Chapter 15
T here was a commotion outside her hospital door.
Was that . . . was that Slade’s voice?
No, she had to be imaging things. There was no way that Slade would be here.
Then the door opened and Slade stepped inside. His face was so dark, so intense that her heart started racing with fear.
“You cannot go in there! I’m calling the police!” Monica said as she followed him into the room.
The rest of them walked in, taking up positions around the room. Rock stood next to the door. Spencer rushed toward the bed, stopping about a foot away from the end and just staring down at her with horror.
Great.
What every girl wanted to see on her crush’s face.
Former crush.
You don’t want him anymore.
Sure. Her brain knew that. But her body . . . that was a different story. It still lit up around them.
“Princess,” Spencer said in a raspy voice. It sounded like he’d been yelling and damaged his vocal cords .
She forced herself to stay relaxed, staring up at him coldly.
“There’s no need to call the police,” Quaid said as he stepped into the room. His gaze moved around, cataloging everything.
Whatever he saw he didn’t seem to like.
But she was used to Quaid’s disapproval. He was guarded and it was difficult for him to trust.
She’d earned his trust over time . . . until he thought she had betrayed him.
Then she didn’t just gain his disapproval.
She gained his utter and total disgust.
They shouldn’t be here. She wasn’t strong enough for this.
“And why wouldn’t I call the cops?” Monica asked, glaring at them all. “Because you rich toffs say so? Well, it’s not happening. I don’t care if you’re the prince of Timbuktu, you don’t get to be in here unless she wants you to be here.”
Whoa. Monica had some balls.
Quaid was the only one that looked at Monica, and she thought she saw a quick flash of respect on his face.
Slade and Spencer didn’t glance away from where they were staring at Indie. While Rock was standing in front of the closed door, staring at the wall.
Which was . . . weird.
What was he doing?
“I don’t believe that Timbuktu has a monarchy,” Spencer murmured. “It’s an ancient city in Mali.”
She bit her lip as Monica gaped at him.
“There’s no need to call the police because we are her family,” Quaid told Monica.
“That so? Then where have you been? She’s been here for four days and you visit now? Not buying it, buster.”
Buster?
That was a funny one.
Indie stared at Slade. Why was he looking at her so intensely? It was as though he was cataloging every injury. Memorizing them.
“That’s something we will need to rectify,” Quaid allowed. “ Indie, tell the nurse that she can leave and that you are safe with us.”
This was the moment.
She could have them removed. Arrested. She could get some revenge for the way that they’d kicked her so callously out of their lives.
“Indie, please,” Spencer begged.
She raised an eyebrow at him and he actually looked ashamed.
“I know, Princess,” Spencer murmured. “I get it. We were proper assholes to you. We don’t deserve to have you give us a second chance. But, please, I just need to know you’re all right.”
Monica huffed. “I don’t know what you lot did, but I think it’s obvious how she is.”
Indie really appreciated the older woman trying to help her, but she also didn’t want her to say too much.
“We’re not leaving until we talk to you, Indie,” Quaid said.
She glared at him.
“Please, Boo,” Slade said, using his old nickname for her.
“I’ll get down on my knees and beg,” Spencer said in that hoarse voice. “We all fucking will if that’s what you want, Princess.”
Christ.
Did she want that?
No.
She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t be as callous as they had been to her.
Spencer actually fell onto his knees. Indie let out a squeak of surprise and attempted to sit up. What was he doing?
She let out a groan of pain.
“Stay still,” Slade barked as he jumped forward to put his hand on her shoulder.
She shied back, whimpering.
“Be careful,” Monica snapped as Spencer stood.
“Spencer? Are you all right?” she asked.
“Yeah, Princess. I just need you to talk to us because right now I’m so fucking scared and horrified and relieved. ”
Horrified? By what? Did she look that bad?
She reached a hand up to touch her face.
“You can leave,” Quaid said in a formal, cold voice. He always used that voice in unknown situations. She’d once thought he used it as a way to protect himself when he felt unsure.
Now, she just thought that he was a cold, soulless bastard.
Okay, maybe she was being a bit much. But he had been the harshest with her.
“Oh, can I?” Monica said sarcastically.
Then a buzzer sounded and Monica swore quietly.
“I believe you’re needed?” Quaid asked, his eyebrows raised.
Monica glanced over at her. “I can stay and call the cops. Just say the word. I’m not leaving you if you’re scared or need me.”
Wow. That was so nice and unexpected. The only people who had ever tried to protect her other than Maggie were these guys.
“Thanks, but someone needs you more than me. And these guys won’t harm me.”
Not physically anyway.
Emotionally, that was a whole other story.
They can only hurt you if you let them have that power.
After Monica left, Spencer came and sat on a chair to her left. Slade took the other seat, reaching out to touch her hand. He let out a pained grunt as she tugged it back, away from him.
What did he expect?
That she was just going to forgive him? Them? Was that why they were here? Wait. How had they known she was here?
“What are you doing here? How did you know I was here?” she asked.
“Maggie came to see us,” Slade told her.
She had? Why would she do that? Shit.
“Thank God she did,” Spencer said with tears in his eyes. “Princess, fuck, he hurt you.”
“It wasn’t the first time,” she said in a dull tone.
She tried to pretend that the pained noise Spencer made didn’t affect her .
But it did.
“I’m going to kill the fucking bastard,” Slade said darkly.
Right. Sure.
Slade started swearing. “I know that seems too little too late. We should have . . . fuck, we should have listened to you, should have given you a chance to talk. We almost didn’t listen to Maggie when she came to the club.”
“Turns out we have a habit of doing that,” Spencer added dryly.
She winced. “Yeah, you don’t have to tell me.”
“I know, Princess. I fucking know,” Spencer said. “What do you want me to do to make it up to you? Anything . . . I’ll do fucking anything.”
“I don’t think there is anything you can do,” she told him honestly.
She wasn’t sure they could repair this chasm between them.
Not when she felt like she’d been torn to pieces and patched back up with rough stitching, so her edges never quite met.
Spencer flinched and she hated that she felt bad when all she wanted to feel was anger.
Slade let out a pained grunt. “We deserve that. We know we fucked up, Boo. Fuck, in the biggest way we possibly could have. We don’t deserve your forgiveness and you shouldn’t give it to us.”
Spencer let out a noise of protest and Slade shot him a look.
“Not unless we earn it,” Slade added. “And we will. All you have to do is give us a chance.”
Did he think she was an idiot? Like she was going to do that.
And did the others even want that? Rock couldn’t look at her and Quaid seemed so . . . removed.
Quaid moved so he was standing at the end of the bed, looming over her. He looked every inch the dark fallen angel.
Her gray-eyed boy.
Except he wasn’t hers, was he?
He’d always been vengeful and protective. If anyone went against his family, he destroyed them.
She’d never expected him to turn that darkness on her .
“Maggie told you all of it?” she asked in a hoarse voice, staring at Quaid.
The expression on his face didn’t flicker.
“Maggie told us that Billy . . . that Billy abused you,” Spencer managed to get out.
“And that you never stole anything from us. That it was Billy, that he followed you to the apartment. That he somehow doctored the video feed from the cameras?” Slade added with a question in his voice.
“Yeah, he followed me in, threatened me, and then he drugged me.” She stared down at her hands which were clenched together.
“I had no idea that he’d even taken anything from your home office until you guys told me when I came back weeks later.
I . . . I should have found a way to tell you, I guess.
But when we got back to his apartment he . . . he hurt me.”
There was a deadly silence in the room.
And when she found the courage to look up, they were all staring at her. Except Rock.
“Hurt you. Fucking hurt you. Hurt. You.” Slade stood and started to pace as he muttered those words over and over.
She turned to look at Spencer. “Is he all right?”
Spencer shook his head, staring at his feet. “No, none of us are. And we never will be again.”