“How can we just walk around and act like nothing happened? How do we look at her, talk to her like we don’t know what he did to her?” Cass growls in frustration.
“Harlow is a proud woman. She’s learned to deal with her trauma in her own way, as did I. But as bad and fucked up as I had it, as any of the girls who work with us and were held with us, she had it a hundred times worse, remember that. You can’t force her to talk about it, because all the progress you made with her... that will be out the window. Force her hand and she’ll snap back.”
“What if she never talks about what happened?” Dean asks.
“Then we will never know. It’s not one of our rights. That’s her experience, her hurt, her pain. We have no right to know about it if she chooses not to tell us. There’s a lot I don’t know about what happened to her all those years ago. The things I did hear about was from when those sick fuckers would brag about it. I’d be in Triver’s office with him doing his paperwork, and they’d act like I wasn’t there because it didn’t matter, I was nothing to them.”
“Just when we think we’ve made progress with her, life has to fucking throw us a curve ball,” Dean says, rubbing his face like he's exhausted.
“We just worked out our shit. What if I say something wrong and fuck it all up again?” Axel worries.
“I think the best thing to do... is act like you were acting before. As hard as it's gonna be to look at her without wanting to wrap her in a bubble to keep her safe, we can’t. I see you’re itching to go back there, to hold her, love her... to tell her everything will be okay, but that’s not how you deal with Harlow, not until she allows it.”
“Fine! Fuck, fine,” Axel growls. Then he looks at his brother and cousin. “We can’t tell Beast yet, he’ll demand to see her.”
“I think we should find one more person for him to play with, and join him so we can get out all this rage. Or, at least, as much as we can before we see her in the morning,” Dean announces.
“Now that's an idea I can get behind,” Axel says. “What about you?” he asks Cass.
“I want to, but I also don’t want to leave her,” he responds, looking back towards the way she left.
“I’ll be here. I’ll make sure she and Rosie are okay. Plus, Sam’s here too,” I tell him, giving Cass a soft smile.
“Sam,” Axel hisses. “Fuck, what do we tell him?”
“I’ll talk to him,” I tell Axel.
“No, I can,” he growls back.
“Go.” I narrow my eyes. “Go deal with this news in whatever way you can that’s not storming into her room and smothering her.”
“Fine,” he huffs. “Just... never mind, come on guys. I know we don’t want to leave her after just getting her back, but we're no help here right now,” Axel grumbles, turning to leave.
“What do we do with these?” Dean asks, looking down at the head, then over to the penis.
“Take them with us. We’ll keep them in the freezer at the club down in the showroom for now until we know what she wants to do with them,” Cass says, grabbing some gloves and a bag from under the sink. He tosses a pair to Axel and Dean.
“I’ll clean up, then check on them,” I tell them.
“Thanks, Evie. Please, take care of our girl?” Cass asks, his eyes filled with the same pain I’m feeling.
“I will. I always do.”
They take off out of the house like a herd of bulls while leaving me standing there, staring at the bloody table. Grabbing the cleaning supplies, I get to work, doing a few extra scrubs with bleach before tossing everything in the garage to be properly disposed of later.
Needing to see her again with my own eyes, to make sure she's really home, I open her bedroom door... only to find that she's not there. I feel a rush of panic that maybe she took off. Rushing over to Rosie’s room, I let out a sigh of relief when I find her in bed cuddled up next to her daughter.
Her black hair is fanned out on the pillow. Her brows are scrunched together. She must be dreaming about what she just lived through. I quietly make my way over to them. She shouldn’t be taken by surprise because she fell asleep next to Rosie. Her subconscious reacts when she goes to sleep alone, but it’s completely different when she's with someone.
Sitting down on the bed next to her, I brush my thumb over her worried brow. “You’re home, baby,” I whisper, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “We’re gonna get through this together. Just please don’t shut us out. We love you so much. We're here for you.” With another soft kiss, I leave them be, taking one last look at My Queen over my shoulder.
Closing the door behind me, I head towards my room.
“Evie.” Sam’s soft voice has my head snapping over to find him standing in the doorway of his room.
“Sam.” I smile. “Everything okay?”
“Is she really home? I heard yelling. I didn’t want to leave the room, but I made out a few words. She’s back?” He asks, his eyes wide and hopeful.