Burning Man

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Looking at the apartment that I have called home for the last year, I can't believe how my life has turned out. I moved to Santo Padre from San Bernadino about a year ago. I started seeing Joey and things went to shit from there. He made me quit my job. Made me stop talking to my friend and even stopped me from talking to my dad. I have to get out of here. I look at myself in the mirror and all I see are the bruises that he's left on me from beating me. I can't take it anymore. He said he's going out with his friends but I know he's seeing someone else. I see the hickies that he comes home with and they aren't from me. He hasn't touched me in months. I walk to the bedroom that we share and pack as much as I can before sneaking out. I've been planning this for over a week. He always goes out on Friday nights and doesn't come home until Saturday mornings. I walk out the door and lock it before heading down the street.

After an hour of walking, I make it to my destination. Joey took my phone away so I had no way of calling my dad, the president of the San Bernardino charter of the Sons of Anarchy but I know he told me that if I ever needed anything to come here. Romero Scrapyard. It's also the clubhouse for the Santo Padre charter of the Mayans and friends of my dad's. I walk up to the gate and it's about 10pm and see the gate closed. Pressing the buzzer, someone answers. "Yeah." I hear the voice say. "Is Bishop here?" I ask. "Who wants to know?" the voice asks. "Packer's kid." I say. A couple of minutes later, the gates open and a young man walks out. Seeing me beaten up, he looks around to see if there's anyone else there, before leading me into the gates and closing them. I see his kutte says Prospect. "Are you okay?" he asks and I just shake my head no.

He leads me to the clubhouse and I see Bishop standing outside. "Nina?" Bishop asks and I nod. He walks up to me and softly grips my chin and asks "You call your dad?" I shake my head no. "Come on Bebita." he says and leads me inside. Once inside, all eyes are on me and I see the Prospect walk over with the first aid kit to clean up my face. "What happened?" Taza asks. "I didn't know where else to go. I couldn't call my dad." I tell them. "You're safe Nina. Now, tell me what happened." Bishop says. "I've been living with my boyfriend for almost a year now. He's been cheating on me and beating me. Hasn't let me leave the house in six months. Took my phone so I couldn't call my dad." I tell him as the tears start to fall. I see Hank walk away with his phone to his ear and when he walks back over, he says "Your old man." I take the phone from Hank and say "Hi Daddy." I hear him sigh on the other end. "What happened baby?" he asks. "Joey's been beating me and took my phone. I didn't have a way to reach out so I got my things when he went out and snuck out. You said if I needed anything to come here so I did. If he finds me daddy..." I start and Hank sits next to me. "He won't. The guys will keep an eye on you until we can get there. Let me talk to Bishop." he says. I hand the phone to Bishop and he walks away to talk.

Sitting there with Hank beside me he asks "Did you get everything you needed from the apartment?" I nod and say "Yeah. I didn't need much." I look down at my hands and Hank puts his hand on mine and says "We got you." I nod and just sit there. Being Packer's kid, I've been around these guys before and I know I can trust them. I've know most of them for several years, Hank being one of them. Bishop walks back over and says "You're dad will be here in the morning." I just nod and look down at my hands and the tears start to fall again. I feel Hank's hand on my back, rubbing it to comfort me and he says "You can stay in one of the dorms. Prospect already put your things in there." I look up at Hank and say "Thank you." He just nods. Looking up at Bishop, I see him looking at me and Hank and he nods before leaving us alone.

"Has he been hurting you this whole time?" Hank asks. "We moved in together about a year ago. First few months it was just isolating me from everyone. Not letting me talk to my friends, not letting me talk to my dad. He took my phone so I went out and got a burner but when he found it, he stopped me from leaving the house and took the burner. That was six months ago and that's when he started beating me." I tell him. "Did he..." he starts and I shake my head no. "He hasn't touched me since about three months into living together. He goes out all the time and comes home with hickies all over him. I said something about it once and he beat me so bad I couldn't move for three days." I tell him. I feel Hank's arm wrap around me and I lean into him and I feel safe. After a while, I sit back up and say "I'm gonna lay down." We both stand up and he shows me where my room is. Before I walk in, he kisses my forehead and says "Buenas noches pequeno." I nod before heading inside and finally feeling relaxing enough to try to sleep.