Page 9 of Sins & Paradise
Coca sighs and flips her hand up. “No, but she was so scared I’m not sure she could form full sentences. Can you imagine howshe feels right now? In a foreign place, all alone and scared, with no one to watch out for her? It’s not like she’s on the other side of the island; she’s right here in our backyard. We take care of home, remember?”
With that, Coca walks off, leaving me with my thoughts.
Of course, I could go to Vado with this, but he's already got so much on his plate making sure his wife and son are safe and getting the club back in order. AZ never really had the personal touch when it came to outsiders. Garro and Digger will probably just try to have sex with the woman. As much as I don't want to admit it, that only leaves me to find out what's really going on with her.
“¡Cono!” I curse and turn on my heel to go back out into the heat toward the bakery.
I don't want to do this, but I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight if I don't.
Thankfully, by the time I get back outside, the sun has already set, and it's starting to cool down. I'm in no real rush to get to the bakery. I'm pretty sure they're closed already. I'll make a show of it, though, and then when I get back to the clubhouse, I can tell Coca that the girl already left. Maybe she'll forget about it by tomorrow.
I doubt it, but I can hope.
Sure enough, when I turn the corner that leads to the dirt road going toward the bakery, I can already see that the shutters are down. There is one single light on upstairs where I know Magda lives, but besides that, I don't see any evidence that the mysterious woman who works with her is still on the premises.
I take a few more steps, getting close enough to see the lock on the gate.
“There. I checked,” I mutter to myself before I turn to go back to the compound. I'm sure everyone is going to be either eating or getting ready to go back to the hotel for the night.
I could've kept walking. Could've ignored the hairs standing up on the back of my neck, but that's never been my way.
There's a soft scuffle in the area that leads away from the bakery, and I silently make my way in that direction.
I'm shocked to see not an animal but the same woman I came here looking for, walking along a secluded path that leads away from the bakery.
There's nothing in that direction, but maybe she doesn't realize this isn't the best time to go exploring.
When we still had a place in this little village, I'd have said it was one of the safest places to be on the island, but it's been a long while. I'm sure there must be more crime going on nowadays that we're going to have to get a handle on.
The last time I saw her she looked like she was about to jump out of her skin. I’m sure if she saw me now she’d have the same reaction. Still I can’t let her wander off in the brush on her own. I’ll just follow her to make sure she gets home okay.
I move slowly. She’s shorter than I am so for every two of her steps is one of mine. When I watch her making her way toward the old cement factory a deep dread settles in my gut.
This can’t be where she’s going? Is she here to buy drugs?
The second I watch her pull back a thin blue tarp I know what I’m looking at. She lives out here. The dread I was feeling moments ago expands in my midsection and I can’t stay quiet any longer.
“Oye!” I yell out to get her attention.
She spins around, her face goes ghost white and once again she surprises me. She takes off running at full speed in the opposite direction. I race after her, jumping over disgarded tools and lumber.
My foot slips out from under me and I land with a thud onto the ground. “Damn it!” I yell as I push myself back up to my feet and give chase once again.
“Stop!” I yell but she’s not listening to me. In fact she is running deeper and deeper into the abandoned factory. Somewhere I’msure she’s never bothered to check out because she’d know there was a huge sink hole coming up in the direction she’s running.
“Fucking stop!” I scream out again just as I hear her yelp.
“Help!” She screams. The terror in her voice is enough to push me to move faster. Sliding to a stop right at the edge of the broken in floor I lean over and see her hanging off a piece of rebar. The fall itself wouldn’t kill her but it’d be impossible for her to climb back out not to mention the filth and stagnant water that is pooled up underneath her.
“Give me your hand.” I reach forward.
Even in this fucked up position I still see the distrust in her eyes. She doens’t know me from adam and it’s clear she wants nothing to do with me.
After a moment she finally gives me her hand and I pull her back up onto solid ground. Her toes are not on the ground for more than a second before she pushes me away and crawls away.
“Leave me alone. Please leave me alone.” She cries.
Her tears slice at my aggitation. I don’t know what this woman has gone through but it’s clear that she’s been through something.