Page 72 of Lesson In Forgiveness

Jasper was already taking action, assessing his sister like she was just another soldier. In a way, she was—she’d sustained her injuries in one hell of a battle. She’d won, but it had cost her. “They tried to strangle her with a fucking chain.”

Grit shifted to the side, giving his friend easier access. “Tried and failed.”

“Hmmm.” Dragging pads and bandages from the box, Jasper began binding the deep slices in her arms. “How long have you been fucking my sister, Grit?”

His mouth dropped open. “Ah… what?”

One white-blond eyebrow arched sharply as those arctic blue eyes bore into Grit’s. “Gonna lie to my face? Tabitha’s known for being crazy as a rat in a trap, and she can’t stand being touched by anyone. But you… she’s at her lowest point, where all her vulnerabilities are laid wide open, and she lets you hold her without so much as clawing your face off.”

Oh boy, this was about as awkward as it got, Grit thought. Running his tongue around his teeth, praying they’d stay exactly where they were, he nodded. “I haven’t slept with her in the Biblical sense. We’ve been getting to know each other, and working on… desensitizing her aversion to being touched.”

“That’s a fancy way of saying you’ve had your hands all over my sister.”

He thought about how she’d fought him just the night before, the trust she’d given him. He wasn’t going to abuse that trust by blabbing to her brother. “What I have or haven’t done is none of your business, Jasper. Maybe I overstepped the line by not telling you I was getting involved with Tabitha on a personal level, but I’m not going to betray her confidence.”

“Hoes before bros?”

“Did you really just call your sister a ho?”

The sadist grimaced. “Shit. No, I did not. If she ever asks, that’s a hell no, I did not.” Wounds bandaged, a stethoscope was the next item selected from his bag of tricks. “Lungs are clear. I’ll give her something to ease the inflammation in her throat when we get back.” He began palpitating her abdominal area carefully. “Sometimes I wonder how Anarchy puts up with me, knowing what I am, what I’ve done. How she can love me so effortlessly despite everything.”

“Because you show her every day that you’re not the man you were raised to be?” Grit lifted his shoulder, his gaze keen on the press of Jasper’s fingertips into Tabitha’s belly.

“Maybe. Taking on a project of this magnitude with Tabitha… it could pull you in, Grit. Deeper than you might like. She’s not me; she didn’t get away from Dominic and step out of the life. She went off on her own and acquired her own agenda.” A frown marred his brow. “Sometime in the last few hours, she brutally murdered five men and left their bodies in an apartment she kept secret using an assumed name. Those kinds of habits don’t break easily; is that something you can live with?”

“She doesn’t do anything without a reason, J. We don’t know the whole story yet, but she said she was suckerpunched. Five men against one small woman screams ambush to me, which means she acted in self-defense. I can live with that.” He held up his hands, spreading his fingers wide. “Does it bother me she sneaks off and strings some poor bastard up by his balls while she toys with her kill? Not really, not when I know she’s out there, picking and choosing her victims with a specific criteria. If you ask me, pedophiles get what they deserve if they fall on her radar. My hands aren’t all that clean, don’t forget. I have blood on them, as thick as what she wears.”

“Good answers. Two for two so far.” Jasper examined the rest of her competently. “No one would blame you for walking away, if that worries you. I know how whacky she can get.”

“Is that a subtle suggestion?”

“No. Honestly, I think—I hope—you’ll be good for her. She needs someone she can rely on even when the crazy takes over. If that hasn’t scared you away, I don’t know what will.”

Grit chuckled. “Not planning on being scared off. I’m starting to think I’m in it for the long haul.”

“All right then. Do I need to issue the standard big brother threat?”

“I’ve got the gist of it.”

“Perfect. Help me roll her over so I can take a look at her back.”

Between them, they turned her on her side. Jasper ran his fingers over the livid bruising and welts, his expression fluctuating until it became a solid mask of fury. “This is going to ground her for a while. Extensive bruising, front and back. There’s some rigidity to her stomach which could indicate internal bleeding. Time to pack up and head out.”

“Hospital?” He could only imagine the sheer carnage she would wreak if she woke up in the ER. Padded cuffs and psych exams would be the least of her problems.

“I’ve got a state of the art medical facility at my disposal,” Jasper reminded him. “Technically, I’m not a doctor, but I can handle anything up to a brain tumor. Aside from that, Tabitha’s never done well with doctors. Not after Rita.”

“You kept tabs on her?”

“No, I didn’t know anything about her until the showdown with Dominic. When it became clear she was planning on sticking around, I asked my brothers about her, did some digging. Ashford, however, has many tabs.”

Ashford was the dick who’d sent Tabitha running to Grit’s bathtub, hollow and haunted, because of his big mouth. The one whose face Grit wanted to pound into a bloody mess for causing her the kind of pain she didn’t recover from easily.

Tabitha’s clothes were ruined; they’d have to be incinerated. The motel’s clientele might not notice a woman being secreted from a room half-naked, or even care, but knowing his luck, someone would notice, care, and report it to the police.

Grit bundled her limp body into the duvet, wrapping her up so only her face remained uncovered. “She’s not being locked in a cell, Jasper. I don’t care what Atticus’s orders are, I don’t give a shit if you think it’s necessary. No cuffs, no drugging her stupid, no treating her like she’s a homicidal maniac.”

Jasper shot him an amused look as he repacked the med kit. “Five dead men in an apartment with her DNA all over them, brother.”

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