Page 17 of Her Avenging Angel

“It’s taken care of.”

Taylynn shook her head. “I dropped those bottles. I need to go clean them up.” She tried to scramble from his lap. He caught her with an arm around her waist.

“Come back here.” He didn’t force her down, but he wasn’t letting her leave either. “I told Dax to clean it up. You were in no state and I want Freud to check you out before you do anything else. Besides, you’ve done enough for today.” He hoped she wouldn’t argue anymore. He hated telling her no, but she needed to rest. Sooner rather than later, the emotional drain of her outburst, not to mention the cost of her physical exertion, would hit. He wanted her with him when it did. He wanted to be able to be there for her when she was too tired to do anything more than lay down and, with any luck, sleep.

He’d spent the last two weeks on the other side of the wall, listening to her cry at night and only knowing that she wouldn’t want him to see her like that had kept him away. Well, that and knowing that if he tried to climb into her bed with her in the middle of the night, she’d likely freak out as badly as she had today. But if he started out with her, either holding her in the chair or stretched out on the bed, he hoped that would be better. He could only pray she would let him lay down beside her when the time came. He wasn’t going to force her to do anything and he thought she knew that but every time she flinched or shied away from him, his chest ached and he wanted to kill every Demon that had ever touched her.

He hadn’t done it. At least not yet. In his mind, they were all slated to die, it was just a matter of when and how. There were a couple who would know why, the others were destined to die just so she wouldn’t have to worry about seeing their faces and being thrown into a memory of them raping her ever again.

Chapter Fourteen

Taylynn lay in Raven’sarms wondering when the other shoe would drop. When would he decide she was too much work and cut her loose. Then she’d be right back where she started, with no job, no home and no prospects, but this time she would be so much worse off because now she was broken. She no longer had the optimistic outlook she once had. No she reminded herself, call it what it was—she no longer had the stupidity to believe that everything would work out. Now she was used. Dirty in a way she’d never felt before, and she wasn’t sure she’d ever feel clean again.

This was the closest she’d come to feeling normal in a long time. Since what she’d come to think of as the before. Before she’d been forced to let an entire club of men do whatever they wanted to her in order to pay off the debt that had already killed her father, not that he was much of a father. Taylynn had long suspected that she’d have been better off without a father than with Jack Higham.

Jack had been an alcoholic with a penchant for gambling. He had lost more than she had ever imagined seeing in her entire life, before going on a drunken bender and wrapping his car around a tree. She hadn’t even had time to deal with the mundane shit that is the result of losing a parent before Ace showed up with his demands for the balance of her father’s debt, then informing her that since she didn’t have the money she’d have to work it off.

Then he’d shown her exactly what he meant by that. In less than a week she was living at the clubhouse, and it wasn’t very long afterwards that she gave up fighting when someone decided it was time for her to make a payment. That was what they said to her. ‘Come make a payment, sweetheart’. She shuddered at the memory but refused to close her eyes or wallow in the images and sounds that kept playing on repeat through her brain.

“Pull yourself out of your head, little one. You’re not there, you’re here. You’re safe. That’s not going to change. I’m here for you. I’ll be here for you as long as it takes.” His arms around her were a constant, steady reminder that she wasn’t alone. Not anymore, but she couldn’t help but wonder how long he would be there? How long until he decided she was too damaged? How long until he got tired of dealing with her shit?

She didn’t know how long until his patience was exhausted. She was just surprised it hadn’t already happened. She’d been there for weeks and she was still doing this shit. Surely they’d get tired of having to walk on eggshells around her.

It wasn’t that she was worried one of them would hurt her, not really. She knew Raven wouldn’t let that happen. Not that any of them had done anything to make her fear them, but Raven was always nearby. What about when he wasn’t there? Now, curled in his arms, she knew she was safe. She knew this wouldn’t last. It couldn’t. That didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate it now.

“You sent for me?” Another man’s voice from not far away made her startle. It only took a moment for her to realize it was Freud. She liked him. He’d been nice and nothing but caring as he’d taken care of her injuries.

“I did. Can you check her arm and make sure she didn’t move anything?”

“Of course. I’ll take a look. If it’s a small move I wouldn’t be able to tell without X-rays, but let me take a look. What happened that we think things might have shifted?”

“I need you to sit up and let Freud take a look at your arm, little one.” Raven gave her a few moments to shift. When she didn’t move, he tilted her up so he could look her in the eyes. She wanted to look away, to refuse to let him see the tear streaks down her face, but he’d seen her look worse, she reminded herself as she forced herself to follow the club medic’s instructions, moving her fingers and watching as he manipulated them while she did her best to ignore what Raven was saying.

“I’m not entirely sure. I was called into main room and found her beating on Dax with both fists.”

“He scared me,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “I panicked. I didn’t realize it was Dax.” She looked down at the floor as her face heated. “I need to apologize to him. I shouldn’t have freaked out like that.”

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