Page 132 of Dozer

“Just for precaution, what about STD’s?”

Pippa bowed her head. “I don’t know.” She trembled, and her fingers gripped my thigh. “I knew him. But I didn’t know him at all. I didn’t know he could do this.”

“I need to examine you.”

I felt Pippa nod and her knees bend.

Willow finished her examination. “I’ll get you a prescription. When you’re ready, before you have sexual intercourse again, you’ll want to get tested.”

“Okay,” she said. “I decided I’d rather be dead than in that cabin. But he wouldn’t kill me. I didn’t think I’d ever see Dozer again. I couldn’t live with that.”

I didn’t open my eyes, but I rested my hand on her leg. “I love you, baby. You fall. I fall.”

“We can get you washed up,” Willow said. “I’m sure Levi has some clothes you can wear.” Willow lifted her cup of coffee. “You need anything?” she asked me.

“A shirt if she has one. I’ll help Pippa.”

I slid from the bed. Pippa slipped her hand back into mine, and I led her across the hall to thebathroom. She held onto the vanity as I turned on the water.

“Shower or bath?” I lifted my T-shirt over her head.

“Shower.” She stared into the mirror, tears wetting her cheeks. I stood behind her and wrapped my arms around her.

“The bruises will fade.”

“But what if I still see them, even after I’ve healed.” Her voice lowered. “What if you still see them?”

I turned her toward me. “Look at me. I have scars, inside and out. I’m fucking broken. You’ve seen how I handle relationships. I suck at expressing myself. You’re going to need to be a fucking mind reader to get in my head, but know that you’re there, every fucking minute of the day. At night, I’m with you in my dreams. I’m a shit boyfriend with all kinds of issues, but I’m yours. All of me. The good and the bad.”

“If you still want me, I’m yours.”

I slanted my mouth over hers. She whimpered as her tongue met mine, a reclaiming of what had been stolen from us. I gently rubbed her hair between my fingers.

“I want all of you,” I said. “I’ll help you get your smile back. I fucking promise you that you’ll laugh again.”

“I’ll be fine, Dozer, as long as I’m in the dark with you.”

Rogue

I’ve killed before. It wasn’t always in self-defense. Collateral damage couldn’t always be avoided. But this one was going to feel good. I wiped blood from my knuckles with a paper towel from the kitchen.

Romeo leaned against the wall and stared at the crumpled, mutilated man lying on the mattress where he’d tortured Pippa. There was still breath in his lungs, but he was bleeding out, the crimson stain soaking into the blanket beneath him.

“Are you okay?” I asked him. Romeo wasn’t one to get his hands bloody. He didn’t catch a high from the fight like some of us.

This was personal. Romeo had given something of himself to vindicate the girl and seek retribution from her perpetrator. He’d remember tonight, and I hoped he realized he needed this. No what ifs, no should haves—no regrets.

“Nothing I do to him changes what happened,” he said. “He still hurt her. I can’t shake the hate.”

“Good. You go to her and tell her she never has to think of this sick fucker again.”

Blade walked into the cabin. “The suicide note is in the car. And we cleaned up Pippa’s blood from the passenger seat.”

“Let’s light it up.” Bullet had come up with the hearse and several filled gas cans. Those cans sat in the middle of the room.

We covered our faces with rags. Then I curled my fingers around the handle of a heavy red gas can. “Romeo, soak the bed.”

He picked up one of the cans. He spit on the man. “Burn in hell, motherfucker.”

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