“Shhh, honey, please don’t do this to yourself. It wasn’t your fault. You heard the sheriff. Garret has done this before. He’s gotten away with hurting women. Both him and Keiffer are bad men. Come on now. We need to focus on the fact that you fought them off and you got out of there. You fought hard because you’re strong and tough. Don’t let this piece of shit ruin you. He didn’t rape you. They didn’t succeed with their plan.”
“He said they planned it for months and had been watching me, Alexa. How am I going to work and leave the house? What if they do come after me and threaten me because I pressed charges? What if they threaten you or the others? What if I just made matters worse, because I pressed those charges? I won’t be able to deal with it if they were to come after you guys. Garret has money and resources.”
“So do we, honey, and we have the law on our side. I know the sheriff. He’ll take care of this, or Chad and I will,” Michael stated and Sally immediately sensed the intensity of his tone. She just wasn’t certain what the outcome of this would be.
Chapter 2
Mason just finished showering after working with his dogs. The five Rottweilers were now lying in the living room while Steven worked with one of the dogs named Toby.
Suddenly Zeus, Alpha, Princess, and Rex hurried toward the front door and the windows, alerting Mason and Steven that someone was coming up the driveway.
Mason looked out and saw Virgo’s blue pickup truck.
“Virgo and Dale are here.”
“They probably want to talk us into going to Dixie’s for Tuesday wing night and two-dollar beers.”
Mason chuckled as he opened the front door. All five dogs stood at attention, and Dale and Virgo greeted them. Virgo was handing over little dog treats as usual.
“You have to quit doing that. They have a special diet that they’re on,” Mason reprimanded as the five Rottweilers licked Virgo and Dale as the men entered.
Mason gave a command and the dogs immediately walked back to the living room and sat down.
“So what’s going on?” Steven asked them. Virgo and Dale looked at one another.
“Are you going over to Dixie’s tonight for wing night?” Virgo asked. Mason and Steven glanced at one another and smiled. “No. Don’t feel like it.” Truth was, they were getting tired of ignoring their feelings for Sally. Mason couldn’t get her out of his head. Every night, he’d wake up with a hard-on from hell and visions of her in his head. He was so infatuated with remembering that night at the party that he actually thought he smelled her perfume. Nothing like this had ever happened to him before.
“Uhm, you hear what happened Sunday night?” Dale asked, and Virgo gave him a look.
“What?” Mason asked, instantly picking up on Virgo’s and Dale’s nervousness.
“Found out from Michael and Chad that Sally got into some big trouble,” Dale stated.
Steven stood up and Mason immediately felt concerned.
“What the hell kind of trouble?” Steven asked.
“Some guys roughed her up good. They were supposedly going to rape her. Had the whole fucking thing planned out, too. It was caught on tape, from what Monte had told us. He asked us to keep it quiet, too,” Virgo stated.
“What? Who the fuck were they? How is she? How badly roughed up?” Mason asked as he walked over to the counter to grab his keys. Steven was throwing on his boots and tying them. Mason felt like throwing up. A thousand thoughts were running through his head.
“We don’t know who the guys were. Chad and Michael do and Alexa. They’re staying tight-lipped. She’s not at Dixie’s tonight. Won’t be all week until the swelling goes down,” Dale added.
“Holy fucking shit. Swel
ling? What kind of swelling?” Mason asked with his fists at his sides and his face feeling so hot he thought he might explode.
“We haven’t seen her. She’s scared and not really talking to anyone. We tried to find out who did it, but BJ and the sheriff in Cellar County told us it was a police investigation. He warned Dale and me not to interfere,” Virgo told him.
“Steven, call Chad and Michael. Virgo, who’s with her now? She’s not alone at the house, is she?”
“No. Monte is there, and BJ has his deputies patrolling the neighborhood.”
“Why? Haven’t they caught the guys that did this?” Steven asked.
“I don’t know all the details. Just heard that she was roughed up good.”
“Let’s go see her now, Steven,” Mason stated as they all headed out the door.