“Sawyer’s here. Ready to go?”
“Yes.”
Wearing a pair of Cooper’s sweatpants and a sweatshirt, Jensen stood. I hollered out for Anna while I walked to the coat closet. I pulled Sawyer’s puffer coat out and held it open for him. Sawyer hadn’t made Jensen take the coat off to give it to him earlier this morning, and Jensen obviously felt a connection with him, so I thought wearing the coat might emotionally comfort him. I slid the huge coat up Jensen’s arms and waited to open the door until he had it zipped. We walked out the front door together with Anna trailing behind us just as Sawyer was rounding the back of his Range Rover.
“Everyone ready?”
“Yes, we’re ready,” I said as I reached for the door handle of the back seat.
I gestured for Jensen to get in, and once he did, I closed the door and then got into the front seat. Anna walked around to the other side of the SUV. Sawyer had left the SUV running so the inside was still warm for Jensen.
“How has your morning been?” Sawyer asked Jensen.
“Good. I got a warm shower and had pancakes and bacon. But the best part was seeing Aria again. And my brothers and little sister. I hadn’t seen Aria in a long time.”
I noticed he hadn’t mentioned that he was excited to see his mother.
“I’m sure Aria was excited to see you too,” Sawyer replied.
“She was,” I assured them.
It wasn’t very long before we parked at Phillip’s office and headed inside. As we waited for Phillip, I tried to mentally brace myself for this appointment. After having been through it with his siblings, and from what Sawyer and Taylor had told me, I expected the results to be much worse. Anna sat on the chair beside me, void of any emotion. I found myself getting angrier as the exam continued, as there was little reaction from Anna.
Sawyer was solid for Jensen, though. At times, he told him to not look or to focus on him rather than Phillip. There were a number of places Jensen needed stitches, and Sawyer offered his hand for Jensen to squeeze. As I watched all of the damage come into view, I vowed to get revenge on the people who had done this to him and his siblings.
His siblings all cried or hid their faces during the exams, but not Jensen. He made eye contact and kept his head up as he bravely endured the humiliating exam that revealed my childhood nightmares.
We returned home, and Anna went straight to her room and closed the door firmly. I walked Jensen into Cooper’s rec room so he could join Cooper and his brothers. They were playing video games, and Jensen sat on the couch and leaned back. With Sawyer behind me, we went to go check on the girls. Belle and Aurora were playing with some dolls with Aria.
“How is Jensen?” Aria asked when we walked into Belle’s playroom.
“He’s okay. He got some stitches, but he’ll heal up. He’s tired now but is with Coop and his brothers.” I crouched and kissed Belle’s forehead and smiled at Aurora before I stood. “I need to go talk to Sawyer,” I said to Aria.
Sawyer and I went into my den. He flopped on the couch while I went to the wet bar.
“The usual?” I asked as I grabbed two tumblers off the shelf.
“Yeah.”
I poured us each two fingers of whiskey and took a glass to him. He sat up when he took the glass from my hand. Instead of sitting behind the desk, I decided to sit in one of the chairs beside the couch that Sawyer was on. I took a long sip and then looked at him. His eyes were already on me.
“Long day, Michael?”
I set the glass on the small end table beside the chair.
“Just tell me that you made them pay.” Sawyer drained the rest of the whiskey as he looked at me over the glass. “Tell me you made them pay, Sawyer.” I was desperate to know those details. He set his empty tumbler on the coffee table in front of the couch and then leaned back.
“I took care of the two who were there.”
“Painfully?”
The right corner of his mouth curled upward into a smile.
“Yeah. They felt it. Had time not been such a factor, I could have fucked them up all day long.”
“Good. Thank you.” I nodded.
“Wade Sorenson is into something much deeper. Daniel is digging.”
