Chapter Twenty-Three
Faith
The second I heard Hope’s bedroom door slam shut, I walked down the porch steps while Zeke stood stock-still, his body still radiating with anger. Standing before him, he refused to look at me as I waited, saying nothing.
“I’m sorry, Faith. I didn’t mean it.”
“That’s no excuse and you fucking know it.
” My once controlled, level-headed voice now seemed deeper, darker as I clenched my fist and glared at my brother.
“How dare you talk to her that way? Of all the sisters, you know damn well Hope is the sensitive one. She takes everything to heart. You destroyed her, Ezekiel. More than anyone could have. She looked up to you. Respected you. Loved you, and you just shit on her.”
“I know.”
“No, I don’t think you do, because what you just said, what you just called her was the worst fucking thing you could have ever done to her.
She’s not like us, Ezekiel. She can’t handle the darkness of this world like we can.
She sees the good in people. Does that make her na?ve?
Possibly. But it’s our job to protect her, and calling her a fucking whore is not protecting her! ”
Zeke flinched like I’d struck him, his jaw working as he stared at the gravel driveway. His hands were still clenched into fists at his sides, his shoulders rigid with tension that hadn’t dissipated even after the truck ride home.
“I was angry,” he said, his voice low and rough. “I saw them together, Faith. I saw what they were doing, and I just—”
“You just what?” I stepped closer, forcing him to look at me. “You just decided to punish her for being human? For wanting something for herself? For falling in love?”
“Love?” He barked out a bitter laugh. “She doesn’t know what love is. She’s twenty-eight years old, and she’s never—”
“Never what? Never been with a man before Chapman?” I cut him off, my voice sharp as a blade. “She gave herself to him a few weeks ago out at the pond, Zeke. I was the one who bathed her the morning after. I saw the blood.”
Zeke’s face went pale, his eyes widening with shock. “What?”
“You heard me.” I crossed my arms over my chest, holding his gaze. “Hope was a virgin when Chapman took her to that pond. She gave him everything. Her body, her trust, her heart.”
“Jesus Christ.” Zeke ran a hand through his hair, his breathing ragged. “I didn’t—I didn’t know that.”
“Of course you didn’t know. Because you didn’t ask.
You didn’t talk to her. You just assumed the worst and threw it in her face in front of all of us.
” I could feel tears burning behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
Not yet. Not when Zeke needed to hear this.
“Do you have any idea what you just did to her?”
“I was trying to protect her.”
“By comparing her to Shirley?” My voice rose, echoing across the quiet farmyard. “By calling her a club whore in front of all of us? That’s your idea of protection?”
Zeke’s face crumpled, and for the first time since he’d arrived home, I saw genuine remorse in his eyes. “I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did.” I stepped even closer, close enough to see the guilt etched into every line of his face. “You meant every word, Zeke. You were angry, and you wanted to hurt her, and you knew exactly what would cut the deepest. You knew that comparing her to Shirley would destroy her.”
“Faith—”
“No. You’re going to listen to me now.” I poked him hard in the chest, my finger jabbing against the leather of his cut.
“Hope has spent her entire life trying not to be like Mom. Every single choice she’s made—staying home instead of going out, building her business instead of chasing men, keeping herself pure and waiting for something real—all of it was because she was terrified of becoming what Shirley was. ”
Zeke’s jaw clenched, but he said nothing.
“She watched Mom go from man to man, club to club, always looking for someone to love her and never finding it. She watched Mom get used and discarded and called names behind her back. And she swore she would never be that woman.” My voice cracked, and I had to pause to steady myself.
“And then you—her own brother, someone she trusted more than anyone—you called her the one thing she’s been running from her whole life. ”
“I know.” Zeke’s voice was barely above a whisper. “I know, Faith. I fucked up.”
“You did more than fuck up.” I wiped at my eyes, angry at the tears that were finally spilling over. “You broke her, Zeke. You took the one person in this family who still believed in goodness and love and hope, and you shattered her. In front of Charity. In front of Joy. In front of me.”
Zeke turned away, his shoulders shaking.
When he spoke again, his voice was thick with emotion.
“I saw them together, Faith. I saw her on top of him. He was inside her, and I just—I lost it. All I could think about was the Golden Rule and what Reaper would do to him and what it would mean for the family and—”
“And you took it out on Hope instead of dealing with your own shit.” I grabbed his arm, forcing him to turn back and face me.
“Chapman isn’t Malachi, Zeke. He’s a good man and you fucking know it.
This isn’t about the club or the rules or any of that.
This is about you being so goddamn terrified of losing control that you lashed out at the one person who didn’t deserve it. ”
“She broke the rules.”
“She fell in love!” I shouted, my voice breaking.
“She fell in love with a man who’s grieving and broken and trying to find his way back to the light.
She gave herself to him because she wanted to, because she chose him, because for the first time in her life she felt something real. And you punished her for it.”
Zeke’s face was wet now, tears streaming down his cheeks unchecked. “I didn’t want her to get hurt.”
“Well, congratulations. You hurt her worse than Malachi ever could.” I let go of his arm and stepped back, suddenly exhausted.
“You know what the worst part is? She would have forgiven him if he had walked away. She would have understood if he chose the club over her. But you? Her own brother? Calling her a whore in front of her family?” I shook my head.
“I don’t know if she’ll ever forgive you for that. ”
The silence that followed was deafening. Zeke stood there, his face ravaged by guilt and grief, his hands hanging uselessly at his sides. Behind us, I could hear the faint sounds of Charity crying on the porch, Joy’s soft voice trying to comfort her.
“What do I do?” Zeke asked finally, his voice raw. “How do I fix this?”
“I don’t know if you can.” I looked up at Hope’s bedroom window, where the curtains were drawn tight against the morning sun.
“She’s in there right now, scrubbing her skin raw, trying to wash him off.
Trying to convince herself that she’s not like Shirley.
That she’s not dirty or used or worthless.
And every time she closes her eyes, she’s going to hear your voice calling her a club whore. ”
Zeke made a sound like a wounded animal, his hand coming up to cover his face.
“You want to protect her?” I asked quietly.
“Then you start by understanding what you just took from her. You took her sense of safety. Her trust in family. Her belief that she was worth more than what men could take from her body.” I paused, letting the words sink in.
“And you did it in front of her sisters. The people she’s supposed to be able to count on no matter what. ”
“I’m sorry.” Zeke’s voice was muffled behind his hand. “God, Faith, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t tell me. Tell her.” I turned toward the house, then stopped. “But not today. Today, you let her be. You let her process what you did. And you figure out how the hell you’re going to make this right.”
“What about Slaughter?” Zeke asked, his voice steadier now. “Reaper and Ghost are on their way. They’ll be here in a few hours.”
“What about him?”
“The Golden Line-Up—”
“Is between him and the club.” I met Zeke’s eyes, my voice hard.
“But if you think for one second that Hope is going to stand by and let you beat that man to death, you’re delusional.
She loves him, Zeke. And after what you just did to her, she’s going to fight for him harder than she’s ever fought for anything in her life. ”
Zeke’s expression shifted, something like fear flickering across his face. “She can’t interfere with club business.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have made it personal.
” I started walking toward the house, then paused on the bottom step.
“You know what Hope told me once? She said the reason she never dated MC guys was because she didn’t want to be like Mom.
Always waiting for a man who would never choose her over the club. ”
“Faith—”
“Chapman chose her, Zeke. He knew the rules. He knew what it would cost him. And he chose her anyway.” I looked back at my brother, seeing him clearly for the first time in years.
Not the protective brother, not the badass intel officer, but a scared man who had just destroyed something precious because he couldn’t control his own fear.
“That’s more than any man ever did for Shirley.
And if you can’t see the difference, then you’re more lost than I thought. ”
I climbed the porch steps, past Charity and Joy, who were huddled together on the swing, their faces pale and tear-streaked. Joan stood in the doorway, her arms crossed, her expression unreadable.
“Is he okay?” she asked quietly.
“No.” I glanced back at Zeke, who was still standing in the driveway, his head bowed, his shoulders shaking. “But he will be. Eventually.”
“And Hope?”
I thought about my sister upstairs, alone in the bathroom, trying to scrub away the shame that Zeke had poured over her like acid.
Thought about the way she looked at Zeke when he called her a whore, like he had destroyed her entire world.
Thought about the way she had run past us on the porch, her face crumpled with devastation.
“I don’t know,” I muttered honestly. “But I’m going to make sure she knows she’s not alone.”
Joan nodded, stepping aside to let me pass. “Balthazar called. He will be here by noon.”
“Good.” I paused in the doorway, looking back at the driveway where Zeke was finally moving, walking slowly toward his motorcycle. “Maybe he can talk some sense into Zeke’s thick skull.”
“And if he can’t?”
I thought about Hope’s face when she whispered that she loved Chapman. Thought about the way she claimed him in front of everyone at the Diamondback clubhouse. Thought about the strength it had taken for her to give herself to a man who called her by another woman’s name.
“Then Hope will,” I said quietly. “Because that’s who she is. She sees the good in people, even when they can’t see it in themselves. Even when they don’t deserve it.”
I walked inside and climbed the stairs to Hope’s room.
The bathroom door was still locked, but I could hear the shower running, could hear the faint sound of her crying beneath the spray as I sat down on the floor outside the door, my back against the wall, and waited.
Because that was what family did. We waited.
We listened. We held each other when the world fell apart.
And when Hope finally emerged, I would be there.
Just like I had always been. Just like I always would be.
Just like she was there for me when I needed her most.
Even if it meant standing between her and every person who tried to hurt her.
Even if it meant standing between her and Zeke.
Even if it meant watching the family I loved tear itself apart over a man who had broken the Golden Rule. Because Hope was worth fighting for, and I would be damned to Hell if I let anyone, the club, our family, or otherwise, make her forget that.