Abandoned Angel (17 page)

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Tiffany rushed towards the angry sputters of Jose and Spike. She then circled around the men while still hidden by shrubs. Trying to seem calm and in control, she presented herself in the landing directly in front of them, making it appear like she had been coming from the opposite direction of Angelina.

“I'm right here Spike,” she said, trying not to look as out of breath as she felt.

“Where the hell have you been?” Absolute anger spewed from his mouth.

“I, I was down at the pond, sitting,” she responded.

“Where's the bitch?”

“Which one?”
Tiffany asked, trying not to allow her voice to shake.

“Angelina, don't tell me she wasn't with you.”

“No, no she,” Tiffany began to explain, but the backhand Spike gave her stopped her in her tracks. She cupped her face with her slender fingers.

“What was that for?” she quietly asked.

“Don't lie to me Tiffany,” ordered Spike.

Jose stood and watched, more agitated than usual. The club members did not like the women bruised unless there was solid reason, and most members liked Tiffany because of her carefree nature. As the youngest person in the group, the men often treated her differently than the other women, kinder. She looked like a mere child standing there cupping her pulsating face, and it bothered Jose to see her hurt.

“I'm not lying to you Spike. Why would I lie? Angelina wasn't with me at the pond,” Tiffany insisted. Her frightened voice cracked as she spoke.

“Then where the fuck is she?”

“I don't know,” responded Tiffany, refusing to give in. She would not endanger Angelina by being weak. This time, it would be she who got hurt, not someone she cared for.

Spike backhanded her again, and watched as she toppled to the ground. Blood fell from the corner of her mouth as she let a tear fall.

“Spike, what are you doing?” asked Jose. He didn't want to see Tiffany hurt, he just wanted to party with her. She was always good to party
with
. Young, tight, did what they liked.

“Shut the fuck up Jose. This cunt knows where Angelina is,” said Spike, kicking Tiffany as he spoke. As she lay in a heap on the ground, she let out a small gasp as the kick landed against her backside. She would end up with a large bruise there.

Spike grabbed a handful of her long, sun streaked hair, pulling her head back in order to make her look him in the eyes.

“Please Spike, I'll do whatever you want, but I don't know where she is.” Tiffany tried to hold back the tears, but the pain was piercing. “She said she was going to the bathroom and never came back. I, I thought she went back up to camp. Why would I lie to you about her? I don’t even know her,” she whimpered, praying he would not release another blow.

Spike hesitated for a moment, while deciding what to do. Jules had told him that the girls left the camp together and Tiffany was not denying it. As she said, she had no reason to protect Angelina - she was an outsider. Plus, she had never given him trouble before. Controlling his anger proved difficult though.

“Come on spike,” said Jose, “let's have some fun, we don't need that bitch. This one will do.”

Tiffany did not allow the insult to sting, and tried to prepare herself as Jose grabbed her by the shoulder and led her back to camp.

Angelina sat crouched behind the large boulder, startled by every sound that nature made. She tried not to panic as she hid from Spike, but her heart raced and her body sweat. To add to her discomfort, the mosquitos started to bite as if intentionally trying to force her to leave. At first, she debated going deeper into the line of trees to hide, but decided against it when she had not heard Spikes yelling, or seen any movement since Tiffany left the area. Instead, she stayed hidden, as told, too afraid to do otherwise. It felt like a lifetime sitting there waiting behind the large stone, wondering if Spike was still looking for her, wondering if Tiffany was ok, and praying that Justin was safe. It felt like a lifetime, though it had only been an hour or so, before she finally heard the uneven growl of a group of bikes entering the dense park. The fear that Blaze was not one of them kept her from moving. She sat in the same position until the ache in her back and burning of her thighs told her it had been long enough. Even then, she refused to leave the cover of her hiding place. It wasn’t until another group of motorcycles returned that she cautiously decided to head back to camp. It took her a few minutes to figure out exactly which way to go. She wanted to make sure that she exited the bush over by Blazes camp, hoping that he would be there waiting for her.

Slowly making her way through the sharp branches and clumps of bushes, Angelina headed to the top of the hill. Her aching body once again reminded her of the beating she had endured. She had stiffened while she waited. As she moved forward, she listened for Blazes voice, hoping it would guide her to him, but she did not hear him talking. Angelina managed to stay out of site while she worked her way around the camp, silently passing by the different groups of people entertaining themselves. Although Blaze was not at his camp, Angelina was relieved to see his shimmering motorcycle parked in the same spot it had been the night before. He had returned. Relief filled her body, allowing her shoulders to drop, releasing some of her tension. Since no one had seen her approach, she quietly walked over to their bedding and leaned up against the tree next to his bike. Assuming, and hoping that Blaze was keeping an eye out for her, she decided it was best to let him find her when he was ready. Angelina hadn't been there more than a couple of minutes before Blaze marched up next to her.

“Where the hell have you been?” he asked sharply, demanding a quick answer.

“I, I was hiding from Spike,” she nervously responded, not wanting him mad again. She hated the way he put her on edge.

“What did he do to you?” His anger now targeted Spike. When he turned as if he was going to rush off and find him, Angelina grabbed Blazes tense arm in order to stop him.

“He didn't do anything to me,” she tried to explain. “I mean, he looked for me, but Tiffany hid me.”

“Tiffany hid you?” Blaze was surprised and agitated.

“Yeah, we
kinda
hit it off this morning, she is a really sweet kid, and Spike and the Mexican one, Jose, came back before the rest of you.”

Angelina watched Blazes reaction, but was unable to read his expression. She continued, a bit flustered; “Tiffany heard them coming and insisted I follow her. She said she had something to show me, but once we were alone she told me that they came back for me, and she showed me a place to hide.”

“Shit.” His anger was back. “Where is Tiffany? Does Spike know that she hid you?” Blaze asked.

“I don't know. I didn’t come out until I thought you were back,” replied Angelina, her worry and fear piercing through her expression. The alarm in Blazes deep voice worried the woman. She didn’t want Tiffany hurt.

“I tried to make her stay with me.”
Not hard enough
, an inner voice blurted between her ears. Not only was she trying to convince Blaze that she had tried, but also herself.

“Tiffany told me that she had to go with Spike - that she didn’t have any other choice.”

Angelina was close to panicking, knowing that she should have tried harder to keep Tiffany with her. Blaze seemed to have calmed down though.

“No, she's right. She had to answer Spike,” agreed Blaze. He bit his lower lip as he forced himself to remain calm. “You stay here; I'll go make sure she is ok. Do not move,” he ordered.

“I won’t,” answered Angelina. “I’m so sorry Blaze.”

Blaze turned to go without replying, needing to know that Tiffany was safe. Angelina sat against the solid tree and waited for Blaze to return. She listened to the soft murmur of the bikers in the background, hoping no one would approach. She wanted to go home, with her son, where this - nightmare - could be over.

Bothered by the situation Tiffany had gotten herself into, Blaze headed towards the center of camp to look for the girl. When he didn't find her, he started towards Spikes camp. If Spike knew that Tiffany had hid Angelina, he would punish her, severely for it. Thus far, Tiffany had not had to endure a whole lot of that, and Blaze had hoped it would stay that way. Tiffany was a very likable girl, good hearted, yet tough as nails when she needed to be, but Spike’s fury would be too much for her.

 After arriving in the area of Spike’s camp, Blaze stopped, and squatted behind a tree while he listened for voices. There were not any. Spike and his “groupies” were partying in a different location. His camp was empty. When Blaze was sure of this, he moved on to Doc's camp, which was off to the right of Spikes. He stayed off the high traffic areas to insure that Spike did not see him. Blaze did not want to give away the fact that Angelina was alone. His camp was more isolated than the rest, so as long as he stayed out of site, Angelina would be safe.

Blaze assumed that Tiffany would seek out Marge if she needed mothering. Had Spike gotten ahold of her, she would draw comfort from the caring woman. It was customary for Doc to share his tent with Marge when they were on the road. He also opened it up to Tiffany because that was what Marge had wanted. She had never had children of her own, and treated Tiffany as she would have treated her own child - with a stern tongue, and a loving hand; as loving as she could be anyway, while still abiding by the rules of the club.

Doc stood with one leg balanced on a stump, as he smoked a cigarette outside of his dark green, tattered tent. Like Doc, it had aged drastically over the last year.

“Have you seen Tiffany lately?” asked Blaze, in a bit of a rush. Doc recognized the urgency in his voice though he made no mention of it.

“In there.”

Blaze bent to enter the tent. Tiffany was sitting on a red sleeping bag with her knees pulled up to her chest. Marge held her hand as they talked. The young girl looked up at Blaze when he entered. Although she smiled warmly at Blaze, it was hard to miss that her baby blues where full of tear. Tiffany’s swollen face was starting to bruise. Marge tried to wipe the blood off Tiffany’s lower lip with the girls ripped, blood stained tee shirt. Her tangled hair pressed against her sweaty face. They had been rough with her, but not severely.

“I did good Blaze,” Tiffany softly stated, knowing he would understand.

“I know you did Tiff.”

Blaze gave her the approval she desired. It tore at his heart to see her hurt like that, because of him. He did not know if Tiffany had told Marge what happen, and although he liked Marge, he trusted no one other than Doc. He hoped the battered girl kept the story to herself, for her own sake.

Blaze knelt next to the two women, to take a closer look at Tiffany’s discolored face. There would be no permanent marks. Tiffany had been sober though, during the “party”, and that bothered Blaze. It would have been easier for her to handle wasted. Tiffany always did what she had to with the guys, but he had never seen her do it without something to take the edge off first. He would love to strangle the son of a bitch for doing this to her, but the fact was, Tiffany chose this life, and as long as she continued to ride with them, the club owned her. It was part of the lifestyle. Blaze understood that if he intervened, Spike would retaliate by hurting Tiffany further.

“You ok?” he asked, as he took her petite hand from Marge.

“Yeah, Blaze, I'm fine. Just a bit sore is all. No big deal.” She shrugged her shoulders as if nothing had happened.

Blaze could see why Angelina had taken to her, for the same reason he had. Tiffany was a sweet kid, and she deserved so much better than this.

“Blaze, do you got something, you know, to take the edge off?”

Ok, so she’s a sweet kid who likes to smoke pot with the best of them.

Blaze hesitated, but only for a moment. The day was young, she would need it. He pulled out a one-hitter and handed it to her. She picked up a lighter that was sitting next to Marge.

“You're the bomb,” she teased as she closed her eyes and took her hit. It would help her to relax. She felt better already, just knowing that Blaze was proud of her.

“Do one with me?” she asked, batting her tear-swollen eyes.

Marge smiled at the spunk the girl showed.

She is a beautiful kid
, thought Blaze, kid being the operative word. Tiffany was like a child who longed for Blaze’s attention and approval. This desire for his attention often came out as flirtation, but he had never given in to it. She was not quite seventeen when she hooked up with the club. She was just a young girl, and although she was growing into a beautiful woman, Blaze did his best to try not to see her that way, even now. In his mind, she was still too young to be club property, but there was nothing he could do about that. Blaze did what he could to keep her protected without breaking the code. Sometimes that meant just making sure she had enough weed in her to deal with what
was handed out
. He generally would not give her anything she did not need though. On more than one occasion, he scolded her for taking drugs when it was not necessary. He noticed that Tiffany had become good at disappearing when she needed to. She was learning how to work the rules, and he was glad about that. Tiffany had also gotten good at showing up at his camp to hang out when she had nowhere safe to go, or when Doc and Marge did not want company. He never turned her down. The other men assumed he was sexing her when she stayed, but Blaze wanted nothing to do with that. He let them believe what they needed in order to keep them off her for the night. Only Doc and Marge knew better.