He shakes his head as I glare at him.
“You don’t understand...”
A shuffle from the doorway makes us both look up. Bambi is standing there in shock, tears stain her face as she stares at the both of us.
“Why didn’t you want to protect me?”
Bear rests his face in his hands before looking back up at Bambi.
“It’s complicated, sweetheart.”
I growl and grab the collar of his shirt, lifting him up against the barn wall.
“Stop fucking using that excuse. Tell the truth for once in your fucking life, Bear.”
I throw him down and he wistfully looks up at Bambi.
“I didn’t want to start a war with another club over a girl! Over a poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks...”
Bambi bursts into tears and runs from the barn. I turn and kick Bear in the stomach.
“Striker was right. You’re a fucking piece of shit.”
I slam my fist into his face over and over until I feel a wave of relief come over me. The darkness had its fill and now I need to take care of my woman.
I walk out the barn and can see Bambi quickly walking toward my home. Chasing after her, I yell her name over and over.
“Bambi! Baby, slow down!”
As we reach my house, she rips open the front door and I can see her running inside. I finally reach the steps and slam the door shut behind me.
I rush up the steps and fly through my bedroom door. Bambi is curled up on my bed, crying as she holds onto my pillow.
I kick off my shoes and crawl into bed, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her to me. I don’t say a word and just hold her as she cries.
After about fifteen minutes, she finally stops and rolls over to face me. Her beautiful blue eyes look so sad and I wipe the last tears away.
“I’m so sorry. I never wanted to break up a family.”
I pull her into my chest as I stroke her hair.
“You didn’t do anything, Bambi. Bear made his bed and now he has to lie in it.”
She sniffles and pulls back to look at me.
“I should have just run from this town when I had the chance. I had the opportunity my mama never had. I had no strings attached and could have just run.”
I kiss the top of her head and rub her back.
“But then you wouldn’t have made the friends you did. You would have never had the chance to meet Lilah and Willow’s kids. We would have never gotten our second chance at love...”
Bambi slowly looks up at me. “That’s true... There’s just so many emotions running through me right now.”
“It’s okay, babe. Let it all out. I need to ask you some questions though. We need to know if Bear ever...” I could barely get the words out of my mouth. I didn’t want to fucking think about his hands on her. If she said yes, I didn’t know if I could control the darkness...
“Did Bear ever touch you, Bambi?”
She takes a deep breath and plays with the patches on my cut.