Chapter Thirty-Nine
Walking into the hospital room, my emotions take over instantly, seeing Juni fully awake for the first time since our fight in their trailer. So many things go through your mind seeing someone you love unconscious in a hospital bed.
“Peyton?” Juni’s voice cracks with emotion.
“Juni, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for everything!” My voice starts cracking with so much built-up emotion.
I make my way across the room in only a few steps. I instantly sit down on her bed and wrap my arms around her in a hug so tight she groans slightly in pain. Regret is so heavy in the room, and I feel so ashamed.
“Juni…” is all I can get out before I start full-on sobbing. “Fuck, I’ve never been so thankful to see you finally awake. I was so scared,” I start sniffling.
“It’s okay, Peyton, I’m the one who should be sorry. You begged me to leave, and I was too scared… You begged me to let you and Gavin help me, and I just couldn’t until it was almost too late.”
“Everything's going to be okay now. We have planned everything out. While you're in surgery today, Brenden and I are going to get what you need out of the trailer… so you never have to go back there again.”
“Where am I going to stay? I feel like we would drive each other crazy in your apartment?”
“You're staying with me at my house, Juni. We will have the spare room ready for you by the time you get discharged,” Gavin answers for me. “And you’ll have Charlie for protection while I’m at work,” he adds.
“What all do you want from the trailer? Whatever you don’t already have or what you’ll need, we will get all of that before you get to Gavin’s house.”
“I don’t have much there, the only things I care about would be the SIG Gavin got me… but honestly, I don't know if it’s there or not. His black pullover hoodie is in my closet and my car. And if you have the room, my clothes.”
A few hours have passed by the time two nurses knock on the door. They are here to take Juni and prep her for the surgery. One raises and locks the bedrails as the other unlocks the wheels.
“Mr. Petrov, we will let you know once she’s in recovery and ready for you to join her,” one of the nurses says in an overly nice tone as they leave the room.
“Here, Gavin, I had Brenden grab your shower stuff and fresh clothes. Shower, change your clothes, and get something to eat.” The look I give him leaves no room for argument.
“Thanks, Peyton, for everything,” Gavin says with an exhausted sigh.
“I guess we should go get this over with. Once we leave the trailer, we will get the guest room set up and ready for when you bring Juni home.”
“Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it.”
We say our goodbyes and leave, making our way down the hall.
Brenden’s steps line up effortlessly with mine.
I hate how normal this feels. I know the type of guy he is; this is just convenient and meaningless.
It started that way for me, too, but lately I’ve been feeling differently.
I’ve let him stay over a few times, a huge mistake on my part…
because I like it. I like waking up to his heartbeat with my head on his chest. His big arms wrapped tightly around me like he was afraid I’d disappear in the middle of the night.
But I need to put up my walls; this would affect Juni and Gavin, too.
We both drove here separately, so I start to make my way back to my car. “Where you goin’, Sweet Cheeks? We don’t need to drive separately… If we had to get out of there fast, I would prefer we drive together. Plus, I have more room.”
“Yeah, okay, you have a point, Bren, let me grab my purse and lock my doors.” I take a little longer than I should to grab my purse because I’m stalling, trying to make it look like I’m looking for something.
I finally grab my aviators from the cupholder.
Purse in hand, hitting the lock on my fob, I make my way to Brenden.
Placing my sunglasses on to shield my face as I open the door, I can at least attempt to hide how being close to him actually affects me.
I can see him smirking at me in my peripheral vision as I get myself seated, placing my purse at my feet. I huff.
“Let’s go get this over with, Bren. The thought that he might show up at any time is giving me the fucking creeps.”
“Sweet Cheeks…” Brenden says as he leans over the center console, placing his hand softly but firmly around my throat. “Even if he did show up, he won’t get close enough to you for it to be a worry in that pretty little head of yours,” a smirk sliding into place.
I instantly send daggers his way, even though he can’t see through my sunglasses.
“First of all, jackass, I’m not worried about him hurting me; I’m worried about him hurting you and just causing unnecessary drama.
” Gripping his hand, I scoff as I push it away from my neck.
“Also, don’t give me a hand necklace unless you're actively fucking me. Don’t make me kick your ass. ”
“Oh, Sweet Cheeks, I fucking love it when you get feisty; at least let us get this shit done before you make me fuck the attitude out of you.”
“Your god complex is fucking gross, Bren. You act like I can’t go out and fuck any guy I want. I choose not to...”
His hand ends up around my throat again, but with a tighter grip.
“I don’t fucking share, Peyton, as long as you keep crawling into my bed or we fall into yours, the only cock you will be fucking is mine.
Now shut the fuck up like the good girl I know you can be, and let's get this shit done.” To silence me further, he reaches over enough.
He sinks his teeth into the side of my neck.
“That kinda looks like you belong to someone, doesn’t it, sweet cheeks? ”
The fucking audacity of this motherfucker, my eyes roll back so hard I’m lucky they don’t detach.
He’s lucky I like him enough to keep him around for now; I don’t know how long I’ll let this continue.
I might actually have to fuck someone else to get my point across.
Don’t make me feel like I’m everything to you when I’m nothing.
The turbo's whistle fills the silence as he lazily starts shifting. He’s just sitting there, keeping his eyes on the road, shifting as the RPMs climb.
A plain black fitted t-shirt stretched across his arms and chest, with an all-black hat pulled backward, I have to force myself not to bite my bottom lip.
Asshole. Why do you have to be hot all the damn time?
I space out the rest of the hour-long drive back to the trailer park.
I don’t know how I’m going to feel stepping into the place where I almost lost my best friend.
It’s obviously not survival guilt because we are all still very much alive.
I just can’t explain that pain in my chest that sinks the whole way to my stomach.
I really don’t know how I would have survived losing her to that piece of shit.
I can’t wait until we get her settled, so that we can get this mother fucker in our possession.
Before Gavin has his fun, I am taking a metal baseball bat to his fucking cranium.
He will know what it’s like to beg for life, not that he’s going to get the privilege.
My heart starts racing with excitement. I can’t fucking wait for him to get what he deserves. I think we can all agree on that.
Pulling into the trailer park, my stomach drops once the trailer comes into view.
I shouldn’t have left here that night; I shouldn't have lost my temper either. But when you love someone so much and just want to help them get out of a situation, but they decide against it, it fucking hurts. You don’t think rationally, you explode because you’ve spent months plotting and planning their way out, but also terrified it’s already too late.
Tears start to sting my eyes a little at the thought of the last few days.
Fuck I can’t wait for this shit to be over.
I want us all to be able to live life carefree.
Maybe then I can cut this bullshit off with Bren before I get myself hurt.
If he were serious, I could see us being together.
I don’t do relationships, but at the same time.
I want a man to look at me like Gavin looks at Juni.
I don’t know what their future looks like, but I know for a fact they are in love and need each other to build each other up from the ground up.
I feel Brenden’s large hand land on my knee, pulling me out of whatever dreamland I landed in.
“Hey, Sweet Cheeks…you okay? You started spacing as soon as we pulled in here.” Brenden squeezes my knee again once he has my attention.
“Sorry, yeah, I’m just emotional being back here. I hate that this is what had to happen for us to make up after that fight.”
“That’s valid, take as long as you need. We will go inside when you're ready,” Brenden’s blue eyes bore into mine through my sunglasses.
Taking a deep breath, I sigh, “Let's get this over with. I don’t want to be here longer than needed. I already want to go.”
“All you have to do is point and tell me what to grab. We will have her stuff cleared out faster if we work together.”
As we make our way to the front door, Brenden stops me and pulls a Glock from behind his back. “Stay here at the front door so I can sweep and make sure no one is here.” He disappears into the darkness of the trailer. I can only hear his faint footsteps from where I was told to stay.
He reappears a few seconds later... “It’s clear, no one is here… uh, watch your step, it’s a fucking mess in here, and it might be hard to see, Sweet Cheeks. It’s bloody in there.”
“I didn’t expect it to be anything less... You saw her just like I did.”
Stepping inside, my breath catches. Each step I take inside, I get even more pissed. This fucker deserves every single thing coming his way. How could you fucking do this to someone you’re supposed to love and protect? I fucking hate him.
After grabbing the trash bags, we just start loading things into the Passat. Packing and loading only took maybe half an hour at most; there wasn’t much here. The only thing still missing is the SIG. I found the case still lying on the floor. But I can’t seem to find the gun.
Feeling the anger as it consumes me, before my recollection hits, it’s already happening.
I start smashing anything I can get my hands on.
Grabbing a chair from the kitchen, I throw it forcefully at the TV, smashing the screen.
I pick up the shitty, flimsy coffee table and start smashing it until it’s in pieces at my feet.
Walking into the kitchen, I’m looking for my next target. But the next thing I know, Brenden grabs me and pushes me face down into the kitchen table, his large hand forcing my shoulders to stay down.
“Holy shit, Sweet Cheeks. What the fuck are you doing? I need you to take a deep breath for a second before I let you go.”
Apparently, watching me lose my shit got him excited, if feeling him press himself into my ass is giving any indication.
“You're a troublemaker, Sweet Cheeks, and I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you how fucking hot you are when you’re just letting go… I’m going to need you to let yourself go again, but this time on my cock while I pound you into this fucking table,” he says as he bites down on my ear.
He instantly starts pulling down my thong and leggings.
The clank of him undoing his belt sends a shiver down the whole way through my already trembling body.
Wasting no time, he bends and gets down on his knees behind me.
Putting pressure on my lower back to make me arch farther, I feel his hot breath on the back of my thighs.
Spitting on his two fingers, he shoves them into me, giving me the perfect stretch. He starts spreading my arousal until he’s satisfied. Standing up, he leans until he is pressing me into the table again.
“Remember when I said I’m going to fuck the attitude out of you?” He asks, his hot breath ghosts over the side of my neck.
“Yes, Bren, I remember. It wasn’t even an hour ago.”
“Good, then you'd better hold on.”
Grabbing my hair, he yanks my head back to expose my throat. He starts making small bites along the side of my neck.
“Are you ready for me, Sweet Cheeks?” He asks as he lines us up together. “I’m not sorry for this.”
He forcefully enters me inch by inch. Once he's fully seated, he whispers into my ear, “Open up for me, Sweet Cheeks,” followed by a hard smack to my ass.
As soon as I do, he starts to move.
“You're a fucking brat; you know that? But fuck, I love it when you are. Look at you, taking my cock so well, like it was made just for you to take your frustrations on.”
He lifts my leg onto the table, creating a new angle that has me gasping and seeing stars dance.
Before I can respond, an orgasm is ripping my body in half.
Once we both come down, he turns me to face him, he kicks my legs apart and runs his fingers from my ass to my clit to gather as much of our mess as he can.
His eyes not leaving mine, he shoves his finger into his mouth, sucking off our combined juices.
Grabbing my throat again, I expect him to kiss me, but he spits in my mouth and tells me to swallow what I was given.
“Sorry about that, Sweet Cheeks. I kind of lost control for a second.”
“I have an idea, but I need your help… Go outside to the grilling area and grab me the lighter fluid and the lighter. We are going to burn down this motherfucker.”
Looking down at the ground, my eyes spot Juni’s SIGs under the table on the floor. I feel satisfied with everything that has just happened in the last twenty minutes. I smile at Brenden.
“Let’s light this bitch up and get the fuck out of here.”
“You might really be crazy, Sweet Cheeks, but let’s do it, for Juni,” he says, smiling back at me.
We empty the bottle of lighter fluid, lock the lighter, and throw it onto the floor. Rushing out, I start Juni’s car and get it away from the trailer as fast as I can.
As the flames rise, we drive away as fast as we can. “Arson” by Christian Gates starts playing softly in the background. Burning down that trailer has given me such relief. We have to focus on helping build up Juni and remind her she’s a fucking Phoenix; her hell is now the ashes that built her.