Page 104 of Off the Rails

“What, like a dog?” I balked, earning a sneer from Dom.

“Like a cult member. Or a scared victim. I don’t know, it just seems too…”

“Practiced.” Cyrus frowned.

When I looked back at the woman, I could see what they meant. The way she looked at Tess, it seemed like she wanted to talk. Were those prayers really meant to comfort her, or just to keep her lips busy so that she didn’t spill?

I had no idea what was going on, but after Rubin’s stint in town, I didn’t like the smell of this. And I certainly didn’t like how close Tess was to its epicenter.

Cyrus must not have either. Cracking her neck, she gave Dom a once over. “You got it from here?”

“Yeah,” Dom nodded. “Callahan will treat the wounds, and we’ll see if we can get any more info out of her before cutting her loose. Thanks for bringing her in.”

“Don’t say we never did anything for you,” Cy waved dismissively over her shoulder as she opened the door to the office. “Let’s go.”

At her command, both Tess and “Jane” startled.

Tess scowled. “We just got here. She needs to see the doctor⁠—”

“Not her. Just you. Up.”

“What?” Jane clawed at Tess’s forearm. It was the first real word she’d spoken since we found her. “You said you’d be here all night, you⁠—”

Tess glared at Cyrus. “Are you serious?”

“Do I look fucking serious?” The edge in her voice should have been enough to scare Tess, but my little Trinket didn’t startle easy.

“Stay here,” she patted the woman’s hand before crossing to the doorway to hiss at Cyrus. “What is wrong with you? Can’t you see that she’s afraid?”

Cyrus crossed her arms. “She’s safe here. But this is out of our jurisdiction. We got her to people who can help her. Now we’ve gotta go.”

“She needs help.”

“And they're going to help her. We’ve done what we can do. But we don’t know her. This isn’t safe.”

“You didn’t know me either when I showed up at the park, and you helped me.”

Something sharp twisted in my chest at that, but Nash just laughed. “You think you could get within a hundred feet of that park and have us not know it was you?”

“You’re not that good of a liar,” Cyrus grumbled.

“And you weren’t spewing off religious chants under your breath, either.” I piped in, glancing back at Jane on the couch.

It wasn’t just a femme thing that drew her to Tess. She wasn’t taking nearly as kindly to the redhead the bikers kept around.

“Violence is better equipped to handle this than we are,” Nash bit her lip, searching Tess’ eyes for reason. “We need to give them space to work.”

If nothing else had, this seemed to reach Tess. She glanced back over her shoulder at Jane, who was watching her with feverish eyes. Finally, Tess nodded. “Alright. Let me say goodbye to her though.”

I wanted to object, but Tess was already on the move, kneeling in front of the panicked woman and letting her dig her fingers into her skin. “I have to get going. But you’re in good hands here. Let the doctor look over you, and answer their questions. They’re friends.”

“No.” Jane gasped, clasping harder onto Tess. “No, no, no⁠—”

But Tess could hardly yelp before Nash and I were at her side, helping to pull the woman off of her.

“It’s going to be okay, it’ll be alright,” Tess tried her best to keep a smile on her face, but I could see the panic setting into her own eyes.

As we ushered her out of the room, Jane jumped up, trying desperately to follow after us. But Dom and Leo were a wall of muscle at the door, giving us the space to slip out without Tess’s fanatic little shadow.