Blakely’s father giving her that money had been stupid. No woman should ever have control of resources. They didn’t know what men did, or how to make decisions. That was the main issue, Blakely didn’t know how to decide between right andwrong. She’d taken the wrong path after her father’s death, and she had to be brought back to The Faithful and retrained.
She was supposed to have married him years ago. They should already have one kid, maybe two. She wasn’t doing her part in producing. It was important that she supply him with children. How the hell did she expect him to make money if he didn’t have children? People outside The Faithful paid good money for time with kids.
He bumped his arm against the doorjamb and cried out as pain shot up and down his body. The pain in his arm was getting worse. He needed some medication. The salves which he called witches’ brew that he’d grown up with wouldn’t cut it. He needed to go to a real hospital and get someone to give him some painkillers and maybe some antibiotics. The Faithful was against the use of modern medicine, but the rules existed to keep the women and children in line.
He’d been watching the apartment complex, seeing there were still cops and firemen around. But where was Blakely? She needed to get over whatever chip she had on her shoulder and come home. She was his wife, and he sure as heck wasn’t going to let her get away with shirking her responsibilities. Women in The Faithful knew their place.
When Blakely had taken off, he’d lost the respect of other men. He should have forced her to come live with him when she’d turned sixteen, but her father had put him off. Said something about her needing to stick around for the younger kids. Not wanting to disrupt his life which The Faithful would have seen as debauched, he’d allowed the old man to keep Blakely, so she learned how to run a household. At the time, it served him just fine. He was doing his own thing and didn’t want anyone else in their religion to know what he was up to. Keeping secrets was one key component to their faith, but he wasn’t surehow serious Blakely’s family had been about teaching her to secret keep.
Letting her stay with her father had been his biggest mistake. He should have told the old man to pound sand and to give up his daughter. Blakely might have been the oldest girl, but her siblings could have picked up the slack.
When he got her back, he would make her pay. She deserved to be put through hell for what she’d done. The last time he’d found her, he should have done more to get her under his control. He’d responded emotionally and hit her. That group of people intervening had shocked him. If he hadn’t run off, he would have been jailed. At least he’d gotten in a few good shots on her, causing her pain.
He needed to keep an eye on her place, but he wanted to get something to eat and take a piss. There wasn’t any way she would come back right now. There were too many police around, and if there was one thing The Faithful hated it was the police.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jump received a text then heard the car pulling up. Willa and Pen were here with clothes. He glanced out the window and saw Cy was driving and Foster was in the back with Pen. Cy retrieved bags from the trunk while Foster grabbed a box.
He turned back to Blakely, seeing she seemed nervous. “My friends are here. Willa is Cy’s wife, and Pen is Foster’s wife.” He hoped her knowing their names would help her feel better about meeting them. He opened the door and waved to his buddies. “Hey, come on in.” It was good seeing them after so much bullshit that happened the night before. His friends really were the best.
“So sorry you lost your stuff,” Cy said.
“We brought you some clothes,” Foster called out from the back of the group.
“Hey, Jump, it’s good to see you,” Willa said as she stepped inside.
“Hi, Jump,” Pen waved as she approached.
When he turned to Blakely, she looked very uncomfortable. Both women had big smiles on their face and moved to Blakely to introduce themselves.
“Hi, I’m Willa.”
“And I’m Pen. We have some clothes. Jump gave us your sizes, and I think he got it right.”
Jump watched as the women handed bags of clothes over to Blakely. Her eyes grew wide as she took the bags.
“Wow, you didn’t have to buy this much. I think it’s too much.”
“Well, we can always return anything that doesn’t fit.”
“I’m Cy, Willa’s husband.”
“And I’m Foster, Pen’s husband. It’s nice to meet you.”
Blakely looked up from the bags, her eyes wide. “It’s good to meet you.”
After shaking her hand, Cy turned away from her. “Hey, Jump, I don’t think Wave had a chance to cut the bushes. Do you want to step out so we can look?”
“Sure. We’ll be outside.” Jump turned to Blakely, giving her a quick nod, hoping she understood that everything would be okay, and that she could trust these people.
Blakely didn’t know how to deal with women being so nice. She hadn’t ever had close friends who were women, and she sure as heck had never had any male friends. The Faithful would have seen a male friendship as sinful. She certainly would have been stoned, or worse. Not that they tried to keep girls pure for marriage. They just wanted to make money off all relationships girls had with men.
“I don’t know what to do or say. This is way more clothes than I’ve ever owned before. I can’t take all of them.”
The women didn’t say anything for a moment. It was awkward, but then Willa spoke up.
“You know what, this seems like a great time for you to figure out what you like.”
