It might not be in blood, which is exactly what Oak wants right now, but I have no doubt that Christian will make sure he ruins that cunt forever for even thinking about touching his daughter.
Pulling my newly acquired key from my pocket, I take the path to the massive double doors before pushing it into the lock.
Silence greets me as I step inside, and my heart rate picks up that Elliot and Theo haven’t been able to contain Oak and he’s fucked off to Huxton to finish the job the pair of us started on that motherfucker.
But the second I look toward the sofas, I find my fears are unfounded, because they’re all there.
Oak is sitting on one of the sofas alone. He’s leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his head hanging between his shoulders.
Elliot and Theo are both resting back as if everything is right in their world, but the creases in their brows tell me everything their relaxed postures don’t.
“What’s going on?” I ask when they continue to ignore me.
“Nothing. Oak’s—”
“Don’t,” Oak spits. “Don’t fucking talk about me as if I’m not even in the room.”
He surges to his feet, his eyes finding mine. Despair and pain war within them, and the guilt I was already struggling with only gets worse.
“How is she?” he asks, his voice void of any emotion.
“She’s…” My words falter as I realise that I’m about to use the same bullshit statement she pulled on me. “She needs you.”
Oak shakes his head.
“What she needs is that cunt wiped off the face of the Earth for thinking he could put his hands on her.”
“Your dad is gonna take care of it, man,” Elliot soothes.
“Not fucking good enough. It would already have been sorted if you two arseholes would let me out of this fucking place.”
“They’re doing the right thing,” I say quietly.
Oak’s posture hardens, his shoulders widening and his chest lifting, his eyes darkening with anger the longer he stares at me.
“You,” he seethes, taking a step toward me. “All of this is your fucking fault. If you’d just done as you were told that night… Fuck it, if you’d never turned your backs on us and left, then none of this would have happened. Starling knows we’re broken, and he’s using it against us.”
“Oak,” Elliot says firmly, but it doesn't have the impact I think he was hoping for, because Oak continues to prowl toward me, his first curling in his burning need for a fight.
I hold my hands out at my sides, more than prepared to take whatever he wants to turn on me. Because he’s right. This is all my fault, and I deserve the pain for it.
“Oakley,” Elliot barks, now sitting on the edge of the sofa as if he’s about to jump between the two of us. “Reese is as pissed about this as you are. We don’t need to be turning on ourselves. If we do, he’s won.”
Elliot’s eyes meet mine, an understanding within them that I don’t like. He saw the panic inside me as acutely as he could see it in Oak last night. Was it too much?
“Oak’s right, Elliot. I’m the one who caused this. I deserve—”Crack.
“Motherfucker,” I grunt as pain explodes from my jaw where Oak landed his first punch.
“I said no, Oakley,” Elliot growls, his voice pure ice as I recover from the hit.
When I look up, I find Oak being restrained by Theo and Elliot standing between the two of us.
“Get it fucking together. Your sister needs you,” Elliot demands before closing the space between us.
There’s something in his eyes that makes my heart jump into my throat.
“You need to watch your back, Whitfield,” he warns so that only I can hear. “I can only protect you from so much.”