Marlin's Faith: The Virtues Book II Read online

  A novel of The Kraken MC

  MARLIN’S FAITH

  The Virtues Book II

  AJ Downey

  Second Circle Press

  Faith. She’d managed to keep her namesake while in captivity, but now that she was free? The daunting task of rejoining society was in front of her and it seemed that Marlin had to keep it for her.

  Marlin can’t help how he feels about Faith, she was remarkably easy to like. The only thing he could do for her was be there, and keep his damn hands to himself, which was the real challenge. Neither one of them knew if she would make it out of the darkness intact; only time would tell about that.

  During trying times, all you can do is hold on and have a little faith…

  Author’s Note

  Being a spin-off, the events of this trilogy take place after the events of Damaged & Dangerous, The Sacred Hearts MC Book VI. If you have not read the SHMC series, references and events that are talked about in this book may not make sense to you. I highly suggest reading the SHMC series first, followed by Cutter’s Hope, the first book in this trilogy.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Book Summary

  Author’s Note

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Epilogue

  Charity for Nothing: Cover

  Other books by A.J. Downey

  About the Author

  Publishing Info

  Dedication

  A special thanks to Carian Cole and Bibi Rizer for giving me permission to pull our worlds together, thus giving our readers who are fans of all of our series some fun Easter eggs to discover in this trilogy. I think it’s fantastic as a group of indie authors that we can do this. Much love and keep on keepin’ on, the both of you. I’m dying to see what you come up with next.

  The Virtues Books In Order

  1. Cutter’s Hope

  2. Marlin’s Faith

  3. Charity for Nothing

  Chapter 1

  Marlin

  I stared out of the floor to ceiling windows of the safe house’s master bedroom and asked, “That you bobbing out there, Captain?” The running lights were just that, indistinct lights, rising and falling gently with the swell of the sea. No telling if it were the Captain or not, but with Hope as feisty and insistent on remaining with her sister, I had to guess it was.

  “Yep,” Cutter grated into my ear. I smiled to myself.

  “Oh, cool; night then.” I lowered the phone and ended the call with a heavy sigh.

  I looked back over my shoulder; she was asleep… for now. Her pale skin was washed out and made nearly translucent by the moonlight. Her long blonde hair, so brittle, crackled around her face like spider silk. Deep, dark, circles were etched under her eyes, a combination of the drug, fatigue, stress, and the cherry on top? Malnourishment. Her body was so frail, her bones standing out in high relief, her cheek bones standing out so sharply, they could cut.

  Still, she was beautiful. One of the prettiest girls I’d ever seen. She made Hope look ugly by comparison and Hope was a fucking knock out. Twice over, when you stopped to think about it.

  Faith’s brows were drawn down, her lovely face pinched with pain and sorrow, even in sleep, and I was afraid it was only going to get worse. We’d had quite the candid conversation downstairs after Cutter and her sister had left. I’d taken her into the living room and sat her down and talked to her about what she could expect if she did this the way she wanted to.

  “How do I do this?” she’d asked me, licking her lush lips and biting them together.

  “A day at a time, Darlin’.”

  “What’s going to happen to me?”

  That had been hard to tell her, the truth of it, that she was gonna be sick for days with how bad her body wanted what she was on. There was no real way to gauge how long she’d be sick; not with no tellin’ how long she’d been on the shit they’d been pumping into her veins. She was looking at a good couple of weeks of the physical stuff. A couple of weeks of pure hell, livin’ with something aping the worst case of the flu she’d ever had, times a hundred or more.

  “I can’t remember the last time I had the flu,” she’d said, drawing her knees to her chest, resting her chin on them. She’d pleaded with me, with her eyes, before her voice had caught up to her.

  “Please, just tell me what to expect. I can’t stop it and not knowing…”

  “I get you,” I’d told her softly. She was gonna be brave. Sometimes it’s almost better not knowing, but she’d wanted to know, so I’d told her the truth. The pain, the aches, and fatigue. That’s how it would start. She’d be irritated, agitated beyond measure for no reason at all. Then, the tears would start. Like she’d sprung a leak. Pouring down her face, til she was sick of ‘em, but it wasn’t crying; not really, near as I could tell. Her eyes would just be watering, tearing up something terrible. Then, the sweating and the not being able to sleep when all she would want would be to sleep to get away from the symptoms. Except she wouldn’t and that was just the beginning.

  Next would come the real sick. The cramping that would be so bad she would beg to be killed. Then the throwing up and the runs. She’d be sick to her stomach, sweating and shivering as the poison gave up its hold and her body fought to hang onto it. By the time I finished talking the tears had run silently down her face and she’d looked more afraid not less.

  “I won’t go anywhere, I promise. You won’t have to do it alone.”

  “Did you?” she’d asked then.

  “Did I what?”

  “Go through it alone?”

  “No, Darlin’. I never went through it at all…”

  “Then how do you know about this? About what’s going to happen?”

  “I’ve helped someone through it before,” I’d told her honestly.

  “Who?” she asked.

  “My little brother, Danny was his name.”

  “Oh… what happened to him?”

  “He died.”

  I’d failed him. Couldn’t keep him off it. He’d gone back to it after I’d cleaned him up and took too damn big a dose and killed himself. Faith had looked so solemn then. She’d raised those startling aquamarine eyes to meet mine and we’d sat in silence for a long time. That’s when the Captain had shown up with my shit.

  I’d watched her carefully as they’d had their little exchange of words and he’d left to go back to his woman, Faith’s sister… which damn but those two didn’t look nothin’ alike.

  “Am I going to die? I mean is there a chance..?” sh
e asked softly.

  “No, Darlin’. You aren’t going to die,” I’d said, and it fuckin’ killed me that she looked almost disappointed by that. It was a fleeting look, twisting into a grim resolve, but it was hard to banish that flicker of misery from the deep dark part of my brain. That part where the ghosts of bad memories liked to live.

  Faith moaned, more like groaned, into the silvery dark of the room and I snapped out of it, turning from the window and going to her. I knelt beside the bed and using two fingertips, took her pulse the way Nothing had shown me when it was Danny, my little brother, three years gone. It was speeding against my fingers and sort of a bitch to take.

  She had on this leather cuff, some kind of bracelet that laced up on the underside. The leather black and broad with an old fashioned key plate set into it. A newer, shinier, thin metal filigree behind it to make the key plate pop. She’d thrown a goddamn fit in her highest, most traumatized state when me and her sister had tried to toss it, and everything else she’d been wearing. The shit was so filthy it needed to be burned; the wristband was in good enough shape though, so we didn’t figure there was any harm in her having it. Was a bitch and a half convincing her to let me take it off just to get her bathed and that shit? That had busted my heart six ways to Sunday...

  That first night had been fucking awful while she’d been in the throes of that poison. I’d had to put the skills that Danny had shown me to use, and fuck if that hadn’t made me feel both guilty and sick. Nothing had helped me out there, too. Being the ex-medic, he knew how to find and tap a vein. I didn’t have the first fucking clue what I was doing other than to cook the shit up. I’d seen my brother do it enough to at least get that part done.

  I wrestled myself back to the here and now in time to see Faith’s eyes snap open as she inhaled sharply. There was this brief, shining moment where our eyes connected and something passed between us. Couldn’t tell you what, but it was something. Trust maybe? Though I didn’t know why she would trust me or any of the other boys, any man for that matter, not after…

  “I’m going to be sick…” she gasped, voice tinged with fear and I knew what was next. I shoved the little bedside trashcan into her too thin arms, she doubled over and heaved. Shit. It was bad. It was like throwing up in and of itself scared the bejesus out of her. She jumped and shook and cried as her poor stomach rebelled. The sour smell that came from the can didn’t help me none either. I gritted my teeth and held the can steady for her with one hand, smoothing her hair back with the other, but it was already too late. She’d nailed that too. It’d gone into the trashcan as she’d heaved.

  “Easy, Girl,” I murmured as she broke down in sobs.

  “I’m sorry!” she warbled brokenly and I shook my head.

  “It ain’t your fault. Steady though, gotta get you cleaned up. This ain’t gonna be the last time either. Just you hang on, put your arms around me… that’s it.”

  I lifted her easily; she was just so fuckin’ frail, and carried her into the master bathroom. I contemplated shower or bath and settled on shower. The tub would take too damn long to fill. I set her on the counter and she gripped its edge, shaking like a little leaf caught in hurricane force winds.

  “I’m going to get the water started, remember what we talked about?” I asked her.

  “Some, not all,” she answered truthfully, “But if it’s the naked talk you’re talking about…” she trailed off and wouldn’t look at me.

  I sighed, “Yeah, that would be the one.”

  She nodded miserably, and my heart went out to her. This was a fuckin’ shame on so many levels. After Cutter had left, we’d had some more candid conversation. I’d told her the time would come where she’d be weak as a newborn kitten. Sick on herself, that I’d have to do this for her and here we were already.

  I’d also promised I would keep my fuckin’ clothes on and wouldn’t do anything that made her uncomfortable.

  I got the water going and turned back to her, but she already had the tee up and off over her head. I gritted my teeth and she drew those solemn aquamarine eyes up to meet mine. They were just as startling in their brilliance every damn time I saw them. She didn’t look at me direct much but this time, I got the full effect. More so because her pupils weren’t swallowing the color whole. I kept my eyes locked to hers and didn’t dare wander.

  “No sense in being shy,” she said miserably, “You’ve seen it all before anyways.”

  Her tone held so many things. Anger, bitterness, derision… all of them she’d come by honestly, and none of them bothered me any. She was hurting; she was going to be all over the map. It was how this thing was gonna play out and I couldn’t pay no never mind to it. Getting butthurt over it wasn’t gonna help the situation, or her, so I simply nodded and let it roll off me. I don’t think it was directed at me anyways.

  “You steady?” I asked her when she’d slipped off the counter and stood for a moment on her own; still trembling, but a damn sight better than before.

  “I think so,” she uttered softly and was back to staring fixedly at something, anything, that wasn’t me.

  I helped her the rest of the way out of the sweats we’d bought her and stripped my tee off over my head. I had a wife beater on under it, and she was pretty much out of clothes for the time being. One bit of torture at a time. Clothes could be gotten tomorrow after I put what she had through the wash.

  I set the tee aside on the counter, made sure there were enough towels and stepped into the large, glassed in shower with her, shirt, boots, pants, and all. She made a noise that sounded almost like protest and I tipped her chin. Her eyes flashed to mine and I did my best to silently communicate my best intentions. She gasped softly and I turned her under the shower spray.

  “You think you’re gonna be able to sleep after this?”

  “Truthfully, I don’t know…”

  “Fair enough. Might as well do this again then. Didn’t get the best opportunity to actually comb your hair for nits. Think you can hold still and let me try?”

  “Nits? What are those?”

  “You’ve got head lice, Darlin’,” I reminded her gently.

  “Oh god!” she muttered horrified.

  “Don’t remember much of last night do you?”

  “No… I’m sorry,” she closed her eyes and put her face in her palms and began to cry, “I can’t remember, I don’t…”

  “Shhh, s’okay. You don’t need to. You were scared, and out of it, and you really don’t need to. We doused your hair pretty good, everything should be dead but no harm in having a go at it again right?”

  “No, god no! Please,” she dropped her hands to her sides and her eyes to the shower floor. She shuddered and twitched gently and I sighed silently.

  “Okay, here we go. Stay out of the water, but head back, Darlin’.”

  She tipped her head back but stayed out of the shower spray and I followed the pesticide shampoo’s directions and applied it to her hair. Her hands found their way to my sides and rested just above my hips, holding on for dear life. I imagine she was afraid of falling and I couldn’t blame her. I worked the pesticide shampoo onto her head, making sure to get her entire scalp all the way to the ends of her long blonde hair, and checked my dive watch.

  “Ten minutes, Baby Girl, can you hang on that long?” she nodded, her eyes closed and I brought her forehead to my chest.

  “Just rest, hang onto me. I won’t let you fall.”

  “Why are you being so nice to me?” her muffled voice asked.

  “It’s about time someone was, isn’t it?”

  She shivered, but it was warm enough in here, so without looking to confirm I could only guess she was crying. As far as detoxing junkies went, she was being incredibly brave right now. She wasn’t begging for a fix, she wasn’t whining about how much it hurt; she just simply rested against me, let me hold her up, and cried. It was probably the most heartbreaking, and at the same time, most inspiring thing I’d seen.

  I checked m
y watch and absently massaged the goo into her hair, grimacing as I felt some of the damned bugs in her hair run over my fingers and hands, trying to get away from the shit that was killing them. Guess we hadn’t gotten them all after all. It made me wish there had been more of the bastards that done this to kill back in that house. Fuck.

  “Okay, Beautiful.” I tipped her head back and rinsed her hair gently but thoroughly. Letting the water detangle it, cautious not to let it catch or pull.

  “Th-thank you,” she stuttered dully and I took my attention from her hair to her face. She stared off into space, shivering in withdrawal and I think I swore to myself then and there, that no more harm would befall her. Not while I was around. She’d had her lifetime of pain bundled into just a couple of years and every one of my protective instincts screamed that enough was enough.

  Faith needed a friend, and while I’d only ever pulled the white knight routine once, for my brother, she made me want to protect her with everything I was worth. I just wasn’t quite sure how to protect someone when the only monsters that were left to fight were the memories inside her head. I couldn’t even begin to fathom what’d happened to this girl.

  Could. Not. Even…

  Chapter 2

  Faith

  I sat as still as I could; it was hard with how much I twitched and jumped. Muscle spasms happening seemingly out of nowhere and often. I hurt. A deep and abiding ache in every bone, every joint. It was the worst I had ever felt in my life. So awful. The only thing to make it bearable was the tenuous link to the man who sat behind me, gently pulling a comb through my hair. I shuddered and it had nothing to do with the lifting fog of whatever drug my captors had me on and everything to do with the deep revulsion I felt knowing what it was he patiently combed from my hair.

  He was deeply methodical, sectioning out my hair, clipping it up out of his way so he could make sure he got everything out of it. He’d been doing this for over an hour and we weren’t even halfway through.