Page 77 of Mace

“Put his hands on you how?” White noise blasts in my ears as my breaths become choppy.

“It doesn’t matter. The point is, I can’t fight him, Mace. If he comes to the flat to take her, I can’t stop him, but I’m gonna try. He can’t have her.” The fierce anger in her voice has pride swelling in my chest, but this is no longer her fight. It’s mine. “I’ll kill him before I let him touch her again.”

I don’t doubt it, but it’s not going to come to that. I’m going to find this guy and break every part of him that touched Maylie… and Ivy.

“You don’t need to touch him. I’ll make sure he never comes near either of you again.”

To my surprise, she shakes her head. “I didn’t come here to ask you to fight this battle for me. I hate to even do this, but I need help to get set up somewhere else. I’m behind with everything, and I don’t have the funds to move us. You offered to help me with money in the past. I’m hoping that offer still stands. I just need enough for us to get somewhere safe in another city. I promise I’ll pay you back as soon as I get a job?—”

I cut her off before she can say another word. “You’re not fucking leaving town. No fucking way. This is your home, Maylie. I won’t allow it.”

“You won’tallowit?”

“No. This thing between us is new, but I don’t let people I care about go.” I palm her cheek. “I’m not letting you go.”

She’s tense for a moment before she relaxes under my touch, and I press my mouth to hers. Every inch of my body comes alive, and every inch of me craves more of her. “I need you to tell me everything about this guy, every single thing you know, and then I’m gonna need your sister to tell me everything she knows.”

“I don’t want to drag you into my mess, Mace.”

“You ain’t draggin’ me anywhere. I’m all in, Maylie. I’ve been all in from the moment I first laid eyes on you.”

“You have?” She clings to my biceps, as if she’s afraid to let me go.

“If you don’t know that, then I’m doing something wrong.”

She crushes herself to my chest, sobbing brokenly, and it gores me to hear it. I hold her so tight, letting her expel all the demons inside her until her crying stops.

“He got her pregnant, Mace. He took away her birth control and forced her to have his child.” My hate for this guy is growing by the second. I already want to cut his balls off for touching Maylie, but knowing he did that to a teenager fuckin’ infuriates me. “How am I meant to protect her and her baby? The man is a monster.”

I pull back so she can see my face. “And what do you think I am, Maylie?”

She peers at me through her wet lashes. “I think you’re a good man.”

Her words shock me. No one has ever accused me of being good. I’ve always crossed lines and done whatever it took to get results. “I’m good to you.”

Her brows come together. “Oh… I don’t know what that means.”

I kiss her. “It means you don’t have to worry about anything. I’ll take care of it.”

I need to touch her, to release the anger brewing inside me, and the longer our lips remain locked, the calmer I become until the rage bleeding inside me slows.

I get as much information as I can out of Maylie before we speak with Ivy. We do it in a different room so Toby doesn’t have to hear the harrowing details of what thatfucking cunt did to her. As she spills everything, my fingers ache from curling them into fists. I can barely stomach to hear the torment he inflicted on her… and not just the physical shit. He has her so turned inside out that she tries to justify some of the shit he did to her. Her fear of him isn’t feigned—the girl is fuckin’ terrified of upsetting this cunt.

When she’s finished talking, both she and Maylie are in tears. I keep my hand on the back of Maylie’s neck while Ivy’s rests against her stomach. “I’m worried about my baby. Yesterday, he hit me here.” She indicates a spot above her abdomen, more in the rib area, but I can understand why she would be worried.

“Do you want to go to the hospital to make sure things are okay?” Maylie asks her.

Fear blankets her eyes. “What if he’s there?”

“I’ll be with you,” I say. “Trust me, kid, he ain’t getting near you ever again.”

She closes her eyes. “My baby is innocent. I don’t… I don’t want to lose my child.”

“Then we go to the hospital,” I say.

I grab the keys to one of the pool cars, and while Maylie gets in the front seat, her brother and sister climb into the back. I keep my hand on her thigh the entire drive, needing to touch her someway so my rage doesn’t overwhelm me.

My club affiliation gets us pushed up the queue in the emergency department, and within an hour, Maylie and her sister disappear through the double doors that lead to the treatment bays. I hate letting her out of my sight, but Ivy needs privacy for whatever examination is about to happen and she only met me a couple of hours ago.

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