Marlin's Faith: The Virtues Book II Read Free Page A

this whole thing worse, as she bucked against my hold and thrashed. When it’d been Danny, I was so pissed at him for getting involved in the shit in the first place I’d been downright fucking cruel during his time kicking the habit. I was so mad, I’d told him he could suck it up. That he didn’t have the option to be a pussy about it. My anger had been my shield against feeling any kind of sympathy or empathy and I didn’t have that shield here. I needed to find another and I needed to find it fast, or this was liable to destroy a part of me I would never get back.
    I wrapped my legs around Faith’s and held her as still as I could so she wouldn’t hurt herself. Danny had scratched himself bloody and raw and he didn’t really have fingernails to speak of. Faith did, and her peaches and cream skin didn’t need any more permanent reminders of her captivity.
    The first few nights would be the worst. If she were anything like Danny, the turning point wouldn’t be until around something like day fucking four. A few hours into this initial struggle the doctor from up north appeared in the door.
    “How’s she doing?”
    “Not keeping anything down, sweating, she’s getting weak. I know she ain’t gonna die of the withdrawals…”
    The doctor nodded and put on his glasses, coming forward, “Dehydration is still dangerous, so is a high fever.” He peeled back Faith’s eyelids and shone a light into them and she started thrashing and screaming.
    “I’m going to start an IV, some anti-nausea meds, too. They don’t always work, but I wanna see if I can’t get her hydrated; maybe get a sedative on board for good measure,” he sighed, “Wish I could help rapid detox her, but they look at the kinds of drugs we prescribe and the shit I would need? They’d flag that so quick… Damn it to hell, can you hold her arm? Just like this.”
    The doctor got an IV started and fluids going, but Faith kept ripping out the tubes. She was wearing out. Exhausting herself, so the fourth one finally stuck. The sun was climbing in the sky and the doc and I looked up at the open and shut of the door downstairs. My MC brother, Nothing came up, and mercifully, Faith was out for the time being.
    “Hey,” he said.
    “Hey.” I grunted back.
    “Take a minute, we’ve got this.”
    I nodded and carefully detangled myself from Faith. I needed a fucking cigarette, bad. Grabbing up the pack on the bedside table, I trekked downstairs. I went out the back slider and took a deep breath of the clean, sea air.
    “How’s she doin’?” Cutter asked, coming around the side of the house.
    “Rough. She’s hurting, jonesing hard for a fix that I ain’t got shit to give her,” I bowed my head and palmed the back of my neck. “It’s worse, somehow, you know?” I asked him bleakly. Shit, this was only day one… I lit up and sucked in a lungful of my own vice. I didn’t smoke ‘em unless I was stressed. I blew out.
    “Yeah, man. I know,” my Pres supplied.
    “Thanks,” I nodded and sighed, took two more drags and put out my cig.
    “You need to talk, you can reach out.” Cutter called as I slid the back slider open.
    I nodded and went back inside. I was jumpy being this far from Faith. Didn’t want or need her waking up in her fucked up state and me not be there. Hell, I couldn’t be sure if she was with it enough to know that I’d gone.
    I went back into the room to a flurry of activity. Nothing was moving things around, tossing pillows and peeling back blankets. The doc was capping her IV.
    “Shit, she sick?”
    “Yeah,” Nothing affirmed, “Get her cleaned up, we got this.” I nodded and it was back to the bathroom. I drew a tub full of water this time. Shower just wasn’t going to happen. She couldn’t hold herself up. She felt so small and so delicate in my arms. She was way too thin and needed at the very least ten to fifteen pounds put on her just to make her look healthy again. I think it would take even more than