So much pain flitters through me, his haunted eyes front and center and I heave again as my phone rings again. I try to breathe as I grab it to ensure it isn’t the school, blinking to get rid of the visions, the memories that I haven’t allowed myself to remember, the voice sounding so familiar, and I choke on another sob as I eye the screen.
Doc
I swallow hard, knowing this has to be about Tyler, that he most likely told them, and I contemplate ignoring it when the call is canceled and my tears fall hard and fast before my phone rings again.
I press the green button after four more rings knowing I don’t want them showing up, and I whisper, “Hello?”
“Ashley, sweetheart,” he chokes, “I need you to come to the clubhouse…”
“I can’t,” I whisper back, refusing to step foot in that building again, not after knowing what Ty was doing there, that the brothers who I thought were my family stood back and watched.
“Please, sweetheart,” he struggles, “I-I need you to come to the club, please, you know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important, please.”
I swallow hard as I wipe my cheeks, my heart rate still not slowing, and I mutter, “Fine,” before hanging up and bending as I wrap my arm around my waist and sob, the pain too much to handle as that day burns me from the inside out.
Dr. Chimes thinks I need therapy on my own, that I haven’t fully recovered from my trauma, and I think she’s right.
Half an hour later, with my face freshly washed, I walk back into the common room, a place I always refused to come to. Everyone looks my way as I enter the building before quickly looking away, and I notice Olive missing. Scar is standing at the dark oak bar on the right side of the common room with Doc, both looking my way.
I slowly walk down the four steps that lead to the front door and meet them halfway, trying not to look around the room I once saw as home, knowing I’ll picture Virginia and Ty together.
It doesn’t matter if Ty killed her, he still had an affair.
I look between both men and notice the red eyes and the sadness, and I frown.
“Ash,” Scar chokes as he kisses my cheek.
“What’s happened?” I ask, now getting concerned, and Cole comes to mind.
He’s at school, he should be okay.
“It's Trigger, sweetheart,” Doc rasps, his voice raw, and I tense.
Was he in an accident after I confronted him with the truth?
Oh god, is he alright?
Panic shoots through me, but I soon tense as Doc admits, “He tried to commit suicide, Ash,” and everything inside goes cold, and anger, so much goddamn anger fills through me at his selfishness.
He has a son to think of, a family, and he tried to… And why, because he wanted to believe I cheated so he could live out his teenage years that he missed?
Are you kidding me right now?!
I was raped, I lost our baby yet I’m still moving forward for our son.
Doc clears his throat before he chokes, “I saw him speed into the parking lot, barely missing the gate, so I figured I would goafter him, but when I walked into your home, he, fuck, he was, he had a gun in his mouth, his finger on the trigger.”
Selfish, selfish, selfish.
How dare he, howfuckingdare he!
“I managed to stop him just in time, knocking the gun from his mouth and knocking him out just as it went off, and I’ve sedated him,” Doc struggles to explain, his eyes tearing.
My body shakes, I’m that angry, and I know I’m about to scream and cry my eyes out before I go and find him and finish the damn job. The selfish son of a bitch!
I know I need to leave, and now...
With my chin trembling and my breathing rapidly increasing, I spin on my heel and walk back to the door without a word.
