Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 77719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“My dick won’t make her promises I won’t keep, I promise you that,” I said dryly, crossing my arms over my chest. “The only ones I’ll make to her will be ones I intended to follow through on.”
Copying my stance, she chewed on her lip for a moment. Then, she asked, “Do you swear? What you know is only the tip of a huge iceberg, so you need to make sure. She’s one of the most precious people to ever exist, which was why Hazel targeted her.”
Hearing the last bit, I dropped my arms. “Wait, she targeted her? She didn’t just do it because of art class?”
Madison’s eyes widened, but the expression on her face softened when she realized how clueless I was about it all.
“No, Jordan, she targeted her. It started in eighth grade, and she kind of made it part of her daily ritual. Sienna has a scar on her bicep from where Hazel walked past her with a box cutter poking out of her bag, and it cut through her sweater. She claimed it was an accident, but we all saw her deliberately walk too close to her.”
I heard Blaze grunt from his room and knew he was hearing this.
“Why didn’t anyone say anything?” I ground out. “I wouldn’t have let shit like that slide.”
“We tried,” she whispered. “But no one believed us, so we didn’t think you would either.”
“Shit,” I hissed, spinning to sit on the chair behind the reception desk, needing something to take my weight.
Resting my elbows on my knees, I covered my face with my hands and tried to picture it. I couldn’t remember seeing Sienna with a bandage or hearing about it, and I was starting to wonder why.
“She hid it,” Madison said quietly, answering my question without realizing it. “She didn’t want people to know and to risk opening herself up to more, so she kept it quiet whenever anything else happened.”
Lifting my head to look at her, I could hear how desperate I sounded when I spoke to her next. “I swear, I would have helped. If I’d known, I’d have done something. I thought it was just my life she was making hell while she tried to become the most popular girl at school. I mean, we were kids. Who does what she did at that age?”
“Okay,” she sighed. “If I’m honest, you never seemed to walk around with your eyes open anyway. It’s like you were there physically, but your brain was a million miles away.” That was probably an accurate description of my teenage self.
“But you have to realize something—getting that tattoo done gave Sienna freedom. She doesn’t have to see the scars every day when she gets out of the shower, she now sees beauty instead of cruelty. That’s huge for her.
“When she finally set the date to move back here, it was after she’d had six months of therapy to help prepare her for it. Even then, she’d call me up to tell me about her plans for when she was back, and she was excited, but she was also very, very scared. It felt like she pushed herself to do it, and I haven’t been that scared for her in years. This morning…” she trailed off, then dropped her head, so she was staring at her feet.
“This morning, she told me she hadn’t had a nightmare for the first time in eleven years, Jordan. She sounded excited and happy about it, and for the first time, she didn’t even have a hint of fear in her voice. You gave Sienna that, please don’t take it away again.”
This time when she looked at me, tears were brimming in her eyes, and I realized she’d suffered with her best friend every day since that day, if not longer.
I also knew I needed to give her some peace of mind. “I swear—absolutely swear—I won’t do anything to take that away. If she lets me, I’ll be an extra friend to support and encourage her. When she can cope with that, I’ll give her the club. And, Madison,” I held her eyes so she could see the sincerity, “those guys would drop everything to help her if she needed it.”
Smiling sadly at me, she nodded. “She needs that.”
“And if she ever needs someone to protect her, she’s got me and the club now, too, regardless. I’ll make sure of it.”
I knew none of the members would have an issue with that after I told them about the situation. We were meeting tonight to discuss some things, so I’d make a point of filling them in, just in case Hazel decided to pay a visit to us.
It was slightly strained, but Madison smiled at me. “Are we talking about The Broken Eagles?”
“We are.”
Rubbing her hands together, she angled her head to the side to look at Blaze’s room. “Any of you single?”