Page 121 of Slaughter

“What do you want from me?” I demand.

“I want you to fuck me! I need to know that you still want me.” She lowers her voice as if ashamed to admit that.

“I … I can’t, Bunny.”

“He didn’t rape me this time,” she whispers.

I let out a long breath because I’ve thought about it. That’s why I wanted her to talk to Chloe.

“He just wanted to fuck with my head.” She sniffs. “He knew that you wouldn’t want me afterward.”

I walk up to her and wrap her in my arms. Her body shakes against mine while I lean down and kiss her hair. “I still want you, Bunny.” I place my hands on her head and pull her face back to look at me. “Nothing will change that. Do you understand?”

Tears run down her pretty face. The cut along her nose and lips starting to heal. “Answer me.”

“Yes.” She gives her broken answer.

_______________

I’m trying to keep it together. My muscles are tight, and my body rigid. I wanted to puke when she described what my father had done to her, but I had to be strong for her. Then I wanted to punch the fucking wall. What she went through … How selfish I was to believe my father and Lance.

I walk into my study and grab the empty bottle of scotch on my desk.

“I didn’t expect you …”

I throw it into the burning fireplace, interrupting my brother’s words. The glass shatters, and the flame gets bigger for a brief second.

“Whoa.” He jumps to his feet.

I place my fists on my desk and lean over it, giving him my back, and take a deep breath.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

I start to laugh, a deep, chest-shaking laugh, and turn to face him. “That is the fucking dumbest question I have ever heard.”

He frowns, tilting his head. “Something happened in the past fifteen minutes?”

“No, it happened eleven years ago,” I snap.

He sighs. “Avery, you can’t change the past. All you can do is help her now.”

“She doesn’t want help.” I shake my head. “Not the kind she needs.” I’m gonna find that doctor who told her it was her fault and kill him.

“It just takes time.”

“Quit acting like you fucking know what she went through. Quit fucking acting like you know how she feels because you’re fucking a woman who was sexually abused,” I shout, thanking God that Chloe is no longer in here.

His eyes narrow on mine. “I know exactly what Chloe went through. Don’t be pissed at me because Presleigh didn’t tell you.”

“She couldn’t tell me!” I shout. “Because I wouldn’t have even answered the Goddamn phone.” I was so mad at her. So hurt. She had ripped my heart out by killing my child and then leaving me for another man—she might as well have shot me. Then I find out it was all a lie. And what she went through … makes me feel that rage all over again.

“I told you to go to Mitch and beat the fuck out of him. Hell, I offered to help you. But you said fuck both of them. If she was willing to leave you for him, then he could have her.”

“I thought …”

“You thought fucking wrong. Be mad at yourself.” he snaps. “Quit blaming everyone for once and blame yourself!”

I punch him in the face, and he stumbles back, spilling his drink over the rim of his glass. I do it again before he can recover. It feels good to hit something. And as much as Bunny wanted me to slap her, I couldn’t. I can’t be that man for her right now.

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