Chapter 8

Wincing at the noise, I asked, “Haven’t you got that motor mount fixed yet, Ciara?”

“No, Sir,” she said. Seth got all pissy with me, and wouldn’t do it.”

“Now, Ciara,” I said, “Are you sure that’s the way it happened? Because that isn’t the way I heard it, from both Seth, and your Mom.”

Head bowed, she said, “Well, he wanted to do it, but I didn’t have the money, right then. We had a fight, and when I did have the money, we weren’t speaking...”

“You mean, you were shunning him, too.”

She sighed. “Yes, Sir.”

“When we get you home, you are going to be punished.”

“Yes, Sir. I know I shouldn’t have lied. I knew it was wrong, as it came out my mouth. But I couldn’t stop.”

“Ciara, you were testing me. Testing to see if I’d hold you to the rules.

“That’s okay. A lot of that goes on, in my world. Unfortunately, the result is, your already sore ass, is going to receive even more attention, tonight.

“And, just as soon as you can, you are going to beg Seth’s forgiveness, and ask him to fix this car.

“You’ve let it fall to shit. Even the rear wiper needs a new blade.”

“Yes, Sir. I should have the money, Thursday.”

“No, Ciara. You will be running a line of credit, from the House. You will be paying back, the House, as well. As soon as we figure out just how much you need, to make things right, with everyone, that amount will become available, and you will pay everyone back. This all will then be a debt you owe only to House Morse.”

“Master, why are you doing this for me?”

“Because I love you, Ciara. Remember before? I said you were like family to me?”

“Yeah, you said I was like your little sister. But that email, you talked about fucking me, and that really creeped me out.”

Confused, I asked, “What email?”

“The night after my last day of work. You sent me a long email...” She paused, seeing I was confused.

I said, “I got awful drunk that night. I suppose I did, though I don’t remember. I do know I wrote almost ten thousand words that night, in the story I was working on. Most of them had to be deleted.

“I’ll have to check my sent mail folders later.

“Anyway,” I continued, “All those people, back there, are family. We are a tribe. Us against everyone else. And you are a part of that family, now. Not in such good standing, but a member of the family, none the less. And this family has no problem, going to war, to protect one of our own.”

“You said that, before, she said. And you said something about how I almost found out about that, from the other side.”

I glanced at her, then back to the road.

“Ciara, you have to understand, I’m older than you. Words don’t seem to mean the same thing, to you, as they do to me. But, I know what your asking.

“Do you remember the first text I sent you? About some woman jumping my daughter, and cutting her?, After the voice mail, where I said, it was too serious, for texts, that I needed to see you, or at the very least, hear your voice?”

“Yes.”

“Yet, you refused to speak to me. You’d only text. YOU didn’t think it serious, even after I told you why I thought so.”

“We thought you were just being dramatic, to try and get me to talk to you.”

“We?”

In a hushed voice, Ciara said, “Me ... And Jamaica.”

“Uh huh,” I grunted. “Well, one of my brothers-in-law, is a OSP officer. He put your name into their data base, for drug enforcement efforts. That’s the one I couldn’t stop.

“Two of the subs in the room, back there, work for Jobs and family services, as children’s intervention specialists. They would have had you piss tested, and your kids removed, within a week.

“One of the Doms is a collections specialist. He was going to destroy your credit.

“Another of the women, of the House, who wasn’t there, she is a deputy sheriff. In your house, you had gunpowder, and pipe. Liam has that fuse I gave him.

“Guess who’d been up on bomb making charges?

“She also knows about Jay signing the title of his car, over to Laura. She has the name and number, for the attorney that sued Jay. Hiding assets over $2000.00 value, is a felony, in this state.