Page 139 of Relapse
“Why?” I shook my head. “Did you get some sick thrill out of watching me crash and burn?”
“Why. WHY?” Ned yelled. “The Order took my brother.” His eyes locked on mine. “So I took theirs.”
I was wrong.Thatpunched me in the gut. All this time I’d been blaming everyone, and all I had to do was open my eyes. Finn wasn’t the connecting link in the chain that could tear everyone apart. I was, and I broke. But the others didn’t fall like he thought they would. They held me up. And now…
I yanked on my wrist, snapping the last rope in half, and lunged at Ned.
Now I would holdthemup.
Red filled my vision as my fists flew down in a fury. I beat him for my brother. I beat him for the shit he put my father through. For how he tainted Ryker, and ruined Logan’s childhood. But mostly, I beat him for Harper. I threw my fists against his ribs and skull until I felt bone crack. Then I hit him some more, so he would, with his last dying breath, know that the only good thing he ever brought into this world was mine now and he would never touch her again.
With every hit I landed and grunt he made, I wiped away the fear on her face and bruises covering her body. I mended her bones by breaking his. I did what I should’ve done seven years ago. I fought for the girl I loved.
When I finally came out of it, there was nothing left of his face but a caved-in mess. That’s when I noticed the knife in my side.
“Fuck,” I grumbled, and fell over, giving into darkness.
The beepingof the machines along with the green line moving with Mason’s pulse reminded me of another time in a different hospital room. I did lose him that day, but I got him back. If Micha hadn’t found him when he did, I might’ve lost Mason again. The thought terrified me so much that I couldn’t stop clinging to him in the hospital bed.
Sean was in the room down the hall in a medically induced coma. He had a bad reaction to whatever drugs our father gave him. He would be okay though. The doctors said it was easier on his body if he slept until the drugs were out of his system.
Mason would be okay too. Or at least I hoped he would. His addict status caused him to refuse pain meds, so I stayed here with him every night to help him sleep. I would fight for him just as hard as he fought for me. Though I doubted Mason needed anyone to fight for him.
Was I sad that Daddy was gone? Yes. It broke my heart that I would never see him smile again, but he didn’t do that much anymore. I still loved the man I grew up with – him I would mourn – but the other guy? That one hurt the people I loved? Including my father. The beast of wrath that consumed Daddy and tainted everything good about him? That man, I wouldn’t miss.
After Mason and Dean were found – who was in amazingly good spirits considering – the Order combed through my house. The things they found terrified me. My father had been planning this for twenty-five years. His family used to be part of the Order but were cast out over fifty years ago. Apparently my grandparents – who were still alive in another city – didn’t take this well.
My uncle rapped Dean Whitley’s high school sweetheart and paid the ultimate price. Daddy only saw what happened to his brother and not that poor girl, Cora. But that’s what happens when you’re raised around anger. It festers and breeds until that hollow emptiness is the only thing a person knows.
Hate begets hate.
I never hated Mason, and I don’t think he ever hated me. We just needed to find each other again.
“Hey Freckles, you’re hanging on a little tight there.”
“Oh no.” I instantly loosened my grip. “I’m sorry.”
His green eyes glowed as he gazed down at me. “What did I say about sorry’s?”
“No more.” I rolled my eyes. “But sometimes an apology is needed.”
“Only if you have a reason to be guilty.” He wrapped his arm around me and kissed the top of my head. “And you don’t.”
I smiled and snuggled up into his embrace. Mason wasn’t talking about me squeezing him too hard or accidently breaking something. That was his way of letting me know that he’d forgiven me. I just hoped he could forgive himself.
“There is something you could do for me.”
He was going to ask for sex again, wasn’t he? Mason was injured, he needed time to heal, but that didn’t stop him. Last night I had to sleep in the chair because he wouldn’t stop touching me. The man was insatiable.
“I would love some of that peach pie in the cafeteria.”
Okay, that I would do.
I sat up and gave him a smile. “I’ll get you the biggest piece they have.”
My reward was the happy glimmer in his bright eyes.
I gave him a kiss and hopped off the bed to get my man his pie. Sean’s room was on the way, so I stopped in there to check on him. I knew he was in a coma, but I wanted him to know that I was there with him. Every hour I stopped by and told him a story – which Mason didn’t like – but he would have to get used to it. My brother was a part of my life and always would be.
