Page 16 of The Saviors: Part Two
I pull back. “You should have gone after them!”
“Shhhh,” Sean soothes. “Ghost, Lex, D, Banger, Caden, and Nik went.”
“Gavin?” I whisper, and just from the look on Sean’s face, I know that it’s not good. “Please tell me he’s not dead, Sean.” He fought like hell to save me.
“No. But he’s on a ventilator. He’ll pull through this, Gorgeous. Gavin’s strong as fuck.”
“I don’t know how much more I can take.” More tears splash down my cheeks, and Sean wipes them away.
“Did he hurt you?” I shake my head, and Sean’s eyes narrow. “I see your chest, Chelsea. Did he hurt you anywhere else?” I know what he’s asking, but he can’t seem to get the word out of his mouth. He’s asking if Brady raped me.
“No.” I lay my head against his shoulder. “Can we please talk about everything later?”
“Later,” he promises.
All I can hope for is that we actually have a later.
* * *
The restof the ride back to Forest Grove is quiet. When we pull into the driveway at the guys’ house, I turn to look at Sean. “We weren’t sure if your house was bugged. Baxter and Roland are still keeping an eye on the place.” Van gets out, opens my door, and I give Sean a look when Micah opens his. “Later,” he says again.
My heart sinks when I watch Micah help Sean out and is holding up most of Sean’s weight. What the hell is going on? Van puts a gentle hand on my back and leads me into the house. When I get to the living room, Evie jumps from the couch and comes toward me but stops short of hugging me.
“It’s okay,” I smile. “I could use a girl hug.”
Evie wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me into her body. I can’t stop the tears from flowing, and she squeezes me tighter. “If you ever need to talk, I’m here,” she whispers. “I know what it feels like.”
“Help me get him upstairs,” Micah says to Van, and my head snaps up. Van wraps Sean’s other arm around his shoulders, and they slowly go to the stairs.
I look back at Evie, and she smiles sadly. “You need to talk to him. Why don’t you take a shower? Are you hungry?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think I can eat right now.”
She hooks her arm through mine and leads me through the house to a spare bedroom. She digs through a bag and hands me some clothes. “I got some clothes from your house. And if you get hungry, I’ll make Micah fix you something.”
“Thank you,” I say gratefully. I want nothing more than to get clean and cuddle with Sean until the rest of the guys get here. “Have you heard from the others?”
“They’ve had to stop a few times because…of something. I have a question.” I already don’t like the look on her face. “Les sent Doc Sorenson here to help with injuries. Do you need to see him before you shower?” She grabs my hands. “Did he rape you, Chelsea?”
I squeeze her hands reassuringly. “No. He didn’t. But I do have a cut that I need him to look at.”
“Oh, thank God.” She jerks me into her arms again. “I’ve been so worried about you.”
“About me?” I just met her right before any of this happened, and although we had a good time, it wasn’t friend status, no matter how relieved I was to see her face when I walked in.
“Yes. Us girls have to stick together with the number of men we drown in daily.” That shocks a laugh out of me, and then the tears start again.I can’t do this again.Brady can’t turn me into the sniveling coward I was before. “Go take a nice long shower.”
She ushers me into the adjoining bathroom and shuts the door softly. I turn the water on as hot as I can stand it and strip out of this stupid nightgown that Brady made me wear. When I’m naked, I stare at myself in the mirror. My hair is a matted mess, I’m covered in dirt from running, there’s a gash on my leg where the tree branch stabbed me, and the cut across my chest. I run my finger across it, pissed that he got me again. I was already covered in them because of him, and he gave me another one right when I was beginning to heal.
I step into the shower and let the water wash over me. Letting it wash away the dirt, the feelings of Brady’s hands on me, the self-doubt, and most of all, the shame. He had me for four days, and I already turned into the scared girl I was before. Not the woman that I’ve built myself up to be.
I grab the shampoo and am grateful that I see conditioner sitting there too. I wash and condition my hair quickly, then my body. I scrub until I’m red and raw, but I don’t feel clean. His words are still assaulting me left and right like he’s standing right here with me. I let out a scream of frustration and sink to my ass in the shower.
I hear the door bust open. “Chelsea?” Evie says in a concerned voice. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I sob. “I can’t get his voice out of my head.”
Evie’s hand comes around the shower curtain and turns the shower off. It appears again, and she hands me a towel. “Can I open it?”
