, trying to look threatening.
I started to smile, and he glared at me so I glanced away ‘til I could control it. “I would appreciate your help, Petey,” I said. The child looked proud and started to leave the room but turned around.
“We will be right back, Sarah,” he s
aid, “I promise.” Turning, he led me from the room, stopping in the kitchen to grab a bucket. It looked reasonably clean, so I guessed they had been using it to haul water. The bucket dragged against the floor as he pulled it with him to the door. I cringed thinking of all the shit that must have collected on the floor, but I didn’t say anything as I followed him.
Once outside, he directed me to a hole in the fence leading to the house next door. There was a hose curled up next to the patio and a water spigot next to it. He dumped the hose into the bucket and turned it on; it sprayed up, and he jumped to hold it so he wouldn’t get soaked. He started to fill the bucket, and I stopped him.
“Petey, maybe we should clean the bucket first. We don’t want Maria to get sick because the water had shit—I mean, stuff—in it.”
He smiled at me. “You can say shit, I’ve heard worse.” He dumped out the water he’d put in the bucket, and it pooled near his shoes. He stuck the hose back in the pail, swishing it around and letting it fill. I held the hose while he shut off the tap.
I could hear the rumble of the pipes from a few bikes, and I knew the Devil’s Wind had arrived.
I picked up the bucket and held out my hand to the boy. He took and it we walked back to the hole in the fence. The feel of his little hand in mine took my breath away. He had no idea who I was, but I was acutely aware of his every move.
My world would never be the same.
Eighteen
I heard the rumble, and I knew bikes were coming. It made me smile because I knew they wouldn’t let Sonny down. He probably made the call while we were riding, knowing that they would come if called.
Maria was moaning from the pain, and I tried my best to make her as comfortable as possible, but I suspected she had internal bleeding and she needed to get to a hospital. I heard the back door screech and knew Sonny was back with the water. Sarah and I had cut the only clean cloth we could find into strips. Once Sonny set down the bucket, we dipped all the strips of fabric into the cold water and laid them against her skin. The heat coming off of her body was intense, so I crushed up some of the Tylenol we had in the kit and fed it to her with a few sips of water.
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