Chapter 28 #2
She was already continuing, not paying attention to me. “The mean man told my… Chet that it was his choice whether to-” Her face screwed up as she tried to come up with the word.
Rip’s hand went to my back and he scooted closer until I could see his face. His eyes narrowed as he looked at me, but spoke to her. “Initiate you?” he offered.
Caitlyn smiled. “That’s it. Initiate me. Chet said yes that he wanted both mommy and me to understand what that place was.” She looked up at me and I squeezed her until she gave a happy squeal. “Sloane yelled at the mean man and Chet. Mommy sent me away with some of the other girls.”
A muscle flexed in Rip’s jaw. “Did you take her initiation?” he asked me in a low voice.
I could feel everyone watching me, but I didn’t want the girl to know what we were talking about. It’d been hard enough to keep the girl from realizing what had happened to Sherry, let alone that I’d taken her whipping for her.
“No one would let that happen to a girl that young,” I finally said when Rip kept watching me with an expectant gaze.
“Everyone was,” he said, clearly angry, “except for you.”
“There’s an age limit for a reason,” I said, my eyes flashed up to his then over to Priest’s. “Chet Holden was a fucking asshole.”
A huge smile spread over Priest’s face. “I agree one hundred percent. What does that mean?” he asked, looking between Rip and I. “That you took her initiation for her?”
Jenny stepped forward and picked Caitlyn up, distracting her and the other girls as they left the room. It wasn’t hard to pick up on the fact that this wasn’t a conversation to be had in front of children.
“Nothing,” I said, rising and brushing off my skirts.
Their floors were so neat you could eat a meal off them.
It made me wonder who cleaned this place each day.
Back at the compound it’d been impossible to keep the desert sand out of my home.
I was fussing with my skirts to avoid the question.
I hadn’t done what I did for recognition.
“It means Ethan gave Chet the option of having his kid whipped along with his wife and he chose to do it. Sloane stepped in and took Caitlyn’s whipping so she wouldn’t have to endure it,” Rip said, his face a mask of cold fury.
I flinched when a low angry murmur started up in the crowd around us.
Reaching out, I touched Rip’s arm, unsure exactly what he was angry at.
Ethan and Chet for sure, but was he also mad at me for bringing more harm to myself?
He laid that fear to rest by pulling me into his arms. Resting against his body, I was able to relax again.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” Priest bit out, looking at Rip as if he’d grown another head.
“No. I’m not. That’s how they initiate everyone in there.”
“Usually they wait until the children turn eighteen,” I told him, “but it hadn’t always been that way so Ethan had…experience…whipping children.”
Toxic was standing nearby and he scrubbed a hand over his face, his expression a mix of anger and horror. “I agree with Seek. I wish we could go back and fucking kill them all over again.”
Butcher watched me with almost a sad look in his eyes. “This must be overwhelming for you. Getting out of there. Being brought here. Having to learn a whole new set of rules to live by.” He stepped in closer and stuck his face into mine.
I leaned harder back against Rip, a little uncomfortable at the intensity in the other man’s eyes.
Rip’s arms tightened around me. “Back off, Butcher.”
“I just want Sloane here to know,” he said, staring so hard into my eyes I swore he could see my soul, “that no one will ever do what they did to her again. I’ll fucking dismember them if they try.”
Muscles that had tensed up when he’d gotten close, melted like butter.
He was making a declaration of protection for me and it was so incredibly kind.
Tears filled my eyes. Before Riptide no one, other than my mother, had cared enough about me to want to protect me.
The only people in The Order who had cared had been weaker than me.
I’d been their protector. No one ever offered that to me until the day Rip demanded he take a beating for me.
Now his family was piling around me, each of them vowing to keep me safe. There was no holding back the tears.
“You’d have to get to them before me, Butcher,” Rip said, but he held out a hand and they shook.
Seek smiled at me and wrapped her arms around me and Rip. “See?” she whispered, making me smile. “This is family. We’ll do anything we can to keep you safe and happy.”
Eventually, everyone started filing out of the area, until we were left with just Priest and Lockout.
Rip still had his arms protectively around me and I was so grateful for the comfort.
My back was to his chest and it felt like he was the only thing holding me up after that emotional display of his family accepting me fully.
“Thank you,” Priest said, voice gruff. “Caitlyn is my daughter now and I couldn’t love her any more than I do. Knowing what you did for her… I’m in your debt.”
“There’s no debt owed,” I told him. “I would never have allowed that to happen to her. I’m so happy to see that she has such a loving family now. Sherry would be happy, too.”
Priest gave Rip a questioning look, then leaned forward and kissed my cheek. He left without another word, going upstairs to his family.
Lockout gave me a smile. “You’ve got an entire motorcycle club full of champions now, Sloane. We’re so glad to have you as a part of our family.”
He left before I could say anything. Not that I would have voiced my worries about whether Rip would want to remain married to me. That was a conversation that needed to happen between just the two of us.