She smelled of dirt, desperation, and heartache, and all I could think about as I carried her was how Moose had carried Ayda out of the Warehouse the very same way, and how Ayda’s cries had sounded the same for days after she’d made it out of there alive.
I only hoped, with all my newly discovered heart, that Sloane hadn’t suffered something quite as bad as that because of my MC.
Chapter Eighteen
AYDA
I’d barely made it out of the shower when my phone pinged with a text from Drew. I ran my fingers through my damp hair and threw on jeans and a sweater before I followed his directions to:Meet me outside The Hut now!
I’d just made my way to the bottom of the porch steps when the wrecker skidded to a halt almost hitting the bikes parked out front. I stumbled back, my hands in a universaleasysign when Drew jumped from the cab of the truck.
“Drew, what the hell—?”
He didn’t stop, just carried on to the other side, his face twisted in rage and brows furrowed in confusion. I stepped closer as he pulled the passenger door open, but stopped the moment I saw him pull Sloane into his arms. I didn’t need to ask what was wrong. As he swung her around, I saw bruises and dirt in places that told their own story. I saw that haunted look in Drew’s eyes and swallowed my own terror and confusion.
“Take her into our room. That way no one will interrupt,” I said, circling around him as he passed, and pulled the door out of the way. Thankfully, the bar was empty other than a couple of the resident whores asleep on the couch. “Whathappened?”
“Not a goddamn clue,” he said, panting for breath as he lowered her as carefully as he could on top of our bed. He handled her like he cared, dropping her head to the pillow with a tenderness only I usually got to see. Drew pushed the stuck together strands of hair away from her forehead, his own scowl growing deeper, even though he tried to keep his face straight. He pulled down her skirt to cover her thighs and let her curl in on herself again. “I found her down on FM 667. I didn’t realize it was her until I got closer.” He stood taller, his eyes fixed on Sloane. “All she’s done is cry, Ayda.”
“Okay,” I said gently, my eyes flitting between the two of them. “Drew, can you grab a bottle of water from the fridge? I’m going to grab a washcloth and clean her up a little bit.”
I stood quickly, my hand wrapping around his wrist and squeezing before I rushed to our bathroom and grabbed a small hand towel and ran the material under a lukewarm stream of water, wringing it out and shoving a dry one over my shoulder. I rushed back, meeting Drew by the bed and giving him a warm smile of thanks as he handed me the bottle.
Setting everything on the nightstand, I leaned into Sloane and brushed her hair back from her face. The tracks of her tears cut through the mascara and streaks of dirt on her face, and her sad eyes were still brimming with tears. She blinked, sending another set of tears free, and the sight broke my heart.
“Okay, sweetheart, I need you to sit up for me.”
My body leaned into hers, and she latched on, her arms circling tight around my neck as she shivered around me. It felt like she was slipping slowly into the depths of shock. With Drew’s help, we sat her on the bed, but her face stayed buried in the curve where my shoulder and neck met, her heavingsobs now partnered with whispered wails that dug soul deep. I wanted to help, but I also needed to know how bad this was before I did anything else. Her dad was the chief of police, for fuck’s sake.
“Sloane, I need to you take a deep breath for me, okay? Then I need you to tell me what happened.”
“I… I don’t want to talk about it.” It was a whisper, but the words and intent were clear. I glanced up at Drew, tipped my head in Sloane’s direction and mouthedany ideas?
He scratched the back of his neck with one hand, the other planted firmly on his hip. “A few,” he muttered under his breath. I wasn’t convinced his ideas would benefit Sloane, though. There was anger in his eyes, even though neither of us knew who he should be directing it at.
I went about untangling myself from Sloane’s grip and kneeling in front of her. Taking her hands in one of mine, I tucked her hair behind her ear with the other. There was no easy way to go about this. There was no gentle way to push her about what happened, so I just had to do it.
“Sloane, we know just from looking that something really bad happened, and I need you to know that you’re safe here. It’s just us in this room and whatever you say can only help you. We just need to know what happened. Were you…?” I swallowed and looked up at Drew for strength, before I dipped my view lower to find her eyes, then changed tactics at the last moment. “Tell me what happened. Please?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does.”
“A guy in school got a little… rough, that’s all. I just want to go home and forget about it all.”
Drew stepped forward a little too harshly, stoppinghimself and tensing his whole body when Sloane flinched and looked up at him through wide, heartbroken eyes.
I glanced at him, too, seeing the way he closed his eyes and fought to stay in control before he internally counted to ten, let out a breath and looked down at her again.
“That’s understandable,” he said as softly as he could manage, considering it was through gritted teeth. “To want to go home, I mean.” Drew cleared his throat roughly before he lowered himself and kneeled down so his eyes were level with Sloane’s. “But if that’s true, Sloane, why were you walking out of town, in the opposite direction of your home?”
Sloane’s wild eyes darted between Drew and me before her gaze landed back into our tangled hands. I felt them try to ball and released my gentle grip to allow her to do so. Sometimes you just needed the physical representation of your emotions, and I wasn’t going to deny her that.
“I just wanted to think. To go somewhere I knew no one would be.” She lifted one of her hands and swiped away the tears that were falling more freely now. “It all happened so fast. I didn’t know what to do. I was scared, confused, and I didn’t know what to do.”
A myriad of emotions swarmed into me, fury dripping into my bloodstream as every possibility flickered across my mental screen. I still wasn’t sure what had happened, and I needed to know before we decided where to go from here. Before we told Sutton.
Shit.
