Page 7 of Thor

I sit up, ready to call her on her lie, but Cara places a hand on my shoulder. Turning to face her, she shakes her head to me. “She’s telling you the truth.Trust me.” I turn to Madison and search her eyes for any deceit, but I see none.

I just see a broken woman who has been hurt. It’s in this moment, I notice how little she is. Madison wasn’t thin like the other girls. She was thick in all the right places, but now I can see how frail her body is. She’s probably been losing an excessive amount of weight from stress.

My entire body goes cold at what I’m learning.

For ten years, I believed she cheated on me, but instead, she was actuallyrapedby someone I considered a father figure. I shut her out and left her to the trauma he caused. I didn’t get the facts. I ignored everything I knew about her and painted her a villain. Now she’s saying she needs my help to protect her fromhim.

“Maddy, he raped you?” My voice cracks.

Madison slaps her hand to her mouth as she sobs.

I completely snap. Rising out of my chair, I slam my fist into the wall. I hear Madison shriek from behind me, but I don’t pay attention to it. I have to get out of here. I storm from the office while Cara and Madison call after me.

Some of the brothers are in the hall. I ignore them all. Storming out the front door, I hop on my bike. I need to ride. This is so much worse than what I believed for the last ten years.

He took something that he knew was precious to me and he destroyed it with deceit. I know my uncle is a powerful man now, but nothing will stop me from coming for him.

Madison didn’t deserve what happened to her. No woman does. I should have talked to her. I should have gotten answers, but instead, I walked around for the past ten years with a chip on my shoulder. She’s been dealing with God knows what at thehands of him, while I moved on my life without a word to her. The guilt eats me up.

I should have known better. I should have known something was wrong, but the minute I saw them in bed, everything I knew of my sweet Maddy went out the window. I don’t know how I’ll make this right, but I will make him pay for what he did to her.

Chapter Five

MADISON

Isit in my chair shocked, scared, hurt, but most of all, worried. Jonah has never had a temper and I’ve never seen him lash out like this. He was never a pushover or anything, but he wasn’t one to display the kind of anger I just witnessed. Cara hands me a few Kleenexes and I’m hesitant to take them. The woman just offered to kill me, like it was an errand or something.

When I don’t take them, Cara sighs. “Sorry for what I said to you. Thor is my best friend and he’s hurting. I won’t lie to you and say I didn’t mean it because I did. But my threat wasn’t warranted because this whole thing is a misunderstanding.”

I sit there, mouth hanging open and completely speechless. Did she just say she would in fact kill someone for Jonah? I expected the men around here to be savages but not the women. Reluctantly, I take the Kleenex and dab my eyes.

Thinking over everything I just learned, it seems this whole situation isn’t black and white. I don’t want to fall into the trap of Jonah again, but it seems he’s believed a different story of how things went down that night. I’m going to keep my guard up though. I can’t say I have an ounce of trust in Jonah.

A man comes walking into the office and heads straight for Cara. “What’s going on, hellcat? Thor just stormed out of here like the hounds of hell were after him.”

“Babe, it’s not my story to tell. I want to introduce you to someone. Viper, this is Madison. She’s an old friend of Thor’s. Madison,thisis my husband and Ol’ Man Viper.”

I didn’t make it that far in my research of MCs, so I have no clue what all this Ol’ Man business means, but I reach my hand out to shake his when he offers. These guys are kind of shocking my system at how respectful they are. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen a few things that didn’t shock me when I arrived, but they aren’t at all what I was expecting.

“Nice to meet you,” Viper says with a nod.

“Madison, you might want to give Thor a few days. He’s probably spiraling from what he just learned. Do you have a hotel, or do you need a place to stay?” Cara asks.

Again, they throw another curve ball at me. The concern and care I see in her eyes contradicts my first impression of her. She was ready to put me in the ground and now she’s offering me a place to stay.

“No, I have a motel.”

I don’t go into detail because I don’t want them knowing where to find me. I’m not completely sold on them just yet. There’s something inside me that’s telling me they’re being genuine, but last time I was too trusting, I ended being stalked by a deranged man.

“Okay. Are you protected at all?”

“What do you mean?” I ask her. Clearly I’m not or I wouldn’t be here.

“Like a weapon.”

My mouth drops open and I shake my head furiously. I could never use a gun. I know in this day and age a lot of women have guns, but I can’t see myself ever using one. I save lives, not takethem. Cara pulls out her phone and shoots off a text, and we sit in silence for a few minutes until someone else joins us in the office.

A blond, around the same height as me, walks in and tries handing what looks like a stun gun to me. “Hi, I’m Sara. I’m Cara’s sister,” she says, while still holding the gun out to me. Cara must see the fear in my eyes because she clears her throat, pulling my attention away from the weapon.

---