Page 41 of Wrath

“Get out the truck, Eden.” He goes back to staring in front of him

“Aar–”

“Get out!” he bellows.

“I can’t, I love you too much.” I try so hard to make him understand. and with a deep, heavy growl he gets out the truck, rounds the hood and flings open my door. I put up a fight when he drags me out of the seat, into the rain, then reaching in and grabbing the holdall, he takes the strap and slides it over my head. I’m about to argue when he grabs hold of my face and kisses me, the same way he did that very first time on the beach, and just for those few perfect seconds, all the horrors of what just happened disappear. The rain isn’t cold, or wet, my body isn’t sore, and there’s no pain in my heart.

“And I love you more,” he stares at me, giving me the opportunity to see how much he’s hurting before he releases me and backs away.

“Aaron,” I call out his name as he heads back toward the driver's side of the truck. “Aaron!” I scream louder but he acts like he doesn’t hear me as he slams the door of the truck and drives away. I stand in the middle of the street and watch him put more and more distance between us and suddenly the rain feels colder than ever. All the pain is back and I feel it settling inside my soul when I realize he isn’t coming back.

A loud thump on the door makes me jump and after I scurry up off the bed and open it, Aaron stands on the other side looking worried.

“You ok—” I don’t give him a chance to finish his sentence. I grab him by the front of his tee and drag him inside, slamming my lips onto his and kissing him the same way he did before he left me.

“You came.” I pull away for air as I drag him over to the bed.

“‘Course, I came, you said you needed me.” I get back to kissing him, then shove him hard in the shoulder so his ass drops onto the mattress and I can climb on top of him.

“Whoah, slow down, what's all this about?” he rests back on his hands and puts on the brakes.

“It’s about you and me. I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you earlier, you were just protecting me, and I…I love you for that.” I let out the words I’ve been holding in since I came back. “I hated you for leaving me, Aaron. But I never stopped loving you. I tried. I tried real hard, but I couldn’t.” I grab the hem of his tee and go to lift it off his head but he stops me.

“Wait, it’s not supposed to be like this.” He seems unnerved as he pulls back on meagain.

“Aaron, we can’t spend our lives waiting for that perfect moment, look what happened last time we tried that. The way I see it, we both somehow made our way back here to where it all started, and that’s gotta stand for something.” I go to kiss him again, and he humiliates me further, by grabbing hold of my arms and flipping me so I’m in his place.

“Eden, nothin’s changed. My father’s still out there, he’s still a threat and I can promise that he’ll be determined to destroy everythin’ that matters to me. I willnotlet him destroy you again.” He shakes his head in frustration and suddenly all I feel is rage.

“He didn’t destroy me.” I laugh as I stand back up on my feet and force him to step back. “What happened in that warehouse was awful, but I handled it, and do you know how?” I feel tears stinging the back of my eyes. “I handled it because I had you.You were right there with me and I knew I could handle anything as long as you were there.Youdestroyed me when you left me to handle everything by myself.” The words are out, and I can tell they hit him like a ten-ton truck from the way he stares back at me.

His chest is rising and falling, like his lungs are working too fast and I wonder if he’s finally starting to understand.

“You left town, you never told me where you were going.” I’ve ripped the Band-Aid off and now he’s gonna hear it all. “I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep. My parents couldn’t let me go to college in the state I was in. I came to the club every day and begged whoever was on the gate to tell me where you were. Do you hear what I’m telling you, Aaron?” I step into his space. “I came back to this club, despite what those men did to me because nothing in this world scared me more than losing you.” His nostrils flare the way they always do when he’s mad, but I’m not done. It’s time that Aaron Adams knew the truth.

“A week after you left town, me and my parents came back from having dinner and found my cat on the porch with his throat slit. Three days after that, they both got killed in a car wreck. I was alone for all of that,” I watch his eyes swell with more fury. “And I was alone when your father, and his sick friends, came for me again.” The silence is deafening when I clue him in on just how bad things really got.

“What?” Aaron looks horrified and confused all at the same time.

“It was a couple of days after my parents' funeral, they came for me and they took me to a house in the middle of nowhere. Each one of them used me, they fucked me, Aaron. Over and over again until I stopped bothering to cry or beg them to stop.”

“No.” Aaron shakes his head and starts backing away toward the door.

“It must have gone on for weeks, maybe months. I lost track of anything humane. They treated me like an animal. Then one night Cliff brought Stacey home from the club. I thought she was too wasted to remember who I was, but she must have because she was the one who called my Dad.” I feel myself getting more and more angry when I think about him. “Why did he send Jimmer, Aaron? Why couldn't he come and take care of me himself?” I ask, allowing my tears to flow freely when all that anger runs out and all I feel is hurt.

“Because he’s a coward, just like I was,” He admits, looking every bit as mad at himself as he did before he left me. “I had no idea about your folks, when I heard you’d died all I focused on was blamin’ myself.” He scratches his hand through his stubble and I can see him starting to lose control. “He…he took you to the house?” He frowns in disgust.

“It was all a sick game to him, Aaron. He’d make me call out your name and scre…” I stop myself talking when I notice the effect this is having on him.

“What about Mac, and Rex, did they?”

“They all did.” I lower my head, knowing that it’s not what he’s gonna want to hear.

“Did you tell Jimmer Carson all this?” he checks.

“I couldn’t. The night Jimmer came to town, Cliff came back to the house and said he’d let me go. He told me that if I breathed a word to Jimmer or anyone else, about what had happened, Raze would kill you.”

“Fuck!” Aaron’s breathing gets heavier and his eyes well up with tears.

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