Breaking out

Savannah

“Run! Just go!” I hop on the back of Damon’s bike and hold on to him for dear life.

Dane, Percy, Sunshine, and Moonpie all turn over their bikes and take off with us. Dane and Percy hop into Percy’s getaway car and follow us.

The hospital security guards yell and call us back, screaming out how they are calling the cops, letting my uncle know I’m out of the mental unit and set free.

I won’t have long before he has us tracked down if Jagger or Dallas doesn’t catch up to us before we get out.

The wind on my face, my gown blowing back to seal my body in its thin fabric.

Damon and the boys cut through traffic, slipping through the open space on the sidewalks and down alleyways until we get to biker country.

We have to move fast, I know my uncle will show up with the full brigade if I don’t get a word in and convince him that I am actually okay.

Well, I’m not, but I am.

I didn’t try to kill myself, I just asked for peace. ~I mean, fuck, can you blame me?~

I had a break in my psyche, I wasn’t in control, and now I am.

I got my meds changed up and added programs to my already packed therapy sessions that weren’t helping.

When we pull up in front of the bar, Damon cheers in victory with the boys coming in behind us.

Wolf whistles and other cheers come from all around us. The people on the street clap with our sudden arrival.

Being as gentle as ever, my Angel picks me up off his leather seat and wraps me in his arms to kiss the life back into me. The double-layered gown makes sure not to show off my backside to the onlookers.

My bandaged and taped fingers can’t feel his scalp or the silky hair that brushes through my grasp, but I do it anyways.

“I see you went and brought Bonnie home. Straight-up Clyde-style. I heard it over the police radio, he’s on his way.”

Daxon smiles from ear to ear as he hands me my jacket back and my sneakers.

I give him a quick thanks for keeping my shit safe, and I tell him I missed him while I was locked away and confined to a lumpy bed.

Percy is behind me, and I can feel him start to shake at the news of uncle coming. He knows he has trouble heading this way.

Damon doesn’t put me down, he knows where I need to go. Carrying me over to Percy’s red Fiero, he holds me as he leans into the hood.

“It’s okay, Percy, if you want to go you can. I’ll take the heat either way.”

He looks around, from the law office to where Luna’s Idol is still getting work done, back to the length of the bar.

We are close to being able to decorate and even closer to opening night, but it’s not ready just yet.

“This is your life now, Savannah. Ride or die. Even by my father’s hand. I’m with you until the end, Tigger. I got your back.”

I widen my arm out and give him a one-arm hug. We can already hear the police sirens ringing out for us. Daxon has got the people off the street and locked the bar.

Thankfully Lucien isn’t here today or I’m sure I would be getting an earful of his biker king bullshit.

“Dane, do you want to go inside?”

He shakes his head ~no~ and comes to stand beside us. I’m so proud of this boy.

Darrion even coming from the gym to look displeased but ready for whatever this will be like. However, this is going to go.

I thought I would be able to get a call in and talk him down from raiding this place, but it looks like an old-fashioned showdown is the way this is going, so here goes nothing.

When the first police car comes swinging in, I kiss Damon with a passion and love.

My lips burning his as the other police cars file in and take a spot at my uncle’s command.

Why he thinks he needs five officers to talk to me, I don’t know.

“All or nothing, Clyde.” I chuckle and spare a glance at Daxon on the end for giving me this idea.

If I am Bonnie, Damon is my Clyde.

“All or nothing, Bonnie.” Damon kisses me back when the first door opens and my Uncle Jonah comes out like a wasp locked in a beer can and shaken up.

He looks pissed as hell.

“Savannah Gabriele Madis, get off the Henley boy and get your ass over here.”

Even I flinch at his words. I’m honestly surprised that Percy hasn’t passed out.

“Now, young lady.”

Damon doesn’t let me go. Instead, he walks us a few steps closer but not coming to the head of the police cruiser.

“Uncle Jonah, I was going to call but you didn’t give me enough time. We just pulled up. I can explain this.”

Dallas and Jagger are out of their cruisers and looking far too much like pissed-off cops rather than the two goofballs I know better than they think.

“I don’t want to hear your excuses, Savannah. You’re sick, you need a hospital and not a group of enablers to help you stay in danger.

“You’re not mentally fit to make these kinds of decisions for yourself. You are sick, Savannah, you need to heal.”

“She isn’t sick, Dad,” Percy croaks.

Every one of us practically snap our necks to look at him.

“What…was that…Percival Brian Madis? Did I hear something from you?”

~Oh shit! I have never heard Uncle Jonah call him his full name before.~

“Yeah, err, yes.” Percy coughs.

“Um, yes, sir, you did.” His voice jumps like he is still in puberty and getting his big boy voice in.

He looks at his feet as he walks to Damon and me. Twisting his fingers, trying to come up with the courage to continue.

“She isn’t sick. She is, but she isn’t the way you are saying she is. She does need help, but…if anyone else had been through what she has, you would too. She needs us. Not a hospital room with doctors that don’t know who she is.

“She hates it there. We hate her being there. She needs to be with the people who care about her, so she can live in her truth and out of the secrets that caused her to have an attack.”

“It’s our job to take care of her. And we failed. She said she wanted to talk about it and you didn’t let her.

“We all went to sleep thinking she would let it go, but we knew better. We know her better than that. It’s our fault she was alone when she got that news. We weren’t there. That’s on us.

“We have to accept that and make sure she doesn’t go through it again. No amount of hospital stay will change what happened, just like no amount of DNA will change her being a Madis.”

~Piglet, oh my gosh, my heart.~

“It’s also my fault. I shouldn’t have said anything. It wasn’t any of my business.” Darrion rubs the back of his neck as he offers his version of an apology in this sheepish manner that I can’t say I hate.

It’s about time he takes responsibility.

“Little bit of mine too, I’m the one who didn’t take her home or call in for backup,” Daxon adds, shifting his shoulders as he crosses his arms.

I can see some type of remorse in his dark eyes at ignoring my symptoms, but I never blamed him.

How could he have known? I act up all the time. It’s not like he has any experience with the mentally ill.

“Mine too. I didn’t catch her leaving.”

Damon goes along with the crowd and admits what he is feeling guilty about.

My hand on his cheek, I kiss him one more time to clean it away.

I didn’t want him to catch me, granted it would have been better, but that’s not what I wanted.

“Staying in the hospital won’t help, Uncle. I got things to do. Now is as good a time as any, right?”

I turn my gaze from Uncle to Damon.

Our silent conversation being heavy on our hearts.

~Now’s the time, isn’t it?~

~I think it is, Shortcake.~

“Uncle, I’m becoming a Luna. That building down there, it’s mine-ish.”

My uncle looks. I can see him resisting and pissed still. He is listening but he isn’t liking what he’s hearing. I don’t blame him either.

This is crazy. I know he wouldn’t want this for me, that’s why I fought so hard in the beginning and tried to take all of these steps to keep Damon at a distance.

Love won in the end, no matter how cheesy that sounds.

“I love you, Uncle Jonah, but just like my past, you're not going to like my future. I’m not cut from the same blue and white cloth. I bleed black, I always have.”

This makes the boys behind me chuckle.

It’s the whole truth.

My uncle keeps his cop face strong. He doesn’t waver or crumble at all. I’m pretty sure I’m losing this talk.

“What if I agreed to a tracker or something? Like a house arrest bracelet that lets you know where I am without my bike? I need to go to school, here and home. At least for a little while. I’ll go to all my therapy. Take my meds, I’ll be safe.”

Compromises.

My uncle facepalms.

Cop down, uncle is up.

He gives a ding and lets the other members of the force go on their way.

I can’t show this makes me happy as of yet, I need to remain cool, calm, and collected.

My uncle walks the few feet that’s left between him and us. Coming to me and looking absolutely one hundred percent not pleased.

“Percy stood up to me, can you believe that?”

My uncle’s smile comes in, and with the sun poking through the clouds, he looks so much like my dad. The strings around my heart tug and tangle.

I force a dead smile on my own lips to hide the tears.

“If you have any type of breakdown, any other blackout. I will have no choice, Savannah, you will be sent to a hospital to get you the help you need.

“If you can handle this, with the rules being followed for the first time in your life, I’ll let it go. I want you safe, healthy. If that makes me your worst enemy, then so be it. I will not let you hurt yourself again.

“Do I make myself clear?”

I nod my head and reach out to hug him from Damon’s hold.

I close my eyes and breathe in my uncle’s public cleaner and sterile scent.

My dad smelled like…dad.

My uncle is more descriptive with his distinctive scent.

I never could pinpoint what exactly my dad smelled like. I couldn’t go into a store and pick it out. It was always just him.

That…that dad smell.

“I love you, Uncle Jonah.”

~I love you so much.~

“I love you too, Savannah.” With a kiss to my temple, my uncle frowns and groans at all of us as he turns his attention to Percy, who is visibly shaking.

“Percy, I’m proud of you.”

The lighthearted grin that comes across Percy’s face makes all of us laugh.

He acted like he was about to face the gallows and instead got a trip to Baskin Robbins.

“Alright, my niece, what’s this going to be?”

My uncle points to my part of the building.

“So, funny story, honestly. Umm…you, okay, so… Uncle Jonah, I love you so much.”

The boys laugh again. They know what my club is going to be.

“Out with it, Savannah.”

“It’s going to be called Luna’s Idol, um, so it’s three parts. One, a burlesque show.”

My uncle nods, not hating the idea as of yet, but don’t doubt for a second that he will soon.

“A sex shop and live show.”

My uncle blinks like his mind has frozen and looks back at the building before he cracks up with laughter and rubs his face.

“Of course that’s what it is.”

He curses and looks up at the sky.

I’m sure asking God why is it him that gets to be my uncle.

“Good Lord, Savannah.”

He shakes his head at me.

A door opens behind us, the tattoo parlor has opened back up and Grave comes walking out.

“Fuckkkkkkk,” I whisper to Damon, but I know my uncle heard it.

“Why don’t you go and eat? I need to talk to him.”

My Uncle Jonah steps away to meet Grave halfway.

“Uncle, don’t make a decision for me. I don’t know what I want yet.”

“I know, Van.”