Page 18 of Pulse
Violet leaned against the messy desk, curling her fingers around the edge. “The same man who tried to attack you, he…he didn’t try with me. Ash wasn’t there to protect me from him.”
“What did he do?” I whispered, my heart twisting. I knew what Hammer had in store for me, but Ash had been there to stop it.
“They beat and raped me Ren,” she blurted. “They filmed it and sent the video to Ash. He just…he snapped.”
I knew where this story was leading and it wasn’t to sunshine and rainbows. It went straight to prison for four years. “Oh my god.”
“He-” She seemed to choke on her words.
Suddenly, I understood all the scarring on Hammer’s face. That was Ash’s handiwork. “He almost killed Hammer, didn’t he?”
Violet nodded. “Ash was kicked out of the pro UFC Championship because of it. He snapped, Ren. He almost killed the guy trying to avenge myhonor. They gave him six years for aggravated assault, but he got let out after four.”
I wasn’t sure I understood what I was hearing. “He was days out of prison when he came back here?”
“A few weeks. It was what he wanted. He was wasting away at home.”
God, I didn’t know what to do. Did Dad know where Ash had been this whole time? I doubted it, or else he would’ve done more to keep us apart. I knew Ash didn’t kill Hammer, but where was he now? Why hadn’t he come back to explain himself?
“Where is he now?” I asked. “Why can’t he come?”
“He’s under house arrest,” Violet replied. “I don’t know what happened that night, he won’t talk about it, but we bribed the judge at his hearing and this was as light as he could get off. It was either this or go back to jail.”
“You went to court, but you don’t know what happened?” I scoffed.
“It never went to trial. It was a closed session, so none of it is on public record. Even I don’t know.” From the look on her face, it seemed to cut her up that Ash had been secretive with her too. Well, welcome to the parade.
“I don’t know what you want me to do about it,” I said sullenly. Really, what could I do? It wasn’t as easy as black and white. I couldn’t just choose...
“Ren, he’s closed himself off. He’s just…gone.”
I glanced up at Violet, the sister I never knew existed and the look on her face was nothing short of desperate. She loved Ash unconditionally, that much was clear. She loved him enough to face the woman whose heart he broke. Reign of Terror. Spitfire.
“It’s like he’s given up on trying to live.” She clutched my hands. “Please, you have to come see him. I don’t know what else to do.”
I snatched my hands away. “He broke my fucking heart,” I cried. “I can’t…”
“Please Ren,” she said again. “Please don’t abandon him.”
As the word abandon passed through her lips, I jerked backward, turning my back to her. Fuck her. Fuck him. He was the one who abandoned me. He let his pride and anger drive a wedge between us.
“I think you should leave,” I said thinly, my hands beginning to shake.
“Please,” Violet pleaded. “If you change your mind…” She slipped a piece of paper into my hand like she knew I’d send her packing and I wondered how much Ash had told her about me. The sister he loved enough to almost kill a man…the sister he didn’t care to tell me about.
I crumbled the paper in my fist as she scurried from the office. I’d spent a good six months trying to forget Ash Fuller and in the space of ten minutes, the wound he’d left behind had been torn open and split even further.
I gave Violet a good fifteen minutes to vacate the premises before I ventured downstairs.
“Was that Violet?” Lincoln asked as I pulled my gloves back on.
I frowned, the reality of what the entire world besides me seemed to know tearing me open even further. “You know her?”
“Yeah, she hung around a lot a few years ago. When Ash-” He clamped his mouth shut. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be fucking sorry,” I snapped.
He ran a hand over his face, fidgeting from foot to foot. “He never told you he had a sister, did he?”
“He didn’t tell me a lot of things,” I muttered.
I thought I knew Ash Fuller. I thought I knew what made him tick.
Turned out, I didn’t know a fucking thing.
