I look down at her and smile. “I’m sure it has to do with Hawk telling them about your Annie Oakley moment.”
She rolls her eyes at us, making their lips twitch. “It’s not like I hit anything vital. I knew where to shoot so as not to inflict too muchdamage. I’m a nurse, remember. Or was but whatever, this just gives you guys more time to come up with a plan to keep Bailey safe.” The guys are speechless, not expecting that from the sweet baker, but I think we’ve all underestimated Madison, and I can’t wait to uncover all her secrets.
Speaking of Bailey, she comes running over with a smile on her face. “Madison, you have to come and see what they got me. Hailey said that it’s all for me. I’ve never had a gift before.” Bailey is jumping around acting like a carefree kid right now.
Madison smiles at her. “That’s awesome, honey. Come on, show me what you’ve got.”
We watch them walk away as Bailey drags a laughing Madison towards the other woman, showing her all the things everyone got her.
“Was she really hanging out the damn window shooting at Leo?” Blade asks as we watch our woman fussing over Bailey.
I scrub my hands down my face in exhaustion. “Fuck yeah, she was; she damn near gave me a heart attack. I couldn’t get a shot off without taking out the back window and possibly injuring both of them. I just wasn’t expecting Madison to do what she did.”
“Come on, let's go to church and get this shit down.” Blade walks away with everyone else while I linger back, looking at Madison.
It’s as if she can feel my stare; she turns her head and looks at me, smiling. Madison doesn’t know it, but she put a target on her back with Leo, and I will be damned if I let anything happen to her.
Six
Joker
I walk into church and close the door, taking my seat. It’s not even lunchtime, and I can feel a fucking headache coming on.
“So I talked to Grandma Silvia this morning and told her what’s been going on, so Joker expect a visit sometime this week. Alright, Crow, why don’t you tell us what you’ve found?” Blade gets down to business.
I watch as Crow's hands fly on the keyboard, and we watch as images come up on the bigscreen.
“Alright, Leo Meeks is 35 and has a long-ass rap sheet. Some petty crimes, along with drug dealing. He started dating Bailey’s mom, Jenna, last year. They live in the trailer park on the edge of town. Jenna has a rap sheet as well: prostitution and drugs. I didn’t find anything about who Bailey’s father is, as Jenna didn’t put him on the birth certificate. Neither one of them has worked in a while, so I have no way of tracing them. And since Jenna took off, I haven’t found out anything about where she went. We might have to ask Bailey what number the trailer is since it’s not registered in Jenna or Leo’s name.”
Jesus, the more I read of Leo’s rap sheet, the angrier I get and can’t wait to rid this earth of this piece of shit.
“Joker, do you wanna grab Bailey and maybe Madison so she’s more comfortable so we can ask her some questions?” Blade asks as he turns to me.
“Yeah, I'll go get them. I just want you guys to know that Madison found some bruises on Bailey last night along her arms. Just in case you see them, you need to keep your cool. She's still kind of scared. I’m going to take her to the medical bay when we are done because I have a feeling there is more.” They nod their heads, but I don’t miss the pissed-off looks on their faces.
I walk into the club's living room to see Bailey stuffing her face with cookies, which makes me smile. I head to the couch. “Sorry to interrupt, ladies, but I need to borrow Madison and Bailey for a moment.” Bailey looks scared as she places the cookie on the plate and wipes her face.
“Am I in trouble?” Bailey’s voice sounds small as she looks at us in fear, as if something is going to happen to her.
I walk towards her and kneel before her so I’m looking her in the eye. “I promise you that you aren’t in trouble; we just need to ask you some questions. I know that you don’t know us, but I swear you'resafe with us, and everyone here is going to protect you, okay? Besides, we are BFFs, remember, Bailey Bee.” I see the fear drain from her eyes as she gives me a small smile. It's a start, so I'll take it. I stand up and can hear sniffling behind me. Turning my head, I see Hailey, Savannah, and Scarlett with tears in their eyes, making mine widen. I rub the back of my neck, unsure what I should do as I watch Madison hand them a tissue. “Umm.”
Hailey wipes her eyes and smiles. “It’s okay, BFG, it's just the pregnancy hormones. We are fine.”
“Right, well on that note, we should go. Come on, Bailey.” I grab her hand and help her up, needing to get out of here and all the crying women. Madison follows behind me.
“Why were they crying?” Bailey asks, looking up at me. My eyes widen, and I look to Madison for help.
She just shakes her head, smiling. “Sometimes when women are pregnant, their bodies go through a lot, including their hormones changing, and sometimes we cry when we are sad.”
We reach the room, and I open the door, grateful they had taken down Leo’s picture. “And that is why you will never have a boyfriend. Besides, boys are gross, and we smell.”
Madison smacks my arm walking into the room. “You can’t tell her that, Joker.”
I give her an innocent look that I know she’s not buying. “What? It’s true! The guys agree with me about Bailey never dating, isn’t that right?” I look at them and see them smiling, nodding their heads.
“Oh, good grief, you guys are too much. Bailey, honey, come sit down.” Madison takes Bailey's hand and has her sit in my seat.
As soon as she sits down, all the guys can see the bruises on her arms but keep it together so as not to scare her. “Hi, Bailey. I’mBlade. We met the other night. We just have a few questions to ask you. Is that okay?”
