Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
“OK,” she said again. “Go finish this. I’ll stay here.”
“Dammit, Jolene.” I hugged her tighter. “Do you need to see them? I mean, really need it? ’Cause I’ll give that to you even though it’s the very last thing I want for you.”
“No, Styx. They’re dying. That’s good enough for me.”
“Ain’t gonna argue with you ’cause I’m gettin’ what I want. But I’m not leavin’ you alone while I finish this.”
“I’ll be fine. Just go do what you need to, then come back to me.”
I took out my phone and shot a text to Thorn, asking for him to send his woman to Jolene. It wasn’t long before there was a knock at the door. I stood to open it and Lucy, Mariana, and Fleur stood outside the door. I stepped back to let them in. All three women went straight to Jolene.
Mariana looked back over her shoulder at me. “You go on. We’ll stay with her.”
To my utter and complete horror, Jolene dissolved into tears. Yeah. Once again, the confrontation hadn’t been about what was on the surface. She was hurting and probably scared. Her tormentors were under the same roof as she was. They might not be in good shape, might be actively dying, but they weren’t dead yet. And she was scared.
“Jolene.”
She sniffed, wiping her eyes angrily while muttering, “I’m such a wuss.”
“Baby, if you need me here --”
“No,” she said, lifting her chin and meeting my gaze. “You go finish those bastards. Just come back to me when it’s done.”
I stared at Jolene hard for several seconds. Tears still streaked down her cheeks occasionally, but she was strong. Her features reflected that. She wanted me to finish this. Get it done, get home, tell her she was safe.
“I won’t be long, Jolene. We’ll have to take care of the remains, then debrief with Thorn, but I’ll be back as quick as I can. You need me, you text me. Promise.”
“I promise, Styx.” She waited, holding my gaze with all the power of any dominant I’d ever met. “You get this done. See those motherfuckers dead.” Her voice broke, but she held my gaze. “You do that for me, Styx.”
“Consider it done, baby. Consider it done.”
* * *
Jolene
It was about three hours before Styx returned to our suite. The women were solidly with me the whole time. They tried to keep my mind off everything happening in another part of the clubhouse, but it was a losing battle. Styx was with the other patched members of this club, systematically destroying my nightmares.
The second he walked through the door, I shot to my feet and flung myself in his arms. He clutched me to him as tightly as I held him. He thanked the women as they made their way out. I wanted to thank them, too, but my throat seemed to close up, not letting sound out. Once we were alone, Styx tugged me with him to the bathroom.
“Shower with me.”
I could tell this had taken something out of him. “Was it that horrible? Did I do wrong in leading them here?”
“NO!” He was vehement in his response. “You absolutely did the right thing leading them here.” He pulled me into the shower with him. “Don’t ever think we didn’t want to take care of this ourselves. I’m not gonna tell you I didn’t wish you’d done it in a different way, or that I wouldn’t have wanted a heads-up ahead of time, but I absolutely wanted this club to be the ones to bring justice to those motherfuckers. Jail was too good for them.” I sighed. “Baby, we knew there had been other women, but these guys, my kin, were serial rapists and murderers. Ripper found dozens of women. Those men deserved every single thing done to them and more. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have the stomach to continue any longer.”
I wrapped my arms around Styx, kissing his chest while the water pounded our bodies like a heated massage, or maybe a cleansing summer rain. I could see in Styx’s face he needed to wash himself clean. Knowing that, I reached for a bottle of shower gel. Squirting some in my hands, I rubbed them together before beginning a sweep over his chest and back. I knew it was more just being physically dirty. What they had done to his family had affected him. But he’d done it because it has been the right thing to do.
“I’m so sorry,” I said as I continued to wash him. “I never wanted this for you.”
“What?” He looked thoroughly confused. “You never wanted what for me?”
“For you to have to do all that to your kin a ’cause’a me.”
“Honey, I did that gladly. And those fucker’s shoulda suffered more. It’s just that, after a while, it becomes pointless. What we did today ain’t something I’ll ever regret.” He sighed. “Before it all began, we had to recount all the things Ripper found on ’em. Including what they did to you. So, yeah. I needed you naked in the shower with me so I can see for myself you’re all healed.”