Chapter 7 ~
Alec ~
It's silent during the time we wait for the guys. I can see her silently stewing—the wheels turning in her mind.
I'm not sure if she understands the weight my father’s name holds in the legal profession. Most likely not, but definitely to a degree, based on the cops expressions. She's definitely smart enough to pull something from that.
I don't know what to say or tell her. So I don't.
The guys finally arrive and without saying anything, Rory stands, snatching her bag from Dominic and swings it over her shoulder. Agony flickers past her face before it’s gone.
Not wanting to argue with her right now, I leave her be. It's not until we're almost to the car that anyone says anything.
"Soooo?" Mason draws out. "What the hell happened?"
Rory puts her bag in the toolbox when Maverick opens it, not looking at anyone. Dominic unlocks the car and she gets in, not waiting for one of us to help her.
"Shit," I whisper once she can't hear me. The guy's eyes snap to me.
"What the fuck happened?" Maverick growls.
"Her father filed a missing persons report. The cops came to take her back," I say with a hushed voice.
"But you handled that, right?" Masom says panicked. "J's her guardian now."
I nod slightly. "Yes, there's nothing they can do about it."
"So what's the problem?" Dominic asks.
They all look at me in varied arrays of confusion. I roll my eyes. Sometimes my friends are really clueless.
"We did all this without consulting her," I tell them slowly, “and she met us yesterday.”
It's like watching a lightbulb go off in all their heads.
'Oh,' Mason mouths.
I shake my head and get into the passenger seat. They get in and Dominic starts driving away.
Maverick breaks the silence. "On a scale of one to five. How mad are you at us?"
I watch Rory narrow her eyes through the mirror. "The scale's fucking broken."
I haven't heard her swear since she's been with us. If she wasn't furious, I'd think it was sexy.
She stares pointedly out the window.
We're nearing the house when she finally says something.
"You want me to lean on you. You want me to trust you. How am I supposed to trust you when you took a very important decision away from me?" Her voice cracks.
"Rory, it happened really quickly. We just wanted to get you away from him," Dominic pleads with her. I know it kills everyone to see her upset with us.
"We were going to tell you," I say to her, softly.
"When? When was this communication going to happen? No, actually. When did all this happen in the first place?" She says pointedly. Her voice is stone cold but her eyes are…sad.
I hesitate before giving in. "Luc called me and said he needed someone emancipated quickly. It was…right after Luc brought you home," I tell her. “I didn’t know it was you when I did it.”
"How did you do this without knowing it was me?" She asks, confused.
"The name Luc gave us was Aurora Winters. You told us your name was Laney—we didn't make the connection." Mason begs her to understand. "We didn't know it was you."
"Does that make it better?" She says quietly, like she's too tired to fight anymore.
"No, Rory," Maverick says, almost softly. His icy eyes reveal nothing. "It doesn't."
"I'm thrilled to know I never have to go back," she tells us. "But now I don't know if I can trust the people who have done so much for me."
. . .
J ~
I drop the box on Luc's desk and turn around to face him. "So, in the time I've been gone, this is what happened. You brought home some random girl who we know nothing about, got her emancipated and now I'm her guardian?" I ask, incredulously.
Luc is laying on his bed, his hands linked behind his head. He’s simply nodded through everything I’ve said.
"Yeah, that's pretty much it. Oh, and we bought a coffee machine," Luc adds as an afterthought.
I sigh and pinch my nose between my fingers. "Really, Luc?"
“Well, yeah. I mean, let’s be honest, that plunger coffee fucking sucks, dude,” Luc says innocently.
I shoot him a deadpanned look, crossing my arms.
Luc relents. "Her father was beating her, J. She has a broken rib, several bruised and probably a concussion. Don't you have any sympathy for her?" He asks me, a knowing look on his face.
"Of course I do.” I push away my annoyance.
“I just would have liked to be kept in the loop.
How did I become a guardian of someone without signing anything?
The twins came with a shit load of paperwork.
" I remember all the time I spent on the phone and signing documents. It makes me shudder to remember.
Luc shrugs. "Alec forged your signature."
"Of course he did," I mutter. "How the fuck did this happen so quickly? Isn’t Allen tied up with your case?"
Allen, Alec’s lawyer, took Luc’s case to keep the ACIC from coming after him.
Luc winces and I know what he's about to say will be bad. "Alec called his father."
"What?" I roar. "Are you fucking serious?"
Luc jumps up, discomfort crossing his face before anger replaces it. "Hey!” He growls. "She needed help. You would have done the same fucking thing."
I realise my mistake instantly. I take a deep breath, letting the misguided anger leave me.
"You're right. I'm sorry," I apologise.
Luc gives me a satisfied nod. Then I realise he's left out a very important detail.
"Hey, what's this girl's name?" I ask. How has no one told me before now?
Luc smirks. "You didn't think that was important?"
I give him a deadpanned look. "I was having a hard time getting past the fact that I'm her legal guardian. How am I only twenty but have been the legal guardian of three people?"
Luc sighs. "Her name’s Ar—"
The sound of the garage roller door has him stopping. As the noise continues, Alec’s alarm on our phones goes off.
I look down at my watch. It's way too fucking early for them to be home. Luc seems to realise the same thing, reaching for the gun I know is under his pillow. Before we can react, Maverick yells out.
"Luc! You better get out here, dude!"
We exchange looks and hurry into the living room.
All the guys are gathered around the couch in the living room, Alec's the only one sitting.
Hearing our footsteps, the girl standing in front of the couch, blocked by my brothers, swerves around.
"Luc, did you really—" Her voice jolts me like a blast of lightening straight to the chest.
Her mismatched eyes meet mine. She drops the glass of water in her hands, stumbling back in shock. It rolls along the ground, spilling water on the hardwood.
"Rory, are you okay…?" Mason trails off when he sees her reaction is to me.
Her eyes travel up me. A hand flies to her mouth.
"Ro?" I gape. She flinches.
Something inside my roars and pounds to be let out. My chest heaves
She's not the kid I used to know. Before me stands a woman who's seen a lot since I last saw her.
Her t-shirt is loose but I can see all her curves. Her jeans don't fit quite right but anything could look perfect on her. Her hair is long wavy strands of perfection that frames her one blue, one hazel eyes. There’s a dark, black and blue bruise on the side of her face.
I can’t help but go back to those eyes. They haunted me for three years.
"No," she says softly. She mutters the word no over and over again.
I can't stop staring at her. It's like I'm a little kid all over again. Silently begging I could whisk her away and save her from this cruel, harsh world.
The guys stand around us silently trying to figure out what's going on.
Luc puts a hand on her shoulder and she steps away.
"They got me emancipated…you’re my fucking guardian?! What the fuck are you doing here, J?” She whispers, never taking her eyes off me. I flinch, hearing that tone. The pain in her voice.
J? I need you. Where are you? He knows–he's here. Please, Jace! Her words echo through me.
It’s like I’m sixteen again—hearing those voicemails for the first time. Knowing that by the time I got there, it would be too late and she’d be gone.
And it would be all my fault.
"What?" Luc says frowning. "You told her?" His words break me out of the memory.
"The cops showed up at school, man. We had to—they tried to take her back." Mason explains, his eyes flicking between me and Ro.
Tears are slowly filling her eyes.
"Ro," I murmur. “God, Rory, you’re really here?” I step forward and it breaks her out of her trace.
"Don't talk to me,” her voice breaks. The pain and the anguish in her eyes, her voice, in her hands shaking…it’s worse than I could have ever imagined.
She leaves the living room, limping slightly. It's not until she's out of my eyesight and that I snap out of it.
Fuck. No. I am not losing her again.
"Rory!" I sprint after her. No, no, no, no, no!
In the time it's taken me to go after her, she's got the roller door open and she's backing out a black Hilux from the garage. The guys run past me.
"Rory!" Maverick yells.
She doesn't slow, driving out onto the road. I follow her with my eyes until I'm forced to look away.
"What the fuck was that, Jace?" Luc yells at me. His hands slam against my shoulders, pushing me back a step.
"How the hell do you know Rory?" Dominic demands.
The twins silently stare after her as she disappears into a cloud of dusk.
Their voices blur. The pain in her eyes follows me.
I ignore everything Luc and Dom are shouting at me and head straight for the safety of my room where I slam the door, going straight back to that day.
. . .
Rory ~
I drive and drive, my eyes constantly flicking up to the rearview mirror to check he didn't follow me. I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s ridiculously stubborn.
When I get to a beach near the outskirts of town, I pull over. It's secluded and empty. Like a ghost town. It's perfect.
I stumble out of my car and limp towards the sand. I haven't been to the beach in years. Not since Jace.
"Come on, Ro," he encourages me.
"I can't swim, J," I tell him, anxiously from the water's edge.
He kicks back to the swallow water and picks me up. I squeak, scrambling up him to get away from the water. He laughs, carrying me into the water bodyguard style.
He drops my legs, keeping me up by the strong arm around my waist. He wades in until the water flows over us.
I feel the water—it's cool but embracing. I grin at Jace, his excitement contagious.
I was fourteen then. Jace was sixteen. Fifteen months older. My brother's best friend but mine at the same time. My brother drifted to other groups in high school but Jace was a constant in my life. Until he wasn't.
"Jace, I need you to come get me. He knows. He-he knows that I told the cops about Declan. Please, J." I hang up and ring again.
It goes to voicemail. Again. "Jace, he's here. Please, I don't know what to do." I muffle my sobs so I don't give myself away. "Please, please hurry."
A crash is heard from downstairs. "Where the fuck are you, bitch?" He roars. I call the cops next.
I push further back into the closet, letting the clothes fall in place in front of me. Someone's speaking through the phone but I never get to answer.
Jace’s bedroom door is kicked off its hinges, the sound of wood splintering echoes to me.
I quietly kick my phone under some clothes on the floor of the closet.
It's silent for a moment. I put a hand over my mouth so I don't make any noise. And he reaches in and grabs me.
Tears fall as I squeeze my eyes shut.
Three more days and I don't have to stay.
Three days and then I'm gone.
I won’t. Go. Back.