Chapter Nine
Ashes wondered what the hell had happened.
He hadn’t been gone more than ten minutes before Goliath had started yelling for him.
Not sure what was happening, he’d come at a run to find Miranda had curled into a ball in the corner of a booth and seemed to be hiding from everything around her.
From the way it had taken him a couple of minutes to get her to respond, he suspected she’d found a place in her mind she went to hide when things were hard or too terrifying.
He wanted to know what had happened to send her there. He shouldn’t have left her alone, he should have kept her with him, just to make sure no one scared her. Except he couldn’t.
Now, he led her out of the common room and down the hall to Bulldog’s office.
“We need to talk to Bulldog and a couple of others. But I’ll stay with you. Let me know if it’s too much and we’ll figure out something, all right?” Ashes said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone.
She didn’t reply but she didn’t pull away or stop. She followed him without a word.
“Here she is. Little hiccup. I’m not sure what happened but she freaked in the other room.
” He led her to a chair and motioned for Miranda to sit.
“Miranda, this is my president, Bulldog. And our tech sergeant, Hammer.” He motioned to each of the men in turn.
“You’ve already met Doc. Would you be more comfortable if we ask Winter to join us?
Would another woman in the room make you feel better?
” Ashes crouched in front of Miranda so he was eye to eye with her where she sat in front of Bulldog’s desk.
Miranda’s eyes went wide and for a moment she looked ready to panic again. Then she focused on him and the panic seemed to subside.
“No. As long as you’re here. I’ll be fine.” Her voice was soft yet strong. She had to be terrified, but that backbone of steel would get her through this, just like it got her through whatever hell Dwyer had put her through.
“Tell us what happened to you, Miranda,” Bulldog said from his seat on the other side of the desk.
She turned her gaze to him, then quickly looked away.
“Where do you want me to start?” her voice shook a little but she squeezed Ashes’ hand.
“Can you start with after Dwyer kidnapped you? You can tell us as much or as little as you want, but the more detail you give us, the better armed we are when we go looking. He’ll never come after you or hurt anyone else, I promise.
But we know of at least four other women who disappeared within a few weeks of dating him.
We need to know if we’re looking for bodies or if they might still be out there somewhere.
Did he ever say what he would do to you when he was through?
Did he tell you why he took you? Anything like that? ”
Miranda clutched his hand as if holding on for dear life. When she started talking, her voice was barely more than a whisper but the longer she talked, the louder she got, until she was speaking in a normal tone.
“I don’t remember exactly what happened. I’ve tried over and over but all I can remember is his picking me up for a date, we got in his car, that was it. The next thing I knew, I was in a bedroom out in the house where they found me. There was a cuff on one leg but I could move around the room.”
Ashes watched as she kept her eyes on the floor or on his chest, but kept talking.
“At first, it wasn’t bad. I didn’t know where I was and it was a couple of hours before he came in.
He brought food and told me that how hard things were was up to me.
He had someone who wanted me, but they wanted me trained first. That was his job.
He was going to train me to be the perfect, obedient woman.
He talked a lot while I ate, told me what would be expected, and that if I didn’t do what I was told, there would be punishment. He didn’t say what that would be.”
Ashes nodded but didn’t say anything. He wanted to encourage her without stopping the flow of words.
“I didn’t find that out for a couple more days.” She took a deep breath and he wanted to stop her but they needed to know. He needed to know. He squeezed her hand to remind her he was here, that she was here, and that she was safe.
“I don’t remember what I did, only how he reacted and how much it hurt.”
“What did he do, Tiny Warrior?”
“He strapped me to this giant wooden X, then he cut off my clothes.” She paused. Ashes wanted to prompt her, to ask what he’d done next but he gave her time. “Then he used some kind of whip.” She met Ashes’ gaze. “Can you move back for a second?”
He did as she asked, standing long enough to move into the other chair near hers.
She stood, turned until her back was to the room and with her hands at her shoulders, started gathering the cloth of her shirt.
Slowly, she revealed her back. At first nothing seemed amiss but by the time she lifted it so he could see more than an inch of skin, he saw thick white lines, a few thicker ridges.
Scar tissue. He’d whipped her. Ashes set his jaw and clenched his teeth.
For the first time in a long time he wished he could bring the worthless piece of shit back to life, just so he could make sure he suffered longer.
“Oh, Tiny Warrior.” Ashes stood. He stepped between her exposed back and the rest of the men in the room. “Baby. Why didn’t you tell me?” he whispered as he gently lowered her shirt and wrapped his arms around her.
“He whipped you?” Bulldog’s question came out as a growl. “How many times?”
Miranda shook her head. She pulled her arms against her chest and tucked her head.
Ashes wished she would turn around to face him, to let him comfort her, but she kept her back to him.
He assumed she was ashamed of what had happened, of the scars.
He didn’t care about them, other than as a reminder of what she’d been through.
He kept his arms around her, not keeping her from moving, but trying to reassure her, to let her know she wasn’t alone anymore.
“I don’t know. I lost count. I can’t even tell you how often he came.
I stayed in that bedroom for a couple of weeks, I think.
He established a pattern. He would bring me food, talk to me while I ate, then tell me what I’d done to earn punishment this time.
I did what I was told but no matter what I did, it wasn’t right.
Nothing I did kept him from hitting me. Then he forgot to put the cuff back on after a whipping.
I don’t know if he thought I was too hurt to move or what.
I waited until I couldn’t hear anything, then I counted to a thousand. That’s when I ran. Or I tried to.”
She took a deep breath that stuttered as she tried to exhale. Ashes murmured reassurances soft enough only she would hear him.
“You’re okay. You’re safe. You’re here at the clubhouse, not there with him. Feel my arms around you, Tiny Warrior. Remember I’m here if you need anything. You can do this, then we can put it behind you.”
Miranda didn’t say anything but she took another deep breath and let it out in a rush, this time it was smoother. As if she’d just needed time to rebuild her strength.
“He’d given me a dress-like thing to wear when he wasn’t there, but no shoes.
I didn’t let that stop me. I made it out of the house and I ran.
But I didn’t get very far. He caught me before I’d even managed to get out of view of the house.
That’s when he put me under the floor.” A shudder passed through her, and once again Ashes wished she would turn, but she stayed where he was.
“He didn’t let me even have the dress for a long time.
He still came, gave me food, and then used the whip on me, but he never let me out of the hole, so he had to use different whips.
They hurt but didn’t cut like some of the others. ”
“Did he rape you?” Bulldog asked.
Miranda flinched in his arms.
“No. At first I was sure he would. Especially when he cut off my clothes. But he didn’t seem interested. I’m just glad he never touched me that way.”
If anyone had asked Ashes, he would have said he was glad for it too. Not that he believed it would make her recovery easier. Just different.