Page 43 of Living Without

“Dad,” Josh mumbled. “You taught Nary and me we stick up for each other and our family. No one fucks with us, but especially no one fucks with Hawks. I’m eighteen. I ain’t fifteen any longer. If I’m reaching for the dark, I want to. Hell, I’d be glad to because… he touched her, he messed her up. Anyone can see it, and right now, I’m listenin’ to how much anguish is inside her. WhatIcouldn’t live with is if I sat back and done nothin’.”

Stoke studied his son’s face. After a while, he nodded. “Okay, you come with us when it happens.”

Josh reached up, his own hand going to the back of his dad’s neck where he pulled and their foreheads hit. “Family first.”

“Family first,” Stoke repeated.

The bathroom door opened and Malinda walked out. Once she closed it behind her, she faced her husband and took a few steps towards him before her face crumbled. Stoke was in front of her in seconds. As Josh and I stood, Stoke wrapped his woman up in his arms.

“Not yet, love. Wait until she can’t hear. Not yet,” he whispered into Malinda’s hair. Her whole body shook with silent sobs.

“Declan.” Her voice broke on a whisper, and she gripped her man tighter. “T-they touched her, hurt her, s-starved her. My baby, my girl, went through hell. It’s too much. It hurts too much. I-I, oh, God.”

My hands came up and gripped my hair. I closed my eyes as her words penetrated my mind.

Jesus Christ.

Fuck.

Shit.

Malinda let out a shuddering breath, tilted her head back, and said, “She wants to tell her side. She wants to get it over with.”

Stoke turned to Josh and ordered, “Get Talon and Dodge. No one else.”

Josh wiped his palm down his face and nodded, leaving the room quietly.

“Love,” Stoke began, and when he had his woman’s eyes, he went on, “Need you to go to the girls. But fuck, love, I wanna be there for you.”

“Don’t,” she said, shaking her head. “Be there for our girl. Later you’re going to have to help me.” Her eyes came to me. “You take care of her also.”

“Always,” I clipped.

She smiled sadly. “I know, honey.” With one last lingering hug and a quick lip touch from her man, she walked from the room.

Stoke sat back on the bed, his head in his hands. “Fuck me.” He raised his head and looked to me. “You sure you wanna hear this?”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I leant back into the wall and said, “Everything. So I know where I have to take care and be cautious.”

The bathroom door opened and Nary with her long, wet hair walked out dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved top. Her feet were bare. I went to my side table and grabbed some socks. Turning around, Stoke was already in front of her whispering somethin’ to her, his hands cupping her cheeks. I let them have their moment, and when I saw them done, after he brought her into a hug, I went to them. Nary’s eyes hit mine first and then Stoke’s. I held out the socks and said, “Put them on.”

She nodded and moved back, going to the bed to sit down. My bedroom door opened then. Talon walked in first, followed by Dodge, and then Josh.

“Josh,” Nary called. I watched as she caught her brother’s eyes and then shook her head.

“Nary—”

“Please. Please, Josh, for my sake. I can’t have my baby brother in here for this. It’s bad enough with Stoke and…” Her eyes flicked to me for a second, and then they went back to her brother. “Please.”

He sighed. “Okay.” Josh walked from the room, closing the door behind him. Stoke moved to sit next to Nary on the end of the bed. Dodge went to the only lounge chair I had and sat. Talon pulled out the chair at my desk and lowered himself into it. So I went and sat on the floor, leaning back against the wall closest to my woman.

Stoke, probably knowing his girl like I did, leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees so she didn’t have his eyes through what she was about to say. I shifted mine from her to the floor.

“I would like to only say this once please, and then… I need to forget. I need to live.”

She waited, and it was Talon who replied with, “Of course.”

She sucked back a big gulp of breath and started, “When they took me, I was tasered so I wouldn’t know the destination. I woke to a dark room. I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face. It was there I met Kelsey. She’d been stuck in that room for eight months. She told me Baxter kept her for himself.” Her voice quieted, and she whispered, “The things he did to her… She would come back to me beaten and with blood between her legs. She wanted to die and…” I moved to sitting at her legs where I took her hand. She sniffed, and I caught her nod before my eyes went back to the floor. “I wanted to die at the end. I was weak, where Kelsey was there for longer and what she’d—”

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