Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
He directed me to Gage’s house. It takes a second to process.
In that second, Axel leans over, pulls the emergency brake, and slams the gear shift into park. The car grinds, slides, and lurches to a stop sideways on the road.
“If you run, I’ll chase you.” Axel’s voice is dark, and suddenly, he’s getting out of the car.
Fight or flight kicks in, and I rip my door open, flinging my seat belt off and darting into the street.
I make it three steps before strong arms wrap around my middle.
“Help!” I scream. “Someone help!”
Axel hoists me over his shoulder, and I struggle, clawing at his clothes and beating on his back. He just stalks up to Gage’s door.
“Stop making a scene.”
He knocks as I straighten, throwing him off balance. I feel myself fall backwards, bracing myself to hit the door. But instead, I fall back, hitting a warm body.
“What the–”
I scramble to my feet as Axel shoves inside, shutting the door behind us. “Hey, brother!”
Gage stares at us both, and Buddy is there at our feet, jumping up and down and licking my hands.
“What the hell?” Gage sputters.
I scramble to get around Axel and back out the door. Axel plasters himself to the door, blocking my escape.
I’m trapped. I can’t go anywhere with both men caging me in.
Fighting didn’t help. It didn’t help, and I ruined any trust I built with Axel.
“What’s going on?” Gage looks between us.
I swallow harshly, staring at Gage. I’m not sure what he knows or if he’ll be on his brother’s side. He mostly just looks confused, with a furrow between his brows. Buddy sits on my right foot, panting up at me.
“He kidnapped me.” I don’t break eye contact with Gage.
“What?”
Axel growls, “Raven might have broken her thumb.” He takes a step toward me, and I tense, stepping back.
Gage looks confused. “What is going on?”
“Look at her thumb; she might have broken it.” Axel steps forward again, and Buddy stiffens under me. She gives a low growl.
Axel stops, looking stumped.
“Raven?” Gage growls my name.
I suck in a breath, trying to calm my racing heart. Buddy pressing into my foot grounds me.
“Axel handcuffed me to his bed.”
“What?” Gage’s nostrils flare.
There’s a second of silence, and then Gage turns to Axel. “What the hell?”
“He threw me over his shoulder and took me to his house. He kidnapped me.”
“You handcuffed her to your bed?”
Axel squares his shoulders. “I was trying to keep her from hurting herself. Which she clearly did.” Axel waves at me. “I brought her here so you could check her.”
Their voices are loud, and both men are so tense they might start throwing punches. Great, fight each other so I can run. I look around behind me to the back door, but as I do, Gage turns back to me.
“What’s wrong with your hand?”
“Nothing!” I try to pull my sleeve down further. “It would have been fine if he hadn’t kidnapped me.”
Gage’s eyes flash with anger, and Buddy whines. Gage then whirls on Axel, who raises his hands.
“Beat my ass later. Take care of her first. She said it might be broken.”
Gage turns again, throwing his hands up. “Fucking show me.”
I hate that I flinch. Muscle memory, I suppose, but I do. Gage sees it, pausing, and his face gets even more red. He stands there, frozen for a second, sucking in deep breaths. When he speaks, his voice is lower. “I’m gonna kill him in a second, but can you please let me look at your hand?”
Axel makes steady eye contact with me from behind his glasses. His eyes flick to the door. He knows I’m thinking about running. There’s the tiniest smirk.
I straighten, pointing at Gage. “No. You’re going to let me go. If you don’t, I’m going straight to the police, and I’m telling them every single thing.”
Silence. Gage processes what I’m saying. The silence feels so long, and for some stupid reason, I have hope that he’ll help me. That he’ll see how scared I am and fucking help.
Gage talks over his shoulder, “Tell me you didn’t kidnap her, Axel.”
“She was starving to death, Gage, and she has a stalker! He knows where she lives, and she wants to keep putting herself at risk. I’m protecting her.”
“Raven,” Gage’s voice is strained. “Can we sit on the couch and talk about this?”
I want to scream. What does he not understand about this?
“No.” I reach for the door handle. “I’m fucking leaving.”
A few things happen at once. Axel lunges for me, and Buddy jumps at him, snarling and snapping her teeth. The movement of turning the handle hurts more than I expect, shooting white-hot pain up my arm. I let out a cry, cradling my arm.
Then Gage is beside me. He snatches my arm, holding it up so he can see my hand.
“Let go of me!” I try to pull away, stumbling back into the door.
“This isn’t what we talked about, brother,” Gage hisses, bending down and scooping me up into his arms, bridal style.
It takes my brain a solid second to figure out that Gage isn’t helping me. That he’s walking me further into the house.
And that’s when I start screaming. Because fuck them. Fuck them, fuck this, fuck it all. I struggle, striking Gage’s face. He stumbles, putting me down, and I run. Axel blocks my path to the back door, so I dart down the hallway. There’s a shout and scrambling behind me, but I don’t care.
There are multiple open doorways. I can see light coming into the room on the right, so I run into it. It’s a bedroom with a window, but the window is thin and high up on the ceiling.
There’s scrambling in the hallway. I jump farther into the room, facing them, when Buddy bursts into the bedroom.
She stands still for a second, head swiveling.
Then, she runs to me, crashing into my body, then turning to face the door.
As the men fill the doorway, Buddy gives a dark, rumbly growl that makes the hair on my arms stand on end.
Gage steps into the room first.
I stiffen, and Buddy barks, the sound loud and harsh.
Gage stops, looking at the dog, frowning. Axel stands in the doorway behind him.
“Get away from me.” My voice shakes.
Buddy stares at her owner with the hair on her back raised.
“Buddy?” Gage’s voice cracks a bit.
“Please, just go away.”
Gage looks at me. “Raven, I—we can make this right—”
“No. Get the fuck out.” My voice is high-pitched, but I don’t care. The adrenaline is rushing through me, and I don’t want to look at either of them. I don’t want to hear their bullshit manipulation or them telling me why this is all my fault. All men are the same.
“Get out!” I shout, feeling the tears creep up in my vision.
Buddy growls. I see Gage wince, and then he takes a step back.
“What—” Axel starts, but Gage whirls on him.
“Shut the fuck up.” He shoves Axel in the chest, pushing him back. “Just shut the fuck up!” Then he reaches back and slams the bedroom door closed.
I collapse against the wall, dropping my head into my hands. Buddy turns, licking my hands, the warm swipes of her tongue sneaking between my fingers and getting my face.
Then, the tears come. There’s nothing I can do to stop them, and I hate myself for that. Why the fuck am I being so weak? I shouldn’t have expected Gage to help me. I really shouldn’t have. But the fact that he didn’t still makes my chest ache.
Buddy brushes my thumb, and it hurts like a bitch, but I welcome the throb. It keeps me grounded. The wash of emotions is overwhelming.
“I hate men. I hate them, I hate them, I hate them.” I sob into my hands.
Buddy aggressively nuzzles my hands, dislodging them, then dives in for my face.
She gets one slobbery lick in before I dodge her.
She’s persistent, though, and lunges her whole body at me, which just makes me laugh and cry.
The laughing gets worse when I realize I have half a set of half-finished nails on, and one of them has torn.
It looks ridiculous. Then, I start hiccuping, which makes things worse.
We sit on the floor for a long time, just me and the girl who stuck up for me. And it strikes me that, once again, a man hurt me and made me cry. Only this time, I have more than just a stuffed dog.
“Onyx?” I whisper.
Buddy licks my face. She whimpers, and I get a sudden wash of guilt.
She’s probably scared. I made her that way.
History is repeating itself, only this time, I’m hurting something real.
And that makes me cry harder.