Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36070 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36070 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
No doubt, they now lurked within her mind, too.
I clenched my jaw, my teeth grinding together. I hated that I hadn’t protected her well enough. There were so many things I could have done differently to save her, and now all those other scenarios, all the things I should have done instead, were running through my head, tormenting me to the point I couldn’t even sleep if I wanted to.
It was one of the reasons I’d still been awake when Scorpion had come to bring me downstairs for church.
I was just glad Sophia could sleep after the hell she’d just endured. And I hoped she wouldn’t be tormented with nightmares. So far, everything seemed okay—no nightmares yet—and maybe it would stay that way.
One could only hope anyway.
She would be extremely lucky if it did. But it could also mean that her mind wasn’t letting her deal with it, was suppressing her memories, which would just lead to other issues down the road when those memories resurfaced and dragged her down into a deep, dark pit that would no doubt end up suffocating her and dimming the light in her eyes further.
I walked into the bathroom and grabbed the pain pills Doc had prescribed her and a cup of water. After setting two tablets on the nightstand with the cup of water, I slipped from the room, going to get some more coffee and maybe something to eat. I sure as fuck wasn’t hungry, but I needed my strength.
Being in the middle of a war like this meant we had to be on our Ps and Qs at all times.
Reese and Gidget were walking out of the clubhouse when I reached the bottom of the stairs. I frowned at their backs until the door shut behind them, then glanced at Scorpion. “Where are they going?”
“To let everyone we run security for know what happened and warn them that they’ll be seeing increased activity from our company until we can stop this bullshit and end this war.”
Not a bad idea, honestly. At least they would be more self-aware, which could help prevent shit like what happened to Sophia.
“Think we’ll lose business?” I asked him in all seriousness as I headed to the bar to pour me a cup of coffee.
“Nah,” Scorpion told me. “They trust us. Trust goes a long way. And we’re not hiding what’s going on. We’re warning them and upping man hours. It shows them we’re serious about protecting them. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
I lifted my mug to my lips, and then Sophia’s blood-curdling scream rang out through the clubhouse, almost making me drop the coffee cup to the floor. Every member of the club shot to their feet, and Jessica came running out of the kitchen. But I had already tossed my mug into the sink and was sprinting for the stairs, almost busting my ass on my sock-covered feet by the time anyone really began to move.
I didn’t even have the door fully open before Sophia crashed into me, sobs wracking her chest. My back slammed against the wall on the other side of the hall as I caught her, my hands gripping the back of her thighs as she wrapped herself around me. Her tears quickly began to soak my shirt. Her face was buried in the curve of my neck, her entire body shaking.
“I’m here,” I rasped, moving one of my hands so I could wrap my arm tightly around her. “I’m here, cupcake. Everything’s going to be okay now. I promise.”
Ignoring Mark and Elias standing there, no doubt concerned, I walked back into my apartment, shutting the door behind us to give her some privacy to fall apart. She didn’t need a fucking audience. I knew everyone was freaked out after hearing her scream like that, but I already knew what it was from.
She’d had a nightmare. Or a flashback. Hell, couldn’t a flashback be considered a fucking nightmare?
Easing down into the chair I’d dragged beside the bed last night, I continued holding her. I didn’t say a word. Sometimes, women just needed to cry, and I knew this was one of those moments. Even if she hadn’t been a virgin last night, innocence had been ripped from her. Her world had been tainted, and I knew from experience that all those colors she used to see were slowly turning black.
She had a lot to work through. Anyone would—man or woman. But even when she worked through it all and came out on the other side, she wouldn’t be the same woman she’d been.
No one ever was. Not after their world had been tainted with vileness.
Her sobs eventually slowed, and finally, her tears stopped. Sniffling, she leaned up and swiped at her cheeks, looking around the room like she was seeing it for the first time. She hiccupped and then looked down at me, finally meeting my eyes.