“You didn’t know that Jesse was pledging into a gang back home?”She snarled.“After he took you to get your bus, he left there and pledged himself to the Red Devil’s gang.They were an up-and-coming gang of thieves and dealers on the south side of town.Since he couldn’t offer you as a new pledge anymore he offered me up.I was only seventeen at the time but those pricks didn’t care.They were all willing to use and abuse me.And it didn’t make any difference to them that I wasn’t legal age yet, one of them even said that the gang would teach me manners my family apparently didn’t.He told me the first night there that I was his and he would break me properly.Jesse told me to do what I was told and not talk back or they wouldn’t be so nice to me.”
Snake just stood there and stared at her while feeling dumbfounded.“The hell he did!”
Della nodded her head firmly.“He sure did.It was like when you got on the fucking bus, he left everything that made him a good man behind too.He never recovered.Instead, he let a stranger take over and he didn’t have any of his history.Then he just blocked it out.He let this stranger sell me to pledge himself to this gang.I had to run away that same night.He locked my door but I got out anyway.When he unlocked the door the next morning with the leader of the gang in tow he had a hell of a surprise waiting for him.That was eleven years ago and I’m still around...and yeah, he’s still looking for me.And yeah that gang is looking for me too but I’m not that easy to find when I don’t want to be found.”
Snake just shook his head.“How long have you been living here?”
Della shrugged and replied, “Maybe longer than I should have but I liked this town and now I have to move again.”She let out a heavy sigh.“I can’t stay here any longer.”
“Why not?”Snake frowned.
Della just stared at him and replied sarcastically, “Because of you.You know where I am and I’m not taking the chance that you might tell Jesse.I’m not about to play whore for anyone, especially not the Red Devils and I’m not paying the price for leaving before they could get their hands on me either.”
Chapter Two
Snake felt so lost.He never ever guessed that this would happen after he left town.“They would hurt you?Is that what you mean?”
Della scoffed.“Oh yeah, they would and my own brother would stand there and let them do it!But I also don’t care to find out exactlyhowthey would hurt me.”She visibly shivered.“Don’t worry though, I’ll be gone by morning.At least give me a twenty-four-hour advantage, will ya?”
Snake felt rage and disgust as all of this sunk in.“You aren’t going anywhere.Why do you have to run?I won’t tell anyone I saw you, certainly not Jesse.I haven’t talked to him for all this time.”
Della just stared at him.After a long moment she said, “Yeah, well I know you and I know Jesse.The two of you were tight as thieves back then.So, I’m not gonna risk you calling him for old time’s sake and I’m not gonna trust him any further than I can throw him.He’s a damned monster now.I can’t even breathe the same air as him.”
Snake cocked his head at her and asked, “Just what exactly is he doing these days?Do you know?”
Della nodded.“I heard from someone I trust there just recently.Old Miss Parsons.You remember her, right?”
“The lady who helped out at the shelter.The one from church?”
Nodding, Della went on, “She said that at first, when he got into the gang, he was running drugs and numbers but over the years he’s moved up to kidnapping women and kids off the street and selling them.Even I felt shocked at this.She told me that many street people fear that gang.She heard them talking about him and the Red Devils.They stay out of their way.He’s still doing all that but now they also got him in underground fighting thing, you know the kind where two walk in and usually only one walks out.He runs it now.”
Snake just shook his head.
Della took a step backwards and said, “Ok, so I’ll leave town like I said I would.All I have to do is get my stuff.Please don’t tell anyone about me for a few days.Ok?”
Snake stepped up to her and grabbed her shoulders.“Listen to me Della, you don’t have to live like that anymore.I’ve got you.I’ll keep you safe, even from him.”
