Chapter 7 Chapter 7

Grave Digger went on to explain, “She said she never wanted to feel helpless again. She only felt helpless one time in her life and it almost cost her life. She said never again and learned how to protect not only her life but the lives of the people around her.”

“So you’re saying even without her weapons, she could still kick our asses?” Memphis asked with a raised brow.

“Pretty much.” Grave Digger nodded.

Memphis snorted. “I’d like to see that happen.”

Grave Digger gave him a steady glare. “Don’t back her into a corner like an animal, Memph or you might not like how she comes out of that corner.”

Zeus just stared at Grave Digger for a moment then he stood from the table. “I’m going to bed. Tomorrow, we can try to ask more questions. She isn’t going anywhere until I know she isn’t a threat to us.” He walked down the hall.

Memphis watched as his brother went to his own bedroom. He looked over at Grave Digger and shook his head. “Tomorrow should be a helluva interesting day.”

A little while later…

Marty woke up to a whimpering sound. She turned her head and saw Angel with tears running down her face. She shifted her body around and felt a cold wet spot between them. She looked down and found Angel had wet the bed.

Marty looked at her and she could see the fear in her eyes. “Oh, baby girl,” she whispered. “It’ll be okay, accidents happen.” She sat up and grabbed her phone. It was like two a.m. and the night light cast a shadow over the entire room.

She had taken her long coat off earlier as well as her jeans and boots. She turned around and smiled. “Well kiddo, let’s get you cleaned up and then we can come back and get some more sleep, alright?”

Angel just stared at her.

Marty asked, “Do you have some clean clothes, pajamas maybe?”

Angel nodded then pointed to the dresser on the other side of the room.

“Well, let’s figure this out,” Marty told her. She stood from the bed, walked over to the dresser, and opened one of the top drawers. She found clean underwear and a pair of pajamas. She went over to her long coat and began pawing through the pockets for her own clean clothes and then she turned to Angel. “Come on little Angel, let’s get us a bath.”

Angel reached out for her hand slowly.

 Marty waited for her patiently. Then she leaned down and whispered, “You’ll have to show me where the bathroom is because I don’t know where it is.”

Angel smiled then taking her hand; she went to the door and opened it. The hall beyond was dark but Angel knew her way around. She led Marty down the hall to the main bathroom. Looking over her shoulder, she raised her finger to cover her lips as if to say be quiet.

Marty nodded as she opened the door and they went inside. She closed the door carefully and turned on the light.

 Angel squinted at the bright lights then showed Marty the tub.

Marty started the water running then turned to Angel. “Ok sweetheart, let’s get our wet clothes off, and get you clean again.

Angel backed away from her while shaking her head.

 Marty shut the water off and sat down on the floor. She motioned for Angel to come to her and when the little girl sat down beside her, Marty wrapped her arm around her. “You know something kiddo, I guess I don’t blame you. I’m a stranger to you and I don’t know that I’d want to get naked with anyone either. How about this? How about all you take off is your jeans then we’ll both be in our undies and a shirt and I’ll get in the tub with you.”

Angel seemed to consider this idea as she cocked her head at her.

“Baths can be fun if you know how to do them,” Marty told her.

Angel just stared at her for a moment then she stood and began taking off her wet jeans. She walked over to the tub, turned and waited for Marty to join her.

About the time Marty stood up, she spotted something on the top shelf and smiled. She looked over at Angel and reached for the bubble bath. “Should we add bubbles to the mix?”

Angel nodded and smiled.

Marty turned the water on again and dumped in a good wallop of the liquid bubbles.

Angel clapped her little hands and swished the water around.

Pretty soon the tub was half full.

Marty climbed in and held out her hands for Angel to join her.

When she lifted the little girl into the tub, she could see it had been a while since her last bath. Her feet were stained with dirt and grime but Marty didn’t say anything about it. She just set the little girl down into the warm water.

She played with the little girl for a while as they made bubble mounds on their hands and blew them at each other.

Finally, Marty raised the washrag and began gently washing her legs and arms. When she ran the washcloth over her back, Angel hissed. Marty stopped and wrapped her arms around the little girl. “It’s okay darlin’, how about we wash your hair instead?”

Angel nodded slowly.

Marty felt tears pricking in her eyes. She slowly soaked Angel’s red hair and began washing it with shampoo then rinsing it out. After they were done, she cuddled the little girl in her arms, and whispered, “I don’t know who hurt you baby girl, but I never will. You will be safe with me, always. I know it might take some time for you to trust me but I can give you that time.” She sighed deeply then told the little girl, “When I was your age, I had a sister who liked to hurt me. She did it because she was just mean. I never did anything to start it but I used to hide it from my dad. I didn’t want him to know what was going on and I didn’t want to get my sister in trouble. I knew she would hurt me worse if I did.”

Angel turned and stared up at Marty, the look in her eyes was years older than it should have been. Angel reached out and touched the scar on the back of Marty’s right hand. Then she looked back up at Marty.

Marty nodded. “Yes, my sister did that to me. It was the one time my dad caught her and boy, did she get in trouble for it.” She shook her head. “It was too late to matter, but that didn’t stop my sister.”

Angel got up and turned around to unbutton her shirt.

When she finally took it off, Marty could see the bruises on her back and legs. Tears ran down her cheeks as Angel sat down in the water again. “Oh baby, I’m so sorry,” Marty whispered, holding the little girl close to her.