CHAPTER 28 - Bryan Trevor
When I saw you for the first time
I saw love
And the first time you touched me
I felt love
And after all this time
You're still the one I love
You're Still the one – Shania Twain
PAST – NOAH'S BIRTHDAY
When Noah's message reached my phone, I was getting out of the shower to wrap the gift I'd bought for her.
The words full of typos froze me to the bone because it was clear they were typed in a rush and I could almost feel the fear in them.
She was in danger and needed me.
I didn't think twice before grabbing the motorcycle parked next to the trailer because on foot it would take me long minutes to cross the line between the suburbs and the rich side.
Someone shouted when I started the bike, but I didn't look, didn't slow down.
I accelerated as if my life depended on time, and deep down, I believe it did.
I'd never felt so much fear while crossing the streets.
I thought her parents had found out about us.
I believed they were hurting her.
But nothing, absolutely nothing I imagined compared to what I find as soon as I climb out of the tree, jump onto the ledge, and approach the window.
The world stops.
The blood evaporates from my veins.
And my lungs fail, because before my eyes there's a man leaning over my girl, inside her, with her passed out.
He murmurs words I can't understand, but the tone of sick devotion makes my stomach turn.
His hands are in places no one should ever touch and the expression on his face is pure ecstasy.
A damn smile spreads across his face as he violates what I love most in this world.
I feel something snap inside me.
Rage breaks through every limit I believed I had.
In one moment I'm at the window, and in the next my body jumps into the room.
The bastard is startled by the noise and lifts his face in surprise, but he doesn't have time to react before my hands tear him off her.
My fist meets his jaw with such force that I hear the sound of bone breaking.
He falls, but I don't stop, and the image of him inside her keeps haunting me as I go toward him and deliver another punch.
The pain inside my chest is so suffocating that even when I punch again and he falls to the floor, it doesn't ease.
He screams and I start kicking his body, with kicks to the ribs, arms, face.
I see blood spray from his nose through the fog of hatred, yet it's still not enough to make me stop.
It never will be. Not after seeing him abusing the only good thing God placed in my life.
The girl with the most beautiful heart in this world.
I crouch down and slam his head against the floor.
More voices reach me, but I don't stop.
I want to tear him apart, rip pieces from his body, break every bone, rip off his damn dick and make him choke on it.
He's no longer reacting, but even fallen and passed out, I keep hitting.
My fists are raw, my chest heaves burning and there's only the red of his blood in my vision.
The sound of his skull shattering is the last thing I hear before being pulled back.
My body staggers with the unexpected interruption.
“What have you done?” Gavin roars desperately, kneeling in front of the man. “Sarah, call the driver!”
Hearing his words, I see Sarah standing at the door with a pale face.
“NOW, DAMN IT, OR HE'LL DIE!” Gavin snarls and I have the urge to start punching him too, but a groan makes me look to the side.
At Noah.
My Noah.
She's lying on the bed.
Her hands above her head.
Her face bathed in dried tears turned exactly toward my side.
As I lower my gaze, I find her dress lifted and her belly bruised.
A roar so guttural leaves my lips that my heart breaks into a thousand fragments.
I run to her, lowering the fabric in desperation.
This needs to be a damn nightmare.
Because I can't accept that it's real.
I can't bear that this vermin did this to her.
Because no one survives a laceration like this.
Because she doesn't deserve such cruelty.
No woman deserves it!
Her chest rises and falls slowly and my finger finds a pulse in her neck.
She's alive.
At least on the outside.
But I have no idea what she'll be like on the inside when she wakes up and finds out what happened.
Was she awake while he touched her, hurt her, violated her?
I can't imagine the pain and desperation she went through.
How deeply this will scar her forever.
The rage returns, mixed with guilt so acidic it burns my eyes.
How did I let this happen?
Why didn't I get her out of this house sooner?
How did I not see that this family was sick?
I'm an idiot for trusting that time was on my side, for making plans, for putting off until tomorrow what I should have done the moment she told me about all the insanity with her parents.
Regret courses through me alongside the adrenaline.
I need to get her out of here.
My mind screams and I lean in, sliding my arms beneath her body.
I don't see anyone entering or leaving the room, but when I lift her, we're alone.
I head toward the door, and when I pass through, there's a hallway and a staircase further ahead.
With long strides I reach it and descend the steps carefully, trying not to hurt her.
As soon as I pass through the front door, I see Gavin putting the man into the car along with an older man who's probably the driver.
Hatred bubbles up!
“Who are you and what the fuck are you doing with Noah?” he shouts, taking a step forward.
“I'm her boyfriend.” His eyes widen and I hear a gasp from Sarah. The woman collapses against the side of the car. “I'm going to make you both regret everything you did to her.”
“Let her go, you demon!” the wretch screams.
“If you dare come near us, I'll do worse to you both than I did to that bastard,” I snarl, wanting to smash her head in like I did to the piece of shit inside the car, probably dead.
Gavin looks at his unconscious daughter in my arms but doesn't approach.
He pushes Sarah into the car and then climbs in himself.
The driver starts the engine, and by the time they disappear from sight, I'm already crossing the yard.
There's no way to put her on the motorcycle, so I just start walking with her in my arms through the lit but deserted streets.
I quicken my pace so Gavin won't come after us, even as my body screams with exhaustion.
My hands are aching.
My head is throbbing.
Because nothing matters more than finding somewhere safe for her.
It can't be the trailer because Lilian is in there, completely drunk and high.
I remember the warehouse where the guys and I used to meet up to smoke weed.
Where we threw some underground parties.
It's even closer than the field where the trailers are.
Noah stirs, drowsy.
“I'm going to take care of you, my love,” I promise, and her eyes flutter half-open.
“Br…” she tries to speak, but my name doesn't come out all the way, and she closes her eyes again.
Time seems to slow down as I head toward the warehouse.
The adrenaline starts to fade, leaving only the hot pulse of vengeance.
I'm certain I sent that bastard to hell.
That at least some justice was done.
But I wanted more.
I wanted to make him suffer slowly.
I wanted to watch him writhe in agony in front of me.
I wanted to inflict triple the pain he caused her.
The warehouse appears minutes later when I turn onto the deserted, abandoned street.
There's trash everywhere.
I kick open the iron door and it creaks.
I search the place and find an old mattress in the back.
I lay her down gently and kneel beside her.
“Butterfly,” I call out, but she doesn't respond. “My love, you need to wake up,” I continue, but nothing.
They drugged her.
They used some damn sedative that'll keep her asleep for a while, and all I can do is wait.
I sit on the concrete and stare at my hands.
They're bloodied, swollen, covered in cuts.
I don't care. This is nothing compared to the pain lodged in every cell of my body.
I lower my head and immediately the images from the room come flooding back.
Unable to hold it in, I let the pain mix with the sobs rising from the depths of my soul.
I cry, and for the first time in twenty-four years, I let the pain spill over in tears.
It's not weakness.
It's the painful recognition of just how incompetent I was.
The admission that part of me is to blame for everything that happened.
And the desperation of not knowing what to do next.
Because if she wakes up and remembers, the memory will destroy her completely.
If the abuse happened while she was unconscious, I'll have to tell her what I saw, and then my words will be what destroys her.
There's no scenario that doesn't tear her soul apart.
There's no relief on this hellish night.
There's only raw, excruciating pain.
“Bryan…” Her hoarse voice calls out to me, and I turn to find her blue eyes staring at me. “Whe… where are we?” she stammers, looking around.
“Butterfly…” I choke back the sob lodged in my throat and move closer.
I raise my hand, and her eyes fall on the bruises.
“What…” she says, but falls silent, and I know the memories are flooding back when her eyes go wide and tears automatically start rolling down her cheeks.
I move closer as she sits up.
In seconds, her arms slam into my chest.
And a scream that tears me apart escapes her lips.
It's not a normal scream.
It's the scream of someone who just lived through their worst nightmare.
It's raw, and it tells me with certainty that she knows—that she felt what he did.
I know her tears can't be consoled with empty words, so I let her pour out everything that hurts while I hold her.
Her body trembles and loud sobs escape her.
She gasps and starts coughing uncontrollably.
When she pulls away, I shatter a little more as I watch her turn her head to the side and start vomiting.
Noah lets it all out, crying, while I hold her hair and stay close.
When there's nothing left in her stomach, she looks at me, and her gaze holds nothing but pain and emptiness.
I want to scream, but instead, I gently pull her close and lay her in my lap.
Noah nestles against me like a baby, resting her face on my chest.
She keeps crying.
Breaking apart.
Losing herself in a spiral of pain and agony.