CHAPTER 6 #3
“Some of them were so deep. I warned Colt the scarring would be extensive and suggested they seek the advice of a plastic surgeon if they bothered her. The ones on her back would have been hard to work with, but that brand on her stomach, it could have been easily removed eventually.” Th doctor went on like he had no idea just how much he was spilling to us.
He obviously thought we knew all about the attack, which we did not. Why would Colt have kept this from us?”
“When?” I asked, my voice barely coming out it was so hoarse. I coughed to clear my tight throat and tried again. “When was this?”
“Oh, it had to be at least a decade, maybe longer. Colt told me she’d moved to Chicago last time I spoke with him. Probably for the best after what she went through here.”
“I…I need to check something,” I hadn’t even finished talking before I was out of the room and crossing the hall to the bathroom there. I locked the door behind me and leaned heavily on the sink as I tried and failed to make myself breathe.
This was why she left. Some monster had turt and tortured her and she had run.
Why wouldn’t she? She had to be terrified after what she went through, and since she came back I had done nothing but throw barbs at her about running away.
She told us, she said we had no idea what she had been through and she was fucking right.
We hadn’t know and we had just let her go, cursing her for leaving without so much as a word.
Why didn’t we go after her? Why did we let her slip away from us at the time when she had to need us the most?
It all started to make sense to me then.
We barely saw Colt for the two weeks before she left.
He was never at the club and whenever I called him he said he was too busy.
Then after she left he was constantly travelling to Chicago to see her, almost every week.
This explained why he was so worried about her back then.
It explains his behavior for that whole time around her leaving and for the year afterwards.
But I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t tell me.
We told each other everything. Why wouldn’t he have told me what happened to his little sister? I could have helped. I would have.
My girl – the woman I had loved for so many years – had been attacked.
She had been branded! What the fuck did that even mean?
Like cattle were branded. And the doctor said the scarring was extensive.
What the fuck had been done to her and when?
Why weren’t one of us with her, protecting her and keeping her safe?
How did any of us let this happen to the woman we all cared so much for?
“Mace?” Jack knocked gently on the door. I took a deep breath and tried to get myself together. I was panting hard, my whole chest moving with every breath as anger and confusion warred within me. I had to unclench my balled fist just to unlock and open the door.
“Why would Colt keep this from us?” I growled the second Jack appeared in the doorway.
“That’s why she left. She had to. She was too afraid to be here anymore.
We didn’t….we should have g-gone after her, man,” I gasped as I pushed every word through my tight throat.
Tears were in my eyes and it felt foreign.
I couldn’t even remember the last time I cried.
“It’s too late for that now, bud. We fucked up, but we can’t go back,” he sighs.
“We need to speak to her. It’s time she told us everything once and for all, and I’m not taking no for an answer.
I don’t know why Colt wouldn’t tell us what happened, but I’m guessing it’s because Ava begged him not to.
His first instinct when Ava was attacked would be to call you, I’m sure of that. ”
“I need to know what happened. I need to make damned sure whoever hurt her is behind bars where he belongs,” I snapped angrily.
Not even God would be able to help that fucker if he wasn’t already locked up, because all I could think about was ending him if I ever got my hands on him, and Jack was having equal murderous thoughts judging by the tense set of his jaw and his clenched fists.
“Wherever that bastard is, it won’t stop me from making sure he gets everything he has owing to him and then some,” Jack hissed.
Yep, definitely murderous, and I knew every word he spoke to be truth.
Jack may be pretty laid back and esy going on the surface, but I had seen him lose his temper before and it was downright terrifying.
Add to that the contacts he seemed to have and I was pretty sure there was nowhere and no one he couldn’t get to if he was determined.
“Guys, she’s waking up,” Deacon called as he popped his head out of the office door. Jack nodded and Deak disappeared back inside again.
“We’ll handle this, but right now we have to focus on keeping her safe. That’s the priority,” I told him more calmly.
“Yeah, but she’s gonna have to let us in to do that, and I have a feeling that might be a lot easier said that done, mate,” Jack sighed as he pushed his hand back through his hair, clearly worried and stressed.
“You’re right,” I nodded. “That’s why it’s good for both of us that you’re so God-damned charming then, isn’t it?”
“Me? You’re the one who needs to mend fences. Good luck getting her to forgive how much of a complete arsehole you’ve been since she got back here.” With that Jack turned his back on me and strode into the office again.
“Fucker!” I cursed as I followed right behind him. I hated when he was right.