Celeste Chapter 13
Since Saturday night, things had fallen into a routine for Capri and me over the past three days.
The biggest one was that we hadn’t been staying at our apartment.
Every night, Hulk kept insisting we remain with him.
He complained that he couldn’t sleep without me.
However, Capri’s sleep was the bigger deciding factor for me.
Even though I wanted to be with him, I thought we might need to give him room to breathe.
However, he quickly pointed out to me that he didn’t, and Capri had reported no nightmares the first two nights at the compound.
Her sleep was undisturbed on Sunday and Monday nights, too.
The safety of the compound was working magic on her.
I refused to mess that up, which is why Capri and I went to the apartment on Monday to pick up more clothes so we could stay longer.
I was still on leave, but with her settling in and if we were staying at the compound, I might be able to return to work.
However, a part of me didn’t want to. But if I didn’t, I needed to find another job.
I planned to talk to Capri about it today, but first, we were running a couple of errands in town and then stopping by to get our mail.
The errands took a bit longer than anticipated, but we made it to the apartment to get our mail before the workday ended.
We planned to cook dinner for Hulk, and then he would go to work.
It was weird to know he went to work where women got naked, but he assured me it wasn’t a big deal to him.
He explained that even if he was single, the members didn’t mess with staff.
None of the Pagans had been with the dancers or anyone else at their businesses.
While he was at work, Capri and I planned to have a girls’ night and watch movies.
However, that got derailed when we arrived home.
We started to prep for dinner. Hulk left about ten minutes ago to see Dare about something.
The mail we picked up, we hadn’t bothered to look through, so Capri said she’d do it first, then help me fix our meal.
I was peeling and cutting potatoes when she cried out in alarm and dropped the paper she was holding.
She was sitting at the island. Dropping my knife and potato, I rushed around the island to her side.
“Capri, what’s wrong?” I asked urgently.
Her face was pale, and her eyes were wide.
She didn’t answer me. All she did was point to the paper she dropped.
What the hell was it? Picking it up, I read it.
It took only the first sentence for me to see why she reacted the way she did.
Equal parts fury and fear filled me as I made myself read it all.
When I was done, I lay it down and pulled her to me. She was crying.
“Shh, it’s alright. No one will ever harm you again. I swear to it. No matter what it takes to make you safe and find whoever is behind this, I’ll do it. You’ll be free to live your life happily,” I murmured in her ear.
I was rocking her when the door opened, and Hulk strolled in. As soon as he saw us, his smile changed to a frown. He hastily came over to us.
“What’s wrong? Why are my girls crying and my old lady looking ready to kill?”
“Read that letter right there,” I told him, indicating it with a thrust of my chin. My hands were full of Capri.
Hulk snatched it up. Within seconds, a rumble came out of his throat. It remained the whole time he read. His expression became a fierce mask. When he was finished, he flung it angrily down.
“Whoever sent this has signed up to meet their maker. Capri, honey, I’m sorry you had to read that shit. Please don’t cry,” he said softly.
Then his arms were around both of us. She didn’t flinch. Instead, she snuggled closer to him. His big hands rubbed up and down our backs. He held us for several minutes until she stopped crying.
“I need to let the club know about this. They’ll want to see this and meet, so I might have to go to the clubhouse for a bit. But you can come with me and hang out there, or stay here and do whatever you had planned. Whichever you choose, you’ll be safe.”
He eased away and took out his cell phone.
He tapped out a message. Capri refused to look at the letter.
I was trying hard to remain calm for her, but all I wanted to do was kill someone.
The letter was a harsh reminder that a rapist remained unidentified and at large, and now that whoever had hurt her hadn’t forgotten Capri.
Were we looking at a case deeper than opportunity?
Had she been targeted for a reason? The urgency to find and punish the responsible party spiked.