Ink's Second Chance - Carol Dawn Page 0,20

know they’re right. I close my eyes and take as many deep breaths as I need until my heart slows to a normal pace.

“Trigger, Wolf,” Bear says. “I want you two with him. Laura, I need you to stay here.”

“Oh, fuck no,” she says. “Rachel is my girl, and she needs me. So, fuck you for telling me to stay put. You ain’t my daddy.”

“That’s my sis,” I hear Chains laugh. “Gets her spunk from her big brother.”

Trigger finally releases me and I turn to look at the room. Everyone is awake and watching.

“Ink,” Thea says.

Thea doesn’t talk much, but when she does, she has a calming voice that can soothe even the meanest man. Which explains how she deals with Trigger.

“Please be careful on your way to the hospital,” she says. “When you get there, be patient with her because she’s going to be scared.”

I nod and pull Thea into a hug. I hold her a few seconds longer than normal before letting her go.

“Laura, stay here,” I say. “I need you well rested because tomorrow you need to be with her while I go fucking hunting.”

Laura wants to say something, but she nods her agreement.

Turning, I walk out of the building and to my bike.

“We’ll follow,” I hear Wolf say.

I start my bike and race towards the hospital.

Towards the woman holding my heart.

***Rachel***

“Almost done, honey.”

I’m lying on a hospital bed while one nurse holds my knees apart and another takes swabs of my vagina.

I’ve been here for over an hour while these women perform a rape kit. They’ve combed out my hair, they’ve swabbed multiple parts of my body, they’ve taken blood work, pictures, cleaned under my nails but what they haven’t allowed me to do is take a freaking shower.

I know the nurses are just trying to help but all I can think about as their hands roam my body are the males who did the same thing but for different reasons.

It’s messed up when a person goes to a hospital because they were raped only to have to deal with such an invasive procedure. I now understand why some people never say a word. If I would have known I had to go through all of this, I probably wouldn’t have called them.

“We couldn’t reach your sister,” the nurse holding my knees says. “So, we called your friend, Laura, instead. She said she was on her way.”

I nod at the nurse and go back to trying my best to ignore the tickling sensation of the swabs between my legs.

I’m glad that they couldn’t get ahold of my sister. If I would have actually spoken up when they asked, I could have told them to call Laura instead. But, for some reason, I haven’t been able to bring myself to say a single word since hanging up the phone with the emergency dispatcher.

Luckily, Laura is my second emergency contact after Becky.

Finally, after what seems like hours, all the testing is complete.

“These are the pills I told you about when you first arrived,” a nurse says. “One is a morning-after pill to prevent pregnancy and the other is prophylaxis to prevent any sexually transmitted infections.”

I already signed the consent form for the drugs and rape kit before they started so I take the small cup and dump the medication into my mouth and swallow.

I accept the water she holds out and drink until the pills are fully down.

The nurse told me her name twice already, but I can’t seem to remember it. I keep repeating over and over in my head the three names I don’t ever want to forget.

Antonio, Frankie, and Roman Hernández.

The police stop by and ask me questions, but I just shake my head. I don’t want to talk to the police. I don’t want to talk to the nurse. I just want a scolding hot shower and I want to forget.

But more than anything else, I want revenge. And that isn’t something the police can help me with.

“It’s best if we interview you now, Miss Justice,” the police officer kindly says. “When the details are fresh in your mind.”

I look at the officer and mentally will him to leave.

I’ll never forget a single detail of what happened to me tonight. But talking to this man is the last thing I want to do. He can’t help me.

“Alright,” he sighs. “How about me and my partner come to your place tomorrow to go over the details? She’s on her way now but we can wait