Page 81 of Thorns That Bloom
“Right.”
“Needs our help because…?”
“He was assaulted.”
The anger comes in again like a tsunami. I should’ve delivered on my threats yesterday. Oh, I should’ve used my balled fist and punched him until he writhed in pain underneath me. Maybe that would’ve made Sam feel better. Maybe…No.
No, it wouldn’t have. It would’ve caused problems and only quenched this horrible side of me I didn’t even know I had. Doing that would’ve only benefited me.
Magnolia tries to stay professional, I can tell, but she also gives me a look like she thinks I’m some piece of shit wasting her time. “When?”
“It-it happened a few months ago. At least seven or eight…months. I’m not sure exactly.”
“You’re not sure?”
“That’s an awful lot of time,” Gail notes, clearly unhappy. “Was there a rape kit?”
“Y-yes, it…it already went through the courts. Or some kind of settlement took place. Look, I don’t know all the damn details, but a man was raped by five alphas at his workplace and….and got no justice. Now, one of the rapists has found him and is demanding the product of that brutality be his, or to have any rights to the baby. He’s rich and powerful and…youneedto help stop him. You can do that, can’t you?”
They both stare at me.
Shit, did that even make sense? My thoughts are jumbled with anger and fear. I want to be with Sam. I should be with him.
“You demanded this appointment with me, but you barely have any information,” Gail snaps, nearly rising out of her seat.
I still know her well enough—at least a part of her—to be able to tell that not all the frustration is aimed at me this time. She sounds the same way she used to when she would argue with me and Pop about whether fish are sentient.
I wonder if she’s still vegetarian.
“What are their names? What is the company? When did it happen? When did it go to court?” she asks. The lawyer next to her nods with each sharp question barked at me.
“I…I’ll get all that information to you.” I want to shout back, telling her that after the state Sam was in, after I barely managed to get him to sleep while holding his hand and humming a song, the last fucking thing I wanted was to wake him up and ask him for all those cold details and some stupid court documents.
“When?”
“I c-can’t make the choice for him, but I’ll give him your details today. He will tell you everything else if he feels comfortable.”
“Why isn’t he here with you right now?” Gail asks, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
This time, I don’t quite manage to hold back a bitter scoff. The quiet implication that he isn’t here because I wouldn’t let him or didn’t want to or…any other fucking reason that makes me the monster, is ridiculous, and she knows it. “Are you even listening to me?” I raise my voice, teetering at the edge of my patience.
The image of those brown eyes filled with tears and his face twisted in terror is too much. I never want to see it again. I never want him to feel that way.
“He isn’t here because last night, one of his rapists turned up at his work, demanding that he’s the father of the child growing inside of him, and proclaiming he has any fucking right to anything. That’s why he isn’t here. Because he’s terrified and needs help, and I needed to know you’d be willing to help him before making him go through this!”
I try to settle down with a few shaky breaths, averting my gaze from them. I expect to get thrown out for shouting or something, but when I look back, Magnolia and Gail share some knowing look. Then, Gail shifts in her seat and sighs.
“You said he was wealthy? What exactly are we talking about here?”
“They all are, from what I understand. Good social standing and all that. Like I said, he…he’ll tell you everything, but from what I gathered, he agreed to some sort of settlement. They transferred him to the company I work at. I don’t think he had much help. He wouldn’t have been able to afford a good attorney. Hence why none of them got a proper punishment.”
I feel irrational anger at myself for not being there forhim. It’s so stupid—I didn’t even know Samexistedback then—but it still burns through me. I should’ve been there to take care of him, to help him through it. Instead, he had to go through all that pain alone. Had to experience it in the first place.
Magnolia purses her full lips. “These types always get what they want,” she mutters to herself and, for once, I’m grateful for her obvious hatred of alphas, because it means she will go after them hard.
“He was…in heat, when it happened. Two of them were in rut. I think all the pheromones triggered some sort of reaction, and the rest either went into a rut too, or claimed to. I don’t know.”
The woman snarls. “Of course…”
