Page 23 of Rise By Sin

“I’m good,” I told him as I pushed my heavy legs from the sofa and swung around so I sat up. A wave of dizziness washed over me but I ushed through it.

“Jack’s right. You need to rest and drink some water,” Mason added as he grabbed my waist, steadying me unnecessarily.

“I said I’m good,” I growled as I slapped at his hands until he released me. “We need to find the guy who stabbed me. He could know where Colt is, or at least who the fuck is chasing him down.”

“Tell me what happened? What the fuck were you doing parking there anyway? It has no lighting. Talk about making it fucking easy for them,” Mason barked at me.

Yeah, he wasn’t wrong and I knew it hadn’t been my best decision, but no way I was admitting to that. Nor was I explaining that I had figured it was a good spot to hide while I drank enough vodka to see me through the evening before I faced him and Jack.

“That bastard jumped me from behind when I got out of my car. He wanted the gun. We scuffled, but he was fast and he got me good in the shoulder. I went down and he got what he wanted.”

“The gun?” Jack questioned and I nodded.

“What gun?” Mason was clearly getting impatient, and was likely pissed about me shoving away his hands when he tried to help me.

“The perp who broke into my place, he dropped his gun before he ran off like a little girl. I grabbed it and bagged it, hoping we’d get prints off it, but I fucking forgot all about it.”

“You forgot?” Mason repeated skeptically.

“It’s my meds. They’re too strong. I find it hard to ficus sometimes,” I admitted.

“And it’s nothing to do with the bottles of vodka you drink at every opportunity?” Mason asked with raised eyebrows. I glared at him hard. “I found the bottle in your car, baby. It was empty. Are you drunk right now?”

“Fuck you!” I hissed.

“We’re not judging you, Ave. You’ve been through a lot, clearly, and you’re still trying to deal with it. We all get that, but turning to drink isn’t the way to handle it and you know it,” Jack intervened.

“Been through a lot?” I scoffed. “You have no idea, Jack, so keep your fucking opinions to yourself!”

“The doc told us, Ava,” Mason said, his tone much more mellow this time, and when I looked to him with horror, I could see he knew. They all fucking knew. “That’s why you left, right? Some psycho attacked you. That’s why Colt got you away so quickly?”

“The doc had no fucking right!” I raged as I forced myself to get to my feet, pushing myself up with my one and only fullyfunctioning limb. My legs were shaky beneath me, but thankfully yht e pain in my back was minimal.

“We know now, love. Might as well just tell us everything,” Jack said softly. Mson was on his feet and hovering close to me, his hands at is side, clearly poised to catch me if he needed to.

“What? Didn’t the doctor tell you all of my fucking business while he was here?” I snapped. I was so angry. That doctor had betrayed me, and broken some oath I was sure. I had never wanted them to know my greatest shame. Not back then, and certainly not now when I was even less of a person.

“It wasn’t his fault. He thought we knew,” Deacon spoke up.

“Why didn’t you just come to us? Why would you keep this from us and run? We loved you Ava. We would have been by your side,” Mason demanded, and I could feel the mix of anger and hurt in his words.

“Loved me?” I laughed dryly as I stumbled to my right and looked around for my stick. I was going to need it to lean on if I was going to make the escape I was desperate to.

“Don’t do that. Don’t pretend you didn’t feel it back then.” Jack moved in my direction as he spoke and I turned on him, filled with bitterness and misplaced rage.

“Of course I fucking felt it!” I yelled so loud I was left gasping. “I wanted you more than I had ever wanted anything, but you guys…you broke my fucking heart!”

“What?” Jack froze several feet before me, looking genuinely confused.

“What are you talking about?” Mason demanded.

“That night…Colt told me,” I uttered as the hurt I had felt of those years ago came back and felt just as blinding as it had all those years before. I had loved them. I’d already imagined my future with the two of them a hundred times over, but that night I had felt so betrayed. “What does it even matter!” I cried as I pulled myself together. “It was a decade ago. Why are we even dragging all of this up? We need to focus on finding my brother!”

“It matters because we still bloody well love you, Ava Scott. We never stopped and we’re not letting you go again,” Jack announced.

“Tell us what Colt told you. Tell us what you think we did,” Mason pleaded as he stepped up to Jack’s side so they were both right before me, waiting so eagerly to hear the answer to his question.

“He…he told me you were with another sub, okay? God, that sounds pathetic now, but I thought…we never agreed, but I just thought we were kind of exclusive, and it hurt when I realized we weren’t. I was just a kid and I….I felt betrayed. Then I heard you with her. I was waiting for a ride and I heard you walking her out, telling her how well she’d done. How could you do that if you really did love me? I know we weren’t in a relationship but I…I thought…” I couldn’t even finish that sentence. I knew how sad and petty I sounded. It had been so long ago and we had all grown up a lot since then, yet I was still whining about it like some heart broken idiot in junior high.

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