Page 53 of Beautiful Beasts

I stop and stare as I lift my hands and cover my mouth, shaking my head. “I didn’t mean it,” I whisper.

He shakes his head and walks into me, wrapping his arms around me. I shove my face into his chest again.

His warmth and strong arms shield me from the demons outside of this room.

“Baby girl, I got you. I got you,” he says to the both of us.

Fuck me.

I didn’t mean to hit him. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.

What the fuck is happening to me?

37

Harley

I don’t know how long we have been standing here, but the thought of letting her go or moving is not something I think I can do. I am frozen in this spot, scared of what would happen if I tried to move. I have never seen her like this before. I have never seen her so enraged, scared, and confused.

I want to take it all away from her, and I want to reassure her that she is okay, that everything will be alright, but if I told her that, then I would be lying to her. I have no idea what the future will bring us, but I do know that no matter what, I will be by her side, walking beside her, and so will Dante.

She won’t admit that Gus hurt her. She won’t admit anything to me, but the words, the once a whore, always a whore, was said the last time she was upset, and Gus was the reason for it.

Something has happened, I can feel it in my fucking bones, but I don’t want to push her too far. I can’t lose her, and I am afraid if I continue to push her, she will shut down and go to a place inside her mind that I can’t fucking follow.

I take a deep breath, pulling back and looking down at Bella. She pulls back and lifts her head, finally looking me in the eyes. We are surrounded by books, books on the shelf, and the books she threw to the ground; seeing her like this is fucking killing me, and honestly, I don’t know what the fuck to do right now.

“Tell me what I can do,” I whisper, wishing the pain wasn’t so dominant in my voice.

“Don’t go anywhere,” she says softly.

“I won’t, I’m not,” I say, trying to reassure her.

She nods and rests her forehead on my chest. I reach into my back pocket and pull out my phone. I swipe and click on the text message from Dante. I quickly texted him, telling him to come to the library. It doesn’t feel right for him not to be here to support her. He doesn’t know what is going on, and he has a right to know what is happening and that she is in this state right now.

I put my phone back into my pocket and rest my chin on the top of her head. I stare out the window and watch the rain beat against it. The weather matches the storm that is building in me right now. I have always known what to do, how to act, and what to say. I am a problem solver, and I pride myself on being able to solve things and making sure that everything is going the way it should.

But right now, with this situation, I have no fucking idea what to do, what to say, or how to act. She asked me not to go anywhere, and I won’t, but Gus and I will be having a conversation, and depending on his answers, we will determine how the talk goes.

Bella won’t tell me what has happened between them, but she isn’t denying that it is him; that is all I need to fucking know. I put him in charge of watching over her, but now I think I made the wrong choice. If he has hurt her in any fucking way, I will never forgive myself, and I know Dante won’t either. We both agreed on Gus watching over her and now I realize the only ones who can keep her safe are us. It seems that everyone around us wants to hurt her, use her, and abuse her. She has already had to survive through so much, and the thought of him doing things to her inside the walls of our house makes my blood run cold.

I take a deep, shaky breath as the door to the library opens, and Dante walks in, closing it behind him. He stops momentarily, looking down at the books on the ground; then his eyes lock on Bella. She is still resting her forehead on my chest, but she has stopped sobbing.

“What the fuck happened?” Dante says, making his way across the room. He stops behind her, and Bella pulls back and looks up at me.

“I don’t know exactly what has happened,” I confess.

Dante looks at me with rage and pain in his eyes as my words sink in. If I knew what the fuck was happening, I would tell him, but I don’t. I can only fucking assume.

“Bella,” he whispers from behind her.

She takes a deep breath and releases her grip on me, and I do the same. She slowly turns around to face him. She is looking down, making my heart stop. I don’t like her like this. I can’t fucking take it. Dante and I both walk into her, pinning her between us. I grab onto her hips, needing to touch some part of her.

Her body language tells us she is unsure, scared, and defeated.

We can’t fucking kill or destroy what is happening if we don’t know who or what is going on.

Her shutting us out just won’t fucking do. We won’t be able to take the distance she is creating or at least the distance she is trying to fucking create. We won’t let it happen, and we fucking refuse to lose her. We wouldn’t be able to survive it. She is our world now.

---