Chapter 23 #2
“Sit, drink that, and I’ll get you more ice packs,” I said patiently, wanting to tell her I’d told her so but thinking better of it. That was one way to ensure she left and didn’t come back.
She sipped the water and tried not to drown in it while I grabbed the ice, and I returned to sit beside her, holding the ice out to her throat. Thankfully, she let me hold it, and Diesel winced.
“I should go. She good with you?” he asked, waiting for me to nod. “Thanks. I’ll try to swing by later, but I have a feeling Skeet’s going to work me like a dog for the rest of the evening. Call me if you need me.”
“Don’t fight with him,” Rory replied as he leaned down to give her a quick kiss. “I don’t want you getting into trouble or I’ll have to come down there and shoot people.”
“You’re not funny, Donovan.”
“I’m not joking,” she muttered, leaning into me a little. “Be safe.”
It had been so long since I’d seen peace on Diesel’s face like what he was showing now. I was glad he was healing, even if it was with the girl that I wanted.
“She’s fine,” I started when Tyler and the guys appeared on my doorstep at dinner time. “But there was a problem today.”
“I knew she wouldn’t be here without a reason,” Jensen grumbled, eyeing me with irritation.
“We can take her home,” Lukas said firmly, and I swore he was going to punch me when I shook my head.
“It’s not that simple. Josie can’t see her.”
That put them all on alert and had Tyler pushing past me to find her, the guys following as I stepped aside. I’d managed to get some soup delivered, so hopefully Rory had time to eat it before the guys harassed her for answers.
“Soldiers?” Lukas asked me as I moved to stand beside him by the table as Jensen and Tyler fussed over her.
“No. She had a run in with Skeet.”
His head turned so fast I was surprised his neck didn’t snap.
“Skeeter fucking hurt her?” he snapped, the others looking over with frowns on their faces.
Rory motioned for me to explain it to save her voice while she ate her soup, so I told them what I could. She’d written out more information for me before dinner, so I had a bit more of an understanding now.
I was going to kill him, just not today.
Once I was done explaining it all, they all looked ready to kill him too.
“He literally took a shot at your head,” Jensen seethed, and Rory shrugged like it was no big deal.
“For now, Rory needs to avoid Josie or the cops will get involved. We really don’t need that right now. She’s safe here,” I said calmly, Lukas’ eyes narrowing.
“We won’t all fit here.”
“Very aware. The invitation wasn’t extended to anyone else,” I said bluntly, sitting in a chair at the table and resting my elbows on it.
“I know you guys don’t like me, but this is a solid plan.
It also means I can make a plan with Rory to handle the Soldiers and Psychos.
You guys are at school throughout the day, so she’s safer with me. ”
I was a little bit surprised when Rory nodded, showing her agreement on the matter.
“It’s a good plan,” she croaked out, wincing when her voice cracked.
“Wrong,” Tyler grunted, making Marco sigh.
“You can crash with me, dude. I won’t leave you alone to fend for yourself. We’ll only be around the corner then too,” he offered, seeming to relax them. “I have a few things to do this evening, but you can come with me. Hunt’s going to make her go to bed soon anyway.”
Rory shot me a dirty look, making me smirk. I knew she wasn’t sick, but the rest would still be good for her. It was selfish, but I kind of wanted everyone to leave so I could put her in bed and see if she’d let me climb in with her.
It was nice holding her while she slept last time she was in there, it just sucked that the cops had dragged her out.
I tolerated the guys for a couple of hours to keep the peace, but when Rory started yawning, I kicked them out. Marco led them out so he could head to the warehouse with Tyler, leaving me alone with Rory.
“You’re on the couch,” Rory said dryly once she’d showered and was looking like a snack in my shirt.
“No talking,” I reminded her, grabbing ice packs from the freezer and handing her ibuprofen to go with the water I’d already put beside the bed. “Take those, ice again, and sleep. I’ll get some arnica ointment tomorrow to help with bruising too.”
She thankfully didn’t fight me on it, getting into bed and taking the pills carefully.
“Thanks. I don’t know why I thought Skeet would listen to me about you. He’s always been hard to talk to about things. He just flies off the handle or shuts down,” she said as best as she could, sipping the water some more. “I wish he’d just listen.”
“His loss, babe. If you ever have a problem, you know you can talk to me, right? I’m a good listener.”
“I can’t talk to you about personal shit. I still don’t like you.”
“You totally do. We’re besties now,” I teased, sitting on the edge of the bed. “I know you couldn’t always be honest with Skeet, but he’s always been a pig-headed asshole when it comes to feelings.”
Her nose scrunched, and I could tell she was annoyed.
“I can’t believe he fucking shot at me instead of listening.
He wonders why I don’t talk to him about things that bother me.
This is why. I know he cared about me, he’s not the type to lie about that, but when I needed help, I should’ve been able to talk to him.
” She coughed and took another sip of water, her voice almost gone now.
“I feel like there’s something you want to talk about,” I said carefully, not knowing if it was something that would upset her or not.
“It was why Slash and I kept our relationship quiet. Skeet wouldn’t have listened, he’d just throw punches. That's why I never told him about my birthday either.” From the way she flicked her eyes away from me as she choked again, I knew what she was talking about.
“You never told him you got assaulted on your birthday?” I murmured, keeping my anger contained.
All this time and she hadn’t told him? Any of the guys?
She shook her head, making me frown. “Why not? Skeet might be an asshole, but he would’ve done something.
He’d hate knowing you felt like you couldn’t talk to him about something like that. ”
Tears filled her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall. “How did I tell him that it was his best friend without starting a war?”
It took me a second to process what she’d said, confusion hitting me. “What do you mean?”
She blew out a breath, looking away from me to toy with her hands. “Slash broke in and lost his mind. Held a gun to my head and everything. Then he forced me to strip before raping me.”
“You absolutely let him start a war over that,” I bit out, reining it in before I could dig that piece of shit up and riddle his corpse with more bullets. “Slash is the one who assaulted you? The guy you had feelings for? Were you actually together or did he force you into that too?”
“It was all real. The night I had to get hold of you to take his drunk ass home? He’d shown up to grovel.
It was rather pathetic, actually. My feelings were confused on my birthday because I was attracted to him, and I got caught up in the moment until it was over and gave myself emotional whiplash.
” She downed more water, trying hard to keep her voice clear enough to understand.
“He instantly snapped out of it and panicked, but he couldn’t take it back.
We had a magnet between us, constantly pulling us closer together with some kind of twisted attraction.
I couldn’t sleep with one of the other guys because what if I reacted badly to their touch and they instantly knew something had happened? ”
“You could have told them.”
“I couldn’t!” she growled, her voice breaking and hurting her in the process as she winced, but she shook it off.
“They would’ve gone after him, and I was in too deep.
We started hooking up as feelings grew, and then when we were going to come out about our relationship, he was killed.
I refuse to change people’s perspectives about him now that he’s gone. That’s not fair to those grieving him.”
“If Marco did that to you, I’d kill him, best friend or not. That’s not on you, that’s on him. Skeet needs to know about it, Rory. He’s pinning all this hate on you, when he should be angry with Slash.”
“What’s the point? He won’t listen anyway,” she mumbled, peering at me as I reached out to cup her cheek.
“I’ll always listen. I don’t care who it is, if anyone hurts you, you tell me.”
She nodded, pulling back from my touch after a second, her voice so quiet I barely heard her. “I’m going to go to sleep. I’m tired.”
“Come get me if you need me,” I said seriously, knowing I couldn’t push the sharing the bed thing now after that conversation. “Ice on your neck.”
She laid down and placed it against her throat, and I stepped out of the room and gently closed the door. It was really hard not to tear the house to pieces with how angry I was on the inside.
I’d known Slash a really long time, and to know he’d forced himself on Rory after everything she’d been through? And how much he hated his brother for that kind of shit?
He was lucky he was already dead.