until he'd reached the end of his patience with her. Grabbing her wrists, he flung her away.
Marla Marie's arms stiffened at her side as she balled her hands into fists. "I hate you."
He walked to the back gate at the side of the house. She would never get her wish of returning to her mom.
Right now, she was safe. There was no way she could leave Bellevue without someone from WAKOM stopping her. She was too young to take the train by herself. Too young to legally drive. Too young to convince someone else to help her.
Deep down, she understood her situation. She never shared how she came to live with Rachel and Skull to her teachers or other kids. He had to trust that somewhere in the back of her mind, the fear of returning to a shed, living on her own, was enough to buy her silence.
He unlatched the gate and closed it behind him to Marla Marie, calling him every bad name she could think up in the spur of the moment. She'd learned a few words since the last time she threw a fit when he told her no.
He got on his motorcycle and started the engine, drowning out the desperate cries of someone who depended on him.
Right now, he could ride away.
In a few years, it wouldn't be as simple.
She'd know how to drive. She'd use her sexuality to get someone to take her. She'd end up hurt.
He was running out of time.
She needed to settle for life in Bellevue with Rachel and Skull.
He shifted and sped through the stop sign without stopping. Everything he asked of her, he couldn't even do for himself.
Halfway to the clubhouse, Dutch changed his mind. He turned around in the road and headed back to his sister's house.
He'd spend one night at the house. Only one.
Somehow, he'd find a way to calm Marla Marie down and buy himself more time.
Though he acknowledged his decision to spend the night wasn't only for Marla Marie.
But his sister was wrong. He wasn't wandering lost, looking for anything or anyone.
Chapter 9
MARLA SLIPPED DUTCH'S wallet out of his discarded jeans. Standing still, she held her breath, afraid he'd wake up.
After several seconds of only her heartbeat filling the room, she tiptoed away from the bed and scurried to her bedroom across the hallway.
Closing the door without letting the latch click, she turned on the light and jumped up on the bed. Thankfully, Skull and Dutch had fallen asleep soon after they stopped drinking, and Rachel had gone to bed early because she had to work at the laundromat in a few hours.
She opened the wallet. A picture of Dutch stared back at her, and she held his driver's license closer. The plastic pouch covering the card was dirty and scratchy, blurring all the details.
Slipping the card out, she dropped the wallet and read.
Jack Owen
Nobody called him Jack. Everyone called him Dutch.
5155 NE 124th
Bellevue Washington
That was Rachel and Skull's address, but Dutch didn't live here.
Six feet three inches. Two hundred and twenty-five pounds.
She bit her lip. He weighed a lot.
She only weighed seventy-nine pounds. Though, Alyssa weighed one hundred and two pounds. She thought Alyssa was the perfect height and weight. Everyone seemed to think Marla was too short and skinny.
Turning the card over, she looked for more information. He had to have something that would tell her where to find her mom.
It was hard to remember how long her mom usually stayed away. Long enough Marla had worried about her returning, and short enough, she always came back.
Three years was too long. By now, her mom would probably be worrying about her. She might even forget about her, or think she wasn't coming back. She was only a little kid when Dutch took her away.
This year, Rachel and Skull allowed her to come to the house after school when nobody was home. Before that, one of the women from the club was allowed to pick her up at school. They usually took her to the clubhouse until Rachel or Skull showed up to take her back home.
She pulled out the money he had in the wallet. It was more than she'd ever seen in her life. There had to be over a hundred dollars going by how many twenty dollars were in the stack. She set the cash aside and pulled out a piece of folded paper.
There were numbers on the paper like a phone number. Her mom never had a phone.
Looking in another