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When Destiny saw the men standing in the hall, she tried to hide behind Quinn. Big men scared her even if she couldn’t tell anyone they did.
Quinn bent over and Destiny flinched as if she expected a slap.
Quinn whispered, “Oh honey, no one here is going to hurt you, especially me. I hope you can believe that.”
Destiny raised her head and stared at Quinn for a moment then reached around to hug her. She held her briefly but released her just as fast and stepped back.
Quinn got to her feet and reached down her hand waiting for Destiny to take it. After a moment, she reached out for Quinn’s hand then she crowd closer to her as they moved forward.
When Quinn reached where her brother was standing, she noted Cassie was staring at Destiny. When Cassie looked up at her, she saw the question in her eyes.
Quinn shook her head and Cassie’s lips tightened but she didn’t say anything in front of the girl.
Quinn tightened her grip on Destiny’s hand. She didn’t know what was going on but Chance did tell her that they were going back to the clubhouse. She hoped he would be able to tell her more once they got there. She glanced down at Destiny and knew this little girl was in bad trouble. Quinn had made up her mind last night she would be there to protect her from any more harm.
They walked as a group out to the truck. When they got in and drove away Quinn held Destiny on her lap. She knew she should be in her own seatbelt but Destiny wouldn’t let her go. Quinn allowed her to sit on her lap and she belted them both in the seat.
The truck itself was an older vehicle, so there was only one bench seat as the girls were sitting in the middle. Byron was driving and Chance sat shotgun. No one said a word as they drove out to the clubhouse.
Once they got there, everyone got out of the truck and walked inside.
Sam stood there as though he’d been waiting for them to arrive. He looked over his daughter for a moment to make sure she was ok then his eyes went to the small child holding her hand. She looked so damn small and scared he didn’t know what to make of her.
The little girl had longish dark brown hair and eyes so solemn they almost scared Sam. There were hardly any signs of life in them and for someone so young this was shocking to see. Then he noticed the bruises on her face and arms. Sam snapped his eyes to Quinn and realized that she was well aware of what he saw.
Sam’s lips tightened and he had to look away for a moment. When he got his emotions under control, he looked back at his daughter. He walked closer then had to stop when Destiny took a step behind Quinn and hid her face.
Quinn turned to lift the girl into her arms.
Destiny buried her face in Quinn’s neck and held her body so stiffly she almost fell out of Quinn’s arms.
“Oh, baby girl,” Quinn whispered in Destiny’s ear. “No one here is going to hurt you. You don’t have to be afraid. I got you sweetheart.”
Destiny relaxed a little but was still stiff in her arms. She buried her face even further into Quinn’s neck and held her arms around her tightly.
Reva came over to them and asked, “Are you guys hungry? Can I fix you some breakfast or something?”
Quinn nodded. “Thank you Reva. That would be great.” She peeked at Destiny and asked, “Are you hungry sweetheart?”
Destiny nodded but didn’t say anything.
Reva smiled and gently rubbed Destiny’s back. “Okay sweetheart, would you like some pancakes and bacon?”
Destiny looked confused for a moment then looked at Quinn.
Quinn smiled and answered for her, “That sounds wonderful Reva. Thank you.”
Reva nodded. “Ok you guys find a table and I’ll get you something to eat.”
“Come on sweetheart, let’s find a seat.” Quinn went over to a table and sat down.
Destiny turned and her gaze searched the room.
A few minutes later, Reva returned with two plates of food. Quinn shifted Destiny to her own chair but brought the chair close to her own. She then reached for the fork and the knife Reva set down beside her and began cutting Destiny’s pancake into bite size pieces for her. Adding syrup, she pushed the plate a little closer to where Destiny was sitting and gave the little girl a fork. “Here you go sweetheart. You eat that now okay?”
Reva came back with a cup of coffee for Quinn and a small glass of milk for Destiny.
Destiny looked over at Quinn.
“Yes that’s for you, honey. You can drink that along with your breakfast.”
Destiny nodded and took a bite of her pancake. Her eyes opened wide and she took another bite. She couldn’t help herself. She ate until there was nothing more on her plate. Her little belly was full.
Quinn just stared at her then lifted her head and found Reva’s eyes. Quinn’s throat tightened as she ate her own breakfast. She could hardly swallow as she thought about how much this little girl had suffered in her short lifetime.
Then Jackie came over to the table and stared at Destiny. “Hi.”
Quinn smiled. “She might not be able to speak but she hears just fine.”
“Can she come over to my table and color with me?” Jackie asked.
“You can ask her.” Quinn nodded.
Jackie turned to Destiny and smiled. “You want to come over and color with me? My mom bought me some new coloring books and some brand new colors.”
Destiny looked quickly over at Quinn.
“You can go if you want to. Jackie isn’t going to hurt you and I’ll be right here if you get scared.”
Destiny turned back to stare at Jackie for a moment then got down off her chair. She walked over to the table Jackie sat down at but when she got there, she looked back at Quinn first before she sat down.
Jackie shoved a coloring book and some crayons at her then opened another coloring book and began coloring.
Destiny sat there for a moment then picked up a color. She watched Jackie for a moment then laid the color on the paper. D she looked frustrated but kept trying.
Jackie watched her for a moment then told her, “You have to try to stay in the lines. It looks a lot better that way.” His voice wasn’t loud or rude. Just stating a fact.
Destiny looked up at him and nodded.
“Has that child never colored before?” Reva asked.
“I doubt it,” Quinn acknowledged. “I don’t think anyone has cared about what she could be doing by this time. No one paid attention to her before.”
Sam came over to her table and sat down. “Well, baby girl what kind of shit storm have you gotten yourself into this time?”
Quinn turned to her father and tears rolled down her cheeks. “Oh Sam, I couldn’t just leave her all alone. I just couldn’t do it.”
He sighed heavily. “I know,” Sam whispered as he patted her hand. “But this is bigger than just a little girl who’s lost.”
Quinn frowned and looked around at the group of men standing there. “What do you mean?”
“Well, from what Chance tells me that little girl’s daddy owes a very bad man some serious coin and he might try to get out of debt by selling her to him.”
“What the hell?” Quinn whispered in total shock.
Sam nodded. “Besides being a miserable excuse for a husband and a father, Lester Pearlman owes Jonah Rossi big money. Rossi is known for his fetish involving young girls. I won’t tell you what he does with them, I’m sure you can almost guess that. But just know that we aren’t going to let him get his nasty hands on this one.”
Quinn was stunned by this announcement. Then she got mad. “He wouldn’t dare!”
Sam scoffed. “Oh baby girl, he would.”
Quinn nearly growled. “Well, he isn’t going to, not with this little girl.”
“No he isn’t,” Sam agreed.
Quinn just stared at her father then lifted her eyes to the group of men standing around him. “That’s why we’re here isn’t it? You think he’s going to try and take her, don’t you?” Her voice was low, almost a whisper.
Sam nodded. “But he won’t come here and we have someone watching all the players. Rossi, Lester and Mona.”
Quinn nodded then sat there thinking about something. Reaching in her back pocket, she brought out her phone and brought up her pictures. Sliding the phone over to Sam, she told him, “I took those last night before and after her bath. From what I can see, she doesn’t have any reason to trust anyone.”
Sam stared into her eyes for a moment then looked down at her phone. The pictures on her phone showed Destiny as she looked yesterday. She was unkempt, her hair was all messy and hadn’t been combed for a long time, days maybe. He could see bruises on her cheeks and arms. Her clothes were dirty and hanging in disarray on her thin body.
Sam flipped through the rest of the photos and saw her cleaned up, hair combed and fresh clothes on. The haunted look was still in her eyes but there was something else there as well. In the later pictures, Destiny had a sliver of hope in her eyes.
Sam looked up and caught Quinn’s eyes. “We’ll keep her safe. We’ll keep you both safe.”
Quinn frowned. “You think he’ll come after me? Why would he do that?”
“You stopped him from getting his hands on Destiny.” Chance put his hand on her shoulder. “Rossi is going to want his pound of flesh, even if he can’t get Destiny.”
“Fuck a duck.” Quinn felt stunned.
“Don’t you worry Quinn,” Gator assured her. “We won’t let him anywhere near you or Destiny. That shit ain’t gonna happen on my watch.”
“Mine either,” several other men called out the same thing.
“Thanks guys, I appreciate it.” She nodded at the group of guys standing around the table. Dropping her head down to her hands, she closed her eyes. “How can people be so damn cruel?” Tears dripped down on the table. “She’s only a baby for god’s sake.”
“I’ll kill the bastard before I’ll let him take either of you,” Sam vowed. “You can depend on that.”
Chance nodded his head as he patted her hand.
Quinn wiped the tears from her cheeks and turned her head to look at Destiny. She saw her staring at the pages in front of her and trying so hard to color in the lines. Quinn studied her tiny little face and hands for a long time before she turned back to her father. “We have to save her from that life. We have to save her from going back to her parents as well. If we give her back, they’ll end up killing her. I just know it.”
“We won’t.” Sam patted her shoulder. “That little girl isn’t going anywhere. She belongs to us now. We take care of our own.”
Chance knelt beside her on the floor. “Nothing is going to happen to her or to you. Not while I draw a breath.”
Quinn cupped his chin with her hands and smiled. “I want you to know something. I happen to love you very much. You may or may not want to know that and maybe here, at this very moment, isn’t the proper place to tell you but I do. I just wanted you to know that. Just in case something bad happens to me, I want you to know.”
Chance grinned. “I love you too. And right here, right now is a good time to tell you.”
Destiny got off her chair and brought her coloring book over to Quinn to show her what she’d done.
Quinn peered down at the picture and was surprised at how good it was. Turning to Destiny, she smiled. “Wow, that’s very good.”
Destiny smiled. Her eyes lit up and she showed off her toothy grin. Then she turned and went back to the table and crawled up on her chair. Grabbing a color, she began coloring a new picture.