“There we go,” I grunted as I lowered her to one of the musty mattresses lying on the floor, “just rest for a moment. I’ll go get your food.”
She turned over onto her side. “Not hungry.”
“Well, you gotta try and eat something.”
“I’m not hungry, Fangs.”
I found a water bottle and cracked it open. “At least drink something. You’re going to need the fluids.”
But all she did was sniffle before drawing her legs up to her chest.
While I had no clue who in the hell this woman was, I felt for her. I sure as fuck wasn’t going to trust her, either, especially with the mess that happened with Harley. However, I couldn’t help but feel for her in her predicament. An older sister, rushing after her younger sister to save her from Bullet’s wrath, only to be trapped in a basement where she heard her sister being taken advantage of night after night.
“Do you think he’d take me?” she asked softly.
I perched on the edge of the mattress. “What?”
Julia sniffled again. “Do you think that if I offered myself to Bullet that he’d release my sister?”
I kept reminding myself that Harley almost got all of us fucking killed, which kept my heart as ice cold as possible toward the woman. Though, I had to admit, her question was telling of her personality. I wasn’t there to turn some woman to our side, though. To take her and her baggage on as some sort of personal quest toward manhood.
Been there, done that, gotten my heart broken and never wanted to go back.
“No,” I said plainly, “he wouldn’t.”
She scoffed. “You seem pretty sure of that.”
“Oh, I’m very sure,” I said as I opened the bottle of water back up and took a swig.
“Why? Do you know that man personally or something?”
I wiped at my mouth. “Or something.”
I was there to protect my men, and I couldn’t do that if I was trapped in some basement somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. I silently handed Julia the bottle of water again, hoping she’d take it from me. And as she flopped over onto her back, she took the bottle and brought it to her lips.
So, I helped her sit up to keep her from choking herself to death on it.
“There, I’m sure that’s better,” I said.
She chugged the entire bottle down before nodding her head. “That was actually still kind of cold.”
I reached for one of the bagged dinners. “Here, eat. It’ll help with the healing process.”
“I’m not sure I’ll ever heal from this,” she whispered as she took the bag from me.
The truth of the matter was that she was probably right. If there was one thing Bullet did, it was that he imprinted himself onto the lives of the women he snatched off the street. They’d carry the memory of that asshole around with them for the rest of their lives, and the thought made my blood boil all over again. I had to get out of that basement. I had to get back to my men.
Because as far as I was concerned, I had found everything I needed to justify killing every single one of those motherfuckers.
“Oh, Theresa,” Julia whispered.
As soft sobs came from her darkened corner of the mattress, I froze. What the hell did I do? Comfort her? Leave her be? Give her some space? I kept my guard up as much as possible so that I could think straight, but I had to admit that my heart felt for her. While I still wasn’t convinced that she wasn’t working with Bullet in some way, I felt the genuine tension and heartache of her fear and sadness. Whatever emotions she was experiencing, she wasn’t faking them.
Then again, Harley was just as convincing to all of us.
“Would you like some—”
“Yes, please,” Julia choked out.
