by Fall, Carly
“Let’s go, Blake,” Beverly said. “See you in a bit, Hudson.”
They rode the elevator in silence. Beverly stared up at the numbers, while Blake clasped his hands together.
“I’m really sorry, Bev,” he mumbled. “I’m sorry about—”
The elevator dinged and the doors opened to the gym floor. Noah greeted him with a hacksaw in hand.
“We can talk later,” Beverly said, smiling, pushing open the doors to the gym.
“Come on,” Noah grumbled, motioning for Blake to follow him.
Blake trailed Noah into the gym over to the far corner where a small portable table was set up. Noah took one chair and Blake sat across from him.
“You aren’t going to cut off my hands, are you?” Blake asked.
Noah shook his head and patted the table. Blake took a deep breath and laid his hands down.
Noah cut through the chain in a few minutes and then pulled out a packet of long silver sticks. He picked up Blake’s right hand and examined the cuff, then pulled out two of the silver picks and began working the lock.
“So, how did you find an SR44 female and her mother?” Noah asked as he worked.
“They found me,” Blake answered.
“And how did they do that?”
“Well, I was hanging at Brandy’s,” Blake began, deciding he would leave the drugs out of it.
“And?”
“And . . . we were getting busy one night and Micah showed up.”
Noah’s eyes narrowed. “You’re joking. He showed up while you two were going at it?”
Blake nodded his head. “Yep. From what I gathered, he was turning me into the government for the reward on my head.”
“And Brandy?”
“She was in on it.”
Noah let out a long, slow whistle and looked down at the lock. “Man, that’s cold.”
“Glacial.”
“What happened to her?” Noah asked.
“He killed her.”
Noah winced but didn’t stop what he was doing.
After a moment, there was a soft pop, and the cuff came loose. “Haven’t lost my touch,” Noah grinned. “Let me see the other one, and you tell me the rest of the story.”
Blake filled him on Brandy’s death, his imprisonment, and meeting Sophia and Megan. “Micah had skewed her worldview like nothing I’d ever seen,” Blake murmured. “He had her so terrified of this world, she was afraid to step outside the walls of her little slice of land.”
Noah shook his head. “Fucking bastard.”
The other cuff popped, and Noah set the tools down. He sat back in his chair and looked at Blake.
Blake told him about their escape, and how Sophia had stayed behind to make sure he could get away with Megan. “She overheard Micah and Jael talking about getting Megan used to the mating process.”
Noah’s brow creased. “That’s disgusting.”
“I know, man. I know.”
They stared at each other a moment. “So where is Sophia now?” Noah asked.
Blake shrugged. “I don’t know, man. I gave her my old cell phone and told her to turn it on in two days. I was hoping you could reactivate it and we could run the GPS monitoring on it. I’m certain Micah would have moved her from the house by now.”
Noah nodded and slid his phone out of his pocket. “That’s smart, Blake,” he said as he dialed. “You always were an intelligent fucker.”
Blake grinned. He definitely wasn’t at one hundred percent yet, but being back here made him feel better by the minute.
“Hey, Rayner,” Noah said into the phone, “go into the War Room and turn on Blake’s old cell phone.” He listened to Rayner on the other end, then said, “Yeah, I’ll wait.”
Noah put his finger over the mouthpiece. “What happened to you, Blake? You were fine, and then you weren’t, and then it was like you just fucking imploded. Now you seem sort of okay again. What happened?”
Blake stared at his friend, not even sure where to begin or what to say. How did he describe the pain of Annis choosing Cohen and how it destroyed him? How did he explain how the heroin took it all away, made him feel good about his life? About himself as a man? As a human? Jesus, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything, so he just shook his head. “I-I can’t talk about any of it,” he whispered, looking down at the table.
Noah stood. “Stay here. I know Beverly said she wants to talk to you.” He rapped his knuckles down on the table in Blake’s line of vision. “Whatever happened, you need to talk to someone about that shit, or it’s just going to continue to eat you up. And don’t get too comfortable here, Blake. There are still a lot of angry and hurt people in this place because of what you did. I don’t know if anyone can forgive or forget after such a short period of time.”
Noah strode out of the room, and Blake moved his wrists around as they popped and cracked.
“Come over here, Blake,” Beverly called, motioning to the locker area. It seemed a longer walk than a trip down death row, and he had a feeling when Beverly got a hold of him, he was going to wish he were dead. After all, her mate had almost been killed by her kid because of his own selfishness and . . . yes, his addiction.
Chapter 47
He sat on the gurney and resigned himself to the doctor side of Beverly. She looked in his ears, up his nose, down his throat, took his blood pressure, felt his abdomen, and then pinched the back of his hand.
“Ouch!” he cried.
“You’re dehydrated,” Beverly murmured. “Lie down.”
He didn’t have the energy to fight her, so he stretched out and watched her back as she fussed with something on the table a few feet away.
“How’re you doing, Blake?’ she asked, keeping her back to him.
“Okay,” he mumbled. His body didn’t ache as badly as it had a few days ago, but damn, exhaustion still steamrolled him.
She grabbed his arm and pushed it down into the gurney. Panic gripped him when he saw the needle, and he tried to pull his arm away.
Beverly leveraged her weight on the arm and glared at him. “You need fluids and vitamins in your body, Blake. Don’t fight me on this, or so help me God, I will let them throw you out of here like they want to,” she murmured.
After a few seconds of considering her words, he relented, and the needle slid into his arm. At his core, he knew he could trust Beverly, but after the last time someone slid a needle into his arm he wasn’t too thrilled with the whole process.
There wasn’t any floating, blacking out, or panic, but he tracked the fluids moving through his body and actually experienced his tissue getting the nourishment it needed. After a few moments, he whispered, “Thank you.”
Beverly nodded. “What were you on?”
Blake smiled. Beverly’s appearance screamed high-class snootiness, with her perfect porcelain skin, her probing green eyes, her flawless facial structure, and her pretty blonde hair. However, in reality, she was as blunt as a fist to the face.
Beverly never tried to hide her addiction to painkillers. She was open to anyone who wanted to hear her story, and she looked at Blake as if she expected the same from him, and that made him uncomfortable. But Beverly might also be a good person to have on his side right now.
“How did you know?” he asked.
She smiled. “It takes one to know one, Blake. I knew something was up, but I wasn’t sure what it was until you left your gun behind the bar.”
“Look, I’m really sorry about that. I just . . . I wasn’t in my right mind.”
“I know. Like I said, that’s when I knew something was going on with you, and the only thing I could think of was some sort of substance abuse. So, what were you on?”
“Heroin, and sometimes cocaine.”
Beverly let out a low whistle. “Hard stuff.”
“Yeah.”
She looked at his arms. “I don’t see any track marks. Were you snorting the heroin, or did you shoot up through your feet?”
“I’m kind of
a wuss when it comes to needles, so I sniffed it.”
“Are you clean now?” she asked as she checked the IV.
“Yep. Three days.”
“How are the withdrawals going?”
Blake remembered the torturous pain, the way his insides twisted and writhed, and how his skin hurt at the touch of a blanket. “At first they were horrible and I wanted to die. When the cravings hit, I kind of still do.”
Beverly nodded. “Staying clean is hard work, Blake, especially when things in life get tough. I always think of my addiction as a little monster living inside of me. When Hudson and I fight, or someone does something that irritates me, my little monster is there telling me that one little pill won’t hurt, that the pill will make it all go away. And sometimes, it’s hard to ignore the bastard. However, I know if I feed him the little pill, then he will grow and want more. Eventually he’ll become unmanageable and I’ll be right back where I started.”
Blake was surprised just how accurate her description was. “Yeah, right now my monster isn’t so small and is begging me to be fed.”
“I bet he is. If you deny him, he’ll shrink, and that loud roar you hear will eventually become a whisper you can ignore.”
He tried to imagine living without the constant barrage of “give me more,” and frankly, it was pretty appealing.
“I’m here if you need me, Blake,” Beverly said, placing her hand on his arm. “If you want, I can help you get through this. We can do this together.”
Blake was so moved by her words, tears stung his eyes, and he looked down at her hand. His recklessness could have caused the death of her son and her mate. He appreciated her words, but he had the feeling he was on his own, especially after his talk with Noah. His main priority was getting Sophia back and into the hands of the Saviors, and then . . . well, he really hadn’t given any consideration to his plan after that.
He cleared his throat. “Thanks, Bev, but didn’t you just tell me they want to throw me out?”
Beverly smiled. “I honestly haven’t heard anything like that. I just made it up as a threat to get the needle into you.”
Blake narrowed his eyes. “You’re terrible,” he said, smiling.
Beverly laughed. “I think I prefer resourceful.”
“Noah told me not to get too comfortable here, so I think it’s definite that I won’t be staying.”
The stared at each other a moment, then Beverly shrugged and said, “You don’t know for sure, Blake. However, you did make a lot of people angry and hurt a lot of feelings.”
“I know.”
“Stay here for another half-hour,” Beverly said. “I’ll go check on the kids and be right back.”
Blake nodded, watching her go. As the gym door shut, he gazed up at the ceiling. He knew he would eventually have to come clean to everyone, including Annis and Cohen, and explain the reason for his actions and behavior. Sighing, he concluded a good helping of humble pie was in his near future.
Chapter 48
“Okay, guys. I’ve talked a little bit with Blake, and we all need to hear his story of what’s going on with the SR44 females, or I should say female,” Noah said.
“What happened to Beth?” Annis asked.
“Sophia says she’s dead,” Blake answered.
Annis took a deep breath and bowed her head. Cohen took her hand in his.
Blake rocked in his chair and looked around the table. Everyone was in their places, and all eyes were on him. Hudson still looked like he’d rather gut Blake than talk to him, while Cohen blankly stared at him.
Taking a deep breath, he recounted his abduction from Brandy’s apartment, her death, his imprisonment in the shed, and Sophia begging him to take Megan, as well as the circumstances of her decision. “Sophia was very kind to me,” he said. “I told her I would get Megan to safety and go back for her.”
“Any signal from the phone yet?” Noah asked Rayner.
Rayner shook his head. “Nothing. Are you sure it even had any life in the battery?”
Blake shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Could you take us to the house where she lived and where you were being held?” Hudson asked. “That kid shit really makes me violent.”
“Yeah, I can,” Blake nodded, “but I seriously doubt she’s still there. Micah probably moved her.”
“Maybe we could just get directions and a couple of us could go check it out,” Jovan suggested.
Noah nodded. “Blake, go to the computers and pull up a map. Hudson, you, Cohen, and Nico are on it.”
“I think I should go,” Annis said.
“Why is that?” Noah asked.
“Because Sophia knows me.”
“She knows me as well,” Nico said.
Annis looked in his general direction, unable to see in the daylight hours. “Yes, but you were part of the Platoon, Nico. She may know you, but she may not trust you.”
Cohen glanced at Blake, then turned and whispered in Annis’s ear. Blake couldn’t hear what Cohen said, but he had an idea it was something along the lines of, “You’re pregnant with our kid. You need to sit this one out.”
Annis’s brow furrowed as she listened, then her mouth formed into a thin line. She nodded, and said, “Cohen, if we go during the day, I won’t be able to see anyway. I’ll stay in the car. I only want to go to offer support to Sophia, not fight.”
“It’s a good idea, Cohen,” Noah said.
“Would you send Abby?” Cohen shot back.
“No, I wouldn’t.”
“Well—”
“Enough!” Annis barked.
The silence was tense.
“I am going, for Sophia.”
Blake stared at Annis for a moment, then back at the table. Things were obviously tense in the Cohen/Annis household, and he was the cause of it.
He was such a bastard.
Hauling himself out of the chair, he walked over to the bank of computers. Sitting down, he realized how good it felt to be back. He tuned out Noah and concentrated on the keyboard. Following the highways he’d taken, he was able to zero-in on the house. He reached over and flicked a switch, causing the image to appear on the large screen hanging from the ceiling. Everyone went quiet as they studied the aerial view of the house. It stood on about an acre and a half of land, a block wall outlining the property boundaries.
“Wow, that place is really out in the middle of nowhere,” Jovan commented.
“I know,” Blake said. “Micah has her convinced that it is an awful world beyond those walls where she would be hurt or killed.”
“What’s that little building in back?” Rayner asked.
“That’s the shed where Micah kept me.”
“I bet that sucked,” Jovan said.
Blake chuckled, remembering how dusty and suffocating the place had been. If it hadn’t been for Sophia, he was certain he would have died. He’d probably gone out choking on his own vomit or something degrading like that.
No, he owed Sophia big time. He glanced over at the computer that would show when Sophia’s phone was turned on. Nothing. He had told her to wait until tomorrow to activate it, but he had hope that she would do it sooner, if the damn thing even had a battery.
He really hoped she was okay. Her strength, intelligence, and kindness were to be admired. She deserved better than Micah and his deceit.
Blake wondered if Micah had bought her story. He imagined Sophia told him that Megan had been kidnapped. If he didn’t believe her, Blake cringed to think what her punishment would be. Would he beat her? The thought made his anger roar even louder than his addiction monster.
“Well, let’s head out and go take a look,” Nico said, stretching his arms above his head. “We should be back by dinner as long as we don’t run into any trouble.”
“Sounds good,” Hudson said. “Let’s meet outside in ten.”
Blake stared at the screen, hoping Sophia was at the house and everything was okay. A hand landed on his shoulder, and he turned around.<
br />
Hudson stood above him, his dark eyes probing, his features set in a hard, unreadable mask. Blake glanced around him noticing everyone else filing out of the room.
Shit. This wasn’t good.
“Beverly told me,” Hudson murmured.
Blake nodded, not surprised. It only made sense that Beverly would tell Hudson.
“I just wanted to let you know it all makes sense to me now, and if you need anything, you just let me know.” Hudson headed for the door.
“Hudson?” Blake said.
The big man turned. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry. For that gun thing, and for . . . well, shit. For everything.”
Hudson smiled. “I know you are. If it weren’t for Beverly explaining the make-up of addiction to me, I’d still be coming for you. You fucked up and almost ruined my life, Beverly’s life, and my son’s life. Anyone in that room could have been killed.”
“I know, Hudson, and I feel awful about it. Just shit-awful.”
Hudson grinned. “And you should, but the past is the past, Blake. You accept your mistakes, take responsibility for them, and you move on. You need to concentrate on your future.”
Blake nodded. “Yeah.”
“And you also need to come to terms with what got you started on the shit to begin with.”
Blake sighed and rubbed his face.
Hudson shut the door and then said, “You know, Blake, before you came around, there was a time that I actually tried to kill myself.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep.”
“What happened?”
“I checked into the Four Seasons to eat a gun and met up with a Colonist. To make a really long story short, it was Beverly who ended up saving me from myself.”
“You checked into a Four Seasons to commit suicide?” Blake asked.
Hudson shrugged. “I wanted to go out in style.”
Blake laughed. Leave it to Hudson to want only the best, even in death.
“When you’re thinking about that future, Blake, think about who you want in it, what it looks like. I think you may be surprised by what you see.”
“What do you mean?” Blake asked, honestly confused.
“Just think about it,” Hudson said, cracking his knuckles. “Now I’ve got to go prepare to hopefully put an end to Micah’s life.”