Abandoned Angel (9 page)

“You ok?” Angelina asked.

“Yeah,” responded the young woman. She tried to fake a smile as she wiped the vomit from her mouth. Angela figured she must have been about eighteen or so. At first glance, she seemed to be about the same height and build as herself, only with fewer curves. A second look showed that she was a bit thinner than Angelina was, and that her hair was actually more of a strawberry blonde color rather than the red that she thought she had seen. She wore an old jean skirt that only made it half way down her thigh. What was once a red tee shirt with Mickey Mouse on the front of it, was now faded to a musty reddish pink. She did not wear a bra underneath, and her nipples pressed hard against the shirt. Her long hair was badly in need of washing, and a trim. It hung loosely down her back, and as she bent over to throw up again her hair fell along her face. Angelina stepped behind the girl and gently pulled her hair back to keep her from vomiting on it. She held her hand up in thanks as she spit into the toilet. After finishing, and wiping her mouth with toilet paper, she introduced herself to Angelina.

“Thanks for saving the hair,” she said, a sweet smile plastered across her face. “I’m Tiffany by the way.”

“No problem,” Angelina responded as she turned on the faucet for Tiffany to clean herself. “I’m Angelina.”

The young girl looked terrible - sweaty. Her hands shook as she rinsed her thin face and washed out her mouth.

“You ok now?” asked Angelina. She had a strong desire to mother Tiffany.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Not sure what they put in my drink, but my stomach doesn’t like it. I threw up while I got screwed,” she laughed half-heartedly. “I guess that’s one way to put a stop to it.” Seeing the shocked look on Angelina’s face, she tried to lighten the moment.

Angelina did not know how to respond. She had seen the girl on all fours by the fire. She wondered how many of the men had done her before she had gotten sick.

“Don’t worry, it isn’t as bad as it seems,” stated Tiffany, trying to convince herself of this. After seeing Angelina’s fearful expression dart across her tired face, Tiffany declared, “I’m sure I can get you something to take the edge off if you want. It makes it easier.”

Before Angelina could answer, Blaze walked into the doorway. He had been listening from outside the building.

“Are you done in here?” Blaze asked Angelina, not expecting an answer.

He then turned his attention to the younger of the two.

“How are you doing Tiff?”

Blaze’s voice was calm and reassuring when he addressed Tiffany.

Tiffany smiled sweetly at Blaze. It was obvious to Angelina that they had a relationship. What was not obvious to her was what that relationship entailed. At that moment, with the moonlight hitting her face, Angelina thought Tiffany looked closer to sixteen years old.

“You ok?” he asked Tiffany.

“Good as always,” Tiffany responded with a weak smile, following him back outside. Angelina did the same.

“Better get back up there. The boys are hollering for you,” Blaze instructed.

He could hear them in the background yelling for the girl.

“Yeah, I know,” she looked down at her shaking hands and closed her eyes as she took in a deep breath.

When Tiffany opened her eyes, she smiled, as if she were ready to party again, as if nothing had happened. Until then, Angelina had not noticed how breathtakingly blue her eyes were.

“You want to join in tonight Blaze?” she asked, flirtatiously.

Having trouble determining Tiffany’s age, the offer the young girl made to Blaze bothered Angelina, immensely. One moment she looked like a child, the next a sexy adult who knew exactly what she was doing by enticing him. Either way, the situation pissed her off. Tiffany was too young to be screwing the men, too young to
be given
drugs, and too young to be living the life of a biker bitch.

“Not tonight babe, I’ve got my hands full with this one.”

Blaze smiled at Tiffany as he motioned towards Angelina. It was a sad smile though.

“K,” replied Tiffany, turning to leave. With a second though, she spun back towards Blaze and Angelina. “You got a joint I can have?” she asked no one in particular.

Blaze took one out of his jean pocket and handed it to her.

“It’s strong though; just take a couple of hits.”

Tiffany’s face lit up; excited he was allowing her to take the joint with her. She kissed him hard on the mouth.

“Thanks Blaze, you are a lifesaver,” she said, rubbing her hands through his hair playfully.

Tiffany then turned to Angelina and did the same thing. She quickly kissed her hard on the cheek and thanked her for helping in the bathroom. The smell of vomit filtered from her breath. Tiffany lit the joint as she headed back up towards the party. Once the girl was out of sight Angelina turned to Blaze, rage in full force.

“Why the hell did you do that?”

Angelina’s voice was low but her furry spewed out. Her hands shook as she confronted Blaze. She realized she should keep her mouth shut and opinions to herself, but seemed unable to do that.

“Do what?” asked Blaze, knowing damn well what she meant.

He was sending Tiffany back to the bikers, to be the star in what could be a porno flick. She was young and attractive, and the men took to her.

“She’s wasted, and throwing up. She can barely focus, and you made her go back to the party,” explained Angelina. “How could you do that? The girl is so,” Angelina struggled to find the right words. She really was not sure what it was about Tiffany that made her want to protect the girl.

“She is so what?” Blaze dared her to answer.

“She is just so damn young Blaze!” she finally blurted. For reasons she could not explain she was almost in tears.

“Why did you do that to her?” she accused again. “Why did you send her back up there? Why didn’t you help her?”

Angelina refused to understand why he had made Tiffany go back to the party where the men were waiting.

“Why would you send her back up there to those, those, damn bikers?” she blurted, barely getting the words out. It was obvious to her that Tiffany did not need to be partying any more, and that she would be better off left alone. She was only a child, not a woman deserving treatment like a whore.

When Blaze grabbed Angelina by the arm, she winced in pain. He hit an already sore spot.

“I didn’t do anything to that girl,” he stated, though he owed her no explanation whatsoever. His anger matched Angelina’s but she held her ground.

“Like hell you didn’t. You made her go back up to those men. You might as well have raped her yourself!”

Blaze was flabbergasted. He could not believe what was coming out of the bitch’s mouth.

Angelina, aware that what she said was not entirely true, realized, too late, that she was completely out of line and that punishment was sure to follow for her behavior. Suddenly blinded by fury, she did not care. Every ounce of anger and hatred that she felt for her husband and all the cruel men she had come across, seemed to stream through her candid words. Blaze raised his callused hand and backhanded her hard and solid across the side of her face, hitting her with a sturdy blow. Angelina’s lip began to bleed again, but she refused to make a sound. She stood, her eyes blazing with fury, ignoring the sting of her cheek. Blaze continued to hold tight to her arm. There would be finger-sized bruises in that spot before morning.

“How dare you stand here and act like you know what this is about,” he stated, his rage engulfed eyes squinting as he talked. “You know nothing about me and nothing about this group!”

His anger matched Angelina’s equally. At that moment, he wanted to strangle her for sticking her nose into his business, and into the business of the other club members. She had no idea what their life was about, and had no right to judge them. Whether the lifestyle was right or wrong, he would not allow this outsider to dictate how things should be.

“Tiffany knows damn well where her place is with this club. If a member tells her to bend over, she bends,” he was furious for having to say it aloud. “If I tell YOU to suck my dick, you damn well better suck me dry,” his voice was cold and harsh. His coffee tinted eyes burned with fury as he worked to get his point across. HE controlled what happened, not her, not Tiffany, or any other woman for that matter. HE dictated what would happen, not them.

“I have never hurt that girl,” he steamed.

His face was close enough to Angelina’s that she could feel the spittle when he spoke. She wished she had kept her comments to herself, regretting the fact that she had allowed herself to care.

“Tiffany chose this life for herself. This is what SHE chooses to be. You better get that straight,” he continued. “And you do not raise your voice to me again! Who the hell do you think you are talking to?”

With that, a frustrated Blaze released Angelina and pushed her away from his body, causing her to fall hard to the ground. He stood over her a moment as he managed to get his anger under control. As he turned to go, he quietly stated, “If she hadn’t gone back up to them before they came looking for her, Tiffany would have been bloodied on top of it all.”

Blaze was not sure why he felt the need to explain things to the woman, but he did.

“Returning to the group on her own is better for Tiffany,” he simply stated.

The drunken men were worse than usual that night because there were a number of members from a different motorcycle chapter that had joined up with them. The partying was always severe when this happened. Blaze stood for a moment in order to take control of his emotions.

“And Angelina,” he finally stated, before turning away from her. “Don’t make a mistake in thinking that I am not one of those 'damn bikers' as well.”

His calm and gentle presence returned, but a bit of sadness rang throughout his tone. He had managed to get his anger back under control, but still wished he had not intervened at the bar. Angelina was turning out to be a handful – one that he was not in the mood for.

Although well hidden, Angelina thought she sensed sorrow behind his demeanor, though she was not certain.

Blaze wished that he hadn’t hit Angelina. Although she was out of line, he understood why she had reacted as she did. She wanted to protect the young girl, because she had not been able to protect her own son. He understood that reasoning, entirely. Plus, it was hard to get used to the way the club lived, she was probably still in a bit of a state of shock. It took him a long time to adapt to the lifestyle he was living. At times, he was sad for the life that Tiffany was experiencing, and had wanted to help her from the beginning. There was always the code to live by, a code that he chose to honor. When it came down to it, it was all about choices.

Hesitantly, Angela followed Blaze up the dark trail, trying not to let the shadows spook her. She lagged about ten steps behind the man. The distance between them increased as they neared the camp because her pace was much slower than
his
. Her body hurt tremendously, making it difficult for her to keep up with him. She did her best to wipe the blood from her mouth before they returned to the others. She did not want anyone to get the impression, true or not, that Blaze was no longer willing to protect her.

Neither of them made a sound as they walked. The mood had changed drastically. Instead of being light and flirtatious, it was now full of thick tension that the other members were sure to sense. Angelina could not make her anger go away even though she knew that it was not directed at Blaze, but at the situation. She tried to understand why Blaze did what he did to the girl. He had sent Tiffany back to the other men so that she could be their plaything, once again. Although she tried to understand the way the club works, she did not like it and she did not agree with it. She did however acknowledge that she was out of line and should have kept her mouth closed. Angelina had tried to apologize to Blaze when he finally pulled her up off the ground, but he did not respond to what she said. It just seemed so unfair. Angelina admittedly had a rough life, but it broke her heart to see this young girl, that she did not even know, living as she was. Thinking about it made her long for her own child. Maybe that was where all the anger had come from. She did not know if she would be able to help him either.

Blaze finally broke the silence when they reached the top of the trail. He ordered Angelina to sit by the fire, and said nothing else as she turned to do so. Angelina looked for Tiffany as she sat on a hard old log, hoping she was ok. She did not see the young girl. At least she
was not being trained
in front of everyone anymore. It was getting late, maybe Tiffany had headed to bed. The thought relieved Angelina. For some odd reason she had felt a connection to Tiffany, and although she knew it was ridiculous, she hoped to see her again.

Blaze walked over to Doc who was standing with four other bikers. They were passing around a joint as they drank beer and laughed about something that Angelina could not hear. She patiently sat on the dead wood with her back to them. She felt like a child punished for misbehaving. She was too tired to care though. Angelina would sit there, staring into the popping hot fire until Blaze instructed her to move. She understood that she was lucky to have only gotten a smack across the face for mouthing off to the intimidating man. She attributed his leniency to the fact that he had been drinking and smoking. She watched as more of the bikers dispersed. Some of them left in groups, and some found nearby trees to crash under. It was getting late, and the ones that remained in the area seemed pretty well drunk. Her ribs were hurting badly now, and a dull ache filled her head. She wanted to go back to their “camp” and sleep for the night, but Blaze had told her to sit so that is what she would do, tired as she was.