of the shower and wrap myself in the towel that was provided. Elise has laid out some jeans and a plain shirt for me from her own bag of clothes she originally brought out here when she came to visit with her dad. Usually, I’d imagine Elise’s clothes would be too small but that’s not a problem for me now due to the amount of weight I have lost.
Once dressed I feel so weird! My legs are covered and the shirt isn’t sexual in any way. I look at myself in the mirror and see how much I have changed, both inside and out. I dry my own hair, which I haven’t done for a while because that was either Tony’s or Chatter’s job. When I’ve finished I’m left in shock, my hair looks amazing. It’s smooth, glossy and falls down my back the way it always used to. Not in ugly knots or feeling rough from using only water. I can’t stop running my hands through my long black locks and when I go to lie down, I continue to play with my hair as I drift off to sleep.
Chapter 23
I hear the door open and I see Elise walking in. “Sorry I woke you up.” She looks me over and grins. “You look great.”
“No it’s fine, I need to get up.” I’ve been doing far too much sleeping since I got here.
“No you need the rest. What Demon put you through, your body needs it.” Elise comes to sit on the edge of my bed. “Natasha’s making us a drink, and then my dad would like a chat, if that’s ok?”
I sit up, with my back to the wall. “That’s fine. I need to thank him anyway.”
“You don’t need to do that, Lauren. Everyone knows how grateful we are.” She takes a deep breath. “I just can’t stop reliving that last part.”
I know what she’s talking about and I’m the same. I can’t stop seeing Chatter’s face. The way she looked so scared and the terrible way she died. Chatter didn’t deserve to die like that.
There’s a knock, and in walks Natasha followed by Elise’s dad and Grim.
“Well don’t you look better?” Natasha places my drink on the table and sits on my other side.
“Thanks.” I smile back at her. “It’s amazing what water and shampoo can do.”
“Glad to see you awake.” Brace, Elise’s dad, greets me and even though Elise has told me that these are good men and they won’t hurt me, it feels weird to have them in this room.
“Thank you for all your help.” I thank him and he shakes his head.
“No need. You helped my daughter, so I’m helping you.” He smiles a great big smile and I relax just a little. I see tears appear in his eyes. “Elise told me how much you protected her. You put yourselves in their path for the sake of looking after my girl when I couldn’t.”
“I had to.” I reply. “I couldn’t stand by and watch.”
“No you didn’t.” Brace steps forward. ”But you did.”
I look over to Elise and see she has paled and is staring down at the floor. I reach for her hand and she looks up at me, a sad smile on her face and a single tear running down her cheek.
“I will take care of you, girls.” Brace declares. “After what you did for my baby girl, you’re more than welcome to stay. We will take care of you.”
“I will make sure Demon never gets his hands on you again.” Grim grinds out with dangerous authority and is looking right at me.
I have no doubt that these men will try to keep their promise, but I don’t know them. I do know Demon and his men though and they are dangerously determined men. They won’t let us get away that easy and I just know Demon will not rest until he has at least one of us back.
Chapter 24
The last couple of days have been really weird. Not because of the people around me, no they’re a great bunch of people. A real family and they couldn’t have done more for us after what we have been through. No, the weirdness comes from me, because I’ve been cooped up in a room, locked up in chains for longer than anyone should and it’s affected me. A lot deeper than I would have thought and could only see when I came here. That’s not even including the shit Demon put me through