Chapter 13
Sloane
Ipeeked into the office where my new husband was working. His head was down, shaggy hair concealing the side of his face while he tapped away on his computer.
This was the perfect time to go collect my things from the hidey hole I had in my house. I needed to get it out of there before they assigned the house to someone else and I couldn’t get to it.
It was easy to slip quietly from my new home and I kept my head down as I hurried across the compound.
I had an empty container with a lid that would hold the things I’d squirreled away over the years.
It would probably take me a few trips. I just hoped no one would notice.
If they did, I’d just claim that I’d forgotten some things.
The house was quiet and empty when I got there.
Even though I knew Mae and the girls wouldn’t mind me coming to get the rest of my things, I didn’t want them to see what I had.
It would put them in danger. If Ethan ever found my stash anyone who knew about it would be punished.
Or worse. My thoughts strayed to my mother.
I wasn’t about to let that happen to my girls.
Unlike the others, my girls had a tendency to think and ask questions. They were too smart for their own good, so I’d just never told them about my plans. I couldn’t bear to watch them punished. Beaten. All because of what I was doing.
I used my body to move my former bed away from the wall.
There was the shelf I’d built that was hidden by the frame.
I loaded the most important things first and then placed clothes on top—in case anyone looked inside—before putting the lid back on.
One more trip would do it. I might have been able to fit it all in this tub—it was fairly large—but then I would have trouble hiding it.
As soon as I stepped out of the house, I heard crying.
My heart clenched in my chest. I cast a look back toward Rip’s house and nibbled on my lip.
It would be in my—and my new husband’s—best interest if I minded my own business.
Whoever was in distress certainly wasn’t mine to worry about, or so the different men of this community had tried to tell me over the years.
But I couldn’t leave them to their fate.
I didn’t have it in me to ignore someone who was hurt or in trouble.
I dropped my tote on the side of the house and made my way through the little back alleys between the houses until I found what I was looking for.
Leaving my tote of goods was an itching worry in the back of my mind, but as soon as I found Mae struggling in the dirt beneath one of the single men here in the cult, anger snapped inside of me.
With a warrior’s cry, I launched myself at his back. I didn’t even know who it was, but it didn’t matter. Mae’s desperate eyes had met mine and I’d seen the plea for help.
The man let out a startled cry and he shoved to his feet, toting me around like a rag doll on his back. I scratched his face with the nails of my free hand while I held on with the other. He was like a bucking bronco.
“Run!” I gasped at Mae.
Her eyes widened and she struggled to get to her feet. Her blouse was ripped down the front and she had bruises from her cheeks down to her waist.
The man turned his head and snarled at me and my heart dropped to see that it was Barclay. He was as mean as a rattlesnake and almost as dumb. “You stupid, bitch! It’s my right!”
I ducked my head down against his back when he reached behind him.
He still managed to grab a hold of my hair and soon dragged me down off his back.
Pain splintered through my skull. I wasn’t a fighter.
Wasn’t strong. My desperation to keep these women safe was the only thing that allowed me to fight back.
He shoved me, sending me sprawling into Mae, knocking us both to the ground with twin cries of pain.
“I’ll do whatever the fuck I want with her!” he bellowed.
Inching backward in a crabwalk, I tried to keep Mae behind me. “She doesn’t want anything to do with you, Barclay.” My voice shook a little. It was hard to stay calm when there was murder there in his eyes.
A small crowd was forming. I saw Tilly help Mae up and then disappear with her. At least they were safe. A boot landed against my ribs, causing the breath to whoosh out of my body. Agony blurred my vision and I curled in on myself. I’d be lucky if Barclay didn’t kill me.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw his leg cock back again and I curled in tighter on myself.
After he kicked me—if I was able—I was going to hit him in a man’s sensitive area and run.
It was my only chance. It would mean I’d end up getting a formal beating from Ethan later, but at least with that it would be regulated.
He wouldn’t kill me. At least not in front of the others.
He never took the women’s beatings as far as he did the men’s.
My eyes popped open when I heard the roar of a pissed off animal. What kind of beast would have gotten past the fence and into our compound?
The kick never came. The animal was Rip. He’d tackled Barclay mid-kick and was sitting on top of him raining down punches like he wanted to drive the other man into the ground like a stake.
Janice and Audrey ran over and helped me get to my feet. “I got him as soon as we saw Barclay throw you off his back,” Audrey told me, motioning to my out-of-control husband.
“We have to stop him,” I gasped, my ribs throbbing with every shaky step I took. My hand landed on Rip’s shoulder and I yelled, “Stop! Please!”
The glare he shot at me withered my soul, but as soon as he realized it was me the look softened. He was holding the front of Barclay’s shirt, fist held back, about to bring it down on the other man’s face again.
“They’ll kill you if you kill him,” Janice said quickly when I couldn’t catch my breath.
“He shouldn’t have touched my wife.”
“She attacked me!”
I glared down at Barclay and pushed past the pain from my ribs. “You attacked Mae!”
“It’s my right to sleep with her,” Barclay argued.
Rip’s lip lifted in disgust at the man’s words. “Why the fuck do you think you have a right to sleep with someone who doesn’t want you?”
“The older women are ours,” Barclay explained. His hands were up, as though to shield his face. Rip had just beaten the hell out of him easily enough. We all knew his hands wouldn’t protect anything if Rip decided to keep going. “Ethan lets us have them.”
“What do you mean?” If I thought Rip looked like a wild animal before, he looked rabid and murderous now. Barclay’s confession was making things worse.
“Ethan lets us have the older women who aren’t married,” he said again.
Rip looked at me for more of an explanation.
“He’s right,” I said with a sigh. “The women who aren’t married, but are over a certain age are given to the single men and widowers of the community to…
satisfy them. It keeps them away from the young girls.
” Barclay’s wife had died in childbirth.
I wasn’t sure if it was a mercy, or not, considering she’d been married to such an awful man.
“Even if they don’t want to sleep with them?” Rip asked.
I bit my lip. It was one of the awful realities of living here. Those poor women were raped to keep the young unmarried girls and the married women safe. “Yes,” I whispered.
Rip’s eyes narrowed on my face as he digested that news. If he was anything like me, it would fester and rot in his gut.
“It’s not right,” Audrey said, voice and eyes fierce.
“It’s not,” I agreed. “I always help hide the women away when they need it. Or interfere like I did today.”
“Trouble making bitch,” Barclay muttered.
Rip dragged the man up until their faces nearly touched. “You say anything like that to my wife again and I’ll fucking bury you.”
“What’s going on here?”
Barclay winced, though I wasn’t sure if it was from Rip’s threat or Ethan’s booming voice. A large crowd had gathered now and I looked around in desperation. I didn’t want Rip to get into trouble because of me. Yet, here we were.
Someone nearby was speaking to Ethan. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but judging by the hand gestures, they were explaining what had happened. I didn’t bother to go tell my side. By now I’d learned that no one would listen, especially not Ethan.
I held out my hand for Rip to take and warmth filled me when he did. I didn’t know if I could trust him fully, but for the first time in my life, I felt safe. This wild animal wouldn’t hurt me. He’d protected me.
Rip stood up, leaving Barclay in the dirt. The other man’s face was a mass of bruises and blood. I didn’t feel sorry for him in the least.
“You attacked Brother Barclay?” Ethan wasn’t asking, he was accusing me.
“She was helping another woman of our community,” Rip cut in.
I remained quiet, but knew that wasn’t going to appease Ethan. Sure enough, anger clouded Ethan’s face.
“You may be new to our rules, Brother Derek, but I assure you, Sister Sloane knows each and every rule she broke here today. Sister Sloane, why don’t you inform your husband of them. Now.”
Rip wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into the warmth and safety of his body. It didn’t matter that my heart hurt nearly as much as my ribs, I forced myself to answer. “I disobeyed a man of the community. I spoke back to him. I attacked him.”
“There are probably a few more in there,” Ethan stated, “but you get the idea, Brother Derek.” Ethan circled us like a shark.
My head turned, following the movement. I didn’t like letting him get behind me. That was when he liked to attack the most. I wanted to see the punishment coming. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Barclay with a huge bloody grin on his face.
“Sister Sloane will take her punishment and then we won’t speak of this anymore.”
“No.”
My eyes widened and I tensed in Rip’s hold. He couldn’t say no. Could he?
Ethan stopped in front of us, his eyes narrowed dangerously. “What did you say, Brother Derek?”
My husband was calmer now, but looking into his eyes I could see he was no less dangerous than a minute before. He was cold and calculating. His next words were very deliberate. “I’ll take my wife’s punishment. You said it was my responsibility to keep her under control. I’ll take her punishment.”
A slow smile crept over Ethan’s face. “You’re already going to have your own punishment for breaking the rules, Brother Derek. There’s no need for you to take-”
“I’ll take her punishment as well, My Lord.” Rip insisted, staring straight ahead.
“So be it. Go to the dais.” Ethan walked away without another word. It was easy to see he was pissed, which meant this was going to be an especially hard punishment.
“No,” I whispered, clutching Rip’s shirt. “You can’t. Your back.”
He grabbed my hands, pulling them off his shirt. He looked down at me and there was softness there in his eyes again. “Go home, Sloane. There’s no reason for you to watch this.” He dropped my hands and strode away toward the stage in the middle of our little town.
Janice and Audrey hurried over to me and wrapped their arms around me. Tilly ran up. “I didn’t know where to hide Sister Mae, but Brother Derek said to leave her at your house.” She looked at all our dismayed faces. “What’s happening?”