Page 111 of Tormented in Silence: The Completed Duet

Again, they nod, allowing me this time to come to terms with things.

“You really have never wanted to change your name? Hasn’t Killer been dead for a while?” Presley asks.

I shrug. “Yeah. Five years. But I came to terms with it. At first it was hard to hear all the time because I was still grieving my sister, and it just reminded me of her. It would piss me off. But then, when I finally caved into my mom’s questions and told her what happened in those days that I disappeared a year later, she told me I was strong, and she was proud of me. That she never wanted me to go down the path my dad did, but she knew I would be okay because I had the guys at my back. She told me I should honor my road name. It was almost like my sister gave it to me in some twisted, fucked up way.”

She nods her head slowly, seeming to be in deep thought. “That… that makes sense. I’m proud of you, you know? I’m glad you trusted me enough to tell me. And I’m thankful you had the guys and none of you seemed to have gone down the path you said Killer wanted. I don’t know what all he did, and I don’t think I want to. But I’m glad you are who you are today.”

I tilt my head as her eyes show nothing but sincerity. “You’re okay with knowing this about me?” She nods. “Presley, you are a goddamn fucking angel. You should want nothing to do with the likes of me.”

She lets out a humorless laugh. “Jackson, I love you so much it actually pains me sometimes. There is nothing you could tell me to scare me away.”

“That’s good.” I flip her onto her back and hover over her, “Because I’ll never let you get away.” Our lips crash together in fiery passion. “You fucking consume me, angel.”

She smiles. “Good.”

Chapter Eleven

Axe (Jackson)

Presley lays snoring in my arms, having fallen asleep shortly after having sex. I need to get up and head downstairs to leave, but I’m tired of having to deal with this shit.

I want everything to go back to normal. I want a new normal. With my woman, working at the shop and having her in my arms every night. Hell, I want to talk to Stone and Sugar about house building plans because I want to build one for Presley and I.

I want to start a life together that isn’t consumed by shit in the past. Sighing, I slowly untangle myself from Presley and head into the bathroom to quickly shower. After I’m dressed and ready to go, I leave Presley a note on the nightstand reminding her that I’m going to see Ben’s parents and that I’ll be back. Excluding the part where I’m going to see her parents, too. I know I should feel bad about that but I know that it would only cause her more worry and she doesn’t need that right now. She needs some sense of peace.

I get downstairs to find my brothers scattered around the main room and kitchen, along with the club sluts and Raven. Raven waves at me as I walk through the room towards the hallway with the offices. “How’s my girl?”

I smirk at her. “Worn out.”

Raven cackles and goes back to looking at her phone. Nothing ever fazes that girl. When I get back to Rage’s office, I knock once and push the door open. Rage and Sugar are talking when I enter, but they both stop and look up at me.

“Are you ready to do this?” Rage eyes me like he is trying to see everything I am feeling. I give him a sharp nod. “Presley okay?”

“Yeah. She’s sleeping. She knows I’m going to see Ben’s parents.”

Rage scowls at me. I know he doesn’t like that. I haven’t told her we looked into her parents and that we’re going to see them, but I don’t need to stress her out more.

When we looked into her parents, we found nothing. They live their normal pampered lives. Her mom comes from old money, so they travel all the time, but it doesn’t even look like they have had contact with Ben’s family at all. So I want to find out what the fuck happened and why they stopped talking to Pres.

Rage calls the other ranking officers into the office, and we quickly recap how things will go. Nerds will monitor like normal, with Sugar staying here to keep an eye on everything, while Rage, Stone, Blade and I head out to meet Vance and a few of his men at Ben’s parents’ house.

A few minutes later, we are heading out and Raven’s voice calls out from behind us when we get outside. “Find that fucking bastard and kick him in the balls for me.”

Blade chuckles and pulls out a knife, quickly tossing it in the air before catching it and winking at Raven. “I can do one better.”

Raven chuckles. “Good. Be safe,” she says before shutting the door.

It takes us almost two hours to get there. We meet with Vance and his guys around the corner from the gated entrance to their home. Vance speaks first.

“Since we don’t know if Ben came here to hide, I want us to split up. Axe, Rage and I will go to the front door and knock and everyone else needs to split up surrounding the house in case he is there and tries to run. I also have a few guys placed farther out and at neighbors’ houses just to be safe,” he commands.

Rage nods, going along with it.

This is why Rage is president and not any of us. He stays calm and listens and is okay to agree because it is the smart thing to do and it’s easier for all of us not to fight, but the rest of us tense at Vance ordering us around and probably would have cut him off and basically told him to go fuck himself.

We all split off with Rage, Vance, and I heading straight up to the door. Vance’s tech guy hacked into their system and disarmed their alarms, managing to open the gate for us with ease.

Vance rings the doorbell and waits. A few minutes pass and no one answers but there is no sound coming from inside either. Rage pulls his phone out and dials Blade while Vance and I keep our eyes peeled on our surroundings.

---