“Lee,” I’d finally said, calling his name.
No response. I cupped his face with both hands as he continued thrashing, harder this time, his legs trapped in the sheets, his flailing.
“Lee!” I yelled his name again.
Finally, he sat bolt upright in the bed, his eyes wide with terror and screaming,“No!”
I wrapped my arms around him, trying to calm him.
“It’s okay! You’re safe. We’re safe,” I found myself lying to him over and over. I had to convince myself it was true, at least for the moment. The reversal of our roles wasn’t lost on me as I sat there comforting him for once.
I felt him heaving in my arms, struggling to catch his breath as he slowly came back to himself. Over the sound of his ragged gasps, I heard his phone ring. He reached out for it automatically, almost blindly.
The fear in his voice stole all the warmth away from us as I heard him talk to his parents.
We dressed in record time and headed to the hospital. I’d never regretted not knowing how to drive, until now. Lee was frantic with worry for his brothers, and his driving was less than focused. Okay, he drove like a crazy man but luckily the highways were almost deserted in the very early morning hours.
We arrived at the hospital in record time. The sight of Diana and Kyra Devereaux as they sat comforting each other in the Emergency Department waiting area caused the ache in my chest to tighten to the point I couldn’t breathe. I knew why they were here. Why we all were here. This was the cost of my defiance. Dreyven and Conyershad made me pay for my freedom, however temporary, with their blood.
The guilt and shame cut deeper as each member of the Devereaux family showed up. First Kaine, then Bishop, then a sleepy looking Nicki arrived.
There was a tense moment when Nicki walked in, as he and Kaine just locked glares for a moment. It seemed like they were at some kind of impasse, then Nicki broke and quickly stepped forward to wrap his arms around the other man. Kaine hugged him close then they both threw an arm around Bishop. Mama K and Mama D had stood when Nicki walked in, the alertness of mama bears protecting their cubs. Now the three friends turned and enveloped Diana and Kyra in their embrace. Lee joined in and I stood there a minute, not sure what to do. Then Mama K opened her arms further and gestured me in.
“Mijo, you belong in here, too,” she said, waving me forward, her eyes glittering brown with unshed tears.
I walked forward reluctantly, knowing I didn’t, in fact, belong in that circle of love and trust, but I felt her arm come around me on one side and Lee’s arm around me on the other.
Mama K’s voice whispered something in Spanish. I couldn’t understand her words, but I understood her prayer. It was a mother’s prayer for beloved, injured children, a voice thick with the fear of loss.
The feel of their arms clutching me tight was almost too much to take. Tears stung my eyes as I looked within that circle of chosen family and realized, finally, what I needed to do. I couldn’t just let this cycle continue, couldn’t let Dreyven and men like him continue to own me, continue to win. I couldn’t keep running.
But first, I needed to make sure these precious people were safe. I needed to get away from Lee, his parents and siblings so they wouldn’t be targets anymore. I had to secure my chosen family, then I'd makes sure that no one else paid for my sins.
We broke apart a few minutes later and I escaped down a side hallway after borrowing Lee’s phone. I didn’t even have to come up with some lie, he just handed it over to me without question and went back to comforting his parents. With my own phone still useless, I hadto trust my memory as I dialed a number I hadn’t ever really thought I’d use, but was still engraved in my memory nonetheless.
“Milwaukee Police Department Confidential Informant Line. What is your message?” I heard the tin-can sounding voice on the other end of the line ask. I swallowed hard, struggling to ready my response, dredging through years-old memories to remember the information the detective had hammered into my brain.
I whispered the words that would either save us all, or deliver me to hell.
“Mason Cameron Malone, Akron, Ohio heading to Seattle, Washington - Harem.”
28
Lee
Within the hourthe whole family had arrived except for Weaver, who was on duty. She was trying to get emergency leave to come up to be with the family and I’d barely managed to extract her promise not to go AWOL by swearing I would text her at any news, good or bad.
It was late morning or early afternoon, I didn’t even know anymore and I didn’t really care. The twins had been moved to surgery. The doctors, who occasionally came out to update us, were grim and not telling us a whole helluva lot. An orthopedic surgeon had gone in a while ago totryand save Sonny’s leg. He said he could only try, there were no guarantees. Even if the doctor managed to save his leg, I knew he would have a long road to recovery ahead of him. My own hip ached in sympathy.
My parents struggled, alternating between fury at whoever had done this and fear for the boys.
I walked by one of the conference rooms that lined the hallways of the hospital and saw two men in medic uniforms seated around a conference table filling out paperwork. One of them was a young kid, I doubted he was much more than twenty-one. The other was a man in his late thirties to early forties, just a little older than me, his darkhair starting to show threads of silver throughout. I respected the work they did, and normally I wouldn’t have interrupted them, but as I passed, I spied a tell-tale tattoo peeking out from under the shirt sleeve of the older medic.
“Sorry to interrupt, gentlemen,” I said, knocking on the door frame, “But I saw your ink, sir, and had to say the 119th was one of the best damn group of men I ever had privilege to serve with,” I smiled. “Even if they were Marines.”
“That so?” the older man asked. “I thought they were pretty much all assholes,” he laughed. “Javier,” he said, standing and holding his hand out to me.
“Lee,” I responded.
