Page 61 of Sacrificing Zoriah

Someone else is rubbing my back. Two people… My men. Huxley is here. I can tell it’s them. Someone else is trying to get my attention, but I can’t completely pull myself out of this daze.

“He knocked the shit out of her. You sure she’s okay?” Vanessa asks.

“She’s been hit harder,” Huxley laughs.

“Did you kink-slap my little sister?” Corbin asks.

“I didn’t. Roman did,” he says. “She’s a little freaky little freak.”

“Always stand behind the woman who laughs when she is smacked,” Lance says. “She’s bound to win.”

“Riah,” Dad says softly. I sit up and wipe my face before getting up to go to him. He stands and wraps me in a warm hug, and I come back to baseline. He pulls after a second and cups my face. “Are you okay?”

“I shot someone,” I say.

“Yeah,” he smiles. “You’re not in trouble, if that’s your concern.”

“Oh… good,” I say.

“We have access to the cameras,” Lance says. “We saw it before Huxley even called us.”

“You… have access to the cameras?” I ask.

“They don’t record,” he says simply.

“But you watch them?” I ask.

“There are two agents assigned to watch them, and we are notified of alarms and loud sounds in the house that could indicate distress,” Vanessa says when Lance doesn’t. I should be upset, but I understand why they are watching them. I find it comical that theyprobablysaw me get fucked, and those other agentsdefinitelydid.

“You saw earlier tonight, didn’t you?” I ask.

“We were notified automatically of loud sounds coming from the master bedroom,” she smiles. “Once we verified there wasn’t a threat, we shut that camera down for a while.”

“Yeah. I don’t believe that for a second. Lance looks traumatized,” Ben laughs.

“I… am a professional man,” he says with a hard nod.

“I should mention that Lance and I graduated high school together,” Roman says. “And he is a liar. I can see it all over his traumatized face.”

“I feel like I’m being left in the dark a lot here,” I frown.

“You are,” Huxley says. “They are trying not to upset you by throwing a lot on you to consider.”

“Roman Tolson, you literally throat-fucked me to the point I threw up… and didn’t even stop. I think I can handle the FBI agent friend seeing me get railed.”

“She has a good point,” Dad shrugs. “Also, that was far more than I needed to know.”

“Haley’s body was found about an hour ago,” Lance says.

“Oh?” I ask.

“Mhmm. Looks like she was torn apart by animals. Her body is in shreds,” he says simply.

“She was never an outdoors kind of person,” I shrug.

“So we’ve heard,” Vanessa says. “Her cause of death will be listed as a possible mauling with no sign of foul play.”

“May she rot in hell,” I say. “What now?”

---