Page 100 of Rescue Us (Next Generation 7)

I’ve never had a family before.

Jaron frowned.

Piper sniffed. “She said she’s never had a family before.”

“Now you do,” Jaron said gently. “Let’s go, baby,” he said to Piper.

She nodded, giving me one final hug before they slipped out of the apartment.

As soon as they left and I was alone, I let out a harsh sigh. Locking up, I entered the security code into the panel. Leaning against the wall, I slid down until I landed on the floor with a soft thud.

A family. I have a family.

If what Cyrus and I had turned into something even more serious, I knew that Sammy would be my brother in-law, but I never even clued in that it would include more people. I mentally smacked myself. Of course it would come with more people. Sammy wasn’t Cyrus’s only family. He had the club and the people he grew up with. That fact alone, forced a smile to spread on my face. My body felt lighter, and this sense of calm washed over me.

“You’ll never amount to anything, you dirty little slut.” The dark eyes peered down at me, the voice cold and deep.

As broken as he left me, I still lifted my chin defiantly. It was all I had for fear of losing myself completely.

The man chuckled, his fist landing against the side of my head while another man brutally violated my body.

A gasp left me as the memory hit me. I tried forgetting. I tried to forgethim. But every now and again, the memories slipped through the cracks when I least expected it.

Ever since meeting Cyrus, the disturbing memories were few and far between. But when they came, they came out of nowhere and usually took my breath away.

As I rose to my feet, a hard bang sounded on the door. I jumped, almost falling back on my ass. My skin became clammy. It couldn’t have been Cyrus. Not when I slipped a key into his pocket.

I checked my phone anyway but when I didn’t see a text from him, that didn’t leave me feeling any better.

The hard knock sounded again.

I wanted to ask who was there, but I had seen enough horror movies to know that you shouldn’t do that.

Slowly making my way to the door, I took a deep breath and looked out the peep hole. My stomach dropped when I didn’t see anyone standing on the other side of it.

Someone had been watching too many horror movies and was clearly trying to scare me.

I made sure the door was locked and double-checked that the security system was armed.

I sent Cyrus a quick text that I hoped he and his brother were able to work out their issues and spent the rest of the evening cleaning, trying to get my mind off whoever it was that knocked on my door. It didn’t make sense. This sudden feeling like someone had been watching me. I felt it when Jaron and Piper dropped me off but hadn’t sensed anything out of the ordinary since I ended up at the deli. I wondered if Cyrus and I would still have ended up together if I hadn’t gone into the restaurant that day.

Once I was done cleaning everything, I saw that it was now pushing eleven at night with no response from Cyrus. I just hoped that everything was okay and that he and Sammy were able to talk it out.

I decided to get ready for bed and read for a bit. Once I was settled beneath the covers, I opened my book. My eyes became heavy, but I tried fighting through it when suddenly, a heavy body wrapped around me.

A scream broke free, my hand landing against a cheek.

“Shit, baby. It’s me.”

I struggled against the heavy body, the deep voice forcing bile to my throat.

“Ainsley, wake the fuck up.”

My eyes snapped open at the rough command, landing on Cyrus’s handsome face. I must have fallen asleep while reading.

He stared down at me, his brows furrowed.

My chest rose and fell, my heart thundering in my ears.

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