Page 73 of Marked

“He cried like a baby,” I promise her.

“I hate him. I hate all of them.” The venom in her voice is enough to kill, I think.

I squeeze her a little. “Hate them for as long as you need to. But don’t forget to let some love in later, when you’re done hating. Love for yourself. For your mom and sister.”

“Mom’s boyfriend did this,” she says with disgust. “We’re sure of it.”

“Like Zack said, when you’re ready, you’ll get in touch with us.” I pat her shoulder. “Will you be okay with these guys?”

“Charlie?” Casper steps up to us. His eyebrows are up high, like he’s trying to gauge her reaction to him, and his voice is soft. “We’re going to take it from here, if that’s all right with you. It looks like your sister needs medical attention right away. We can go to a hospital, or I have private doctors that can help. It’s up to you where we go. Either way, me and Jax are with you as long as you need us.”

She slides her gaze to me.

“Zack wouldn’t let them near you if they weren’t good guys,” I assure her.

“All right then,” she whispers, but there are tears in her eyes. “The hospital will have to call the police, won’t they?”

“Sometimes they will, sometimes they won’t. But with the three of you showing up with these types of injuries, my guess is they’ll want to,” Casper explains patiently. “But again, if you don’t want to talk to the police, you don’t have to, even if they get called.”

“It’s okay. You can go to the hospital if you want. You have no reason to trust any of us, but I promise you’re safe now.”My words are just that, words. It’s going to take more than just a promise from me that she’s safe before she’ll be able to believe it. Trust will take even longer.

“The hospital is fine. If we want to leave, they’ll let us, right?”

Casper nods. “I won’t let them keep you against your will.” He reminds me of Zack, the way his promise sounds so concrete. He won’t let anyone hurt them.

“What should we do?” she asks her mom.

“I think you’re right, let’s go to the hospital.” Sharon nods.

It’s going to make things a little more difficult for them, because they’ll have to answer a lot of questions. But they have every reason not to want to go anywhere private with these guys. Hell, even leaving here with them is risky.

“All right. We’re gonna get you comfortable, then take you by ambulance to the hospital.” As he speaks, Jax wheels in a gurney for Jackie. She’s the most injured.

“Harley, we’ve got to go. Let the guys do their thing,” Zack whispers in my ear, tugging on my arm.

“Yeah. Okay.” I hug Charlie then look over at her sister and her mom. They’re leaning against each other. Sharon is holding her daughter in her arms, stroking her hair. “Okay.”

“These guys can get a hold of us right away, if you need something. All right?” I squeeze her hands.

Tears well up in her eyes.

“It’s all right, Charlie. It’s over.” But not really. It won’t be, until every image of what’s happened to her, to her family, has been processed and she can beat them down again. The physical part is done, but the rest of her journey is just beginning.

“Okay.” She flicks away a tear as Casper brings another gurney over to her. “Thank you. Thank you so much for finding us.”

Casper easily picks her up and lays her on the bed, immediately covering her with her blanket and getting her comfortable.

“They’re going to be okay, little bird,” Zack assures me as he opens the passenger door of his car for me.

“Maybe we should let them come when we talk with Jimmy.” I watch through the window as Casper eases Charlie into the back of an ambulance. Jackie’s next in line.

Zack gets behind the wheel.

“They’re not ready for that yet. They need to heal a bit first. Don’t worry. Charlie reminds me of you. She’ll get in touch when she’s ready. Then she can really heal.” He puts the car in gear and tears out of the parking lot behind the mechanic’s shop.

We’re fifty miles outside the city in a tiny-ass town. Not a single house or business for fifteen miles in either direction.

Even if we’d been able to get out of the shop, we’d have been too lost to figure out how to get home.

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