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above the sink.  She looked fifty years old.  The ride and the realization of what her life had become had aged her.  She no longer saw the vibrant, hopeful young woman she had been in Choo-Choo’s arms.  Now she was a shell.
    She heard a scrape and looked up to see a pair of bright blue eyes watching her.  She held onto the scream that wanted to tear out of her throat when he held a finger to his lips.
    “Don’t scream now sweetheart.”
    His voice was gentle, but she heard the anger he kept in check.
    “Been following you for a hundred miles or more with a message for you.”
    “What message?”  She whispered.
    “One from Preacherman, you know who that is sweetheart?”  When she nodded he continued.  “He wants you to know you need to get the hell away from these fuckers.  He sent you a little cash to help you along and me in case you found yourself in a situation you couldn’t escape on your own.  His old lady took a shine to you so it seems.”
    Josie took a step toward the window and glanced at the door.  Poole could come back at any time and this would be a lost opportunity.
    “Will you help me out of this?  Just out of this damned bathroom and I won’t ask for anything more.”
    This handsome stranger tilted his head causing the light to make his blonde hair glow as he studied her.  He nodded once and leaned into the shabby bathroom offering her his hand.
    Within a few minutes she was free.  She followed the stranger as he led her around the building and into a trash littered field full of scrubby bushes.  He pointed once and she saw Eddie with Gipsy bent over against the wall of the service station fucking her with enough force to make the woman cry out.
    Josie sucked in a shocked breath.  Eddie had never hurt her the way he was hurting Gipsy.  Frog and Poole watched and laughed as Lippy sat on her bloody knees and waited for whatever came next.
    How had she ever thought she could live that way?
    She startled when the stranger spoke at her ear.
    “That’s not the way it should be.  That right there is a bunch of sick fuckers.  Don’t you dare think we are all like that.”
    He pulled a thick envelope from inside his jacket and handed it to her.
    “Preach said not to give you that unless I thought you had a backbone.  I’m trusting you not to make me look like a fool.”
    She took the envelope and ran her finger across the blocky letters.
    “Goldilocks,” she whispered as she read.  Tears sprang to her eyes and she wiped them on the back of her hand before handing the man the envelope back.
    He looked puzzled even as a small mile curved his lips.  “You don’t want to look inside?”
    She shook her head.  “I’ve done enough to him.  Anything that may have been possible…”  She let out a shuttering breath and looked back to where she could still see Eddie and his brothers.
    “Hmm.”  Was all the stranger said before he nodded his head toward the edge of the field.
    They silently made their way to the cover of a few trees.  Josie didn’t make a sound, even when something cut into her foot.  She had to get away.
    The stranger looked to her feet a few times, but said nothing as if he thought acknowledging her shoeless state would send her into hysterics.  It was probably a good call.
    They reached an old blue pickup and he opened the door for her to slide in.
    “I shouldn’t.  I don’t need to pull your club into my shit.”  She said with every ounce of bravado she had left.
    He didn’t say a word, only raised a brow and nodded toward the bench seat.
    Ok so she knew she was being ridiculous.  She slid into the truck trying to hide her wince just as she heard a crash and a curse.
    “Jig’s up sweetheart, ready to roll?”
    He actually looked excited.  The truck roared to life and he spun out into the road.
    She had done it.
    She was free.
    She turned her wide eyes to the stranger beside her and let out a breath she had been holding since Eddie had found