all like the badass I’d known her to be so far. It worried me. Had Carlos been right? Had he broken her? He’d mentioned fucking her first, and he hadn’t gotten that far yet, but had the entire ordeal just been too much for her to handle?
I shut off the water and waited for her to relax at least a little. As much as I wanted to run my hands over her, I didn’t want to risk scaring her more. My strong, beautiful woman had been through hell. I’d give her whatever she needed, even if it was space. Eventually, she sagged against me, all the tension drained from her body.
I washed her, using slow gentle strokes to clean every inch of her. When my fingers brushed her pussy, she shook and I realized she was crying, her nails biting into me. I wrapped my arms around her and murmured words of comfort to her.
“You’re safe, Tink. They’re gone, and none of them will hurt you again.”
“Make me forget, Eric. Please. I need to forget what their hands felt like.”
Their? So Tony hadn’t been the only one to touch her. I wished I could bring them all back from the dead just to kill them all over again. If I hadn’t seen Tony’s bloody corpse on my way out of that damn house, I’d have personally sent him to hell. Looked like Torch or Casper had beat me to it. They’d taken her confidence. I was just glad they hadn’t done more damage. If any of them had raped her before I got there, I wasn’t sure she’d have recovered. Hell, I wouldn’t have either. It would have eaten at me until I finally lost my mind.
It made me realize the missing women, those auctioned off, had families who probably felt the same way. I didn’t know how long it would take to find them, but I’d lend whatever support I could to the clubs trying to reunite them with their families.
“Come on, baby. Let’s dry off and go lie down. I don’t know about you, but I think I want a nice, quiet day in bed. Just the two of us snuggled under the covers.”
“You won’t leave?” she asked.
“No, Tink. I’m not going anywhere.”
I dried us off, then took her to bed. With my arms wrapped around her, she managed to fall asleep. I didn’t know what I’d need to do for her to feel safe here again. Whatever it took, I’d make sure the shadows left her eyes. I wanted my Tink whole again. It might take time, but I’d make sure she healed. She was my woman, my love, and I’d do anything for her.
Epilogue
Lyssa -- Six months later
I ran my hand over the small bump under my shirt. A daughter. I smiled when I recalled Beast’s reaction. He’d gone from amazed to terrified in the blink of an eye. If I’d thought he’d strengthened the compound in the weeks after he’d rescued me, it was nothing compared to what he’d done since finding out the gender of our baby. The fence line was slowly being replaced with a large stone wall. He’d had spikes mounted across the top of it as well as motion-activated cameras. To some, it might feel more like a prison, but I knew he’d done it to keep us safe.
My mother stood beside me, her arms folded as she watched our family. My siblings ran across the grass while my dad and Beast headed for us. Mom pursed her lips, and I had a feeling she was about to give my dad hell.
“Why haven’t you put up a wall like this one? All the trouble we’ve had over the years and we still have chain-link fencing.”
My dad snorted. “Because we have more land than the Reckless Kings. Do you have any idea what it would cost to put up a wall like this?”
My mother sniffled and pouted. More than once I’d seen her cry on demand, and her eyes welled with tears now. “Our family isn’t worth the cost of a sturdy wall? Do we mean so little to you?”
“Oh hell.” My dad stalked closer and yanked my mom into his arms. “You don’t play fair, woman. You know damn well I love you and our kids. If you want a big-ass fucking wall like this one, I’ll figure it out.”
I rolled my lips in and pressed down so I wouldn’t smile or laugh. Mom winked at me over my dad’s shoulder